Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Quilt Acronyms

 Christmas is the time of year when everyone is busy with their quilting, shopping etc.  I thought I would share the quilters language and get you to take a brake for a minute or two.  to take a deep breath and to put a smile on your face.




An Acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of other words (e.g., radar, laser).
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The language of quilters is quite interesting. Quilters have embraced the use of acronyms in a simply fabulous way, but the language can be somewhat confusing for non-quilters – like husbands and partners.

The first time I mentioned a fat quarter to my husband he said “darling don’t talk about your body like that, I like cuddly”. Hmmmm. Ever told a non quilter that you quilt in the ditch? They give you this sort of funny look and you can see they’re thinking – she did what in the ditch?

Acronyms fly thick and fast in the vocabulary of a quilter and I’ve taken on the task of describing to the uninitiated, what some of those funny sounding acronyms really mean. This is just a smattering of acronyms (say that fast) that I have come up with. There’s a lot more out there in webland – just Google Quilt Acronyms and be surprised!

I’ll start with the well known ones, that are simply WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get!).

FQ Fat Quarter (quilt fabric usually measuring approximately .5 yard by .5 yard)

SID Sitching in the Ditch (quilting right on the seam line)

UFO Unfinished Object. I sometimes wish my UFO’s would be taken by Martians, never to be seen again!

WIP means work in progress and I’m guessing that we all have a lot of that.






The above acronmys are the simple acronyms that most quilters use regularly. Now I’m going to take you on a journey of discovery of acronyms that are used by the wider quilting community, and they are very clever, I think.

HSY Haven’t Started Yet

PHD Project Half Done (does that makes my title, Judie Bellingham PHD.)

MGBTQ Must Get Back To Quilting

WIVSP Work in Very Slow Progress

TOAD Trashed Object Abandoned in Disgust

USO Unstarted Object

STASH Special Treasures All Secretly Hidden

SABLE Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

FART Fabric Acquisition Road Trip ( I do that all the time!!)

TGIF Thank God It’s Friday is the usual acronym but quilters like Thank God It’s Finished.

WIWMI Wish It Would Make Itself

WWIT What Was I Thinking?

And finally WOMBAT Wast of Material, Batting and Time (This one is close to my Oz Heart!!).

As I said that’s just a small sample of the quilting acronyms out there.
So I’ll have to just dream of a FART cause I  MGBTQ .

HAPPY QUILTING EVERYONE,     HAVE A GREAT DAY!




Check my website gallery for more selections: http://janesquilting.com

Monday, December 5, 2011

Sweetest Place on Earth

The Sweetest Place on Earth, that is Chocolatetown!  Oh, yeah, that is what they call Hershey, USA.  It was a town built on Chocolate, thanks to Milton S. Hershey.  I grew up near Hershey, most of my relatives worked at Hershey, including myself.

Milton S. Hershey was a very determined man who did not have a formal education but had the love of Chocolate
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Catherine and Milton S. Hershey

By the time he was 30, he nearly went bankrupt with prior businesses.

He started his first Candy business in Philadelphia in 1876 which did not do good at all.  He they went to Denver to learn how to make Carmel using fresh milk.  From there he went to New York City and started a Carmel factory, which failed.

He returned to Lancaster, PA.  This time the Carmel candy caught on.  He sold this business for 1 million dollars to concentrate soly on Chocolate.   He started building the well known Hershey Factory in 1903.  It was the worlds largest Chocolate Factory when completed in 1905.  The milk chocolate bar became famous and the rest is history.

HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate Bar



In 1907 he opened the Amusement Park with many rides, a pool, and even a Ball Room.  Later Trolley Cars and Trains were bringing people from all over.


Rides at Hersheypark



Milton S. Hershey School was built in 1909. (Also known as the Hershey Industrial School)  Milton and his wife Catherine could not have any children, so they opened a School/Home for orphan boys.




(The Homestead) 


Milton Hershey took pride in all he had done for the people of Hershey and the surrounding areas, he passed away in 1945 at the age of 88.  

My husband and I traveled back to Hershey  for Thanksgiving, where most of our relatives live.  We had a great holiday.  We got to visit with everyone and ate, well, you know how you can eat while on vacation.   Now, everyone knows why I am such a Chocoholic.  One can never get enough.  

We are now home again, and I can honestly tell you that Hershey is the Sweetest place on Earth.  That is where my son lives and where my Mom is!!!











Check my website gallery for more selections: http://janesquilting.com