Riding the Rails

 Very exciting! I had the good fortune of winning

 a draw at my most recent Guild meeting.

I just have to do a little book review because 

the book I won is so very interesting.

The book is "Hobo Quilts "

written by Debra G. Henninger. 

The reason this book is so appealing is that my father was

young during the age of riding the rails. 

Boxcar Willie and other

 famous or infamous hobos were part of his childhood.

This book has patterns and stories of quilts

 based on the language of the hobos.

 This book show modern quilts that are 

made using realistic findings and evidence of signs used for

communication between travelling people during 1880s-1940s.

Signs means drawings or graffiti left by the people 

on their way through towns or farmland.

According to Dr. Google,

the term Hobo emerged in the American

 West around 1890, though its origins are hazy.

 Some say it was an abbreviation

 of Homeward Bound or homeless boy.

 Author Bill Bryson wrote in his 1998 book

 “Made in America” that it may have 

come from “Ho, beau!”, a railroad greeting.

Many times they were retired or returning military,

 or laid off, unemployed men.

Rarely if ever were women seen

 travelling around or going door to door.

One of my favorite blocks is the pot. 

During the Great Depression 

my father recalls his mother, who herself was an orphan,

always having a pot on the back of the stove.

This pot got all the leftovers and off cuts

 from every dinner and would stew until late afternoon.

Around 4:00, knocks would start on the door.

She would go to the door and ladle out

stew to the men standing on her porch.

A most particular note is that

 each visitor to the doorstep

would extend his own pot to receive the stew.

Does this sound familiar?

I believe this custom eventually

made way for the term "panhandler".

Many Halloweens growing up,

we would dress up as hobos.

A bit of charcoal from the wood furnace,

to make a beards on our faces, a scruffy hat, 

some baggy clothes, 

and finally a stick with a 

checkered sack on it usually 

made out of an old pillowcase.

Certainly not politically correct now as a costume,

but then it was quick easy and identifiable.

Have a great Halloween if you and yours 

observe it!

Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :

Wait Loss Wednesday

Midweek Makers

To Do Tuesday

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Light 'em Up! Color Everywhere!

 Mother Nature gave us some spectacular views last week.

So I just have to show a few picture of our evening skies!

This dome of color formed directly overhead. 

These were very similar to the display I 

remember from a cold October night

beside a huge oak tree in my Michigan back yard!

Due North over the big city. 

We do get a lot of light pollution from the city of Edmonton.

The pictures that have the pinks and 

pale greens are taken with a night exposure of 6 seconds

on a basic smartphone.

The display of that night however was so 

strong and so vibrant that the pictures below 

were taken with minimal exposure 

time and just normal shots with  a phone a phone

The shots through the trees makes

 

me understand how people could think of 

extra-terrestrials in a less enlightened time.

Can you imagine waking up and seeing

 glowing green lights through the trees?

Many of us Northerners can remember growing up,

And getting called out to the backyard 

wearing our pajamas to look up at the Flaming Skies.

Just back week did remind me of the Vivid displays

I saw in Michigan in the fall.

It isn't just the leaves that come alive 

when the weather gets cold.

Scientifically, temperature 

has nothing to do with the northern lights displays.

Those are just some times I remember 

watching the Northern Lights.

So is that in mind let's talk a little bit about other colors.

Has anyone noticed the delightful colors 

that are available on modern  sewing machines? 

I saw one last week on a quilting show 

that was teal and greens.

It was absolutely wonderful to see,

and was a name brand machine.

That trend seems to translate itself right into sewing tools.

I can see pink rotary cutter, a yellow rotary cutter 

(classic  Olfa colour) and a pink and blue ergonomic  cutter,

without moving from my chair.

Yes that also indicates I need to tidy up my sewing area!

It is truly a rainbow in the work room!

Scissors of course have come in a multitude 

of colors almost forever.

I have blue ones, black ones and even one pair

 of iridescent mini scissors!

These little ones were left behind at a sew day!

 I have to pick up them up this morning. 

Their usual home is on a hook on the side 

of my Elna quilting Queen.

Have a great week sewing and enjoy 

the rainbows in your sewing room!

Big News!

 A new resident has joined the work room as 

I am now the proud owner of a Bernina 820.

This machine was a donation to a local quilting club. 

They were selling it to raise funds for additional quilting materials. 

I had mentioned, at our monthly meeting,

 that my bigger machine I used for quilting lost its timing. 

It was getting quite costly to repair. 

Now it is a parts donor machine at the repair shop.

Anyway, I haven't been intimidated 

by anything in a long time,

but this machine has a lot of 

bells and whistles that I have yet to learn.

Here is my first block made with my new quilting partner. 

I found the tension a little tight. 

I was getting a tiniest bit of rippling in the seams. 

 I'll just rethread again and that may take care of the problem

It certainly sews fast.

 I'm not even up to half speed yet!

I would like to get a bit more comfortable before I try to quilt.

There  are two, pinned Legacy quilt tops on the to do pile.  

I would like to get them quilted it up this month.

The box that came with this new machine is pretty incredible .

It's more like a wagon for sewing machines.

It has a lovely pull handle and 

can carry  two small children in a pinch. 

Retreat supplies will fit nicely.

Next up on my sewing schedule,

 aside from doing more UFOs, is a 

project just found during with an estate clear out.

I was gifted a big bin of fabric and it turned

out to be mostly Halloween!

There was a pattern in the box that looked interesting 

 but I knew there was an easier way to put the pattern together.

I called my incredibly organized BB.

She remembered where we did it and managed 

to pull out the pattern! It really pays to have an organized friend!

 It is called "a shaded four patch".

 You end up with a square sitting next to a bigger triangle.

It's just wonderful and  should work 

very well with those Halloween fabrics.

I also have a very lovely Halloween panel

 that on the reverse of the quilt.

I'll end up making a two-sided Halloween  quilt.

I can't see it being given as a wedding quilt so I

 think I will actually be able to keep this one.

One of my quilting buddies youngest members 

is now engaged so we do all feel a wedding 

quilt coming on. 

Stay safe and sew on.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

Sew & Tell

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Wait Loss Wednesday

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Needle & Thread Thursday

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Getting Things Done!

 It is almost time for another retreat weekend.

Perfect timing to review the leftovers from the 

last sewing holiday!

The little flannel teddy bear still needs

to have his head attached.

 I will have to find some more flannels for him.

Number five on the list from the last retreat 

is the curved nine patch.

It was at the end of my work list.

I did get a layout done. Now I just need to decide on an

 inner border or not and then join it together so that one 

will be second on the list for the next retreat. 

The other items left over were basically filler items.

I always take a few extras!     

 I had a big bag of crumb blocks and 

stars I was going to join together.

They are actually still in the retreat

 bag so less packing for me!

I had also a bag of pre-sorted 

three and a half inch block

supplies to make a colour wash quilt.

They too, were still in the retreat bag.

It looks like I will add in some 

Halloween fabrics to cut and compile. 

 I'm sure there are some other projects I can take along.

I like that I've almost got my next retreat ready to go!

The format for this retreat is a come and go.

 We go and sew all day.

 Then we all leave to sleep in our own beds

and return the next morning for more sewing.

This really seems to cut down on the amount of packing,

 clothing and bedding.

When you forget sewing supplies, you have 

that night to pick them up!

It is definitely a win-win for everyone involved!

Stay safe and sew on!

Fall Has Arrived!

 October is upon us so all things fall

are out and about and now acceptable!

No, I don't mean pumpkin spice lattes. 

Pumpkins galore are perfect.  I made a 

great score at the grocery store today, 

Large pumpkins and 2 bags of mini pumpkins. 

There were also large pumpkins for $4 each. 

 

Some of each came home with me. 

A little stitching was done during the run up to fall . 

The  leftover rainbow scrap/stash buster bits

were put together into a top on the last 

afternoon of retreat.  It was a little 

square ( 60" x 60") so popular vote 

won and the size was increased to 60 " x 70"

using some more leftover twosies . 

  I still have a considerable number of pairs remaining

so I see more of these tops in my future!

The visiting dog approved.

He did move when the small  pre Halloween

ghostie came through!

We had family visitors and when our

 sparsely filled freezer was inspected, we had 

just enough for a lemon pie!!! I do love 

it when the kids can bake!

 

Another picture of the rainbow Stash buster top. 

The blocks are monochromatic in this top 

since they are extras from the two-color Irish chains. 

The  rainbow assortment of  squares left over 

will lend themselves to a random rainbow top soon. 

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with:

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To Do Tuesday

Wait Loss Wednesday

Midweek Makers

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Put Your Foot Down

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Stitching Stuff

 

Binding quilt ahead!

Do you all have as many binding ends as I have?

I came across a quilt recently

 that was made from binding ends.

( I will keep looking for the maker.

If you find it first, let me know!)

There is an extensive library of binding bits 

underneath one of my shelves in the sewing room.

Hmm, it doesn't look too bad when it is out on the table.

Many of these are used up when I make scrappy bindings

 but they are not all the same width.

So the next project I have will be to measure and 

sort all the binding strips.

 Then, I'll stitch them together end to end 

with their like fellows.

Next joining them side by side should make 

something like a 1800 or jelly roll race quilt.

Here is a free pattern over a Jordon's Fabrics.

To avoid the dreaded "too busy " look,

I will sneak in a unifying dark or light!

Wish me luck!

Linking up with:

Retreat Success!

 Well, after a whirlwind holiday, I am back. 

Fatigued and tired but ready to jump back into my quilting.

The beautiful Bahamas were a wonder to behold.

It is a must on my future bucket 

 list of a place to revisit.

We stayed at a beautiful rental property on 

Grand Exuma. The top of the list for 

crazy things we did is:

swim with pigs

and visit an island inhabited only by hundreds of iguana.

The clearest water I've ever seen and also the 

cleanest pigs!

We had a 10-hour delay returning 

to the country but now that 

we're back in Canada it's time to face the music.

 Do housework, get into quilting and

shop for my own groceries.

Living this the life of a spoiled tourist 

is fun but not realistic!

Upon return, I was scheduled to go to a weekend quilting retreat.

I managed to make it but was a bit fatigued.

 I did have to excuse myself for an afternoon nap or two.

All my quilting goods were packed before I left 

so I trusted my planning and just loaded the car.

 Here is what I  worked on .

Since I was tired from travelling,

 I chose something simple for the first night.

I made binding for five Irish chain quilts . The tops are 

almost ready and most of the backings are already chosen!  

Now they need to be pinned and quilted up.

It was a very good night's work.

The next morning, after consulting my retreat notebook, 

I jumped right in to finishing a years old project.

Once again I discovered why I have UFOs. 

This poor project had a few errors

The first was my use of fusible web to put

 a bunch of small squares together. 

The original pattern from Quiltmaker March 2014, 

called for 1 1/2"  squares.

 Way too small for my clumsy quilting

 at the time, so I used 2" squares. 

This required a bit of adjustment for the sewing.

Since this project was done over a time (years)

by the time I got to the final blocks,

I had forgotten that  each row should end with a white square.

The large center squares were fine but the

smaller alternate blocks needed fixing. 

Then I assembled the top and realized 

the outside corner squares had 

interfacing showing through also, so more fixing there. 

Now all it needs is an interesting border treatment.

The top already measures 84" square. 

I usually work between 84" and 88".

 The border for this quilt needs to be very narrow so 

 I will put either a 1" zinger  or use  2" cut 

square on point all the way around.

Here is a picture of it so far. 

As I am not a fine machine quilter and 

this will have a lot of seams, 

this will be professionally

 quilted at one of my local quilt shops.

There are still  four quilting credits on my punch card 

 so this will be one of the four to use up that card.

Here is a picture of the water bird that 

visited daily while we were on vacation. 

He was just looking for a sip of less salty water. 

Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

Monday Musings 

Wed Wait Loss

Midweek Makers

Needle & Thread Thursday

Put Your Foot Down

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Oh Scrap

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Bolt to Beauty