Paducah Nine Patch

I am not the best finisher in the world. I love to say "Oh, I can do that" or "Oh, I should do that" but the fact of the matter is I start a lot of quilts and finish only a small portion. The other day I decided to unearth one of those boxed up projects and finish it. The top that is. Today I finished it. I started this quilt in March 29, 2003. So, almost 6 years to the day the top is complete. To be accurate this quilt was started a year before that with my small quilting group, Scarpbaggers. When the book Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode came out we all loved the quilts in it. The quilts were made from using 5-inch squares. So our group traded squares every month for about 2 years. Some of us have made our quilts and some of the traded squares are still in boxes. What would quilters do without Rubbermaid? I have a fortune in Rubbermaid!

There are still plenty of boxed up "Oh, I can do that" and or "Oh, I should do" quilts left to sew.

Happy quilting,
Annemarie

A Night on the Town

Last night Dale and I went to Bite of Burnsville, an evening of good taste. It took place at the new Burnsville Performing Arts Center in the heart of the city. We had been asked to be food judges. Well, who could say no to that? What were our qualifications you may ask...the answer is we love to eat...duh! There were 18 restaurants from the Burnsville and Lakeville area. Each restaurant gave samples from their menu. The samples were really a plate full of food. WOW, what fun. One of my favorite samplings came from AppleWood Rustic Grille. YUM it was good! There was wonderful live music and both a live auction and (not so silent) auction. We could bid on everything from a trip to Marco Island to the pick of the litter Golden Retriever puppy. The end of the evening was capped off with a performance from Bob Stromberg, Co-creator and star of "Triple Espresso." His hour long show was both funny and nostalgic. We had a great time and look forward to next years Bite of Burnsville.

Parties!!!

I hope everyone is prepared for the holidays. So many parties, so little time. I made a list the other day and WOW do I have a lot to do. The shopping is half done, the baking is only a thought and my house is decorated as much as it is going to be. There are still ledges to decorate and trim to put on the tree but enough is enough and I have to move on.

Scrapbaggers is a quilt group that I belong to and we had a Christmas party last week. We usually draw names and exchange presents. This year we decided to make each other a 'Quilt on a Stick'. Minnesota Quilters did this for the State Fair this past year. We each filled out a questionnaire and then exchanged them. Then we had to come up with an idea of what to make our person according to their 'likes'. I made the Camper quilt. The person I made it for loves camping and loves her granddaughter. So my 'Quilt on a Stick' is entitled "Grandma and Shannon go camping". The other picture is of the Scrapbaggers group holding the 'Quilt on a Stick' we received.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Enjoy Life,
Annemarie

Quilts Remembered

Quilts Remembered is my new pattern company. I have been working very hard on getting this idea off the ground. The concept of a pattern company came to me while working on the quilts for Jo's Little Women Club. As I made the quilts for the club I was also designing and making an 'Extra' quilt for the club members. They seemed to enjoy the 'EXTRA' quilts. So I thought maybe more people would enjoy them and want to make them. The 'EXTRA' quilts then became the quilts for Quilts Remembered. You can see the first 7 quilts and the patterns at Glad Creations, Quilt Block. They are on display in a trunk show until mid-December.

Along with the Quilts Remembered patterns I needed a website. So, why not design that at the same time? It seem to do my best under pressure. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and I can see I have a lot to learn. Please check out my website at, http://www.quiltsremembered.com/.

I have little gremlins that live in my house. They love to play tricks and do thoughtless things. They thought it would be funny to add one more layer of complexity to my life so the wonderful little dears crashed my computer. I had been babying my computer for a long time and it did need to be replaced. However, not while I was writing patterns and building a website. So off to the computer store I went.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get help on Black Friday at a computer store??? I looked at several models and of course confusion set in. My head hurt! After a couple of stores, reams of paper listing specifications of the different models, talking to salesmen that didn't know what a quilt was, I made my decision. I am happy with my choice...so far. Unfortunately, I didn't get the pretty one.

Hope you had a tasty Thanksgiving...did you know that quilting thread is a good substitute for kitchen string to tie up a turkey? Worked for me!

Happy Quilting,

Annemarie S. Yohnk

Rotary Star Sampler Successes

To all of those who just finished my Rotary Star Sampler beginning class congratulations! The class did a fabulous job on their quilts. Most of them finished their quilt tops and basted them last night. What fun it is to see the fabrics become quilts! I hope all will continue to be involved with quilt making and enjoy the process. Good luck and maybe we will see each other in a class again soon.

I love learning new quilting tips. This one came from one of my students last night. While on the way to quilt class it is not a good idea to open your basting safety pins as you drive. Good to know!!!

Happy Quilting,

Annemarie

Love Those Antique Quilts!

I thought I'd post a picture of some of my antique quilts. I love to decorate with quilts. Old or new it really doesn't matter. The 7' ladder in my dining room displays some of my antique quilts. When I had the ladder made I barely had enough quilts to cover the rungs. Now I can cover the ladder for each season. This is my fall display. The quilt on the top is a snowflake kit quilt from the 1940s. It came from Stillwater, MN. The next quilt is a Redwork in yellow quilt that was so brown (dirty) when I bought it I thought it would never come clean, but it did. It is very large and each block has the same lily pad embroidery. The middle quilt I bought from a dealer on Ebay. It was probably made in the late 1930s and each basket is the same. The yellow background is made up entirely of hexagons. The next quilt on the ladder is maybe called rolling rock, but I'm not sure. I found this quilt close to home in Burnsville. It is probably the oldest of the group. The last quilt was just a top when I purchased it in Paducah, KY for $35.00 in 1991. I had it quilted by an Amish women in southern Minnesota. I love this quilt. The fabric dates from 1950 and has Hispanic motifs.

Here's one more decorating picture for you. This pumpkin quilt hangs in my family room in fall. The pattern is from an old Redwagon book. I call it 'Cats in the Pumpkin Patch'.

I have to fess up to the rest of my dining room. As you can see it would be very difficult to have a meal on this table. Maybe a bite of chocolate and a Coke but not a Thanksgiving dinner. I really hate cleaning off the table. Putting everything away is the kiss of death to ever finding things again. I really would rather be sewing! Occasionally, I do have to clean-up my act and the table just to be civilized. But I ask you, what fun is that?

Everything Redwork

This has been another fast and furious week. Last Wednesday I gave a lecture named, Past, Present and Future of Redwork. The lecture was in a small Wisconsin town by the name of Prairie Farm. It was a very pretty drive off of Hwy. 94. The route took me past some of the most beautiful heartland areas of Wisconsin. I drove past cows (of all colors), sheep, donkeys, deer and horses all through the hills and valleys of this country side. I felt very lost. What was a city girl doing in this part of the world? But, all of a sudden, there was Prairie Farm and the school I was to lecture at.

The quilt group I spoke to went by the name Hay River Quilters. There were about 30 to 40 women gathered for the lecture. They brought very nice show & tell. They listen intently to what I had to say about the 100 or so Redwork pieces I had bought. At the conclusion of the evening we all enjoyed yummy apple and pumpkin pie.

The star quilt pictured was made by Lillian T. one of the Hay River Quilters. The other picture is a close up of a Kate Greenaway design, "Children at the Stream" maker unknown.

I had a very nice time with the Hay River Quilters and hope to see them again, maybe at a future quilt show.