Thanks to Lark Books for letting me share this picture with you!   They are publishing another quilting book in Spring (May ish) 2009 geared to beginning and intermediate projects. I submitted several proposals, and they accepted this one, for a 26 1/2 square quilt or Euro Square pillow top.  Obviously, I’ll let you know more (like the title of the book) when it is out!

In the meantime, the piecing in this quilt is dead easy…NOTHING needs to match! It is four different white on white prints and a soft green-gray (used the wrong side to make the color even more muted) for the background.  The “birch” tree is improvisationally pieced also in  blue, aqua and green batiks, while the bird is fussy cut from a piece of batik. (Detail photos are clickable for larger views.)

Oddly enough for me, after quilting the background to death (which IS typical), I hand embroidered the bird using some variegated DMC floss (one of the requirements was that all materials had to be pretty easily found, not like hand-dyed this or that or imported or whatever).  And here’s a close up of the quilting (can you tell I had fun?)

And I MUST give credit where credit is due…. a whole bunch of years ago, when I lived on San Juan Island, we did a sort-of round robin with the Wednesday evening quilters (aka the Wild Rose Quilters):  each person (one a month until all of us got through) picked a block, then we all made blocks and gave it to the person.  Lunnette H-H. picked a block of birds, and we could make a sorta realistic bird or go wild.  Christy H.  made (or saw a block someone else made?) one of batik; when asked its name she said it was the rare batik-y bird.  I have always remembered and loved that name, so I adapted it to title this quilt… sure hope that’s OK!

Yes, I am waxing rhapsodic about an IRON!  And the cherry on the sundae…it is lime green!

I had an iron by Panasonic with the Titanium soleplate for about 3 1/2 years before it died… I think the thermostat went haywire.  Alas, calls to Panasonic said they couldn’t repair it…it was “too old.”  Talk about a use-and-toss wasteful society!  Snarl… anyway, I couldn’t figure out a way to open it up without breaking the plastic housing, meaning even if I could find a handyman and the parts, or figure it out myself, I wouldn’t be able to re-assemble it.  Internet searches turned up the iron I wanted… In MALAYSIA!  Well, that wouldn’t work…

See, the problem is that MY definition of non-stick is different from most people, and different from iron manufacturers. To the companies that make irons, “non-stick” means doesn’t stick to fabric (well DUH) or to starch or spray sizing.   To ME, non-stick means you can get fusible adhesive web (Misty Fuse being my favorite, order here, or Wonder Under in a pinch) on the iron and wipe it off.  Other “non-stick” irons just didn’t cut it…only the golden-colored titanium soleplate seemed to make the critical difference.  The specifics:

Panasonic NI-S300 TR 1200-Watt Steam Iron with Curved Titanium-Coated Soleplate, white/green

YES… it is TRUE!  You can put this iron down on top of fusible web, melt it all over the place onto the iron, then WIPE IT OFF with a paper towel!   No gunky mess, no “Iron-Off” brand hot iron cleaner with its seemingly-toxic fumes (that set off the smoke alarms!), no smelly dryer sheets to try to clean the iron, no scratchy salt-on-washcloth to try to clean the stuff off…. just wipe and go!

And where can you get this lime green beauty… AMAZON.com of course!  Here’s the link:

LINK TO Fuser’s Joy IRON by Panasonic

I can share this link now that I have mine…and my back-up iron is on order!  Yes, I have ordered a second, brand new iron as a back up for when this one dies…that’s how much I love these irons.

The only caveats I would add is that the soleplate can get scratched from pins, and after being dropped several times mine died after 3 1/2 years.  For $30, I can live with that.  I used to spend that much just on Iron Off or Faultless Hot Iron cleaner, and now I don’t have to breathe those nasty fumes from the cleaning products.

OK, I will now STOP raving about this wonderful iron…..

Just a quick note…in amazement…. just read on the local on-line paper that voter turnout in Camden (with a population of  4042 in July 2007 according to one source, the US Census puts it at 5254, with 4221 of those being 18 or over) was over 3300 voters, or over EIGHTY percent of registered voters…. an astounding level of registration and participation.

WOW!

I can’t imagine there are many places in this country that exceeded that number…..well, apart from all the three voters in that tiny town in New Hampshire!

Disclaimer:  political content…all of it!  Indulging for just a moment, then back to our regularly scheduled blogging ….

It is time for a change.

And the times HAVE changed.

A while back I wrote this story here, but it is time to repeat myself….  in 1975 I began college at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.  I used to fly into Dulles Airport, which is some distance from  DC, so you had to take a shuttle bus into the city (and then a cab to the university). The old downtown core still had buildings burned out from the riots and fires of 1968, the year of so many race riots and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King’s assassinations.   It wasn’t long after I arrived that I realized I was — despite being in a relatively progressive city — two states south of the Mason-Dixon line (for my non-US readers, that is where the Northern and Southern states divided during our Civil War, 1861-65).

I think it was when I arrived for September…either in ’75 or ’76…the bus driver on the shuttle from Duller to DC (he was an African American) announced “now all you smokers, you gots to sit in the back o’ the bus, where I used to have to sit.”

I was dumbfounded.  I had grown up in California (and a sheltered middle-class white girl, at that).  There was very little discrimination there, and at least in the lamentably lily-white county where my family lived, few African Americans.  There were the Chinese (who were brought in to build the railroads in the mid 1800s during the Gold Rush), the Spaniards and Mexicans (Mission San Rafael was in the next town over, and the northernmost of the Spanish missions is in Sonoma, 32 miles north of our house), and of course the Anglos.  Even the Russians came to California, to Fort Ross, 62 miles north….the Mexicans and the Russians nearly met! So it was a shock for me to come face to face with someone who had grown up with the oppression of racial discrimination, and yet could joke about it (it’s that wonderful Freedom of Speech thing! and a good sense of humor on his part).

On November 4th, our nation elected Barack Obama as its next President…..   one of the joys is that his daughters don’t really yet understand that it is so remarkable for a man of  Caucasian and African parents to be moving into the White House.   A mere 44 years ago, Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act (if you haven’t read Johnson’s speech, it is really amazing…Wikipedia must have it), to protect the rights of ALL Americans, not just the white ones.  It was a law that was needed because discrimination was rampant….lynchings still happened, race was still a significant factor.  It is a factor still, but nowhere near what it was–and we’re doing better.  The Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation in schools, public places, and employment; it protected all races, and before passage they added women, too, from discrimination …the impact was HUGE and remains so to this day.

I am SO PROUD of what our nation has done…on November 4th, 2008, and over the past 45 years.  I am just as proud that so many people registered, voted, that this was one of the most widely anticipated elections, that so many who had never voted before were moved to become part of our right and responsibility to vote.   I heard that in one of the Carolinas, more African Americans had voted….on MONDAY, the day before official election day (via absentee or early balloting) than in the entire 2004 election…way cool!

Perhaps because I’ve lived overseas and in the third world, I appreciate a bit more easily how astonishing it is to live in a democracy and be able to vote… that the culture of democracy is so ingrained that even kids on a playground will take a vote to see what game to play at recess.

I am proud.  And I am REALLY happy!  It is time for a new era, and it has begun…..

Anyone want to join me in a rousing chorus of God Bless America?!!!!

Addendum, Weds. morning,  Nov. 5th…. they are reporting a turnout of 64 percent of the population…that is the second highest in history (usually I think elections are in the 25-50 percent range)… apparently 100 years ago, in 1908, 66 percent voted.  With the larger population, tho, the turnout is by FAR the largest number of citizens who have voted.   WAY COOL!   I hope the enthusiasm for being part of the process holds…..

On Saturday, October 18th, I was fortunate to be able to teach Hawaiian Quilting by Machine to the Backroads Quilters in Gardiner, Maine.  The Backroads Quilters are a wonderful, active and experienced group of quilters.  Similar to my local chapter, the Coastal Quilters, Backroads is a chapter of the Pine Tree Quilt Guild, Maine’s state-wide guild (which rocks!).

I taught my paper-snowflake variation on the theme of Hawaiian quilting.  It is easier on the hands when cutting, lets you get stems and narrow bits that are equal (or nearly) in size (if you do the traditional fold the cloth into eighths the stems can range from narrow to blobby), and–if you do fusible applique and satin stitch–gives you two blocks from one fused-up square of cloth.  For this class, I did up a new 6-inch block.  Students get two choices of small blocks, turtle or taro plant, plus they can also select one of the five designs from Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul–you can see that quilt here. Here is the taro block with two colors of satin stitching and assorted outlining stiches:

I always love to see students take my patterns then reinterpret them in their own color choices.  The small blocks are offered because it allows a student to apply the adhesive web, cut the pattern, cut out the motifs, fuse and sew a block in one class.  Other students prefer to dive right in with a full size block, but often don’t get a lot of the satin stitching done during class because the larger blocks take more time to  pre

pare and cut.  Here is a lot of eye candy!

Ann’s block being cut out:

and fused and ready for checking out thread choices:

Nena used a contrasting lavender thread for a nice bold outline on her taro block:

At first, this student wanted to use orange thread, but after doing several stitchouts, decided she liked the soft look of the navy.  By using the navy thread, she “popped” the small sprigged flowers in her print fabric and still gave a subtle framing to the edges of the pattern.  I LOVE this one! (OK..I love ALL of them….)

Here’s how that block looks straight on, before stitching–compare with the upper left pineapple in the photo above:

Another small taro block ready to be stitched…this is reverse applique.  I like to fuse dark on top of light so the lighter fabrics keep their light, clear tones.  Her other block has a navy taro leaf on the aqua print.

Sometimes busy prints can be challenging in Hawaiian quilts, but this one works so well… the Wedgwood  blue  thread picks up the lighter color in the print, yet provides a solid line to separate the print from the background.  AND she managed a few PERFECTLY mitered points!

Another pineapple block…this is the reverse applique…the bright blue is fused onto the white:

Often variegated thread doesn’t work so well for satin stitching unless you WANT a really striped look.  But this thread, Blendables by YLI, is a heavy cotton with longer, and more gradually blended, color changes.  I really like how it stitched out:

I hope you enjoyed the class as much as I did!  Thanks to the ladies of Backroads Quilters, and to Ann and Nena who invited me up to teach and made all the arrangements.