A Different Kind of Tribe

You know, it's funny, I spoke with Kelly Morris on her cell phone. After reviewing several pages of the extensive Morris Tribe website, I was almost expecting something different. I'm not sure what I was expecting, just something more 'rustic,' I suppose. I wasn't exactly thinking the conversation would be done with a couple of tin cans and a string stretched between them, but something along those lines!

How silly!

The Morris Family

When you review the website, the Morris Family is clearly familiar with all of the latest technology, yet Kelly's goal to bring her family toward a sustainable lifestyle - raising their own food, getting off the power grid, living off the land - has many facets. And it's a lot of hard work - especially in the summer when the land is providing. The phone conversation that followed had me intrigued about the sustainable lifestyle concept, and Kelly's passion for her own goals.

Here are just a few highlights from my conversation. I'll let you explore her website for more in-depth information on the details.

I asked her how she got started on this concept. She said, "It's complicated, but I'll give you the Cliff Notes version." It started as a way to get out of debt. As a newly married couple, Kelly and her husband Mark had a small house, a small yard and big bills to pay. But you do what you can to save where you can. It felt good to grow tomatoes in buckets on the tiny patio, or save on grocery bills with coupons clipped from newspapers. But then as the family grew - Kelly and Mark are the parents of nine, ranging in age from 26 to 6 - it became even harder to make ends meet. So one thing led to another, she grew as much produce as she could grow. Finally, the family had the opportunity to purchase a farm, and now they raise their own vegetables, dairy products, and meat. All naturally.

 

She had to learn everything from ‘scratch,’ since she wasn't raised on a farm. And so when she had an idea to raise goats, for example (I'm clearly over simplifying here), she did research, spoke to people who raised goats, and learned what she needed to do to raise goats.

As natural teacher, she felt that others might also be interested in her 'how-to' so the website has become her venue to share her successes and the things she might do differently based on her experiences. 

One really important lesson that Kelly has learned is that a big part of this sustainability concept is 'community.' In other words, you can't do it all. So you depend on your own resources in some areas, and rely on others for resources that fall under their expertise. Bartering can be a big part of the process. Again, I'm over simplifying.

She also realizes that everyone has different levels of, shall we say, 'tolerance' for this stuff. I told her that I almost expected her to say that she lived in a log cabin, with no electricity, no lights, no TV, no internet. With four teenagers, she realizes that this concept doesn't work for anyone if it feels 'forced.' Sunday afternoon television sports are not uncommon in her home. But, if it makes sense, they burn candles or oil lamps, and save some energy, and become a little less dependent on the power grid.

And perhaps the most important thing of all, it has to be fun! None of this would make any sense if she didn't enjoy the journey. It's gratifying. She said, "This isn't for everyone. It's about sustainability that's do-able and enjoyable. And may mean different things for different people. And that's okay."

And here's my big take-away on our conversation: I heard my own inner voice in Kelly's words over and over again. It sounds just like when I talk about my passion for quilting. Can you see the connection too?

 - Community - I like to say quilting is a social sport!

 - Learning and researching - who doesn't like to learn about new gadgets and techniques for their favorite craft?

 - Tackling a project one step at a time at your own pace. If that doesn't describe the process of making a quilt, I don't know what does!

 - And fun! . . . Well . . .Yah!

If nothing else, it's an interesting concept. Myself, I think I'll keep buying eggs at the grocery store. As it is, there's never enough time in the day to quilt! And my neighbors probably wouldn't like the early morning rooster calls. Just sayn' . . .

** Would you like to win a copy of ScrapTherapy, Cut the Scraps!? Click over to The Morris Tribe website and make a comment before October 1, 2012.

Happy Stitching!

PS. If you are looking for the results from the GREAT Summer Orphan Block Challenge . . . Stay tuned, we're still reviewing all the entries.

Fall is Near

"Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week." – Spanish proverb.

Don’t forget the GREAT Summer Orphan Block Challenge! The deadline to be eligible to receive the grand prize package is tomorrow, one minute before midnight, east coast time (US).

Our mystery judge is sharpening her red pen. She's a stickler for rules, so make sure you have all your T's dotted and I's crossed (or is that the other way around?) when you send your entry in.

I can't wait to be inspired by your projects. And I can't wait to send the grand prize to the Challenge winner! 

____________________________________________________________________________________
 

Summer's Last Hurrah!

Great Camp Sagamore is one of the Great Camps of the Adirondacks built in rustic style during the Gilded Age of the late 1800's/early 1900s. The Great Camp, built by famous Adirondack developer William W. Durant, later purchased by Alfred Vanderbilt, passed to Alfred's wife when he died on the Lusitania when it was torpedoed on its passage across the Atlantic. The camp, now a National Historic Landmark, is host to a variety of summer programs. A quilting weekend is typically one of the last programs at the camp before it is closed up for the season.

For the last four years, I have been a participant in the quilting weekend event at Sagamore. This year I taught machine quilting on Saturday. Other teachers offered a variety of classes as well. Evenings included introductions, a trunk show, and quiet sewing time. Each year the event inspires me. I'm not sure if it's because of the beautiful, natural surroundings, the people, the food, or some combination of all of the above.  I'll let the pictures tell the story.
 

Guests cross over a small wooden bridge to access the cluster of buildings on a small peninsula on the tiny Adirondack lake.
 

The main lodge is the largest building in the complex. Wrap-around balconies offer breathtaking views.
 

Grab a canoe and a paddle for a close-up connection with the lake. Don't the blues in the water and sky look so inviting!
 

A red squirrel breakfasts on pinecone seeds. Three loons swimming and fishing just off-shore, were also a daily sight.

 The morning mist rises off the lake at breakfast time.
 

Crossing over the wooden bridge one more time, headed home. The leaves are starting to show fringes of the flaming color to come.

Relax and enjoy one last breath of summer . . .

Joan

If You Like It, Put a Border on It!

After a nostalgic look back to summer, this week it's back to quilty business! 

A few weeks ago, I found a box on my shelf full of purple and white pinwheel blocks. Orphans. We got started on making a quilt. Now it's time to finish that puppy! Check blog posts here and here for the back-story.

The last time we looked, that purple pinwheel quilt had a completed center, but needed a border.

So, I chose three fabrics from my stash - a focus print featuring lilac blooms, an accent sage green solid that added interest and picked up the leafy green in the lilac print, and a little swipe of the cream--the same cream used in the pieced center, so the middle of the quilt wouldn't look so much like the center of a target.

Since I'm lazy, instead of adding each border one at a time, I decided to add the borders all at once, and miter the corners.

Find mitered borders intimidating? No worries. They are easy. Watch . . .

First, I like to lay out the quilt top, and then the borders, one at a time. With scissors (nothing fancy) I trim each border so the length is as long as the side of the quilt plus at least one border width extra at each end. Don't be stingy on the length of fabric! Mitered borders require a more fabric than traditional borders do.

With mitered borders, multiple borders can be sewn together first, then all three (in this case) are attached to the quilt center at once. If you have multiple borders, be sure to press seams on adjoining sides in opposite directions so they'll nest at the mitered seam.

Since my quilt is lap size, I folded it in half and then folded the sewn border in half. Lay the folded border on top of the quilt, so the folds align, and the border edge follows along one of the horizontal seams on the quilt, somewhere in the middle of the piecing. Using the quilt top as a guide, place a pin in the border fabric 1/4" to the inside of the quilt edge. Here I'm measuring two borders at once. Turn the quilt, and repeat to measure the top and bottom border lengths.

Open up the quilt, and pin the border in place at the quilt edge, using the pins to mark where to start and stop sewing. To secure it for sewing, I also place pins across the entire length of the border at about 2-3" intervals.

Sew all four borders onto the quilt, one at a time, leaving 1/4" at each edge unsewn, the back of the corner where the border seams come together should look something like this. You can see that I added a couple of backstitches at the end and beginning of the border seams.

Work one corner at a time. Fold the quilt center in half on the diagonal wrong sides together. You don't have to fold the whole quilt, only the corner where the borders come together is important. The bulk of the quilt can be crumpled up on the edge of the work surface while you are working on one of the corners. At the same time, align the edges of the floppy unsewn ends of the extra border fabric onto your work surface, nice and flat. 

Place a ruler on the border fabric (you will have two layers of border ends), so the edge of the ruler aligns with the end of the border seam, and the 45˚ line on the ruler aligns with the bottom edge of the border.  The multiple border seams will nest. Draw a line from the end of the border seam to the edge of the border

Sew on the drawn line, and cut 1/4" away from the seam. I used scissors because they were handy, you can use a ruler and rotary cutter. At this point, some folks like to take a peek to make sure the seam looks okay from the right side of the quilt. Better to check this before trimming. . . in case of any potential do-overs.

Press the mitered seam open (this is one of the rare instances where I prefer pressing the seam open) from the back. 

Pretty. Repeat the last four steps with the remaining corners. Then. . .

Sandwich . . .

Quilt . . .

and bind.

bout 75 orphan purple and white pinwheel blocks disappeared into this quilt. Another 75 or so remain in that shoebox I discovered a few weeks ago. Time to make another quilt!

Happy Stitching!
Joan

Summer Smiles

When I was a kid, on the last day of school, if we weren't headed to camp, we were packing the station wagon to go the next day.

My sister, Valerie, and me; I was about age 5

I always thought that "Sandy Pond," was our family 'insider' name that meant 'camp' for the summer. But "Sandy Pond" is an actual place on the map, a short drive north from our house in Syracuse.

Our little 'camp' is located on a sand dune peninsula on the east shore of Lake Ontario, just north of Pulaski, New York. The camp is accessible by boat or by foot path. No cars, and very few amenities. Over the years, the landscape has changed a bit. But 'camp' was and still is the definition of summer in my book.

The pond is in front of the camp.

And a short walk between two sand dunes behind the camp brings you to the lake where a sandy beach awaits.

It is like two different worlds all in one!

Since my birthday falls at the very beginning of summer, as a kid I always received summer clothes, butterfly nets (perfectly suited for catching frogs and small fish, too!), and beach toys to start out the summer on a high note.

This is a picture of me and my dad at the beach. He's holding an old Polaroid camera (well, it wasn't old then), so I'm not sure who is taking the picture. I don't think there's a photograph of my dad at the beach without his cigar! They were a weird color green and pretty stinky! I must be about 3 or 4 years old.

That red and white polka dot swim suit I'm wearing was the BEST!

A day at the beach included boating, swimming, floating, body surfing on windy, wavy days, making sand castles, and long walks collecting tiny shells. A day at the pond included fishing (not necessarily catching), picking wild blueberries, discovering new things in the woods, and feeding handfuls of nuts to the birds, squirrels and chipmunks that visited the patio.

My sister, Valerie, my cousin, Jeannie, and me. I'm wearing the fashion-forward black and white number and white sailor hat!

Here's a picture of my mom and dad on the beach right around sunset. This photo is from about 20 years ago. Mom was a red-head, and her fair skin burned easily, so it was pretty unusual to see her at the beach. She preferred the shady-trees on the pond-side.

What more could a kid ask for?

This past weekend, my sister and I took some time to relax on the beach (Smiley tagged along too, but needed some sunscreen), and I finally took some time out to sew - just for me!

And we watched the sun set.

Peaches (my blue-fronted amazon parrot) came along for a little R&R, too.

How about you? Did you take some time out to relax this past weekend? Enjoy family and friends? A little stitching, perhaps? Ain't summer grand?

Okay, enough nostalgia, time to forge ahead into quilting season. . .

Purple Pinwheel Palooza, Part Two

I mentioned last week that I 'unearthed' a little surprise stash of purple pinwheel blocks - about 150 of them! - when I was packing for a quilt retreat not too long ago. I remembered making the blocks, in fact I walked you through how I used a specialty ruler to make the half-square triangle ruler from strips last week. You can read more about it here, if you'd like a refresher.

Anyway, even though I remembered the blocks, I just forgot that I never used them. And since purple is one of those fabric colors I can't pass up when I'm in the local quilt shop, it would be a shame for these blocks to stay stowed in a box on a bottom shelf. So, I decided these blocks wanted to become a quilt.

So I found some purple coordinates in my stash. (I knew I bought those fabrics for a reason!) And cut them up in to 4-1/2" squares, same size as the pinwheel blocks. Three different fabrics, a medium/bold purple, a light lavender/purple, and an off-white. Then laid them out on a table, arranging the fabric squares and the pinwheel blocks alternately in rounds. Lightest fabric squares in the middle, darker fabrics in the outer round. And the medium stuff in the middle. And on point.

Then I stacked up my blocks by row and sewed them into rows.

To make the setting triangles, I went back to the Small Diagonal Set Triangle Ruler from Marti Michell (it's already in the prize package - Yay!). Picked out a dark purple from the stash. And cut strips for the sides, and cut the side setting triangles. I made my strips large enough so the outer blocks would 'float.' I lined up he ruler and cut one side . . .

 . . . flipped the ruler, and cut the other side. Making sure to align the bottom line on the ruler with the edge of the fabric and the top blunt point with the bias cut edge of the fabric.

I used the tool to blunt the corners so they piece together perfectly.

Then I cut my corner triangles from the larger strip. (Yes, it's the same dark purple fabric, the color got a little strange for these next couple photos - operator error (me), I'm sure.)

And blunted the corners.

With the blocks and fabric squares sewn, I just need to lay out the pieced strips and add the triangles to the end of each row.

Then sew the rows together. It looks like the setting triangles don't line up very well. In fact, they line up perfectly once they are sewn to the rows.

What about a border? Absolutely! Let's do that next time.

Purple Pinwheel Palooza to be continued!

The GREAT Summer Orphan Block Challenge

For those of you following the GREAT Summer Orphan Block Challenge, Labor Day = the End of Summer, BUT there is still time to enter the challenge! The deadline (September 21st, 2012, 11:59pm) is getting closer. Find an orphan block or several in your stash and turn it into a project. Send before and after pictures and tell the story of your project and you could be a grand prize winner! Easy enough, right?!

Speaking of Prizes – The Taunton Press Weighs In!

The prize package for the GREAT Summer Orphan Block Challenge continues to grow. The Taunton Press published my first book, ScrapTherapy, Cut the Scraps! back in March 2011. And in April 2013, they'll be releasing my second book, ScrapTherapy, Scraps Plus One!

When Taunton heard about the GREAT Summer Orphan Block Challenge, they wanted to play, too. So, Taunton is adding some wonderful new titles to the grand prize package. And such variety. There's something for everyone here.

First in Kaffe Quilts Again, Kaffe Fassett has taken twenty of his favorite quilts and updated them with new fabrics. The beautiful photography of the quilts in rural Bulgaria makes this sheer eye-candy for any quilter!

Next, we're adding the Kitchen and Bath Planning Guide. While you're busy at the sewing machine, you can dream about your next bathroom and kitchen upgrade with some inspiration from Fine Homebuilding. What a treat! This magazine makes me want to call my plumber and grab a hammer!

Quilters love to cook. And quick and delicious seems to be the way to go. Quick Fix Meals by Robin Miller is chock full of simple, yummy recipes - 200 of them! - to give you energy to sew. If you win the grand prize, just tell me what time, and I'll plan to pop in for dinner!

More prizes from The Taunton Press will be announced next time!

Happy Stitching!

Joan

Purple Pinwheel Palooza Part One

Pinwheel blocks. I love making pinwheel blocks! How about you? My friend Marcia is addicted to anything pinwheel.

Four half-square triangle units that come together in the middle. Sew them into rows and watch the secondary patterns develop. Pinwheel cornerstones add interest to a plain sashing-and-quilt-block layout. Scrappy, or matchy-matchy. They can even be trimmed down symmetrically to fit a smaller space. Or add a border to up-size them.

Imagine my surprise when I popped open this box, nestled comfortably on a bottom shelf in my sewing studio.

'What's this?' I said as I opened the box. It was overflowing with purple pinwheels - about 150 of them! I had completely forgotten about these! For a moment, I thought about closing up the box, and putting it right back where it came from. No one would know, but . . . The GREAT Summer Orphan Block Challenge seemed the perfect excuse to make something purple, my favorite stash color. So here goes.

These purple pinwheel blocks were made several years ago to show how to use a half-square triangle ruler - a ruler that replaces the 7/8" math to make half-square triangle units from strips. If you know the finished size of the half-square triangle unit - say 2" square - just add 1/2" to the measurement, cut strips 2-1/2" and use a half-square triangle ruler. All that weird math is eliminated.

It works the other way around, too. If you have strips that are a certain width, you can easily make minimum waste half-square triangle units from the strips. This is particularly handy for those leftover strips from pre-cut 2-1/2" strip sets also known as 'jelly rolls' or 'bali pops,' etc.

So to make the purple pinwheels, I cut lots and lots of 2-1/2" strips from two different purple prints and started making half-square triangles. After I made the half-square triangles, I kept going and made pinwheel blocks. But that's where my motivation must have taken a nose-dive. The blocks fit nicely into the bin, which fit nicely on that bottom shelf. How else do these things happen?

Anyway. Before I show you what I'm going to do with my purple pinwheel blocks, I thought you might like to see how I made the pinwheels. And while we're at it, let's add another gadget to the GREAT Summer Orphan Quilt Block Challenge prize package. By the way, a similar technique is used in the Bloomin' Steps quilt pattern which is available both as an individual pattern and in the book, ScrapTherapy,Cut the Scraps!

First, cut some strips, 2-1/2" wide. I don't have any of the purple fabric left, so I'm using some light gray and some leftover floral print strips.

Next, true up the ends.

Layer the solid and the print, right sides together. I like to cut two sets or four layers at once.

Then grab a half-square triangle ruler. Several ruler brands have a similar tool. This one by Creative Grids has a half-square triangle on one end and a quarter square triangle on the other. Nice, two tools in one! Yup, one of these is going in the prize package!

This is where each ruler brand might be a little different, so pay attention to the instructions that come with the ruler. In this case, the markings on the ruler represent the finished size of the strip (2") rather than the unfinished size of the strip (2-1/2"). Make sure the pointy end of the ruler (at the top) extends just a little beyond the top of the strip - the ruler has a marking at the tip, so you'll know when you have it just right. Then cut along the right ruler edge along the bias. (Lefties will do basically the same thing, but from the opposite side)

Next, keeping the ruler right side up, rotate the ruler clockwise 180˚ to align the bias edge of the ruler with the last cut. Now cut again along the right, now vertical edge of the ruler.

Keep rotating the ruler 180˚ and keep cutting until you run out of strip! Keep the layers matched up because they are now ready to sew.

Sew along the bias cut (also known as the hypotenuse of the right triangle). I like to put the pointy end in first, to avoid the end from getting munched into the stitch plate.

This is an optional step. But I'm a tidy-butt and like to trim the points.

Press the seam toward the print or the gray, either one, but stay consistent. In other words, press all the half-square triangle units the same, toward the print or toward the gray, don't mix them up.

Then sew the upper left to upper right, and lower left to lower right. If you did the pressing consistently above, then the seams should nest nicely where they come together in the middle.

Before I sew the long seam, I like to pin everything in place. Reminder: Me = Tidy Butt!

Then sew the quarter inch seam.

Take out the pins, but before you open the block for the ah-ha moment, pull out the last three (or so) stitches from the shorter (vertical) seam. Just those stitches to the right of the longer (horizontal) seam. Repeat front and back.

Then press the block from the back, opening up the seam only at that middle intersection, the rest of the four-patch seams will rotate. 

 

This technique eliminates the extra bulk where a ka-jillion seams come together.

Ah-ha! Or Ta-Da! Or Ooh-la-la! Pick one! A Pinwheel block that is 4-1/2" square made from 2-1/2" strips!

Purple Pinwheel Palooza to be continued. . . . Unless I tuck this project away onto one of those bottom shelves again. You know how this goes. . . right?

Happy Stitching!

Joan

PS: Are you working on your entry for the GREATSummer Orphan Block Challenge? The deadline for your entry is September 21, 2012. Still lotsa time left. Barbara and Jay, two quilting BFFs from Cortland, New York, are having fun and finding treasures in their orphan stash. I can't wait to see what they do with their orphan blocks!

PSS: Check out the blog entry on CraftStylish. They're talking about us over there. If you read closely, you'll have a big hint on more elements of the prize package. You'd better get sewing, I'm tellin' ya!!