Pat Sloan – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

First of all, Clay and I are so happy that the Denver Bronco’s will play the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 – kudos to Payton Manning and Cam Newton. I am afraid that this will be the last game for Payton, but boy does Cam Newton ever have a wonderful football career ahead for him. Great Coaches too! This will be a very Memorial 50th Super Bowl. I have watched every Super Bowl from the beginning and what a joy to be alive to watch the 50th! A sad goodbye to Payton and a resounding hello to a young and upcoming young Quarterback. Cam Newton loves the game and you can tell he is having a time of his life. Payton is on the other side of the spectrum – looking forward to a career change. We are hoping that Denver can win – wouldn’t that be a great send off to a wonderful representative of the NFL?

OK – what would make me lump the Super Bowl, a Black Cat, Lady Bugs, Stonefield blocks, and Hexagons together? Yesterday and memories of the 1970’s.

Each morning Clay and I head out the back door about 6:30 AM and go to the Studio for morning coffee, morning news and then he visits with his Ham Buddies on the Radio. Yesterday morning I was running a little late getting to the Studio and as I stepped out the back door I noticed the neighbor’s black cat coming from the front yard to the back yard. It politely walked right across my path and my first inclination was to go back and get to the Studio another way. Especially when I looked up and saw a full moon! Well, I knew then I should have turned around and gone the other way but just too lazy to do that. My day went to heck in a hand basket! Being born on Halloween 2 minutes to midnight, I tend to be a little superstitious – especially when it comes to a black cat! Clay just laughs and laughs at me, but I am a true believer! If I leave the house and a black cat crosses the road ahead, I turn around and go another way! REALLY!! I also believe in premonitions and we should always listen to our instincts!

Here is another reason I do not like black cats! When I was young and dumb and trying to get ahead in the Government (maybe this was the problem – working for the Federal Government) there were 3 times that I had been interviewed for different promotions! For some reason, the announcements always came on Tuesdays and the first time I really thought ‘Ah I have a chance at this promotion’ it did not happen. As I was leaving my apartment a black cat crossed my path! My parking slot did not allow me to turn around and go another way….. OK – you guessed it! Three different times this happened over the course of a year. I was never selected, so I transferred to another agency and my career took off! (Hum – maybe that cat knew more than I did) I do believe in the black cat theory just like “do not walk under a ladder”! I cannot say that yesterday turned out well, because it did not. But I digress on black cats.

Now to the lady bugs. Upon arriving home from Arizona in late December I found a lot of Lady Bugs in the house. I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and figured that would take care of the problem. Well guess again – have you ever smashed a lady bug, or had one in your house – it smells horrible when you smash or vacuum them! My house cleaner thought that I needed to change the vacuum cleaner bag – it was the dead Lady Bugs! So when we arrived home from shopping in SA yesterday, one of those nice ladies landed on my neck and I swatted it away (I thought) I kept smelling that darn lady bug and about 5 minutes later I found the darn thing in my bra!!!!! Talk about doing a dance – I HATE BUGS! Especially one that gets on me. Again I was very amusing to hubby – he was laughing so hard he had to take a break from eating that delicious Whataburger (of which I cannot eat). He makes fun of me because we live in the country with deer, snakes, squirrels, bugs, birds, etc.! I tell him that is OK – I have always hated bugs!

OK – enough of that tidbit of information that is so far from the quilting world, but it is fun to share isn’t it?

I have really been pushing to finish basting all of the Hexagons that I have cut out for Brinton Hall. I am putting a huge dent in that job.

I still have a lot to baste, but more than half of them are basted. When I complete the basting I will start surrounding the Center Flowers and sewing the Medallion together. I still have to select the background color. I am doing the entire quilt in batiks and Asian fabrics.

OK – now for Stonefields. I have finished preparing Segment 3 and here they are ready for hand applique. While doing the post and labeling each block I realized that I was short a block – hummm cannot blame that one on the darn cat!

Imogen's Sunburst 1 — Imogen’s Sunburst 1

Imogen's Sunburst 2 — Imogen’s Sunburst 2

Semi Circles 1 and 2 (I made 2 of the same fabric)

Paper Flower 2 — Paper Flower 1 Stems will be Green

Bordered Four Patch 2 — Bordered Four Patch (the forgotten one not sewn yet)

Cara's Surprise 2 — Cara’s Surprise 2 and 3 (same colorway)

The pattern for “Date Night” just did not work well for me. I tried 3 different fabrics to make the block as the Designer provided but I just did not like the design of the flower. I just “happened” to pick up some paperwork on my cutting table and there were some small hexagon flowers that I had made for my Happy Scrappy quilt by Rosemary Youngs. So here is my Date Night block.

I did complete the sewing cover for my 301 Singer Sewing Machine I purchased last year – I decided to put a red border on it and I love it. It makes the entire “quilt” pop!

Well, this has been my progress, along with the fact that I am working on the Candle Table Runner and 2 more placemats! – Yup – all ready for applique also. I am hoping to have a lot more completed by next week. I am keeping my goal of not diverting from my commitment to my 2016 goals.

I do hope that those who were “lucky” enough (?) to experience the Blizzard of 2016 are safe and sound. Today in LV, Texas we have Winter – 48 degrees and rain with wind. Yesterday it was about 75 degrees! I love this type of day – best for quilting. One thing about South Texas weather is that within a week we have Summer, Winter, Fall and Spring – doesn’t it sound great? I hate it! I want the 4 seasons back – and not all in one week, but in 3 month increments! Oh well another pipe dream.

Have a great day sewing!

We are back! We certainly enjoyed our 5 day trip to Durant Oklahoma and the Choctaw Casino. This time we did not take the 36 foot Fifth Wheel. We stayed at the Choctaw Lodge. They were so great and accommodated my eating issues. Now we can go back for short visits without having to hook up the home away from home. I prefer to take our home away from home on our getaways, but in this heat – forget it.

We spent 4 days in the Casino and I had a good time, BUT, I think that the Choctaws are a little richer this trip – Darn it! Hubby is a Choctaw and has his Certificate Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) – but tribal members are not given money. The money is used to provide health care, support education, scholarships, etc for members – especially those in the 10 1/2 Counties in Southeastern Oklahoma. They are wonderful people. Always a smile and so helpful. Gregory Pyle had been the Chief of the Choctaw’s from 1997 until recently when he retired and now Chief Batton has taken over. I am sure that he will continue on with the great work and leadership that Chief Pyle had shown during his time. My husband’s lineage goes back to one of the three (3) original Choctaw Chiefs – MoShuLaTubbe, through the Freeny Family line. Fascinating history. If you are interested in seeing what wonderful things these Leaders are doing for their Tribal Members check out http://www.choctawnation.com, and take a trip to Durant for some fun times. Here are a few pictures that we took:

The Choctaw Casino and Grand Hotel, Durant, Oklahoma

Nanette in Room — Nanette at the Choctaw Lodge

The Room — Beautiful Picture in our Room at the Choctaw Lodge

My Baby Waving — Clay at the Choctaw Lodge

Buffalo in Casino — White Buffalo in the Casino

Blue Moon Cafe 1 — Blue Moon Cafe – Neat Place

Blue Moon Cafe - Police Car — Old Police Car – Remember When?

Back to my favorite thing – Quilting! I have now caught up with Pat Sloan’s Globetrotting and have completed Block 5 of Barbara Brackman’s 2014 BOM. (Somehow I did Block 5 before Block 4 – go figure). I do not have any problems when I work on Pat’s BOM – measurements are great and she provides great visuals.

Moving right along – I have caught up with Barbara Brackmans’ 2014 BOM! I had problems with this one. I am sure that I am not the only one, but as we all know we are usually advised – “Hummm no one else has indicated so” – Been there done that one many times.

This time the issue was printing out the templates that are on the web site. Of course, during the last month I cannot say that my brain was fully engaged and that proved an accurate statement when I measured the templates, mis-read the 3 1/2″ mark on my ruler and made big BOO BOO! Here is a picture of that block (hopefully will be used in another project, or just a pillow cover) The block should have been 12 1/2″ unfinished – Well, if one is off 1/8″ on the templates you will only get a 12″ block unfinished. But I learned how to do Y seans. I had problems getting the pattern into EQ7!

So, last week before we left for Durant, I went back to the drawing board and realized my mistake! I had to go into my printer settings and set the print at 112% – YEA YEA YEA…. The template came out perfect! I cut my templates out onto Mylar and used the little sandpaper discs to help hold in place when cutting and it worked great. I tried again to get it into EQ7, but it just did not work for me. I completed the block and it is 12 1/2″ finished. So now I have done 2 blocks using Y Seams – I have learned a new technique!

I am pondering over what to do with the Austen Family Quilt. I have 6 of the blocks made at 6 1/2″ unfinished (6″ finished). I am at at point where I really need to pull fabrics for the entire quilt that are from a certain fabric line, or continue to pull from various stash! Because I am contemplating a change, I will probably leave this one alone for a few days. I have had some issues with the blocks. They are a little more difficult to make at 6″ rather than the 12″, but I do not want another large quilt! So the cobwebs should be out of the brain in a few days and I can really jump back into it and play the catch-up game.

I need to start on Rosemary Youngs Happy Scrappy BOM – think I am 2 or 3 blocks behind. Today I am going to select the fabrics for Rosemary’s project. Next I will select fabric for Block 4 of Barbara Brackmans’ 2014 BOM and will then be current with that one.

My Di Ford’s Mystery Quilt is hanging in mid-air! My selected pieces for the Medallian are ready to go, but still sitting on the Long Arm Table! That is the one I worked so hard at ordering the fabric for and here it all sits. But I will be working hard to catch up with my on-line BOMS and the start on Di Ford’s. I think they call this “one day at a time” – Heck – Scorpio’s are intensive planners and hate to not meet deadlines.

The weather here in South Texas is nice and warm. We are experiencing the mid-90’s and high humidity. I have made myself a promise to have my morning coffee, do my walk, and fix breakfast. After that I always try to get to the Studio for the remainder of the day. I will be happy to do the 3 things each day as I have really fallen down on my walking. I have been a walker for the last 35 years and never missed a day, but boy this year is a different story.

So until next time – Have a Blessed Day and enjoy Life!