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Since I showed you my screw-ups on the back of the drunkard's path, I was asked to show the front. This is an example of my constant struggle with traditional quiltmaking and my darker, more dangerous side. I got all of the fabrics on the "sale" rack and thought they'd be something fun to mess with. Now for the advertisement...

Last year at Paducah, I saw this interesting gadget called the Curve Master (www.curvemaster.biz). It's a plastic presser foot that allows you to piece a curved piece against a straight piece, or a convex curve against a concave. I had always wanted to make a drunkard's path from my early quiltmaking days and had never tried because I didn't want to fuss with the piecing. Well, the Curve Master works. And it works incredibly well. The only problem I had with it was that the attachment for my sewing machine jiggled loose and the plastic shank broke. I emailed the Curve Master folks and lo and behold a new pack of shanks arrived in the mail...free of charge. Wow, a company who stands behind their product!

Now the next advertisement, since I had gotten the Curve Master to make the blocks, how about some templates. Betty Kiser from The Path Less Traveled (www.thepathlesstraveled.com) had just what I needed. A lovely set of hot pink templates for drunkard's path. You wouldn't want to try this without them. You can cut up to 4 thicknesses with no problem, using a small rotary cutter. Very slick. So now that I've made the drunkard's path, I'll be surprised if I do it again. But it was fun and the above products guarded against frustration and potential disaster.
They are now going to a friend at my guild who wants to try them out.

Now on to my exciting day in the big city. Center City Lancaster is really a great place on Market Days (Tuesday, Friday & Saturday). Central Market is open with lots of interesting things to see (and eat). Plus, it's summer and tourist season, so much more interesting. My job yesterday was to sit in the alley outside of the museum across from Central Market and sell raffle tickets to benefit the educational programming at the Museum from 10AM to 2PM. A very worthy cause, I might add, because they will do whatever it takes to get programming in front of schools and such. And all on a shoestring budget. It was a lovely day, not too hot, so I brought along some reading (The Red Dyes by Gosta Sandberg), some SAQA journals, and the new Keepsake Quilting catalog.

After about 2 hours of sitting, a woman smoking a cigar approached, waving her hand in the air and yelled at a noticeable volume...

Woman: I don't know who you think you are, but I have my cigars right here (pointing to her purse), and I'm going to smoke them.

Me: Okay

Woman: You have no right to tell me to leave.

Me: Okay

Woman: Everytime I come out here you policemen harass me and I'm not leaving.

Me: (Pretend to read my book)

Woman: So that's it, don't you even think of trying to make me leave.

Me: (Head still buried in book)

This banter went on for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a minute or two. For the rest of my shift, she sat on the bench outside of the Market and watched me. Creepy.

All I was thinking was "Please don't burn me or the quilt...Well, at least I can heal, but the quilt can't".

On a more normal note, I did get to chat with some nice folks from Maui. We talked about Hawaiian quilts. Talked with some quilters from Virginia and PA, too, who happened by. So, all in all, a good day, except for the cigar lady.