Design Wall Monday - October 30, 2017

People give me their projects to finish.....I don't know why, but they do.....probably because I will take on the challenge.  Anyway, at a retreat last year, I was given this small wall hanging that was partially finished, and the owner was ready to throw it away.  She had done all the paper piecing of the leaves and the three pumpkins.  I took it home, and am finishing it this week.  All I have left to do is connect the pumpkin leaves by embroidering curly stems on the pumpkin vines.  I should have done this before assembly of the whole thing, but I forgot about the stems.

I think the problem she may have had was there wasn't enough background fabric to finish it, but I pulled some additional brown fabric from my stash and "made it work".  I love the little paper pieced leaf blocks she made.  I had her name somewhere, and can't find it now, but I will bring this to Shipshewana in November, to see if she is there, so she can see the finished wall hanging.

I have lots of ideas in my head for fall quilts.  Here are some that I'd like to make:

An hour glass quilt with blacks and cheddars and browns....

Small four patches with alternate squares of cheddar....

Single Irish chain of shirting squares on cheddar background....

Maple leaf square alternating with medium and dark fabric nine patch blocks....

Maple leaves quilt from this free tutorial, (to make in 1/2 the size, giving me 6 inch blocks of four leaves... to make in four units, so the quilt would be 12 inches by 12 inches)  (Here)

What about you?  I am looking forward to seeing what's on your Design Wall.

Happy Halloween!

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Design Wall Monday - October 23, 2017

Topic of the day:  Three Small Fall Wall Quilts

Someone asked me recently how I hang my small quilts.  I usually switch them out each season, and sometimes hang them right over something else.  For example,

This small quilt is now hanging in the front entry:

The size of this little quilt is 17 inches by 17 inches, and the hsts are 3/4 inches square.  How did it get there?  It is simply slipped over the mirror that is always hanging there:

In the computer room, I have a fall leaf quilt that was paper pieced:

This one measures 14 in. by 18 in.  I think it was a kit, but I don't remember.  The wooden dowel is slipped into the triangle corners on the back and is resting on a picture hanger/nail in the wall:

The third small fall quilt is propped up in the living room bookcase:

This little black beauty is 14 in. by 14 in.  How does it stay there?   Here's "the behind the scenes story"

Here's a Halloween pumpkin that I like:

Have you carved your pumpkin yet?  If not, what are you working on this week?  I love to see all of your pictures and I thank you for linking up with Design Wall Mondays.

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Design Wall Monday - October 16, 2017

Fall is finally here, and we've had beautiful weather so far.  I got out some fall quilts, and have the large leaf quilt on display on the railing:

And the view from the kitchen:

It's from a pattern by Ruth Powers and the pattern is named "Third Weekend in October".  The quilt is 85 X 110 inches.  Her pattern:

It is paper pieced, and a great way to use your fall colored fabrics.

Here's a few pictures (from the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI) from this week:

The white pumpkins and the ornamental cabbages always look so nice.

  I love the big pumpkins turned on their side - just as they were in the field.

They used apples in their arrangements!  Of course, if I tried that in my yard, the deer would be all over it.

Isn't this pumpkin a funky one?  I really like it.

What are you working on this third Monday in October?

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Design Wall Monday - October 9, 2017

This week:  I'm working on blocks to exchange with the Churn Dashers group in Virginia. I am making 28 blocks, 4 each to exchange with 7 participants.   I worked on this project quite a while ago, and this week when I made more blocks, they were all coming out too small!  I stewed about it, trying to figure out what was wrong with my seam allowances......then I read the directions more carefully.  I found out my problem....I was trying to square up the blocks to 6.5 inches......and the directions said to square up the blocks to 6.75 inches!

I felt so silly, since I was one of the writers when the directions were written last year.   At least I was able to figure it out and move on.

Here's the block.  If anyone knows the name of this block, we'd like to know.
We drafted the pattern from an old quilt that one member owns.

Fall has been so beautiful here in Michigan.  The pumpkins are everywhere; here's a picture of a field of pumpkins near us:

And a closer look:

What are you working on this week?  We sure had a lot of beautiful projects last week.  Thank you so much for your participation. 

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Design Wall Monday - October 2, 2017

Binding is the quilting project for this week.  I finished the binding on the green and white quilt of last week's post, and am now working on binding for a vintage top that I recently had quilted by a long arm quilter.  I bought the top from a friend a few years ago.

I like it because there is a half block on all the outside edges.  It makes it more interesting, don't you think?  I would not usually do it this way, but I like it.

I believe the pattern is a variation of "crossed canoes," with sashing and cornerstones.

Here's a picture of the quilt, (75" by 83") and I have one side of the binding finished:

Here's a quilt from the Quilt Index showing the crossed canoes pattern:

Maker, unknown, Crossed Canoes.  1850-1875.  From Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project - MassQuilts.  Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=1D-FC=F50.

Most double fold bindings are cut at 2.5 or 2.25 inches, but for this quilt, I cut the binding at 2 inches.  The top is vintage, and I used a very thin batting, and I like to have the binding the same width on the front and the back of the quilt. The 2 inch binding is fitting it just fine.  Here's a picture of the binding:

And a close-up of a block:

Blocks are 6.5 by 6.5 and are not appliqued, but pieced of 12 pieces in each block, made 1/4 block at a time.

What are you working on this week?  I love to see what's on your design wall!

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