]t is October already.  Where did the summer go?  I am back home in New Hampshire.  The Maine house is closed for the winter.  I expect that it will take over a week to organize the combining of houses.  Sewing supplies are in  the sewing room, but not where they belong.  The pantry supplies were just placed  in the pantry cupboard.  I haven’t sewed or quilted for over a week.  The organizing will have to wait until I spend a few days sewing.

I decided to take a few minutes to change the quilt on the wall behind the sofa.  The quilt for the summer was an easy one with simple blocks.

 

The new quilt was made in a class that I took in Vermont many years ago.  The teacher told us what colors to use.  They were out of my range of colors.  When the quilt was finished, I didn’t like it.  A few years later, I won a certificate for long arm quilting.  I didn’t know the quilter or her work, so I decided to send this quilt to her.  When I received it back, it was beautiful.  She made the quilt come alive.  Now, I like it very much.

 

 

 

My Maine quilt Guild has a challenge every year.  This year, we set aside two magazines.  A number was drawn.  We could use that page on either magazine to make what was on the page or use it for inspiration.  Page 30 was chosen.  Page 30 on the first magazine was just written ads.  The second magazine had a beautiful quilt.

 

 

 

Several years ago, I was flying from Salt Lake City to Arizona.  As we flew over the canyons, I looked out the window and remarked that I would like to make a quilt in those colors someday.  The quilt on page 30 had all the canyon colors.

I liked the way that the teal colors melted from light to medium to dark.  After I figured out how to make the block, I decided to paper piece all the blocks.  It was difficult to find the right colors and mine are a bit darker than the original. The center light orange strips are quilted in a hoop.  All the rest is free motion quilted.

I was reading some older magazines that a friend had given me.  In the May/June 2008 Fons and Porter Love Of Quilting magazine, I found an article by Gerald E Roy.  It used a lot of half square triangles.  I had cut a lot of scraps in 2 1/2″ squares and wondered what size they would finish if I made them in the accordion method.  They finished at 2″ so I decided to reproduce the old quilt in this size.

The quilt has 100 nine patch blocks.  Each block has three light, three dark and three half square triangles made with light and dark.  I’m glad that I didn’t think that I would need 300 half square triangles, 300  light blocks and 300 dark blocks when I started.  I still have lots of 2 1/2″ squares left.  I may use them as beginners and enders to use them up.

It was so good to get back to piecing and finishing this quilt.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter and her husband came to visit me this weekend.  We had a great time visiting and sewing,  My daughter makes Grandmother Flower Garden quilts.  It is the only pattern that she makes and she hand pieces every hexagon.  Each quilt is different, either by color or by the way the hexagons are placed.

She is working on a quilt that has fall colors.  When she laid it on the floor to see where the next flower should be placed, the quilt inspector checked it out.  It passed inspection.

She has her own quilt inspector , Rufus.

 

 

Each quilt is very different than the others.

 

 

 

I had finished the Grandmother Flower Garden quilt that my mother had started and had hexagons left over.  I gave them to my daughter.  She finished making her quilt much faster than I did.

          

my quilt                                                       her quilt

My first quilt was a Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  My husband’s grandmother taught me how to make it.  I used left over cloth from the clothes that I made for my children’s school clothes.  Nana had a green border on all her Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilts so she taught me to make it that way.

It is enjoyable to have someone to sit and sew with you.  Quilting was meant to be shared.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

There are many different ways of making half square triangles.  I have tried a few of them.  Recently, I tried the accordion method. With this method every half square triangle can be a different color.  My favorite method , up to this point, has been making half square triangles with the Tucker Trimmer ruler.  These half square triangles are made two at a time.  What if you want to make a lot of half square triangles that are the same color.

I have seen a method to make eight squares at a time and thought that I would try it.   I have several pre cut 5″ squares and wondered what size the squares would be when finished.

Draw a diagonal line both ways on the one 5″ square.  Layer two squares right sides together and sew 1/4″ on each side of both lines.

 

Cut the square in the middle horizontally and vertically.  Also on the drawn diagonal lines.

 

 

 

Using the Tucker Trimmer, find the largest triangle, place the line on the stitch line and trim the edges.  With a 5″ square, I could trim a 2 1/2″ square, making a finished 2″ square.  Press open to the dark side.

After I made the half square triangles with 5″ squares, I made them with 6″ squares, 8″ squares and 10″ squares.  Now when I need a specific size half square triangle, I know what size to cut the original square.

You could make two pinwheels or the points of an Ohio Star block with the eight half square triangles.

 

What if I made half square triangles from eight pairs of fabric.  Each piece would produce two pinwheels.  I could use twelve for the inside of a mini quilt and the remaining four for the corners.  Then, I would have a piece to practice machine quilting with rulers.

One if the rulers was a clam shell.  I started from the bottom and made a row from right to left.  Then I went back from left to right.  It was so easy to quilt with this ruler, but the rows weren’t lining up. I couldn’t see where to line up the rows.  There must be another way to quilt clam shells and have them come out right.

I put everything aside and decided to play with the rulers and figure out how to use  them.  The solution for the crooked clam shells was simple.  Originally, I started quilting on the bottom and went above the first row to quilt the second row.  I couldn’t see where to line  up the clam shells.  I turned the practice piece around and quilted the clam shells on the bottom up side down.  Then, when I quilted the second row, I could see the top of the first row and adjust the ruler to the right spot.

I’m not sure if I will take out the bad stitching on the mini quilt and requilt it the right way or just leave it and start quilting the right way from where I left off.  It would look much better if the whole quilt was quilted properly.

I played around with the other rulers and had a lot of fun.  There are stipples, clouds, circles, ribbons, curves and feathers.  When I want to use them in a project, I probably will make a quilt sandwich and practice a while before I quilt the new quilt. It would prevent unquilting,   I could make a lot of 10″ quilt sandwiches for each practice.  When there were enough, they could be put together in the lap quilt method.  It would be a free quilt.

   

It will take a lot of practice to perfect the ruler technique, but it will be fun to try.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Earlier this summer, the Maine Guild was challenged to make a block that was either a bird or a birdhouse. The names of the quilters who make the blocks were put into a drawing and I won the blocks.  This was so exciting.

They are so beautiful.  It will be so much fun to put them into a wall hanging.  I could size it so that it would fit over the sofa in my living room.  That way, I would think about  my guild friends in Maine all winter long while I’m in New Hampshire.

I expect that I will move them around on the design wall for a while until I find just the right placement. I don’t have a design wall yet but I have had the plans for one in my head for a long while.  This will be my inspiration to finally make one.

          I have patterns for other bird houses and might add some more to the mix if I need more.

I’ve been machine quilting the Page 30 challenge.  The center is almost finished.  I have two more patterns to quilt.  The border is being quilted in two passes.  The first is done and I’m part way around with the second.  Unfortunately, I have run out of the thread that I’m using.  I’ll get some more next week.  There is enough of the border quilted so that I could sew around the edge to stabilize it and add the binding.  It should be finished in time for the reveal.

I did quilt a little on the Amish Thistle quilt.  I do hope to finish it some day.  It was started over thirty years ago and is being heavily  hand quilted with black thread.  The quilt has a center applique and is pieced in a medallion style.  Some of the rows are pieced blocks and some are solid black fabric. The feather quilting template for one of the rows was lost for a while.  I looked everywhere for it.  I did try Press and Seal as a pattern for one side of a row, but it does not work with hand quilting.    When I was unpacking boxes after moving, I found the template.  It wasn’t where I would expect it to be.  I had no idea how it got there.  I should concentrate on quilting the Amish Thistle and get it done.

Have a great d ay and happy quilting.

 

I enjoy making quilts that start with a what if.

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A friend gave me two big boxes of quilting magazines.  While looking through them, I saw a beautiful log cabin quilt and wanted to make it.  The quilt is called Flower Garden Cabins.  It was designed by Doris Heitman for her daughter Leslie Schmidt.  The pattern was in a 1997 issue of Homes and Gardens Quilts.  It finished at 49 1/2″ square.

One of the pages had little log cabin blocks showing the colors for the blocks and how many to make of each coloration.  What if   I copied the blocks and paper pieced the little blocks for a mini quilt?

In one of my stash drawers there are several bunches of coordinated fabric samples that I won at a quilt shop open house.  What if I use  one of these batches of fabric to make the quilt?  I found one bunch that was muted reds.  There were no green bunches of sample fabrics, so I pulled from the green scrap drawer.

It does take longer to make a mini quilt that one would think.  There are as many seams, but they are shorter,  The quilt finished at 22″ square.  There are thirty six 2″ log cabins with two borders.  I sewed a sleeve on the back in case I want to hang it on the wall,  It’s also a perfect table topper.

While I was sewing this mini quilt, another what if  quilt popped into my head.  This one will wait a while until I finish another quilt that is in process.

Miss Molly and I have been sitting on the porch swing, enjoying the good weather.  It is the greatest place to read and do hand quilting.   I tried to applique more flowers for the flower wall hanging, but the breeze kept blowing the fabric across the porch.   I’ll have to do that on rainy days inside the house. The August gardens are still colorful in spots.  The Cosmos is blooming.  Also the Allium and Maximillian Sunflowers.  The Hollyhocks are shorter than usual this year, but still beautiful. Maybe, they need a little food.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

 

This has been an interesting two weeks.  First, I went to New Hampshire for a week.  I had a list of everything that I had to do,  When I returned to Maine, only half of the list had been finished.

I had an e-mail telling me of a quilt show and did I want to go.  Of course, everything else took a back seat.  We had a wonderful day.  The show was one of the best that I had been to for a while. It was held in a church and the quilts were over the backs of the pews. Some quilts were hung.  Every quilt was beautiful.

There was a room full of quilts and other things for sale on another floor.  It was like another whole quilt show.  I found some 18″ doll dresses and bought two for Annie Louise.  They are short dresses so I will have to use them as a top and make an under skirt.  All my doll dress fabric, etc. are in New Hampshire, so I haven’t made new dresses for Annie Louise this summer.

This little dress has eyelet around the neck, so I think that I will make an eyelet skirt to go under the dress.

This dress will make a top for a long sleeve plain dress.

It was so much fun being with my quilting friends. The weeds in the flower gardens will go away when it snows.  Green is a natural color.  Maybe I can clean out the gardens when I go down the next time.

The produce at the farmers’ market is wonderful.  I enjoy the variety of colors in the beans and the carrots,  Somehow, they taste much better.

After I came back to Maine, my computer cooling fan broke.  The cost of repair was a good down payment on a new computer.  I worked for three days to find another computer on line.  Finally, after finding a very nice customer service person on the phone, I ordered what I wanted.  Two days later, the computer showed up on my porch.  I downloaded everything that was necessary, but I couldn’t connect to my e-mail.   I finally rebooted the computer and shut it down for the night.  This morning, it works perfectly.   The portable cd reader/writer should come this week and everything will be in order. When I go back to New Hampshire the next time, I’ll take the computer to the Geek Squad and make sure that I did everything properly.

Today is a good day for quilting.  The Page 30 challenge is on my sewing machine.  I started free motion quilting yesterday.  The reveal is next month.  Hopefully, I will finish it by then.  I’m also finishing some applique on a little log cabin piece that I made to try out the new free motion rulers that I bought at the Maine Quilt Show.  It would be quicker to try the rulers on 10″ squares and then put them together in the quilt as you go method, but I saw this quilt in a magazine and had to make a mini version of it.   It’s taking much longer than I thought.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

I have been looking through two big boxes of quilting magazines.  There are so many tips and interesting items to read.  I will be the rest of the summer reading and enjoying all the articles  There are a few interesting quilt patterns that I have set aside to make at a later date.

Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine has articles that are written by Gerald Roy.  He is a quilt collector and appraiser.  He is also a quilter, quilt judge, painter and antique dealer.  His articles are called “This Old Quilt”.  He shows pictures and talks about antique quilts that are in his collection.

In the May/June 2008 issue, he talks about split nine patch quilts.  They are fascinating.  It was a “what if” moment.  I have a bin of 2 1/2″ squares  What if I made half square triangles from light and dark fabric and duplicated these quilts.

 

 

 

I wanted a variety of colors, so decided to make accordion sewn half square triangles. This is a method that I learned from Beth Helfter.  Every half square triangle can be a different color.  She gave a talk at our quilt banquet and I bought her book that is called Oompah.  Her company is called EvaPaige Quilt designs.  You can find several you tube videos on the Internet that show this method.  It’s an easy method. Just take one step at a time.  I needed a lot of half square triangles so I chain stitched ten units and then sewed several together when they became long.

    

I have the ruler that Beth recommends, but it is in N. H.  The Tucker Trimmer is here, so I used it.  The half square triangles trimmed out to 2″  There was just a little waste. I did have to cut the plain squares down to 2″.

While the quilt looks as if the color was random, the center light design of the quilt consists of carefully chosen fabrics.  When they are put together, there is an orderly arrangement.   I decided to make the center first.  Now, I can make the other nine patches and not think about color choices.  When they are all made, I can put them together.  The quilt is 10 by 10 blocks, so I have 96 more to make.  I can make a few at a time when I feel like some easy sewing.  I have enough split blocks and it is just a matter of trimming all the pieces down and sewing them together.

The original quilt was 80″ x 80″.  It was made in Pennsylvania in the 1920’s.  This one will be a bit smaller.  The center is 60″ x 60″, with borders of 2″ and either 3″ or 4″.It’s still a good-sized quilt.

The “what if” quilts are a lot of fun to make.    

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

This has been a day of not accomplishing much.  I did hoop and embroider two sections of the 30 day challenge quilt.  Then on the third one, the hooped popped.  I put it aside as I have to take out all those stitches and do it over. That’s a chore for tomorrow.  I have cut out two flowers for my wall hanging.  I  tried to sew while sitting on the porch.  The wind came up and the fabric didn’t want to cooperate.  The weather was so nice that I sat and read some magazines.  No sewing on the porch today.

We had a horrendous storm yesterday afternoon. It poured.  We had lightening.  Then came the wind and the hail.  The hail was going sideways against the windows.  It’s a wonder that the windows didn’t break.  The noise of the wind and hail was so very loud on the roof and the side of the house.  Miss Molly found a place to hide.  She didn’t come out until three A.M. this morning.  We were very fortunate.  I heard that some people lost shingles and trees were down.  It did cool down for a little while.

I’m so thankful for perennials.  They come up and blossom, even if I neglect them. My flowers are beautiful.  

   

I had a big surprise at the Maine Show.  As I said in another post, I didn’t receive a ribbon at the show.  When the show was over, I was waiting to pick up my quilts.  A few ladies were sitting at the table waiting with me.  One of them started talking about the viewers’ choice quilt.  She started describing it and saying how awesome it was.  Then she said it had the word Butterfly and another word in the title.  I asked her if it was Basket and Butterflies as that was the name of one of my quilts.  She wasn’t sure so I walked across the room to ask the woman who was in charge of the forms.  She opened her phone and showed me a picture of my quilt, Basket and Butterflies.  It had a ribbon on it.  Wow!!!! Viewers’ Choice is an awesome award.  When a ribbon is received from the judges, it is just the opinion of two people.  With the Viewers’ Choice, it is the opinion of many fellow quilters.  I am deeply honored to receive this award.  I had decided before the show to retire this quilt from competition.  It is retiring on a good note.

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

The quilt show in Augusta was wonderful.  There were so many beautiful quilts.  It would be hard to choose my favorite.  It was nice to see my quilts hanging there even if they didn’t receive a ribbon.  I’ll receive the judges comments soon.  It’s always interesting to read their opinion.

 

 

My gardens are beautiful.  They must like to be neglected.  The hollyhocks aren’t as tall as they have been in the past, but they are beautiful just the same.

     

The raspberries are still producing.  I picked a big bowlful yesterday.  One of my daughters came today and we picked some more.  She went home with a very big bowl of berries.  There are still two rows to pick tomorrow.  We would have finished today, but it was too hot in the sun.  I’ll go out early tomorrow.

While coming home from the show, a friend and I were talking about quilting with the hand look stitch on the sewing machine.  I was thinking about that today and decided to quilt with that stitch on one of my UFO’s.  This little piece was part of a demonstration that I did on Deb Tucker’s Hunter Star ruler.  I had made four different sizes for the demonstration.

As the four sections were different sized, I added different size borders to make them the same size.  It is a little wonky piece.  It didn’t take long to quilt it.  It does look like hand quilting from a distance.

I used YLI invisible thread in the needle and regular sewing thread in the bobbin.  My sewing machine automatically adjusts the settings when that stitch is chosen.  I hadn’t used the hand stitch look stitch for a very long time.  Invisible thread is so much better now that it was when I quilted that way the last time.  It will be a quick way to finish some of my UFO’s in the future.  It might be pretty if I quilt with variegated thread.  Lots of ideas from a conversation.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

This is a week of quilt related fun.  Last night, I went to our Guild Christmas In July pot luck supper.  The food was excellent and the friendship was awesome.  There were eleven quilters in attendance.

We had our annual Yankee Swap.  There were many wonderful presents to be swapped.  I had number 10 out of 11 people, so I had a good chance of swapping for something that I really liked.  The gifts were all great so that was a hard choice.  Some good natured swapping occurred before my turn came up.  One of the bags left was a large Olive Garden take out bag.  I jiggled it and it sounded interesting.  Decisions – Do I take something already opened or take a chance on what was in the Olive Garden bag?  I decided to open the bag in my hand,  Am I glad that I did.  Inside was the most wonderful hand made basket. 

I knew who made it and was thrilled to have one of her baskets.  She is a great friend and now I had something to remind me of her.  Inside the basket was the most adorable little lamb.

There is a lady bug on it’s backside. The little boots are so cute. 

 

In the bottom was some beautiful batique fabric.  What a great gift.

 

 

 

 

But, then there was number 11 and number 1 for the final pick.  I could lose the basket.  Number 11 swapped her gift which was great because the lady beside me was able to swap and get what she really wanted.  Then number 1.  She wanted the gift that she had at first pick and swapped for that.  We were all very happy with the end results.

Tomorrow, I will go to the Pine Tree State Quilt show.  It is always a great show.  The quilts are so beautiful.  I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from the show.  There are a few things that I want to buy from the vendors.  This year, I did place two of my quilts in the show.  I’ll take pictures tomorrow.

The flowers in my gardens are beautiful.  I haven’t worked the gardens this year and they still blossom right on schedule.  The day lilies, holly hocks, bee balm, and many other flowers are in bloom right now.  They are beautiful from the distance.  The weeds blend in with the foliage.  The Allium has budded but is slow to blossom.

      There are so many different colored day lilies.

The raspberry patch is full of beautiful raspberries again.  I have a few packages in the freezer for next winter.

In the meantime, I’m still working on the Page 30 challenge.  I’ve started to quilt it with the embroidery machine.  When that part is finished, I’ll do some free motion quilting.  I should have It finished by the deadline.

Have a great day and happy quilting.