Thursday, September 14, 2017

For the love of quilting



Did you get to view the eclipse last month? I have viewed other local eclipses over the years, but none as close to total as ours was. The DH was such a hoot. He really got into it, and viewed the event using several different methods - just to see what they would look like. All I had was a small
Great use of a Warm & Natural box!
hole in an index card and projected the image onto a paper I laid on the driveway. The DH, on the other hand, successfully tried all of the following: viewing a cascade of small images through a colander; viewing several images in the dappled light coming through our tree in the front yard; projecting the image through a small hole onto a pan of still water - that was interesting; and making a very large projector out of a Warm and Natural box that a 40 yard roll of batting came in. Now THAT was hilarious. To view the image, you had to stick your head in a hole in the side of the box and watch that you don't block the image coming in through a hole in the top of the box.

Inside the box
Colander view
Thankfully, our neighbor was having an eclipse party, and let us borrow their glasses a couple of times - wow! What really gave me a sense of awe was how special the light was when the eclipse was at the maximum coverage. It was not like regular dusk, but more "alive", more comforting. And the
sudden 10-degree drop in air temperature made it really clear how important the sun is to us. We didn't have a full circle sunset - just a little too much sun peeking out, but there was a definite hint of pink to the clouds. It was as though you could see the outline of the moon's shadow on the earth. Amazing.

News from the studio

 

Welcome home Grown-up Margie

The DH and the truck driver. Margie came in 7 boxes.
Woo Hoo! Little Miss Margie, my beloved 2013 APQS Lenni longarm machine, has found a new home! A lovely lady from about 5.5 hours away came to test drive Miss Margie, and decided she had to have her. I know Miss Margie will be happy in her new home.
Our truck driver bringing the rollers
into the basement.








Now, welcome home Grown-up Margie - my brand-spanking new 2017 APQS Millennium! Yes, her name is also Margie - after my mother who taught me to sew 65 years ago!

Getting Margie on her carriage.
The DH helped as invited.
Margie was delivered on a Thursday, and that Saturday my dealer and her DH came to set her up! Thanks, Sheridan and Jerry! Margie's got lots of bells and whistles, so I've been spending time every day getting used to her new controls, the power fabric advance, thread break sensor, and low bobbin alert (among other wonders of technology). Yesterday, I completed the job of installing zippers on her backing leaders - so now loading a quilt back will be a breeze.


Ain't she a beaut'!

Guild Sewing Bees

The Appalachian Heritage Quilters have a new program this year - sewing bees. At the August meeting we signed up to either host a bee of whatever type we wanted to, or to participate in a bee. I volunteered to host a "piecing bee".  You know, fun, fellowship, and stitching. There is also a knitting / crocheting bee, an applique bee, a hand-quilting bee, etc. You get the idea. I sure hope the bees are a big success. It sure is fun to sew with friends. Oh, by the way, everyone who came to the first piecing bee meeting left having mastered the 1/4" seam!

Learning for the week (and the rest of my life)

Quilters of Gee's Bend, AL
My sweet DH sometimes sends me odds and ends of information from the internet. Today, it was a link to some information about this year's National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough in October. It was an article announcing a performance by residents of the tiny community of Gee's Bend, AL. The title of the article is "The Gee's Bend Quilters". I hadn't heard of Gee's Bend before - so a quick google search took me to a video about the quilters. Such joy of quilting - so simple, so profound. Quilting is first a soul thing. Love, do, quilt. Enjoy:

Gee's Bend Quilters VIDEO


Have a super week! Now, let's go quilt something.