Early Freak Snowstorm in NJ

WOW! The snowstorm today took me completely by surprise. I knew that it was going to get colder and some areas could have snow today, but I certainly did not think the center of the state was going to get so much snow. Late October snow is not unheard of, but is unusual. I have been trying to figure out if in 25 plus years I have lived in NJ if we have ever had a big snow storm this early.

I went into class at 10 am and it was raining really hard. When I was done with class at 11:15 am there was about an inch of snow on the ground. I expected it to snow in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and maybe in the mountains in NW Jersey, but the extent of the snowfall took me and other meteorologists by surprise. It took the towns by surprise, too and they were not ready to deal with the snow. The roads were terrible and there were a lot of accidents. The storm will certainly give me something to talk about in class tomorrow morning. One of my students told me he even heard thunder during the snowstorm. That is also very unusual and even has a special name. It is called thundersnow.

When I was driving home there were a lot of trees down from the weight of this wet heavy snow. It was very strange seeing trees with leaves and snow on them. It usually doesn't snow around here until near Thanksgiving. In my Meteorology class we have a contest where my students have to guess when we will have our first snowfall. I had a female student that had actually picked today as the first snowfall. She is now the winner of our contest. I wonder what made her pick such an early date for our first snowfall. I guess I will ask her tomorrow in class when I announce that she is the winner.
Chris

Halloween is Coming

We love Halloween in our house. Although it is not the same now that my daughter is grown up and is away at college. The only thing I have done this year in terms of decorating it to hang our Halloween quilt. I made this quilt during the summer of 1997 when my daughter was 8 years old. I did get the pattern out of a book, but I did not like some of the costumes that the children had on so I make some of my own like the princess and the bunny. I also designed the dog that the girl in the pumpkin costume has on a leash. I think the original pattern had a shaggy dog button or pin for the dog. If I had to do the quilt again I would not create the pumpkins with buttons which is what the original pattern called for. I would use fabric to make them instead. Sometimes you get a lot of reflection of light off of them and you can't tell what they are from a distance.

I did not do enough quilting and I keep thinking that someday I will add some quilting to the quilt, but each year passes and that does not happen. The quilt does not hang flat and the extra quilting would take care of this problem. I know so much more about machine quilting now than I did back in 1997. My daughter had a girlfriend that loved the quilt so much that I make her a smaller, but similar quilt with just a couple of trick or treaters. She loved the princess so I had to include that one on her quilt. I wonder if she still hangs the quilt on her wall. Sometimes I wonder what happens to quilts that I give away for gifts.

The fabrics for the ground are Cherrywood fabrics as well as the blues and grays in the border. This quilt was my introduction to these fabrics. At a quilt show after I made this quilt I bought some more Cherrywood fabrics to make a vest which I never made. I still have the fabrics and should use them up in a quilt someday. I guess it is just a matter of figuring out what to do with them. I will never make the vest because I have decided that I don't really like vests all that much especially since I have put on weight and I don't really like quilted clothing either. I think that quilted clothing would be a definite item that would qualify for the TV show "What Not to Wear!" I am guilty enough of wearing over sized sweats and skirts that are too long. Stacy and Clinton would have a field day with my wardrobe as it is without adding quilted jackets to the list.

1997 was a very different world than the one we have today. I took the quilt with me on an airplane when we went to visit relatives in Alaska. I took my large sewing scissors on the plane so I could work on appliqueing the swirls in the sky. That is the only part of the quilt that is hand appliqued. But can you imagine trying to take a large pair of scissors on a plane these days?!!!!

Well I am going to hang a few more Halloween decorations before my husband gets home today. He has been in Holland all week and I am anxious for him to get back home. I also really miss having my daughter at home and I miss making her a costume. I still love Halloween, but it is not as much fun as it used to be.
Chris

Last Roses of Summer

The mini anvil is quilted, bound and washed. I always have such a hard time coming up with a title so I went through my list of songs on my mp3 player and picked this title by one of the Celtic Woman singers you see on PBS during pledge breaks. I love Celtic music so I guess the title is appropriate. Also the quilt has lots of reds and pinks (the last roses) as well as the tans (the beginning of the things drying out as we move from summer into fall). Well.... maybe that is a stretch and I just liked the way it sounded! For once I did not want another boring title.

All I have left to do is to make a sleeve and sew on a label. I think I am going to give it to the girl that cuts and colors my hair. She got married earlier this summer and I have not given her a gift yet. At any rate I have an appointment on Monday so I better get busy finishing up the sleeve and label.
Chris

Mini is Pinned and Ready to Quilt

I looked though my fabric stash and found a fabric for the back of the quilt. I had to sew 2 pieces together to make it large enough. If feels good using up fabrics for the back rather than going out and buying a piece that is big enough. I have some fabrics in my stash that I will probably never use in a quilt top so they have been designated to show up in a quilt back.

I also have a batting stash and managed to find a piece big enough for the mini. Another good thing about minis is that they use up batting left over from bed size quilts. I pinned the mini and it is now ready for machine quilting. I think I am going to mostly quilt in the ditch to make the quilting as simple as possible. So this afternoon I will attach the walking foot and start quilting.
Chris

Mini Top Done

I have been working very hard to get the top done. I have been so busy that I forgot to eat lunch. I guess quilting is a good way to stick to my diet!

I am now going to look through my stash and find a backing fabric. I might pin it tomorrow to get it ready for machine quilting. May as well keep going now that I am on a roll.
Chris

Mini is Sashed and Ready for Borders

I finally got to work on the mini yesterday and this morning. I finished sewing the blocks together and sewed the sashing on. It is back on the design wall and ready for picking out borders.

I am beginning to wonder what title I should give it and who I will give it to. I always have a hard time thinking of a creative title for a quilt. I want to come up with unique titles, but it seems I never can. I remember a colorful quilt I saw at a quilt show once that had the title "Saltwater Taffy." I wish I could come up with ideas like that!
Chris

The Mini Makes It To the Design Wall

The blocks are nearly all pieced. The quilt is now on the design wall so I can decide what color of sashing I will use between the blocks. Initially I was thinking about using the tans like what I have in the blocks, but now I am wondering if black sashing might really set the blocks off. I have cut some sashing pieces out of black to see how they might look.

Of course I will have to figure out what border fabric to use. I wonder if I should turn this into a Christmas wall hanging and use some green for the sashing instead of the black. Lots of decisions to make. Maybe all I will do today is finish sewing the blocks and leave the decisions for another day!
Chris

Working on a New Mini

I felt like I needed to take a break from working on some of my landscape quilts so I decided to make a mini quilt. The quilt that I started making yesterday is a design by Kathleen Tracy, the moderator of the Small Quilt Talk yahoo group that I belong to. Kathy is the author of American Doll Quilts, Prairie Children and Their Quilts, and a third book, Remembering Adelia, being published early next year. This block is called an Anvil block and is the October challenge for the group. Her website is http://www.countrylanequilts.com/.

At first I wasn't going to make the quilt since I am so busy with school stuff, but I found some left over squares from a previous quilt that I made so I decided to give it a shot. I am moving along fairly quickly with the quilt and I am ready to start putting the blocks together. It feels good to use up these left over squares.

Yesterday I made the half square triangle block units and today I have worked on sewing those together in pairs. I also make the 4 patch block for the centers of each block. The overall size of the anvil block is 4 inches so that makes each block that makes up the quilt only 1 inch square. Well back to the sewing machine!

Chris