Design Wall Monday - January 8, 2018

This small quilt is made from extra corners my friend Rebecca cut off when she was working on quilt squares at a retreat.  I was sitting next to Rebecca Winburn and she asked if I wanted the small triangles. She even sewed the two triangles together for me, and graciously handed me the pile, and said do something with these.

So last week, I pressed them open, and cut them all to their largest uniform size, which turned out to be 1.75 inches.  Next, I counted them......there were 115 of them, mostly browns and neutrals, but 22 were red and neutrals.  Broken Dishes is an easy pattern for half square triangle units, and I like quilts with square centers with borders, so I put them in rows/columns to make an 11x11 configuration.  I needed to get 6 more from my stash of hsts, and laid it out, trying to distribute the red hsts around in the 121 hsts.

All of this was done while watching sports on TV, and I laid them out on a "design wall" of a folded old quilt muslin side up. Here is a picture of them laid out in their final layout:

I had to have hubby help me carry the "design wall" old quilt to the sewing machine, as it was too big for me to carry without dumping all the hsts. At the sewing machine, it was an easy process of chain piecing all the columns together...then sewing row 1 to row 2 ....on 
down the 11 rows.

Next, I auditioned borders.  But I have a question on the borders.  Have you ever "weighted" a border on a wall quilt as is sometimes done on art work?
"Weighted" matting is when the bottom mat/border is slightly wider than the top and side mats/borders.

Hope you are somewhere safe and warm this Monday.  What's on your design wall today?

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - November 27, 2017

Thanksgiving week was very peaceful at my house, and I'm thankful for all of the leftovers - no cooking has been done since Thursday!  Leftovers are a great part of having the dinner at home.  And at 74 years old, I can decide to have a piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast without any guilt at all.  Life is good.

I found that the old quilt squares of "eightish" inches in size didn't get much better with sashing, and to remedy the situation, I added small strips of fabric to some of the blocks.  It is coming along, and yesterday I sewed all the blocks into columns and then sewed the columns together.  Here is a progress picture of the quilt top.  It's about 43 inches square.

Here's a close-up, showing some of the places where added pieces made the blocks more the same size:

I will add simple quilting, and it will be a great wall hanging.  It feels so peaceful and I like the fact that someone else's blocks are now going to be a quilt.  

This time of year, as December nears, I make Christmas plans, and think about the new year.  As we age, hubby and I are less enthused about shopping for Christmas gifts.  Also as the grandchildren are all fifteen years or older, their tastes in presents are more of a mystery to us.  So I've decided to give the gift of money to each grandchild.  There are lots of ways to make a money gift a fun one to unwrap, and it will keep me out of the "hustle and bustle" of the Christmas gift buying scene.  After Christmas I will show you some of the cash gift ideas I am using (Pinterest was a great help).

I hope you find some ways to simplify your Christmas season and find time to enjoy the reason for the season with music and church services and family time.

What's on your design wall this Monday?  I so enjoy seeing everyone's beautiful quilting progress.

An InLinkz Link-up

Design Wall Monday - November 6, 2017

I have the attention span of a gnat!  But you already knew that.  So this week, here are these maple leaf quilt blocks that I found while looking for something else, and they are on the design wall, now getting made into a small quilt.  They were acquired some time ago (I can't even remember where).

The blocks are all hand pieced, and the piecer was aiming for 8 inch squares.  However, they are "eightish" in size (see picture), and I decided to sash them to help square everything up. 

I picked out some solid sashing, and some cornerstone fabric, and began cutting the sashing to 3 inches, to finish at 2.5 inches. 

When I was part way through cutting sashing, I realized there wasn't enough and I would be short on sashing fabric....and I really wanted to use it.    That's when the sashing became 1.5 inches wide, unfinished.

Actually, I like the narrow sashing better.   I picture Tim Gunn from the TV show "Project Runway" saying .........."Make it work!". 

The start of November is when I start thinking about Thanksgiving and all that I have to be thankful for.  For one thing, I'm thankful for all of you, and that when you link with this blog I can see all the wonderful projects you are designing and quilting.  

Another thing I'm thankful for is getting together with some quilting friends for a semi-annual retreat this month in Shipshewana, IN.  Yeah!! We will be together Wednesday through Sunday and it will be so much fun to see my friends again.  I should have pictures to share with you of retreat quilts next week.

What's on your design wall?  

An InLinkz Link-up

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!

An InLinkz Link-up

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.

An InLinkz Link-up

January Progress in 2017

Good morning fellow quilters!  It is a beautiful day here in Michigan, and I have made some progress on my quilting goals:

I have two quilts I made (for the Churn Dashers group display at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival) all boxed up and ready to put in the mail tomorrow.  They are on their way to Virginia, to a Churn Dasher friend, who will gather all of the group's quilts and get the display ready.  I am hoping to go to the quilt festival in Newport News, VA to see the quilts hanging, but we shall see if I can get there.   It's February 23-26, 2017, if you are in the area and would like to go.

To get them ready, I added hanging sleeves and labels to the backs of a bed quilt and a doll quilt.  I should have taken a picture of the finished quilts, but I will take a picture when I get them back after the show.

While cleaning out my quilt stash, I found a "kit" someone had given me years ago, and at the time, I was confused about the instructions because there was no picture.  I am a very visual learner.  But now, when I looked at it again, I figured it out, and decided to put it together while I was temporarily enlightened.  I have the wall hanging made, and the bias binding cut, waiting for the quilting to happen.  I do not know the fabric designer, but I love the fabric.  I am not inspired yet on how to quilt it.  What do you think?  I am just learning machine quilting, so this will be a good practice piece.

When working on the blocks, I did the mitered corners by hand.  That is, I sewed the dark green strip to the left side, the light green strip to the bottom by machine, and then ironed the miter in place, and hand appliqued it.  It was so easy that way, and I wondered why I haven't done them that way before.l

So, it's one more project out of the unfinished fabric stash, and on it's way to being a finished project. 

What is on your design wall today?  Monday Design Wall Linkup (Here) at the Patchwork Times blog.


Post Script:  Sandra Walker asked me what magazine the "Merry Christmas" sledding pillow was in, because she liked it so much. Original post is (Here)  At the time, I couldn't find the magazine to answer her, but now I have the info.  It was a project in American Patchwork and Quilting, December 2014 issue, and was designed by Tina Lewis.  

Small Wall Quilt for the New House

Today the little hsts I was working on last week are all sewn into a little wall quilt for the new house in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  When we bought the house, the guest bathroom was painted a purplish brown, (or maybe a brownish purple.)  Anyway, I thought I would repaint it when we moved in.  But actually, the color is growing on me.  And this little quilt will look great in that room.

The quilt has 16 broken dishes blocks, each finishing at 3 inches. The sashing is 1 inch and the outer border will finish at 4.5 inches.  The outer border fabric is a similar brownish purplish color as the walls.  I can't wait to take it to the new house and see how it looks there.  Thank you again to my friend Mary Jane Gantzler, for the little fabric triangles.  They finally have a home.

I am recovering from pneumonia, and am feeling much better.  The snow is so beautiful here, but since I'm sick, I only take pictures of it from the car, and otherwise I stay inside.  Here's a picture I took Sunday of the woods:

Doesn't it look like someone had a snowball fight and hit all the trees with snowballs?  Maybe the deer had a snowball fight in the woods.  We came upon about 6 of them playing in the roadway just after I took this picture.

Are any of you going to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Newport News, Virginia this week?  It's February 26 - March 1st and I will not be there, but I will have two quilts on display.  Say hello to them for me if you go! 

My two will be in an exhibit of quilts made by The Churn Dashers, a group I am in.  We make replicas of civil war era quilts.   I will have a doll quilt and a bed quilt, both made from baskets exchanged with others in the group.  I wish I could be there to see the show, as it is always a good one.

This picture was taken before they were quilted (taken from the balcony of the cabin).  The quilter was Joyce Brenner, and she did an excellent job.  

Even though it's Tuesday, I will link-up with Judy Laquidara's Design Wall Mondays, because I like to go there and see what others are working on.  

(Here) 

Design Wall Decisions

This week I'm making some decisions to finish Birds of A Feather, a Blackbird Designs pattern.  It was gifted to me, partially completed, by my friend Sharyn Woerz, and I am feeling the urge to finish it up.  I am auditioning some plaids to use for the pieced blocks of the quilt.  What do you think?

I'm also cutting pieces to prepare for a Bonnie Hunter class, Talkin' Turkey, which will happen at my guild in early April.  I put the pieces for two blocks together to see what it would look like, and it's on my design wall also. 

It's Monday, so I'm heading to Judy Liquidara's blog to look at all the other quilter's design walls.  (Here)  It's sunny and bright here, and the birds are telling me that Spring Is Coming!

Playing with HSTs on Sunday Afternoon

This picture is of some carpeting, and I was intrigued by the pattern, or should I say, lack of pattern in the design.

Sunday afternoon I played with the leftover half-square triangle parts that I didn't use in Celtic Solstice, and replicated part of the design.  I have yet to figure out if there is a "block" that can be made and then turned various ways to get the look of the carpeting.  You can see where I penciled in the squares.
Here is my start on the design.  It is as close to modern art that this civil war repro quilter will probably ever get.

If you want to see what other quilters are doing, here's a link to Design Wall Mondays at Patchwork Times (Here)

Eye Candy from a Quilt Show

At the Peninsula Piecemakers Quilt Guild Quilt Show in late October, I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger, and a very good quilt maker, JoAnne McPherson.  Here is a picture of us (JoAnne on the right) in front of one of her beautiful quilts.  

JoAnne's blog is (Here) and if you click on the link, you will go to one of her posts about the quilt show.  It was great to meet her in person, and she is going to join my local guild, so I will see her more often.

Here is the info and a better picture of her wall quilt in the background:  It is named "Dresden Doilies" , a pattern by Gerri Robinson.  The centers have fussy cut flowers, from a French General fabric.    

Next is another of JoAnne's quilts, "Eldon" designed by Edyta Sitar.  The pattern is a log cabin with a 8 diamond strip star in the middle.  The lighting wasn't very good in the area where it was hung, and my picture isn't the best, but the quilt was stunning.  I love all of Edyta Sitar's designs, and JoAnne did a beautiful job on this quilt.  She said she learned how to do "Y" seams very well during the making of it.

Close-up of one block:

Entire quilt, which is 86 x 86 inches:

The next quilt I liked was right next to JoAnne's and was made by Karen Lyon.  It's a Jan Patek pattern, called "November's Song", and is 82 x 82 inches.

The show was very well organized and the quilts were beautiful.  Some of the extra decorations, that I didn't expect, were the little extra things on display, such as the pumpkins between these two quilts.  Have you ever seen pumpkins with such long stems?  And on the plant stands, they looked so great!

During the show, there were demos going on, and I sat in on one that was about vintage quilts, and one of the ladies showing the old quilts was my friend, Nan Losee.  Here she is holding up an old crib quilt with appliqued squares telling the story of the three little kittens.  Very charming little quilt.

There were also books for sale by guild members, at bargain prices, and I came home with a couple of books, and my head full of beautiful quilts.  All in all, a very nice Saturday.

Humble Quilts - Quilt-A-Long Time

Whenever Lori, from Humble Quilts, starts a small quilt with instructions, I have fun making it.  This is the start of her current project, named "Faithful".  I used scraps from a recent doll quilt, and a center from a Dear Jane block for my start.  Check out Lori's blog, if you'd like to participate.  (Here)

The two new quilting groups that I enjoyed yesterday were 

(1) The Churn Dashers, a group of ladies in the Tidewater Virginia area, who enjoy making civil war era repro quilts, and have a block exchange each year.  It is going to be so much fun to be a part of this group.

(2) A Dear Jane group, that is just starting making blocks for the Jane Stickle quilt.  It is a 13 month project, and they intend to make 13 blocks each month, as there are 169 (13x13) blocks in the main part of the quilt.  I love this quilt, and have decided to join in the fun.


Here are pictures of my first 13 blocks.  

 

Making Dear Jane blocks is so much fun.  I hope to learn how to make the edge triangles while I am in this group.  

I did start the middle mariner's compass for Esther Aliu's Love Entwined.  I will share that with you in my next post.  In the meantime, I am going to go to Esther's blog on Wednesday to see what work is in progress in other people's sewing rooms.  Link: (Work in Progress Wednesdays)