FAME!

For most people, fame is being a rock and roll singer or movie star, but not me. I write an email to Quilter's Home which was published in their letters and -- Voila, I have my 15 seconds of fame. Most people get 15 minutes, but trust me, this is only worth seconds.

It all started when my good friend Denise had the opportunity to give someone a free subscription and I immediately snatched it up. Quilter's Home is a great magazine and totally hysterical sometimes. Originally inspired by Mark Lipinski, it has had a different slant on many quilting stereotypes. I love it, of course!

I had been reading Denise's castoffs, and so greedily grabbed my very own January, 2010, copy out of the post office box. I looked at the front cover showing a modern quilt with what was immediately recognizable to me as longarm quilting. I looked closely at it, since that's my thing, and then I saw it. Needle Deflection! I have had issues with this and I am sure every longarmer has. It's when the Tension Gods strike and the stitch doesn't catch underneath. It's usually erratic and happens most often on curves so it can be a real beast. Remember also that the longarm quilter may not even be looking at the quilt as she quilts but at a pattern at the back of her machine so may not even see the problem until the entire row has been quilted. Correction is a tension nightmare while the quilter figures out if it's the thread tension, the quilt top tension, the quilt backing tension, the type of thread, the needle, the fabric used as the backing --you see the pattern, it's a horrendous dilemma sometimes to figure out what went wrong.

Repair of Needle Deflection is one of two things. 1. Taking out the quilting and putting it in again --doesn't always work because that place in the quilt didn't want to quilt in the first place, why would it want to now. 2. Repairing by hand or on a small sewing machine also works. The size of the problem and where I am in the progress of the quilt determines for me how I will repair it. I have done both.

So I am not surprised to see Needle Deflection in anyone's quilting; I am only surprised to see it on the cover of a quilting magazine. Since I am feeling chatty, I write an email, gently, I hope, telling Quilter's Home about the January, 2010, cover, just so they'll know, not really thinking it would be considered a letter.

I get phone calls. I get emails. Have I seen the February/March, 2010, Quilter's Home? I'm in it. My little email is published as a letter under the heading "Um, excuse me...." Hence, my fame. Just in case you don't get the magazine, here's my claim to fame.

Um, excuse me....
I love your magazine and just started receiving it as a gift from a great friend. I couldn't help but notice that the sample shown on the January 2010 cover had needle deflection in the quilting. Needle deflection can be the bane of a longarm quilter's life, but it is very noticeable and easy to repair. Someone needls to look more closely at the pictures of quilted items.
Quilt on,
Barb Whyte
Hebron, OH

Ok, I noticed it too. I said it was easy to repair. Oops to me. It's easy to spot but not always easy to repair -- it's not hard, just tedious. Like all do-overs.

So I think my fame is done!

WW4

The first time I went to Weight Watchers was when my first child was about 4. I lost weight, felt great, and stopped going. The second time I went back was when my second child was maybe 7. I lost weight, felt great, and stopped going. Third time was right after Quinn was born; Laura and I went together and often sat way in the back so we could hold Quinn and not bother other people. I lost weight, felt great, and stopped going.

I am sure you see the pattern. The reasons for stopping were many, but often it was just a case of other people being more important than me. Each time Joe is ill, I eat all the wrong things and I don't take care of myself. My skinny sisters-in-law worry about whether I am eating, whenever Joe is in the hospital. God bless them -- I am eating enough for me and all three of them.

So this is the fourth time I have gone to Weight Watchers, and I am hoping it's the last. I will lose weight, feel great, and not stop going!

The Power of Three

Anyone who has worked with flower arrangements or any design knows about the magic of three. While working on Lisa's quilt, I have used that same idea --there are twelve blocks with three flowers in each one. Each flower has three layers to mimic the ones in the Amy Butler fabric she loves. The multiplication tells me there are nine applique pieces to each block and 108 appliques pieces total. Each one to be traced, cut out, pressed on, and now to be sewn around --with three colors of thread -- green, blue, and brown. What was I thinking? It will be gorgeous when I am done, but the sewing will take forever. At least, I am doing it by machine.

The blocks alternate blue and green with multi-colored striped fabric as the sashing. It sounds crazy but it replicates the Amy Butler fabric in color and somewhat in design. The power of three creates triangle patterns between the blue and green blocks. I'm still feeling the joy!

Mr. Rogers

This weather makes me feel just like Mr. Rogers. I come into the shop, take off my coat and boots, put on my indoor shoes and pick out a sweater to match my outfit while I wait for the shop to warm up. I leave the heat at 60 degrees overnight and it's take about 30 minutes for it to come up to a temperature where it's really comfortable. I keep three or four cardigans at the shop so I will always have a choice. I don't have any boys and girls to talk to while I am doing this as Mr. Rogers did. I guess I could say "Hello Quilts and Projects!"

As well as quilting the quota of January quilts, I have been working on a blue, brown, and green nursery. Lisa, my younger daughter, is expecting her first child in March, and I am making the curtain valance, crib skirt, a wallhanging, quilts, and drapes for a closet door. She fell in love with some Amy Butler fabric, and because I don't like things to be too matchy, we also bought other fabrics. She didn't want the typical nursery, and I love doing this for her. I was also able to do it for my other grandchildren. Kai's was yellow and blue with hand applique blocks from a spring exchange (Overall Sam, Frogs, and other fun stuff), and Laura put similar designs on his wall. Quinn's was shabby chic with roses and pink and blue everywhere--just the thing for a girl.

In many ways, it's quite a gift -- A gift to the mother and child, of course, as it would be way beyond their finances to pay someone to create such a unique nursery. But also, it's a gift to me that my daughters will let me do this -- To know that my grandchild will grow and develop his first years in a room designed by Grandma is, as the cliche goes, priceless. Mr. Rogers would have understood the joy I feel in doing this.