Summer is getting away from me...

Hope all you creative people out there are in enjoying your summer. Summer in Chicago had been filled with hot and humid days and nights. We had three 90 degree days last year and twenty three this year! It has been a scorcher this year. I am not complaining mind you because come February, I’ll be wishing we were in July again!

My summer has been really busy. Let see it started out with baby sitting a fawn in the back yard for a month or more. I could not do any weeding in the back yard because baby and mommy moved in and decided to stay a while. They love Hostas for more reasons than one. They eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner and when they are not eating them, they hide under them when the flowerbeds are full of weeds. In the spring we watch for a sale on mulch at Home Depot. This is a really great sale on Cedar Mulch for the flower beds. We got 100 bags again this year! We did a pretty good job lay out that first 60 bags or so but then the Deer moved in…We still have a stack maybe 30 left. I will get them in the beds before the snow flies.

In late June and early July we had visitors from Denmark, Bjarne, our Norwegian cousin and his Danish wife Ingrid. It has been 6 years since their last visit so they decided it was time to come to go on vacation with us, “Smith style.” We took them to Michigan to experience our Annual Smith family camping trip for the first time. It was an interesting trip packed with lots of fun and full of memories.














This is after a few bottles of wine on one of our first evenings camping. We were enjoying our selves and making plans for what we will do when we go to Denmark in September. My siblings and I have decided that we should all go visit them. We have talked about it and talked about it…it is time to do it.
The last quilting project that I showed you was a wall hanging that I will be taking with me and I have not finished the quilting. I need to do it next week. September 9th will be here before I now it.
 
In the mean time I thought I would show you some of the other things I do besides Quilting. I have been doing embroidery and digitizing for industrial embroidery machines for about 12 years now. I had purchased an industrial embroidery machine to be used in my “Retirement career”. I had hoped that my computer career would last a few more years and I would do my retirement career part time. Well as many of you know things have not worked out real well lately with the computer career so I have been ramping up my sewing career a notch or so. I am re-opening “Stitchin’ on the Fox”.

I have been going to the Long Grove Farmers market on Sunday Morning and talking to people about my embroidery company. I have demonstrated may uses for embroidery which do not involve a Tee shirt or a hat!

These two panels are examples of what I do with my embroidery machine. The first one is of a 50 year old wedding announcement! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. I really had planned to give them the panel on the right. It is Corinthians 13:13, “Faith, Hope, Love but the greatest of these is Love” which I digitized and embroidery on a Heritage lace panel.

Greg and I went to, Apple Valley Minnesota for a 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration for them the first weekend of August. I had hoped to find that Carolyn had saved her wedding invitation and somehow I could get a copy of it so I could digitize it and sew it out for them but I made the other design just in case I needed it. I also waited to sew the design until after our visit so I could verify what color thread I wanted to use when I sewed it. Gold was the color of choice for a 50th Wedding Anniversary but…if it was really going to clash with their décor, I would use something else.
After visiting with Carolyn on the evening before the celebration, I found out that she indeed did have their invitation and I could even get her to let me borrow it without too many questions! So now…my decision was made, I will do her invitation as I had hoped. Then Saturday evening at their celebration, Marilyn, Carolyn’s a very dear friend (and Carolyn’s quilting buddy) got up to speak at the dinner and say “Grace” before we ate. She spoke a very moving small speech which included the Bible verse Corinthians 13:13! It brought me to tears (everyone probably thought I was nuts if they noticed…) after looking all week for just the right bible verse for them and almost decided against using it!
So I returned home and sewed them both! Happy 50th Anniversary, Mike and Carolyn Gerkin!

Colors of Nature

This summer sure has been busy. It always brings yard work and beautiful flowers. This summer was special because it brought us a baby deer. I spoke about it in my previous blog but thought I would add “the ending” here.

Along with the baby deer, we also had relatives from Denmark come to visit this summer.  Bjarne and Ingrid arrived on June 29th and planned to go on our annual Smith Camping trip with us. We were scheduled to leave on the 2nd of July.  Since we would be in Michigan over the Fourth of July, we had encouraged the baby deer to leave the back yard before we left and had hoped that they(mother and baby) would stay away.  Greg mowed the lawn and we secured the fence certain that the baby deer would not be able to get into the yard again.

  
Well they found their way back into the backyard and stayed the whole time while we were gone!

When we returned, Mom was keeping a watchful eye on us.  I am sure that she loved the quiet back yard while we were gone.

The Baby rests peacefully in the yard right out in the open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Mom decided to leave the yard, the Baby who is getting stronger and bigger every day is pretty frantic.  He want to go with Mom in the worse way.  So we open the side gate and show him the way! They come back to visit regularly,  watching us from across the street.  The baby is too big to squeeze through the gap in the fence and too little to hop over it. Mommy deer knew she had a good thing with all those Hostas in my back yard!

 
My yard is beautiful this time of the year with all the flowers in bloom.These are my new favorite Petunias for my porch pots, aren't they beautiful?

              

Oh so pretty! The butterfies and humming birds like these alot!
 

 

The moss rose is loving this hot weather this year!

The garden is in it's glory!  It reminds me of the bright fabric waiting upstairs for me to use them in my quilts. I finished a wall hanging top which I need to quilt so I can take it to Ingrid when I visit in September.

Butterflies in the Garden is the name of this piece. It will be given to Ingrid when I go to Denmark in September.

 
 
 

We'll show you when it is finished.  I need to get inspired and quilt it now.. Might have to find a butterfly design or make one...  Let the colors of life inspire you!

Happy sewing!

Jan

New Quilts soon....

But in the mean time, I decided to show you what fun we had last week. 

It has been an interesting week last week. We came home from a weekend camping trip to find a baby deer had been born in our back yard. Oh he was so sweet. I know that this has nothing to do with Genealogy but I could not help blogging about it because it was fun to watch the interaction between the mother and the baby.

The baby stayed in the back yard for the week as Mommy came and went during the day.
Our neighborhood is very quiet during the week with most of the residence working our side of the home. The baby found many plant to sleep under when he wanted to hide. It is a good thing that I never got around to getting the weeding done in the back yard because it gave him lots of places to hide.

And by the end of the week, he was no longer hiding.

By Saturday morning, mommy and baby were really comfortable in the back yard. They spent the morning playing. Mid morning the neighbors began to start their weekend projects and Mommy decided that there was too much going on in the neighborhood so she urged the baby to leave the safety of the back yard through a gap between the gate and the fence so off they fled! Good Bye Mommy and Bambi! It was fun watching you grow!

Latest Quilt....Quilt of Change..

Thought I could do a quick new post.  I have been busy investigating long arm quilting machines.  I am planning to buy one to make my quilting easier and to see if I can do what I love for a living.... What a concept!  Love what you do for a living!  Next week we see the APQS Machines....Oh boy!

This quilt was given to my Daughter-in-Law this weekend for her birthday.  Last winter she had redecorated her bedroom. SHe had painted the room and bought a new comforter.  So I made a mental note of the color and her birthday present was born..... I gather the fabrics, selected the perfect quilt block, "Lover's Knot" and put it together.  This spring about 12 weeks later, we visited them and I very carefully brought the not quite finished quilt top to check the colors.  Imagine my shock, when she proudly showed me her new comforter, a different comforter than she had at Christmas!!! I wanted to kick her butt!

I was floored to say the least..so now here I am with an almost completed quilt top and the colors are all different.  I came home and found that I had fabric which would allow me to make her something which matched better but not in time for her birthday, May 7th!  So I decided to go ahead and quilt the original quilt. I would give it to her and she can keep it for a throw and now I will do a smaller wall hanging for the bedroom wall...And I told her , "Do not change your colors on me, OK!"  She laughed and promised she would not.  And by the way she loves her new Quilt

If you look closely you can see the quilting.  This was quilted on my Embroidery machine.. with many hoop changes!!!  I have several others cut out for gifts so there will be more to follow...

Happy sewing!

Jan

Birthday's today....

We have a few birthday's today. My Grandson Matthew turns 14 and as I think of it it makes me feel old or at least older!  I will be getting on the phone with him soon.  Happy Birthday, Matthew! 

Joyce Schmalz will be celebrating her birthday too.  Joyce is my sister Sharon's Mother-in-law and she will recieve her Quilt today! I am excited. I can not wait to here what she thinks! 

Happy Birthday, Joyce!

On to the next project......This is a new block for me! It's called "Lover's Knot" and I will be making several wallhangings or lap quilts for some other birthdays which will be coming up in spring and early summer.

I made this one two weeks ago and  I took it with me when we visited Shawn and Amber last weekend.  I wanted to make sure that the colors would work with thier bedspread.  Much to my surprise, Amber decided to re-redecorate their bedroom. Oh, holy crap! Now what?

When we were there at Christmas, Amber had gotten a new bedspread so I made a mental note and collected fabric for her wallhanging accordingly.  Now she has a totally different color scheme. Oh my, I never thought that I would run into this problem!  I had already started my next one which would be a "Lover's Knot" project  for Kyle and Christa. It has some special fabric which reminded me of Kyle!  ... Amber's birthday is in May. Now what?

This week I found some new fabric but will I have enough time to do it...I hope so. I will have to get right on it! Will get the fabric washed and ready to go so I can work on it this week.  Since I will be in Michigan and Boston the week after next I have alot to do!  And now I guess I have an extra Wall hanging.  Oh heck, I'll find someone to give it too! 

Happy Easter to all, Happy Birthday to some and happy sewing to the rest......I guess I better get busy, time is a wasting... May your seams be straight and your colors bold and beautiful!

Love,

Jan

A Quilt is born ...one October day...

The snow is melted for now...though they are expecting flurries again this next weekend. I need spring...the winter has been long and I am ready.  We are making our spring, summer and fall plans. Just finished another quilt top and have started then next one...and have two more in the planning stages.  Fabric laying out everywhere and not enough time for all the things I want to do.

I wanted to show you the first version of the quilt from last October American Patchwork Quilting.  Some day I'll do the leaf version but I enjoyed  making the two versions that I have made of this pattern.

I am currently an unemployed Computer Professional. I have found myself in this unfortunate situation at my age, too young to retire but too old to be a new hire. I am trying to figure out how I can reinvent myself for the second career which I hope to take me into retirement.  I want it to be 'something" which uses my computer skills and my 45 years of sewing experience...Humm, wonder what that might be...more on that a little later.

My father introduced me to fabric and my mother taught me to sewing...Dad encouraged me to learn and for all the years he was with us he provided me with fabric through his businesses.  So I LOVE fabric and I have a wonderful stash but I have never seen a piece of beautiful fabric which wasn't waiting for a new home! 

Last fall on a beautiful Indian summer day, I stopped into a new quilt shop for me and an old one... The new one was "Quilt in Joy"  in Huntley, Illinois. (http://www.quiltinjoy.com)   It's a nice quilt shop that is a couple of years old now. I always wanted to open a Quilt Shop there but I never had the funds.   Oh my, they have beautiful fabric, this is gonna be tough.  There are many kinds of fabric shops today,  some specialize in "1930's reproduction fabrics", "Civil War reproductions fabrics", "Thimbleberries fabric" and many more.  I like the shops that have beautiful, bold, vibrant colors. I think I have found a closer to home new favorite Quilt Shop. It's a really nice shop.  I resisted as best I could but I found some beautiful fabric on the clearance table which called my name loudly. I did not know what project these would be for just yet but a couple of yards each will do.

I met some former coworkers for lunch in DeKalb and we had a really nice visit.  On my way home I decided to stop at my other favorite Quilt shop in Hampshire, Illinois,  "Judy's Quilt and Sew ".  (http://www.judysquiltnsew.com)  It a wonderful shop which has beautiful, vibrant fabric but it's about 35 mile away.  So I have to make really good excuses to drive there and lunch in Dekalb with my friends gives me a good excuse!  Lunch with friends and vibrant fabric go together fabulously!  Once again I looked around and found a beautiful floral which gave me the idea to use the new pattern from my new quilt magazine! So a couple more fabrics from the clearance rack and the brain is planning the next project. It turned out beautifully if I don't say so my self.  This is the first quilt that I had machine quilted.  The quilter did a great job and now I am very interested in a long arm machine and a new retirement career.  I called the quilt "Flower Garden Dreams".  The Quilt works well in my newly painted spare bedroom.

Believe or not this is the same block as the leaf block except I cut a five inch square of the beautiful floral fabric and sewed to accent fabrics offset to the side as they showed in the directions.  The difference is how I laid the blocks out. I twisted each block 90 degrees from the previous block and this is the pattern you get. It looked rather Oriental to me and I decided I liked it!

Up close view. I supplemented the fabrics I bought that October day with two pink fabrics which I had in my stash and this quilt was born on that October afternoon from the clearance table!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Then the border of blossoms.

Sewing pleasures to all!

Love, Jan

Joyce's Birds - March 2, 2010

Wow, the time sure has flown by.  It is March already and it has been a month since I wrote a Quilt blog. Sorry it has been so long but I have been very busy. I will try to write a blog a bit more often....

It has been a busy few weeks for me because I have been trying to get ready for my sister’s 50th birthday. I am having all my sibling and their spouses come for a long weekend visit so we can celebrate her birthday. Today I will highlight a quilt that I have made for her Mother-in-law which she will take home with her on Sunday evening.

This block is an offset Log Cabin which I have had quite a bit of fun with. It was a block featured on the cover of American Patchwork Quilting in the October 2009 issue. I modified it just a little.  Instead of piecing the square leaf block, I found a large print which I could use as the 5 inch center block.  Then I "built" the log cabin type offset around the five inch block.

 The ideas for this quilt developed after my brother-in-law saw my log cabin quilt which I had made for our travel trailer….

Yes, I have a quilt in our travel trailer! It is a log cabin block which features birds, birch trees, tree bark and looks very outdoor like….

I took it a step further and recover the valance with the bird fabric and made some cute curtains for the trailer to match. We also added a new cute bird wall paper border and the trailer now looks like new. Michael (my brother-in-law) stated that his mother would love the bird fabric and Michael loved the birch tree fabric.

SO I went in search of bird fabric and found this fabric which to me looked like a fabric which any mother would have loved! The fabric line has several coordinating fabrics which I used but I also added some touches of my own. The fabric highlights Cardinals, Robins, Sparrows, Hummingbirds and Wrens. A coordinating fabric used for the backing highlights a beautiful combination of raspberries, vines and leaves.

I added an additional modification to the block by adding a shadow or window box grid around each block using a pretty green fabric and finished the quilt with a matching bird border.

Shows Border Fabric                        Shows Pieced Back and Border

 And Robin Block up close

This block was really fun to work with. Next I will feature another quilt which I made with this block but I arranged the blocks differently for a very unique quilt.

Enjoy ... until my next Blog.  May you have "sew" much fun!

Happy Sewing,

Jan