My hydrangeas are ready to pick for drying.  Their color was beautiful this year.  I’m sure that the color will fade as time goes by, but I will enjoy them until they do.  when I was plucking the bottom leaves, I noticed the beautiful color of the leaves.  As soon as the plants die because of the cold, I’ll cut the bushes back again.  That seems to be the way to get a very nice small bush with big flowers.

 

The weather is cold for the middle of October.  I don’t feel like going out and working in the garden. Soon, everything will be covered by snow and it won’t matter. I can always clean it up in the Spring.

I’ve finished block 25 and 26 in the Moda Block Head Round 2.  Block 25 is Oshkosh Star.  It is designed by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  The red star in the middle is 2″.  The star points are 1/4″ wide.  The class in tiny piecing came in handy again.

 

Block 26 is Churndash Surprise.  It is designed by Corey Yoder.  Again, another small piece in the center of the block.

 

I have a stack of 3 1/2″ pieces ready to make nine patches for Linus quilts.  Now that the sewing room is partially organized, I can go in and just sew.  I’m not sure if I will  send them off to the Linus coordinator or make a quilt with them and send it to her.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

Last Friday night was Guild night.  Our speaker was Jo Diggs from Portland, Maine.  Jo is known for her awesome landscapes.  She showed us a collection of antique quilts and also some of her quilts and landscapes.  Her work is absolutely beautiful. It was a wonderful evening.

   

On Saturday, nine of the Guild members had a class with Jo.  She led us through the process of making landscape quilts.  Our fabrics were all different.  Because of that, all the pieces that were made were different.  The beginnings of the landscapes were much nicer than the photos.

Some were dark and beautiful. 

 

This one by Evelyn was awesome.  The sun lit up the scene.

 

I had a class with Jo several years ago at the Vermont Quilt Festival.  The piece that I made in that class is now ready to finish.  

 

 

This is how we start to make a piece.  Putting the black construction paper around the picture helps with the sizing and placement of the fabric.   

I used some of my hand dyed fabric for the new piece.  The fabric allowed me to have a reflection of the sun.  I thought that I could combine the two pieces and Jo suggested a triptych.  I made a second piece similar to the one that I made on Saturday so there would be three.  It also has reflection, but the sun is in a different direction.  There is a small mountain lake in both of the pictures.  When I put the three pieces together, they  didn’t look good.  The purchased fabric and the hand dyed just don’t play well together.  I’ll mat them separately and then hang the two similar ones as a pair. The first picture is the one that was started in class as shown above.  There were a lot of changes.   

They should be matted and framed within a week.  It is exciting to have something almost finished.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It has been a very rainy day.  Rainy days are great for sewing and quilting.  I added the bindings to two wall hangings that I quilted this summer.  The binding will be tacked down while I watch TV tonight.

Then I decided to pull out as many UFOs as I could and decide which ones I would not finish.  They are in a bin in the attic waiting to go away forever.  There were so many that I decided would make pretty Linus quilts.  They are set aside so I can make them later in the winter.  One two gallon baggie had six stacks of the same fabrics.  There was no pattern with the fabric, so I don’t know what I had planned. The fabric will make a pretty quilt.  I’ll find a pattern later and make something with it.

I did find several finished tops.  I’ll find backs to fit and send them off to the long arm quilter.

One of the wall hangings that I found was made many years ago from an Amish quilt book.  It’s called Railroad Tracks.

It was hand quilted in the ditch.  I don’t know why I hand quilted where it didn’t show.  It is close to be finished. 

 

 

 

There are some medallions quilted in the black squares. I’ll have to draw the pattern and quilt the remaining black squares.   It’s in the handwork basket now.  I should finish it soon.

 

There is still a lot more organization to do.  It will be finished a little bit at a time.  Moda Blockbuster, Simple Sampler, Dear Jane and the Temperature Quilt have been on vacation this week. I’ll start them again next week.  Hopefully, I’ll have some good weather so I can work in the gardens soon.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I realized today that I haven’t touched the sewing machine since last Thursday.  I don’t know why I went a whole week without sewing.  Unless it’s because I’ve been busy packing, unpacking, and organizing.  Also catching up with friends and fellow quilters.

I went to the Kranky Kwilters this afternoon.  It was so good to be back.  I mentioned all the UFOs that I have and that I would give them away just to get them out of the sewing room.  It was suggested that I pack them in baggies and sell them at the boutique at our quilt show in the Spring.  It sounds like a good idea.  When I got home, I pulled out the bin in the library and started sorting.  I was also looking for a class project that I thought was there.  Most of the UFO’s were projects that I would never finish.  There were table runners and table toppers.  I found fabric and patterns that I had put together as a kit to finish sometime.  Also lots of blocks that I put in the charity quilt pile.  Two thirds of that bin are going.  I really had to want to finish the small portion that I kept.

Our Guild speaker on Friday night is Jo Diggs.  She is having a landscape class on Saturday and I will be there to enjoy her lesson.  I did have a class with Jo in Vermont years ago and did find the piece that I started in that class in the UFO bin. 

It is pretty but I’m wondering why I used brown fabric for the sky.  The class will probably be the same as I took before but I’m sure that there are some new tips that I will learn.  I’m using hand dyed gradated fabric this time.  The piece will look different.

One of the small pieces that I am going to keep from the UFO bin is a landscape that I free motion embroidered.  It just needs a border and some quilting.  The mountains should be thread painted and there should be another flower or two near the bottom.  It looks as if it should be inside an oval border.  Then it will be done.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow so I can go to the sewing room and have fun.  Maybe even finish something.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

I’m back in New Hampshire.  The Maine house is closed up for the season.  Before I left Maine, the chapter of the Pine Tree Guild that I belong to had our biannual quilt show.  It was an awesome show.  We have a small group of ladies and they outdid themselves with their beautiful quilts.

Each of us made small items for a teacup raffle.  I did win a mini quilt made by my favorite Maine quilter but haven’t taken a picture of it yet. Last July at our Christmas In July Yankee Swap, I also received a mini quilt from the same quilter.  I treasure her quilts. It is the third piece in the top row.   I will take a picture in the future of the mini quilt along with several others that I have received over the past few years.

The show is held in a historic meeting house that dates back to 1843.  Church services are still held in the meeting house.  The quilts are placed on the  backs of the pews and along the wall. A few are hung over the balcony.

     

My Canadian 150 quilt was one of the quilts that were hung over the balcony this year.

 

 

One of our members is in charge of the Linus quilts.  We had a very nice display of Linus quilts that are ready to go to sick children.  They are so colorful.  I’m sure that they will enjoy them.

 

Each year, we have a challenge.  This was the challenge from last year.  This is my quilt from that challenge. 

 

 

 

 

 

This year’s challenge was different.  My new things to do were using the Leaf Galore ruler, fusible applique and using the quilter’s chalk line to place the melons accurately on the wall hanging. 

Now, we will all start new projects in preparation for our next show which will be two years from now.

 

Once I get settled and everything is back in it’s place in the sewing room, I’ll get back to Moda Blockbuster, Simple sampler and Dear Jane.  I still have a pile of UFOs to work on.  I know that I finished a lot of UFOs this summer, but the pile doesn’t seem any smaller.  I also have the International challenge quilt to work on.  I’m choosing fabric for that one this week.  That quilt is 52″ x 68″ so it shouldn’t take too long to piece. The 18 focus blocks are done.  Lots and lots of ideas in my head.  I need 48 hour days.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It’s a good thing that I had a class on tiny piecing.  The two blocks that are in the Moda Blockhead project this week have 1 1/2″ pieces.  Some are half square triangles.  I’m thankful for the Tucker Trimmer.  It trims the blocks to a perfect size.

Block #23 is Broken Windows by Jo Morton.  It consists of half square triangles and flying geese. I just realized that the flying geese are inserted backwards.  I’ll unsew this block and resew it the correct way.  Or maybe, I’ll just make another block correctly and have two blocks.  This isn’t a mistake.  It’s a design element.  I may like this one better.

 

Block #24 is Kaleidoscope by Sherri McConnell.  It consists of 1 1/2″ half square triangles and 1 1/2″ pieces made into a four patch.

I may get to enjoy tiny piecing some day.

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

I’m finishing some projects so that I can pack them for the trip back to New Hampshire.

Dear Jane has two blocks ready to tack down the binding and four blocks ready to quilt.  I will do some of the hand work tonight.

The Moda Block, Circle and Star by Jan Patix is finished,  I made it using a technique that I learned from David Taylor.  The block was invisible machine appliqued using Gypsy paper on the back of the fabric for stabilizer.  The edge was turned under with spray starch which was sprayed into a dish and applied with a q-tip.  When pressed, it makes a sharp seam to stitch with a blanket stitch.

 

The Simple Sampler block, Cat Nap by Nicole Ves Van Auezathe was supposed to be hand embroidered.  It represents a cat taking a nap on a quilt.  I read Kat Tucker’s blog and she made hers with free motion quilting and embroidery.  It was much easier.  The cat was supposed to be black, but I only know yellow cats so free motion quilted my cat yellow.  I used leftover pieces of fused fabric.  I keep all leftover fused fabric is a separate baggie so that I won’t use it by mistake when I think that the color is just what I need.

I have the small quilt that I have named “Mistake” on the sewing machine now.  I am even feed foot quilting it using painter’s tape for a guide.  Six of the blocks are finished, six more to go.  Then the sashing, borders and binding.  I might not finish it before I go back to New Hampshire.  The Quilt Show is this weekend.  There won’t be time to quilt.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

October

 

 

 

I realized that I didn’t finish telling about all thirteen Miss Rosie quilts.

Raise the roof is comprised of 32  log cabin blocks and 32 sawtooth star blocks.  The sawtooth star block is a quarter square triangle block surrounded by flying geese with half square triangle corner squares.  The blocks are colored half dark and half light diagonally.  The log cabin blocks are also colored dark and light diagonally.  The blocks are set in a barn raising setting.

Carrie ‘s blocks are brown, orange, yellow, and a few spots of green and blue.

My blocks were in the pastel spring colors. I quilted it with my domestic machine.  

  

My daughter’s blocks were in purples and yellows.  Her quilt was long arm quilted by Gail Mintkin.

 

It is so interesting how different colors can make a totally different quilt.  We both enjoyed the project but were glad when the last stitch was finished.  Miss Rosie took over our life for a while.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

In yesterday’s blog about the Moda Blockhead 2 block having tiny pieces, I mentioned a class that I took while at the Vermont Quilt Festival last summer.  The class was Tiny Piecing and was taught by Lynn Harris.   The class description was – Learn tips and tricks that make working small easier, piecing tiny stars, and other small blocks as well as intuitive piecing.

I did enjoy the class, but decided that working small wasn’t what I really wanted to do. This is the piece that I made with the quarter square triangle finishing at 1/4″  It’s hardly visible. It is in the right block, bottom row.  A four patch finished at 1/4″ is in the left block.

I also made a 3″star.  

This is Lynn’s queen quilt made with 3″ stars. It is absolutely stunning.  

 

 

 

We were taught to improvise with tiny left over strips.  These are my blocks.

This is Lynn’s quilt.  I like the basic white with a little color.  I might make something like this in the future.  

 

 

 

Lynn’s blocks are amazing.  She uses every last scrap of fabric.  I think that if one started to make blocks with small pieces on a regular basis, they could be made up quickly. It might be interesting to make one or two after sewing a regular size quilt.  They would add up quicker than you might think.      

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

When I was at the Vermont Quilt Festival last June, I took a class to learn small piecing.  The instructor’s quilts were beautiful.  Everything was pieced in 1″ pieces or other very small sizes of fabric.  I even learned to make a quarter square triangle that finished at 1/4″ It was perfectly square.  If it was placed in a block, you wouldn’t notice it.  I decided that this was not what I wanted to do, even though I could do it.

Block 22 in the Moda Blockhead block of the week project uses small pieces.  There are four 3″ blocks within a 6″ block.  It uses 1 1/2″ squares for the corners and centers of the 3″ blocks.  They finish at 1″.  The other four pieces consist of two 1 1/2″ x 1 ” rectangles sewn together.  All four of the little blocks have different colors.  In the original pattern, the center block was the same color as the rectangles that were closest to them. They looked like a cross in the middle of the block.  I chose to use a coordinating  print fabric in all of the center squares.  This block might change my mind about piecing with small pieces.  It is very pretty and easy to piece.  I can imagine a whole quilt with this block in different colors with the center piece all the same fabric.  Now, when I cut leftover fabric scraps into precuts, I will cut smaller than 2 1/2″ and go down to 1 1/2″. It would take a lot of squares to make a full size quilt.

The Moda Blockhead 2 blocks that I have made are out of order.  One not made yet is an applique.  The Splendid Sampler has and applique block and an embroidery block that are not made.  Handwork takes a little longer than piecework.

Have a great day and happy quilting.