Clumps of Color

I love the color that comes with spring and summer. The flowers, the leaves, the grass - everything about it screams color, and that makes me want to dive head-first into my stash of fabric and match it up.

We planted this little tree last summer... or the summer before that. I LOVE the huge clumps of flowers that it has this time of year. Aren't they luscious?

For several years now, we haven't had any buds on our Rhododendren. But this year - WOW! I'm feeling in a purple mood. How about you?

A Tisket, A Tasket

Lots of colored baskets! Well, not a whole lot. Eight, actually, all with different fabrics in the basket and in the background. I thought they would go more quickly, but I've been tired in the evenings after work, so I'm poking along. Can't seem to drag my behind down to the basement to sew on the machine. I'm going to try hand piecing one tonight and see how that goes. It's hard to see the fabrics in these with this photo... I particularly like the backgrounds! They will be on point in the quilt, with sashing between them, I think. Or not. Who knows?

Hang on, you can see them close-up another day!

Quilters on Facebook

I'm on Facebook.

I'm one of thousands of quilters meeting daily to chat and talk about patterns, colors, fabrics, crystals, applique, piecing, postcards... and then some. I've met new friends, renewed old acquaintances, and seen so many beautiful quilts that I would othwise never have seen. Just a few minutes ago, I looked through an album of absolutely amazing quilts at the Bodensee Quilt Festival that were posted by Nicole Skof. Nicole is from Germany, and the quilts were on display this month. Absolutely stunning! If you can't see the pictures Nicole posted, try this site or do a search on Google.

If you're not on Facebook, you don't know what you're missing. Come on, give it a try! It's a great place to talk with other quilters from around the world!

A quilt from the Bodensee Quilt Festival in Southern Germany, May 2009

Learning From Your Family

Persistence pays off.

My Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, Nathaniel Blackmer fought in the Revolutionary War. In his lifetime, he was not given the recognition he deserved, as no one could find his service records. He persisted until the day he died, trying to prove his loyalty to the U.S. Turns out they had misspelled his last name. In May of 2009, he was honored with a plaque after the misspelling was discovered by persistent family members. A ceremony complete with honor guard was held to put his plaque in place in Richfield Union Cemetary in Davison. Dad and I visted the historic cemetary yesterday, with graves dating back to the 1700's. Way to go, Grandpa Blackmer!

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Betty Ruth Covert, my mom.

I know, your mom probably said the same thing. This was my mom's most famous expression, and it is ingrained on my soul. Please, when you are posting online or sending an email to an entire group of people, don't talk bad about someone or scold them publicly. Think before you post. Nobody likes a public spanking. How do I know? Ouch! Feeling the pains this morning.

You can always find a quilter... and other fabulous people!

I posted before about this beautiful old home in the historic neighborhood of Overbrook, Pennsylvania. This home was owned by my Great Aunt Estelle Klicker Scott and her husband Carl Scott. Overbrook Farms is in Philadelphia, and is an awesome neighborhood on the historic register. If you love architecture, you will want to go to this link and look around. WOW!
Anyway, the photo above is one that my mom had of Aunt Estella's house. Mom lived there for a short while after high school, before she went to Michigan State University. Uncle Carl's family were part owners in Pittsburgh Plate Glass.

I wanted to find out more about our family genealogy and this magnificent house, so I contacted the Overbrook Farms Club, the nation's oldest home owners association. I sent them a few photos of the house, and Melanie, a sweet gal who works there, went to work. She posted the picture on their ListServe, and I started getting emails from many different people who don't know me. They drove around the neighborhood looking for the home to see if it still stands. They looked in historical books about the neighborhood. They did research. They drove around in their cars taking photos of homes. And then, this morning, I received this from Chris Hinkle-Brown:

That's the house! You have no idea how fabulous it was to receive this photo, taken this morning shortly after sunrise! Thanks, Chris! Another member of the club lives right next door, and several other people are doing research for me. One of the members is a quilter!

The world is full of wonderful people who are happy to help others.

Be one of those people!

They really put a smile on your face, a skip in your step, and love in your heart.

Thank you, new friends!

A Basket Case on Saturday

ZZZzzz... Saturday was cold and cloudy. There was even a little rain in the morning. Nothing much to do except be lazy and lay around on quilts... or sew some. Stormie did the laying, I did the sewing. I was pretty much a basket case. Still not feeling my perky self, but sewing baskets. I only completed two, but I'm happy with how they turned out. The background is different in each block on this quilt.

It was back to work today, and of course the sun is shining and the temp is warmer. Ahhh yes, such is the life when you live in Michigan. Anybody in a warmer climate need a guest?

The Stubborn Gene

My Grandpa Covert was a sweet man. He affectionally called me "Plugger" from as early as I can remember. I didn't have to walk much at my grandparent's house, as Grandpa loved to carry me around and show me things. Things like chocolate fudge cookies that he would sneak out of Grandma's cookie jar. I hold him responsible for my wicked sweet tooth!

Grandpa had a stubborn streak, though. He'd set his mind on something, and there was no way in God's green earth that you were going to get him to change his mind.

My dad inherited that gene. The Stubborn gene. He has passed it on to my brother.

My brother and I are about 8 years apart. I was adopted. He was a SURPRISE! But he got the gene. And it has ahold of him tightly and won't let go.

When you have a headache for two weeks straight, you go to the doctor. When the doctor is concerned and wants to send you for an MRI, you don't argue, you GO!

Nope. Don't need the thing. Costs too much. It will go away on its own, and if it doesn't, oh well.

Brothers. It doesn't matter if you are ten or fifty years old. Sometimes they just need a good whacking!

This Could Be The Start...

of Something Grand!

My quilts are usually planned for and given to other people. Not so with this baby! This is Momma's baby! All mine. Do NOT covet this quilt, girls. Yes, I'm speaking to you, Kim and Margaret! One of you can inherit this someday, but until my ashes are scattered someplace purdy, this is gonna be MINE!

I like contemporary quilts, but I'm an old fashioned quilter at heart. This is going to be a scrappy basket quilt for my front bedroom, using only scraps from my scrap basket (ok, there's more than a basket's worth there, but you get the idea). Each basket will have a different background and basket fabric... tan, beige and off white backgrounds, mixed colors in the baskets. Yes, Dean, they will be in "Caron Colors."

He knows what that means.

I'm 2.5 blocks into the quilt, so there's a long ways to go. I'll keep you posted.

Don't get any crazy ideas about sneaking in during the night, either! My cat guards all my quilts. She has nails and she knows how to use them!

I've got my EYE on you!

Changing Faces of Advertising

My husband has a Sunday morning ritual, usually completed before I am even out of bed. He puts his slippers on and goes outside to gather the two newspapers we have subscriptions for: The Flint Journal and the Detroit Free press. He brings them inside, puts them on the kitchen counter, pours a cup of coffee and spends a few minutes pulling the advertising flyers out of both papers. The flyers are taken out to the garage and put into the recycling bin. What is left of the newspapers is put on the kitchen table for later reading. We don’t want to have to wade through advertising while we are enjoying our paper over breakfast.


Remember when you had your first email account? It was enjoyable to open your email and find a message from a friend or family member with whom you had shared your email address. The longer you had email, the more friends and family you shared with. Until that one day. That very first day you received an email message from someone you did not know. From someone who SPAMMED you. Advertising you didn’t need, want or ever care to see come across your table. Junk.


I have actually enjoyed email at my place of work. We have great email servers with high level firewalls that prevent most spam. Lately though, more spam has been getting through. People are becoming more diligent and successful at cutting through the blockade and throwing advertising in my face. It’s not appreciated!

I have enjoyed Facebook for the opportunity it provides me to communicate in yet another way with friends, new and old. I have renewed friendships with high school classmates from the 1970’s (yes, I am dating myself). I have made new friendships with people all around the world. It is a great way to stay in contact with my boys and their families, a younger techno-savvy generation. I have loved the fact that those sharing my love for quilting are able to connect from the far reaches of the world for one massive quilting bee!

But alas, Facebook is becoming another market for advertisers who sign on, seemingly as your FRIEND, then spam the dickens out of you with their advertising. They are Realtors, quilt shop owners, business representatives hawking their wares (like thread), and quilters promoting their latest book. Though it gives me a sense of angst, I have started to blocks “friendships” that are nothing more than business advertising pushed in my face. If you want to advertise on Facebook, please follow their guidelines.

Twitter is going the same route. Yesterday I was spammed by a Tweeter who is an advertising specialist. He wanted to “follow me” and yet, proceeded to send me spammed tweets.

With newspapers quickly becoming obsolete, my husband will soon be rid of his Sunday morning ritual. I am blocking more and more “friends” and Tweeters who claim to be my buddy.

You too?

What will be next?

Freshening Up The Blog

I like to mix up my home de'cor, don't you? I swap out the quilts on the beds, rearrange pictures and decorations, and whenever I can, like to rearrange the furniture. I think it keeps things looking fresh.

I like to do the same thing with my blog. It's so easy using the "Cutest Blog on the Block." If you have a blog and haven't tried their designs, give it a look!

Ahhhhh... much better!

I posted this quilt a few days ago, and since then have made a change to the block in the top left corner. I like this much better now, and the red and black fabrics that were freyed and ripped have now been replaced. BUT, when I threw it in the washer and dryer, the quilt came out beautiful except for a little red area on that block that ran onto the muslin. ARGH!



I really enjoy hand quilting. I included a lot of it on this quilt... I need to plan to do a whole cloth quilt soon. I've been putting it off for years, and I think it is about time.

I had to go to the hospital on Tuesday this week for a cardiac catheter test. I got home from the hospital Wednesday afternoon. My cardiac cath was a breeze, and I got a clean bill of artery health! I'm glad it was a breeze, because the sedation they used (3 injections) had no effect on me whatsoever. I was shaking with nerves, and the doctor kept joking with me throughout the test "ok Caron, quit vibrating my table!"

Dr. Rivera called in a favor from Dr. Alawwa who is a cardiac electrophysiologist. He added me on to the end of his day and took me into the electrophysiology lab for another procedure called a cardiac electrophysiology study (EPS). This test was NOT a breeze... he ran several tiny catheter wires from different veins in my groin into the heart. There, he tested the electrical signals in my heart, changing the heart beat patterns, etc. NOT FUN! Thankfully, I was able to be partially sedated for that one. I got out of that procedure around 9:30 Tuesday night. Because it was so late, they opted to keep me in the hospital so I could get some rest and they could watch me. The test did not find anything wrong with my heart, which is also good.

I am now on a new BP med called Bystolic which seems to be working well. Both doctors feel that a high blood pressure was causing the problems I was having. They may order more tests, but for now I’m good to go. I have to share this: During the Cardiac Cath test when the sedation didn't work and I was "vibrating the table," the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" kept running through my head. As soon as I started thinking of the song, the vibrating stopped. Praise God!

Next quilts to work on:

1. Wedding quilt for Loren and Margaret
2. Redwork Owls for ME!!!
3. Scrappy basket quilt for my guest bedroom

Other projects:

1. Complete more DJ blocks
2. Make 5 blocks for the Obama quilt "Yes We Can, Jane

Hope all is well in your world. Take care of your health!

World's Best Nurse

Everyone should have a nurse like mine. She follows me everywhere, waits for me outside the shower to make sure I'm alright. Sits on my lap or next to me while I sew. Or sleep. Checks on me throughout the day inbetween her naps. Eats with me. Plays with me. Hugs me. Gives me little kisses. She's worth more than gold.



Thank you, Stormie!

New Tree, New Quilt

On Arbor Day, I posted that I picked up a free tree from the City of Flushing, called "The Stick." Dean planted it for me, put a stake on it and tied it with a bright flourescent ribbon so that we could see it from the house. Also, we're hoping the deer will not eat it if it is all fancy and staked. It's out in the "naturalized" (ignored) part of the yard, so it can grow big and spread out it's roots and branches. Stay tuned.



I finished my "Circle of Friends" quilt today, binding and all. It was hard to get a good photo of it with Stormie around. She insisted on being in every photo. So did Dean's foot. I have one block I need to alter, now that it is all quilted and bound (ARGH!). Top, right corner. As I was rounding the corner up there and finishing the binding, I noticed that about every other black triangle that runs through the middle of the square is ripped and frayed. I don't know if that is because this top had been stored in my basement, or if the fabric was really old, or if the cat's back claws popped through it, but it needs fixing. Here is a closeup of the block, taken before the hand quilting was started. I will take a more professional photo after that block is fixed.

I think I will replace the red/black part with a color that better blends with the rest of the blocks.

The quilt was started in 1987 when I was planning a new book on circular quilt patterns. The blocks were sent to me by nine different quilters across America, and each quilter received a payment for their contribution and signed a release allowing it to be published by me. The book did not materialize, and after I sewed their blocks together, I put the quilt away for later. Now is later! I've been working on finishing my UFO's. I don't know why having UFO's bothers me at this stage of the game, but I've become dedicated to finishing them. Do you ever feel like that?

My cardiac cath test is this Tuesday, May 5th. Tomorrow, Monday, I have to spend the day popping pills in preparation. The dye that is used is something that I am allergic to, so Benedryl and mega doses of Prednisone will be my friend. I also have to swallow 8 Plavix pills tomorrow night to thin my blood. That scares me! I've talked to enough people that have had the procedure and said it wasn't difficult. But that was them, not me. I'm feeling better about the test itself. I know I am in good hands... Dr. Rivera's and God's. My concern is what he will find while he is doing it. DEEP BREATH...

I am a firm believer in the power of prayer. My test is at 8 AM, Michigan time. If you are also a believer, please join my family and friends in a prayer that day. You know I will be praying!

Happy Sunday, Friends!