Just One Quilt and Some Books

In my last post I said I would share three finished quilts in my next post. Only the quilt for my niece’s baby is ready to share. I’m busy with another project – more about that later. As usual I think I can do more than I can. Oh, well. This one is finished! I’m sending it out to California with a puzzle for big brother.

See my Penny there in the background on the left. She turned 14 last Friday and I forgot about it until Saturday. I don’t think she noticed. ; c ) She has slowed down a lot, but she has moments like yesterday when she runs out the door with Duke and Len chasing squirrels and chipmunks.

New books for my quilting library-

I usually keep a wish list of books and when one of the kids needs a book I order one or two to get the free shipping from Amazon. At least I’ve delayed my gratification!

I LOVE History Repeated. All the quilts are gorgeous and photographed so well. I was a bit hesitant to order this because I really don’t need another pattern book. I like books I can read and I usually don’t follow quilt patterns anyway. There are two things about this book I thought were a bit different and a plus. Because the book is based on a 19^th century block exchange group they show more than one quilt for each block. The settings are different which sometimes totally changes the look of the quilt. Also, for each block exchange they provide information on their fabric selection limitations. “We used 1880s and earlier reproduction fabrics in brown, blue, indigo, Prussian blue, Perkins purple, pink, Turkey red and green as well as light and medium shirtings and conversational prints. All participants used the same cheddar fabric. We did not use poison greens, neons, clarets, chrome yellows or cadet blues.” I’ll have to research Perkins purple. This description provides more limitations than most. I thought this feature was very helpful. My only complaint is the cover material – it doesn’t seem very sturdy. I keep flipping through this book so I’m thinking maybe I should take it to a copy shop and have it spiral bound and plastic covers added.

I read about Great Little Quilts on Dawn’s blog Collector with a Needle. I was a little disappointed with the condition of the book, but it is full of lovely little quilts. Obviously, it is used – thought I chose one that was in “very good” condition. Not only is the dust cover messed up; the binding looks like it is chewed a little. The books pages are fine which I guess is what matters most.

I found this treasure at the library books sale. Crib Quilts and Other Small Wonders by Woodard and Greenstein is chockfull of quilts. Look at this – 6 on one double page spread and there are pages and pages like this!

More books from the library sale-

And a Japanese Quilt magazine –

I’m preparing to do a demo at the next Springfield QU meeting. I’m sharing Gyleen Fitzgerald’s Pineapple Ruler. I blogged about it here and here. There are three other people demonstrating three other rulers and it is being done round robin style. I’m so glad I started preparing this week because I need to have enough blocks in the various stages to show four groups. They are fun to do, but not real fast. The binding on the other two quilts will have to wait.

Hope you find some stitching time this weekend.

2011 Sully Quilt Show

The Sully Quilt Show was originally scheduled for September 11^th. Despite the fact that it was a beautiful day, it was cancelled because we had several inches of rain the previous week. Since the show is outside and we park on the grass it was rescheduled to the 25^th.  Well, it rained last week and today was a little misty but the show was on! I haven’t been in several years. Not sure why as I thoroughly enjoyed myself today. The vendors are a mix of repro and modern fabrics, vintage fabrics, sewing accessories and quilts. As you walk in from the entrance this is what you see-

Just as I remembered – Bellwether Dry Goods was right at the front. They sell beautifully hand quilted quilts at very reasonable prices. They are coming to the McLean chapter of QU in October. I’ve seen their trunk show before and I’m looking forward to seeing it again.

These are bowtie blocks - not sure I've seen this setting before.

Piecing The Past--

Piecing The Past is one of my favorite vendors. Donna is very knowledgeable and helpful. She specializes in 19^th century reproduction fabrics, patterns and books. She will be at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, Virginia in February.

A vendor specializing in antiques--

My eyes were drawn to the basket quilt with the brown setting squares (count up 3 photos - bottom, right). I thought it was reasonably priced and I've been resisting the urge to start a basket quilt. I really have no business purchasing antique quilts at this time. We are in that awkward phase with grown children who are full or part time at home. Them and their STUFF! And then there is this curious fellow-

So far he has just nibbled a little on 2 quilts I don’t really care that much about. One I made out of the kerchiefs Penny and Duke come home in when they are groomed. It lines Duke’s crate. The other is the family room throw about quilt. Believe me – I gave him what for when I found these chews. Fortunately, he hasn't touched the other quilts in his reach.

The Sully Quilt Show takes place annually at Sully Plantation- part of the Fairfax County Park Authority. The show consists of vendors, a house tour and members of Quilters Unlimited demonstrating hand piecing and quilting. 

Here is a description of Sully Plantation from their website – “An oasis of the past, Sully reflects the history of Fairfax County. Completed in 1799 by Richard Bland Lee, the main house at Sully combines aspects of Georgian and Federal architecture. Richard Bland Lee was Northern Virginia's first Representative to Congress, as well as General Robert E. Lee's uncle.”

On previous visits I hadn't taken the time to tour the house. This time I did. Since the show was originally scheduled for 9/11 they had an antique patriotic quilt in each room. Included were centennial and bicentennial applique quilts and my favorite, a c. 1900 lemoyne star quilt pieced with red, white and blue strings. No photos allowed.

The house and demo tent--

The door prize--

Shucks! I didn’t get a call from them so I guess I didn’t win. It was a vintage top donated by the Haymarket chapter of Quilters Unlimited and quilted by Springfield QU member Diane Henry.

What’s happening with my projects? I’m sewing binding for 3 quilts. Yay! They will be my next post.

Have a great week!

Whadayathink?

I think I know how I want to stitch these together, but I’d like to get your opinion. Do you like the two blocks on the left with the sashing strips or the two on the right with just the hsts or do you have a suggestion for something else? I’ve made 250 1” hsts. I’m putting them aside because I have other projects that need tending to. Three quilts need machine quilting – the triangle quilt, the churndash and a little table topper. You’ve seen the first two.




Two women at my church made the table topper for the auction in November. They asked me to machine quilt it for them. I’ll show it when I’m finished. The last time I machine quilted something for them it ended up in the Quilter to Quilter section of the Nov/Dec 2010 edition of McCall’s Quilting. It was quite a surprise.

I feel like I have so many projects competing for my attention. I also finished appliqueing the hexagon flowers to the background blocks. So the hexagon and star quilts will be my carrot to entice me to finish my machine quilting projects.

The floodwaters I showed in my previous post only lasted a couple of hours at the most. I guess it was a flashflood. By Friday afternoon the sun was out and we had a beautiful weekend.

Saturday morning I found these at a yard sale-

Our temps fell into the 60's this afternoon. It feels so good. I’m ready for fall!

UFO Breakthrough

I first blogged about these Morningstar blocks here. I think I have a new plan. I was browsing through Liz’s blog Quilterie and found a setting I love. It's the first quilt in the Sept. 13th post. I don’t know if it will work with these blocks. If not, I’ll just surround each star block with hst’s and hope I can do it so it is relatively flat.   

I looked this star block up in Jinny Beyer’s Album of Patchwork Patterns and she lists 15 different names for it! 

I’m paper piecing the hst's with Thangles. While I have been on a hst kick, this one has sort of been assigned. This years McLean QU challenge is to make a quilt with at least 200 hst. At first there was a size limit, but then that rule was relaxed. Off hand I don’t remember the size limit, but I’m pretty sure I’ll meet the original challenge.

I’ve also been stitching hexagon blocks and have just 7 more to go and I can piece the top. I’ve been stitching one a day. The back for the churndash quilt is done. I'll baste that sometime next week.

I’ve spent a couple hours a day for the past 3 days painting the trim in our kitchen. We have a lot of trim! There are six entryways to this room. One is a bathroom just off the eating area (I know – Ugh – must have been designed by a man). We are painting the bathroom too and while taking the wallpaper off the wall near the toilet my husband found rotting drywall. The toilet has been leaking (and I thought the men in my house just had bad aim!) so we need to replace the drywall and the laminate flooring. Off to Home Depot we went!

The basket and board were my barricade to keep Len out of the kitchen while I painted. Lucky for me (and Len) he’s on dirty laundry.

Such a sleepy pup!

A shot of our side yard late yesterday afternoon.

And in front of our house looking across the street. We’ve been here over 20 years and have never seen it like this. Luckily my neighbor came home in time to move his truck. That is firewood in the water.

And look at his side yard. Amazingly, he didn’t have any water in the house. No, I did not take this photo! My husband grabbed an umbrella and my camera - any excuse to go play in the water. No use telling him it's dangerous.

We had 10-12 inches of rain over 4 days. The floor in the unfinished portion of our basement was a little damp. That was it - the sump pump did its job.

The dogs thought it was something, too! The only thing moving is Duke’s tail.

Churn Dash for Audrey

A finished top! 42" x 48" This is the churn dash I started in the spring for my niece’s baby. The nursery is black, white and pink. This looks more red than pink. Not what I planned, but I’m going with it. I plan to do meander quilting with variegated black and white thread. Audrey’s first birthday is on Halloween so I hope to send it to her before then. For some reason I have a hard time making a quilt for a baby who isn’t born yet so I always give myself a first birthday goal. I wasn’t expecting to work on this top last weekend, but I switched gears. I started quilting the triangle quilt (74" x 86"), but even just doing a wavy line caused my arms to hurt. Quilts seem to grow when I start machine quilting them. I started with the even feed foot. I wasn’t happy with it so tried free motion. That wasn’t any better. I know quilters do king size quilts in their domestic machines but it just wasn’t happening for me. I thought about it for a day and decided it wasn’t worth the pain. I’ve had issues with carpal tunnel and tendonitis in the past. A few years ago I went to a wonderful physical therapist who worked with me on my posture. In the past, PTs had worked my elbows, but she also worked on my back and while it hurt it was a good hurt and after a few months I felt so much better. My PT recommended a massage therapist, so poor me goes once every 2 weeks. ; c ) She, too, is a miracle worker. I still get aches and pains, but I recover much more quickly. In years past there were months when no stitching happened because it was too painful. Anyway, after doing just 4 lines of machine quilting on the triangle quilt my arms hurt enough that I felt I needed to stop. I put heat on them and after a couple of days I felt fine, but I don’t want this to take forever. So I’m picking out the quilting and I’m going to do straight lines. Even that can get a little awkward with a big quilt, but just guiding it and not having to maneuver it will make a big difference. I’m hoping.

We are taking wallpaper down in the kitchen. It was 20 years old and looking it. The inset photo is the wallpaper and molding. I chose that color on the molding to go with the curtains – in a heap in the background photo. I matched the blue in the curtain to a paint chip and then went a few shades lighter. Maybe not an obvious choice, but yellow was already used in my foyer and living room and I didn’t want to go with pink or white. I still love the curtains so I’m thinking of putting this “English hyacinth” color (or something close) on the walls and an off white for the trim.

Senior year starts for my youngest on Tuesday. He had his senior photo taken last week. Here he is (on the left) with a longtime friend in their fake tuxedos. They’ve known each other since they were 2 years old and their sisters were in the same Brownie troop.

How about this “cheddar” pumpkin? I wonder if it will get darker as the season passes. This pumpkin is in a front yard around the corner from us. I pass it often as I walk the dogs. Just 2 weeks ago it was the size of a grapefruit and I would already classify it as huge!

I’m almost done with The Count of Monte Cristo. I started it at the beginning of summer and really put a push on it this past week. It is good, but at almost 1500 pages I wouldn’t call it a good summer read!

I was asked to work at the Jinny Beyer Studio during the area shop hop Quilters’ Quest in November. I know a few of the gals who work there from my quilt guild. How cool is that?

We’ve had some beautiful weather here for August. Well, other than the hurricane last weekend. There was storm damage in the area, but for us it dropped some much needed rain. This weekend I plan to get started on painting the kitchen, attend the crab feast at our community pool, finish reading The Count and, of course, do a little stitching. ; o ) Hope you have a great weekend!

A Winner and a Spool Block

I decided to go ahead and pick a winner. Blogger still seems to have some problems, but I don’t want this to drag on forever. Who knows when it will be fixed! So…I put each name on a slip of paper and put them in a bowl and picked one. The winner is Anne-Mette. Check out her blog – she seems to like food as much as handcrafts (me, too!).

Congratulations, Anne-Mettes! Send me your snail mail address and I’ll get your winnings sent off right away.

I completed a spool block and was happy it is fairly flat and square. This will be a good project to hand piece at guild meetings and I won’t forget what I learned from Jinny. As I was stitching, it dawned on me that I had some yardage that might work as a back. The spool block is sitting on 4 yards of -YIKES – briefly interrupted by an earthquake!!!!! Scary!!! TV is saying it was a shallow 5.8 also felt in New York and Ohio but centered in rural Virginia between Richmond and Charlottesville. Okay, what was I saying – oh, yeah – the backing fabric is Windham Fabrics A Little Bird Told Me 1840-1880 by Maren Scott. I bought this a few years ago because I loved it and 4 yards should be plenty for this spool quilt. I might use this dot fabric – Garibaldi by Sara Morgan for Blue Hill Fabrics - for the binding. Shopping in my stash! Love it!

Last Sunday my husband and I made tomato sauce out of 45 lbs of tomatoes from the farmers market. We use the recipe from the Ball Blue Book of preserving.

We’ve learned to cook it on all burners to speed the process; otherwise, it becomes an all day (8am-10pm) project. Dave puts the tomatoes through the food mill and I do the canning.

This year it only took us about 8 hours and we got 7 quarts of sauce. It is SO GOOD! The flavor is so intense.

This morning I pin basted my triangle quilt. I can imagine the quake would have been much scarier  if I had been on the floor at the time instead of a chair.

Len was a good beagle during his first quilt basting.





That’s it for now – have to check out the news about the quake.

Hand Piecing

I’m having a problem with blogger. So sorry if you’ve tried to leave a comment on my Giveaway post and weren’t able to. Try it on this post and I’ll include you. Remember, you have to be a follower to enter. If that doesn’t work I’ll extend the deadline beyond Tuesday noon. Not only is it not letting people leave a comment it also isn’t updating my blog roll. : c (

The past two days I’ve been in a hand piecing class taught by Jinny Beyer. She is such a classy person. The class was held at her studio in Great Falls. This is a lovely shop. She carries so many great notions and gifts for quilters. Quilters from California, Washington, Pennsylvania and North Carolina traveled to Virginia just to take Jinny’s class! I know it was worth my one hour commute.

I should have taken a photo of my block before I pressed it. It was so puckered I thought it was a lost cause. Amazing what a good steam pressing can do! Yeah, it still has some issues and I need to add the border fabrics.

Here is a look at the back-

Jinny says she just lets the seams fall where they may! Not sure she meant to this extent! I wish I had taken a peak at the back of her block.

Here are some notions Jinny recommends-

John James GoldnGlide quilting needles were wonderful to use. I plan to try them out the next time I do some hand quilting. I’d never used this Aurofil 28 wt thread before. Jinny uses it for hand piecing and for hand quilting if she can’t find the color she wants in the YLI quilting thread. Some lucky ladies will be back to the studio tomorrow to take her hand quilting class. I can’t imagine sitting for another whole day of class. It is really hard for me to sit that long. I’m more of a do a little quilting, do a chore, maybe some reading, do a little quilting, walk the dogs, make dinner, do a little quilting kind of quilter!

After I did my homework last night I made my own templates for a spool quilt. This will be my next carry around project (the hexie flowers were it for 10 years – I know – I don’t do a lot of quilting on the go) so I don’t have any expectations of getting it done soon. I don’t even know how big I will make it. The blocks will be 4 ½” finished. Many of these fabrics are Windham Fabrics Farmhouse West 1890-1940 by LB Krueger. This makes the 4^th quilt I’ve selected fabrics for, but haven’t started cutting – not yet! Yikes! I’ve wanted to try a spool block ever since I started seeing Klosjes (Dutch for spool) in blogland. I think many bloggers are using a stamp and ink. I didn’t want to go that route. I settled on the color scheme after browsing through Dixie Doodles blog.

I won a giveaway from Janet of Rogue Quilter. Thanks, Janet! I won a wonderful Lori Smith pattern and Comfort by Howard Marcus for Moda charm pack. I think I will use my charm pack to make a tote bag for myself.

Have a great weekend – hope you find some time to stitch!