Pepper at the Quilt Studio

Flying Onto the Internet

2012-02-02T15:18:00.001-05:00

Oh boy-I hadn't meant to ignore the blog for so long! This past autumn was a busy time. I was teaching and traveling and ending a stint as president of the International Quilt Association. In 2010 I had given a lecture at the IQA luncheon at the Houston International Quilt Festival and urged everyone to "Be an angel-teach someone to quilt" and even given out bumperstickers with the sentiment. By 2011, I was ready to hand over the office to my very capable friend and fellow-teacher Stevii Graves. I didn't pass on the halo and wings however!

Then it was time to get ready for a new experience: a film crew from Craftsy.com was going to come to North Carolina the first week in December to film me! We'd been communicating since August but now it was crunch time. Craftsy is a website that offers all sorts of how-to classes. You buy the course online and it's uploaded to "the cloud" and you can reference the course at any time--it's always yours.You can even take notes during the playing of the video and stop it anytime. The best aspect of this online learning is that you're part of the Craftsy community since you can ask the instructor questions plus post photos of your projects. It's a grand idea and taking off like crazy. I totally understand the concept of learning from a computer and empathize with the person who comes home from a job and sits down to play at her computer for fun but only has a limited amount of time to spend on crafts. Sign me up--digital quilt instruction is one more way to convey this lovely craft to a new generation.

The Craftsy crew rolled in right on time Sunday evening December 4th. The producer was Maria Sandhei, a blond bundle of energy packaged in Ninja-black and a pink headband.

Maggie Hart handled all the video editing, all the while popping Trail Mix. Prediction: one day Maggie will be directing her own films--when she isn't snow-boarding (her other passion).

Behind the cameras Joe Baran was the wizard, hopping from lens to lens, zooming in for close-ups and sometimes getting into downright dangerous positions to get exactly the right shot. Joe loved all the tiny little shiny needlework tools and totally understood that my Featherweight sewing machine has a name (Jessica) and a history.

Prior to set-up, the studio was as clean as it's ever been but after all the video equipment and three more people crowded in, the space felt very tight. We were always doing a ballet over the wires and ducking the umbrella-type reflector thing-ies.

Filming started at 8 AM Monday morning and aside from three nights (we usually worked until 7-8 PM) it was solid activity until they pulled out late Thursday afternoon.

I don't think I have ever worked harder. My hat's off to the people who make movies and film these videos. You can purchase the video we made at the Craftsy website www.craftsy.com. It's called Scrap Quilting, Waste Not, Want Not. In the works: two workshops (shorter how-to programs) on Sashiko projects! Whew.

Folk School, Part 2

2011-10-18T21:21:00.001-04:00

Waking early when at John C. Campbell Folk School is no hardship. The views are beautiful, lots of people walk in the morning, and afterward a substantial breakfast plus an ocean of tea and coffee to set you up right for a hard day of quilting. There were even a few breaks in the week that didn't involve quilting.

A stroll through the herb garden was a nice field trip. A few raspberries were left on the vines.

In the middle of the week, an enthusiastic duo of border collies, Suki and Bess, came to the east lawn and gave an energetic demonstration of sheep herding. Suki (seen here) was the more experienced dog and started the show.

Bess finally got off the leash and ran so fast she was a blur! The sheep were still unimpressed.

And of course the week wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Brasstown Store. I got my T-shirt and apron, both emblazoned with 'Possum-the other OTHER white meat.' The apron, by the way, glows in the dark!

My friend Penny Prichard came with a project already in mind. The 'plaid' theme was merely coincidental as she dumped large bags of flannel plaid shirts out when asked about her fabrics. Her mission: make a memory quilt for her friend Elaine. Bob--Elaine's husband and Penny's friend--had suddenly passed away--these were his favorite shirts and Penny was determined to make the quilt in a week.

I was dubious. A large quilt in a week? Sewing with springy well-worn flannels from old shirts? I should have known better. Not only did Penny finish the quilt top as planned but we found that at the Show-and-Share session last day of Scottish week, non-quilters reverently touched her quilt and were quite affected by the sentiment of making a quilt from a loved one's clothing.

Penny sent this picture of Elaine when she got the quilt. Boy, is this one a winner!

Marla Baden went full-steam ahead with her star wall hanging. She's going on to applique vines and flowers on two sides of the quilt. When she sends another picture I'll share it.

Betty Belanger made a wall hanging using rather unfamiliar colors but grew to like her piece. We loved it.

Susan McLaughlin from New York scored with her bull's eye quilt in shades of tan, gold,and purple.

On the long ride home, Penny and I talked about the experience. Yep, I'd do it again in a minute. At Tara-on-the-Tracks, I took a picture of the beautiful window in Penny's dining room. The builder of her 1912 house, a wealthy cotton broker, had commissioned this window to commemorate his livelihood. It's four cotton blossoms.

Then south of Kinston, I stopped at a roadside produce stand and turned around to see a flowering cotton field. We quilters work with cotton fabric all the time but rarely consider where it comes from. Cotton in North Carolina is in high bloom in early September and only weeks away from harvesting.

Quilts-n-Kilts , Part 1 (Teaching at the Folk School again)

2011-09-24T16:03:00.001-04:00

Earlier this month I traveled to Brasstown, North Carolina to teach at John C. Campbell Folk School again. Had a blast! The news and pictures will make for two full blog posts because there's so much to talk about and to see. The juxtaposition of the kilted blacksmith (who wanted to see what we were doing since I'd told him we fondled fabric-) with Betty Belanger's String Star wall hanging on show-n-tell day about says it all. Little did he know he was in danger of getting a nice patch cut out of his kilt...

The class was titled In Praise of Plaids and of course was on during Scottish Heritage Week. My traveling companion and able assistant in class was Penny Prichard who lives in Tara-on-the-tracks, a huge white columned house sitting right on the side of the railroad running through downtown Benson, NC. She and her husband David no longer even hear the trains but I can tell you that at least six trains come barreling through Benson every night!

As an instructor, I got to stay in the lovely little Log House and saw this view every morning as I hiked to breakfast--not hardship duty. JCC is well-known for its great meals and thankfully, while the Scottish cuisine students did make a pass at faux haggis, we were spared that experience in the dining room.

Class enrollment was six enthusiastic students and we had a great time. The first evening I unrolled my masterpiece--a queen-size sampler quilt top using almost all plaids. I was so proud of having thought of a way to utilize diverse quilt blocks and yet unify them in one quilt. I hoped it would be an inspiration for students to try different blocks and of course to use plaids. The handout packet had the graph for the sampler and six different blocks to try. Boy, did I learn a huge lesson--actually two lessons. The first is this : when you make an enormous quilt, it can be intimidating instead of inspiring.

So how big was the plaid quilt? It measured 82" wide and 116" long. As I hung it on the design wall of the classroom, the quilt was so big it had to be hung sideways and thus somewhat destroyed the effect since directional blocks, like the Schoolhouse block in the middle, lay horizontally. Viewers had to tilt their heads to take it in--not the dazzling result I'd hoped for.

This photo was taken after returning from JC Campbell. The quilt top is stretched out in the parking lot behind the studio and I'm up on a ladder. The plaid quilt top officially has a name now:
the Big Ass Sampler Quilt.

This is the nameplate block in lower right.

So what was the second lesson I learned? That you can never tell exactly what will take folks' fancy. Turns out an antique quilt I'd brought as an example of shirting plaids swept half the students off their feet and that's the quilt they wanted to make. Meet the Oklahoma String Star quilt, the quilt that inspired half the class to work with plaids and love 'em.

This c.1920 quilt was an auction find. I rarely show it when teaching since it's heavier than a dead mule (translation: it's VERY heavy) and takes up too much space in a suitcase. But since Penny and I drove (OK, she drove, I rode like a sack of potatoes-) I could bring extra sample quilts to the JC class. Serves me right-- first day of class, I found myself drafting an enormous 45-degree star leg so people could paper-piece over it with strips. While half the class took off on their string-pieced-over-paper-eight-point-enormous-stars, the remaining three went their individual ways.

Paula from Georgia came with a project in mind. Turns out she had more diverse fabrics than the quilt shown in the book and seeing as how it was her first fling with a design wall, keeping all those triangles straight was a challenge.

After a night's visit from the Quilt Fairy, her layout came together and she charged on. Truly, her quilt turned out prettier than the one shown in the book!

Then there was Hilda, also a Georgia girl. who had taken my class two years ago. She chose the Easy String Star pattern (four points) and started to produce blocks in her beloved batiks with the occasional nod to the plaid theme. At 88 years young, Hilda worked circles around the rest of us.

I want to be like Hilda when I grow up.

Stay tuned for another episode of

next week on this blog.

Family Birthday Memories for Beth

2011-07-02T21:24:00.001-04:00

When I was a kid, the day of our birth was special. Not because we might get a lot of gifts. With five kids, that rarely happened. I don't ever remember getting any birthday gift in particular except my first bicycle. That was when I turned seven. Like many whining young girls, I'd been going on about a pony. I had a friend who lived in a trailer park, for pity's sake, and SHE had a pony! That's the year I got the bike. Dad spent most of the day trying to teach me to ride without falling over, training wheels and all, into the hard gravel driveway. Eventually I could wobble twenty feet or so without flopping onto the rocks but I was a scraped-up mess for days.

Mostly our birthday was extra-special because Mom, in her most energetic and enthusiastic way, would loudly announce, "It's your day!" She made a big deal out of letting you think you could do what you wanted all day long. You could make big person decisions! This was brainwashing of course because if you were unreasonable and announced you weren't taking a bath or didn't want to do an assigned chore, your self-will if contrary (birthday or not) was immediately 'set aright.' Then you pondered just how much power you actually had as a birthday girl (or boy). However, with Mom's magic, she still could make you feel that you ruled the domestic world, in a small way, for that one day.

Want cinnamon toast for breakfast? You got it!

Want to wear your favorite striped shirt with your polka dot shorts? Fine!

Go up a tree and read a book most of the day? OK-just come down for dinner, please.

The best part was that Mom was a terrific cake maker. I don't remember her producing any wonderful pies but when it came to cakes, she excelled. Mom considered using a mix was cheating and only succumbed to the lure of Pillsbury in later years. She was proud of doing the whole shebang-- a multi-layered cake (flavor of your choice), the eggy vanilla filling, and the icing by hand. She unrolled a whole kit of icing tips and little bags and could obtain any color of the rainbow with careful drops of food coloring stirred into white icing and ranged around her in a multitude of small bowls. No artist ever mixed a paint palette more carefully than my Mom concocted shades of cake icing.

Your birthday cake was decorated with some colorful appropriate theme involving lots of icing roses and leaves and then the cake was kept a secret from you until it was brought in after the evening meal. The lights in the dining room turned low, the candles on the cake lit in the kitchen, and then Mom came banging through the door with this flaming cake, her face beaming, as she led the family in a loud rendition of "Happy birthday to you-".

Tomorrow is my niece Bethany's 27th birthday. I don't have a card but thought she might enjoy this: do what you want all day Beth-you have my permission. I remember you when you looked like this--God, you were a pixie of a baby! Come to think of it--you still are!

Happy 27th and many more.
Love from Aunt Pep.

Big Mama and Big Mama Quilt

2011-05-04T18:28:00.000-04:00

OK-the upcoming Mother's Day holiday is a tad bittersweet for me. I'm not a mother (unless you count numerous animals I've fostered over the years) and my own's been gone since 2002. Mom's death was unexpected. Even at 81, Mary Wetzel Peddie was a force of nature and somehow I couldn't picture life without her. Frankly, I took her death hard and realize in looking back that I spent the fall/winter of 2002/2003 in a depressed state. Finally between my husband and a good friend's prodding, they helped me 'fess up to the funk I'd fallen into and to try to do something about it. The turning point was this slim little book called Understanding Mourning. It made a world of difference. I find most of my copies used on Amazon now and send a copy to any friend in need.
But Mom still creeps into my thoughts as I work, especially as how she was the one who shamed me into buying and using my first computer. She had taught herself DOS way back when and was determined not to be left behind in the digital age. One small problem with Mom's love affair with her computer was that my sister Mary Frances had to clean up her ebay debts for weeks after her death since Mom was always trolling for treasures online!
Fast forward to October 2010, almost nine years to the day that Mother passed away. The folks at the Missouri Star Quilt Company contacted me in a panic. They'd designed a Charm Pack program based on my little Apple Core template I'd made years before for the EZ Quilting Company, a subsidiary of Wrights. Wrights had discontinued the item and Missouri Star asked if I might do another Apple Core template for them. No problem but I did redraft the Apple Core shape to have a slightly shallower inward/outward curve. The Apple Core shape just got way easier to sew! Missouri Star and I also went for a much larger version of the Apple Core template. We thought that with gorgeous large-scale prints, the bigger Apple Core would be newbie-friendly and also lend itself to the fabric cut called a Layer Cake. Missouri sells both sizes retail and wholesale to shops. Go here http://www.missouriquiltco.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=apple+core+template .

Both sizes of the new, improved Apple Core template have been a hit. Here's the small size, made into a teddy bear's quilt and some other pictures of the large size in a quilt top.

By the way, instead of the traditional 999 pieces for a classic Charm Quilt, my Big Mama Apple Core template needs a mere 99. This is a crib or wall hanging-size version with 25 pieces.

My first quilt top made with the Big Mama was from favorite fabrics and one of those fabulous-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-it-fabrics in my stash. The zebra in the middle was cut from one of Mom's blouses since she was also an animal lover and the zebra was her all time favorite mammal.

The picture was taken somewhere around 1971 at Mom's place of business in Washington, Kentucky.

And if you want to get really nostalgic, this snap dates from my very first passport picture in 1952. We're in about the same positions and Mom is looking directly out into the viewer's eyes.

Happy Mother's Day to you all.

Handwork--it's catching!

2011-04-29T21:28:00.001-04:00

In March I taught at the New Jersey Quilt Festival. As one of several teachers, we were paired with a roomie and that's when Laura Wasilowski and I got to know each other. If you looked at our work, you might think we'd be apples and oranges but we have lots in common it turns out. Both of us try not to take ourselves too seriously. We found we could trade paperback books (for airplane reading) but the big news was that we discovered we both liked hand sewing.

Laura's latest book Fanciful Stitches, Colorful Quilts had just come out and to my surprise, the book features hand sewing touches.

In addition to being Professor Emeritus of the Chicago School of Fusing, Laura loves hand embroidery. We got to talking about needles and here's a mini-interview I did with Laura.

Pepper: " What type of needles did you use when stitching the quilts in your new book?"

Laura: "You'd never know by looking at me but I'm really fussy about the embroidery needles I use when stitching my little fused art quilts. Most of the
stitching on the quilts is done with my hand-dyed Size 8 threads. My favorite needle for a size 8 pearl cotton is a size 4 Richard Hemmings embroidery needle. These excellent needles are from Colonial Needles http://www.colonialneedle.com/ and they slide through the fabric like
butter. (Not that I've ever sewn butter.)"

Pepper: "Do you use a hoop when adding embroidery stitches?"

Laura: "No, Pepper, I am a totally hoopless stitcher. If you place a raw-edged
fused quilt into a hoop, it may stretch the fabric and fray the edges. So I
avoid a hoop and add embroidery stitches just through the batting and quilt
top. If you'd like more fascinating tips for stitching a fused art quilts
on my blog under Thread-u-cation.
http://artfabrik.blogspot.com/p/thread-u-cation.html."

Pepper: "Thanks Laura!"

To my blog readers: you might not have known it but you're on a blog tour. So, if you comment on this blog posting, your email will be put into the pot and you'll have the chance to win a copy of Laura's new book. The offer lasts until 9 PM this evening April 30. Good luck!

Ocracoke Chapter 2

2011-04-13T11:36:00.000-04:00

Getting back to this second blog posting about teaching on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina seemed impossible. The Ocracoke trip was my only teaching trip in January 2011 but come February, I'd started to run. Short version: teaching and work commitments picked way up. Looking back, the whole Ocracoke experience was about a re-commitment to work. To be able to work for three blessed days with the same group of happy people toward a common goal was quilting bliss. Sounds idyllic, right? Makes you want to move to the island, right?

Before you sell your house and set sail for Ocracoke, you ought to know a few things about the place and its people. Although connected to the mainland by ferry service at both the south and north ends of the island, you never get to Ocracoke by accident. In the summer it's overrun by tourists. Food and gas cost more here. There's always the problem of what to do if a medical emergency arises. Especially in the winter, people learn to be self-reliant. It doesn't hurt if you enjoy your own company more than being in a crowd. You don't run down to the corner store for a loaf of fresh Italian bread--you make it yourself. There is no Starbucks. Lori, holding her block, is multi-talented. She appeared every day with a different hat, sweater, or scarf. She had spun, dyed, and knitted them herself and is planning to open a store on the island come summer.

This group boasts a very diverse gathering of personalities. The woman peering over her sewing machine is Susan M. Dodd, a well-known author of novels about difficult women. Susan once said, "Luck is largely a matter of paying attention. " That's the next thing I'm going to embroider on a pillow. I found out she was its author by accident when I Googled her and found I'd copied the line on a sticky note and slapped it on the side of my computer monitor over a year ago.

Other quilters in the group were artists, musicians, stain glass workers, teachers, librarians, and at least one psychiatrist. Remember the radio show tag line --"... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." The word 'Ocracoke' might well be substituted for Lake Woebegone. Being independent types, a number of people decided to hand piece the block rather than machine stitch. Frances (hands seen in the picture) did exacting work and used a Viyella wool plaid as her Lily block's background.

The hand stitching contingent wisely staked out a table with excellent lighting near the kitchen.

By the end of Day 2, some folks, like Genvieve, were ready to baste their Carolina Lily wall hangings. This group really moved along.

Other pictures include Merle's block. Merle is always so fashionably dressed that within her circle of quilting friends, the term 'merle' has come to mean downright spiffy. She was the only person to use metallic fabrics in her block.

On the last day, it was obvious this group needed a little diversion from the task at hand so I taught them how to do the folded Log Cabin block as it's done on the Isle of Man. We used the group's plaids. Busy beavers every one-- a group shot of the blocks we made that morning.

After lunch we all lined up and had a group photo. Here are all the Carolina Lily blocks in their glory and the group members grinning broadly.

Saturday morning came all too quickly and it was time for me to leave on the ferry going back to the Down East mainland--bye-bye Ocracoke.

Quilting on Ocracoke Island, Chapter 1

2011-02-02T17:00:00.000-05:00

A long time ago (20 years or so) Rod and I traveled to North Carolina from our home in Michigan for a much-needed vacation. We met in Charlotte, rented a car, and doodled across the state. We crossed onto the Outer Banks at Roanoke and after a spin to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Memorial, found ourselves driving south on Route 12. It was early May and the weather was brisk but always sunny. Finally we took the ferry to Ocracoke Island and stayed there several days. While visiting the historic lighthouse, I overheard someone talking about the quilting group that met the next day. I wangled an invitation, we stayed another night, and I attended the group. The ladies met in the schoolteacher's home. Mostly we simply chatted, worked at a few bits of hand stitching, and had coffee and cookies. I was impressed by the unusual wood paneling of the dining room. My hostess said that shortly after she and her husband married in the 1930s, a yacht had sunk off Ocracoke and as the most recently wed couple, they were entitled to pick through the wreckage. They salvaged the teak decks and used them to panel the dining room of their cottage!

While on Ocracoke Rod and I relaxed and talked and let the sea air and vast ocean horizons do their magic. We decided to work toward moving away from Michigan. While neither of us had ties to North Carolina, we felt we would like to move to this state. Ocracoke was the turning point. This year 2011 marks the 15th year since coming to North Carolina. When I got an invitation to teach for the Ocracoke Quilting Group, I was delighted to have an excuse to go visit this magical place again. I traveled over last Tuesday and Rod joined me Wednesday.

On Ocracoke we stayed at a cottage called Charlotte's Daughter owned by Marcy Brenner and her husband Lou Castro. The picture makes the cottage seem like an average two-story house. It isn't. Below the green porch is another story, the stilts of the house enclosed by screens, so the cottage is really three stories high. It reminded me a little of Babba Yagga's hut of Russian folktales--in the nicest way of course. Skylights in the ceiling of the bedroom let in both moon light and sun light. This place has good karma and everything you'd need for a visit or vacation. When not quilting or renting cottages, Lou and Marcy are musicians and are the duo Coyote (http://www.coyotemusic.net ) and also play with the group Molasses Creek. Here's a link to a YouTube video where you can see Lou and Marcy and Molasses Creek at work http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWxxQMby9Lk&feature=player_embedded .

What impressed me about the quilting group on Ocracoke was that the women who took the class were fearless. A few were experienced quilters, like Eleanor who had a 95th birthday which seemed to stretch to a month-long celebration. A few regarded the rotary cutter as a foreign tool to be tamed but after a little practice cutting got right into the spirit. We also had a nice show-n-tell of Ocracoke quilts from a private family collection.

The Ocracoke group had a large quilting stash folks could draw fabrics from but most also added their own materials. Some people sewed by machine and others chose to piece by hand. The pattern was the classic North Carolina Lily and I'd emphasized plaids in the class description since plaids were the only fabrics woven in North Carolina and are always associated with this state.

My own black and white blocks for an eventual quilt were coming along but the first NC Lily block I made (orange of course) became the class sample.

First Annual Purge Your Purse Day (December 31 2010)

2010-12-31T17:29:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that it's been over three long months since writing on this blog. My apologies to any interested readers. You've probably long ago wandered off in search of more current reading material. But starting today, the last day of 2010, I will be a more faithful blog writer. Truth is since the advent (or onslaught) of Facebook, I've found it easier to pop up FB tidbits. Seems a lot of my 1000+ Friends have too. I started writing this blog 2007 Thanksgiving weekend so you'd think I'd have gotten in the habit. Even though my thoughts today aren't world-class musings, I'm proposing that December 31st become Purge Your Purse Day.

Purge Your Purse makes a small bow to the organization bug that seems to bite us every January as we buy new calendars, file receipts, and sometimes make New Years resolutions. The purse most of us carry around is where our life is: our wallet (ID), credit cards and checkbooks (lifeline), make-up, gum, drugs. Just ask any female for an aspirin and she'll say, "I know I've got it here somewhere-" as she bends down to paw through her bag. Amazing. Occasionally while teaching I've gotten a headache and all I need to do is mention it and here come the offers--Excedrin, Aleve, Tylenol, and then the really good stuff--Tylenol with codeine, Percoset, Oxycontin, whoooee!

Now that the purse is taken care of, my next question: what should I do with all those tote bags? Since I attend a lot of quilt shows where they give out totes as part of the registration goodies, I have tote bags dating back into the 1980s. Most are canvas, a few vinyl, and lately the nicest are poly-coated recycled fiber. Any suggestions?

What am I working on right now? A small charm-style quilt in the Apple Core pattern, hand quilted in Big Stitch, my favorite.

And trying, like my friend Earl Grey, to stay warm. Have a happy and safe New Year.

This 'n That, Family Pictures, Kitty Update etc.

2010-09-25T16:40:00.000-04:00

Earlier this summer my brother Chris and I decided to swap some family artifacts. For some reason, I'd ended up with an ancient wooden panel, a relic from a Coptic church that my parents found in Cairo when Dad was attached to the American embassy there. The panel is likely several hundred years old. Their Egyptian stay was even before I was born in 1951 so the only reason I can fathom I was given the panel is because Mom thought I'd like the design since it was semi-quilty. She was of course right but in the years since all I'd done was keep it safe and dream I'd one day make a table or headboard.

On the other hand, my brother Chris who lives in Houston had incorporated many family Egyptian artifacts into his household furnishings. Honestly, the Coptic panel needed to go to him. Chris and his wife Catherine just finished a massive house remodeling effort and now a beautiful two-story stone fireplace graces their largest room. The mantel was the perfect setting for the panel.

As a trade, Chris sent me the family rocking chair. The parents bought this while living in Germany--I was a tot then. It was made by woodworkers living in displaced persons camps. The camps were still in existence even 7-8 years after World War II as much German civilian housing was destroyed and hadn't yet been rebuilt. Now I have a comfy quilting rocking chair and Chris and Catherine have unique artwork above their fireplace.

While in Houston I quilted of course and Josie's kitty Athena decided to put the paw print of approval on my work.

Meanwhile, back at home, our cats Earl Grey and Gipsy form a small pride and guard our yard well.

And it's a warm September here and alien flowers are sprouting around the yard.

A Day to Remember--Katrina and Quilts for the Coast

2010-08-29T15:08:00.000-04:00

Five years ago we were glued to the TV as Hurricane Katrina finally hit the Gulf states. The center of the storm came ashore on top of Waveland, Mississippi. That's where my friend Patti Brown grew up. Patti owns ALB Fabrics/The Quilted Butterfly quilt shop in Morehead City, NC. We talked several times during Katrina week. We both felt so helpless! The news only got worse in the weeks that followed. The devastation from the storm was so complete that it was hard to comprehend. Only pictures can express the horror.

These two pictures was taken two days after Katrina from a NOAA helicopter. The formerly beautiful waterside towns of Waveland and Bay St. Louis were almost wiped off the map. The cement slabs of homes and businesses were all that remained of most structures. A few, like Christ Episcopal Church in Waveland, were recognizable due to a distinctive feature. See the church bell tower below.

As a quilter, Patti reacted to the tragedy and started to do naturally what quilters do: make quilts at it. Whatever 'it' is--storm, terrorists, flood, and pestilence--we make quilts at it. Quilts for the Coast became her cause. She knew that folks in her hometown were resilient and that many people were camping out in the remains of their homes. They had to. The insurance companies wouldn't pay if you abandoned your home. FEMA was a joke. Kim and David King, the owners of this formerly beautiful home in Waveland, got the point across.

I put the call out on the internet and quilters across the USA responded. Soon quilts began to arrive at Patti's shop and pretty much took over the back rooms. The quilts continued to stream in all through the Fall of 2005. Finally in December, when it was getting cold down south, Quilts for the Coast went into motion. Friends from Patti's church lent a van and it was packed solid ---700+ quilts were going on a road trip to Mississippi. Patti and her husband Rod and myself squeezed into the van and set out. Destination: Christ Church in Waveland, MS on a Sunday morning for the great quilt give-away.

Patti had lived through Hurricane Camille and knew what awaited us. I was not quite so prepared. Memories of the trees still haunt me. (photo by Brendan Holder) There it all was--people's lives--still caught 30 feet up in the branches of the old oaks. It was the spookiest landscape I've ever seen.

Why was there stuff in the trees 30 feet up? Because that's how tall the Katrina wave was when it came ashore August 29th. The wave picture was snapped from the third floor balcony of Saint Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis as seen (left) after the storm. I can only imagine how terrifying that must have been.

We arrived in Waveland on time and set up for quilt distribution. People arriving for church services knew we were coming. They lined up and chose quilts for themselves and for absent friends and relatives. For many, it was the first time since Katrina that they were able to give someone else something. One little boy chose quilts for his school class. There were enough to go around and a few left over went to a hospital. It was a magical day.

If you ever have a chance to work on the distribution end of a charitable quilt drive and actually hand someone a quilt, do it. Suddenly our craft makes the most basic sense: quilts bring comfort. You will be a different person. The picture says it all--from the wreckage of the stain glass of Christ Church in Waveland, Mississippi, there's always hope. I am grateful to have been a small part of Quilts for the Coast.

For more images and information, go to Patti's website: http://www.quiltedbutterfly.com/quilts_coast.html .

Tai Chi , Trucks, and a Quilt

2010-07-11T15:00:00.002-04:00

I used to take Tai Chi lessons and am still friends with my instructor Juanita. We both pulled up to the grocery store one day and started to compare our Toyota trucks. Mine's a 20-year old basic manual pick-up while hers is 5-speed, an extended cab, and five years younger. I said to her, "If you ever want to sell that truck, give me a call!" and two weeks ago, she did.

Juanita and her husband Mike were moving to Portland, OR and needed to unload Buck (the truck) quickly. A test drive later, Buck was mine! Now I could sell my older vehicle (named Pearl) and luxuriate in the leg room of an extended cab, intermittent wipers, a radio, and a cup-holder! I am in heaven. Pearl went to another good home quickly thanks to our friend Mike who's a sort of yenta for all things mechanical.

Here's Juanita holding the quilt I made for her. It has minimal quilting, no batting, and is lined with velvet. She reported it was the absolute best for sleeping and snuggling and her cat Freddie loved it. Ah, the paw print of approval!

Next job is repainting the old truck cab before it gets fitted to Buck and transferring the vanity license plate.

Star-Crossed Again

2010-06-22T15:49:00.004-04:00

The Easy String Star class has been getting a lot of attention lately. Guilds have been hiring me to teach it and students who've taken the class in the past are checking in with their projects. So this blog posting is devoted to the String Star, an old-fashioned pattern in which the star points are usually sewn over paper and scraps of odd fabrics were used to good advantage in a casual crazy quilt style.

That doesn't mean all String Star quilts are antique-y looking--far from it! The pattern seems to be adaptable to almost any style or color scheme. Here's the first one in my collection--an Eight-Point String Star quilt from here in North Carolina. Found at a junque shop in Vanceboro, the back of this beauty is splashed with large globs of white paint. That probably indicates someone used it as a drop cloth and the only good sense they showed was to turn the quilt over. The quilt has both wool and cotton patches and dates from around 1930.

I bought another String Star quilt from an online auction. This one was from the state of Georgia and the block was simplified to four big honking points. The blocks are about 18" square but what intrigued me was the dark vs. light interplay when both brown and gold became backgrounds across each star. Notice the huge black quilting stitches--must have been made in a hurry.

The Georgia String Star begat a wall hanging and here's the corner of that descendant but I got a hankering to do a big quilt. So black and white got into the act-again-and the piece below is still being hand-quilted. In the String Star class this is the large sample quilt that students see since I have no shame and drag around half-done quilts all the time.

In January of 2009 I was lucky enough to be asked to teach a multi-day workshop in Venice, Florida and the quilt class they chose was the Easy String Star. Here's a link to the first blog post I wrote on that subject http://peppercory.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html .

Now another student from that Florida class has checked in and I thought you'd enjoy seeing the beautiful work of Cathy Modjeski.

Mind you, no grades were given but don't you think this beauty deserves an A+?

How to Rekindle the Flame

2010-04-13T18:20:00.002-04:00

Ages ago I almost quit quilting. Truthfully, looking back, I was flat out exhausted, having just closed my quilt/fabric shop, Culpepper's Quilts, after seven grueling years in business. I was wondering what to do next. While I didn't want to leave the craft I loved, quilts--especially those in the magazines--were starting to look the same. If I didn't find some aspect of quilting to jump-start my interest, it was time to move on.

After studying an odd antique Irish Chain quilt, I sat down to re-draw the pattern and realized that if I worked in more than one pattern (multiple blocks) within the same quilt, the resulting effects were intriguing. Certainly enough to keep my interest. I'd found my muse. To this day I continue to work happily in multiple blocks.

While on ebay, the online auction site, I came across a seller who offered the book I wrote ("vintage quilting book") as a result of those early multi-block experiments and re-remembered just what fun it was to make those quilts and present the concept of multiple patterns to the quilt world. The book was called Crosspatch and it's still around though no longer in print.

My tastes have changed but the design concepts hold. Whether working in black and white or many colors, I love the idea that when different blocks are sewn side-by-side, the sum is greater than its parts. Beautiful medallion quilts are especially easy to design using Crosspatch methods and the class is still really popular today. In the coming year, I'll teach the class Two Block Quilts at least six times.

I still love to doodle and sometimes the result is almost overpowering. A whole evening can pass as I color graphs. It's kind of like walking a mandala. The act of designing and playing with colors has a calming effect on me. I didn't know when to stop when I designed the piece called If Parrots Made Quilts. The quilt is 92" square and you tend to love or hate it.

The auction for the old copy of Crosspatch is still up on ebay if you're interested. The auction number is 260576446979.

Blue Friday

2010-03-19T17:41:00.004-04:00

For a week, the work's been all blue. Last Saturday my friends Julie and Sarah came over to learn how to make a folded Log Cabin quilt block by hand. Although both possess sewing machines, neither is truly at home with the contraption and preferred to do the old needle-n-thread route. I had all the strips and backing blocks cut so they just sat down and sewed.

In less than three hours, both had produced respectable blocks and couldn't have been prouder if they'd laid an egg. See, I told you so--quilting can be contagious!

The fun continued on Monday. In the past I'd made some little folded patchwork blocks in a pattern I named Origami. Then for some reason, I decided to experiment. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don't...

I changed the dimensions of the backing block and the relation of the center square to the rest of the block. And oh yeah, I ragged them. For those who are not familiar with quilting trends, 'ragging' is when you leave raw seam allowances , feather the seams (cut closely with scissors about 1/4" apart) and then wash and dry the work. The seams 'rag' and get all frayed and fuzzy. You can even brush the frayed seams for more dimension.

I read about ragging before trying it. And since I also wanted to use denim for the backing blocks (I have a little denim--I lied--I have a LOT of denim) the directions suggested really deep seams. Like 1" seams. Because you're cutting through multiple layers, you need a good pair of spring-loaded scissors. To misquote Crocodile Dundee: "Now, that's a scissors!"

While I happily sewed four blocks and popped them in the washer to fray beautifully, I was not prepared for the uber-fuzzy seams that resulted. These seams are about an inch high and the work shrank quite a bit. Back to the drawing board.

Note to self:

1) Choose less busy prints so the geometry of the patchwork can be seen

2) Sew smaller seams--maybe 1/2 inch?

3) This is just too much! Maybe sew the rag seams on the back of the work rather than the front next time.

Double Dutch

2010-03-09T21:21:00.004-05:00

Recently a student from a 2008 class sent me some pictures of the project she's completed--wow! Jeanne van der Vlies is from the Netherlands but we met at a quilt show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The event was only a three hour class called the Antique English Pleated Log Cabin. All work was by hand and most students got the hang of it and produced one block--ho-hum. Not Jeanne! She continued on and made this wonderful wall hanging.

The detail shows how the logs (strips) fold over and give the work a three-dimensional feeling. The back of the block is also the back of the work so this pattern may be the original quilt-as-you-go pattern. The technique hails not from the United States but from the Isle of Man (between England and Ireland) where the pattern is called Roof Tile. The theory is not too great a stretch since in the 1840s thousands of people emigrated from the Isle of Man to the United States and likely brought the pattern with them. To American eyes, the strips laid at right angles could be found in log cabin construction and so we re-named it and later generations assumed an American origin.

And then just yesterday Laura F. Strating-Jansens from the Netherlands sent more pictures--this time from a Houston 09 class.
She owns a quilt shop in Amersfoort called Laura's Quilt Atelier (studio). Amersfoort is a bustling city and major railway destination but is also an ancient town (it just celebrated its 750th birthday!) slightly southeast of Amsterdam. Laura often makes trips to the United States with her quilting friends and that's where we meet--at quilt shows!

Here's Laura's quilt she made as a result of the class called Dakota Flower. The style uses a stitch technique I call Retro Applique. That's applique with a contrasting thread in a running stitch at the edge of the motif. Stitches are larger than usual and meant to be seen. It works best if you relax and realize that you're not doing traditional precise work a la Baltimore but should just have fun.

Don't you love it when quilting makes the world get smaller?

Starved for Color

2010-02-26T18:04:00.001-05:00

This winter we've had distinctly inhospitable weather here at the North Carolina coast. It doesn't happen many years but two weeks ago I slogged out into the front yard, stuck a yardstick in the snow, and measured nine inches! Now, the snow melted quickly but honestly, this winter has been brutal. For someone who thinks a fleece vest ought to be outer wear, I cannot wait for spring. It should be here now. Today.

An upshot of the cold weather is that there is nothing blooming in the yard. The paperwhites of Christmas have sensibly tucked back into the earth. Aside from the live oaks deep green, all the color I can see from the window is a shaggy expanse of beige grass and a cold, cold blue sky. Enough of that!

My niece Heather lives in Portland, Oregon. Last year she took some wonderful pictures at the farmers market. For those of us who are starved for color, these are visual food for the soul.

Flowers, fruit, and veggies in the summer sun.

I want to reach into the screen and grab these.

This is the most perfect composition. Bundles of lavender in a red basket-perfect! Thank you Heather.

Because this blog is ostensibly about quilts I suppose I should show a block or two. This is the one I made (the pattern is Star of the West) for the block exchange at our quilt guild's Christmas party in December. Geez! Aside from the minimal amount of red, the colors are as dull as my front yard! Maybe I can't always find fabric to translate color...maybe you need a fantasy image. This is more like it.

It's Gotta be the Full Moon

2010-01-29T18:26:00.000-05:00

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Just busy writing other things such as magazine articles and blogs. I've taken on writing a company blog for The Colonial Needle Company and that's been fun. Plus managing their Facebook page.

This weekend we have a full moon and things can get a little hinky (strange) around here. It's turning colder by the minute and the weatherman is babbling about snow...in coastal North Carolina!

Rather than toot my own horn this time, I thought some pictures of students' work would be fun. My apologies if I don't have the right attributions. Sometimes pictures are sent to me years later (No! A quilter who takes her time finish things?!) and it's difficult to put names and faces together. If one of these is your quilt, feel free to comment and set the record straight. This one was labeled DPAKstudent Maybe this means the work of someone from a Drunkard's Path class I gave in Alaska? In any case, it's a great eye-catching combination of black.white/and brights--sweet!

Here's a happy camper at work in class--Ellen Fox from South Carolina designing her elegant take on the Two Blocks are Better Than One class sample. Working on a white flannel vertical design surface is the best way, I think, to see what your piece will look like before you get to sewing. It gives you the opportunity to change your mind and move pieces around.
Just pin-pin-pin.

Isn't this a beauty? I would have been proud to have made this quilt! Loretta made this piece in the Swartz Creek Scrap Quilt class. Love the interesting black and gray leaf print.

Still Crazy for Christmas

2009-12-23T14:42:00.008-05:00

Like a lot of people I am a 'self-gifter.' And that's exactly what it sounds like-at

Christmastime, I usually find things I want and love and ultimately buy...for myself! This year it was two books by Cindy Brick. She's a professional quilter like myself. Here's the long version of our shared job description: quilter-scholar-writer-teacher-designer. Cindy's website is easy to find: www.cindybrick.com .

Although I admired crazy quilts, Cindy's special passion, I never thought I'd make one. But once when snow-bound for two days in northern Indiana, I did make crazy quilt blocks with scraps of what I had. Upon returning home, I obviously reverted to patchwork block mode since the blocks got sashed and bordered. Am remembering that I thought, "There--that ought to keep that fabric madness in check!" as I sewed the little corners in place. Wish I'd read Cindy's book then because this little beauty would be much better!

Last night I fell asleep with Cindy's colorful, picture-filled Crazy Quilts book propped on my chest. Sweet dreams until Earl Grey decided he's had enough of that stupid book and bumped it onto the floor! I started awake and then realized the commotion was just the work of a pushy cat who wanted Complete Attention Please as he demanded affection before going to bed.

If you're settling down for a long winter's nap, you can't do better than Cindy's dream-filled book. I highly recommend Crazy Quilts.

Merry Christmas from me, Earl Grey (aka the book pusher), and Miss Gipsy too.

Keeping Lives

2009-12-15T17:13:00.000-05:00

At this time of year it's particularly difficult for folks who mark sad anniversaries. I didn't know it but my friend Carol Helmlinger is one such person. Last Thursday at the Crystal Coast Quilt Guild Christmas party, Carol served as the hostess and made sure the tables were set with festive placemats and that each table had a tree centerpiece. She led us in the singing of quilt-themed songs and made sure everyone got a little momento to take home. Mine was a funny grumpy snowman ornament that came packaged in a Santa sack along with a small bag of candies.

There was tons of good food at the dinner and we exchanged gifts and Christmas quilt blocks. Everbody went home happy and clutching some quilt-goodie gift.

This morning I stopped at the library to peruse the Raleigh News and Observer paper and was surprised to see Carol, the hostess with the mostest, featured in a sobering story. Carol is a Lifekeeper, a person who has promised to try and prevent suicides. She knows from experience. Today marks the 19th anniversary of her son John's suicide and she gave me permission to talk about it here.

To date Carol has made three Lifekeeper quilts. This one features John's picture on the second row left at the end. Carol says the surviving families find her and she'll keep on making quilts as long as they're needed.

Recently I also had an acquaintance commit suicide. Although not a family member, her passing troubled me deeply. Thank you Carol and all other supporters of the Suicide Prevention Action Network. The SPAN website www.spanusa.org is full of good information if you or someone you know should need it.

This is the last stanza of the Lifekeeper's Promise and serves as a reminder that we are truly our brother's keeper.

We are the Lifekeepers
Truth Bearers, Peace Seekers
We are the Wounded
We are the Healed
We are the Lifekeepers
Our commitment now sealed.

The cats in the sink and no green ham (pardon me, Dr. Seuss)

2009-12-08T15:04:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I spent the day at home, baking two humongous hams for a potluck supper last night. I'd bought the ham the night before but the refrigerator was too full....what to do? It was still cool outside so decided to stash the hams on the side porch. The only problem: kittens who thought Ham was wonderful! So, I pulled a switch on them.

I went and got the kittens' 'night cage' and put the hams inside to protect them from the marauding animals. (Until Earl and Gipsy were three months old, they always went into the night cage to sleep. Using the cage gave us a good night's sleep and we weren't afraid of stepping on one of them in the dark.) The ham cage worked! And the hams came out beautifully.

We went to the supper without thinking about leaving two slightly-PO'd kittens who never did get a bite of ham. And came home to...a white Christmas! Gipsy and Earl had "decorated" while we were gone. The toilet paper put up quite a fight but was no match for two sets of eager claws.

This morning they had a shoving match on who got to sit in the sink after Rod shaved. As Rod lets out the hot water, the kittens jump into the still-warm sink and loll about. It's obvious they're growing fast because the two of them no longer fit into the sink together. Gipsy is impatiently waiting her turn.

Cape Lookout Quilt

2009-12-01T17:24:00.000-05:00

Every year my local quilt group, the Crystal Coast Quilt Guild, makes a raffle quilt. The tickets are sold all year and then the name of the lucky winner is drawn at the Guild's annual quilt show in May. This year I am buying all the tickets they gave me to sell in hopes of winning this quilt!

The theme was our local lighthouse in the winter. Cape Lookout was built in 1812 and still stands today. The light flashes every 23 seconds and warns mariners of our sandy and unpredictable shoals. Situated at the southern end of the off-shore area called 'the graveyard of the Atlantic', people treasure the Cape Lookout light and it is our special symbol. Not bad for a structure almost 200 years old.

The quilt was designed and executed by a variety of talented people and I'm bound to leave a few names out inadvertently. The idea came mainly from Patti Brown, local quilt shop owner http://www.albfabrics.com/quiltedbutterfly/index.html and quilt artist Robin Koehler. Eileen Williams took the photo that the center applique panel is based on while Robin supplied the flower design block which, when made up in reds and greens, looks like poinsettias. She talks about the design here in her blog Nestlings by Robin http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2009/11/las-flores-de-amigas-new-role.html . Patti did most of the center panel applique work. Many other guild members contributed their time to make blocks and Jan Spickett did a whole lot of turning down of edges and ironing! The machine quilting was executed by Lauri Mayo and it was her idea to add the silver snowflakes to the white sky. The feather designs quilted in bright green thread around the black border add just the right festive touch.

You can buy tickets by contacting me or Patti at The Quilted Butterfly (see above link). Just think, this queen-size one-of-a-kind beautiful quilt might be yours...the next best thing to living at the beach!

I am so proud to be part of this group!

What not to say to the TSA guy...

2009-11-17T17:26:00.000-05:00

OK, this isn't a quilt-related blog post. Rather it's a short rant on what happened to me at the West Palm Beach airport last Sunday as I flew home from the World Quilt Show. Morning was going fine and I even had time to have breakfast with my roomie Robbi Joy Ecklow at the airport. It started to go downhill when my name was called to board my plane to Charlotte-yikes! My watch battery had run down and I was perpetually stuck at 9:07 AM. Trouble was, my flight boarded at 9:45 and I was late, late, late!

So I hoofed it through security and that's the first thing: if TSA sees you're in a super-hurry, they might watch you a bit closer. I dutifully handed over my plastic bag with toiletries and was stunned when the TSA agent (a rather short shaved-head gentleman with a large-size ego) approached me with my shampoo bottle and demanded "Ma'am--are you willing to surrender this bottle?" What? The plastic bottle, bagged as it was, was too big! They want itty-bitty bottles (see picture).

Jittery about possibly missing the flight home (that's my excuse-) I shot back at him, "Look, there's only a 1/2 inch of shampoo in the bottle--can't you see it?" He didn't glance at the bottle. "Look, I've been at this job two years and I know the rules-" he firmly said. And Lord help me, the words were out of my mouth before thinking, "And I bet you've been a pain in the ass for a lot longer-" and then stopped. I locked eyes with the TSA agent. Oh man, this guy had the power to pull me out of line and make me miss my flight-what was I doing sassing him?

The stare-down didn't last long. I lowered my eyes, said, "Yeah sure-" to the demand to 'surrender the bottle' and beat it out of there. I just barely made the plane but learned something on reflection: re-check your time on something besides your own watch and if you want to get home, don't--ever--argue with a TSA guy.

On the Road with Sweet Potato Quilts and Don't Forget...

2009-11-02T14:37:00.011-05:00

This posting has two parts. The first is about my beloved orange aka sweet potato quilts. But the second part is more important. Read on...while on a trip to the folks at Avlyn Fabrics in Phoenix AZ, I gave a talk on Sweet Potato Quilts at The Bernina Connection. Sweet potato quilts FYI are the quilts with lots of gold-orange and North Carolina seems to have an abundance of them. Some collectors call the color 'cheddar' but this is a recent term. I prefer the label 'sweet potato' because that covers all shades from yellow through dark rusty red.

The store put all orange fabrics on sale at a 25% discount that night. As an extra treat, the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission (yes, there is such an entity) sent recipe cards for the crowd and refreshments (hot cider, coffee, sweet potato pie, empanadas, and cookie bars) were served. Richard Gross, prez of Avlyn Fabrics, is not only a foodie but a cook. He made the cookie bars and they were a hit! Go to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission website www.ncsweetpotatoes.com and click 'recipes' and then the bars, called Abracadabra Bars, are the first click under 'desserts.'

Here are a few of the pairs of quilts (antique and a contemporary quilt inspired by the antique) that I showed Wednesday night. The large lavender/orange quilt is from North Dakota and I call the smaller version Dakota Flower.

And then there's an old Pine Tree quilt bought at an auction for a whopping $12. It inspired a much larger bed quilt I call Flame Tree, shown here as an unquilted top.

The triple-sashing on the antique quilt (left) is typical of North Carolina quilts but the 'lightening' set of the new piece is more Kentucky-ish.
Love them both.

And now for part #2: go to this link http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltauction.html and you'll see an usual phenomenon in the quilt world: otherwise friendly compatriots locked in a battle for quilting supremacy. If you like WFW (World Federation Wrestling) you gotta see the first World Quilt Federation Smackdown Auction. It's for a great cause--Alzheimer's research--and the quilts are mini-masterpieces by the best in the business. Bid now!

Hooked on Hand Stitching

2009-10-23T16:41:00.001-04:00

I am not the quilt police. Way, way, back I resigned from the hand vs. machine debate. Mostly what I say to students is, "I don't care how you sew it--just sew it well." That leaves me free to judge at quilt shows, like the new World Quilt Show in West Palm Beach Florida this upcoming November 13-15. The lovely photo below shows the convention center at its sunset-best. Here's the link to the event http://www.quiltfest.com/activities.asp?id=36

What I'm discovering, to my chagrin, is that my own machine quilting skills are lacking. Sometimes I fight with the sewing machine and cannot get in sync. Mostly my tendency is to push and pull the layers and protesting machine needles have a habit of snapping on me. I am in awe of anyone who can 'speak machine.' Even after taking longarm lessons, I am a thread-bound klutz.

I also admit that hand stitching is very soothing. At the recent Houston Quilt Market, I got to demonstrate hand sashiko stitching for three days--it was not a hard gig! As weary shop owners tromped the aisles, I was grateful that I was doing what I loved. Handwork is portable and I can pull it out anywhere--even when I'm on an airplane flying between teaching jobs. As long as the flight attendant knows their regs and doesn't freak at the needles and scissors! The regulation states that scissors are allowable if they are 4" or less long, measured from the hinge screw to the tip. The only person who ever berated me was a man flight attendent who might have had his own issues. He screamed, "Sheathe that needle! Put away those scissors!" It wasn't worth the hassle when he was nigh-on hysterical.

The latest thing--Shadow Leaf and Skinny Kitties

2009-10-03T18:36:00.018-04:00

At Quilt Market in Houston Texas next week, Avlyn Fabrics will introduce my first line called Shadow Leaf. Totally unlike the neato-o kid prints Avlyn is famous for, Shadow Leaf is only three colorways: grey, taupe/brown, and shades of indigo blue. For years I hungered for brighter colors and in particular, orange. I got my wish. Orange is now everywhere and like the fickle person I am, I've moved on to lust after different colors.

Last Market I saw grey combined with yellow and violet. It gave me indigestion. Grey is water, steel, rainclouds, and quiet shadows. Grey deserves whole lines devoted to it. That's where Shadow Leaf started. The focus print (upper left) is a layered composition of different sorts of leaves. The other patterns compliment the theme. This moderne print, inspired by a 1950s feedsack, is called Lines.

I like a pure soft grey, as in Daisies.

Everybody likes dots. Meet Ditty Dots.

A nice medium grey, with a hint of background leaves, is called Bamboo.

And here's Sprouts in black and an ivory background.

So that's how Shadow Leaf started, with shades of grey.

Grey to me doesn't mean drab. I've found that working in fewer colors means an interesting design can happen. It also means your whole quilt or wall hanging doesn't depend on just that one fabric in just those colors.

Meet the Skinny Kitties. This wall hanging is in honor of Saito, the Japanese artist who loved cats and often painted them. This print by Saito hung in my bedroom for many years and I recently gave it to my niece Sarah as a wedding gift.

And maybe Skinny Kitties happened because these guys now live at my house.

Here's a detail from Skinny Kitties.

John C. Campbell Folk School #2

2009-09-23T17:27:00.018-04:00

The week of teaching in August at J.C. Campbell Folk School was so full of images and memories that it's difficult to sort out what to talk about or show on this blog. Suffice it to say, I'd teach there in a New York minute again!

Imagine a whole big place--acres, buildings, fields, mountain views, people in hives of activity--all devoted to arts and crafts.

Here is one of the design walls showing some students' works (left to right: Pat, Annie, Penny, and part of Mary Jane's).

The last day we did some reflection and talking about how to finish the pieces. Annie from Asheville explained how her quilt grew from a tiny embroidered mola in the center.

Stephanie even got to basting her piece, a long art quilt that could viewed and hung either horizonatally or vertically.

Linda, who named her large quilt "The View over Chunky Girl Mountain" (what she sees from her kitchen window) made two companion quilts. I told her I'd be happy to adopt either one.

Penny, who also teaches gourmet food and wine classes at J.C. Campbell, got fancy with the center of her medallion quilt. The stars are teeny!

Penny's across-the-table friend Claudia brought Civil War reproduction fabrics and showed us all how her bitty calicoes could work just fine in these patterns. She also gave us a heart attack climbing a ladder to place her pieces on the design wall!

Pat, the quilter-in-residence at J.C. Campbell, modified both the star pattern and the Drunkard's Path to make her wall hangings. See the first picture (at blog beginning) for Pat's first quilt and then look on the left behind the musicians for her #2 piece. We hung the quilts on the stage curtains the last day during the "graduation" ceremony in front of all the students and faculty of J.C. Campbell. I know--they emphasize that the learning environment there is not competitive but if you were me, wouldn't you bust your buttons with pride at what they accomplished? I am grinning like a loon.

Teaching at Joseph C. Campbell Folk School (#1)

2009-09-02T16:19:00.022-04:00

Two years ago I was mailed an invitation to teach at the prestigious Joseph C. Campbell Folk School www.folkschool.org and happily accepted. August 16, 2009 finally rolled around and so I boogied over to Brasstown, North Carolina driving a comfortable rental car. Although I love my Toyota, a 19 year-old stick shift, no radio or floor mats pickup truck isn't the best ride for an 11 and 1/2 hour jaunt!

The class started with a get-to-know-you session Sunday evening August 16 and then proceeded for five straight days Monday-Friday. Imagine: five full days of quilting! The titles was Eclipses and Meteor Showers and combined an old-fashioned Drunkard's Path with a simple eight-point Star to make interesting new variations. Three of the nine students chose to work only with the traditional Drunkard's Path templates that came with the kit I provided. These were custom-cut by Brandy's http://www.brandysquiltpatterns.com/acrylic.html .

Other goodies in their bag: graphs of several possible quilt lay-outs, a six-inch alternative template, perle cotton, and a pack of basting needles and another of Big Stitch needles courtesy of the Colonial Needle Company http://www.colonialneedle.com

Our two most senior sewers, Mary Jane and Hilda, put us all to shame. Working across from each other, they set their sights on queen-size quilts and I have no doubt they'll finish both these beauties.

Mary Jane used both intense and 'muddy' batiks and this shows only 1/4 of her large quilt. Hilda opted to long vertical rows of Rob Peter to Pay Paul blocks in batiks.
Jennifer, beavering away at her sewing machine, also chose traditional blocks off-set with dark solid purple.

Here Linda is contemplating choices for her star blocks.

The remaining six students opted for Drunkard's Path+Star variations. I'll post more pictures next time!

Family Log Cabin Quilt

2009-08-27T16:45:00.011-04:00

Trying to keep up with ten nieces and nephews is difficult. A few have quilts I've made-the others will just have to wait. One Log Cabin quilt finally got to my niece Becca last Thanksgiving when her folks came to the beach for the holidays. I discovered these pictures on my computer and thought it was time to show Becca and Rob's wedding quilt. The photo shows them when they announced their engagement.

All I had asked was "What are your favorite colors?" and Becca replied, "Pink and maybe pink with brown." I'm sure her fiancee Rob thought, "Oh no, pink!" but I hope that the beiges and browns have kept the composition from being too girly.

I've always liked this forthright take on the classic Log Cabin pattern. It only uses sixteen large blocks, sashing, and a border. It started with a shell print since Becca and Rob got married at the beach. Add various pinks and beiges from my stash and then frame with a formal brown and rose border stripe that I'd designed for the line Rosemarie by Telegraph Road Studio. (Sorry, that fabric's long out of print!)

After the quilt top was sewn together, I chose a pale pink backing and turned it over to my friend Vickie Garner who's a professional machine quilter. My only advice was, "Please choose a quilting pattern that's kind of 'beachy'-" and Vickie knew just the one: swirling waves and shells. Perfect.

Becca sent a nice thank-you note and ended with, "I especially love the back!" That's the part of the quilt that I had very little to do with but the point is she likes it.

Go West

2009-08-12T10:51:00.010-04:00

I take off Friday for a week teaching at John C. Campbell Folk School in the mountains of North Carolina https://www.folkschool.org. The school is near a tiny town called Brasstown snuggled in the western-most point of the state about equidistant between Knoxville and Atlanta. Fortunately they'll let me drive a rental car (my 19 year-old Toyota manual truck sans radio dislikes altitude) so I can wend my leisurely way along the 11 1/2 hour drive from the coast westward.

We'll be holding a five-day class/study called Eclipses and Meteor Showers. It's a fancy name for any creative combination of a simple star block and the quarter circle in a square unit of the traditional Drunkard's Path block. Eight adventurous souls have signed up and I can't wait to teach in this beautiful environment.

The photo left is of a quilt called Eclipse that I made about 15 years ago. What's happening now on the design wall is a little different...it's called Meteor Shower and will be my main work this coming week. Certainly not a tidy composition like Eclipse but it's like classical music devolving to jazz. As I quilt longer I get a bit looser.

Lest I forget the buggers, I took a number of pictures of Gipsy and Earl this morning. She's a typical mackerel tabby but he's a crazy Siamese-ish color scheme and is evidently developing a spotted coat. Like I'd ever forget those faces!

From the TMI (too much information) department.
My kittens may need a a 12 step program. Earl has finally learned what a cat box is for but that's all he'll do. I think it's the same Y-related chromosome as the one for "leaving the toilet seat up" that human males possess. Gipsy is the enabler. Like a true older sister, she trots along and goes, "Ewww, Earl!" and does the covering honors. No, I did not photograph this farce.

A Life Interrupted by Kittens!

2009-08-03T16:37:00.010-04:00

The whole month of July flew by without me writing a single blog entry here. The fact is that I was more gone on the road teaching than home all month long. And when home, I was captivated by our new kittens, Gipsy Girl and Earl Grey. It's been years since I've had the pleasure of holding a purring little kitten on my lap. And now we have two. They've been with us just over a month.

We took them early-six weeks-when eight weeks is the vet-recommended age for kittens to leave Mama. But both their Mamas, semi-feral cats of Siamese ancestry on Harkers Island, were already leaving their broods, a combined mega-litter of twelve kittens, to go off and be, well, cats. A kindly couple corralled all the kittens, fed them, and socialized them. The vet was impressed. No worms, fleas, or ear mites.

We chose Gipsy, brown mackerel tabby, and Earl Grey, Blue Point Siamese-ish coloring. Getting two kittens was the right thing to do. They play together all day long. Gipsy was born May 20th and is a Taurus. Earl's birthday is May 22 and he's a Pisces.

They've utterly taken over the house. Here they're helping Rod as he relaxes. Notice both the TV remote and the telephone are handy.

While Gipsy's stripes will get more prominent and her eyes turn gold, Earl will always be a blue-eyed cat. Just like his Uncle Edward. Unc's full name is Edward Parsley Marshall and he lives with my niece Julia in Kentucky. Edward is a stylish cat who sets fashion trends. Who knew that cross-eyed is the new black?

Sun Quilt and Solstice memory

2009-06-26T12:03:00.009-04:00

Summer solstice happened this year on June 21st at precisely 1:45 AM when the sun stood directly over the Tropic of Cancer. So welcome summer and welcome my horoscope sign, Cancer the crab. I am a true crab. I love my home and get a 'mite tetchy' when absent too long from it. In addition I love all domestic rituals-with the notable exception of housework-and true to the astrologer's description, am "...creative, sensitive, and can be quite moody." You got a problem with that?

In honor of del sol, I rooted around and unearthed a wall hanging made in 1997. The occasion was a challenge from David Textiles to use their latest line of fabrics called An Enchanted Garden . The two pieced blocks are Full Blown Rose and haiku poems are written in each one. Ironically, while neither poem is about summer (they're on spring and fall) the sun imagery comes through as the strongest element of the piece.

The haiku were from my favorite haiku book, A Net of Fireflies, by Howard Stewart.

On this anniversary of summer solstice I remember June 21, 1974 when I was in England and with thousands of like-minded hippie souls, headed to Stonehenge for the occasion. Modern Druids, bikers, backpackers from every country converged on the monument. But the most fun was the night before since most folks camped in the woods at the edge of Salisbury Plain. The trees were so huge you couldn't get your arms around them and as gnarled as any drawn by Arthur Rackham. While wandering from bonfire to bonfire, I picked up a companion, a spritely beer-drinking Brit with long hair, glitter on his face, and wearing four-inch silver platforms. Even then he didn't come up to my shoulder! I finally ditched him by weaving quickly through the forest although I could hear him for a long time, stumbling along in his heels, yoohoo'ing, "American girl, oh, American girl."

Have you seen this quilt?

2009-06-13T22:09:00.016-04:00

Recently I was doing some reading on Ruby Short McKim, the famous quilt designer and entrepreneur from the 1930s. Ms. McKim is most famous for her book, which most of us met later as a Dover reprint, called One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns. The original, published in 1931, had a lavender hard cover.

The Dover version, c.1962, echoes the earlier lavender but then adds garish quilt blocks. Dover is a reprint house and gladly snatched up this title when its copyright was not renewed. Word to the wise... Ironic that the 1931 book sold new for $1.50 postpaid and the 1962 paperback version was only .50 more at $2.00! The Dover 101 was my first quilt book and its cover shows lots of wear since it was my bible until other quilt books started to be written in the 1970's.

A frustrating thing about the Dover version was that it reprinted some pages of embroidered quilts but didn't give designs. Turns out these pages were actually from the McKim Studio mail order catalog and in the 30s were available as kits. But by 1962, the McKims had long gone on to other business ventures ( Kimport Doll Company) and the tantalizing diagrams of the long-ago designs were out of reach for us latter-day readers.

One quilt in particular still stirs readers' imaginations. Ruby McKim was a proficient artist and had brought the Victorian redwork tradition forward with her diverse designs for embroidered quilts. Readers were urged to try the flower designs in multi-color floss, to add applique touches, or even to color the diagram with crayons and then heat the squares to give a watercolor effect. Happily for us today, Ms. McKim's granddaughter Merrily has reprinted this classic pattern and you can find it at her website http://www.mckimstudios.com/04treasures/quiltspecial/quiltspecial.shtml under the title Flower Garden Quilt #401.

A contemporary version of the Flower Garden quilt is the quilt I'm asking you to be on the lookout for. Here's the scoop: in 1977 quilt artist Martha Opdahl made a beauty-a tribute to the older McKim pattern but with a bohemian color scheme that makes any Flower Child sigh with delight. Here's the description in her own words. Martha Opdahl writes on her website http://marthaopdahl.wordpress.com/ :

In 1977, I participated in a national quilt contest–the “Flower Garden Quilt Contest”–sponsored by the Indianapolis Star newspaper. It was my first entry into a juried show. The contestants were each to produce a quilt based on a set of 24 flower designs by Ruby McKim. You could stitch them any way you liked, but the sponsors wanted contemporary interpretations–not what your grandmother would have made. I decided on bold, solid colors using a reverse applique technique to render stylized versions of the traditional McKim designs. I was influenced by “The Rockefeller Quilt” designed by Dorothy Weatherford, designer for the Mountain Artisans Cooperative of West Virginia. (That quilt was a gift from the quilters to Sharon Percy Rockefeller for her support in their efforts to establish and maintain their cooperative.) The Flower Garden contest drew many beautiful and inventive entries. In the end, I won first place with mine, which disgruntled many. Yet one viewer at the show declared it was “the only contemporary quilt” there. It was a welcome compliment amidst the dissenting noise. Coda: The quilt was purchased by Sharon Rockefeller.

Here's the mystery: Ms. Rockefeller can't find the quilt! Now a museum wants to exhibit this quilt and it's missing. Can anyone who reads this blog shed some light on where Martha might find her lost masterpiece?

Here's the picture sent to me by the Rockefeller's house keeper but it's the famous Mountain Artisans quilt, not Martha's quilt. You sure can see the resemblance, can't you? If you know of the whereabouts of Martha Opdahl's Flower Garden quilt, please contact her at her website as soon as possible.

Lest we forget

2009-06-06T20:32:00.011-04:00

Today, June 6th, is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy by the Allies. Their flags are seen left.

Predictably, CNN and all the networks reported that politicians visited the site and made long-winded speeches. For a more personal and meaningful celebration of this historic day, here's a link to a website where D-Day veterans talk about their experiences in their own words. Check out www.normandy1944.info . If you had a relative in the D-Day invasion, you might find their story here or you can add your own.

Someday I just want to go and walk those beaches and listen to the wind. My niece, Julia Marshall, has been to Normandy with her family and she took a lot of pictures. With Julia's permission, here are a few poignant images from that trip.

There's still a hulk of a landing craft in the surf.

And old gun emplacements are still visible.

The map on the wall in the visitors center that shows the allies landing points on the beaches.

The American cemetery at Normandy.

And lastly, for all veterans known and unknown, my heartfelt thanks for your service to this country. Click on the picture so you can read the inscription.

The results are in from Florida-Deborah wins!

2009-05-27T12:48:00.013-04:00

No, we're not talking vote tallies or 'hanging chads' but rather Deborah Rotondo, an eager beaver quilter from Florida. Deb took my String Star class last January at the Dayspring Quilt retreat outside Venice, Florida. The scenery at the Dayspring camp was incredibly beautiful and now I understand why so many snowbirds land in this state.

From the onset, this happy student set a blazing pace and even matched her toes to her work!

When I got pictures from Deborah a couple of weeks ago, I about leaped through the monitor. I wrote her back: "Sometimes I'm sitting here, thumb in mouth, staring at the computer screen wondering 'Why do I do this?' and an email like yours comes through-what a blessing! I am so proud of you! The quilt came out beautifully and the 'set shot' in the bedroom would do Home & Garden proud."

Here's Deborah's family holding the quilt:
Lisa at lower left, Michael Bello (boyfriend), Paul Bello (Michael's twin) and his wife Kristin lower right.

Here is the completed masterpiece in her daughter Lisa's bedroom. Don't you think this would set any HGTV decorator on his ear?!I noticed at the Pittsburgh Quilt market that black and white and particularly zebra stripes were everywhere. Lovely. Well done. Kudos. Congrats. A+. Five stars. A 10. Dang, I wish I'd made this...

For Mother's and Father's Days

2009-05-07T13:10:00.009-04:00

Finding old family photos is always bittersweet. But my sister sent me this one and it's a keeper. It's my Mom and Dad, obviously head over heels in love. The picture was taken in 1941, likely on their honeymoon. After Pearl Harbor, pilots were seldom allowed leave but Dad got Christmas Day and so that's when they got hitched. Eleven months later, he'd leave for North Africa, leading the first B-26 squadron across the Atlantic, and my brother Scott would be born on the day he left.

Mom is Mary Elizabeth (Mary Lib) and Dad is Joseph Scott (Joe when younger and Scott later in life) Peddie. Love the peep-toe shoes.

After a career in the Air Force, Dad decided to hang up his wings and try for a halo. Upon retirement he went to seminary in Lexington, KY and was ordained an Episcopal priest. Always in uniform! This picture is the whole fam-damily together, taken around 1965.
Left to right front row: Mary Frances (Sissy), me, Elisabeth Anne (Lili), Christopher Jon (Chris). left to right back row: Scott Garrett, Mom, and Dad (in new uniform).

This posting has nothing whatever to do with quilts. Just a reminder to love your Mom and Dad while you have them. Happy Mother's Day.

Latest Installment Cats With Jobs

2009-05-03T17:01:00.011-04:00

Back in the dark ages when I had a quilt shop (1976-1983) I commissioned a local artist named Lorna Brown to make a stain glass piece to hang in the upstairs window of the shop. Back lit at night, it was irresistible and lured many a person up the steep stairs. The black cat silhouette, after my own feline friend Maxine, added the perfect domestic detail.

While quilts are irresistible magnets for felines, sometimes even a vigilant cat must do some real work. Here's a few good pictures of our friends, past and present, as they accompany us in our tasks. Sheba at left was an ottoman inspector and could resist no photo opportunity. That's me--very long black hair a la Lorette Lynn 14+ years ago. Still have the chair and the quilt.

Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River quilt design company shares her life with cats and the tabby is really adventurous! His name is Max and he's learned to tame and ride the vacuum. Take a look at Susan's website because she makes great stuff--and she's here in North Carolina! http://www.bluemoonriver.com

Some other furry friends: all the way from Washington state, the happy cat-also a Max-is taking a siesta from birdwatching. His human is Michele Crawford from www.flowerboxquilts.com. Since Michele designs, makes, and sells quilt kits, Max also has a lot of quilt-testing to do.

From an unknown web source, the portrait I call 'MacSiamese.'

See right my friend Katherine's own PC wizard whose name appropriately is Oz.

Tune in for another installment of 'Cats With Jobs' and send pictures or links of your cat.

Catch Up Photos from Family and Friends

2009-04-14T18:50:00.012-04:00

This year for Christmas I gave my niece Rebecca and her husband Rob their wedding quilt. Good thing too. They'd already been hitched for a year and a half! It was a classic Log Cabin quilt, made in pale 'beachy' colors of pinks and beiges to commemorate their seaside wedding.

In October they had their daughter Rylee and the mite had some troubles before pulling through. Rylee is now a pink and perfect baby and is posing, centerfold-style, on her parents' wedding quilt. Someday Becca promises a full picture of the quilt but then again, this is the best: happy baby on quilt.

My friend Gyleen of Colourful Stitches also checked in with happy news: her boxer Tori gave birth on April 10th. Speaking of colorful...the pups were white, brindle, and brown and every puppy is already spoken for. Guyleen's website, with her books and dyed products, is at this link www.colourfulstitches.com
Isn't it great when you're loved and wanted?

On the road again, got to get on the road again

2009-04-10T21:46:00.006-04:00

Starting Wednesday night, I leave for a teaching trip out west. First stop: Houston, Texas. I'll get to visit family first for a couple of days and then the gals from the Lakeview Quilters Guild are taking a two-day workshop with me on the Star of Bethlehem quilt pattern. Like the Lone Star, a Star of Bethlehem has a big center star pieced from small diamonds but then the quiltmaker adds smaller pieced stars placed between the eight legs of the center motif.

I was inspired by an old quilt in my collection. A North Carolina piece, and possibly of Lumbee Indian origin, I made a not-exactly-the-same-but-close tribute piece. The close-up shows that what looks like a darker shade of green was probably a home-dyed blue when the quilt was made in the 1920s. Making this quilt, over an eighteen month period, confirmed for me once again that I love the process and flow of hand work. But this is not the quilt to make if you have a deadline!

I had to bring back the idea that blue had been a part of this quilt so my version has a strong cornflower blue added to the mix. And I got finicky about those sawteeth and made sure they all matched which meant I had to make more of the little buggers. I loved making this quilt.

The Lakeview gals are welcome to piece by hand or machine and we'll have two days to make the magic happen.

Then I go on to the Washington State Quilters in Spokane. This group gets Mastering Quilt Marking, a half-day of the 19th Century Pineapple and another half-day of Conquering Curves and a double-dose, day and evening, of my favorite talk, a show-and-tell of scrap quilts old and new.

After Effects of Aprils Fools

2009-04-06T15:10:00.011-04:00

This is not quilt-related but then again, sometimes I don't quilt 24/7. Time out for jocularity.

When I'm in town, I try to go to my local Curves three times a week. Curves, if you don't know, is a women-only exercise franchise. Lisa, the owner of the Beaufort NC Curves, is a former teacher and had the place painted with wide swathes of blackboard paint so she could leave chalked messages for us to read as we exercised.

As an ADD person, I could only stand the blackboard messages so long. One day I found Lisa's basket with chalks in it and quickly sketched a cartoon featuring a pudgy cat. On March 31, I drew an April Fools cartoon and it's gotten a lot of reaction. The cartoon featured Ms. Phat Cat as a ballerina. The caption said: "Announcement! As of April 1, Curves has a uniform requirement! *Hat *Gloves *Tutu. Also, Members must go en pointe between machines."

Lisa got into the spirit and turned up April 2 in the correct garb. Nice try with the tennis shoes and who have thought she actually had a tutu at home? Isn't she cute?

There's simply no other place I might put this picture but now I can confess I have known a few strange ballerinas...meet Hill Billy Ballerina aka Mike Galyon in drag.

Mike's our former neighbor and is a great one for sight gags.
He left off his prize beany with the propeller on top and the snaggly teeth he always wears for holiday dinners because he didn't want this disguise to be too over-the-top. Restraint and good taste in the same package-hard to come by!

The Quilter's Beach Party

2009-03-31T14:38:00.023-04:00

I love the Quilter's Beach Party! Lordie, it was a great weekend, weather withstanding. The Party kicked into gear Thursday night with a pizza party at the fab Boat House in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. Here's the link to view this gorgeous place http://reservations.emeraldislerealty.com/properties/Boat-House/
The Boat House overlooks Bogue Sound so we must stitch while looking out over the water...sigh.

A dozen quilters from North Carolina, Michigan, and Pennsylvania gathered to learn handwork quilt techniques. On Friday we made a little foundation-pieced Silhouette House in the morning (Patti lined and finished the blocks) and a traditional Album block in the afternoon.

That evening we moved to the back room of Patti's shop The Quilted Butterfly, shared a delicious dinner and heard a talk about oriental flower arranging principles from Sandra, the owner of The English Rose flower shop in Morehead City, NC. Got to admit though--the highpoint was plundering Patti's shop inventory at the year's only 25% off sale--yippee!

Hand sewers Carol Moore (a prof at ECU) and Sandy Gordon (who drives big rigs when not quilting-) learned how to make work more comfortable by using cushions.

Saturday we learned back-basting applique doing a little Teacup block as Robin Finch shows here and in the afternoon got down and dirty learning to stencil on fabric. We also got massages. It was hard getting the partiers to come back up and stitch after that!

Sunday's morning class saw Robin Khoeler come in to teach us basic beading techniques. Robin also makes prize-winning quilts such as this mermaid with a beaded tail.

It was a great group and the Midwest contingent introduced the others to midnight Yahtzee games. Somehow all the ice cream got eaten and the leftover cheesecake and tiramisu disappeared...

If you think you'd like to come to next year's Quilter's Beach Party, email Patti at contact@albfabrics.com and say 'Beach Party 2010' in the subject line.

Wahoo! We're approaching the 2000 mark in readers! As we head toward 2500, I'll run some sort of contest and giveaway...

Eclipses and Meteor Showers

2009-03-17T18:25:00.003-04:00

No, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling. The above title, Eclipses and Meteor Showers, is the title of a 5 day class I'll be teaching this summer at the John C. Campbell Folk School. The class goes from August 16-22. Here's a link to the history of this unusual institution http://folkschool.org.

Founded in 1925 in Brasstown, North Carolina, John C. Campbell offers everything from basketmaking to blacksmithing to quilting, lots of different art courses, and even cooking classes. I am really looking forward to teaching for days straight and intend to help students get a lot done. My class centers on quilt designs using the venerable Drunkard's Path pattern but in fresh and interesting compositions. We'll even stretch a quilt on a frame and try hand quilting. But no dull Drunkard's Path quilts for me--I'd just as soon be sentenced to purgatory as make a quilt in only two colors!

The Eclipse of the title is this quilt but I'm already hip-deep in revamping this beauty and making another in vague far-eastern colors and print. The Meteor Shower part means combining the Drunkard's Path with star blocks. No such thing as too much going on in a quilt.

Gifts I Love

2009-03-05T20:39:00.012-05:00

Years ago when we first moved to our house in Beaufort, a friend named Byron Boyer stopped by with a house-warming gift. Opening the trunk of his car, he whipped out this vintage oriental rug and insisted we take it. We love it. It lays on the dining room floor where we can view it every day.

Byron is a merchant seaman who sails all over the world. He stops by Beaufort to visit family and then is gone again. He has excellent taste in gifts. Two years ago he brought me this beautiful red silk scarf from India. Look how the light shines through it!

Last week Byron was through again and unhappily I missed him. On the porch were two more gifts (from Singapore) with a card. I've hardly taken off the silk purple and gold scarf--it's wonderful for wrapping my neck to keep warm.

And then there's the long rayon stripes scarf, almost a shawl in length, that serendipitously goes with my old Indian style sweater. The sweater was a gift from my sister Mary Frances who totally understands that if it's soft and colorful, I'll like it. In the hand-me-down progression I was person #3. The sweater was well broken-in...perfect. If I had the bucks, I'd hire someone to wear shoes and jeans till they were just right, whatever that is. I prefer the "new" totally knocked out of clothes.

Last and never least: my orange leather gloves, another gift from Mary Frances. Three years old now, they are getting a bit battered. Monday I stopped by the credit union to do some banking and inadvertently left the gloves. Panic! When I called, the woman said, "No problem--we've got them in Lost-n-Found." Yesterday I retrieved the gloves. As she handed them to me, she said, "Oooh, these are so soft...like butter-" Gratefully I took them and replied, "Yes, but the best thing's the inside--they're lined with cashmere." I could see she was envious.

Thank you Byron and Mary Frances for giving me beautiful gifts--I cherish them.

Snow and maybe snow again

2009-02-18T10:53:00.011-05:00

In eastern North Carolina we've had snow a startling four times this winter! People are moaning about how spring should be around the corner and "...enough already!" The weatherman has even predicted a snow sprinkle for this weekend. My household is not particularly happy about the prospect of cold white stuff.

The last time it happened, Henry Lee (in yellow stripes and white boots) charged out and then stopped dead...snow was cold! He retreated to the porch steps and complained loudly.

Bamboo (in tortoiseshell coat) went outside maybe twice and then spent two days under the light on the dining room table where she got very bored and decided to 'help' me with sashiko.

The ball of perle cotton she beat up has never recovered
and I have simply surrendered it to her.

If the cats have to endure snow again, I am buying a supply of catnip so they can zone out and stay out of my quilting!

Headed South

2009-02-06T17:54:00.013-05:00

This weekend I'm going to Venice FL to teach at a quilters retreat. Hopefully the weather will be a good deal warmer than here! Last night the furnace kept coming on and there's nada humidity in the air. Good for drying clothes on the line but hard on your skin and hair. Both cats are shying away from being petted since a static touch produces a little "zap!"

The Venice group chose one of my 'sweet potato ' quilts as their retreat project. (The sweet potato quilts are my collection of orange and gold color quilts.) The group has three days to work on it and we'll go from design to quilting and binding.
Easy String Star is based on a vintage quilt from Georgia picture (the brown and gold picture) and is foundation-pieced in big (18") blocks. Here's also a small piece I made (yellow and gray) in tribute.
Both are fan-quilted in black thread, a very down-home way to quilt your quilt.
Inspired by the upcoming Florida class, I made another String Star quilt in modern black and white plus favorite colors. Seems everyone's been collecting black and white prints in anticipation of one day making a quilt in that color scheme. I found it easy to do (no angst about choosing) and finished the large piece (72" x 90") in less than a week of intermittent work. Guess it's not a 'sweet potato' quilt any more!

Will Martha please sit down?

2009-01-28T10:31:00.010-05:00

I don't exactly know how but somehow I wandered onto Martha Stewart's blog. Some quilt images caught my eye so I clicked on them. These photos were taken at the huge American Antiques show last week in NYC and of course, Ms. Stewart was there to lend support. Okey, dokey, here's the press snapping away at Martha as she smiles beautifully. I know, her coat "matches" the quilt....

Another picture showed a wooden thing situated against a bright cheddar, red, green, and white quilt. I think the quilt pattern's called New York Beauty. Her comment follows, " The tassle of carved wood is a pleasing detail." Oooooh, the quilt, tell us about the quilt!

Finally here's a Baltimore-esque applique quilt that Ms. Stewart calls 'her favorite.' Down in front, please ma'am--I wanna see the flowers!

Nothing against Ms. Stewart (her recipes are right on the money) but how long do you think before this beauty (the quilt) appears on mugs, placmats, and other tasteful home accessories. K-Mart will be thrilled!

My mother was astonished that I didn't subscribe to Martha Stewart's magazine as soon as it became available. She even scolded me for not being a Martha devotee but honestly, I could never measure up.

This is the vase, usually filled with dead flowers, that hangs on a cabinet in my kitchen.
Nuff said.

NRQR (not really quilt-related) or Edward Finds a Home

2009-01-24T19:00:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, my niece Julia lost her young kitty Apple Blossom to kidney failure. She wasn't going to get another cat...

As fate would have it, her mama was at the vet's two days ago and a fine blue-eyed boy named Edward needed a home. Thank the Lord for I-phones! Here's the photo she sent to her daughter Julia "auditioning" Edward. He got the job!

My sister wrote about the situation, "She really wanted an older cat, neutered, still possessing claws, micro-chipped and with all its shots - for real cheap - like that was going to happen! Thursday I took Yoda [her cat]to the vet and there were cages set up in the waiting room with several cats up for adoption. One great big four year old guy with blue eyes and a sweet disposition caught my eye. His previous owner had to take a job truck driving and had to put up this big boy for adoption. I took pictures and played with him. Ed, or Edward, as he was named by his first family, now lives in Cincinnati with Julia. Last night I called to find out if Ed had decided to come out from under the bed and explore the apartment. Why yes, in the span of one half hour, he was in her lap and nuzzling her face. Smart guy - he knows a good deal when he sees it!"

And like all our family cats, one of their main tasks is testing quilts...

Don't you love a happy ending?

Cracker Crumbs or Ocracoke checks in.

2009-01-12T14:20:00.009-05:00

OK-here's the pop quiz question from last week: where's Ocracoke Island? Answer: Find it in the middle of the map at the bottom of this blog.

Quilt history is fun and last week's blog entry on the Cracker pattern, a favorite of Ocracoke quiltmakers, got some response that I wanted to share with readers. Amy Howard, a quilter from Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, sent me a picture of one of her Cracker quilts. She writes that the Ocracoke Quilters now meet at the Deepwater Theater http://www.deepwatertheater.com/ on the island. So if you come to Ocracoke, be sure to stop by the Deepwater Theater and catch a performance of Molassas Creek, the local band with the big sound. Amy adds, "I hope you like the quilt. Usually the triangles are a more solid color, but I really like the textured look." Joyce Reynolds was the photographer.
Amy's Cracker proves that quilters can't help but tinker with their patterns. Nothing about quilt patterns is writ in stone. "No, you can't do that! This quilt is always made this way..." gets my hackles up. Maybe you've heard the term the "quilt police." That's the person who insists there's a right way and a wrong way to make a quilt and voices their opinion, loudly, on the subject. Don't you know it, quilters are independent sorts and experimentation is always appreciated-good on Amy and let's hope she makes many more quilts!

The Ocracoke map is here and by the way, if you plan on traveling to eastern coastal North Carolina, get an up-to-date map. Translation of 'picturesque byway' is: small curving road through swamps. How do you get to Ocracoke? You take a ferry! See this website http://www.ncdot.org/transit/ferry for more information.

Going Crackers

2009-01-05T13:39:00.011-05:00

There's a whole species of quilt patterns called strip-pieced or string-pieced. These patterns usually used strips of leftover fabric and were sewn over newspaper. The paper backings were torn away after the top was completed and just prior to quilting. One pattern called Cracker seems to have taken root in my area of the country, eastern coastal North Carolina.

Down the Atlantic coast of North Carolina, stretching from the Virginia border to just below where I live in Beaufort (that's under the 'o' in Morehead City on the map) is a string of islands known as the Outer Banks. And on one island, Ocracoke (see center of the map) the Cracker pattern has become the official quilt pattern. On Ocracoke, locals make the Cracker with four bars in the middle and one of the bars must always be red.

Quilt historians recently speculated on the Quilt History internet chat list that the title 'cracker' came about because the block somewhat resembles Christmas crackers, those old-fashioned party favors that pull apart with a bang! and out drops a little toy. Popularized in the late 19th century, Christmas crackers were a rage here in the States in the 20s and recently, as with all things paper, have come back into vogue.

In December I re-drafted the Cracker to resemble a real Christmas cracker and to also be a signature block. The writing is saying 'Merry Christmas' in different languages. I gave this Cracker block away at my quilt guild's Christmas party this year.

As the magical time approaches

2008-12-20T16:01:00.008-05:00

Everybody's occupied with Christmas shopping and celebrations and the phone hasn't been ringing. The silence has been a blessing! This weekend I'm blissfully sewing new samples for upcoming classes.

Beginning in January, I'll offer two sessions (take your choice of Tuesday or Thursday afternoons) in Beginning Quiltmaking. Last year's newbies were a great bunch and here's one happy camper with her quilt. I hear that Madeline McCabe has gotten this beauty done in time to give to her son this Christmas-congratulations! Madeline hand-quilted her quilt using perle cotton in the Big Stitch style.

Here's the link to my website and you click on it for upcoming class information particulars. http://www.peppercory.com/quilt_studio.html .

The house is also getting it's holiday spiff on and even the dark under-beds are getting cleaned out. Bamboo, the elderly lady cat who lives with us, loves cleaning. She adores dust bunnies made mostly of her own fur and carries them off to play with them. I find the dust bunnies lurking in corners where Boo's stashed them along with her other "toys"--an acorn and one of my dirty socks. You'd think from her choice of playthings that Boo was a deprived cat. But no, she's always turned her nose up at catnip mice and preferred to find her own amusement. She does look rather queenly in this photo!

Winter at the Studio

2008-12-13T18:24:00.012-05:00

While it's December now and there's no classes scheduled this month at the Quilt Studio, it's a great time to push through personal projects and clean up the place. I'll post next time about the upcoming January 2009 classes. A kindly friend helped me file and sort and the scrap bin has been replenished as each large tub of fabric gets gone through and the little stuff pitched or given away. December is kind of a reflective time for me. Rod and I rarely exchange large gifts and this year more than ever we're having a low-key holiday.

But that doesn't mean depressing or sad. Far from it. We're spending time with friends and I'm doing some baking. This year the goal is loaves of traditional German stollen (fancy sweet bread) filled with almonds and candied fruit. Here's an excellent recipe for stollen at this link and the photo is used with the permission of Aimee, the blog's writer. http://www.underthehighchair.com/2007/11/who-stole-my-stollen.html

I bought a huge ham to bake for a church Christmas party. Come Monday I will be at home most of the day, basting the enormous haunch with a blend of coffee, brown sugar, lemon juice, and spices. After the feast, we'll take home the ham bone and plan a slow-cooked pot of beans. The picture is last year's Thanksgiving feast but take my word, this year's ham is twice as large.

Not to post without a quilt reference, the moon's been spectacular as it hit perigee last night-lovely and large. Here's a little wall hanging I made called Sol y Luna (Sun and Moon) for a charity auction. The work is reverse applique and different than anything I've made so far.

More Cats With Jobs

2008-12-05T17:52:00.012-05:00

It's amazing how versatile felines are. Here are some more pictures as proof that our furry friends have figured out how to survive beautifully in the modern world. The tabby is obviously a crease checker--every one of these pairs of pants will have a nice crease up each leg...plus a little decorative cat fur embellishment.

And then there's Sheba, my own cat friend, in her early days as a home cleaning consultant as she helped me find threads on the rug.

My niece Julia Marshall has a new helper. Meet Apple Blossom (obviously her Indian name) a ginger longhair who's a guidance counselor for Julia and her friend Olivia. As in the plaintive plea seen here: "Take this job and bring home the dough so you can buy me a better grade of cat food."

My friend Mike Galyon runs a home for wayward Maine Coon
cats. Before they go into the big wide world, each masters a trade. Here are some of the graduates.

Zoomer is a professional escort, seen here kissing a lady's hand.

Pookie is a florist, putting lot of himself into every arrangement.

Autumn is a personal trainer who demonstrates new equipment at the gym.

And Anna is a Christmas gift-or a meatloaf-you decide.

But this guy is a lesson for all of us. During the holidays we may have a tendency to over-indulge. Unless you want to feel as awful as this guy does, be careful about the bubbly! This kitty actually owns a quilt store in Moscow, Idaho. Notice: no after-New Year's sales are planned as he recovers from the party...too funny.
PS-I tried to find the site where I snitched this photo...if the shop owners sees this blog, I'd be happy to put the link here.

Big Stitch News

2008-11-24T13:52:00.010-05:00

Big Stitch quilting is getting very popular now. That's hand quilting, but done in a relaxed style, using thicker thread and a larger needle. The stitches can be almost 1/4" long...very cool. It's a great way to get started in hand quilting or simply to have a relaxing handwork project. The Blue Bamboo Bunny is a small Big Stitch wall hanging in a traditional indigo and white color scheme.

The next Big Stitch class is Tuesday December 2. We're meeting for lunch before class at 11:30 AM at a local eatery near the Morehead City port. Here's the restaurant's website: http://www.floyds1921nc.com/ and the lunch menu is on the left. Then we'll be heading to The Quilted Butterfly http://www.albfabrics.com/quiltedbutterfly/index.html (just west of WalMart) and hold class from 1-4'ish in their large back room.

We already have sseven people signed up and can take up to three (3) more. The cost for the class is $30. Please email me if you'd like to take the class: http://pepcory@gmail.com/ . I'll provide a patchwork block, needle, and thread but here's what you need to bring:

*If you have a favorite thimble, bring it. *Also a thread nipper or small pair of scissors. *If you like to sew with an Ott light, bring it. *Another suggestion: a comfy pillow to sit on as you do handwork. *One 14" pre-washed (soft without finish) square of muslin. Hopefully I'll also be able to provide the batting square (I've ordered it-).

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We'll be able to provide you with a thimble to use and if you like, purchase. I provide (within the $30 cost of the class) a needle, sample thread, and an already-sewn patchwork block. I will have a stencil you can mark a design with and purchase if you like. Plus Patti's got lots of stencils and many colors of the #8 perle cotton we'll be using in class.

OH MY STARS!

2008-11-21T12:23:00.009-05:00

At last, back on the blog. Due to something hinky with the platform of Google's Blogspot, it wouldn't let me post photos. And since quilters are totally visual and won't "read" without pictures, from October 6 till today, I was dead in the water. Enough of this! If Blogspot gets strange again, I'm going to Word Press to host this blog. Fair warning.

There, I feel better now...so here's a very cool quilt for today's eye candy. I bought it from a dealer who found it in a house sale on the south side of Chicago. Fortunately, the dealer thought the quilt was worthwhile enough to save--she said it was incredibly cruddy--and she washed it. Whew! After surviving a spin in the Maytag, only a very few seams popped. This amazing exploding star quilt is made primarily from cottons with a fair sprinkling of 30s and 40s rayon prints. I am in awe of the person who drafted and made this quilt.

Utterly distracted-Meet Rylee Elisabeth-the winner is...

2008-10-06T16:14:00.014-04:00

Thanks to all readers who commented on the jelly roll thing last week. The deadline for comments was October 1 but on that date, I was totally distracted. My niece Becca (Rebecca) Brown was having a tough time of it at the hospital in Lexington, KY as she delivered her first baby. Here's Becca and her husband Rob on their wedding day-isn't she beautiful? And here's my new great-niece Rylee Elisabeth Brown as she lays in ICU.

For the last two months of her pregnancy, Becca was told to rest since she had a tendency to start contractions. But when she finally went into the hospital September 30, the baby decided to be stubborn. Eventually on Wednesday morning, they decided on a cesarean delivery. Rylee had some jaundice and low blood sugar, thus the ICU stay. Hopefully mama and baby are going home today-whew!

About the jelly role comments: I printed them out and cut the names apart with scissors and then drew them from a hat. Drum roll please: the winner is Janet who commented on September 23 with these words: "I've never bought a jelly roll-but if I did get one I would want one that when put together looked primitive-browns, greens, blues, dark reds etc." Your wish is my command! Ms. Janet,please email me at this address pepcory@gmail.com to reconfirm your jelly roll preferences and send along your snail mail address.

The final tally on the jelly roll debate was 36 comments (didn't count the repeats or those who just wrote to say 'hi') and the breakdown follows: 14 of you loved jelly rolls. You buy 'em and use 'em. However, the nays do have it: 22 of you were thumbs down. Reasons given ranged from, "I like to wash my fabric-", "They're too expensive-" to the downright ornery-" I don't want anyone else choosing my fabrics!"

And I learned a lesson too...next contest I keep count as the comments come in and don't wait a day past the deadline. Many thanks.

Strip Quilts

2008-09-23T18:29:00.005-04:00

If you're reading this in hopes of some titillating pictures or prose, you're on the wrong blog. Strip Quilts are made from strips of fabric and have nada to do with the art of undressing. Now go someplace else! All you quilters, gather round. I want your opinion on this subject.

Ready-made packages of strips of fabric, often marketed under the title "jelly rolls," are very popular right now. Quilters have been making quilts from strips, as this tattered Log Cabin quilt attests, for ages. But now there's a formula for designing quilts based on the jelly roll concept. A typical jelly roll contains forty or so 2.5" wide strips (roughly three yards of fabric). Lots of patterns are being designed for using jelly rolls. Do you think this is a good idea?

Are you buying jelly rolls? Do you think they're a good value? Any down-side? To encourage comment on this subject, I'm offering a prize for comments to this blog. if you'll write and post a comment on this subject, I'll put all names (email addresses) in a hat and pull one. You have from today's date (September 23) until the end of the month (September 30) to post.

The winner gets-tada!-a jelly roll of fabrics! That's 40 strips all pre-cut. But get this: I'll custom-cut a jelly roll for you! Got a favorite color? Like strange wild-n-crazy stuff? We can accommodate you!

So give me your thoughts on jelly roll fabrics and post them here. If you don't like jelly rolls but are the winner, will you accept some home-made jelly? I just made kiwi-strawberry jam and it's getting rave reviews.

Fanatic

2008-09-14T18:10:00.006-04:00

The little picture shows a stenciled motif. It was a design called Fanfare for my line of home dec stencils (StenSource International www.stensource.com ). Paint stenciling is not as popular as it used to be and I'm not even sure the stencil's still available.
But fan block quilts, if creative, are one of my favorite things. They're segmented versions of Drunkard's Path to my way of thinking. One of my first auction purchases, in Ionia, Michigan years ago, was a fan quilt with a suspiciously dark brown blotch and some torn places. After I'd paid for my treasure, I overheard the auctioneer telling someone that a dog had pups on that quilt! Yuck. I threw it in the back of the truck and immediately dunked it when I got home. Most of the stain came out and I cut down the quilt, rebound it, and sold it a month later.

However, if I had this quilt, you'd never, repeat, never get it away from me! No, I don't know who made this beauty but she was downright demented. Here's a full photo and a close-up of one of the interesting parts.

Wacky and wonderful at the same time.
Talk about attention deficit!

Faded But Not Forgotten

2008-09-07T19:30:00.005-04:00

There's a Japanese word, 'Iro-Ochi' , which means a special sort of faded beauty. Usually applied to pottery and printmaking, iro-ochi celebrates and appreciates the individual beauty of imperfection. Why is it that we tend to devalue faded textiles such as antique quilts?

"It's old and faded-" we say and thus dismiss the possibility that the aging process of the piece might be unique, interesting, and even worthwhile artistically. Occasionally I come across, in person or on the web, a quilt that, fading and all, is truly striking.

This one has all the colors of a twilight sky.
I think it's even more interesting because the pieced pattern is so simple-a variation of Drunkard's Path called Pullman's Puzzle. The quilting stitches also are very straight forward-dark parallel diagonal lines that cut across the surface.

I would be proud to claim this quilt, faded or not.

You say sa-shee-ko and I say sash-i-ko

2008-08-30T17:33:00.016-04:00

Sashiko (correctly pronounced with a tiny, almost imperceptible short i-) is a form of traditional Japanese quilting. It started as common darning. Sumptuary laws forbidding commoners from wearing bright clothing were in effect up until the late 19th century in Japan. When patches were needed on clothing, sashiko was done in plain white thread, sewn in geometric patterns, over the indigo fabrics that were the everyday uniform of farmers and fishermen. The star-type pattern pictured here is asanoha or hemp leaf.

Sashiko has always been popular in Japan and regularly undergoes revivals here in the States. Looks like we're in for another try with this age-old art. Many people find that after working with bright prints and complex pieced patterns, there's something soothing about the simple in-and-out of sashiko stitching.
Call it the Zen side of quilting.

Recently I taught a sashiko class and the five students worked diligently at learning to handle the sturdy sharp needle, with the aid of a thimble, and had to un-learn trying to get tiny stitches--as one does with hand quilting American-style. We worked on pre-printed indigo fabric (the printed designs wash out) and stitched a sample of four different sashiko patterns.

I made a sample wall hanging in the Circles of the East pattern showing them how they might use their sashiko stitched fabrics in a project. Very cool. One warning: sashiko is addictive!

Classical sashiko is done in heavy white cotton thread, about the same weight as rug warp, but the many luscious colors available in perle cotton today make quilting in color irresistible.

Cats With Jobs

2008-08-20T13:27:00.018-04:00

There's a program on the Animal Planet channel called Dogs With Jobs. You know the type: loyal Labradors rescue swimmers, herding dogs telling sheep what to do etc. But did you know that many cats also have jobs? Of course these occupations are all by choice....

Here's a few from my own pictures and off the web. My cat Bamboo is a professional kitchen organizer. She's giving old spices the sniff test and probably pointing out that oregano five years and older ought to be pitched.

Henry is our yellow cat who came to live with us two years ago. He is our official neighborhood greeter and here is checking on a tribe of Maine Coon cats, who mostly live indoors with our neighbor Mike Galyon. Or maybe he's going, "Nananana...I'm in the yard and you're not! " Many quilters are owned by cats so understand that the occupations listed here are only secondary to their main job which is quilt testing. Please meet Sally Bramald (her blog is http://quiltfeather.blogspot.com/) and her handsome gray tabby cat Silvester. He is a yoga instructor in England.

This quilt passed! The lovely tuxedo kitty is giving a satisfied smile of approval to one of Julie Mullins' quilts. See more of Julie's work on her website http://www.fiberactivequilts.com/

Wedding Bells

2008-08-14T22:40:00.006-04:00

My lovely niece Sarah Glass just got hitched last weekend to her true love Mike. I expect to hear more about the wedding soon but there was one detail I loved: very thoughtfully, Sarah insisted the groom's cake should take front-n-center at the reception. The cake was a big hit since it was baked in the shape of Mike's beloved Nascar favorite! If I get pictures of the Nascar cake, I will be sure to post them.

In the meantime, here's Sarah in all her glory on her wedding day. Isn't she beautiful?

To keep some quilt content in this blog, I'm throwing in a picture of a quilt I made using two different quilt blocks. The star block is Light of Lisbon but the rounded block is called Bride's Brilliant and yes, the piecing seams are exactly like the top (table side) of the traditional brilliant-cut diamond. Speaking of having a pattern right at hand! If you're married, stick your ring finger under a magnifying glass and you 'll see those "seams" atop your own engagement ring.

Lovely Old Thing

2008-07-13T00:23:00.012-04:00

While traveling recently in Missouri, I had the chance to see a wonderful early quilt. My hostess brought out an old family quilt from upstate New York that had been in her grandfather's family. It's a huge four block piece, with interesting applique shapes and classic side sprays of vining flowers in the border. The quilted motifs are trapunto (stuffed) and oh yeah, the quilting stitches are minute and there's about 12 stitches per inch!

Not a seamstress herself, my friend assumed her quilt's repair was far beyond her limited sewing skills. Moreover, she also had been told that the quilt dated from 1720 and was afraid to touch such an ancient object. My opinion: this quilt is well worth saving and repairing. Even when an applique element is totally missing, the tell-tale stitches remain in the fabric as a guide to future repairers. Plus I think it's a 19th century piece, not as early as thought, and has the look of a classic 1840-1860 design.

Although usually drawn to applique, this old beauty took my breath away. At the least, I have to record and draw this wonderful folky pattern.

News from Buckingham Palace

2008-07-03T16:30:00.013-04:00

About four years ago, a lovely English lady by the name of Kate Badrick emailed me and asked if I would write a letter of recommendation for a mutual friend. No problem. Kate is a crackerjack publicity agent.

The friend in question was Lynne Edwards of Bildeston in Suffolk. On several occasions I've had the pleasure of staying with Lynne and her talented artist husband Brian (right). On the upper left is one of Brian's hand drawn Christmas cards that you receive if you're on the Edwards' A-list.

Lynne is well-known both in the UK and the United States for her quilting skills and numerous awards and books. "What's this for?" I asked and Kate replied, "It's a recommendation for Lynne to become a MBE. You mustn't tell her-this campaign's a secret. We're doing it to honor her for all she's done for quilting." I knew that Lynne was popular and that one of her students has to pass on for someone to get a place in her weekly classes but was truly ignorant of the scope of this friendly conspiracy. "Sure thing-" I said, "I'll write a letter," all the while thinking that MBE must be some quilting honor, like Mistress of Batik and Embellishments.

But today July 3, Lynne Edwards, along with other worthies, was present at Buckingham Palace to be invested with the MBE, Member of the British Empire award, for her accomplishments in quilting. The medal was pinned on her by no less than Prince Charles himself and Lynne looks as though she can’t stop grinning! Way to go, Lynne!

Dad's Day (in memoriam)

2008-06-12T18:48:00.012-04:00

This week a lady named Jane Harrington sent me a picture of a great quilt she had made. The quilt has an airplane theme and as an Air Force brat, I loved the piece and asked her permission to show it here. Jane used a pattern from Wind Dancer Creations (www.winddancercreations.com) and had made her quilt especially for her pilot husband Steve on the occasion of his 60th birthday. She wrote, "Steve was a C-130 pilot for 21 years."

With Father's Day weekend ahead, memories of my own Air Force Dad naturally came up and I thought a few words about him was appropriate. Not to get too maudlin, Joseph Scott Peddie (Dad) graduated from West Point in 1941 and along with every other young man of the day, wanted to fly. Too tall at 6'4" to fit in a fighter cockpit, Dad became a bomber pilot and ended up in North Africa in 1942. The picture here was taken at that time-he's the one on the right. He was all of twenty three years old.

I can hardly think of Dad without humming the Air Force anthem and have known the lyrics since before I could read them. Here are the lyrics to the first verse of
Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder and if you click on this link http://www.af.mil/library/music.asp
and hit 'play song' you'll hear a short but rousing instrumental version of Wild Blue Yonder and be able to sing along. Call this a blogging karaoke.

Happy Father's Day and to the pilots among you, keep her level.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder

Climbing high into the sun;

Here they come zooming to meet our thunder, At'em boys, giv'er the gun!

Down we dive spouting our flames from under,

Off with one hell-uv-a roar!

We live in fame or go down in flame,

Nothing'll stop the US Air Force!

Goofball Pictures

2008-06-11T14:33:00.004-04:00

Summertime is definitely here. In coastal NC we're having a cold front--it's finally less than 95 degrees today. Sensibly I have stayed in the AC'd inside and been sorting pictures and other paper drek.

Then I found these goofball pictures. That's me at age 7 in my second grade school picture. I still remember the occasion. I'd forgotten to tell Mom it was school picture day plus it was Brownie day and we were late that morning and I'd dressed myself and just been to the restroom and splattered myself with water. Does it show?When the man took my picture, he began to laugh out loud. He came snorting out from under the black cloth drapery around the camera and doubled over laughing. He'd taken the 'goofy' picture and then sent in his assistant-wife who straightened me up, slicked down my hair, and said, "Let's do this again." Little did I know the photographer sent home both versions for my parents to choose which should be printed. My parents also thought the goofball one was funny and bought both versions. I was mortified! I tried to destroy the goofball picture by scribbling on it. OK-it is funny.

Don't forget the Quilt Flap is coming-see your invitation on the right.

Getting excited about the Quilt Flap

2008-05-30T16:36:00.006-04:00

Oh boy, the Quilt Flap's coming! Three weeks from tomorrow we're going to be neck-deep in old quilts. Lynn Gorges and I cooked up this idea of a glorified show-n-tell session-now called the Quilt Flap-to get folks around here to respect and save their old quilts. We'd seen one too many quilts consigned to the dog's bed and thought it was time to educate any willing members of the quilt-owning public.

Lynn once rescued a real early 19th century palampore quilt from the walls of the Shriners' auditorium in New Bern, NC, where it had been nailed up (!) to cover the doors of the restrooms. That is one lucky quilt. It now resides in acid-free splendor as the crown jewel of Lynn's not-inconsiderable collection of pre-Civil War North Carolina quilts. The tulip-y quilt in the picture is Lynn's as well.

Janice Pope from Cary NC, who has the patience of a saint when it comes to restoring and repairing old quilts, will share her wisdom. When do you repair an old quilt and when do you simply leave it alone? Janice will help people diagnose and prescribe treatment for Granny's treasure.

I'll run around and show my cheddar NC quilts. This is part of my life-long campaign to get golden-orange adopted as the favorite quilt color. It's obviously been working because in the past couple of years, modern quilters and art quilters are taking to orange in a big way. OK, I cheated-that's my own Basket quilt in the picture.....

Your invitation to the Quilt Flap is posted in the right sidebar-put it on your calendar and come.

Looking Up

2008-05-24T18:03:00.008-04:00

Folks in my family have a tendency to look up. We study the sky, both daytime and evening, are restless during full moons, and try to track stars and satellites. I was a little girl when Sputnik, the first Russian satellite, went into orbit. We lived on an Air Force base in Charleston SC and my sister had girlfriends over for a slumber party. We were hanging out on the swing set in the backyard when my parents came out to tell us we might see Sputnik go overhead. And we did see it, blinking faintly as it tracked across the deep blue early evening sky. My father strained to see it and then finally stomped back into the house in a foul mood muttering,"Damn it! They beat us to it!"

Fortunately stars, as in star blocks made into quilts, are much-loved images and not controversial subjects. This picture was taken in Houston, TX where I recorded an interview for the Under the Bed project. The quilt behind me was called Starry Night and appeared as the calendar quilt for 1996 for Oxmoor House Press. I still love it and teach the star patterns.

Yesterday my Uncle Otto from Dallas checked in to tell me that due to his post-polio symptoms, he's going to get a motorized wheelchair. I replied he needed to get flames painted on it, or make room for bumper stickers, or maybe rent out space for ads. Quick as a shot, he zapped back this picture. As an astronomer and lifelong technophile, Otto loves all things Apple and sent this on his iPhone. Notice the bumper sticker that says, "My other vehicle is on its way to Pluto."

Bittersweet Mother's Day

2008-05-11T19:56:00.010-04:00

I'm glad when folks still have their Mom to remember and honor and take to dinner on this day but I still miss mine terribly. Her name was Mary Elizabeth Wetzel Peddie. She stood about 5' 2" in her stocking feet and was a brunette with hazel eyes. In her later years, she also got broad width-wise so I can claim I come by my shape naturally.

Called Mary Lib by her friends (but never by her children-) she encouraged all my writing efforts and was relieved when I finally used my college degree to some worthy end. After I dedicated book #3 to her (Crosspatch in 1989), she stopped bugging me about having children and contented herself with introducing me as "My daughter, the author."

The picture on the upper right was taken in 1952 or 1953. Mom looks tired. I was kid #3 and we were living in Frankfurt, Germany where my dad was in the CIA. Dad could never have done the things he did if Mom hadn't been there for him--they were a team. The other picture (left below) was taken between 1975 and 1979. Dad had retired from the Air Force and was now an Episcopalian minister. Kids were leaving home so Mom started an herb company, something she'd always been interested in. She kept Rutland Herbs going after another move to Maysville KY and Dad's passing in 1985.

The new red elements on this blog page are in honor of my mother-red was her favorite color. She had an incredible collection of sexy red nightgowns. I am so lucky to have had this amazing woman for my mother.

Happy Mothers Day to all.

What's On at the Studio

2008-04-18T12:19:00.005-04:00

Being at the Quilt Studio doesn't just mean writing and quilting for myself--it's also teaching and sharing with other people. Yesterday, a young Marine wife with three very active kids in tow wandered into the Studio. She'd seen the sign from the sidewalk and assumed it was a retail shop. While the kids ran around, she said, yes, she'd like to learn to quilt and then made knitting gestures. Oh boy. I handed her the latest schedule of classes and told her when our guild meets and also directed her to the closest quilt shop just two blocks away. As the gang streamed out of sight, I thought, "I hope to see her again-" but all that responsibility and those active kids, I knew it would be a stretch.

But come to think of it, I was a raw nineteen when I started quilting. The picture here was taken in 1978! I didn't own a sewing machine, have extra income to buy fabric, room for a frame, or the vaguest idea how to do it. But I met older more experienced quilters and they shared with me. Somehow the enthusiasm stuck and years later, I can say quilting has been the primary creative outlet of my life. Who's to say she might not catch the bug too?

On my website www.peppercory.com , you can see expanded information about new classes at the Studio. Here's the link
http://www.peppercory.com/quilt_studio.html .

What follows is the schedule for upcoming classes at the Studio.
A basic skills class-Learn to Hand Quilt (4 week class) offered at two times: Tuesday afternoons, 1-4 pm (May 20,27, June 3, and 17) or Tuesday nights, same dates, from 6-9 pm. Learn both traditional running stitch and Bid Stitch style. Cost is $60 and includes a free quilting hoop.

A one-day design class: Exploring Black and White Quilts. How to sort your stash, plan a great graphic quilt, and get started on your own black and white masterpiece quilt. Offered twice: all day (9 am-4 pm) Thursday May 29 or again Saturday June 6. Cost $50.

A one-day "quick and fun" class: Little Silhouette House Quilt. Learn to paper-piece painlessly-all patterns preprinted for you. Offered twice: Saturday June 14 (9 am-4 pm) or the following Monday June 16. Cost $50.
Call me at the studio (252-726-4117) to learn more about classes.

Yard Art and Inspirations

2008-04-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

There are some color combinations that work well in nature but that I'd never use in a quilt. Take lime green and lavender for instance. I adore them in the wisteria bush in bloom in the side yard. The pendulous blooms are fragrant and attracting bees (a good thing) and as long as the wisteria blooms, it's safe from the pruning shears. Then, upon retiring, just as the wisteria puts its energy into stringy green shoots, it's "Whack! whack!" as we try to save the neighboring fig tree from being overwhelmed. This is a yearly battle and one must be brutal about pruning or we'd all live under the shade of the devouring wisteria.

Bright green is a problem for me in my quiltmaking. I'm trying to love it-there's two full bins of green fabrics on the shelf-but the fact is, my favorite green is a swamp-y olive. The best bright green around is the fig tree in the back of the yard. It makes beautiful deep purple, almost black, fruit and is starting already to show tiny figgy pips.

Another sign of spring: "man camp" is open for business. That's my husband's shed and he's deep in creative ferment presently planning new shelves. You never know what he might build--a boat, water wings, another huge kite, an easel, and maybe, maybe, a new quilt frame for me. He watched Joe Cunningham's DVD on building a frame and immediately went into woodworker mode. He approved of Joe scavenging lumber for the quilt frame since he himself is an eagle-eye at spying still-usable lumber from trash piles at the edge of the road. He was anxious until Joe talked about squaring the quilt on the frame and said, "At last!" This is a man who can tell if a picture is hanging 1/4" off from across the room. If he does build a quilt frame for me, it will be a veritable work of art. I live in hope.

New Niece News

2008-04-08T11:11:00.000-04:00

I am so lucky! Although I didn't have kids of my own, the family gene pool is safe--I have ten, count 'em, nieces and nephews. As the kids get older, they make contact with me and I can be an adult--who's not a parent--who can communicate/commiserate with them. I treasure these relationships.

My older brother Scott and his wife, Amy, have two girls, Heather and Bethany. Beth was mentioned in this blog a couple of weeks ago with her graduation news and now her older sister Heather (blog envy?) has sent along this announcement. Since she is a devoted scrap-booker, Heather designed her own digital announcement.

Heather plans to be moving to Portland, Oregon and I hope to see her next month when attending the Spring Quilt Market in Portland. She will shortly be looking for an apartment and a job in Portland but she's already found true love...first things first!

Slow Hand

2008-04-04T17:23:00.000-04:00

Talking to a fellow hand-quilter today, we were amused that hand quilting, once the only way to quilt, is getting to be a rare commodity. I love seeing great quilting-however accomplished-and was amazed and pleased at all the beautiful quilting seen at the recent Mid-Atlantic quilt show in Hampton Roads, VA http://www.quiltfest.com There were jaw-dropping longarm examples as well as domestic machined pieces and this time, a large number of hand-quilted entries. The Best in Show was a hand-quilted masterpiece by Linda M. Roy. Makes me wonder if there's an upsurge of interest in hand quilting?

Although I can quilt semi-competently by machine and even have done longarm quilting, right now my settled method of quilting is by hand. The latest kick is Big Stitch Quilting. I've gone back to my roots. Sometimes I can be seen crawling around on the floor of the studio basting a quilt top.

True, if I need something chop-chop, then I get out the machine. I'm not in a dreadful hurry to finish most quilts and make them first for my own pleasure and afterwards they might turn into class samples or be gifted to a very deserving relative.

I think many quilters are scared of doing a big piece by hand. I wish I could negate that fear. I just ordered Joe Cunningham's DVD on hand quilting and making a frame to show to my students. See Joe's website at http://joethequilters.com . I admire smaller art quilts made by others but my natural-size palette (preferred working size) is about 80" square or thereabouts. Guess I design quilts organically. In other words, they grow and I cannot seem to imagine them smaller than 6 feet.

Does this mean I don't make as many quilts as some folks? Undoubtedly. I am into s-l-o-w quilting. It soothes my soul. Funny thing--I am often hired to teach hand quilting techniques because not many people are doing handwork these days. That's cool. I have been sloping toward eccentricity and uniqueness for years. My latest quilt is the sample from my beginning hand quilting class at the studio and I'm using perle cotton to do Big Stitch on it. Lots of fun and less tedious than fine hand quilting at 8 stitches to the inch!

Having a Ball-last day Quilters Beach Party

2008-04-01T11:55:00.001-04:00

Sunday was even more blustery than the day before but students arrived bright-eyed to greet our special guest teacher. We were so lucky to have Barbara Suess, author of the new book Japanese Temari, come to the Quilters Beach Party to instruct us in the craft of making temari balls. I'd admired these complex-looking ornaments but assumed they were too difficult to attempt-not so! Everyone got a good start on their temari ball, beginning with a rice hull interior and even advancing to fancy thread-work. Mary Frankle and Jan Spickett sat together and helped each other with the more intricate work.

All too soon, it was time to pack up and hit the road.....the 2008 Quilters Beach Party was history. Many folks signed up for next year's Beach Party (March 26-29) and if there's too many sign-ups, a weekday version (the 22nd-25th) can be opened.

Farewell and happy stitching to the Beach Party Quilters until next year!

Ah sew! Quilters Beach Party, Day II

2008-03-31T14:02:00.000-04:00

Saturday dawned windy and cool and we were glad our outside fabric blueprinting had been the day before! The second day of Quilters Beach Party was completely devoted to needlework techniques from the East.
In the morning we learned how to do Easy Origami Patchwork, a folded sew-it-and-quilt-as-you-go pattern. It's very portable handwork and the simple sewing (Big Stitch and basting) made this a quick lesson. Beach partiers kept up their strength with hot lasagna and garlic bread for lunch and stayed warm in the afternoon as they stitched overlooking a waterside view of Bogue Sound through the huge windows of the second-floor classroom.
By afternoon we dove into sashiko, the ancient Japanese stitching style that is an outgrowth of darning. The students caught on right away and were happy to see the larger needle and even learned to use the dish-shaped thimble! Pam Jennings (in red) took to sashiko in a serious way, though she'd previously been dubious that Japanese needle techniques would interest her. Robin Finch (in white) also got into the rhythm of "gather stitches, smooth work, gather stitches, smooth work" that characterizes sashiko work. We started with the classic pattern ishiditami (paving stones) .
In the afternoon, everyone got a massage. Each person returned to the table dewy-eyed and slightly limp from her experience with the "tender mercies" of the professional masseuses but refreshed and ready to sew. A massage is definitely a must-do at this handwork celebration! Pepper's pin cushion in asanoha (hemp leaf) design.

Blue Skies and Wild Women at the Beach Party

2008-03-28T13:41:00.001-04:00

This morning, at 8 am, an intrepid group met me at the stairs of the Boat House and trekked to the beach to search for "treasures." Most of the time, broken shells, dead leaves, and old bird feathers are called trash. Today, this stuff was "art" as the partiers tried their hands at cyanotype printing (also called blueprint fabric). Our fabric came from www.blueprintsonfabric.com .

We assembled on the deck around the pool while the partiers arranged their beach finds and other artifacts on pieces of pre-treated fabric. As soon as the sunlight hit the faintly green fabric, we saw the blueprint effect in action. When the fabrics were a pale blue-grey (about 5 minutes) we rushed upstairs, rinsed our pieces, and then rinsed a second time but this time used a squirt of hydrogen peroxide in the water. Magic!

The images of the objects against the blue background was beautiful! Jamie Grainger took off her necklace and used it to print interesting images. Others used their sewing tools or even a gull wing found at the beach. You really get to know people when you quilt with them. One person revealed she'd recently gone in for body art.
Susan Whatley from Oriental, NC showed off the ankle tattoo she got... in celebration of her 70th birthday! And you thought quilters just stayed home and stitched in their rocking chairs.. Susan said her grand daughter had been whining for a tattoo, and her mom, to quiet the kid, said, "You can have one when your grandmother has one-" The gauntlet was thrown. Susan and gran-youngen' went to the tattoo parlor together. As well as being a quilter and grandmother, Susan is an engineer and sailor. For her 75th birthday, she has plans to go skydiving!

Friday afternoon the partiers worked on clamshell applique as they made their own fish-y rotary cutter pouch. Karen Preston (PR whiz, Washington Post reporter, and former hand model) displays the sample made by Patti Brown.

Beach baby, beach baby, give me your hand, give me something that I can remember...

2008-03-21T20:00:00.000-04:00

What's got seven bedrooms, five baths, a swimming pool, hot tub, a Jacuzzi, a flat screen TV that rivals a bed in size, an outside barbecue, and even an elevator for its three floors? It's the Boat House in Emerald Isle, NC, and it's gonna be filled to the rafters with quilters next weekend! It's time for the Quilters Beach Party again!

Unique in that only hand sewing techniques are taught, the Quilters Beach Party is going strong for the fourth year and next year's dates, in case you're interested, are March 22-29, 2009. Put it on your calendar now! Left-the view from the great room where the classes are held--not bad!

Partiers don't have to bring anything, repeat, anything, in the way of materials or lug a sewing machine. Everything is provided. This year the theme is Japanese quilting and sewing techniques and we're doing sashiko (Japanese big stitch quilting pictured here on the right), easy clamshell applique, blueprinting (also called sun printing) on fabric, origami patchwork, temari ornaments, and more.

Thursday March 27 the festivities begin with a gourmet pizza party, followed by the ceremonial serving of personalized ice cream sundaes made by moi. My very first real money-paying job was as a soda jerk and I need to stay in practice! Topping off the evening's entertainment, there's a quilt-theme movie with popcorn, followed by beddie-bye with the gentle noise of the ocean waves to lull you to sleep....

Did I mention there's a masseuse on tap? More anon..go to www.albfabrics.com and click on events for all the particulars.

Busting Buttons-again!

2008-03-19T10:11:00.000-04:00

Another graduating niece has checked in! This time it came in the form of a graduation announcement from Eastern Michigan University. "Bethany Alexandra Peddie is a candidate for the degree Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude in Women's Studies...." Way to go Bethie!

My niece is proudly continuing a long family tradition of getting excellent grades but obtaining a college degree in a fairly obscure field. My own degree is Classical Studies (Greek, Latin, ancient history etc.) This leaves one completely free to pursue any path in life. So, dear Beth, adventure awaits you.

The above picture (taken down from the household bulletin board--the front of the refrigerator where the family gallery hangs) shows Beth in her high school graduation diva pose. On the other hand, her Face Book pic is much more current. Mighty big Margarita there.....