Making progress

My Small World is coming along really well.  Today I finished the "hexie hill," made of 1/2" hexagons.  They are cut into a half 6" circle and then appliqued to a piece of fabric 3 1/2" x 6 1/2".  I chose to do a little reverse applique of my background on to the hexies.

I have one more hill to make, but I'm not sure what to do at this point.  The pattern calls for a New York Beauty, and the instructions say to piece it.  I think it would be easier to paper piece it, so I'll look for a pattern to substitute for the one in the book.

Meanwhile, I decided to start putting the pieces that I have made together, since the hill section is in one of the last segments.  Here's the first section - the "city" section - which was a lot of fun to make.

The instructions for the sky are pretty vague, and we can do whatever we like.  Those blocks are 1" finished!  I chose to put in a sunny section.  Other people have appliqued a sun somewhere in the sky but I wanted to piece mine.  On top of the building is part of a t-shirt I have been saving for a long time.  It reads "Vermont."     The pattern includes places for "text" either fabric or printed onto fabric, so I included two drawings of local sculptures (Robert Burns and sculptor Elia Corti) from the same t-shirt.  

This was so much fun after making all the blocks over the last few weeks, that I made another section.  We are working left, so the above section will be on the far right when finished.  I'll share another photo or two soon.

Fiddling with hexies

I'm coming down the home stretch toward assembling parts of Jen Kingwell's My Small World.   The hills are all that's left before I start putting various pieces together.   I decided to skip over the New York Beauty hill for now until I figure out how I'll do it.  The nice thing about this wallhanging is that we are encouraged to personalize it.  Maybe I need some mountains instead of hills for this segment, but I'll see once I start putting this section together.

Yesterday I finished glue basting the 30 1/2" hexagons I'll need for the hexie hill.  I bought some heavier paper forms and a glue pen for English Paper Piecing, and they make it fairly easy so far.  It is intense work, and I worry that the glue will stick too much to get the paper out.  Guess I'll find out!  I've never made so many - and so tiny - hexies for a project before.  The above is what I did yesterday, and I hope to finish, if not today, then tomorrow.  I have grocery shopping and a memorial service to distract me.  And whatever should I make for dinner?  

Vermont Quilt Festival

I've probably been going to the Vermont Quilt Festival since around 1980, when it was held in downtown Northfield, just 10 miles from my house.  It outgrew the space over time, moving first to nearby Norwich Univ. and then to the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds in the Burlington area.  I used to go almost every day when it was local, but now I only go once unless I'm taking a class.  I spent a long day yesterday, visiting the show, shopping most of the vendors, and taking a class.  It was nice to be in air conditioning most of the time as summer has arrived in Vermont!

I am still unpacking my machine and the class project so I'll post more about the show in a few days (I need to get the AC installed in my sewing room!).  Here are some photos of my favorite contest quilts.  Enjoy!

A "calendar" accented by some cute bird blocks.

  How was this put together?

Just amazing!  I saw two others in the same pattern but in different colorways

this was 12" square!

  A lovely variation on a theme

  Bed sized!

Splendid Sampler

Ta da!  Here is my year-long project, Dear Yve, hanging over my neighbor's deck railing.  I had to photograph it in two pieces, so one is upside down.  It's queen-sized and my two usual quilt holders were not here at the same time.  But I am pleased with the way it turned out.  The quilt-as-you-go method (12 sections, one for each month, July-June, worked fine except that by the last row it was an awfully heavy quilt.  I took it off the bed for now so I could take more photos when I get a chance.

My favorite block is probably that little sewing machine.  All the blocks are 6" and most came from the Pat Sloan-Jane Davidson The Splendid Sampler 2 quilt along.  Each month includes a piece of a "dishtowel of the month" set that my late friend Yve gave me.  She was a great thrift shop maven who often sent me stuff she thought I could use somehow.  I'd had these dishtowels for years and finally figured out what to do with them.  I bought no fabric for this quilt except the beige sashing and border, just as Yve would have liked.

Two quilts

The Splendid Sampler (above) - that I call Dear Yve in honor of a friend - is finished and has been slept under for a few nights.  I will get it outside and take a picture when I get a chance.  Meanwhile, I'm excited to have started My Small World, a wallhanging designed by Jen Kingwell whose Midnight at the Oasis I admire so much.  One can, and probably should, personalize it a bit, so I am going to add granite sheds and some pictures of local sculpture if I can figure out how.  

Following the pattern book, I'm working on filler blocks of all sizes from 4" to 2" finished.  Phew!  I am doing something I rarely do, and that is to make the blocks oversized and cut them down for accuracy.  I have a bunch of batiks from a bali pop, a couple of sets of grunge charm squares, Ricky Tims hand-dyes, and various other scraps to use.  So far, I am loving the process.

Jam time

It isn't quite strawberry season in Vermont, but their partner, rhubarb, is abundant.  I made a small strawberry-rhubarb pie last week, using California berries.  They tend to be a bit tasteless, but I suppose they travel well.   I like the way rhubarb cuts the sweetness just a little bit, so this week I made strawberry-rhubarb jam.  Aren't the jars pretty?  I love to look at them all lined up.  I have no more jam jars, so I'll have to buy another case if I want to make more jam later this summer.   I usually make at least two batches of jam a year to have enough to give as gifts and for Paul to put on his morning toast. 

I made a rhubarb cake yesterday to take a meeting this morning, and I still have a little more for a little pie if there's no cake left over.  If there is, I'll cut it up and put it in the freezer for another time.   

Forest walk season begins

Today was our first Tuesday morning walk in the town forest, and it was a lovely, cool morning.  What's fun about the walks is that there are 25 miles of trails to explore, and the views change every week with the seasons.  There weren't too many spring wildflowers left, but we did see a few red trillium and Canada mayflowers. 

There was a group waiting when we arrived; they had driven about 45 min. to join us.  Our friend Fred had arranged it and requested that we go to the Grand Lookout.  I revised the route I'd planned, which is usually fine with me, and nine of us and one big black dog headed out.  Our first stop was the Capitol Quarry, which is rumored to have supplied some of the stone for the Vermont State House, but may actually be named for the granite company that worked it.  I'm not sure.

We passed the "pot truck," which continues to receive attention from graffiti artists.  I sometimes stop there for photos, but no one seemed so inclined.   The walk continued to the Grand Lookout with its amazing views of the quarries, the Southgate Steeplejacks building, and state forest land in the distance.  At the end of the trail is a view of downtown Barre and all of the major mountains in northern Vermont, and we can almost pick out our house on a good day.  Along the way there are some lovely quarry views and a couple of walls that have small carvings done by some of the area's best sculptors.  "Vulcan's Pavilion" (above) is an amazing surprise along this trail.

We walked about 2.5 miles today - not bad after a sedentary winter.  Glad we went this morning - it looks like rain again this afternoon!

Smaller quilts

I plan to sew the binding to the front of my Dear Yve quilt today and then start the hand sewing process this afternoon.  It is now queen-sized and quite heavy, so I took a day off from wrestling the quilt into the machine.  My shoulders and back were sore.   I have resolved to work on smaller quilts for the foreseeable future.

Instead, I cut out the fabrics I need for the curvy flying geese class I'll be taking at the Vermont Quilt Festival in a few weeks.  Here's a photo from the Sew Kind of Wonderful website.

"Are We There Yet?" is from a book, Mini Wonderful Curves, which has a number of other whimsical and interesting patterns in it.  I like the fact that, while we need to buy yet another tool to make the class project, we'll be able to use it for some other things afterwards.  Hope I don't forget how to use the tool as I have with the "Tucker Trimmer" I got a few years ago!

I am using scraps in fall colors - some hand dyed by Ricky Tims - for the geese and a brown/gray background.  Of course, I had to go to the quilt shop to get more background fabric for the geese, but the nice chat with Dee and Paula made it worthwhile.