Show n tell

During the "Luminarium" I attended a few years ago, Ricky Tims, with his Texas drawl, said that he called one of his quilts "Chantel" because someone who attended his classes way back when thought that was what he was saying when he said "show and tell."  I always think of that when we have show and tell at guild meetings.  Anyway, at last week's guild meeting, I showed two quilts.  

First was the finished Pineapple quilt.  It took 2 years and vaguely followed the Rainbow Scrap Challenge although I did a few extra blocks here and there.  I used 6" foundations from the Fat Quarter Shop and can't say enough about how great those are.  I even got to like paper piecing through this project.  Making a few blocks each month helped me avoid the boredom of taking the papers out.

I also showed a purple Floating Stars quilt made with blocks I won in a guild Block of the Month raffle.  Not all the blocks were the required 12.5" - some people misunderstood the term "finished size" and cut their blocks down to 12".  I had to add some coping strips to quite a few, but it all turned out just fine.  I will quilt this soon to give to my friend Jane for her homeless shelter project.

Today I'm going to try to get more Hunter's Star blocks put together.  That will make 5 quilts waiting to be quilted.   These will be nice projects for hot days when I can crank up the AC in my sewing room.

Taking my time

 Having spent many months working on the scrappy Hunter's Star quilt, I am now in the throes of putting the 49 blocks together.   The resulting quilt will measure about 84" x 84".  Should it have a border?  That remains to be seen.  I shuffled those blocks around and around until they found their final lay out.   I even sewed two rows together today.  I won't hurry with this, though, as I'm really tired of it.  I went to Joann's today and bought some nice backing fabric, and, if I'm ready and have time on Thursday, I'll take the top and back to Marie for quilting.  If not, next week will be fine, too.

Over the weekend, I made some blocks of the month.  In each case, I made one to keep and one to enter into a raffle.  The "garlic knot" block is 12" and one will go with me to the Green Mountain Quilters Guild meeting May 6.  

This block, for the Heart of Vermont Guild, seemed a little complex but really turned out great.  Hope I win the raffle!

I spent most of yesterday - when it rained hard much of the day - working on scrappy blocks - first, some string blocks, and then some black and white squares with bright centers for a baby quilt.  We were under a slight drought, but I bet it is all over.  The grass is turning a beautiful green today.

Marj's Hankie Quilt

A couple of years ago, on a whim, I bid on and won a bunch of Marj's vintage hankies.  The online auction benefited our Old Labor Hall, a historic meeting space built by granite workers in 1900 and lovingly restored over the last 25 years.  Marj was one of the original board members, and when she passed away a few years ago, she left her country/square dancing clothes and some other items to the group for a fund raiser.  No one seemed interested in the hankies except me, and I used many of them in this little quilt.

It just so happened that I had a bundle of Jane Austen at Home fat quarters that went with them, as well as a ragged little embroidered tablecloth that my son's great great aunt made many years ago.  That's what makes the center of the Dresden Plate.

This quilt will be in a silent auction to benefit the Old Labor Hall at its April 30 Primo Maggio dinner and program.  Marj's hankies will once again do their part to raise funds for our beloved historic building, a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Back to Dear Jane

 

I'm still feeling rather smug that I finished three quilt tops last week.  But who knows when I'll get them quilted?  I have yet to try my dual feed feet again to see if things have changed on my machine.  If they haven't it will be back to the shop for the machine, much to my disgust.  I don't have time to drive to Middlebury and wait for it to get fixed, yet I hate to be without it for a few weeks.  

So while I am trying to figure out what to do, I have been whittling away at Dear Jane this week.  I finished Row A - the above photo shows A-11,  -12, and -13.  Then I started on Row B, and just finished B-1 through -9.  I had forgotten how much hand work there is in DJ.  But this is a good time of year to do handwork.  I can sit in the breeze inside or, if it's not too hot, on the back porch.  When I was working on DJ before, there weren't any paper piecing patterns online, so if I wanted to do that, I'd have to make my own.  Now there are free ones at www.hobbystash.com, which I print out, a bunch at a time.  

Poor, sad B-8 was all applique and I have to admit it is a "variation."  The star part is supposed to be diagonal on the square, which would allow the melon shapes that I had already hand basted for applique to fit neatly.  Instead, I have to make smaller ones or do the whole thing over.  This time around, I am actually fusing some of the smaller pieces and liking the way they turn out.

Working on DJ also keeps the sewing room rather tidy, which is good because the quilter who is speaking at our guild meeting will be spending the night there Tuesday.  She has stayed before, and I'm looking forward to her talk about mini quilts.  She has even made a DJ about 18" square - amazing!

Arboretum

I am really on a roll these days, getting right into the sewing room as soon as I can in the morning.   Yesterday, I started putting together some blocks I received in a swap along with some I had made myself.  I moved those blocks around and around until I finally had them the way I think I wanted them.  This pattern, Arboretum, was designed by Spring Leaf Studios.  The blocks are easy and improvisational which made them fun to make.  The designer used Kaffe Fasset fabrics, but most of mine are made of batiks.

   Sewing the blocks together was fairly easy, and by afternoon, I had the middle all put together.  This morning, I put on a 3" border, took a picture, and hung the top up in the closet with two other quilt tops that need quilting and backs (my least favorite job).   The $64,000 question is, when will I get around to quilting it?   Who knows!?!  

I got out another batch of blocks this morning, some purple floating stars on white backgrounds that I won in a guild raffle.  I laid them out, using 20 of the 21 blocks, cut some sashing and cornerstones, and started putting them together.  Because the guild has a few beginners, the blocks are a bit disparate in size.  Some needed coping strips to fit in.  Luckily, I have plenty of white for those.

I did find some lovely purple on white sashing fabric by Victoria Findlay Wolfe in my stash which I must have bought this past summer during my birthday "spree" at the local quilt shop.   I always stock up because we get half our age as a discount.  The older I get, the better!  

I'm going to sit down and read for a while this afternoon.  I've been entirely too industrious this week, and Jacqueline Winspear's latest book is calling.  Hope you have a great Easter if you celebrate.  We don't usually do much special but I do usually make a nice lunch for Paul, Chris and me.  This time, I thought we'd go out for Chinese which should be fun.

Even more involved

I've been going right into my sewing room after breakfast, showering, and dressing.  The hankie quilt has been calling!

 As I work on it, I realize that, not only is this a collection of Marj and Karen's hankies, it's also a memento of my own life.  The segment above includes parts of a little shirt I wore as a baby, a little table cloth I received from my mother-in-law back in the 1970s, and a piece of my dad's Hawaiian shirt.  There are also pieces of kitchen curtains that have followed me from house to house over the years and orphan blocks I've been hoping to use somewhere.

The two center halves are now finished and, when put together, will measure 56" x 56".  I think I will leave them separated so they'll be easier to quilt, but I will most likely add the two side borders before quilting.  After I put the halves together, I'll add the top and bottom borders.  I decided to order some more fabric for the borders because I don't have any yardage big enough to go around.  I think it's busy enough, visually, that plain - as opposed to pieced - borders seem wise.

This has been a really fun project, but I'm glad it's done for now so that I can work on a few other things.   I'd like to get something done for a change!  When it comes time to quilt this, I will do it on my sewing machine, but I will also do a little hand quilting in spots.  Some things are delicate and will need a gentle touch.

Involved!

This week I have been doing very little besides working on my blue and white hankie quilt.  I made the last of 49 Hunter's Star blocks early in the week and set them all aside for a while.   Then I turned my attention to the hankies and other older linens that I had set aside for the quilt made for a Facebook class named "1914 Boehm House Vintage Linens" run by Rhoda Cox Dort.  

Everyone else in the "class" seems to be way ahead of me, but perhaps that's only the people who have posted pictures.  Many are finished with this fifth in the series which began during the pandemic.  I made the first quilt about three years ago and have been thinking about a second one for a while.  I won the first batch of hankies in an online auction to benefit the Old Labor Hall in town, and then my friend Karen appeared at our door with a batch more she found while downsizing.  

Rhoda's #5 class seemed like something I'd like to try because she suggested a layout like this, made one section at a time.  I'd like my quilt to be a little smaller than twin-bed sized, perhaps throw-sized.  Some of the group members' quilts seem too busy for me, with every space covered with hankies, doilies, and embroidered snippets.  I like places for the eye to rest, but I also am enjoying the improvisational nature of this process.  I make a few pieced blocks, some to hold parts of hankies and some to add visual interest.  Here are sections 2 and 3 of the quilt.

I got the ideas for the mug and table cloth as well as the butterfly from an older book, Hooked on Hankies.  There are a lot of designs for embroidery which I don't think I'll ever get around to, but I did enjoy making these two blocks and even embroidered the butterfly's antennae.  I am thinking of quilting this in sections, so I only sewed #2 and 3 together but not to #1.  I worked on sections #5 and 6 yesterday.  Will post photos when ready.

This project is keeping me engaged although I am running out of blue and white hankies.  Many of the remaining ones in my "stash" are pink, so I'm going to have to get creative about what I do next.  At any rate, being so embroiled in a project really keeps me in the sewing room and not snacking.  All to the good!