It was cloudy and cool today so I decided to stay inside, not do gardening, and get caught up on the Splendid Sampler blocks. It was too cool to sit on the porch swing and sew on the Grandmother’s Flower Garden.

It was a very productive day.  I not only finished the three remaining Splendid Sampler blocks, but I finished  the latest Moda Block head block.  I had cut the pieces out yesterday.  Then I got really busy and finished zigzagging the edges of the flowers on Melinda’s Quilt.  I started that quilt in a class on fusible applique with Sue Pelland at the Vermont Quilt Festival.  There was just a little bit more to do to finish it.  Now, I can baste the backing and batting on the quilt top and quilt it.  It will be nice to have something finished.

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Clamshells designed by Helen Stubbings

 

 

 

  Milk and Cookies designed by Rebecca Bryan

 

 

 

   Balance designed by Wenche Wolff Hatling

 

 

 

It is great to be caught up on all the long term quilts, – Splendid Sampler and Moda Blockhead 2,  The temperature quilt is up to date.  Dear Jane is still sitting in her box waiting for me to make another block.

We are supposed to have another thunder storm tomorrow, so I did go out and pick the raspberries.  There were more that I got a few days ago and it looks as if there are lots more to come.  I’ll freeze some.  They will be so good next winter.

Miss Molly enjoyed her day off from sitting on the swing and checking the neighborhood.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The day lilies are beautiful.  I look forward to them every year.

      

Even the ditch lily is pretty,  

 

 

 

This is the Splendid Sampler block #5.  That doesn’t mean that I have made all five.  I’ve only made one other.  I have three to make up sometime.

This block is called Point Taken.  It is designed by Susan Ache.  Susan says “Who says that a star has to have points,  Chopping off points is part of the design. ”  I’m not sure that I like chopped off points.  Maybe in the whole quilt, it will fit in.

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The orange ditch lilies are all over the place.  It is good to see the yellow day lilies back in their spots.  Hollyhocks are stating to blossom.  Also the Marguerites.  The perennial geraniums are almost finished.  I did hear that if they were cut back, they would blossom again.  I’m going to try that and see if it works.

 

I made the Moda Block Head #5 just as it was in the pattern and didn’t like it.  It is a 24″ block with 8″ corners.  The corners looked too large.  Yesterday, I checked the Moda blog and saw pictures of the block that other quilters made.  One had stars in the corners and the middle.  That was much nicer.  Today, I made the block and am very happy with it.  I’m glad that I don’t have to follow someone’s pattern and can add my own twists to it.

 

 

 

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I had worked in the garden yesterday and was reading a book for a while. All of a sudden there was a big clap of thunder.  I had intended to take a shower as I was going out for the evening.

 

Miss Molly had already gone to her safe place.  If she sits in the corner, she can’t see lightening and maybe the thunder won’t hurt.

 

 

I thought that I could take a quick shower before the storm really hit, so I grabbed clean clothes and went into the bathroom.  As I was washing my hair, I felt something down around my legs.  Miss Molly, who absolutely hates baths, was in the shower with me.  She was sopping wet.  If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to get ahead of the storm, I could have given her a nice bath.  That will teach me to not shut the door.

Summer is wonderful.  This afternoon, I picked the first crop of raspberries.  There are a lot more that will be ready in a day or two.  It pays to prune and weed in the spring.

 

 

Several years ago, I had a class and made a Hawaiian quilt.  It was supposed to be a wall hanging, but my walls were full.   I added large triangles and appliqued the pattern on the pillow fold down.  It was made before I did machine quilting and is hand quilted.  The quilt is echo quilted every 1/4″ in the center.  The applique pattern in quilted in the triangles and then echo quilted.  One evening, as I was quilting, my Dad remarked that I would never finish that quilt.  There was too much quilting.  I not only finished it, but went on to make many more.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The temperature quilt is half done.  It will take one whole year to finish it as I make one block each day.  The bird is the high temperature of the day and the sky is the cool temperature of the day.  The colors are not my usual colors, but I pulled fabric that I usually bypass to make it.  I’m thinking of making a chart of the fabrics that will tell the temperature range for each fabric.  It’s in the thinking stage now, but I’m sure some idea will come out some day.  I have a nice fabric set aside for the middle border.  The black fabric is in N. H. I will bring it up to Maine the next time that I go back and forth.

The farmers have worked for two days from dawn to dusk and all the hay is baled and hauled away.  Most was baled in the small bales, but there are a few big round bales in the fields.  I took a picture of the men working.  The view is beautiful  I really don’t stop and look at it as much as I should.

This is the last of the 14 charity quilts that I made this year.  I still have lots of fabric to make more.  

Have a great day and happy quilting.

It was a beautiful day today.  Sunny, cool, crisp with a little breeze blowing.  We went to the pond for a little while.  I sat and watched the others take the first swim of the season.  They said that the water was warm.

Molly had company  She entertained three gentlemen friends.  Odie is a labradoodle.  He is a gorgeous dog.  Just the right height for patting without leaning over.  Ziggie and Mr. Gibbs are Schnauzers.  It was hard to get a picture of all of them together.

 

 

 

 

It was fun to sit on the porch, shuck peas and watch the hayfield across the road being mowed.  I expect that they will bale the hay in the next day or two.  Farmers work very hard.

Several years ago, I had the pattern for a mystery quilt.  I went to a local quilt shop for the fabric.  I had one piece of fabric that I wanted to put into the quilt and was looking for additional fabric to go with it.  Suzanne was working that day and I asked her to choose the fabric for me.  When the quilt was finished, it was wild.  It looked like a very stormy night with black clouds and lightning.  I named the quilt “A Wild and Crazy Night with Suzanne”.  She does know what I named the quilt.

That was the second and the last time that I asked someone else to choose the fabric for my quilts.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The last two blocks in the Kimberly Einmo’s 10″ blocks are baskets.  The baskets are on the diagonal so all the blocks will be set on the diagonal when they are put together.

  

I still have to decide what sashing I should put between the blocks.  Will it be plain or fancy? Will there be one border, or two or three.  Lots of decisions to be made, but I have time for that.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I have shown the blocks that are in the Flower Garden Quilt in previous blogs.  The blocks were made with fabric colors that were the same color  as the flowers photos taken in my garden.  The blocks were the first twelve 10″ blocks from Kimberly Einmo’s book, Bonanza 200.

I found his setting on Pinterest.  It was a perfect setting for the blocks.

I took the quilt to the Vermont Quilt Festival.  Kimberly Einmo was a teacher there and was very pleased to see the quilt.

I’m making another quilt with the last ten 10′ blocks in the book.  I am so thankful for a very good friend who helped me decide on a setting today.  I have a few more blocks to make and then I can put the quilt together,

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

When I first heard of the Splendid Sampler project, I decided that I would not do it.  I had enough long term quilts to make. Several of my Canadian quilting friends and several of my Maine Guild friends were going to make it.  It began to sound exciting.  After all, what was one six inch block a week.  I had made three 6″ blocks a week when I made the Canadian 150 quilt.  Maybe, I would think about making it.

I started downloading and saving the instruction files, intending to start in October when I went home to N. H.  I could catch up during the winter.  By then, I would have a lot of my ufos finished and would be caught up on the quilts that needed quilting.  I didn’t have fabric here in Maine to start a big project anyway.

Then I remembered the big bag of mile a minute fabric.  There were several large pieces in the bag.  One beautiful day I sat on the porch swing and sorted the fabric.  I had half a laundry basket full of pieces that were large enough.  The pieces didn’t have to be too large to fit into a six inch square.  When I go to N. H. at the end of July, I can bring back some scraps to add to the basket.

I don’t have a printer in Maine to print out the pattern pieces.  I did start quilting by looking at a picture of a quilt block and drafting the pattern.  That will be how I make the blocks until I have access to a printer.

Three patterns have been published so far.  The fourth one will be published tomorrow.  I didn’t need a pattern for block #2 so I made it first.  Tomorrow, I’ll draft the patterns for #1 and #3,  Then I can make them whenever I want.

I think this will be a fun project. Maybe I can use up a lot of scraps.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

  Sunbonnet Sue is celebrating the fourth of July and is all dressed up in red, white and blue.  This little wall hanging is on the wall during July.

In keeping with the red, white and blue theme, this baby quilt is reversible.  It was sewn with the sew and flip method.  Making a utility quilt with this method is fast and easy and it is quilted while it is being sewn.  The binding could be completely machine sewn, but I prefer to attach the binding by machine and tack it down on the back with hand sewing.

  

This quilt is the one that I bring out when I have a visiting baby.  It is a perfect size for a baby to take a nap.

Have a great day and happy quilting.