My Quip – Colored Windows II Takes Judge’s Award at MQX West 2011 in Portland

Good Afternoon,

And we are beaming from ear-to-ear. We just found out that our Colored Windows II received a Judge’s Award at MQX West in Portland, Oregon. The news is unanticipated. The MQX West Show in Portland just ended this weekend and the 2011 Competition Winners have just been posted on the Machine Quilters Exposition website.

The announcement is as follows:

Judge’s Awards sponsored by The Quilting Connection

Scott Murkin – 415, Colored Windows II by Jim Smith & Andy Brunhammer

Thank you to Judge Scott Murkin for considering Colored Windows II worthy of your note.

We are always looking for new designs and quilt challenges. If you are interested in commissioning your quilt please contact us.

Check out our newly posted Twisted Basket and our currently available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – My Morning Fix – Red-Eye Gravy – A Dog is Missing – Then Genealogy Search and Research

Good Morning All,

I get up this morning… and I attend to The Pack. The Minis are all a’bouncin’ and tanglin’ themselves up as I try to unknot them from leashes and harnesses and collars. Taylor is just complain’, sort of, saying in her quiet, undisturbed way ‘Please get those idiots out to do their damn business… I gotta do mine.”

Dogs done, fed. I account for three. Where the hell is Radar? How in tarnation did the sheets and blankets get mounded up like that? Sure ‘nough, he’s buried himself under the mound to take his after-breakfast relax and time out.

Tried red-eye gravy on ham steaks last night. Wasn’t too sure about coffee and ham scrapings, but it wasn’t too, too bad. I was expecting a dinner plate full of coffee swill. I’m sold, and definitely will try again. Made a lime chiffon pie for dessert. Can of frozen limeade, can of condensed milk, and cool whip. Poured into a graham crust pie shell. Wasn’t at all difficult… and I didn’t waste any of the grey matter cells that I have left making it. Only secret is that it needs to set in the freezer.

And talking about the new refrigerator, here’s one for the books. The heater in the freezer in my brand, brand new refrigerator is on the fritz. Who ever heard of a heater in a freezer? Well it’s got one. It is supposed to keep the tubing that conducts the water to the ice-maker from freezing up before the water gets to the ice-maker to make ice. Make sense? Well the powers that be are gonna replace the door. Seems that it is a flaw in the manufacturing. And so we’re waiting on a new freezer door with a new heater for our new refrigerator.

The new Ubuntu upgrade is not going too well on my PC. I know it has something to do with Windows 7 and Skype… just don’t know what. I get a partial upgrade to Ubuntu 11.10: Oneiric Ocelot. Everything still works but I do like my systems to work cleanly and without glitches. Got to figure this one out.

And the last thing I gotta do today is have my new teeth put in. This is the third time in 10 years, since the car accident that I have had to had work done on my back three teeth that were destroyed. This time some of the porcelain chipped off the crown that holds the bridge that connects the back two molars. And this is the second time I am having it refitted. The company that makes the replacement made it too, too big… and yes I can hear the comments through the Internet lines… for my mouth.

Okay that’s my morning fix. Gotta get ready for the dentist. Will be back to my genealogy and quilting.

Enjoy your coffee,

Jim

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My Quip - Civil War Re-Enactment Quilt

Good Day,

In remembrance, with some leeway, we are attempting to design and construct a Civil War Quilt. Gleaning from some of the information that I have read, many hundreds of thousands of quilts were constructed for the purposes of the men and boys who took part in one of this country's greatest conflicts. Many of the quilts were destroyed and many were buried with the casualties. This, our remembrance, on the 150th year, is our first thought that what happened then, may never happen again.

In my search for Civil War period quilts I discovered a photo album online claiming to present a number of quilt blocks constructed during the period. The blocks are not labelled but a search of any encyclopedia of quilt blocks could and may present an idea of a name and a construction technique. From the Home and Garden Webshots Collection entitled Civil War Period Quilt Blocks, the above inserted image is CWQB #42. The construction of #42 appears to be a Nine-Patch block coupled with a Snowball block .

The following construction is a part, actually the upper right corner of our first Civil War Quilt.

Our quilt is not to be a reproduction but our interpretation and design using noted Civil War era blocks. We will also, in this first quilt, use reproduction fabrics. The following are the labelings of the three fabrics.

Stay tuned to watch as we complete the parts and construction of our first Civil War Quilt. This new quilt challenge will be a definite leap for us as we continue to learn and create with fabrics and thoughts from the distant past.

Another point to make is that from what I have discovered a general size of a quilt or bed-roll that was made during the time would approximate a width of 48" and a length of 84". This quilt size tended to fit the size of a cot and it could be rolled up to fit the soldier's backpack.

We are always looking for new designs and quilt challenges. If you are interested in commissioning your quilt please contact us.

Check out or newly posted Twisted Basket and our currently available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – Astro-Physics – Another Completed Piece

Good Day,

Okay call me crazy. “Crazy!” This morning I attempted to walk Taylor, in her harness and sling, as well as the three minis from The Pack. I now know how marionette workers get their training. The only thing of course, wooden puppets don’t have minds of their own, and try to sniff everything in every direction. (That is, when the lights are turned on…)

And here is another completed part of our Astro-Physics quilt wall-hanging.

This piece looks like it belongs around the neck of some Egyptian Queen. It is in the format of a collar necklace.

Stay tuned to watch as we complete the parts and pieces of Astro-Physics. This new quilt wall-hanging challenge will be a definite leap for us as we continue to learn and create with fabrics.

We are always looking for new designs and quilt challenges. If you are interested in commissioning your quilt please contact us.

Check out or newly posted Twisted Basket and our currently available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – Astro-Physics – New Wall-Hanging Quilt Begins

Good Day,

Our journey into quilt making is ever an exciting one. And this is an introduction to the world of paper-piecing, points, curves, and little-bitty pieces of cut fabric where the seam allowances alone can swallow up the size-factors.

This piece is one of the eleven stars that you will encounter on your journey to Astro Physics

We have ventured into the outer dimensions of Jacqueline de Jonge. Andy most recently attended a two-day session with Jacqueline to learn the areas of her construction techniques. Our challenge is her design Fly Away.

Our fabric choices are batiks covering a tangible spectrum of rainbow colors. The first name of this endeavor is Astro-Physics. There are, what appears to be thousands of pieces ranging in colors and are all extracted from 29 different fabrics.

Astro-Physics will take some time. I will be posting the progression of the construction and present to you, over time, its creation and production.

We are always looking for new designs and quilt challenges. If you are interested in commissioning your quilt please contact us.

Check out or newly posted Twisted Basket and our currently available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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Q92 – Twisted Basket - Quilt

Good Day,

A new quilt has been completed… and it is completely different. Twisted Basket is our new quilt. (And of course Radar has to check out what is going on.)

The dimensions of Twisted Basket are: Length – 75” (191 cms); Width – 55” (140 cms). It is somewhere between an Afghan and Lap Size quilt.

We have adapted and based our Twisted Basket on Kimberly Einmo’s Braided Links design from her book Jelly Roll Quilts & More, AQS 2010. The multi-colored fabrics included are from a Moda Dream On Jelly Roll designed by Urban Chiks. The sashing and the backing are of two complimentary fabrics of light yellow/beige and of an olive green with white polka dots. The sashing is called Squares on Point as presented in Janet Kime’s book The Border Workbook, AQS, 1997.

The construction of Twisted Basket is a variation on a Log Cabin block. Per Kimberly “This Log Cabin block variation begins in the corner instead of the center of the block…” We created 30 blocks and rotated each adjoining block by 90°. The effect of the sashing bordering the blocks is to give a woven basket effect. Our quilting is a play on horizontal, vertical, and radiating lines.

Here are more images of Twisted Basket.

We are always looking for new designs and quilt challenges. If you are interested in commissioning your quilt please contact us.

Check out Twisted Basket and our currently available quilts at Quilts SB Etsy.

Also check out my new experimental format of my Blog, Quilts SB Test. Certainly would appreciate your feedback.

To see previously posted quilts, there is a visual Grid presentation at the bottom of the Quilts SB page. Move your cursor over any mini-picture found there and click to see an enlargement. Move your cursor to the "Q#" link to see the quilt's details. If the quilt’s title is highlighted in yellow or in red, it has found a home in a collection and is no longer available.

If you are interested, and would like some more information of available quilts, regarding costs, shipping, and insurance, please check our Quilts SB Etsy shop.

If you have any questions and/or comments please feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Enjoy,

Jim and Andy

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My Quip – Hurrah For Google – My Google Accounts Just Got Hacked – Google Was On Their Toes.

Warning, Will Robinson. Warning…

Well happy and good day. I really like Google! Sometime between about midnight and 1:00 am this morning it appears that my Google accounts were hacked. Approximately 200 bogus gmails were sent out under my name about some spurious business opportunity… (Thanks Dave.)

Please do not open any gmail or email from me offering some business opportunity. I DO NOT have any business opportunity or overwhelming success scheme to offer anyone. Please trash the spam email immediately.

As most of you know I always use “From JKLS:” as a part of the subject in any email or gmail that I send out. If the email or gmail does not have “From JKLS:” in the subject line please ignore and just delete the send.

Please be forewarned… and hell I only offer quilts and genealogy, and maybe some sarcasm. Where in the world, or in this Internet and Flea Market, would I get the wherewithal to offer a fortunate business opportunity and scheme. Certainly t’ain’t my style.

Google shut down all my accounts immediately. They came to my instantaneous protection. Thank you Google.

Enjoy,

Jim

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