Ode to Hats and You Get to Vote!!!

I have hats on this wall, that wall and every wall.

Hats in baskets, hats on racks and hats in stacks,
Summer hats, winter hats, straw hats, and vintage hats.

There a crown or two on one bed post for days

I need to reign supreme

And a witches hat on the other post for days

when I'm really feeling mean.

There are hats for work, hats for rain, even holiday hats,

and fun dressing-up hats.

I wear so many hats people often say,

"I didn't recognize you without your hat today!"

And why, my dear, so many hats you say???

Because for me every day is a bad-hair day!!!

One of the first places I check in thrift stores is the hats... I am convinced women try one on in a store, buy on impulse and never put it on again..... We been invited by some friends to their "Third Occasional Kentucky Derby" party.... Everyone brings an appetizer and the party starts with Mint Juleps and information about all horses in the race... Everyone gets to put $2 on the horse of their choice. Of course all the appropriate noises are made during the race.... and the winners split the dollars and it's followed by a BBQ ... AND of course the ladies are to wear hats... but what hat to wear as the weather is pretty iffy...

If it's an absolutely warm glorious day the pink with a pink polka dot ribbon and roses would be great...

but I also love the red and white straw since red is my favorite color to wear.....

If it is cloudy and dark I have two other choices....the navy with the veil is an old vintage hat from the 40s. It was easier to wear when I had long hair but smashing with a white dress and navy jacket...

Last is one of my favorite Liz Claiborne straws... a yummy chocolate brown that goes well with my brown linen dress. So cast your vote.....



I pick my horse by it's clever name (and wines by their pretty labels.) My horse usually comes in last but the hat part is really fun....

Sorry about spacing in this post...computer is really weird and needs serious help.

Sharon definitely not a snob about trims...

Throughout the workshop we were continually using this quilt as a primer and no matter how often I looked at it I found something new and wonderful.

Sharon uses every single kind of ribbon, binding, braid, cording, trim, and lace that is out there and she not only uses it, she embellishes it.. But what delighted me most is the rickrack. She started using it because she was told it couldn't (or shouldn't) be used.... too tacky!!

Obviously she is up to any challenge because rickrack was EVERYWHERE on her work and spectacular in every case...

Follow on down the page for a few examples..

Not only is she not a snob about rickrack, she has embraced the inexpensive nylon and cotton laces that true lace snobs would abhor... AND when she is finished embellishing them ... WOW

Notice the two laces on this block... one handled simply and the other has beads, SRE. buttons, and embroidery. Sharon continually features these blocks on her blog so follow along and be especially aware of the trims and what she does to them...

Just as an added note I have always been in love with all kinds of trims... I have always been fascinated with embellished folk dress including European, Middle Eastern, Far East and especially the Gypsies...In the mid 90s I was occasionally doing some CQ and on a trip to NZ wandered into a shop specializing in trims and silk for saris.. I could have bought out the store (and tried)... I am still using some of them....

I soon discovered doing RRs that stitchers were reluctant to add trims and it's impossible to add them after the stitching is done... so I add all my trims BEFORE the block leaves home. So follow along with Sharon as she showcases this quilt and look closely at all the trims.. If you are not using them ... experiment and you MUST use rickrack....

p.s. I was overly optimistic in thinking I could do a synopsis in three posts from Sharon's workshop so more will follow of her workshop and of the other classes (Betty and Allie). It all was so inspiring...

Button Dumps

They're often referred to as "button clusters" but most often look like "button dumps". A pile of buttons plopped on to fill a space and most often without much interest . Even worse they are contributing nothing to the design of the block... I really cringe when I see this missed opportunity...

Using buttons is something that Sharon Boggon excels at and on the left are 3 examples I photographed at her workshop... Look closely at them... Notice contrast, contrast and contrast... She has used great variety in size, texture, shape, color, support details AND direction... These are buttons that are making a fabulous contribution to the block they are on...

Also noticed how she has added various sizes and colors of beads to add contrast and give the arrangement direction.. On the middle example she has added bits of lace as well. The beads and lace both act as support elements for the buttons adding excitement and shape. In addition if you have buttons with larger shanks the beads can be used to hold the buttons in position.





Each arrangement of buttons has a direction.


Just after I got home I heard from my friend, Susie W. who sent me the following photo of her Hearts to Sendai block... She had never been too enamored of button clusters and she was doing her very first one to fill the upper right hand corner... Being an artist herself she instinctively knew it wasn't working... It was too much the shape of the SRE on the left and she felt the rose button was just too much..

So she sent me a photo and we had a chat about it.... I told her forget "cluster" and think "trail" and also add contrast in all elements and add beads.... Also I personally loved the rose button and felt it was the button above (see arrow) that needed to go...

Well she reworked it and look at it now..

She did indeed think trail, added beads, lots of contrast and variety... It just "sings."

I just love what she did and now the button trail has a direction and leads the eye right down into the center of the block...becoming a critical part of the design of the whole block....

Here is a picture of the entire block which is spectacular... Susie is a stitcher "extraordinaire". Check out all the lovely motifs and seams... I am willing to bet she uses many more button "trails" in her work now... And Heaven knows we all have lots of buttons.....

Artist DYB RR and trismus

I have this large print framed in my bedroom... It was done by French Impressionist Berthe Morisot in the latter part of the 1800s. It is my absolute favorite painting as I AM that child..even still... My hair is grey, my skin wrinkled, and my joints ache but I inside I am still that child. My earliest fond memories are of dolls I loved and that love of dolls has woven through my entire life... Of course my daughter, step daughters, granddaughters and nieces all could care less about dolls.


So when I joined the Artist DYB with a dream team (Hideko, Ritva, Helina, Margreet and Gayle) I chose a specific subject rather than a specific artist. And I chose a girl and her doll. Since I found so many images I will be using them in other DYBs and do some myself so I enough to make a book. I chose the following six for this DYB.

Not been a good week... last Friday the left side of my head and neck began to swell and I felt like someone had hit the side of my head with a 2x4...then my jaws froze shut... Called my dentist as it might be a tooth (although not any specific tooth was aching) and he was closed 4 days over Easter so I went to see my doctor to make sure it wasn't hoof and mouth disease or some such thing... She sent me home with pain pills... Finally saw my dentist Tuesday and he send me to a endodontist today... It is an abscessed tooth under a crown and my jaws are still frozen shut and for a week I have been eating with a straw and tiny demitasse spoon.... mashed bananas, yogurt, boiled eggs and ice cream.

I am now on 2 kinds of antibiotics and more pain pills and hopefully in a week my jaw muscles will relax enough they can do the surgery... And there is actually a name for this condition... "trismus" - the continuous contraction of the jaw muscles. Expanding my vocabulary the hard way.

This and that!!!

Just a little catch up about life on the home front while I'm sorting pictures to use for day 3 of the CA adventure. I thought I would have the afternoon to paint but not!! I did find someone to haul away the dead refrigerator but then had to clean where it had been for years...Then both dogs got into the plowed muddy field and needed baths. I did get some buttons posted back on etsy and tonight I roughly sketched in guidelines for a button of Marilyn's grandson... Wasn't sure about working that small but think it will be okay... the head is about the size of a penny.

A couple days ago Pat Winter left this comment..."Gerry, your DH is most certainly a handsome fella! He deserves sour cream rolls by the dozen! " He liked the part about being handsome Pat...but he REALLY liked the part about deserving sour cream rolls by the dozen.... But they're a lot of work besides being my secret weapon so he had to settle for date, walnut and oatmeal cookies this time... Since Morris gets most of the comments it gave DH's ego a boost.. Thanks Pat!

And finally, remember last January when I was trying to give away this wall thing with about 100 pockets. No one was really eager to have it and I am so glad because it has turned out to be the perfect thing for keeping my buttons sorted after I post them.. I had tried several other things but nothing was working.. The buttons are so small they are easy to mislay. It's pretty empty right now so will have to get busy..

Received lots of suggestions in CT for buttons.. including pansies, violets, chipmunks, more squirrels, cats and chickens and even dragonflies and unicorns... I was getting kind of tired of birds so doing something else will be a change...

And I did sell every last scissor holder in CT so have to make more of those... We're going to some out-of-town bridge tournaments and I can work on those in the car... Will let you know when I have them posted again...