Churn Dashers Quilt for 2015

There is a group of quilters who exchange blocks, called The Churn Dashers, and I am a lucky part of this group of talented quilters.  There are a few of us living in other states, but most live in Virginia, and the group has displayed quilts lately in the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA.  This show is every spring, and I'm working on a quilt to submit for 2016.  The Churn Dashers latest exchange was nine patch/snowball blocks, and I decided to make a quilt based on this quilt that I saw on the quilt index (Here)

I like it because it has a "star" feel to it, and is a little different than the usual nine patch/snowball quilt layout.  

The information at the Quilt Index includes the name of the quilt maker:  Maw Maw Parker (maiden name Holmes), birth date 1850's.  She was married to Paw Paw Parker who was a farmer, a sharecropper in Franklin Parish, Louisiana.

Also there is some limited information about the quilt:

"A morning workshop at the Franklin Parish Piece Makers was presented by Marjorie Elrod.  Maker says, 'We brought 400 -2.5 squares of different prints or scraps and all the members put them in a big garbage bag.  We then filled a smaller bag of squares and then sewed nine-patches. (As many as we could make that morning).  We had to complete this project at home.  I made a nine-patch with Snowball Blocks.'  She also says, 'To make it, sew 2 7/8" square on corners on the diagonal and press to the corners.  With Jacob's Ladder 3 of 2.5 prints, 2 of 2.5 white, 4 half square triangles.  4 Jacob Ladders, 1 Nine Patch, 4 Snowballs.'  "

I have 3 more rows to complete:

And today I am working on the outside borders:

It shouldn't take me long to make the borders, and then I will get back to making the final three rows, and the fun of laying it all out to complete the quilt.  What are you working on today?

I'm linking up with Design Wall Mondays over at Judy Laquidara's blog. (Here) 

Wedding Anniversary and Flag Day

Here's a little flag for Flag Day.  It was late at night, and I went into the sewing room to work on something else.  But I saw this on the internet, and made a change of plans to make it that night.  It goes together very fast.

The instructions are on Temecula Quilt Co.'s blog...(Here)   I modified the directions slightly to add a little narrow sleeve on the back left side to hold a stick. This little flag is only 3.5 inches by 5 inches.  It was so much fun to make. The little girls are holding it between them, and will keep it with them until after the Fourth of July.  

Blue part is a nine patch of  1/2 inch squares.  The red stripes are 1/2 inches wide, so it's tiny, but goes together so fast.  The instructions said to only use single fold binding, and I did.  Cut 1 inch wide, it is the narrowest binding I've ever used.  It worked well for this little quilt though, and I think single fold is good for little projects like this one.

The next morning I wandered out in the yard looking for just the right stick to use as a flag pole.  I waved my arms at a deer who was approaching my meager wild flower patch.  They are so tame that it only went a little ways away and stared at me as if to say....."Please go back inside so I can continue to have breakfast on your flowers".

Dee and I are past the half way mark on the 64 blocks of red work, and I've now started on one of the outside borders.  My friend Joan told me that an applique Baltimore BOM that she is working on is sent to her in this order:  4 monthly block shipments, then a border, 4 monthly block shipments, then a border, 4 monthly block shipments, etc......so the borders are not left to the end, as they are a daunting task.  Some people might be inclined to skip making the borders if they were left to make at the end.  So, I thought the same may happen to this quilt, and I cut fabric for all four borders.  I am starting in the middle of one of them.  I made my red work squares slightly larger than the pattern, and haven't cut them down yet, so I'm not exactly sure how long or wide the quilt will be, but I've started in the middle of one:

The border ideas on the internet are plentiful, and tempting, but I went with the original pattern, with a slight alteration to make the stems thinner than originally shown.  They looks like passion flowers to me, so I hope there is passion in me to complete all four borders.

Flag day was not the only celebration this past week.  Our anniversary was Monday, and we have been married 52 years.  We dated for about 5 years before we married, so we have been a couple for most of our lives.  (DH is 73 and I am 72).  We celebrated at home with a casserole (made by me this time) and wonderful strawberry shortcake made with local fresh strawberries.  On Wednesday night, we celebrated again by dining out.  After dinner, we drove to the beach and watched a beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan.  God is so good!  Please enjoy the sunset with us:

Linkups on Friday are as follows:

Confessions of A Fabric Addict Blog (Today she has a link to a one hour basket tutorial) (Here)

Fort Worth Fabric Studio Blog ((Here)

What's Happening Here - Non-Quilty Things

Some of you know that we moved to Michigan from Virginia to help care for some family members.  This past week was a week of helping family, and was a very busy week.  Not much quilting got done, but much was accomplished.  

We helped a nephew find homes for two dogs that he could no longer take care of, and that was very rewarding.   We had prayed for God to provide good homes for each dog, where they would be loved and cared for, and everything fell into place for both dogs.  In the same day!  God is so good!
  
Another surprising event was on Monday night:

I had been on the road that day for 7 hours total, taking care of some legal issues with a nephew, and was very tired when I returned home.  Hubby knew that, and when I arrived back home, I told him I was going to take a quick one hour nap before fixing dinner.  When I woke up, the house smelled so good, that I walked out into the kitchen to find......a casserole!!

I wondered which of my kind neighbors had dropped it off while I was asleep, and hubby informed me that HE HAD MADE IT!!  We have been married for 52 years, and never does he cook!  I mean he grills outside, but the kitchen is not his domain.

Here is the proof:

It was a wonderful surprise, and just made me love him even more, as he knew how tired I was.  He said he didn't have any recipe.....he just made it up!

So here is Lloyd Hansen's "Welcome Home Honey" casserole:  

Mix together in a glass 9 x 12 casserole dish:

2 lengths of Kielbasa (Polish sausage) sliced
5 strips of bacon, cut into pieces (cooked first) 
5 medium potatoes sliced (he left the skins on)
1 large onion, chopped
1 can mushroom soup
4 soup cans of water

Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over the top, generously

Bake in the oven for about an hour at 350 degrees.

There will be quilty things posted about next week, but this was too good a serendipity to keep to myself.