Pillows

I've been mining my "orphan block" pizza box lately and making pillows out of the larger blocks.  I don't have much use for table runners, and everyone in my family has received at least one.  These are going into my etsy shop and, if they don't sell, guess what people are getting for Christmas? 

Speaking of which, I decided to add my Christmas things back into the shop as people seem to be thinking about the holidays already.  Amazing!

The first was a class sample from a hand applique class I taught some years ago.  The three below were blocks that didn't get into a Barbara Brackman Civil War block of the month quilt. 

And the last pillow is a modern rose based on Karen Eckmeier's rose pattern.  And there are more, but I need to find pillow forms for them first.

Two ribbons!

It's been a while since I blogged.  First there was the run up to our local quilt show, then there was the show, then the recovery period.  I think I'm finally back to "normal" although with the spring weather comes lots of busy-ness.  Since winter is so long here, we have to really pack in our good weather activities before it gets too hot.  Of course, temperatures over 80 degrees spell "hot" to us Vermonters.

The show went very well, and I think we all ended up still being friends.  We had more quilts this time and lots more visitors (377 in two days, plus the entrants and volunteers, for a total of at least 400).  I think we're going to end up in the black slightly, but I haven't paid all the bills yet.  Some of the committee members have been slow to send them along.
My Oceans of Scraps quilt received a Celebrity's Choice ribbon from the owner of our Ace Hardware store who is also president of the downtown business owners' association.  I love this year's ribbons, made by Geri!  The other ribbon came from one of the Vendors who owns a quilt shop in Brandon.  What an honor, to receive two ribbons.  I was also happy that my Nearly Insane Civil War Sampler was the subject of lots of looking during the show.  There's a lot to see in those 6" blocks.

Now that the banking's almost done, I need to update the show website in preparation for the two year dormant period.  That will take some time as I load photos of all the winning quilts and a few crowd shots.  Samantha gave me a great DVD to copy from.

This past week was a busy one, with trips to Hanover, NH, to visit Polly in her new home, and to Waitsfield to pick up an order at Mad River Quilting which is going out of business.  While there, I loaded up on mostly neutral fabrics at 30% off.  While I'm sad Lisa is selling out, she will still be doing longarm quilting and will still belong to the state quilters guild.  Tuesday and this coming Tuesday I'll be over at Tracy's working on fairy dolls to give out May 16 at the fairy house building event in the town forest.  It's fiddly work but goes much faster with a buddy.  

Making progress

"Piano keys" quilt borders are a great way to use up leftover fabric, but they sure are tedious to cut and sew together.  My Nearly Insane/Loyal Union Sampler is almost together, though, due to a little marathon sewing and cutting.  I have the top and bottom borders cut, too, and quilt blocks for the corners.  But now it's time to sit and enjoy the rest of the day.  This morning, I edged the front flower bed, planted some tomatoes and parsley (some in containers, two in the ground).  While I was working out front under the flowering crabapple tree (in full bloom!), the buzz of bees was amazing.  There appeared to be a bee on every blossom.  Spring has sprung!  Chris is coming over later for our first BBQ of the season.

Hope you're having a great weekend, too!

Just plain busy

Since we got back from Provincetown, we've been on the run most of the time.  I am falling behind in my Austen Family Album block of the week, and I decided to wrap up my Loyal Union Sampler  with just four blocks to fill in what I had.  I knew I would tire of this project, so early on I resolved to make a Nearly Insane block each week, too.  Now I have 48 blocks, set diagonally with solid gray fabric in between the blocks.  This makes them really show up.  Here's my final block, A House Divided:

I spent the last few days putting all the center blocks together, and finished today.  It took some concentration!  I put a 1.5" border around and am now working on "piano keys" for the outer border.  That takes some time and quite a bit of cutting.  I need to cut a little more tomorrow so that I might actually get one side on.  It's turning out quite nice - think I'll take it for long arming, though, since the plain blocks need something curvy.

I'll be teaching an applique class on vines, leaves, and circles next Saturday, so the rest of the week I'll need to spend a little time pulling things together.  It should be fun, and offers some motivation to work on the appliqued border for my "ocean" quilt.  I have three quilts waiting for borders.  That seems to be where UFOs are born in my studio these days!

Today's blocks

This morning, I got busy and made the blocks of the week for Loyal Union Sampler and the Jane Austen Family Album, as well as the block of the month for Threads of Memory.  It feels good to be all caught up! 

This is the "Rhode Island" block for LUS which some found difficult at 6".  Perhaps they followed the directions in the book.  I diverged a bit and did a little fudging.  I really like the greys and blues I'm using.

 

 

Then I moved on to TOM but didn't take a picture.  I'm using very busy Civil War fabrics for a very authentic look, which is very outside of my comfort zone.  Still, I think it will be a nice quilt if I can figure out how to set the blocks.

 

 Here are the last two weeks' blocks for JAFQ:

 

This week, I bought a deep burgundy blender for a thin-ish sashing.  There's a burgundy in the Lady Mary Downtown Abbey collection, but I was afraid to buy it online for fear it would clash.  My LQS doesn't carry this line, so I just got what they have.  I plan to make the blocks each week until my Lady Sybil FQ bundle runs out.

Back on track

I have been trying to keep up with the weekly block for the Loyal Union Sampler and doing fairly well.  But I haven't made a Nearly Insane block in a while.  So today, I made the LUS BOW and a few more:

 

 

My shoebox of blocks is getting pretty full.  Still, I am about half-way to a quilt top.  Up next:  the Threads of Memory block of the month.

More blocks!

Today I made some blocks with my Around the World fabrics, but I'm not ready to show them yet.  There are a few more to come - maybe six - before I'm ready to settle on a final setting.  On point seems like the way to go with 20 or so 6" blocks.  But what should go between them?  That's the question.

While the cleaning brigade was here (my first - an indulgence, but oh, so nice!), I made two Loyal Union Sampler blocks.  Combination Star is the block of the week, and the other is a variation.  My collection is coming along really nicely.   I have solid gray for the sashing but there are still quite a few blocks left to make.

More blocks

I've been quilting a round robin quilt, and it's taking some time.  In between, I do a little piecing and a little handwork.  Today I finished handsewing a binding and then I sewed another binding down on the machine.  I figured if I didn't do it that way, it just wouldn't get done.  And it looks fine.  It's not for show, just for use which is fine.

Then I made a few Loyal Union Sampler blocks.  Couldn't decide which fabrics to use for Happy Home, so I made two to make up for the Nearly Insane blocks I haven't made.  I'll get back to those eventually.

I was going to do some grocery shopping but the roads were icy most of the day. In the words of Scarlett O'Hara,  tomorrow is another day!  I need to stock up on some vegetables because I promised to make vegetable platters for quilt guild Tuesday night.  

Catching up (again)

Seems I've been running behind a bit all year.  Lots of travel for sad occasions.  Wed. and Thurs. we had a mega-snow storm, so I cleaned house first and then did some sewing.  I must say, our house really needed a good scrub.  Even the microwave was disgusting.  I felt better quilting when I could smell the Lysol emanating from the bathroom.

Along with finishing a sampler (just have to sew a bit on the binding), I made a couple of little Loyal Union Sampler blocks, including the appliqued "Tea Leaves" for this week:

 

 

I'll take a photo of the Navy quilt, to be raffled off in support of renovations to the Upper Websterville Playground this spring, soon.  I'm now quilting on a round robin that is gorgeous - hope to have it done next week sometime.

Starts and WiPs

I made my first block for Barbara Brackman's new Threads of Memory series.  This year, the blocks are 12" which should make for a nice-sized quilt.  I'm using Civil War repro fabric from a layer cake, so the blocks will be quite busy.  Brackman's monthly stories are incredibly interesting, and this month's was about a runaway slave who hid in Portsmouth, NH.  The block in honor of Ona Judge Staines is called Portsmouth Star.

 

After finishing the applique of a center medallion yesterday, I got out a pizza box full of swap blocks and arranged them.  They look pretty busy, too!  But the navy blue background offers a little unity.  This is going to be a little larger than 72" x 72" with a plain navy blue border and (if I have enough fabric) binding.  It looks like everything's on point, but when I got going, I realized that it will end up being a square.  Those tiny nine patches around the appliqued center were my first attempts at an Oh My Gosh quilt.  That pattern, by Sue Garman uses 180+ 1.5" nine patches made from 1" strips.  After making 20, I decided to make the pattern using slightly larger strips.  The background will be various shirtings, which I love, and I thought I could use up some scraps this way, too.

 

I don't know if I'll get this top put together by the end of the weekend, but putting blocks together always seems to go pretty fast once I figure out what I'm doing.  I'm going to put the top away for a while and finish another top from a round robin before I quilt it.

Loyal Union Sampler

Sunday I made two Loyal Union Sampler blocks, having not gotten around to making last week's block.  It was hard and I just couldn't face it then.  After making the very easy "hour glass," I decided to stop being wimpy and just get on with "castle wall."  I did it by machine although it had been suggested that by hand was the way to go.  I agree with that assessment, but at least it's done:

I really like the blue/gray combination!

 

Today I worked on a little heart quilt that I quilted and hung on the front door.  Will try to take a photo tomorrow.  Next on my agenda - maybe tomorrow afternoon? - is the Barbara Brackman block of the month.  Stay tuned!

LUS Block of the Week

OMG!  This week's block for the Loyal Union Sampler was pretty hard, with Y seams.  I think I held my breath the whole time I was working on it.  But block B-6, Charley Stokey's Star, is done!  Those are all Civil War repro fabrics this time, along with a gray blender.  I do like the mix of contemporary and repro fabrics in this quilt.

 

I made a few more Nearly Insane blocks this week also, but mostly I worked on the flying diamonds quilt.  I put the 16 16" blocks together in rows, and I'm now trying to decide whether to quilt it in two pieces or four.  I have the borders about ready to go on the top and bottom, too.

Progress so far

One of my newest projects has been Loyal Union Sampler for which there is a block of the week group going on.  Along with these, I'm making blocks from Nearly Insane and maybe Just Plain Nuts, thanks to some books Karen sent me.  I have always liked the Salinda Rupp quilt and thought I might set my 6" blocks her way - on point, with sashing and cornerstones, and with half blocks along the outside.  We'll see how far I get.  I tend to get a little impatient when I do blocks of the week/month, so I thought if I made at least two blocks every time I might have enough in one year to make a quilt.  If I just do one, it will take nearly two years! 

So far the blocks have been fairly easy, but I may lag when/if they get more difficult.  Here are the blocks I've made in the last three weeks.

 

I'm using blues, grays, and whites and so far enjoying the variety.  Gray seems to be an "in" color these days, and the colors go along with the Civil War theme although I'm mixing contemporary designs with Civil War repros.  Loyal Union Sampler is a companion to a book by Jennifer Chiaverini that details the quilting efforts of some women did during the Civil War.  I especially enjoy her historical novels, and my favorite still is The Runaway Quilt, about runaway slaves. 

 

Right now our online bookgroup is planning to read Chiaverini's The Christmas Quilt, a more contemporary novel, during the holiday season.

Full Duty

Quilted into the top border: "Vermont will do its full duty." Into the left side: "Governor Erastus Fairbanks," and into the right side: "April 15, 1861." This quilt is to commemorate Fairbanks' reply to Abraham Lincoln's call for troops after the firing on Ft. Sumter.