Design Wall Monday - September 13, 2021

 August, 2012, nine years ago, I took a class on curved pieces at the AQS Quilt Show in Grand Rapids.  This was before I even moved to Grand Rapids, as I remember staying with my friend Joan during the quilt show.  My sample from the class:

And a vintage Drunkard’s Path block that Joan had at her house.

Joan Brink’s vintage DP

 March, 2021  On the Design Wall progress:

September, 2021,  the finished quilt:  

The binding was completed this week.  I would have used more of the block fabric for the binding, but it was all gone.  I used all I had in the quilt.  I bought a half yard of solid dark brown and used that.  It feels really good to finish it.

Close-up pictures:

Can’t wait to see what you are showing us this week.  I am going to post a comment on your blog today.  Last week, I looked at everyone’s post and didn’t take time to say anything.  Today I’m looking forward to some conversation with you.  You are the best at lifting my spirits, and I look forward to each Monday.  

Please join in the Monday Design Wall Linky Party below and show us your projects.  Thanks to you who provide a link back to this page, and thanks to those who mention Design Wall Mondays in your post.  You are my kind of people!

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Design Wall Monday - April 5, 2021

 Happy Easter!

This season of my life (I’m turning 78 this month) is teaching me what bitter sweet means.  While I feel life is deeper, sweeter, and more tender than when I was younger; it also is a season where I grieve good friends who die suddenly.   This is one of those grieving times.  Last week I lost a dear quilter friend who was part of the Churn Dashers of Tidewater Virginia group.  Her kindness to me has been an example of how to be a friend and she will always be remembered with love.

The Drunkard’s Path quilt top is finally sewn together, and I am debating adding a white border to it.  It is 60 inches square now....Maybe adding a 5 inch border on all sides.  What do you think?  It will be lap quilt size, either way.  See below two pictures of vintage quilts, commonly seen with and without a border.

As I was making the Drunkard’s Path blocks, I remembered a story about my father that I thought you would enjoy. 

My Dad became a Christian while on an army ship, traveling to Europe to fight as a soldier in WWII.  After he was wounded, he returned home, went to college on the GI Bill, and later became a pastor and also a school teacher. 

When he came home from WWII, with his new faith, he was earnestly against drinking.  I remember that he took Life Magazine (a popular magazine in the 1950s) and cut out every page advertising drinking in the issue.  He taped them all together and rolled the paper into a scroll.  He spoke at schools and churches for a temperance organization.  This was in early 1950s and I was 7 or 8 at the time and my brother, Jerry, was 2 years older than me.  He would have us stand on the stage and dramatically unroll the scroll of liquor advertisements - Jerry at one side of the stage and Judy at the other side, holding the long scroll between us.  Then he would begin his talk about how all these advertisements in just one issue on a popular magazine was so bad.  It made a big impression on me as a little girl.

So I had this memory as I am making a Drunkard’s Path quilt.  The temperance movement was probably the reason for this block’s name.  Also another block, the T block, is said to be named for the temperance movement.  

What is on your design wall this Monday?  It seems like we are all getting a lot of UFOs finished during this pandemic, which is comforting during the sorrow going on.  If you join in, be sure to mention Design Wall Mondays and how much fun we have seeing the linkups each week.  Also a link to this post from somewhere within your blog post is necessary.  Thank you so much.

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Design Wall Monday - March 29, 2021

 Good Morning Quilters!  Here is my design wall as it looks right now:

There are 14 Lemoyne Stars that are yet to be completed - most of them have the center star parts sewn together, and just need the outside background edges attached (with the set-in seams).  I pinned them up on the wall.  There are only four that do not have the center parts sewn together.  You can see where these four will go - in the blank spots on the design wall.  I will have to trim all the blocks to the right size, as I tend to make the outside corners/triangles in the Lemoyne Stars a bit bigger that the instructions call for - as I dislike blocks that are too little when I go to trim them up.  The four remaining stars are in a stack in the picture below too.

So here is my assembly line of Drunkard's Path blocks.  I am on the home stretch, with only about 20 of the concave/convex parts to sew together.  Yeah!  I should finish that part this week, and then the assembly of the quilt top will be easy-peasy.  I have enough to make it 5 X 5 blocks, I think.

Last two pictures are of the doggies.  Our rescue dog, Mojo, likes to be at my feet wherever I am.  If I move to another room for ten seconds, he is there, and then follows me when I leave.  I tell him to stay, that I'll be right back, but he doesn't believe me.  He likes to keep an eye on me.  LOL  This picture was taken when I stepped into the quilt room to take a picture of the design wall, and I looked down, and there he was.  So cute.

Penny Lane is usually wherever my hubby is when he is home, and comes and joins me when he is not here.  She's a daddy's girl.  Right now she is also at my feet while I write this post at the computer.  She knows I have "snack" biscuits on the desk to give out when I'm finished writing the blog.  So wherever food is, that's where Penny Lane is.  Her tail is a blur because it is always wagging, sometimes even when she is sleeping.  So cute.

What is on your design wall?  Design floor?  Or table?  Please show us so we can see your progress.  Thanks for participating.  Please provide a link back to this post from somewhere within your blog.  I really enjoyed looking at all of your blogs this past week, and at your progress pictures.    

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Design Wall Monday - March 22, 2021

 Thanks for all the well wishes and your prayers.  I am feeling much better and am back at getting the two brown and white quilts finished.  They are off the design wall and one is ready to go to the long arm quilter.  Here are two pictures of each side of it hanging over the stairs railing.  I am needing a place to hang up a quilt top for a picture.  There is a new project on the design wall, so I can’t use that for a picture.

I am looking forward to seeing feathered wreaths quilted in the white squares, or something equally pretty that the long arm quilter suggests.

I am also making good progress on the Drunkards Path curved stitching.  I have gone back to the “use 1,000 pins” method as it is fairly mindless to sew them this way.   I am hoping they will all be finished by the end of March. I really do like the pattern when it is together......but sewing convex pieces to concave pieces.....not so much.  

The design wall has a new UFO on it!  I am wondering why I quit working on this quilt when I had about half of it done.   I don’t remember.  But whatever the reason was, it’s on the design wall now and I can see that I have only 14 LeMoyne star blocks yet to sew.  And some of the edge 1/2 stars.  I will be working on this one on Monday nights when my friend Joan comes over.  She is also working on a LeMoyne star quilt.  

I talked about it in early February,  (Here) and am eager to get started again on it.  

What’s going on this week in your sewing room?  Please link up so we can see.  Remember to provide a link back to this blog post from somewhere within your post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - March. 8, 2021

 Good Morning Quilters!  My design wall is looking different, and I am making progress on the two brown quilts.  Progress had to show if I kept working on them, right?  Here’s the Drunkard’s Path, which has grown:

And here is the Wedding Ring middle - all in one piece finally:

This quilt has a two inch border around it of brown, and then a wider border of white.  I had fun amusing myself trying to hide the one seam on each of the borders.  Below are pictures of the four borders, front and back:

What have you been doing to amuse yourself this week?  Show us what is on your design wall.  Please link up and tell us what you are working on.  Mention Design Wall Monday somewhere within your post, and don't forget to link back to this Design Wall Monday post.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - March 1, 2021

 Good Morning Quilters! 

March 1st, a new month, and I have been working on the two quilts on my design wall.  Plus other projects as well.  I think March will be a good month of progress on the UFOs.  Here is the design wall: 

Still lots of brown and white, but the Wedding Ring quilt has all the edge triangles now cut, and the rows are getting assembled.  I can see the finish line, which will spur me on.

The Drunkard's Path is moving along nicely too.  I sew a few concave/convex pieces each day:

And when I have enough; sew them into a larger block:

All the convex and concave block pieces are cut and stored in baggies, each holding enough pieces to make the block above.  I think there are about 15 baggies yet to put together.  I am getting better at the curves, that is for sure.  It is slow....take 3-4 stitches with needle down when I stop.....then adjust the fabric, take 3-4 more stitches....repeat.  I think it was named by the person who drank a whole lot while she was sewing this quilt pattern.  

The log cabin quilt has one more block, and I am loving working on it.  (The shiny new project).   Here are the blocks now:

What are you working on?  I am so happy to look through all the pictures and go to your blogs and read about your quilts.  You are such a talented bunch.  Thank you for participating.  Please provide a link back to this blog post somewhere within your post, and also tell your readers about Design Wall Monday.  

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Design Wall Monday - February 15, 2021

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  I hope you got more sewing done this last week than I did!  My design wall hasn’t changed for quite a while, and I am resolved to get things moving there before next Monday.  The two quilts that I seem bogged down on are both brown and neutral.  I think the lack of brighter colors on these two has something to do with my lack of progress on them.  But here’s a picture of the status quo:

I sewed convex/concave pieces (16 pair in each stack) for another three Drunkards Path Blocks:

The embroidery has progressed a little bit on one of the May Basket Blocks.  I am so excited to be thinking about sashing and or setting blocks.  Pink and yellow (30s solids) were both good suggestions for me.  

Remember this from last Monday:

Today:

  

This coming week I plan to look at all of my UFOs (which I was going to do at the start of 2021) but my energy wasn't there then.  Now it is back, and I'm feeling like I can do another list and purge some of the projects.  I love it when the spring cleaning urge hits me.

What are you working on this week?  Thanks for linking with Design Wall Monday every week.  You are all so talented, and it makes my week to look at all of your blogs, and read about what you are working on.  Please link back to this particular post from within your blog.  Also talk about Design Wall Monday so others can join us. 

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Design Wall Monday - February 1, 2021

It’s  February 1st.....and January went by so fast that I can’t believe it.  I haven’t even reviewed my  list of UFOs to see where I’m at with my goals of getting them all finished.  I do know I made good progress in 2020, and am continuing on in 2021.  So it’s all good.  

I did find the staff at my sister’s nursing home could add to her care the sitting  with Nancy M W F while she is at dialysis, so I am relieved of that duty.  I can still sit with her when I want to, but this allows us to go back home to Grand Rapids for some rest. We came home Friday and are catching up on our own lives.  

My friend Joan Brink and I each picked out a UFO of ours to work on together on  Monday nights and to spur each other on to their completion.  Both projects have LeMoyne stars which have set in seams.  My project is a kit I bought based on an 1830s quilt found in New Jersey.  I am getting it out today to see how far along I got before it got put in time out.  Here is the kit picture:

It’s one of the Howard Marcus moda Collection for a Cause quilts, “Warmth”.  If you have made this quilt let me know, as I might have questions.  I know I stopped working on it a long time ago.

On the Drunkard’s Path project, I did a “big picture” assessment, and cut as many pieces as I could from the fabric I had.  So It will be a 5 block by 5 block quilt that will measure 60” by 60” as each block will finish at 12” x 12”.  I spent my time last week tracing the templates and cutting fabric with scissors.  When life is stressful, I love to do the simple mundane things the old school way.  Very soothing to trace around a pattern with a pencil and cut fabric with scissors.  I have decided to put this project by the sewing machine and do a few every day.  

Each block has 16 convex/concave pieces.  The actual sewing of the two pieces has gone very smoothly after I added a step.  I used to crease each of the two pieces in the middle and put a pin there, and a pin at each end.  Well, I was fine with the first end, fine at the middle, but the two pieces didn’t always come together at the end......plus often the end pin came out.  Sooo, I now sew (tack about 4 stitches) the ending together before I start.   Plus now I really don’t have to put a pin at the beginning....and the middle pin where the fabrics are creased is the only pin to take out while I’m sewing......and the ending comes out right because it has to!  I just sew right over where I tacked it.  The trick is to sew slowly and try to ease the fabric pieces as I go.  It is an extra step, but much less aggravation as the ends of the convex and concave pieces are forced to meet.  And I like it when they bend to my will.  I am the master of the universe.  Or at least I am the master of these two little concave and convex pieces of fabric.

What are you the master of this week?  Your projects have been so inspiring lately.  I love to read all the blogs.  Thank you so much for joining in!  Please link up below and remember to provide a link back to this post.  I will be drawing a name next week to give one of you the extra book I have with the “Buds in Bloom” pattern in it.  

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Design Wall Monday - January 18, 2021

 Good Morning Quilters!  Well, I had 6 units completed last Monday, and said if I increased by 50%, there would be 9 completed by today, and there are now 9.   If I increased production by 50% again, it would mean 9 + 4.5 units.....13.5 completed.  

Not happening, as that would be pushing production too much and this factory (me) has quality control issues if I run it too fast.  Here are the 9 blocks and the piece measures about 35 x35 inches right now. Each unit should be 12.5 x 12.5 inches before sewing them together, so the entire unit would be 36.5 x 36.5 if 1/4 inch seams were constant.  My seam allowances were not all the same sizes when this project was started.  

Also, the May Day Flower Basket blocks continue along.  This block was finished yesterday, just in time to show you the picture this morning.  The French knots are getting so easy for me now, I feel I could do them in my sleep.  

What are you working on?  So many great blog linkups last week - keep it up!  I looked at some each day all week long, to cheer me up.  Please linkup and mention this Design Wall Monday post somewhere within your post.  And also provide a link so quilters can come here to see all the other great blogs.   

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Design Wall Monday - January 11, 2021

 Good Morning Quilters.  My week has again been filled with non-quilty things, but I did get some more Drunkard’s Path blocks sewn together.  I think of 16 of the concave/convex two pieces sewn together as one “block”:

So last week I had four “blocks” and now there are six.....50% increase!  I don’t have a pattern, so I am sewing along until I feel it is big enough.  If I increased its size by 50% each week.....hmmmmmm....that would mean three “blocks” this week, and 4 and 1/2 “blocks” the next week.  lol In no time it would be completed.  

How about you - did you make some progress this last week?

We have enjoyed being at the cabin, away from everything and yesterday I looked out the window at two colorful ice houses (fishing shanties) on the frozen lake.   One is bright red and the other one bright blue. Soon there will be a village of these little shanties out there.  I wish there was such peace and tranquility as this everywhere in the world, but know that it is not so.  

Thanks so much for all of the beautiful linkups last Monday, and you did indeed cheer me up.  Let’s see what you link up with this Monday!  I’m looking forward to seeing your pictures and reading your blogs.  Please remember to provide a link to this post and also mention Design Wall Mondays to your readers.  Thanks!

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Design Wall Monday - January 4, 2021

Well, here we are in 2021, and my start of the new year has been unsettling.  We are up at the cabin and had not planned to be up here, so I don’t have much to report about my quilting, as there is not much I’ve had time to work on.

But I am working on an old project that I started in 2012.  I took a class about curved seams and started this drunkard’s path quilt.   I blogged about it (Here)

Currently, the project is now: 

I can see that my 1/4 inch seam accuracy has improved since I made this beginning part eight years ago, and now I am enjoying getting convex and concave pieces of fabric sewn together.  A little miracle with each seam.   

Since I don’t have a lot to report about quilting today, it is the perfect opportunity to tell you all how much I appreciate your participation in Design Wall Mondays.  You always inspire me, teach me, make me laugh, and encourage me.  I thank you for the bottom of my heart.

So I am looking forward to pictures and posts today.  Please participate and cheer up this old lady.  I ask that you mention Design Wall Monday somewhere in your post, and also provide a link to this particular post so people can come here and see the other posts.  Thank you.

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