Our windmill

I was asked to show a picture of our windmill so here goes. It has an underground pipe that it pumped water through to our barn. That pipe is shut off. It also has an above ground pipe that you hook up to the pump and it will pump to an old cistern. We lived off this windmill for quite a few years but eventually put in a well pump. We do use little water at our house compared to most people as our children were trained at a young age to take quick showers and never leave the water running when you brush your teeth etc. Depending on the wind makes for little water in the summer. We do live in a windy area of the country which did help. A few miles to the north of us they are building one of the largest wind farms in the United States. We can see the BIG windmills going up 7 miles away while we sit on our front porch. While outdoors with the camera I decided to snap a few pictures of my flowers. The above average rainfall in the Midwest this year has really helped them along.
I don’t have much of a weekend planned. I took the week off from attending the kids sporting events and spent some time reading (Janet Evanovich’s; Metro Girl), watching a few of my favorite movies on the tube, 4 Weddings and a Funeral, Pride and Prejudice and Little Women and walking 3 miles each evening. Tomorrow I hope to work on another border of my River quilt and Sunday I will go back to doing ballgames. A few work days next week and then we will be off on our road trip.

Another Little Doll Quilt

It has been pouring down rain here all morning. I love the sound of the rain. As we are the original “green” people my cars are finally getting a good wash also. Yep, we never take them to a car wash we just wait on mother nature to help us out. Talking about being green, we have a working windmill original to our 118 year old house. This winter sleeping was H E double hockey sticks as about mid December it decided to start making a loud screeching noise. It definitely needed a good grease job. But you can’t do that when the wind is blowing so we just had to put up with it. Sunday morning was a nice quiet morning so it was decided that this would be the day that the windmill got worked on. My husband climbed up it 3 times taking all the supplies it would need. Around the bottom of the spokes is a wood platform that he can sit on to work on it. There is no way I would sit on that thing as it is rotting away, but he got himself situated and went to work. Just as he was getting a start a big wind came out of no where and the windmill started moving. I couldn’t get the brake on and he was throwing tools and everything down. It was a crazy sight but he finally got everything and himself down. Needless to say we still have the screeching sound.
I promised to take a picture of the little doll quilt that I put the binding on this weekend. It sure is a busy little thing. I took a close up of the fabrics so that you could see how they all blend together. A little something different for me , but that is the fun of these little doll quilts, trying something new.

4-Block Quilts

Kathie is talking about starting a new 4-block quilt. I have written before about my love of 4-block quilts, it goes back to that Gwen Marston Rose and Tulips book I spoke of a couple of posts ago. Amazon has Gwen’s Classic 4-Block Quilts book as low as $4.00 in the used section. That is a steal.
Terry Clothier Thompson has also highly influenced me. Please check out her website as she has many patterns available. Her 4 blocks are under the title Applique by the Yard. These quilts are so simple yet so elegant. I find that most of the time I am drawn to the ones that are really basic but have an awesome border. I love the one I am showing. It is from my scanned picture collection. The 4 blocks are real basic in that they are the Carolina Lily pattern but the border is what draws your attention. Kathie has gotten me excited about 4 blocks again but my plan this year is to finish some projects up before I start any new ones. I need to hold myself to that, of course that is easier said then done!

Possible Liberated Quiltmaking Re-print

Tonya emailed me that AQS is considering re-printing Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking book. I love this book, in fact I love all things Gwen. Last year marked a highlight in my life when I was able to take 2 classes from her. She is as wonderful in person as she comes across in her books. My love affair with all things Gwen started early in my quilting life. I came across her articles in Lady Patchwork Circle magazine and I loved how she was interpreting her life into her quilts. Her little folk art quilts were amazing to me. Gwen and Joe Cunningham’s Rose and Tulip Quilts book will forever be my favorite quilt book. My copy is ragged with loose pages hanging from it and I still read through it at least once a month. In the early to mid 90’s I heard she was having a one woman show in Flint Michigan. Flint is a 5 hour drive I did the drive there and back and the show in one day. The attached pictures are ones I took of Gwen’s quilts in the show. I still carry them around with me 15 years later. This show was the first time that I had seen any of her liberated quilts. I was in awe. I associated Gwen with fun little folk art quilts and masterpiece appliqué quilts and here was something totally different. She taught us all that you didn’t have to stay in that one little mold you have created for yourself with quilting, she was like the Madonna of quilting forever re-inventing herself and coming up with new and fun ideas. If you don’t have a copy of her Liberated book, believe me it is well worth getting yourself one. Tonya is collecting a list of those interested. Please visit her blog and leave a comment if you think you would like a copy. Hopefully AQS will follow through and get this re-printed. I was checking Amazon recently to see if she had anything new coming out and I was surprised at the number of her books that you can buy used for a low price. Check it out. A great way to get to know Gwen and her work.

Graduation quilt

Thanks for all the kind thoughts concerning our sweet Annabelle. She really was a sweetheart. It is finally getting warm, no I mean hot here. The month of May was really chilly for us. I didn’t even put on a pair of Capri pants until last week. With ballgames putting us outdoors in the evening all month I had to keep my warm clothes available. I finally made the closet switch this weekend from winter to summer. Glad to get that done.
On the never ending organizing front I was able to get all my gift wrap contained. It looks so much better. That corner is no longer a blob of stuff. I also got all my flowers planted. I can’t believe we are in the second week of June already. I usually have all my flowers in by late May.
This weekend was busy with graduation parties. We went to many and had a good time seeing a lot of old friends. The quilt I am showing is a mystery quilt I did last summer. I really liked the result and decided it would be perfect for my son’s girlfriend who graduated from high school this year. She is a really personable young lady whom we really like. I really didn’t get a good picture because I was home by myself when I took it and I needed to get it wrapped. I forgot to take a picture of the back which was really awesome. I pieced the back with leftovers from the front. There were a couple large pieces of hand dyes and the quilting really showed up. I think I liked the back almost more then the front. I must give credit to Viki K. whom is a member of my quilt guild. She did the quilting for me. Our cat Maggie decided to come out of hiding and plopped herself right down on the quilt. She is not the friendly sort and seldom will let any of us near her except my daughter so this was a pleasant surprise.