Design Wall Monday - May 4, 2020

May is here!  This UFO finish was one I saved for May.  In honor of May Day, I finished the final border on my Buds in a Basket quilt that I started a long time ago.  When I began, I enlarged the quilt by making more basket squares, and then it got put away before borders.  But Sunday, I added the last border, and this UFO is ready for the long arm quilter.  I am celebrating May with it.

My favorite block is this one,  because the biggest piece of fabric is from my Mom's stash, and is an authentic 30's fabric.  I wonder what Mom made with this cheerful fabric?  The flowers in the fabric are round, just like the ones in this quilt.  Serendipity.  

Here is the quilt on the design wall:

And I am still enjoying embroidery of the May Day Flower Baskets Quilt.  One basket each week.  Here is this week's basket.

Looking forward to seeing what you are working on.  Spring has finally arrived here in Michigan, and Sunday was a beautiful day outside.  Hope you are enjoying spring weather where you are.  Show me your design wall, and tell me what you have been up to.  Please put a link to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post, so people can come back here and go to the next link.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - March 16, 2020

Well, the world is in crisis mode right now.  There are lots of unknowns here in Michigan, and lots of closings.  The Governor just closed all the K-12 schools and all events where people gather are being cancelled.

The only good thing I can think of during this upheaval is that my quilting hobby is unchanged.  It's a rock in a very unstable time.  I imagine you think so too.    Our sewing give us a sense of calm, even when all around us adjustments and changes are being made daily.

We had tickets to go to the Big 10 basketball tournament, but on Monday afternoon, we got a refund, and also a refund on our hotel confirmation.  It was a good decision, as on Thursday, they cancelled the whole thing.  We are staying home, and I am working on embroidery on the baskets of flowers.  The latest one:

I looked on EBay and bought the  November 1932 issue of "Successful Farming", just to see the advertisement where they offered the quilt pattern for the 30 baskets.  The whole magazine is so interesting to read.  What the farmers and their wives were interested in when my Mother was a teenager is good reading for me.

Here is the magazine description:

Interesting embroidery work that you will enjoy doing.  Consider 32 baskets, each one different in design, each one filled with gay blossoms, all embroidered upon a single quilt.  If you would keep the beauties of Springtime ever with you, do make a flower basket quilt.  The Flower Baskets can be stamped on muslin, unbleached muslin, sateen or broad-cloth.  There are 32 blocks, 9x9 inches, two more than are needed for the quilt.  The extra blocks may be used for pillows or bolster.  Complete set of 32 blocks stamped on 8 sheets, only 50 cents.  Patchwork pattern for Petal Border and 9-inch quilting design, 10 cents.

Also, I was looking online to see if I could see a completed quilt made with this pattern, and I found that in 2018 one was a third place winner in  Paducah, Kentucky (for the category of first entry in a Paducah contest).  If you'd like to see the video, click on this link: (Here)  The winner, Linda D. Vaughan, said the pattern was called "Meredith's Inheritance" and the pattern "maker" copied it from an old quilt.   Linda commented that the pattern was all French knots and lazy-daisy stitches, which she found boring.  Linda filled her quilt with lots of different embroidery stitches......and her long-arm quilter did a spectacular job with the quilting.  Both her embroidery and the amazing quilting were fun for me to see.

I shall send my long-arm quilter the video and she will probably faint if I suggest she follow the prize winner's quilting pattern.  LOL I'm not going to think about the quilting until I get the top finished.

What are you doing this week, besides washing your hands and not touching your face?  Stay healthy and please send a picture to the link up and show us what sewing is happening at your home.  All I ask is that you link back to this particular blog post from somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - April 15, 2019

I finished putting together the cheddar baskets quilt top.  Sometimes when I am grieving, I get a lot of quilting done.  I have heard from other quilters that this is true.  Quilting is a comfort when I'm sad, and a joy when I'm happy.  

Here's a picture of the completed top.......but maybe it needs a border?  What do you think?

This is why I have a heavy heart:   My wonderful longarm quilter, Janel Rhodea, died suddenly last week.  After struggling with cancer, she thought it was beaten, but it was not.  I know she is in heaven right now, which is a comfort to me.  As a longarmer, she always knew just what I wanted, and did a fabulous job.  We were always on the same page.  She even recently hand quilted a doll quilt for me.  She will be missed so much, and my heart will always love her.  She has quilted most of the quilts I have made, and I have that beauty as a memory.  She was only 62. 

Also, after boarding Penny Lane for the time we were in Virginia, she came home with a virus, one of the kennel cough kind.  It is air born, highly contagious, and even though all the dogs at the kennel had been vaccinated against it, the kennel had five cases of it during the busy Easter break week.  The vaccine works for most virus bugs, but not all.  She is contagious for the next three weeks, according to Internet reading.  Good news is she is acting fine (nothing bothers a Labrador)  and has no symptoms except a cough that sounds like a duck quacking. 

And, after enjoying the sunshine and warm weather in Texas and also in Virginia, yesterday it snowed again in Michigan.  The pine trees outside are covered with a blanket of snow.  See picture taken yesterday:

WHERE IS SPRING???

What are you working on this Monday?  I am looking forward to looking at your projects.  The only request I have is to please link back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - April 8, 2019

Sometimes retirement seems busier to me than when we were working.  Although we are back from our Texas trip, we are on vacation again to visit friends in Virginia.  My group of quilters who like to make civil war reproduction quilts, The Churn Dashers, is having their semi-annual meeting.

So today, I am in Williamsburg, VA, taking a tour this morning of Colonial Williamsburg's Textile Conservation storage facility and two textile labs.  The tour was arranged by one of the Churn Dasher group members, who has been a volunteer there for over twenty years.  What a treat she has provided for the group.

Here is a picture of my design wall, and as far as I am on the little baskets quilt:

The top left corner four blocks are together, and the rest are pinned up in pieces, waiting for me to get to them.  I guess I don't enjoy this part of making a quilt - obviously!
Thanks for linking up with Design Wall Mondays.  Ya'all are so talented!  (I'm in Virginia so I'm using their language)  Please provide a link back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.  Bless your heart!  My Michigan vocabularly will be back next week when I'm back home, thanks for indulging me.  :)

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Design Wall Monday - January 21, 2019

I'm so excited about moving along with the cheddar basket blocks.  I finished the ones I was working on last week, and this week I'm ready to sew them into a quilt top.  The layout I was thinking about:

was to be similar to this rectangle one by Laundry Basket Quilts:

I want the white spaces big enough for the machine quilter to do something special there, and decided to put three cheddar baskets on each side of the blank squares.  However, the blue example quilt above has only two blocks on each side, making 127 total star blocks, and after doing the math, I figured out I would need 175 cheddar baskets to do the same layout.  I counted blocks, and I have 132 made right now.  That would mean 43 more baskets to make.  

I decided to change my layout to a square quilt instead of rectangle shaped.  After doing more math, I figured I will need 132 blocks to do that.  Karma!  I have 132!  I don't have to make any more cheddar baskets and can begin assembly.  I think it will turn out to be about 65" by 65" if there are no borders.

Here is a picture of the design wall with strips of three baskets sewn together for each side of the blank square.  I will need 18 sets of three baskets leaning toward the right and 18 sets of three leaning toward the left.  The corner baskets are similar to sashing "cornerstones" and I will assemble it as rows of blank blocks with basket sashing.  I hope to have the quilt top assembled next Monday.  

A total lunar eclipse happened Sunday night.  Did you stay up to watch it and could you see it from your house?  Even though it was really cold here, we went outside at 11:40 PM and the moon was almost completely hidden by the shadow of the earth.  I feel really small when I think about the sun, earth, and moon all aligned in the great sky above.   I had to get the Internet explanation for this phenomenon because I didn't pay much attention in science class:

The Moon does not have its own light but shines because its surface reflects the Sun's rays. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon and blocks any direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. The Sun casts the Earth's shadow on the Moon's surface.

Looking forward to seeing what is on your design walls today.  As usual, please refer back to this particular blog post somewhere within your post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - January 14, 2019

It's Monday again, and it doesn't feel like I have progressed very far with my cheddar baskets.  I do have all but four of the handles appliqued down.  Some weeks the progress seems slow, and other weeks, I can see progress.  Last week was slow, but I'm looking forward to making completed basket blocks this week.

Here are the handles spread out on the bar top downstairs, with their other basket pieces.  Each little pile has two baskets of the same cheddar fabric.

The bar top is long and narrow, and it took three pics to show all of them, so I guess there has been some progress.  LOL

We went to the cabin this weekend, and here's a picture of Penny, enjoying the fire in the fireplace.  No snow there, but it looks like the rest of the U.S. got lots of snow!

She has been such a good girl lately.  The boot camp training was definitely worth being separated from her for a month.  She loves being at the cabin, as I do.  It is so peaceful there.  We visited my sister in Ludington, and took down her Christmas decorations and packed them away.  

What are you working on?  I see the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilters have shown lots of quilts online after the reveal.  Such variety in colors with the same quilt design is interesting to me.  Where you place a dark vs a light fabric really changes the look of the quilt.  If you made the mystery quilt this year, are you happy with your color choices?  I looked at some that I really liked, and think I may make the quilt using the values/colors that were pleasing to me.  I do like this year's design.

Thanks for participating in Design Wall Mondays.  I really appreciate you!  As usual, please link back to this particular post somewhere within your blog post.

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Design Wall Monday - January 7, 2019

Good Morning!  This past week I've been making blocks for two different quilts that I plan to finish in 2019.

First, the Broken Dishes blocks are continuing to be made.  Here are 25 green and shirting ones that I made this week:

There are lots and lots of these blocks in the quilt, so I am trying to make 25 each week.

The second quilt that I'm working on is a small cheddar basket quilt.  The baskets are pieced and the handles are hand appliqued.  I need about 130 baskets for my quilt, and have about half of them made.  This week I cut the pieces for the remaining baskets, and worked on getting all the remaining handles appliqued.  Here is the progress on the second half of the baskets so far:

Cheddar basket parts cut out:

Four handles prepped and pinned overnight, which helps get the handles to curve nicely before I applique:

Picture of the handles finished so far:

I am going to finish them this week if I do at least four basket handles each day. Then assemble the baskets in a later week.  It feels like an assembly line, but with two projects going, I can switch off when my attention span needs a change of pace.

I have decided on a setting of plain off-white blocks, with the basket blocks as sashing.  I am thinking it will look much like this pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts, called "Aurora", with my cheddar baskets where she has blue stars:

What are you working on this week?  I am looking forward to seeing your design walls.  Linkups are so appreciated.  Just provide a link back to this particular blog post somewhere within your blog post.

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Design Wall Monday - June 4, 2018

Good Morning Quilters!

I am out of town for the weekend, thru Tuesday morning, so I promise to catch up with all of your blogs when I get back.  Son and DIL gifted us a weekend at a spa/golf resort with them.  Very nice of them.


I am making more small baskets, and here is a picture of six of them before I add the bottom triangle and trim them to their 4 in. x 4 in. unfinished size.  You can see how I make all the outside background pieces a little bit bigger so I don't have any issues with the block turning out too small.

They are so cute that I can't stop making them.  I have about 50 made right now.  Still no incentive to work on assembly of Jane Stickle quilt, but it will happen.

As requested, here are two pictures of Miss Penny Lane.  Eating lunch:

And helping me sort the laundry.  She especially likes to sort out the socks:

It's hard to take a still picture of Penny, as she's a constantly moving puppy.  We are having a great time.

Hope to see what you are working on this Monday morning!  Thanks for linking up!

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Design Wall Monday - May 28, 2018

The new puppy has kept me very busy since last Monday's post.  Thanks for all your suggestions on names, and after narrowing the choices down to a few, I had the eight grandchildren vote, and they chose to name her Penny.  She is growing daily, and seems much bigger than she was when she came to live with us a week ago.  I added the middle name Lane, to make her name Penny Lane, in honor of the Beatles song.  

The little quilting I've done is on small baskets.  I'm making baskets that finish at 3.5 inches square, and am using my cheddar stash with a solid neutral.  I usually make four at a time:

I am cutting the background pieces a quarter inch larger than the pattern I'm using, as I found that I was having trouble getting the blocks to finish at 4 inches (unfinished size).  By adding a little to each of the white pieces when cutting, I don't have to make a "scant" quarter inch seam, as I'm not very good at that.  The trimming is so very little, and I don't have to worry about a block being too short.  Have you ever done this?

We used to call it Decoration Day (because we decorated the graves of soldiers) and now the last Monday in May is named Memorial Day, to honor those who have died in active military service to our country.  I am posting a few patriotic quilts that I like to honor this day:

I am sorry I haven't replied to any of your comments this week, please forgive me.  Hopefully, I will play catchup this week.  I have been very busy with Miss Penny, the puppy.  Feed her......play with her.......take her outside.......then nap time (naps sometimes for both of us LOL).  Then repeat everything again....feed her.....etc....much like an infant.

Looking forward to seeing your design walls today.  Please link to this particular post, and not just to the generic blog website.

An InLinkz Link-up

A Tisket, A Tasket, A New Quilt With Baskets

Back in April, I showed you these basket blocks that I made for an exchange:

Now that the exchange has been made, I am starting a replica of an old quilt with them.  The directions have been figured out for me thanks to Lori, the blogger at Humble Quilts Here.  Thanks Lori!  The original quilt can be seen in the quilt index Here

The original quilt:

The quilt has been bookmarked in my copy of the book "New Jersey Quilts 1777 to 1950" for a long time.  I love the touch of yellow in a few of the block backgrounds.  I may do that too.  It's on page 109, if you have the book.  I know my quilt has baskets, and this one has stars, but I think it will look great with baskets too.

My pink and green zigzag fabrics are both "Judie's Authentic Miniatures" from Judie Rothermel, Marcus Brothers.

Sally has approved of it, but is not too excited yet because she knows it will take a long time to get to the stage where she can lay on it. 

It's Monday, so I'm going over to Patchwork Times to look at other 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?

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)