Ruffled Feather and Feet

Over at Ruffled Feathers, Carrie has a way with knitting needles. I'm horribly keen to win one of her scarflettes and so here are my feet pictures!

Me and the kids. Notice Little J lifting her dress so I can see her Strawberry Shortcake shoes better! And also that the only one without cutely turned toes is me!
And this is me, one of the rare times I'm not in tennis shoes.

Do wander over to see Carrie's great blog, I know you'll love it as much as I do!

But I'm still hoping I win:)

Quilt month: 3

Well, time to talk stash.

This is my stash.

Heh, pretty huh?? I sorta went overboard with my stash, and, as a military family that moves often, the stash has to be mobile. Which is, of course, not nearly as condusive to quilt making as, say, this is. But, alas, we work with what we have!

I seem to be the type that becomes emotionally attached to my fabric and I wonder if I'm alone. I am the type to horde a fabric I love, afraid to use it because then its gone. AH! I'm estatic to see that I'm learning that fabric is much more satisfying in a quilt then it could ever be stuck in a few bins in my garage! I'm actually getting to the point of being excited to cut into a fabric I love and see it put into a quilt. Hey, progress! Whoo hoo!

The problem is that we are gonna be moving soon and I have to trim down. The thought of getting rid of any of it is difficult; I end up with quilts worth of fabric where I can just see the quilts in there... I see them... lurking!

I love to have fabric, I love to see it, to mess with it, to re-fold it. I actually take joy in figuring out how to fold the fabric just so, so that it fits perfectly in my bins.

Again because of the move I'm not sure of what to do about the amount of fabric I have. I really can't take it all with me. So keep watching and you'll see some fabric give-aways coming here soon.

The other problem is this:

And this:
I had a few holiday projects planned, that I'm obviously not going to need to make this year. It's kind of a sad thing to put away the ideas of the projects I wanted to do. But we have a great advanture awaiting us! I hope to sit down and write a post letting you all in on the adventure, where we are going, what we will be doing. Apparently I have a few things coming soon! Who knew:)

Quilt Month: 2

Wow! 2 posts in 24 days for quilt month! That just has to be a record or something. Anyway, I figured that now is a good time to introduce you to my first quilt. Please be kind, it was 1996!

It sat at the foot of my bed when I was still at home; we found this great basket at Pier 1 and, amazingly, the quilt fits in there like it was planned!

Yep, that's a biscuit quilt. I told you it was 1996. They were all the rage then, really. I swear I was in style!

I just kinda threw together fabrics; the peach/mint/white strip is a piece of fabric that was curtains when I was 12. Yep, pieces of my past still going strong.

I had fun with this quilt, I still remember working on it Easter day with Charlie Heston's Moses talking in the background.

Though to be honest it isn't finished. Ahem. It still looks like this:

See, this thing is really heavy as is, I've been afraid that if I continue to quilt it it will end up so heavy as to be useless. Though, I suppose, it's useless as is, isn't it! Heh. How bout that. Well, anyway, that was my first. It was my last for a decade, too. Once I jumped on the bandwagon I sorta leapt right back off and it wasn't until last Sept that I started doing quilts again. Apparently that wagon is either really slow in it's turn around or I was way off the beaten track and it took a bit to get back to me.

Next time I think I'll show you all my stash... And try to figure out what to do with it!

Draft....

Well, I started the draft for my first post for quilt month early in the month. When I actually posted it blogger posted it on the day I started the draft. Odd. So if you see Quilt Month: 1 down there, it's actually new, even though it claimes it's, like, 2 weeks old. Eh, what ya gonna do:)

Grosgrain and Kathleen... Does it get any better then her?

Ah, it's been a while since I've had the chance to put my name in for a great outfit from Kathleen! She's done a few for the little girls, sold one for $150 for Nie-Nie, and I would never put in for one I didn't think Little J would love, it would be too sad for something as wonderful as what she makes to sit in a closet not being worn! But this little outfit is right up her alley. Go, look, adore:)

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2008/09/table-cloth-skirt-and-dinner-party-top.html

Quilt Month: 1

Well, alrighty then! I've been meaning to write this post for quite some time now, and Mr. Monkeysuit's quilt month is a good reason to do it! Though it's the 17th already. Heh. Ahem. Oh well, better late then never! (That's my thought on getting quilts done as well, if you hadn't noticed:)

So, my issue is with the controversy over tied quilts. This was my quilt from when I was a kid:

Notice it is tied. Which mean, of course, that I grew up with my quilt being a simple one. It was a few yards of cloth, sewn together to make a full sized sheet, backing and batting added, and then tied. It now looks like this:

Why would I save this? Because it was mine. I remember it from my childhood, it has always been around. This wasn't done by my family, but it was done by the women of my Great grandmother's ward, for my mom, 30 years ago. This is literally a piece of my family and community's history, even if not done by family hands. What was done by family though are these:

My son's quilt, pieced, tied...

My daughter's quilt, pieced, tied...

I dare say that it isn't the stitched quilting that makes it a quilt, but rather it is the effort involved, the love that is put in, that makes it a quilt. Mom made both of these, plus others, for my kids.... And yet I am told that they aren't "real" quilts. So lets look at that, shall we?

QUILT: a coverlet for a bed, made of two layers of fabric with some soft substance, as wool or down, between them and stitched in patterns or tufted through all thicknesses in order to prevent the filling from shifting. (Dictionary.com)

Tufting is tying, really, and all "quilting" is are the stitches placed to keep the three layers together. Tying is simply stitching with a greater distance between the stitches then a more traditional stitch. I say traditional because it was once necessary to stitch closely to keep the batting in place. Modern battings have made tying a very viable option for quilting and for me is the preferred method. I have tried machine quilting, and I have to say that I prefer cuddling with a tied quilt. They fluff and become squishy because the batting is allowed freedom to, well, squish.

Really, what it comes down to is semantics and personal preference. Tying is claimed to not be quilting, and I say it is only the distance between stitches that changes peoples views. Well, are we now going to be stitch Nazi's? With tape measure in hand to see if it's "real" quilting? Please read my smile into that statement, but really, think about it. There are those that claim it is only a "real" quilt with "real" quilting if it's done by hand! Well then, tying is more "real" quilting then machine quilting is, as it's done by hand:)-

My point is that to define a craft that is done to share love seems to be a sad way to perpetuate joy. A quilt, 2 layer's of fabric with a batting in between held toghether with stitches, is a physical embodyment, and manifestation, of warmth... Joy... Family... Friends... Home. It is not lightly that I share my quilts with people. And, possibly, why I don't make all that many. Quilting is personal, I've seen it first hand just what a quilt can achieve in the right hands. So, please, don't judge a quilt by the distance between stitches. Judge it based on the love it represents, and the joy it brings.

Politics

I almost didn't write this post, but I feel compelled for some reason. Tonight I read a crafty blog by a woman who, in essence, accused conservatives of being murderers. Yep. Made the comment that it isn't liberals that assassinate people, it's the conservatives that have the guns. Needless to say I won't be reading her any longer.
My point isn't that she shouldn't say what she believes, it is instead that we each need to understand why we believe what we believe. Does she really believe that conservative kill people? Does she really believe that it is only the right on the political spectrum that have evil among them?? I am shocked at such an allegation.
So, I won't read her. I won't spend my precious free time conversing via blog with someone who is so one sidedly angry.
Which is why I don't post politics or religion here. This is my soft space, my space full of sewing, fabric, family and joy. Not anger, not one sided abuse.

Whew.

Okay, now on a different note, I'm going to start a few new things here in September. One will involve giving away fabric I will simply never use; the other is more posting of quilts done by my family, and of my own musings on what quilts are. I've decided to follow along here with Mr.Monkeysuit (though really all I blog about is quilts as is:) The point is that I've really only blogged about the quilts I've made as I've made them (oh, and cleaning!)... Not much of me in there, so I'm gonna start expanding a little on the things I talk about, even if it is still quilt related:) So I may be posting more regularly, but not always with something done by me! Hope you all will enjoy:)
And hope you all have a soft, safe place to be in your own life.