The Great Rainbow Balls Takeover and OI Raffle Quilt

It's officially Mud Season! And what does that mean? Well, this year it means the Rainbow Balls Takeover of the Lawrence Library art gallery.

Every March, my Squanicookies quilt guild hangs a mini quilt show of our coolness in the art gallery of our local library. It is always amazing and stunning, and not to brag (too much), but it is the most popular of all of the different art shows that go in there each year. I think it may be because our brand of art comes in so many sizes that we can totally fill the walls floor to ceiling in a way other types of art cannot. But I digress in order to brag. 

I was unable to help set up the show this year, but was thrilled to check it out one day after school and lo and behold, two of my tester participants from the "Kickin' Stash" group quilt had finished their quilts and put them in the show. As you may recall, Paige suggested the names "Rainbow Balls" or the forever classy "Blue and Purple Balls" as a name for "Kickin' Stash", and these two quilts do give her argument some merit. I love that Barbara T (quilt on wall in above photo) "borrowed" some blocks from another friend who participated, so she only had to make a few extra to complete her baby quilt. Angie C (quilt on piano) made two borders pink and two blue, which is a blatant deviation from the pattern. Who said she could do that? Well, me, in any given lecture, actually. I love it.

Also showing in the photo in almost the dead center is an "All-A-Flutter", my prairie point heart pattern that was in Quilter's World earlier this year, also made by Angie. She's our resident overachiever after all. I love that Paige's reaction to this whole show was "Mom! This show couldn't even happen without you." Untrue, but swoon.

For your viewing pleasure, some more photos of our show:

Angie also made the funky heart one on the bottom here. Yes, we all roll our eyes at her. The top one is all Jinny Beyer fabrics and is very stunning. I think it was made by Marie A, who also is quite prolific.

Made by Regina M from a kit. Regina does beautiful work but claims to be a beginner. She is crazy.

 Aside: The ornament quilt above was designed by Ann Lauer. I think she may be a liker on my FB page, and I hope she sees this.

We had a workshop where people made the braided quilt on the right; unfortunately I don't know who did that one but it is lovely. Cath H did the black and white one with the pop of orange. Love.

I have no idea who made any of these. Angie probably made them all. But do keep the bottom right one in mind for a moment or two from now.

Some cute small quilts. And some random flowers.

Don't know who made these, but we have to love them.

 Wasn't that fun? Don't you feel like you were there?

Now, check out the quilt below, which is not currently hanging off my deck but it looks so cute there I probably should have just left it. Also check out that blue blue sky as exhibit A as to why I love New England winters. The 6" of snow still on the ground at the end of March this year is NOT a reason, but that isn't "normal." It is, however, "annoying."

So this quilt is made from the same fabrics as that one I told you to make note of up there (Basic Grey, good luck finding them as they are a year old). Totally different looks to them, though, since this one was made with a few slices of layer cake (ie not the whole stack) and a focus fabric and the one up top was a jelly roll.

I started this quilt about a year ago, trying to replicate how I had made a quilt that now resides on Greta's bed. Unfortunately for me, I never wrote down what I was doing, and I never could figure out how to make the blocks like I had the first time. So the whole project ended up in my UFO pile until this year's DAGMT, when I pulled out some of the blocks and trimmed them so they fit together and whipped up this baby quilt.

To look at the UFO basket you'd never know it was gone, but I know, and that makes me happy.

It also makes me happy that this baby quilt has been donated to The Alle Shea Project in Rochester NY, to be raffled off during their "Walk N Wheels" event on May 4 at North Ponds Park in Webster NY. The Alle Shea Project was founded by Kim and Angelo Colazzo to raise awareness for Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a genetic brittle bone disease that claimed the life of their daughter Alle Shea after only five weeks of life. They have done an amazing job as a grass roots cause and I wanted to help out in some way because Kim was actually my BFF in elementary school as well as our moms being our Girl Scout troop leaders and very good friends for life themselves. We'd lost touch over the years but through the power of FB have reconnected and I am honored to be able to do even a small thing to help them honor the daughter they lost. I wish them all the best in their fight for awareness.

Up next....time to fight with the weather, quilt rack, and camera again to get a photo of Taking Names before I lose my mind. The failed attempts have been stunningly disastrous so far. Wish me luck.

What I did with my September freedom

It's been three weeks since the kids went back to school, so I know you are thinking "Has she accomplished anything more beyond the daily dance of joy followed by lying on the couch eating bonbons in the pure, unadulterated silence?" Lucky for you, I have accomplished a few things and I will be so excited to share them with you. Thanks so much for asking.

1. Because my husband was threatening to shut down my basement studio on the grounds that it was a hazard to enter due to all the piles of paperwork on the stairs, my first job was to organize and file it all. Which, as you can imagine, was almost as joyous as a root canal. But it's done.

2. While on the husband-imposed organizing kick, I decided to organize my thread racks sort of by color, sort of by brand, sort of by which ones I use most frequently. There's nothing more satisfying than an organized thread rack. Or three.



3. Sent out my first ever Constant Contact newsletter in September. Yeah, I know. That's hardly exciting stuff for most people. But for me, it was absolutely huge when my personally assigned customer service representative Carson (not Kressley, although that would have been awesome) reviewed my template before I sent it and said "I've seen some hot messes from first time users, but this one is really good." So exciting to know I've got him fooled with my mad computer skilz. If you didn't get on my distribution list and would like to be among the first to know what is happening in EPQD land, please let me know and I can fix that pronto.

4. Managed not to kill myself while dragging a 200+ pound, 5 feet long and 2 feet wide cumbersome package of 7 rolls of oilcloth and chalkboard cloth up one step and over 4 feet from my front step to the front hallway. Trust me, this may have been my most major accomplishment of the month, and I'm almost sad there was no one filming it for youtube. Look at these patterns! Aren't they delish?

No, I am not planning to make raingear for 600,000 American Girl dolls, but good guess. My placemat pattern becomes mine October 1, and I'm busy cutting out kits so that quilters who want to try something kind of new and fun and great for kids gifts can have all they need right at their fingertips. And not have to drag 200 pounds of oilcloth off the front step to do it.

5. Acted as Chair and entire committee of the Silent Auction Committee for the Squanicook Colonial Quilt Guild show this weekend, Sept 24-25, at North Middlesex HS in Townsend MA. See the post following this one to check out some of the cool things you might win if you come by and place a bid. There's a lot more where those came from - and you guessed it, all 40+ items are sitting on the stairs down to my studio. I'm learning to just shut the basement door and avoid all the sideways glances and commentary from the peanut gallery.

7. Oh, and now and then I even got to sew! Some of it was sewing 729 Brownie badges onto vests, but still.

Onward to more glorious accomplishments.

How did a loudmouth like me end up in charge of a Silent Auction?

It's almost here - the biannual Squanicook Colonial Quilt Guild "Autumn Festival of Quilts", where myself and my fellow Squanicookies put on a show we'd challenge any other guild to better. Okay, maybe that's a bit over the top, but really, we do put on a pretty darn good show and if you are in the area of Townsend MA next weekend, September 24 and 25, follow the awesome signage all around northern Middlesex county and get yourself to the gym of North Middlesex Regional High School and see what I mean.

One thing we do as part of our show is a Silent Auction of small quilted items donated by our members so that we can raise some money for our guild (let's be honest, this show is our one and only money maker and it only happens every two years, so we do all we can to make it successful). The Silent Auction was added to the show several years ago and has been a popular event, both with visitors who don't quilt themselves and want the chance to win something they couldn't make, and with quilters who for sure COULD make these items, but want to take the easy way out and buy them instead. Either way, it's fun and another cool way to showcase the cookie talent.

This year I am in charge of the Silent Auction, which is a bit of an oxymoron if you know me, but they let me do it anyway. Probably because no one else was volunteering. As part of my duties as SA chair, I got to collect some of the items up for auction at our last meeting and I want to share a few with you to see if I entice anyone to come make a bid.

First up is a cute embroidered and quilted Christmas wallhanging made by Shirley Harrison. Shirley is well known in our guild for her stunning craftsmanship, and this piece is no exception. I love the diagonal striped border, and at risk of Shirley hating me for all time, I have to admit that one reason I love it is because the stripes do not line up with like stripes at the corners. They DO line up perfectly with other stripes, as I would expect no less of Shirley, but I love that there are different patterns lining up as it adds some scrappy interest. Isn't the whole thing just too cute?


Here we have a dancing pinwheels doll quilt made and quilted by Cathie Shoemaker. Cathie is one of our very own premier, award winning long arm quilters, and you can bet the quilting on this is no exception. Some doll will be very lucky to sleep under this creation.


I apologize to the maker of this quilt, but I don't remember who gave it to me. If you let me know I can edit this post and give you credit! To make up for my lack of remembering, I will announce that this is my favorite of all the items I received. I love the colors and the simple pattern and the craftsmanship is lovely. Another lucky doll or little girl will love this.


Again, I forget who gave me this absolutely awesome wool candle mat. The saddest part of my forgetting is that I had like a 10 minute conversation with this person wherein I exclaimed over its beauty and she wondered if I was for real with my gushing. I am for real. I love this thing, and I can't even touch wool without cringing. This does not mean I don't love the look of wool stuff, and I truly love the look of this. Doesn't your Yankee candle deserve a mat like this? Oh, you bet it does.


Last up is a gorgeous bow-tucks bag donated by Marie Anderson. You can't see them, but Marie sewed some buttons to the bottom to give the bag some "feet", and therefore it won't get as dirty on the bottom as it might when the winner sticks it on the floor of the car or under the pew at church. Isn't Marie brilliant?

September 24 and 25, North Middlesex Regional High School in Townsend MA. Be there and bid!

Secret Valentines revealed

Several years ago, it became a tradition in my quilt guild, Squanicook Colonial Quilt Guild (and yes, do feel free to discuss what a weird name that is), to have a biannual Secret Valentine program. The rules are simple - create or purchase a quilty-themed valentine gift valued around $20 and secretly deliver it to you assigned valentine before the February meeting. Members tend to get very creative both with the gift creations and the delivery options; it isn't unheard of to drive several towns away from your own to mail a package with a misleading postmark - this year one member even sent her gift from Connecticut! I myself one year hired my babysitters, Molly and Katie Callbeck, to ding dong ditch the door of my Secret Valentine figuring if they were seen my SV would either not recognize them or assume their mother, Angie Callbeck and member of our guild, was their SV. We're so sneaky, we quilters.

I've participated every year, and this year I was chosen to run the program. And by "chosen" I do of course mean "volunteered to do it because it seemed like an easy thing to do for the guild and if I signed up for that and Refreshments no one could ask me to be president". As it turned out, I did do all of the assigning of secret valentines and mailing out names of their giftee to participants, but I was unable to go to the actual reveal meeting due to a prior commitment. I thank my friend Kathie Beltz for stepping in and taking over on my behalf that evening. Half the members probably didn't even notice I wasn 't there because everyone gets Kathie and I confused most of the time anyway. A compliment to both of us in the looks department, but truly, no one could ever confuse our quilting styles!

In honor of this Midwinter Celebration of Love, Romance, and a Long Dead Saint, I'm going to share some of the Secret Valentines I have received over the years. Enjoy!

2011 - "Bake some cupcakes with your sweeties"

I was in charge of setting up the Secret Valentine list and was in the unique position of being able to choose my own valentine. I could have stacked the deck and gone with someone with whose talents and style I was familiar, but I decided to go crazy and choose a new member, Linda Panny, about whom I knew absolutely nothing. What did I learn? Linda apparently knows I have three little girls and that they love to make cupcakes. Linda shops and finds very cute things for cupcakes, like some adorable boxes to put said cupcakes in for taking in lunchboxes. Not being much of a shopper, that was quite fascinating and very new to me. But most importantly, Linda makes her own homemade vanilla and enclosed a bottle in my gift. I could bathe in vanilla and not get enough of the heady aroma, so I will have to admit that was my favorite part of the gift. The girls and I are going to have lots of fun cupcaking soon!

2009 - "Sweet Valentine Dreams"

I wish I could remember the name of the SV who created these fabulous pillowcases for me two years ago. I honestly think she may have left the guild since then, but if anyone knows, please feel free to speak up. These are some of the most nicely constructed pillowcases I have ever seen - and I've made lots of these because for a while they were my go-to birthday party gift for my girls to bring to parties. We were that family who gave bedding, but in our defense, the friends AND the moms loved it. I love that in showing this gift I also sneak in a little of the quilt on my bed and the paint on my accent wall behind my bed which matches one of the fabrics so perfectly it was a true decorating moment for me.

2007 - "The Love in my Family is not so Secret"

As much as I don't really want to play favorites, I'm going to have to here. This valentine arrived on my front step bearing a postmark from another town that was immediately upon opening the box proved to be a fake. I knew in a second that a good friend of mine (and mother of my former sitters/espionage artists who are now adults), Angie Callbeck, had created it for me and I cried because it was so perfect. The note enclosed said something like "This quilt represents the love in your family"
and you can see that it does - two adult hearts on the outsides, two same sized medium-ish hearts for my twins, and baby heart Greta (who was at the time I received this was not even a year old) in the middle. It is beautifully quilted, which was one tip-off as to who made it for me, but the border was the true clue. Angie had recently tested one of my first designs, and that border is my own creation and I absolutely love that she used it in another setting on this quilt. Have I mentioned I love it?

As for 2005, I received a packet of 5 half yards of reds and pinks and a whole lot of chocolate. The fabrics have gone on to become other items, none of which I seem to have in the house, and the chocolate was likely consumed immediately upon opening.

I highly recommend this program for any guild. It's a great way to flex creativity in an otherwise sometimes dull season!