Simplified Celtic Solstice

Almost at the finish line!

Here's where it was yesterday, as I worked on the binding during half times of the basketball games on TV.  Sadly, our beloved Michigan State was eliminated in the first game, and their rival, University of Michigan, was eliminated in the next game.   Ugh!

It has been a fun quilt to play with on the design wall, to put together, and now to finish.  A quilt label is next and then I will bring it to our guild meeting Saturday morning for show-and-tell.  

Here's the quilt draped over the couch:

I just love the quilting pattern Bonnie chose for her quilt, and I asked my machine quilter to do the same.  Linda Miller quilted it for me, and she not only found out the pattern, but also the scale that Bonnie used, and did the same scale on my quilt.  The pantograph is called "Celtic Curlz" by Patricia Ritter.  

Linda did a great job, and I am very happy with it.  Here is a picture of the start of this quilt, when it was on my design wall a few months ago:

What's on your design wall this Monday morning?  As usual, I'm heading over to Patchwork Times to look at design walls. (Here)

Basket Piecing Project

Want to learn how to do something better?  Do it 76 times!  This week I finished a block exchange project that I started on in January.  This picture was from a post back in January: 

Here's a snapshot of my design wall today:

These blocks finish at 6 inches square, and are made from shirtings and civil war repros.  In April, 72 blocks will be exchanged between 12 quilters, and we will all come home with blocks made from a variety of stashes.  Very exciting. 

Next on this project will be deciding what to make with them.  What vintage quilt have you seen that you think I could reproduce, using these basket blocks?

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggidy Jog

I've been gone this past week, visiting our darling daughter and her family in Texas, and got home just after midnight Monday night.   We had a grand time while there, but I slept so good back in my own bed, and am now up and ready to quilt.  I'm going to finish a little doll quilt that I started a while ago:

It is a copy of one I saw in an antique store in Indiana last year.  The nine patches are made from pieces cut 1 inch, so they finish at 1/2 inch, and the solid squares finish at 1.5 inches.  The quilt is 10.5 by 11 inches right now. It should be square, but it isn't, so my quarter inch seams must be off in some places.  But, hey, it's a doll quilt.   

I'm showing you a picture of the back of it, to show that on these very small pieces, it helps to press some of the seams open.  So I pressed open the two seams of every 9 patch after sewing the rows together, and I pressed open the seams when sewing rows to rows on the whole thing.

Today seems like Monday to me, as it's the first day I'm home, and I'm doing laundry.  I'm late with the Patchwork Times Monday design wall linkup, but am going to see what everyone has posted yesterday.  (here)  Have a good week ladies!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In keeping with St. Patrick's Day, here is a quilt square.  It's not green or a four leaf clover, but close enough - it's four three-leafed clovers, done in Redwork.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are two more Redwork squares that I worked on this weekend.  The "H" letter block is for the first letter in the last name of both my friend Dee and I, as we are doing this embroidery project together.  I just finished it and a butterfly.

Here is the butterfly:

Dee just sent me a text message with a picture of this  beautiful water lily block that she finished this weekend:

The squares are all the same white background, and are all embroidered with red pearl cotton thread, and they will be combined into a quilt top when we get them finished.  Dee embroidered the four clover leaf block in the first picture.

I have had lots of time to work on Redwork while away from home this weekend, and am looking forward to April when Dee and I get together.  We can then see all of the squares together that we have finished, and see how far we have come.

Monday morning is the time to look at Judy Liquidara's blog and see what is on everyone's design walls.  (Here)

Worldwide Quilting Day

I just found out that today is Worldwide Quilting Day!  Who knew?  I am not near my sewing machine, and am in a hotel in Indianapolis, IN, waiting to see basketball games later today with my hubby.

We have loved basketball ever since we met in high school 56 years ago!  So not much quilting is happening this weekend.  

But this morning I am prepping small circles and small leaves for Block #3 of the Benjamin Biggs Wedding Quilt.  The free pattern can be found (Here) or (Here)  Two websites are putting this free pattern out to quilters, and the block patterns are offered one a month.  

The cherries are quite small and there are 16 of them on this block.  I use Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles (her website) and gather the fabric around the template with a running stitch.  Then I wet the circle in water, and let it dry before removing the template.  I will remove the running stitch and cut the fabric close to the sewing edge just before I applique the berries to the block.  Here's a picture of the back side:

I remember a peach tree and a cherry tree in our yard when I was a little girl. Cherries grow in "twos", so I will be modifying the pattern to make the two stems close together as they meet the branch of the tree for each pair of cherries.  I love cherries, and can't wait to put this block together.

What are you doing to celebrate Worldwide Quilting Day?

Maybe I have Spring Fever?

Yesterday I was trying to make some basket blocks from some fabric that I had cut some time ago.  I was trimming a HST to 3.5 inches......only I trimmed it to 3 inches by mistake.  So I hunted out the fabric and made another HST, trimmed it to 3.5 inches, and began to put the block together.  Here is a picture of the trimmed too small block, the replacement block, and the completed basket - which as you see, does not include the replacement block:

Why, you ask?  Well, when I started to sew the basket together, it didn't look quite right!  The colors were off a little.  After studying it a while, and pondering with my little brain, I finally figured out that I must have the dark print fabric in two different colorways.   See below:

So, I hunted again in the stash, made a third HST, with the correct fabric, trimmed it to the correct size, and finished the basket block.......I think I may have Spring Fever.

On another subject, I am working on Dear Jane blocks in a group that meets once a month here in Williamsburg.  The teacher is great, and has re-motivated me to finish my long-ago started Dear Jane quilt, and has motivated me to make new blocks along with the class.  The teacher is Doreen Johnson, and she has a blog called "Aunt Reen's Place".  Aunt Reen because that's what her nieces and nephews call her. She talked about me this past week, and I am still reeling from her remarks.  (Here is her post)   She said some things that are true about me, but also said I'm an extremely talented quilter.
  
As you can see from my post today, I don't think of myself in that way.  I view myself as maybe "determined" and "focused" as a quilter, but would never describe myself as extremely talented.  Do you find it hard to accept compliments?  I am a woman who, when someone compliments my dress, will say "This old thing?"  or something equally banal.  So when I read her blog, I thought - "Who me?"  "Is she talking about me?"

I do know that I love to quilt, and love to look at blogs and see other quilter's work.  Mondays are fun because I can see everyone else's work on Design Wall Mondays over at Judy Liquidara's blog. (Here)

Monday Morning Musings

Here's what I'm working on this morning:

Lighting can make a lot of difference in pictures.  These are both pictures of the same block.  A photographer I am not.  This is part of the applique project, Birds of a Feather, which is almost finished.

Last Thursday I went to the big quilt show in Hampton, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXV.  I want to share just one quilt from the show.  It's what I call a "tile" quilt, and I am interested in making one. Tile quilts have white "grout" between the pieces, and I think they look so interesting.  Plus it had old buttons too!  I hope you enjoy these pictures of just one of many beautiful quilts in the show:

Monday mornings is time to look at all the design wall pictures at Judy Liquidara's blog.  (Here)