I quite often say that I am a quiltmaker, not a quilter. If a person makes tents, he is called a tentmaker, not a tenter. One of my friends gave me this pin today. I will wear it proudly and state that I am a quiltmaker.
I’ve gathered together all of the orphan blocks that I could find. I’m sure that there are more around somewhere. One of my goals this year is to put these blocks into quilts and not have them just laying around. If I do that this year and finish some of the UFOs that are already pieced, my quilts in progress will diminish.
A very long time ago I won the blocks of the month at a Guild that I used to belong to. As I remember, it was a stormy, snowy night and not many members showed up. There were only six blocks including mine. The theme was sunflowers. The blocks have been in a baggie ever since. When I decided to put them together this week, I found the date 1994 on one of the blocks. These are really old blocks.
It is hard to put six blocks into a quilt. The blocks were slightly different sizes. One was dark. They did have the same sunflower theme.
I decided on a nine patch format. Some of the blocks would be in a straight set and some in a diagonal set. Frames were added to each block and then the blocks were all trimmed to the same size.
The diagonal blocks had triangles added to each corner. The straight set had sashing added. The fabric colors were chosen so that when the piece is quilted, the frames would blend in.
The center block had the dark background, It is a 3-D block. The sunflower petals are elongated prairie points. The leaves are two sided and attached by the vein stitching, It has two sashing borders. One is a light yellow and the outside border matches the fabric on the blocks that butt up to it. It is a straight set.
One of the side blocks has pieced small squares for the center with prairie points around it. The stem and leaves are appliqued. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.
The other side block is appliqued. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.
The top block is a star. The pale yellow fabric between the star sides is gathered at the base. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.
The bottom block is a Dresden plate. It is on point and has triangles at the four corners.
That left one block and four corners to fill. That was the block that I had made. I cut the Dresden Plate block into four pieces and framed it. Then I added strips to make a log cabin that was the same size as the other blocks.
After the nine pieces were sewn together, I added a single gold frame. This wall hanging is different, but after all these years the blocks are finally ready to be quilted.
When you make a block, you can add to it or you could cut it up. It is your block and you can do what you want with it.
Have a great day and happy quilting.
Have a great dayt
The Temperature Quilt top is finished. It has been fun watching the weather all year. It is one quilt that when someone asks me how long did it take to finish, I can honestly say one year (365 days). That’s not the quilting, just the piecing. I’m not sure if I will quilt it myself or send it to a long arm quilter. It turned out to be a big quilt.
This week, I finished three UFOs. The first one was made years ago. It is hand quilted. This month, I started keeping hand quilting and applique near my chair. It’s handy to pick up and work on it while watching TV. This is a fun pattern. Squares are cut and sewn together. Then, using a plastic template with cross marks, the squares are recut and sewn. It is made with all straight seams, although it doesn’t looks that way. There are small pieces left after the second cut. If the pieces are kept in the same sequence, a smaller version of the quilt can be made.
The blue and green table runner is machine quilted. I practiced quilting it with circle rulers of different sizes. It has been in the basket for a while because I didn’t like the quilting. Today, I stipple quilted the blue pineapples and finished it. It is much better now.
The star piece is small. It is hand quilted. I like the colors. Somehow, setting the blocks on point make the quilt look better than a straight setting. I can see a large quilt made with the small stars. Maybe, some day I will make a lot of stars and make a bed quilt. It would be a stash buster. Some of the Mile a Minute fabric is large enough to make small stars. I may start putting the larger pieces aside for that project.
In 2009, I made wall hangings for each of my daughters, my daughters in law and one granddaughter. They all came for Christmas that year except for one daughter who lived in Virginia at that time.
Several years later, another daughter mentioned that her favorite silly Christmas song was “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas”. I just happened to have a hippopotamus pattern. I retrieved the put away quilt from the attic and used it to make the hippopotamus. My daughter got what she wanted for Christmas that year.
Fold 2 3/4″ white squares for row one in half diagonal. Press. Position one in each corner of red fabric, having fold toward center and raw edges along outside edges.
Fold 3″ white squares for row 4 in quarters. Press. Align point of square with center diamond. Secure. Trim away excess.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the flowers actually bloomed in the garden at the same time. That’s the advantage of growing flowers on fabric.
The day lilies come in so many colors. Many of my lilies have reverted back to orange. The ones that didn’t revert are beautiful. I take pictures of the same flowers every year. I should separate the bulbs next summer.
I’ve started another squirrel quilt. It is one that is not planned, but just has to be made. It has to get out of my mind. All other quilts are put aside until the squirrel quilt is made. When I bought Kimberley Einmo’s book, I decided that I would make all of the blocks. The 10″ blocks have been made and are in a quilt that is waiting to be quilted. That quilt was made last summer. It is the next one to quilt.
I have space for two quilters in the sewing room. The second machine belongs to one of my daughters. She pieces quilts when she stays with me. On occasion, we sew together. It is so much fun to quilt together. My machine overlooks the window. I can watch the world go by as I sew. The new house across the street is almost done. Someday, I will watch my new neighbors move in. 
Last weekend, I finished most of row D. I had intended to make the blocks from the center out, but changed my mind and worked on a row. Row D will go across the top of the center blocks. All the finished blocks have been hand quilted and bound. The quilting is minimal. Just enough to hold the block together. After all, it is only 4 1/2″ square. It doesn’t need much quilting. There is only 20″ of binding to tack down.
I still remember saying that I would never make a Dear Jane quilt. There were too many small blocks. It was a copy of another person’s quilt. How very boring. Now I find that it is a lot of fun making each block and seeing the pile of little blocks add up. I’m glad that I went to the Dear Jane club just to see what was going on.
