Cleaning out the pantry... with some help

Here you see the Giz. Short for Gizmo. I inherited him as a kitten after my father passed away. He is a huge help. Before the holidays, I thought I should straighten out my corner cupboard that I use as a pantry. As luck would have it, a spot opened up and the Giz was there to fill it.
Hope you all had a nice holiday yesterday.
Sheila

Honey Crisp Apples

We like to try new foods. While shopping one day, my husband grabbed a bag of a new variety of apple named Honey Crisp. Turns out it has been around for awhile, but it was new to us. It was absolutely the very best apple we have ever tried. My cousin has a theory that we are all searching for the perfect whatever. You know, you want an item and you search endlessly for the perfect one of it. Well, we have arrived with the perfect apple. They are crisp, sweet - but not too sweet- and have a nice shelf life. I decided to look it up on Wikipedia and the funny thing about this apple is that they don't know the parents of the breed. The University of Minnesota that does extensive apple rearing and note taking on the subject somehow lost track of one of the parents. One is a variety called Keepsake, but the other parent is unknown. Maybe it was simply a numbered variety that the university decided to delete. Anyway, isn't it odd that the best apple in the world is a mystery? You can read more at: http://www.minnesotaharvest.net/apple_honeycrisp.htm
Try one, you will like it.
Sheila

Back to Quilty Things

I gave some thought to posting some free quilt patterns, but then I thought - hey there is already so much out there in cyber space, why not just give you a link? There is a website that I visited briefly, so I didn't research who writes it, but whoever it is does a great job. Once again that generosity thing I talked about earlier. Anyway, anything from quick little projects to Block of the Months are posted or linked. Give it a look-see at:

http://www.bomquilts.com/index.php

You are sure to find something that interests you. The best part is that it is free.

You are probably asking yourself what does the quilt pic up above have to do with the website that's linked. Nothing. It is an antique quilt top in my collection. I just put the pic there because I could.

More later.

Sheila

Cooking with the gas turned off!

That is the slogan for the Chambers kitchen stove. That 's the Ebay photo of our new/old stove. We bought it last May and spent the next 2 months restoring it. It is my favorite stove ever and I mean ever. Ours is a 1950 model. The small door on the lower right is a utility closet and not a small oven, as is sometimes advertised. The large door is the oven and above it is a griddle with a broiler underneath. There are 3 burners with a thermowell behind the front one on the right. There is a small shelf at the top with a light underneath it. This little baby weighs in at 450 pounds. Isn't it a beauty? The slogan comes from the fact that it is so well insulated that you fire up the thermowell or oven, put the food in for a certain amount of time and then shut the gas off and let everything finish cooking on retained heat.

I have to take a moment now and talk about how great the Net is. Through the efforts of lots of interesting and generous people, just about anything a person needs to know is available. There is a wonderful site that lets you download - for free -literature, advertisements, cookbooks, time charts, etc. for the Chambers stove. Also there is a wonderful forum where people will tell you not only how to restore them, but where to get parts. What a wonderful resource. It is: http://www.vintagechambers.com/

Anyway, in the photo our stove looks pretty good, but it actually needed a lot of help. For cosmetic reasons, we replaced the oven door, as it had a chip on the side and had the top and shelf re chromed. We tore it down completely and replaced the insulation in it and my husband repainted all the interior portions (they don't show when it is assembled) with heat proof paint. We replaced all the aluminum tubing with copper and on and on. Now it proudly sits in my kitchen and cooks like crazy. My husband and I both have a background in mechanical drafting and we know good engineering when we see it. Simply put, we love this stove and are so very proud of ourselves for restoring it. Here is a general observation about life: You appreciate something a lot more if you have some old fashioned elbow grease in it.

Till next time.....

Give credit where it is due

I read other people's blogs - usually ones that have something to do with quilting. Lately I am seeing a lot of problems with theft. Quilters post free patterns for people to use - with limits. People are copying them and selling them or representing them as their own work. Aside from the legal aspects, this is just so wrong. I used to belong to a couple of guilds. Now I don't. I was involved with a fund raising project for a presidential home to reproduce an antique quilt. The lady in charge of the group -and I use the term "lady" loosely here, took one of my working drawings of a quarter of a large applique block, copied it to make a whole block drawing and proceeded to put her name on it. She didn't stop there. It got much worse and no one could stop her. The guild finally had to inlist the aid of a lawyer to tell her that she couldn't copyright stuff that (a) wasn't even included in the final pattern - that would be the working drawing that she copied from me - and (b) was other people's work. My husband and I actually did all the work (text, graphics and drawings) on the final pattern that is sold in the gift shop. We have all the Auto Cad computer files to prove it. Not many quilters work in Auto Cad. (We gave the copyright on everything to the guild, by the way. ) However, this "lady" just couldn't be stopped. She has taken that quilt from one end of the country to the other and never mentioned the small group of people that actually did all the work or even the guild that funded it. What do you think of such a pathetic person?

Here is my point: If you put something on the internet and expect that no one will steal it, you are very optimistic. I can guarantee you that someone will. That is just the way it is. And to all the people who are trying to take the credit for other people's work, I have the following to say:

If you are so devoid of talent that you are stooping to theft, people who know you (or even people who meet you and talk to you for a few minutes) will realize that you are too stupid to design a quilt. Also I would like to point out that information flies through the internet any more and each day the odds get better and better that you will be found out. Then your reputation will go from a quilt expert to a liar and a thief. This recently happened to someone who is selling patterns and that info has made blog news.

People, people, people, do the right thing and give credit to the person who deserves it. People who take the time and make the effort to give you something nice for free just want you to recognize that and give them the credit for it. This is not a difficult concept.

That is the end of this rant.


Sheila

Save a cat's life - use the Heimlich Manuever!

Sandy, a friend of mine, emailed me a true story and I will post it here:

Around 1982 , the girls were 10 and 14, we owned a very lovable, furry ,
talkative, orange striped, main coon cat named Tigger. I had
determined that I would keep him healthier and live longer if he only ate hard
cat food----not many treats, or milk. Well, my girls were always wanting
to share some of their food with him, and since he was pretty much a glutton,
one day he could not turn them down when they gave him chunks of cooked
chicken. He started to eat with such gusto, he basically inhaled some of
the pieces, which had some skin on them. Apparently, some of the chicken
got lodged, and he began to heave, but nothing came out--------the girls started
yelling that something was wrong with Tigger and to come here. By the time
I came to them, he was laying on his side, eyes staring, gagging and
heaving, but could not breath. The girls were in hysterics, we thought he would
suffocate right in front of us on the kitchen floor. I do not know what
possessed me to do this , but I got on my knees on the floor,sat
backward, laid him belly up on my lap, and put my hands around his
chest , with his forearms and paws draped over my hands. I then with firmness,
gave him a quick squeeze and released, I did it again and out popped the
particles of chicken and stretchy skin. He started to breath again and
laid for a minute quietly on the floor, with the girls crying and stroking his
fur. I got him a bowl of water and he drank it. I cleaned up the mess, and after
a few minutes he was on his feet again. And you will never guess what he
did next. He started rubbing up against the girls legs again, in and out,
in and out, and meowing for more treats. We could not believe it-------he acted
like nothing had even happened to him. We got the biggest laugh
from that dumb kitty.---------that is it Sheila, --------he was a really cool
cat.

Quite a story, isn't it? Maybe this will save a cat's life. I am not sure I would have had the sense to try it before reading this, but I would now. Just an added note about Sandy - we have been friends since the 4th grade and that was a long time ago. Anyone who has a friend like her in this life can count themselves among the very luckiest. Friends like her don't come along very often.
Sheila

The Cat part

I suppose a lot of you are wondering about the cat part of the title of my blog. I meant to post some pics sooner, but didn't. That's a photo of Baby up above. I have always heard that whatever you are doing when you are 10 years old is what you are meant to do. Well, I always had kittens to play with and the rest of the time I had a needle in my hand, sewing something. Guess what? That is what I do now and I am 6 x 10.

We had to put Baby out of his misery this year. He was only about 5 years old, was a huge guy with huge paws and was sickly from day one. We first saw him when his mother brought him out of hiding at 2 weeks of age. When he was tiny, I made a flannel pouch that hung around my neck and I would put him in it so that he could sleep after he got the appropriate medicine dose and hopefully get over whatever current illness he had and I could go about my business. This summer his kidneys and liver shut down and he couldn't recover. Even though we have three of his brothers, his mom and another one that I actually inherited - a story for another day, we still miss him. You always miss the one you lost. When he was well, which was rare, he was a real goof ball and so funny. Because of all his illnesses, he was really spoiled and truly a big baby - hence his name. We still miss him.

Sheila

Oops

I am so computer challenged. Try this link to Gail Wilson, as I am sure the other one didn't work.
http://www.gailwilsondesigns.com/
She is such a talented artist and makes really comprehensive kits as well as finished items.
Sheila

A Little Bear

Hi to all.

Just trying to figure out how to post a photo. I know this blogging thing is supposed to be easy, but it is challenging for some of us. The quilt above is 7" x 9" and the bear is about 2" high when she is standing up. The cedar chest is 5" wide. The bear is made from a Gail Wilson pattern. What a talented person she is. The quilt is my own pattern and has 12 blocks that are 1 1/2" square. I used an antique Pennsylvania German color combination with yellow, green and pink. I think I may need a better camera or at the very least better camera skills. Oh well.

Working on Quilts

Recently I was asked to bring 10 doll quilts to hang in a quilt show. When I started rounding up the quilts, I realized that I hadn't made any new ones in a long time. That's when I decided to hit it hard and have maybe 12 new ones for next year's show. Well, new as in "newly made" but not new fabrics. Also think it is time to come up for some new quilting terminology. Doll quilt doesn't really describe what I am trying to accomplish and neither does miniature. A true miniature is 12"= 1". That means you take a 12" block and scale it down to 1" block. Sometimes that doesn't work. So my criteria is that if you take a photo of the quilt, you won't be able to determine what size the block is. The block above features indigo blue, a nice green, a bold yellow and the famous Lancaster blue - all antiques and all dear to my heart. Guess what size the half square triangle units are?

What's all the fuss?

I read a lot of blogs and visit a lot of websites that are quilting related. I have taught a few quilt making classes at a local shop and a quilt guild. One of the things I notice is that people don't know how to draft a quilting block. It is probably because of the advent of strip piecing back in the 1970's or early 1980's. Strip piecing is a fine method for some patterns, but it is not the beginning and end of every quilt pattern. If people would just take the time to learn the basics of pattern drafting, it would save them no end of trouble in the long run. The basic concept is so simple and people just don't want to get it. I will never understand why. So, here goes:

A quilt block is designed on a grid system. You know - like graph paper. In fact all you have to do is buy a pad of graph paper that has four squares x four squares that equal one inch and you are ready to go. It is as simple as that. In the above picture, a piece of graph paper is depicted. A one inch square has been drawn on the graph paper, so a four by four grid is encompassed. Since the graph paper is composed of 1/4" squares, to add a seam allowance around the block, another line as been drawn all around the square. If you wanted a one inch square in your finished block, you would actually cut a 1 1/2" square - 1" + 1/4" + 1/4" = 1 1/2". It is as simple as that. This is the basic method of drawing any quilt block.

There are software programs on the market for drawing blocks. I have Quilt Pro and EQ and like them both and use one or the other depending on the task at hand. However, they are the most helpful for people who understand the basic concept behind drafting a block. I was shocked to buy a pattern by someone who will go un-named here, but suffice to say that these patterns are everywhere and the blocks had been drawn in a software program. The pattern was full of errors and some of the blocks were difficult to sew although they were easy to draw in the program. Just because you can draw it doesn't mean it is a good design. This is where an understanding of the basics is necessary.

Start at the beginning and master every step along the way and it will serve you well.

Wow

I was trying to set up an account with Google so that I could leave comments on other people's blogs and got my own blog! Now I am trying to figure out how to do everything. This may take awhile. Wish me luck. For now I will say my life centers around my husband, my cats and my quilts.
Sheila in KY