Being Published

Life has been quite busy for a while -- sorry for the lack of posts.  I'm hoping things will slow down a bit after Easter.  I doubt it, but I can hope!

A lot of years ago, the first article about quilts with me in it was in the West Allis Star newspaper.  At the time, I certainly would never have classified myself as a quilter, but our ladies group at church decided to make a few charity quilts.  The newspaper somehow found out about it and decided to come take photos.  I was in my late teens or maybe 20 at the time and I appeared in the photos with my sewing machine working on piecing the quilt top.  I tried to find the article, but I've misplaced it.  We had fun and there were two lovely ladies who knew how to quilt and instructed the rest of us. I'd love to show you the article and I will if it turns up.

The next time was in this publication.

 

A group of us decided to do an Amish Challenge and the American Quilter's Society decided it worthy of publication in their magazine, The American Quilter.

 

 

I am the one on the left in the first row.  My quilt is on the right on the same page.  You might recognize a couple of people in the photo.  Bonnie Browning is in the upper left and several years later was hired as the Executive Show Director by the American Quilter's Society.  Also in the photo is Lorinda Lie who wrote Heartfelt Quilts.

 

Several of my quilts have been published in various magazines and books over the years.  It's a lot of fun to have someone call you to ask if it is okay to publish a photo of your quilt!

 

Lorinda isn't the only one who became an author out of our little group.  Bonnie has a number of books published and I also am the author of Pine Tree Quilts.

 

 

It was my intent to do another book shortly after this one, but we moved a couple of times across country and, though many of the quilts were made for the book, I just didn't get it written.

 

As a result of being an AQS author, I was asked to make a quilt to be published in honor of those who died on 9/11/2001.  The book was called United We Quilt.

 

 

I've shown you the quilt that I made to commemorate that day.

 

 

These quilts traveled for 3 years across the country as they were exhibited in galleries in remembrance of that fateful day.



 

Lately, though, I've had several articles published in the Quilting Quarterly which is the National Quilting Association magazine for it's members.

 

 

The first article was the pattern for my quilt Blue Skies and Sunshine, which appeared in the magazine on the left above.  The next 2 articles are a series I'm currently writing called "Does It Work".  In these articles I test various products to see if they live up to their promise.  The middle and right magazines above show the first two of those articles.  Number 3 is coming out any day and the editor has number 4.  I am also working on another quilt that will be published later in the year with it's pattern.  I showed you the beginnings of it, but now it's under wraps until the article comes out this Fall.

 

Deadlines keep us on our toes when we write!  I have 2 articles due the same week, so I will have to carve the time out to get both done, hopefully before the deadline gets too close!

 

Hope you've enjoyed reading about my adventures in publishing. It is something I love to do and making the quilts or projects to go along with the articles is a lot of fun, too.

 

 

Until next time!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois





 

A Little Bit Irish

Are you Irish?  Hmmm, does Scots Irish count?  If it does, then yes, maybe we are a little bit Irish.  Dear hubby is about half Irish -- his mother was a Bailey.  My mother's last name was  Mc name so probably more a Scottish name than Irish.  I always forget if a Scots Irish person is a Scot living in Ireland or the other way around.

Since everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make some Irish Soda Bread to celebrate.  Well, it is kind of like me -- maybe a little bit Irish.  Since I didn't want to go somewhere to buy any ingredients, I used what I had.  I had only whole wheat flour instead of white, so used that.  I did have raisins and dried cranberries, but no currents so I went with the dried cranberries.  I like those better, anyway.  The recipe called for Irish Whiskey - hmm fresh out of that, we'll just leave that out and add a bit more buttermilk.  Oops, no buttermilk either.  No problem, just add white vinegar to milk and you have buttermilk, sort of.

The result?

 

It at lease looks like some of the pictures of Irish Soda Bread I found.

 

 

The recipe was from a very old bread book.  I may try another recipe as there are several variations.

 

 

It would go well with a little Irish Breakfast tea.

 

 

The green Depression glass was given to me when I was a little girl.

 

 

The silver was in a bag and VERY tarnished when I found it.  The tag said it was from about 1929, so just perfect for the Depression glass place setting. All the pieces are not the same pattern. I don't mind.

 

 

A St. Patty's Day tea?

 

 

The flowers were the birthday flowers Dear Hubby brought to my office as a surprise.

 

 

Hope you are having a Fabulous Friday!

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Paper Quilt for a Birthday Surprise

Last week I was privileged to travel to San Diego to attend the Children's Pastors Conference with our Children's Pastor and our Director of Elementary Ministries.  My "title"  Director of Nursery Ministries.  My joy is being able to plan lessons and staff volunteers for the children birth through 3.  It's fun, the volunteers are great and the kids are precious!

When we returned from San Diego, I brought back good memories, a lot of fresh new ideas, a bag full of books and information, a ton of notes and a cold.  The last I would have rather left in California!

On Friday when I returned to work, my office had been made over.  Friday happened to be my birthday, so while I was gone, our Administrative Assistant, Director of Early Childhood and Director of Kingdom Kids redecorated my desk.

I looked like this when I walked in.

 

Pardon the flash in the center of the paper quilt. We keep our offices cozy by using lamps instead of the fluorescent overhead lights that are so "officey". And, we have no windows!

 

 

Someone blew up a lot of balloons,\ -- they were all over the place!

 

 

The best and permanent part was the paper quilt they constructed for over my desk.  When I moved into the office, my position was an interim position so I had not really decorated the area for what was to be a few months.  I just left the art work that was already there.  It has turned into more than that, so my wonderful co-workers created and framed a paper quilt since they know quilting is what I do when I'm not working with them and the kids.

 

I am blessed to work with a great team who pull together to make the Children's experience at Chandler Christian Church the best possible.  And the bonus is, they are great friends as well!

 

Hope you have had a marvelous Monday.

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

Autumn Chains Quilt Blocks

One question quilters get asked a lot is, "How long did it take you to make that quilt?"  It always makes me laugh a bit because I think about the actual working time versus the time span it took to complete a quilt.  Actual working time is far less than the time span.  If you are a quilter, you understand this.  A design can be in the works for months before it is even drawn.  The fabrics can be cut and waiting for quite some time before a stitch is taken.  It all depends on how much time you have to work on these projects as well as how many projects you have in the works!

Autumn chains was begun at the mini quilt retreat my friends and I had in August.  I told you about that here.  The light blocks were done a bit later and I showed you those blocks on the design wall in this post..  Finally last week, I finished the dark blocks and added them to the design wall.  Now it looks like this.

 

It would be nice if this quilt would be completed by next Autumn instead of joining the quilt tops ready to be quilted and sitting around for ummm, sometimes years!

 

 

Some of the blocks mights be switched as I notice fabrics that are too close to other blocks with the same fabric in them.

 

 

Do you see the dark chains and the light chains going through the quilt? I've been wanting to make one of these forever!  It is really a simple single Irish chain variation which is a traditional pattern.

 

 

Now the next decision is what to do with the setting triangles around the edge.  I haven't decided if I want to do a single fabric which would be the fastest or do string triangles like I did for the Saw Tooth Star quilt that I showed you in this post.  What do you think?  Plain or pieced triangles?

 

I do think I want it to be a light fabric as even the white of the design wall doesn't look all that bad, though it is a bit stark.  I don't think I want dark triangles, though since the outside row of blocks are dark.

 

So, how long does it take you to make a quilt?  Do you start a project and not stop until it is complete or do you have multiple projects going and work a little on this one and then a little on that one.  Or, perhaps, you are just a busy person and stitching time is hard to come by so a project drags on and on.  I tend to just get busy with other things as well as stopping to make other projects. Maybe I have project attention deficit and I need to hop from one to the other to be content.  What do you think? Does that sound right?  Though there have been times when I have stitched long into the night working to complete a project if there was a deadline.

 

Hope you are having a fabulous day and that you have at least a little creative time.

 

 

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois

 

 

 

Queen Creek Olive Mill

Last week on a rainy day in Arizona, I met friends at the Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch.  It is always a treat to go there as there is so much to see!  Add that to best friends getting together and you have a recipe for a great time!



 

 

The first thing you see after parking is the herb garden.

 

 

 

Note the shade cloth over the garden - AZ sunshine and herbs - not a good mix!

 

 

You know the food will be good when fresh herbs are used!

 

Here is the area to order food.

 

 

 

I opted for the vanilla Bean and Olive Oil Waffle which is served with a big dollop of whipped cream in addition to the syrup.  My friends chose sandwiches.  They also serve soups, salads, Frittatas, Bruschetta, Panini and Antipasto among other things. Most things come with a garnish of olives -- big surprise!   Everything I've had there was good! Sorry no photos of the food, we had limited time to spend together so we talked and ate instead of taking photos.  I took the other photos after my friends had to head back home.

 

 

I adore the chalkboard signage.

 

 

You know how I love anything with vanilla flavor!

 

 

There are gift items galore as well as pantry supplies.

 

 

This is not a small place!

 

 

Want dessert?

 

 

Yum, no problem!

 

 

Would you rather take some home?  No problem!

 

 

Coffee anyone?

 

 

How about a loaf of artisan bread?

 

 

What flavor tapenade to go with that?

 

 

Or maybe some wine and cheese?

 

 

Plenty around.

 

 

Gift boxes galore.

 

 

All ready to ship!

 

 

Or choose your own flavored oils for the pantry.

 

 

The Olive Mill Cookbook will tell you what to do with the oil!

 

 

You can visit the olive bar and buy by the pound.

 

 

A lovely selection!

 

 

Chips to take home, anyone?

 

 

How about some local honey?

 

 

According to the sign, it helps with allergies.

 

 

Arizona grown citrus is available.

 

 

Beauty supplies

 

 

and soaps too.

 

 

Perhaps a kitschy T-shirt to wear.

 

 

Love the sign advertising pistachios -- right above the Green Valley pecans! LOL

 

 

How about some jam or jelly to go with that artisan bread? Oh, how I love these chalkboards!

 

 

Next time I want to take the tour to see how the olive oil is extracted.  Although, I did see the "Dirtiest Jobs" episode featuring the Queen Creek Olive Mill a couple of years ago.

 

 

On a warmer day, we might have taken our lunch under the Ramada,

 

 

or at one of the picnic tables in the olive grove.

 

 

Even Thomas Jefferson has something to say about olives.

 

If you are ever in the Phoenix area, it is worth the drive to Queen Creek to experience the Queen Creek Olive Mill.  They are having the Festival of New Oil right now, so it's a perfect time to visit!

 

Hope you enjoyed my brief tour of my favorite restaurant and shop for foodies!

 

xoxoXOXOxoxo

 

Lois