Marvelous Marie Goes to the County Fair!

It's Fair Time here in Sonoma County! Tomorrow Noel Heart & Chief are coming by at eleven and off we go for the day!

Fairs are grand! So much to see. So much to eat! The contests and shows.

Where should I go first? Ah, now that's a silly question..

...to the Quilts!

and next?

The  Flower Show!

Little Elf House in Garden

I smell food! Time to eat!

Corn on the cob! Teriyaki Sticks! Tri Tip Sandwich! Funnel Cakes! YUM!

Cow, Pigs, Sheep--oh my!

Then to...
      ...Arts and Crafts Hall
          ...Juniors Arts and Crafts
            ...Cooking and Canning
              ...Exhibition Hall
                  ...Elvis Imitator show
                      ...Sourdough Singing Cowboy

I've just got to run now....so much fun awaits!

Marvelous Marie continues next Saturday!

Pass the Peanuts Please! #7

Good grief, Charlie Brown! My kite got stuck in a tree. I spent all day Wednesday getting it down and now I missed the day to post my blog about you and your friends. Arghhh!
In Santa Rosa is a long-standing icon. The Flamingo Resort Hotel & Spa. Opened in 1950, it is notable for its large, revolving flamingo atop a 50-foot pink tower.

The flamingo purchased 8 Peanuts statues and has 3 or 4 in a display case in the lobby. The remaining statues are spread around the resort. Anyone can visit the resort and take pictures of themselves with the statues.

Right to Left, top row: Say Hey Charlie Brown (signed by the Giant's Team Members); Good Grief, It's Superman; Good Grief, It's the Holidays Charlie Brown; middle row: Joe Cool Tennis Pro Snoopy; Entrance to the Flamingo Resort; Boom shaka laka laka Joe Cool Snoopy; bottom row: Joe Cool King Tut Snoopy; Joe Cool Giant (also signed by Giant's Team members); Yellow Bird Racer, Woodstock.  


Hmmm…would a name change for the resort be Peanuts? A giant Charlie Brown rotating on a 50-foot tower?

Naaah. Nice dream though.

Here's the answers to last week's question: What did Marcie call Peppermint Patty? Sir What did Peppermint Patty call Charlie Brown? Chuck

The winner is Terri from QuiltNCards She made a sweet comment about Peppermint Patty: "I did admire that [Peppermint Patty] takes care of herself and her Dad, and plays a really good game of baseball. I don't admire the D- that she gets in everything, but given her situation at home...it's kind of a given.
"And that crush on Chuck - and he doesn't even notice...
(heartbreaking)." 

Here's this week's question: What was the original name for: The comic strip? Charlie Brown? Write your answer in the comments below. The answer will be in next week's blog!

Picture of Flamingo tower: http://drinkwiththewench.com/2009/07/the-wench-takes-on-wbc-2009/

Pictures of Peanuts Statues in Flamingo:  http://www.trails.com/flamingo-resort-hotel-spa-hotel-36918.html

Mish Mosh Monday #5: Happy Anniversary

Twiddling your thumbs sometimes comes up with a good idea. 

I started thinking about common everyday objects. I wondered how long these ordinary things had been around. I looked it up. Presenting to all those interested dear readers is my "Happy Anniversary List"!
 

1. Post It: 46th Anniversary: Invented in 1968 (source)
It's been described as the solution to a problem nobody realized existed. source



2. @: 43rd Anniversary of common usage source
Once a rarely used key on the typewriter, the graceful character has become the very symbol of modern electronic communication source

3. Automatic Transmission: 74th Anniversary of first common AT w/ parts still used today source
Today I think we will give a little depth to the history of the automatic transmission.  It really is a marvel to behold and yet we take it for granted, just as we have come to expect the sun to rise and set with regularity. source

4. Game of Baseball: 175th year anniversary source

 source
The sport that evokes more nostalgia among Americans than any other is baseball.


5. Game of American Football: 138th year anniversary source
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” –Bill Shankly source

6. Quilting: 56th century anniversary source



To quilt is to live. source




7. Camera: 514th years anniversary source

“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.”  Ansel Adams source
 
 


8. Oatmeal: 15 centuries anniversary source
It is not true, as the humor website Cracked satirically suggests, that oatmeal was invented by a research scientist at Britain's Royal Academy of Adhesives and Sealants during an experiment in search of new forms of industrial glue. But if your idea of oatmeal is the pasty variety made in a microwave from a packet, the story can seem plausible. source


9.  Lawn Sprinklers: 202nd anniversary source
An 18th century fancy of the royals and wealthy in Europe, the love of lawns spread to places where they could not be maintained with natural rain. It became necessary to carry water to areas that needed supplemental supplies and as the popularity of lawns spread, this required more and more extra effort. Sprinklers, invented in 1871, made lawns possible for everyone. source

10. Envelope: 5,524th year anniversary source

The oldest envelope found, made of
clay to enclose a contract

…there are certain people out there, who live, breathe, eat and drink envelopes. source

A little bit more recognizable envelope

Listed In Chronological Order (oldest first)

Quilting  56 centuries
Envelope  55.5 centuries
Oatmeal  15 centuries
Camera  514 years
Sprinkler  202 years
Baseball Game  175 years
Football Game  138 years
Automatic Transmission  74 years
Post It  46 years
@ sign (in common use)  43 years

Messes Always Come Before Tidiness

Is this really Monday? Design Wall? Not in Nonnie-land!

We had Hubby’s youngest brother visiting us this week. We enjoyed having him here the entire time! There was lots of catch up to do since we haven’t seen him in about 10 years.

You know the old saying… “Guests, like fish, should be thrown out after three days.” It was certainly not true with Younger Brother. I felt at home having him here which, in itself, is a milestone.

While he was here I got a chance to sort through some scrap bins. It was loads of fun, but I made myself a load of work!  My quilt room now looks like a bomb went off in there!

Can I just stop here and quote, loosely, Michio Kaku: “It’s pointless to have a nice clean desk, quilting room, because it means you’re not doing anything.”

Either I’m a hamster running on a wheel or I’m reorganizing!

I’m sorting scraps by color and storing each color in a soft drink box. And don’t try to cozy up to me now! I do not have $1000 dollars in that box on top! I would tell you what’s in the box, but I’ve lost it in the mess “gentrification” project.


Saturday I engaged in re-allotment. Which is defined in Nonnie’s dictionary as moving fabric around to make more room and ending up with just the same amount of fabric just in different locations!


As a result I now have three drawers for blue, instead of two: light blue, medium blue and dark blue. And up- cycled one drawer to two for red and green and … Well, I don’t want to make you depressed because of all of the beautifulness of my organizing. Because all I did was take stuff that had been in drawers to make more room for certain colors and put previous stuff in boxes. I still haven’t figured out where those boxes are going to go!

Certainly not here!

And now, dear readers, my story is told. If you want to see real design walls, check out these sites. Real quilters! Real projects! Just click on a badge from the right sidebar.

Wait! Before you leave, here is the status of the blue block I reported on last week:

Don't adjust your monitor! There is a picture there. And it is what has been done on my blue and white block. More here about said block.

Quilts From My Sewing Machine #7: Marie & Me

You’re in for another trip down memory lane in a quilt that is a collaboration between my Aunt Marie and myself. Those who read my blog know about my muse, my Aunt Marie.

I call these quilts “collaborations” because Aunt Marie either made the blocks or made the quilt top. I take the blocks or flimsy and finish the quilt from there.

This isn’t our first collaboration, but it is the first one I did. You can read about the second collaboration, The Seventies Are Calling, They Want Their Fabric Back here. I’ve already completed our third collaboration, but haven’t posted yet. And…there are still more to come!

I believe in putting labels on quilts! (Yes, I'm still talking about the story of my quilt collaboration! Patience is a virtue!) Most of them are small, but on two I wrote more of a provenance. Marie and Me is one of them. And here is what the label says:

Backside of quilt showing my stitching at age 8

"My Aunt Marie (1905-1997) was a gifted quilter. When I was eight years old (1963) she cut two-inch squares into sets for me so I could make nine-patch blocks. I started hand stitching the blocks together but eventually stopped. When I was around eleven or twelve, I picked up the project again and did more blocks. I finally ended up with around 20 blocks with more waiting to be done.

More beginning hand stitching

I had the blocks and squares stored in an old red wicker sewing basket. It followed me through moves, school, college, marriage and children. In 2006, I became interested in quilting. I pulled out the red wicker basket and decided to finish my first quilt. I had to square off the completed blocks, which made them fat in the center column. I wanted them to be highlighted in the finished quilts. All the blocks I did as a child are inside the yellow border. 

The back of the blocks I made as a child. I put them in
chronological order
You can see how the center rows are wider
than the side rows.

I squared up the remaining two-inch squares and sewed them into blocks. In order to have the quilt turn out correctly, I delved into my aunt's stash and made a few more blocks.”

Some of the extra blocks I added. I made the one with the bowling ball because
my last name is Bohling. The square at the top right, brown dotted fabric, was
from one of the dresses my Aunt Marie made me. I was in the first grade!

More blocks. Love the kitties and ladybugs!

More blocks: My uncle was in the Marines. The little brown televisions
have cowboys on the screen. Are the ducks cute?

(There is a secret in the quilt. When I was assembling the quilt, I did it in sections: top section, bottom section then the two side sections. When I went to assemble them I found one side section was shorter than the other, by two inches! To make both sides even, I made a row of single squares and sewed it to the bottom of the shorter piece. No one has ever noticed it and it blends in quite nicely. To keep the secret, I'll not tell you where the extra row is!)

“By the time I got around to finishing the quilt in

2009, I had already made quite a few other quilts. Those quilts were all machine quilted by a professional. A good friend of mine, an avid hand quilter, convinced me that I should hand quilt Marie's quilt. I thought it fitting to do it by hand because all of Aunt Marie's quilts were hand quilted. This was 

the first quilt that I hand quilted. From where I began to where it ended, it showed the progression of my skill as a hand quilter. I chose to do a Bishop's fan pattern, and there are many funny fans! I was using a template, but now know a much easier and better way to quilt that pattern.

Thanks, Aunt Marie, for your legacy.”

Here is the label from the back of the quilt. It has the back of one of the first blocks I hand stitched when I was 8.
I think it's adorable all those big stitches and wobbliness. I also included a picture of Aunt Marie and one of me from
when I was 8.

Marie and Me hangs in my bedroom. I deeply love this quilt. I have spent many hours before sleep, before getting up and just lazing on my bed looking at all the blocks and different fabrics. At night, with lights out, it is changed into a study of light and dark. With the street light coming in my room, all that can be seen are light and dark blotches. It is a mottled effect and I love that view of it also.

It is just a humble nine patch quilt, but it enchants me.
 
I also write posts about Aunt Marie’s phenomenal quilts. Here are links to those posts. Get ready to be amazed!
The Gallatin Quilt
Mystery Stars
Pixelated Ponies