2010 Jan. 1

Wow. Can you believe 2010 is here?
I don't make any resolutions normally, but this year I have one - to start my blog again. Here it is. I am proud of myself for figuring out how to post from a new email address, which was accomplished by simply adding myself as a new author. Hope it works. No computer wizards here. Sigh.
A friend of mine has encouraged me to start it up again and to post about nutritional things I have learned and to discuss health issues. So not all the posts will be about cats or quilts. In fact quilts have taken a backseat in my life for the past year and 8 months. Cats, on the other hand, are ever present in my life. I have three of the little beasties: Twinnie, Lumpy, and Gizmo. I hope to feature them in a few posts from time to time. That should bore everyone. Hmm, which is more boring, do you suppose - my cats or my health issues? That's a tough one. Hopefully, my health insights will be of some use to a few people, but I doubt that my cat stories will be.
I leave you on this first day of the year and the first day of my return to blogging with a thing I have learned: don't eat artificial sweeteners. Period. They are unbelievably bad for you and no one should be consuming them. You can research this for yourself, as I have, and you will conclude that the very first kind thing you can do for your body and brain is to stop consuming any and all artificial sweeteners. In case you think that was an easy thing for me to give up, let me assure you that I used to drink lots of diet cokes every day and I missed them immensely at first. Also, if you are drinking them thinking that they will keep your weight down, you need to rethink that one. Some studies have shown that you will lose an average of 25 pounds in a year if you eliminate artificial sweeteners. Nope, I have lost track of where to look that up, but I am sure you can find that info if you look for it. In my case, I did lose 25 pounds in a year, but not drinking diet cokes was only one small change I made. (This blog will not be all about weight loss, by the way. It will be about eating healthy, etc.)
Happy new year to all of you.
Sheila H.

Found a new blog!

While surfing around on the computer today, I found a new blog that is written by Barbara Brackman. I am a huge fan of her scholarship in regards to fabric dating and the history of quilts. Her books have been an invaluable resource for me. When I work on my antique miniature quilt series, it is vital to date the fabrics correctly and to pair them up with a quilt pattern that was popular in the same era. Good reference books are worth their weight in gold to me! So, a big thank you to Barbara Brackman for all her good works. If I can figure out how to do it correctly, I will try to put a link to her blog up here.
Till next time, whenever that might be........
Sheila Holland

A Miniature Quilt

Remember Me

This is a miniature quilt that is 7 3/8" square. I designed it for a guild workshop. The blocks are 2" square, the sashings are 1/4" and the borders are 1/2". These are finished sizes. It is based on a mid-1800's antique signature quilt. The light center square is the signature square and people at the workshop signed the blocks for each other. Each block contains different fabrics, although all are in the blue or red family. (This was in keeping with the friendship aspect of the quilt - it was as though a different person had made each block. A green print was used for the sashing, border and binding. People at the workshop received a complete kit and only had to bring their own scissors, needle and thread and thimble. The project is completely hand pieced and all the pieces were pre-marked with not only the cutting line, but the sewing line as well. The kit also included complete instructions with card stock templates, so that the quilters could reproduce it on their own at a later date. It must have been a successful workshop, as later I saw one of the quilts displayed in a quilt show. I put mine on the back wall of a shadow box and put a reproduction of a tintype of my great-great grandmother in a frame in front of it. I will try to post a photo of that later. It is actually a double frame with the photo on one side and a sentiment that was written on the antique quilt that inspired the miniature: "This beauteous spread will say to thee, from one and all, remember me."
Till next time....

Sheila

Organizing tip for the Salinda Rupp Quilt

Above is an example of how I keep my blocks pieces organized. Here is how to do it:

cut a piece of freezer paper in a size that works well for the block size. For the 6" Salinda Rupp blocks, a piece that is 8 1/2" x 11" works well. Layout all the cut out pieces right side up on the shiny side of the freezer paper. Completely cover them with a piece of waxed paper. Iron on top of the waxed paper. This will adhere the pieces to the freezer paper and the waxed paper to the edges of the freezer paper. Will you get wax on the bottom of your iron? Yes, you will. While it is hot, I run it over a scrap fabric and then clean it with hot iron cleaner when I am done. That is why it is more efficient to do at least several blocks at a time, although it has been my experience that a quilter's iron can usually use a cleaning at any given time. The 8 1/2" x 11" size is a bonus in that you can easily fit them into clear vinyl notebook sheet holders and file them all in a standard inexpensive loose ring binder. This system works especially well for me as I am a hand piecer. To sew a block all I need is my sheet, a needle, thread and thimble. Which leads me to a word about hand piecing. Today most quilters think of hand piecing as a slow process and prefer to use a sewing machine. Do I love sewing machines? Yes, I do. We even collect antique sewing machines. Do I love to machine piece? Yes, I do - when it is the most efficient way to make a particular quilt. However, consider the following points:

• Can I take my sewing machine to the dr.'s office and sew while I am waiting for my appointment? Nope. Can I hand piece them? Yes.
• Can I sew a y-seam as easily as a straight seam when I hand piece? Yes.
• Can I hand piece while I sit on the couch with my husband/family and simultaneously watch a movie? Yes.
• Do I have to wind bobbins? Nope.

I find hand piecing to be very relaxing and fun. Should you give it a try? That is up to you.

Till next time......

Sheila

The Salinda Rupp Quilt

I am off on a new tangent - I joined the Nearly Insane Yahoo Group that is working on the Salinda Rupp Quilt. They work on a block every week. I am going to try and keep up with that, as well as do some extras along the way. They are 6 inch finished blocks and some of them have a lot of pieces. Above is block number 1. I am hand piecing them.

Till next time....

Sheila

759 pieces

Here is another quilt in my series. It is made entirely of fabrics from the last quarter of the 19th century. The hexagons are 1/2" finished across the flats, and yes, it has 759 pieces (if I didn't miscount!). This quilt was inspired by a Susan McCord quilt. (The other quilt was inspired by a photo of an antique Pennsylvania German crib quilt c. 1880.) I call this quilt Field of Diamonds. It is not in the museum. I love scrap quilts, but the ones using a limited amount of fabrics are actually more "showy," especially when the quilts are this size. The above quilt is 12" x 14". Working with hexagons is a favorite of mine. All the quilts in this series are hand pieced and hand quilted. Even the bindings (which finish at 1/8") are sewn by hand.
Thanks for the nice comments that were posted about the other quilt.
Till next time....
Sheila

It's been a long time since I blogged anything, but no one ever makes any comments, so I am supposing that no one ever reads it! Ahh, well, I wll try again.

This past spring, I started a series of miniature quilts made entirely from antique fabrics. About that same time, I started having some health issues, so it has been slow going.

The quilt above is one of two that are now in The International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is 14.25" x 14.25". I need a camera with more pixels. Hope this shows up at least moderately well. It features a Lancaster Blue fabric in the center, but it may not show up. I will put up some more pics soon.

Happy quilting to all,

Sheila