Don't Drink and Drive! ...or is it Don't Quilt and Drive? ... definitely Don't Drink and Quilt.

The following UrbanAmish cautionary tale is brought to you by Barbie Vanderfleet-Martin, good friend and quiltaholic. I met Barbie through my local quilting guild: Garden State Quilters. The guild is composed of roughly 200 or so of the finest quilting addicts in the middle northern area of New Jersey. Barbie is a very accomplished and out-of-the-box thinking quilter. She owns a longarm which she wields with dextery and finesse. She, along with her good friend Alicia Bell, are the women that keep the guild members supplied with fine quilting-related classes and lectures year round.

UrbanAmish Legend #3 reporting in:

The Amish quilting imperfections are due to their belief that only God is perfect. I believe that too. Although my reasons are very different. I began my first lesson with the intention of beating all by making a quilt in an evening. With my Fabric all selected and cut I was off to the races. I had 16 Indian Hatchet block to put together. Being the advanced quilter ( huh ) I chose to do this without the templates in a flip and sew method.
This would leave me with a number of half square triangles for border option. Thinking ahead I am. Here is the result. Two perfect blocks. We thought only God could do that.


HUH! We thought Barbie could as well. Somehow things got turned around at about the same time My Dear Husband called 'Cocktail Hour'. I now have TWO perfect blocks and 14 to unsew. And how did this happen?

(Editorial comment: Besides saying Huh! a lot Barbie also says Eh? quite frequently. Guess where she's originally from.)


God and the Amish do not drink. I believe this is what makes their designs so perfect. I however do so love a refreshing Caesar and hours of some very interesting sewing. I am not perfect but know how to have a good time.


At about this time I switched to red wine. The quilt was left until the morning after........

Caesar recipe:
Rim glass with celery salt.

• 1oz vodka
• a bunch of ice
• top up with Clamato juice
• a shake of tobasco
• a stir stick of celery stalk and a twist of lemon

A clear-headed but unrepentant Barbie did manage to turn it all around to face the right way the next day. Here's her India Hatchet top. I must say I was very pleased to see an older fabric design of mine used for the focus fabric. And I love the fabrics that she chose as complements. She created a very exciting multidirectional flow with her fabric choices.

The red focus fabric Barbie used is from my Chelsea Morning Collection: Crimson colorway.