New blog address

I am moving Quilts, Books, and Dogs to a new web address. To view my new Quilts, Books, and Dogs 2, please go to:

http://ruthdukelow.blogspot.com

Please change in your RSS feeds, blogrolls, and bookmarks! Thanks, Ruth

Life changes

In one month, I will be moving to Minnesota. My house in Michigan is on the market, and I have closed on my new house in Bloomington, MN. I feel like I'm starting a new adventure!

Until I move in March, the dogs and I are staying at Tish's in her lovely downstairs apartment. Here are a couple photos of my new digs.

Sadie and Dora settled into their new living room.


Yes, that is Jasper sleeping on my pillow - eek!

Minnesota home!

Here are some photos of the house I hope to buy in Bloomington. Inspection is Saturday and then I wait for financing to be approved.

Here's the exterior:

Here's the kitchen - newly remodeled with a walkout to the deck:


Here's the family room, which will be my new quilt studio. Nice light and room for a design wall!


Here's the back deck and porch, with fenced in yard for the dogs. The best part is that it is close to Debbie, Mom and Catherine's house and to cousins too!

Carol Schon's Scrap Quilts Lecture 8/14/11

Carol Schon did a lecture on scrap quilts at the Great Lakes Folk Festival in East Lansing this weekend.

In the first two photos, note the "backyard chickens" being taken away in the background. They were part of an earlier lecture in the Re-Skilling tent. While Carol lectured on quilting in our half of the tent, another group was shearing Fiona, a long-haired sheep in the back half of the tent.



Carol telling about starting her quilting career during the bicentennial quilt revival of 1976.


The rain got heavy, so we squished in and Carol moved behind the table. Here she is telling about recycling and quilting.


Carol showing how she cuts up the sleeve of an old shirt to use in scrap quilts (cut on the length of the fabric, not the width!).


Carol showing Georgia Hayden's Bear's Paw quilt made from Georgia's husband's shirts. The squares made from the shirt fabrics are string-pieced. The other fabrics in this quilt are store-bought yardage.


Carol showing a string-pieced quilt made entirely (light and dark fabrics) from old shirts.


This dog's owners were attending the sheep-shearing program next door, but the dog was much more interested in Carol's lecture and kept inching his way into our side of the tent (I think, to see the quilts better).


Carol showing her scrap quilt - the squares are dark/light four-patches made from old shirts.


Group of people at the Folk Festival listening to Carol's lecture.



Photos are also on Facebook.

My latest quilt project

This weekend, I finished the last of the Exchange Blocks. After the last few months of sewing quilt blocks in other people's colors and fabrics, I decided to start a new quilt in blues and jewel tones - my favorite quilt colors.

Here is the first block (made of four blocks set together) for my new quilt. I used this pattern several years ago for a quilt for Catherine in turquoise, teal, purple, and orange. In Block Exchange this year, Georgia had us sew a variation of this block in repros, so I thought I'd revisit the pattern in a new colorway.

The pattern goes by a number of names: All Hands Around, Snow Crystals, Captive Beauty, Heavenly Stars, Stars and Cubes, and Victory Stars. When I sewed this pattern for Catherine's quilt, I used diamond pieces (like a LeMoyne Star), but this time I opted for the half-square triangle method that Georgia used in her block.

Catching up on Block Exchange

I took advantage of the Fourth of July weekend to get caught up on sewing blocks for Block Exchange. I'm still not done (one to go!) but I'm no longer months behind! In between sewing, I walked with the dogs (and their dog friends SoLa and Jasper) at the dog park. Lovely weather - lovely weekend.

Phyllis's block. She's making a quilt for her grandson.

Terry's block. She's making a "musicals" quilt for Erin.

Louise's block. She's making youth quilts to donate. I used the some of the same fabrics as in Phyllis's block.

Dorothy's block. Her blocks will be set with rose blocks we made for her last year.

Carol's block. Her blocks will be set with "piano key" sashing and borders.

Eileen's block.

Didn't get Georgia's finished, but the pieces-and-parts are together!

Sad farewell to my sugar maple

The huge sugar maple in my front yard was dying and had to be taken down today. Here is all that is left of where the stump was. I'm so sad to lose it, as it was my favorite tree. My yard looks bare without it!



There were sparrows living in the birdhouse that Tom Mellentine made for me. It had been hanging in the sugar maple, and after the tree came down, the sparrows returned to look for their house. I put it up on my Norway maple a few yards away from where it had been. I was so happy when the sparrows rediscovered their house in the new tree and moved back in! The tree removal people trimmed dead branches off of this tree too.



They also trimmed the low-hanging branches from this silver maple in front of my house and dead branches from the locust tree on the circle by my house. It will take me awhile to get used to the big open spaces.