To avoid redundancy, I’m moving my blog over to the Quilters Club of America site. Since the new QCA site launched a few months ago I’ve been posting in both places, which seems silly.
So, to find me, go to Jodie’s Blog on the QCA site.
See you there!
~Jodie
It’s mid-July and the garden is blooming, which is a feat here in Georgia what with our heat. One of those easy care plants that weathers the heat and humidity is this pineapple-like Eucomis. It takes zero care, multiplies but not too much, and has long interest what with its strappy leaves. Here’s a page of them on Brent and Backy’s Bulb’s site.
Is this a beauty or what? Hymenocallis. It’s been in the garden maybe eight years and has formed a nice big clump. Much like Crinum it needs time to become established and then puts on a show.
We equate bulbs with spring, but in summer they put on quite a show. I’ll try to get a picture of a rain lily. If we get any rain.
~Jodie
A new sewing machine is THE most exciting thing. But add to that a new iron and ironing table and I call that “Quilter’s Heaven.”
And not just any iron–a Reliable iron. Mark Lipinski, my co-host on Quilt Out Loud, and Jean Nolte, Love of Quilting’s editor, rave about the iron, so I’ve been anxious to give it a whirl.
Baby Lock and Reliable are sponsoring our new show on QNNtv.com, Quilt Out Loud, so three boxes arrived on my porch sent from the Quilting Gods.
I set the Reliable iron up on what was my ironing table and the Baby Lock perpendicular to it, so I have a handy little sewing area–and a real ironing surface. Then I got to work on stitching up the steps for the how-to’s from Easy Quilts magazine that we’ll be making in the show. What fun! The Espire sewed the flannel like butter and the Aurifil thread (another sponsor) looks great on the machine appliqued pieces I did. And the Reliable, well, I’ve never used an iron like it and I’ve had many. I just pressed a cotton bedskirt that was totally dried in the dryer and it pressed it like a pro. Finally, an iron that gets hot enough!
Back to packing for my trip to NJ. Can’t wait for you all to see the show!
~Jodie
The next step in my Crazy for Quilts! project is to add in the quilts that are spinning around in my head. For them, I headed to my computer. I design in EQ6 and Corel Draw, so I pulled images from quilts in both and printed them out. Some are quilts that have come to fruition, such as the duckie quilt which was taped for a Love of Quilting episode, and others are still wanting to be made. When I was sure the size of the quilts was right I printed them onto printable fabric. Here I’m cutting them out and placing them on the quilt.
~Jodie
A blurry photo of an arrangement cut from the garden. I had pruned a Japanese maple and some loropetalums, and they needed something white, so off I went to snip laurel blossoms. It turned out nicely! And let the roses remain outside.
~Jodie
This time of year I spend more time in the garden than quilting, thus my report.
Last year we were in a terrible drought. (The lake that was in the news in Georgia is in the next county over.) We were on total water restrictions, so we planted nothing, moved nothing… and now we’re doing double duty this spring. But we are NOT complaining. We’ve been getting at least and inch of rain each week. Happiness is!
This is the entrance from the driveway to the backyard. The path leads to the pond and the deck and porch.
Native dogwoods and azaleas in the front yard.
I should have taken a picture of the manure pile. It’s going down.
This is what you see when you pull in the driveway. Can’t guarantee Rimsky will be there each time though. Mr. Scaredy Cat. We just planted blue daze and angelonia in the bed and added another pyracnatha to match the one that you can just see to the left in front of the sundial.
Time for another trip to the nursery. (Blossom and Bloom)
~Jodie
The April online auction of Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts is underway. This time, in addition to some great quilts, there’s a unique item up for bidding–you can wear what you win!
From Ami: “Sue Stewart brought this men’s XL denim shirt to the Bernina teacher reunion and asked everyone attending to autograph it (see below). Somewhere on this shirt are the signatures of these famous quilters, designers, teachers, Bernina educators, and quilting/sewing magazine editors. Thank you all for lending your names to the AAQI’s mission of fighting Alzheimer’s disease. I know the winning bidder will be inspired to create great things just wearing this shirt!
Jenny Raymond, Kimerberly Eimmo, Mary Ray, Lynda MH Faires, Pokey Bolton, Jenny Raymond, Jackie Robinson, Jodie Davis, Debra Beadles Young, Alice Kolb, Linda Stewart, Anita Shackelford, Elizabeth Spannring, Gayle Hillert, Li Hertzi, Nancy Eha, Bobbie Aug, Pat Holly, Kim Deneault, Sue Nickels, Linda Fidler, Kathy Kansier, Vickie Tracy, Claire Shaeffer, Paula Scaffidi, Kathy Delaney, Pamela Mostek, Cathie Hoover, Rochelle Harper, Elsie Campbell, Yvonne Porcella, Paula Reid, Linda McGehee, Susan Deal, Judy Hahner, Susan Stewart, Jeanette Pie, Jane Sassaman, Robbie Joy Eklow, Luana Rubin, Jane Garrison, Susan Cleveland, Jennifer Gigas, Joanie Zeir Poole, Allison Stilwell, Tracy Stilwell, Linda Teufel, Kay Hickman, Sheila Rauen, Judy Simmons, Mary Martin, Barb Valck, Susan Schrempf, Kerry White, Melody Crust, Susan Beck, Virgina A. Walton, Mary Stori, Linda Lee, Louise Cutting, Judy Neukman, Helen Gregory, Lezette Thomason, Carolyn Lowe, Mary Mashuta, Roberta Horton, Renae Haddadin, and Ami Simms (inscribed to the highest bidder)”
~Jodie
The Valentine quilt on the cover sets the stage for another great issue of Love of Quilting chock full of patterns.
And some great technique articles. This one continues long arm expert Dawn Cavanaugh’s ongoing series on her favorite subject. Wait until you see the photo of the quilting in the magzine. Wow!
I Wooly Love You by Janet Stone combines pieced Stepping Stone blocks and cute sheep and–appropriately enough–hearts appliqued in alternate blocks.
What a great idea! The stickable clothing for these Paper Dolls is simply the pre-printed fabric fused to fusible fleece and cut out. Designer Clarinda M. Nelson even thought to put an envelope pocket on the back of the quilt to hold the clothing.
Frontier Nights celebrates designer Connie Cerdena’s immigrant ancestor. It sure caught my eye!
How wonderful to be able to recreate a quilt from the collection of the International Quilt Study Center, and even more wonderful to use reproduction fabrics from that exact quilt! Andover Fabrics makes this possible with their stunning line. And you can order a kit to make your own Star of Bethlehem.
~Jodie
I’m to the rim of the second rendition of a kitty bed I’ve been working on, on and off for quite awhile. The first one I made was too small when felted. Here I’ve used Cascade doubled and am making it huge so hopefully it’ll felt up just right. The kitties are waiting…
One of the projects Jayne and I worked on while on our bird watching trip last week was an idea I had for placemats. This isn’t quite what I had in mind, which is the way the creative process works. We’re both very pleased. I’ll hand sew the binding on the plane (or on one of them) tomorrow.
~Jodie
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