Miss Molly and I were sitting on the porch swing this afternoon.  It was a wonderful place to relax and work on the Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt. The air smelled so fragrant from all the flowers around the front of the house.

I looked around at all the flowers.  The lupine will be gone soon, but still is beautiful.  The yellow iris, purple chive flowers,  white pom pom bush and the Ragusa rose bush are all in blossom.  On the other side of the white fence, Grandpa’s geraniums are in full blossom.  My Dad gave me the first plants and his grandchildren gave them their name.  As I looked around, I spotted the first poppy of the season.  It is beautiful as usual.  It is a vivid orange with a purple center.  It always reminds me of a quilt that a friend made with purple fabric and a big splash of orange.  It was a very striking quilt.

I have decided to join the second year of the Moda Blockhead blocks.  Each week, I will receive a pattern.  The size is from 6″ up to 18″ or whatever the designer decides.  All my blocks will be made from Japanese cotton fabric.  I have a multicolored print which I will use somewhere in each block.  The background will be black.  There are enough color and patterns of fabrics in this stash to complete the quilt.

Block 1 is Stellar Star by Lynn Hagmeier.  There are 13 designers at this point who will take turns designing the Moda Blockbuster 2 blocks.  It will be a fun journey.  I’ll post each block as I make it so you can go on the journey with me.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The Canadian Lilac does not smell like a lilac, but is very pretty.

  Iris

Beginners and enders are small pieces that you sew together between sewing seams.  They make starting a seam much easier.  The needle doesn’t eat the beginning of the seam.

Confetti is a king size quilt that was made with 2″ squares.  Using the 2″ pieces as beginners and enders made this quilt easy to make.  It took a long while to sew all the pieces but sewing for a few seconds between other seams made it effortless.

I had a stack of log cabin blocks in my ufo pile.  When I made them I was trying out a new “easy” way to make a log cabin block.  I don’t know why I didn’t finish them.  They only needed corners.

One day, as I was sewing, I needed some beginners and enders and spotted the log cabin blocks.  I could sew triangles on the corners as a beginner and ender and the blocks would be finished.  I would just have to square them up and sew them together.  In two days, I have four blocks ready to finish.  This ufo will be finished in no time at all.

I’ll look at my ufos differently now.  Maybe using them as beginners and enders will diminish the pile.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Going Buggy is the seventh in the Miss Rosie Series.  All thirteen quilts in the Miss Rosie’s Spice Of Life Quilts book by Carrie L. Nelson were made by me and my daughter after we challenged each other to make all thirteen quilts using only our stash.  We were glad when the last stitch was made.  Miss Rosie took over our life for a while.

I enjoy sewing curved seams such as the Drunkard’s Path block.  Carrie made her curved blocks another way.  She invisible machine appliqued circles using freezer paper.  Then she cut the circles into quarters.  I didn’t enjoy this method until almost the last block.  It took me all that time to be comfortable with doing it that way although I had done invisible applique before.

The traditional name for this four part quilt is Dogwood Blossom.  Carrie changed it by alternating the colors in the four segments.

My Going Buggy had a white background.

My daughter’s quilt has different fabrics for the background.  

All three quilts look different.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

 

I love to make mystery quilts. It’s fun to use another person’s design.  Of course, when you begin, you have no idea what the end result will be.  You only know what value the fabric should be – light, medium, dark, etc. Instructions are given one at a time for several days or weeks.  Only, at the turn of the last page, will you know what the quilt will look like.

Several years ago, I made the quilt that is pictured below.  I had made other mystery quilts designed by this quiltmaker.  They came out very nice.  This quilt  took a lot of days and lots of sewing,  When I finished the top, I realized that I could have made it in half the time, cutting and sewing my own way.  It could have been made with squares and half square triangles.  It was a simple block made complicated.  Live and learn.  The mystery was why this designer chose to sew it this way.

It is a very pretty little quilt anyway.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

   

More flowers from the garden.

I had the most delicious supper tonight.  I thought that I would cook whatever I had in the refrigerator.  I found a sweet potato, asparagus, onions and an apple that was partly bruised.  In the freezer was a small pork chop that I had frozen earlier when I bought a whole package of pork chops.

I started by turning the oven on to 400 degrees.  Into it went the sweet potato.  I cut the bottom stems off the asparagus and put the tops into a steamer kettle.  I did not turn this on yet as asparagus only takes about 15 minutes to cook.  It was ready to go when the time was right.

I have been using the cast iron fry pan lately and found it much better than the other fry pans. It can go from the stovetop to the oven without any problem.   In it, I put a little butter and the chopped onions.  The onions cooked on low until they were brown.  Be careful that they don’t burn.  I peeled the apple, cut away the bruised part and cut the pieces into chunks.  Now is the time to turn the heat on under the asparagus.  When the onions were browned, I added the apple and one tsp. sugar  and cooked for a few minutes.  The onion/apple mixture was removed from the fry pan and placed on a plate.  The pork chop was browned in the same fry pan for 3 min on each side.  The onion/apple mixture was spooned on top and the cast iron fry pan was placed in the oven with the sweet potato. It takes only about 3 to 4 minutes to finish cooking. Everything should be ready to go on the plate at this time.  The sweet potato might need one minute more in the microwave if it isn’t done.

I didn’t  tell amounts because everyone has a different idea of what is a single serving.  Use a sweet potato that is the size that you want to eat.  Also the size of the pork chop and asparagus.  The onion will cook down, so I used about 1/2 cup.  I would have used one whole apple, but had to cut some away because of the bruising.

The onion/apple mixture is delicious.  It would be wonderful on chicken.  White potato or rice could be substituted for the sweet potato.  Any vegetable can be cooked.  Adjust the timing to the amount of time that it takes to make the sauce and cook the meat.

Enjoy

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The first gaa barge piece is scraps made into a crazy quilt block.  The seams were covered with built in stitches in the sewing machine.  This would make a very pretty large quilt.  It would be a good way to use up a lot of scraps.  The quilting could be done on the machine in a very short time.  It would be fun to make a sampler type quilt and quilt each section with a different built in stitch,

The second piece Is made of thread that was cut off in the beginning of embroideries.  It is covered with tulle and beads are couched on.  For some reason, this piece is heavy and wants to be folded in half so it would make a very nice book cover.

The iris are beautiful this year.  I had planned to separate the bulbs because they were all jammed up, but didn’t get around to it.  It didn’t matter as they outdid themselves and made a beautiful display.  The massive display was battered by the last rain storm so I didn’t take a picture. These are pictures of a few that were left standing.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The lupines are beautiful this year.  Each year, in the fall, when the lupines have gone to seed, I cut off the stems and lay the whole piece in whatever garden that I want new lupines to grow.  The first year, the plants come and the second year the flowers come.  If I do this every year, I am assured a crop of flowers every year.  The seeds do not have to be covered,.  They just lay on top of the soil.  Some seeds do not germinate so I lay several stems worth of seed in the area that I want planted.

    

Several years ago, before the auctioneer retired, we went to an auction every Saturday night.  They had a food stand and we had our supper while we waited for the auction to start. It was our fun night out.  One night, I saw a quilt under a table.  It had bubble gum pink and gray.  I pulled it out and looked at it.  Then I hid it back under the table.

The quilt was in decrepit shape.  It smelled very bad. I hung it on the line outside and sprayed it with Febreze.  It didn’t do any good,  It still smelled.   Then, I decided to reproduce it.  I looked for about six months to find fabrics that looked like the original.  I had to apologize to the quilt shop owner when I took the quilt in to match the fabrics.  The four patches were made with different fabrics and I found enough to make it look like the original.  The fun was in the hunt.

The pattern is easy.  It’s a nine patch made from five four patches and four plain blocks.  It is set on the diagonal with a plain alternating square.  Even the backing is similar to the original.  The reproduction looks very similar to the original.  And it doesn’t smell.  

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

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We had a beautiful, much needed rain last night.  Most of the gardens have been weeded and seeded. Last night’s rain and today’s sun will help the annuals on their way.  I still have three gardens that need the beautiful, strong weeds pulled.  One will have to wait until the painters finish that side of the house. Hopefully, they will paint that side first so I can plant the seeds.  I’ll work on the gardens that go up the steps from the driveway to the house tonight after supper as I don’t like to work in the noon day sun.

     

     

The lettuce came up from last year’s crop.  There is almost enough for a nice salad.

When the stairs gardens are finished, I will have  to decide if I want to remove the garden by the road.  It is very overgrown with weeds and most everything is rootbound.  It is the most beautiful garden in late May and early June with all the Lupine, but after that there is nothing,   I would miss the Lupine by the road. I have successfully transplanted some to the other gardens so they would be still here.  The road garden is  usually is the last garden to get in order and  most of the time, it just does not get weeded.  I may surprise myself and clean it out.

Several flowers are beginning to show up, letting me know that they survived the winter. Some are in different places.  I have no idea how they got there, but will leave them alone as they seem to like their new spots.

There is no grass in the ditch along the road.  The state did a wonderful job last year cleaning out the ditches and the culvert.  They seeded the area but the grass didn’t grow.  It might have winter killed with the road salt.  I’m sure that if I leave it alone, the grass that is on the bank will migrate to the bare spots and I will have grass by summer’s end.

I made the 3-2-1 microwave cake mix with 1/2 box of lemon cake and 1/2 box of angel food cake.  The remaining half of the mix was in the cupboard and I made the most delicious cake mix cookies with it.  It makes about 18 cookies so there are not many left around to tempt me.

1/2 box lemon cake mix.  There are different amounts in different brands, so measure what is in the box and divide by half.  Or you can double the recipe and use the whole box.

1/4 c olive oil   1 egg      about 1/2 c shredded coconut    about 1/2 c chopped nuts

Mix all together.  Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Absolutely yummy

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

Gaa Barge and Mile a Minute blocks are both made using scraps. Gaa barge is usually sewn as an art quilt.  The Mile a Minute is made from strips and pieces.   Although, they can be made with coordinating fabrics, the usual way is to use the scraps unseen from a pile of fabric scraps. Sewing blocks this way makes for some unusual colored blocks.  They have multiple colors and patterns that you would never put together in a quilt if you thought about it.

When you have as many blocks as you need, you should arrange them on a design wall.  I use a white sheet on my bed.  Some colors are predominate in the blocks and they should be scattered around the quilt and not placed in one section.  When the blocks are where you like them, you have to decide what color to make the sashing and border.

The amazing thing about the mile a minute block is that if you want the quilt in a blue room, use a blue sashing.  If you want it in a pink room, use pink sashing.  Whatever color you use for the sashing will bring out that color in the block.  The whole quilt will look like that color.

When I taught the Mile a Minute block, I used the four small pieces to show how this works.  All four blocks have the same gaa barge center.  The surrounding colors make each block look different.

       

Most of my mile a minute quilts have three borders.  The first one is about 1 1/2″ wide and is the same color as the sashing.  The second border is a Mile a Minute block cut down to 2″ to 3″ wide and the length of the pieced square.  These pieces are sewn end to end to make the length of the four sides of the quilt.   The third border is about 4″ wide and is the same color as the sashing or a darker version of that color.

These blocks can be made a few at a time, using fifteen or twenty minutes at a time after concentration on sewing a complicated quilt.  A quilt can be made without even thinking about making it.  Seam allowances are not important. Just sew a straight seam,  Thread color is not important.  Use leftover bobbins and whatever color thread you want to use up.  This is no thinking sewing. Cutting blocks after they are sewn makes each block the same size.  I like to use a 6 1/2″ square ruler and a rotary cutter to make a 6′ finished block.  The blocks can be used in any quilt block pattern that has a 6″ part.  You can also choose any other size block that you want.

Have a great day and happy sewing.

One of the prettiest gaa barge pieces is made of cut out flowers from a small leftover piece of fabric and small strips of green fabric.

The background was quilted before the scraps of fabric were added.  They are not held down by tulle, but are stitched down in a random fashion. The edges of the leaves and flowers are loose.  It took just minutes to make.

The background is a hand dyed piece.  The mottled look was made by pre folding the white fabric before putting it into the dye bath.  I dye using the baggie method and pre folding the fabric to get the look that I like.  There are several ways to pre fold the fabric.  Each way gives a different effect.  With the mottled or designed fabric, you can get realistic leaves and flowers for applique.  I often dye going from light to dark, depending on how much dye I put in the baggies.  The last batch of dyeing that I did had recipes to follow to move from one color to another.  Sun dyeing is also a lot of fun.  The only problem is that I find it very hard to use the dyed fabric.  It is so pretty to look at.

Have a great day and happy quilting.