I'm Back..................

I am back, but I think I have said that before.  I have been dragging my feet a lot.  But, I do have some quilts done or nearly done.  I should have more done in all reality.  My brain really has not been on quilting but on selling a house and buying a house.  I am so tired of looking at houses (on the net).  And I think I am tired because it has been a chilly winter and a very gloomy one.  I like sunshine.  I do much better if the sun is shining.  But, when looking at houses, you can sure get a lot of ideas.  I have looked at www.zillow.com a lot.  They post the houses that are "for sale by owner" plus those that are for sale by realtor.  I have been looking primarily at the Cedar Rapids/Marion, IA area.  Here is my soapbox  I cannot believe the people vote themselves a tax and if they are not voting for the tax and letting the politicians tell them what is best for them, and the politicians are adding the tax unto an overtaxed situation already, there is something wrong with that picture.  Actually, I cannot believe that I am moving there, I have to be out of my mind, between the taxes, the snow, the cold, I have to have rocks in my head.  I keep telling myself - it will be okay.  It just makes me wonder how many of the people of Iowa loose their homes because they cannot pay the tax? 

Quilts - The World of the Wild Goose
As I said I have been quilting.  Here is one that I have been working on.  I am going to post more in a day or so.  So if you want to see the latest do come back. 

The World of the Wild Goose

 

This quilt has a long story.  I started this at a retreat a few years ago.  Each block has 27 pieces.  It takes a lot of time to make one block.  I didn't make very many at that retreat.  I took the blocks home and put them in a box, marked the box, put them on the shelf.  Next year, retreat, take the box down, go to retreat, make a few blocks, take them home, put them in the box, and put them on the shelf.  I was quilting with some girls at night and I decided this would be a good project.  The problem was, I only met with them usually one time a week.  It was for 2 hours.  I was lucky to make one block.  I decided I was not going to get this quilt done.  I took it home, put it on the design wall and made a few blocks and decided I was bored.  So I put another quilt on top of it, made it, then made a few blocks for this quilt, got bored, made another quilt and it was vicious circle.  Maybe three months ago, I decided I needed to finish this quilt.

 

I looked at the quilt, I still had about 50 blocks to go.  I thought - there is no way on this earth that I am going to finish it.  So I looked at and thought - I will redesign it.  So off to the computer, I took it from 144 block quilt to a 100 block quilt.  That cut down the blocks a bit that I still had to make.  I had nearly all of them done, when the thought came to me - what are you going to do about the border?  The border really needed something, but not too busy because the middle is busy, really busy.  I was standing in front of the quilt looking at an outside block and thought - what would it look like if I expanded this lavender piece into the border.  I got some fabric, folded it, slapped it on the design wall, stuck a pin in it and did the same to the gold.  I stood back and looked at it and thought - that will work. 

 

Now, what am I going to name it?  I had thought of it many times over the period of time that I have been making it.   I knew I had to name it something with geese or goose because of all the flying geese in the pattern.  Lots of times I will get an idea from doing searches on line with just a word.  Well, I tried that, but I could not get anything to fit.  I really wanted to bring in the color of the quilt so it would have meaning.  In the end, I came up with "The World of the Wild Goose."  And it is the world of the wild goose, the gold fields, the blue water, the red sunsets, the purple mountains and the white snow.   Now, wasn't I lucky, I picked those colors :-)  You might want to enlarge this picture so you can see the pattern better. 

 

When I made the border blocks, my quilt went from 100 blocks back to a 144 block quilt. 

 

Genealogy

I am trying to solve the mystery of the "M's."  In my Crago/Craigo line beginning with Nathan born 1783 his name is Nathan M. Crago.  What is "M?"  Nathan named nearly all of his children with an "M" for a middle name.  It tracks through the generations.  I find that the Crago's named all of their children for somebody.  Continental Congress, Revolutionary War, VA governors, anybody who was anybody, the Crago's borrowed their name.  We do have Marion used for a middle name, but I would like to see it in the earlier generations.  Francis Marion, most of the towns, and counties that are named Marion, are named for Francis Marion.  It is hard to find any documentation that lists a full name.  Anyone doing Crago/Craigo/Cragow genealogy if you have an answer, I sure would like to hear it.  Contact me by my email address. 

 

Hope you all have a great day..................

 



 





Moving - still moving - Quilting Alaska/Nebraska

Moving...........
A while back I mentioned that I was looking on Whidbey Island for a house.  I also said it was a woman's prerogative to change her mind.  As you know I change my mind.  I looked at Whidbey Island - it being an island it is limited on housing.  Property is expensive and scarce.  Trying to find that perfect home or even something close is just not happening.  I will say property taxes are reasonable in fact they are about 1/3 of what the taxes are in Iowa.  I am looking again at Iowa.  Property I can find but again that perfect house is just not happening.  Iowa has very high property tax, it is the 7th highest property tax state in the country.  I don't understand it, Iowa is cornfields.  Where is that money going?  There are a lot of words that I could say on the subject and at a later time I might do that.  I will continue to look for a house, and I will probably find one.  It certainly won't be my dream house. I am not rich, I cannot afford $500 plus a month for property tax.  It would be nice if I could have a few coins to buy quilt fabric. 

Speaking of quilt fabric...............
I have all the parts made for Alaska/Nebraska.  Today I start putting it together. 


On design board 1 - top of quilt
 

 



 

On design board 2 - bottom of quilt

The quilt will look better once it is sewn together.  Believe it or not there is a method to my madness.  This is a scrappy quilt, planned scrappy.  You can read more about this quilt in previous postings.

 

Change is in the Air

Moving.......
I have heard that women have the prerogative to change their minds.  I am sure by this time most people think that I am over doing it or have just gone bonkers.  Change is in the air............ I have done it again.  I have a new destination for my move.  At the moment, and if I can find a house, I am moving to Whidbey Island, WA.  Why, why, why............My son lives there and my grandchildren, I have a daughter in Spokane and a son in Vista, CA.  All much closer than Louisiana or Iowa.  It would have been nice to go to Iowa, it is my roots, but they have had a winter that I would rather not experience, so when #1 son said come to Whidbey, and I do love Whidbey, I said, "why not?"  I am house hunting.  Come back, see what happens in this little saga. 

Quilting..........
In 2012 I went to Alaska and in 2013 I went to Nebraska.  If you would like to know the stories and see the pictures go to the label section and find Alaska and then Nebraska.   Of course I went to quilt shops and shopped and shopped.

Alaska - Nebraska
 

I decided that I was going to make a quilt using only the fabric that I bought on those two trips.  This is a Judy Neimeyer pattern with a slight adjustment.  When this quilt is farther along I will fill you in on what I am doing with the fabric.  I am making slow progress and that is because I have my head on a move instead of on quilting, but, hopefully before I do move I will have this quilt done.  I have put these blocks on this design board in no particular order.  There is many more to go. 

Hope you have a good day.

Moving..............

I was born in Iowa.  I still have kin there and several close friends.  I am sure that anyone who reads this blog has heard me say "it is hot."   Last year about did me in.  I honestly don't think I can do another year of day in and day out, week after week, month after month of 90 degree plus weather and humidity on top of it.  I have several other reasons for deciding to pick up and move but the above is a good one.  So, hopefully sometime before it gets hot, my house will be sold and I will trek north to Iowa. 

Iowa of course is not perfect.  It does get cold and sometimes it gets really cold.  I am retired, I don't have to do anything I don't want to do, I can stay inside and quilt.  There is nothing prettier than watching snow falling.  And since I can stay in and look at it I don't have to put up with the negatives. 

For the last several weeks I have been on Zillow.com and Realtor.com looking for that perfect house that will suit what I need and a little of what I want.  I have been keeping a spread sheet, in that way, I can easily compare houses that I like and look at the pros and cons at the same time.  I will let you know how my hunt goes. 

Now quilting..............


Forever Grateful
 

This quilt is one that I started at a retreat.  There is 27 pieces in a block.  It takes time to make one.  I managed to get a few made at that retreat.  I brought it home put it away and the next year I dug it out for retreat.  I made a few more blocks.  I put it away.  Then I decided that it would be my project when sewing with the Stitch and Cackle Quilt Circle group.  I got a few more blocks done.  Then I decided that if I was ever going to finish this quilt I would have to work on it more.  So I did, but then, I got bored and you know what happens when I get bored.  So it is languishing on my design wall waiting for me to get the quilt off the top of it that I am presently working on.

Hope all is well with you..............