goose tracks

This is better than going to a quilt show! I can look at the quilts with my coffee in hand and the many different photos of each quilt is much better than a white glove lady turning over the corner of a quilt. The stories with each quilt are all wonderful, heartfelt and inspiring. I learned about this blog festival through Vicki Welsh and her Field trips in Fiber.

Thank you Amy and all her sponsors for doing this. 

I made this quilt for my oldest son. He was in the navy for 5 years and has always been my little patriot. When he was 4 he wanted to give his Dad an American flag to hang outside the house for Christmas. His favorite Christmas tree at the Festival of Trees in Bookings was always the tree done by the American Legion with American flags all over it, not the one with Lego's that he helped decorate or the one dripping with candy. It was no surprise when he enlisted when he was a senior in high school.

I finished this quilt for him last spring, he chose navy blue and red and the goose tracks pattern.  Most of the fabrics have a star motif. I added orange because he likes to hunt and strongly believes in our right to bear arms. One print has a pen nib which represents his interest in our democratic process. He was president of the Veterans Club in college and helped write legislation to establish a Veterans Resource Center on college campuses in South Dakota. He also spoke to the House and Senate Committees. I'm so proud of him.  I expanded the reds to include hot pinks and orange because they are like turning the lights on in the quilt. The border is wide piano keys and flying geese with eight point stars in the corners.

It was professionally quilted by Kay Peterson  www.myolivebranch.wordpress.com  with free motion feathers and stars. It is 100 inches square.

I always enjoy learning the history or folklore concerning quilt patterns. The goose track is a pieced variation of the appliqued turkey tracks or wandering foot pattern which was a 3 or 4 toed skinny foot that looked very much like a turkey track popular in the1800's. It was very bad omen to make a Wandering Foot quilt for a baby boy because he would leave home and never come back. So considering westward expansion in the US and lack of dependable communication, a young man going west may very possibly never be heard from again.  My son was 26 when he received this quilt with the hope he doesn't come live with us but it has stars, the North Star, in the corners so he will always find his way home.

Happy Quilting,

Ann

Happy Halloween

Boo

Happy Halloween,

Ann

Crisp Fall Days

Crisp Fall Days
Crisp Leaves

Crisp Apples 

I was looking through a "microwaving for one or two" cookbook and found a recipe for single serving of apple crisp and I thought why measure every time why not make a full recipe of topping and store it in the refrigerator and have it ready for an emergency dessert?  If I make individual servings for hubby and me I won't feel obligated to eat the rest of the 9 x 9 pan one bite at a time every time I walk past it.

Apple Crisp

1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup butter  cut together using a pastry cutter
Store in airtight container in refrigerator

 cut apple into an individual ramekin peeled or not peeled sprinkle with cinnamon

 top with 1/3 to 1/2 cup crumb topping pat lightly

 another sprinkle of cinnamon 

Bake in microwave 2-4 minutes on high depending on power of microwave
Serve warm with ice cream

My favorite fruit......................whatever is in season. This crisp topping is wonderful on blueberries(much less time in the microwave, they explode) peaches, pears, or rhubarb.

Happy Fall,  Ann

Goose Chase Quilt

Fall is in the air and geese are in the sky.
its time to finish this quilt

using a paper guide to stich the grid

last of binding to be hand sewn

wild goose chase

Happy Stitching,
Ann

Sunflowers

Sunflowers just make me smile. Bright yellow against a blue sky.

Sunflowers inspire me



cabinet topper

listed on etsy

quilting on the backside

Happy Quilting,

Ann

Fantastic Eye Exam

And still no prescription eye wear!!!!! I could if I really wanted prescription glasses but my eye doctor said I could wait since the correction is minimal. So I will continue to have reading glasses in every room of the house and then some.

There is a pair in the kitchen, one by the computer, 2 in the living room, 3 in my sewing room, one in my purse, and one in the bathroom, a pair of "weeding" glasses and a spare. Think of all the time I save by not looking for my glasses!!!

Enjoy the Day,
Ann

Jack-o-lanterns

My kids helped with this wall hanging more than a few years ago. Its just not October without hanging it.

Each of my kids drew jack-o-lantern faces on the paper backing from the fusible then drew the faces onto the fabric pumpkin. Their drawings are typical of children at that age.

  I 

The scribble face of a 4 year old and the "no brainers" of the 9 and 11 year olds. (The eyes at the top of the head with no room for a forehead or hair line not that a Jack-o-Lantern needs one.)  They got bored after making 2 faces each so I copied their practice faces onto the remaining pumpkins.  When the 4 year old was about 8 she wanted to replace her Jack-o-Lanterns with better faces. Now that she is 20 and has done a lot of babysitting she sees the charm in it.

The blocks with the Halloween motifs are from an Alexander Henry fat quarter. I let the kids pick out fat quarters when we were fabric shopping. She still remembers the day she picked that one.  We shopped then went to the park and crunched the leaves and had a picnic. It was mommy Erin time. The boys were in school.

It is free motion quilted with copper metallic thread. I stitched around real oak leaves in the borders.

Happy quilting,
Ann

Birthday Reflection

One of my very dearest friends sent me this beautiful bouquet of lilies. Thank you!

I have been celebrating my birthday for well over a week now. It started with cocktails with the neighbors and son, then a weekend trip to Iowa to see cousins from Ireland who were visiting there, a stop at an apple orchard for a couple bags of fresh apples, calls from kids, and hubby taking me out to eat, then this gorgeous bouquet of lilies and they just get better every day.

I am midpoint of another decade. Looking back

10 things I've done:

Mendenhall Glacier Alaska

near Savar Sweden

1.  Married a great guy
2.  Traveled to Ireland, Sweden and Finland
3.  Gave life to 3 wonderful children with the goal that they would become taxpayers.  I have to brag for just a minute here.  Oldest son was in the US Navy for 5 years, is finishing college and working very hard to establish a veterans resource center on campuses in South Dakota. Second son is a civil engineer and is deputy site manager of a wind farm in South Dakota. Youngest daughter is attending college in Minnesota and is in the dental hygiene program.
4. Gone on a hot air balloon ride
5. Built a house and still married
6. Built another house and still married to the same great guy. We have moved 10 times in 30 years all in South Dakota.
7. Have visited 30 states including Washington DC and Alaska and 3 Canadian Provinces.
8. Hosted and exchange student
9. Have completed almost 200 quilts  
10. Am not taking any prescription meds or  prescription eye wear. Just drug store reading glasses in every room of the house.

10 things I would like to do

first woodcarving figures

1. Visit all the state parks in South Dakota
2. Visit all the dams on the Missouri River
3. See the states I haven't been to especially the northeastern United States and Maritime Provinces in autumn
4. Finish my kids photo books
5. Take carving lessons
6. Go sailing
7. Take some watercolor classes
8. Live in one place long enough to establish an asparagus bed   
9. Drink wine and eat cheese in several European countries
10. Avoid ambulance rides and hospital stays   

Seize the Day
Ann
          

Quilt Basting Day

I had a quilt basting day last week. I always wait until I have four or five quilt tops sewn then I set up my Grandma's quilting frame. It is rickety and I have thought about making a new one with markings in the center of each board and carefully measuring and drilling holes from the center so it is absolutely square but it is a very tangible connection to my grandparents. It must be 80 years old because she made quilts in the 1930's. She tacked strips of Grandpa's worn out overalls to the boards to pin the quilt. So I set it up, drop the nails through the holes and measure across at the corners and diagonally and sometimes drill new holes to make it square.


These quilts started as I assembled a round robin quilt from several years ago. A group of quilting friends each passed around a project and each of us added a block to her project. Some made blocks from the Nancy Odem patterns I included in my project others deviated from the patterns but kept with the theme.








The colors were so cheerful and my stash so plentiful of Cabbage Rose fabrics that it lead to the Hummingbird pattern by Darlene Zimmerman using her 30 degree angle. Works great!!

so I made another

Then cut more strips for Puddle Ducks which is a combination of the goose track block also called ducks foot and the duck and ducklings block also called hen and chicks block. However they were sewn together as a Jacob's Ladder block sometimes called a jewel box with sashing and corner stones to make the ducks foot and duck and duckling blocks. I had to plan the layout so the ducks foot and the duck and duckling block intersected with the cornerstones.

Red and Butter a pattern by Barbara Brandenburg. I just love red and yellow together and I just happened to have some in my stash. Sometimes I just have to sew something easy to get back in the swing of quilting. This quilt has a bamboo and cotton blend batting. I had to try it because I have some bamboo fiber socks that are instantly warm to wear with slacks and dress shoes. Ladies you all know what I mean we wear thin socks with dress shoes and our feet are cold and clammy.  I'll let you know how warm it is when I get to the binding.

my Bernina awaits

Happy quilting,
Ann