Barn Dance

Every June when the Utah Shop Hop rolls around, the passport stamping table at Thimbles and Threads in Gardner Village is covered by the same quilt. It’s in two colors – rose and cream – and has a vintage look. I’ve admired it for years, but no one seemed to know the pattern’s name. I’ve run across a similar pattern on the Internet called Milky Way. Then two weeks ago it showed up at Mormon Handicraft in a Simple Whatnots Collection Five kit. I left the kit intact and used my own scraps instead. (If I don’t whittle down the scrap bag from time to time, it’ll take over the sewing room.) It’s made of two-inch four-patch blocks, two-inch half-square-triangles and two-inch squares, so it came together in no time. It’s an appealing design in spite of its simplicity, and lends itself well to other sizes and colorways, as long as there’s good contrast between the lights and darks.

Plain Folk, Revisited

Thirty-eight weeks ago I posted a quilt top I’d made with 12 pinwheel-centered log cabin blocks. The pinwheel centers were three inches square, the “log” pieces were an inch wide, and the finished blocks were eight inches square, making the finished top 24x48. I wasn’t in love with the top, so I set it aside until I knew what to do with it. I ran across it two days ago and decided to shred it. I chucked three of the pinwheels and cut the rest down to two inches. Now the log pieces are half an inch wide and the blocks are all six inches square. The newer, more scrappy finished top is 18x18. I might add a small border or two. I’m toying with the idea of quilting it with tidy little “Baptist Fan” stitches. Hopefully it won't take me another ten months to make up my mind.

Carol's Scraptime Quilt Block

We’re planning a trip to Walt Disney World in January. We’re looking forward to the amazing shows, fine dining, and to several rides that aren’t in Anaheim, including Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Mission: Space and (by then) Tower of Terror. We won’t get a chance to see the Hall of Presidents during this trip. The Audio-Animatronic attraction will be closed so a new figure can be added: most likely one of the candidates representing our two largest political parties. I’m cringing at the thought of either of them sharing a stage with George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Although I can’t in good conscience vote for either one next month, I think the country is strong enough to survive four years with a clown or a fraud in the oval office. We may even endure a few poor choices in the Supreme Court. But the Hall of Presidents is FOREVER.

Stepping Stones

Patchwork Party is an annual online quilt shop hop. The idea was to collect a dozen block kits, each from a different store. After assembling the blocks, you could choose a finishing kit from one of the twelve stores. I’ve been participating since 2010, when the blocks used Marti Michell’s Wild Rose fabric line. So far I’ve made five queen-size sampler quilts with Patchwork Party blocks, and I have enough blocks saved from the past two years to make at least two more. I was looking forward to more of the same this year, but there have been some changes. Instead of twelve stores, there are only seven. You don’t buy a block kit from each one, but you can download seven free quilt patterns. You can see the quilts (and previous years’ offerings) at http://www.patchworkparty.com/. They’re all pretty, but I miss the sampler quilts. Maybe I should focus on setting my blocks from 2014 and 2015.

Log Cabin Album Block

“Two missionaries approached a four-story apartment building. They knocked on each door of the first floor. No one would listen. The same thing happened until they came to the last door of the fourth floor. When that door opened, a girl smiled at them and asked them to wait while she spoke with her mother. At first her mother didn’t want to listen, but the missionaries left her with a copy of Book of Mormon to read. The mother did read this sacred book, and she and her two daughters entered the waters of baptism. The young woman who had pleaded with her mother to listen to the missionaries—is Harriet, my wonderful wife, the sunshine in my life. How often have I lifted my heart in gratitude for the two missionaries who did not stop at the first floor! God rewards those who earnestly seek him, but that reward is not usually behind the first door.” – President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Garrett Windows

Eleven presidential elections ago I couldn’t have cared less who the commander-in-chief was. My life was all about piano lessons, how to get the nail polish daisies on my right hand to come out as nice as the ones on my left, and what school assignment I forgot to do last night. I didn’t watch the news; I watched Wonderful World of Disney, Columbo, MacMillan and Wife, The Waltons and Carol Burnett. I had a classmate who dressed in black for a week because George McGovern wasn’t elected. I thought she was crazy. Most of my students are much more interested in politics. They say if Donald is elected, he’ll build a wall and deport all their friends with Hispanic surnames. And if Hillary becomes president, things will be even worse. I wish they understood: in this country no one person has that much power. I wish the candidates understood that, too.