Family Stars

     Before my baby brother Steve and wife Lynn arrived from Texas, I needed to make our house habitable. I found lots of treasures. One was unused fabric from The City Quilter showing the constellations in NYC's Grand Central ceiling. I took off an afternoon to make sausage pillowcases. I made three regular size pillowcases which fit perfectly across the top of a king size bed welcoming one to heavenly sleep. Not only do I LOVE homemade pillow cases, but I have three grandchildren that might enjoy them on sleepovers. Also, the stars remind me of my Amarillo reunion in NYC where one day we toured the Grand Central. I love reunions.

     

      I have blogged on these pillowcases before, but I still made mistakes after watching two excellent YouTube tutorials and taking notes.Never give up! I cut the body of the fabric 23 or 24 inches by whatever the width of the fabric is (approximately 45"). I cut the accent strip 2 inches by the width of the fabric. The cuff is cut 12 or 13 inches x 45. Google "sausage pillow cases" or click on these links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAomYjHzUQk

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLnrC9yo8tY.

Note how rested Steve and Lynn look!

        Last summer their children came from Texas and I sketched them on the Summer Shack paper table cloths. Lynn reminded me of other sketches I had made with Alan: See my blog archives, March 23 2010, August 6, 2013. This month and last year went by fast!

     

In the Beginning...a Journal quilt

     When the Journal Quilt Connection met, they decided to let each member choose a theme for a month of the year for members to quilt. We decided to start in July, and members pointed at me to choose a theme. I said, "That is my birthday month." "We'll do 'birthdays' then...birthdays apply to lots of things: people, nations." Later I suggested "beginnings" to avoid cliche.

       Although the "Beginnings" theme starts in July, this is my third in June. I seem to compulsively enjoy making one a week. This too will pass, I feel certain.

In the Beginning...

        Joe and I went to New York City this weekend where I always get so many ideas, I hardly know where to start. We get our Metro Card and hop on and off the buses and trains at museums, book and crafting areas. This weekend we hit the Morgan, the Folk Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Met and MOMA, and Montclair Art Museum on the way home. I also got to The City Quilter 3 times and the beading area on 6th Avenue near the New York Public Library. The Strand and the book store in Grand Central were not missed either. Plus, I discovered near Rein's Deli, on the drive down, another fabulous quilting store where I got the pencils. It is Quilting by the Yard on the Hartford Turnpike, in Vernon CT.
        I think this pinwheel journal quilt with no area to rest the eye shows the exhaustion, chaos and excitement of searching out new ideas from books, places and art before I finally get to work in many new directions! In the beginning is chaos, stitched in the ditch, bordered and backed by the wrapped yellow brick road. The dots are my brain and the subway lines you see as well if you click to enlarge.

     

New York Decision: a journal quilt

   Backtracking on my journal quilts, of one a week, I am posting about our recent trip to New York City. It is such a treat to stay in first son's beautiful home to visit art galleries and museums while he is on vacation. This time it was a joy to visit the other son's new work place, the Chrysler Building near Grand Central. We were so excited for Bill to make this move but the decision making was harrowing to observe!

     We ate well and visited museums and libraries and, of course, The City Quilter where I got this fabric. The fireworks are from another piece of material, machine embroidered. I machine quilted quickly around the basic structures but some bead embellishment would add.

"The Chrysler Building

This quintessential art deco skyscraper is an icon of the extravagance and dynamism of New York in the Roaring 20s. The tower architect William Van Alen designed for auto tycoon Walter Chrysler features stylized hood ornaments, wheels and hubcaps. Its height was altered several times in a well-publicized race with the Bank of Manhattan Trust building. The needle-like spire was concealed until the last stage of construction to put it over the top to become the world's tallest building in 1930."   I found this information on a postcard at MOMA in a collection of postcard models...with tips on construction www.buildyourownnewyork.com for the crafty. Build Your Own New York Postcard Models  Scale: 1:3000 Wurlington Brothers Press

click to enlarge