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.

I was sewing late this morning when I heard a lot of loud screeching in the back yard.  The grackles usually made a little noise, but not like this.  I went to the window to see what was going on.  There were over two dozen little grackles flying around.  They were going up and down and over and under.  It’s a wonder that they didn’t bump into each other.  All the time they were flying, they were screeching.  Every once in a while, they all flew into the trees and were quiet and then all came back out, screeching louder.   Mama must have taught them how to fly today and they were having the best time.  They were screeching with joy for learning how to fly.  Then, they must have been tired because they went into the trees and were very quiet.  It must have been nap time and Mama was tired too.  There are probably several nests and several mothers. There were too many babies for one mother.  Maybe tomorrow they will learn how to fly in a row.  I hope that they come back and I can watch them again.

I am still working on Kimberly Einmo’s book, Bonanza 200.  I’ve almost finished sewing the blocks in the 10″ section, just a few more to go.  The last two blocks are on the diagonal, so I have to find a diagonal setting this group of blocks.  The straight blocks will be fine in a diagonal setting.     

I enjoy using Kimberly’s patterns.  I have her jelly roll ruler and her flying geese ruler.  They are both accurate and easy to use.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

P.S.  When you master a new technique, you are allowed to “screech” with joy.

I have mentioned the mile a minute block in other poste, but have never told how to make it.  Many quilters make this block and there are a lot of tutorials telling about it.  This is the way that I make it.

Separate scraps of fabric into two bags, one for scraps and one for strips.  The strips do not have to be straight.  The fabric does not have to be color coordinated, unless you want it to be a theme.  Use leftover thread and bobbins to do the sewing,  Color doesn’t matter.

Place the strips on one side of the sewing machine and the scraps on the other.  Pick up a strip and place it right side up under the pressure foot.  Without peeking, Pick up a scrap and place it on the strip right sides together.  Pick up another strip, butt it against the first and sew. You must use the scrap that you picked up without looking unless it is the same fabric as the strip. You do not have to have an accurate 1/4″ seam but it has to be straight.

Continue adding scraps to strips until you have a big pile behind the machine.  Press strips to one side.  It doesn’t matter which side.  Cut between strips.

Place another strip on the machine.  Add the two combined pieces to this strip right sides together.  It doesn’t matter  which way the combined piece is added.  Whichever looks best.  Again, press and cut between pieces. Pressing is very important.

     

Keep adding combined pieces to strips until the block is large enough to place a 6″ or 6 1/2″ rotary ruler on the diagonal.  When cutting the mile a minute block, always use the same ruler so the size will be the same on all blocks.  Move ruler around so that the corners don’t come at a seam,  Continue until you have enough blocks for a quilt.      

  Cut sashing strips the desired width and the length of one side of the block.  The strips could be cut 1 1/2″ or 2 1/2″wide.  Also cut square corner blocks the size of the sashing.  When sewing, place block under sashing,  There will be bias pieces. The feed dogs will take care of any difference in the size of the block if the bias stretches a bit.  Decide if you want a diagonal or straight set.  With a diagonal set, you will need setting triangles around the edges.

Add a 4″ to 6″ border or add a 1″ border, a 3″ mile a minute border and  4″ border for a total of 8″ on each side of the quilt.

You can use the mile a minute block in any quilt block that has a section the size of the block.  It could be the center of an Ohio Star block, monkey wrench block or any similar blocks. Sew a single piece of fabric to the mile a minute block.  Press toward the single fabric.

This is a great way to use all the cut off pieces that are left over after making a quilt.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Several years ago I found this little rose pattern on Pam Bono’s web site.  The quilt is 8″ x 10″. The pattern was given a little bit each day for seven days.  Then, after a week,  you had a little gift for Mom on Mother’s Day.  I have made four of these little quilts as they are great to give for gifts and take very little time in sewing and quilting the block. It is a great way to practice machine quilting.

On the first day, the pieces are cut out and labeled with a block letter, unit number and lower case addition.  There is a chart and pictures as the piecing could be confusing until you learn Pam’s method of sewing the block.  It is a neat and easy method of adding pieces until the block is completed.

I did cut and label the pieces the first day and then decided to wait until all instructions arrived before sewing the block.  I finished it in an afternoon.  Later on, Pam published a larger piece using three different colored roses.  I haven’t made that one yet.  Pieces are added in order.  Some are sewn on a diagonal, covering multiple parts that were already pieced. It goes together like a picture puzzle.  Even with the pieces lettered and numbered, mistakes can be made.

I also have a pattern for a sampler quilt which is shown in three different color ways.  Pam’s quilts go together easily, but there is a lot of cut off waste so I probably won’t make that one.

 

 

Pam has a lot of beautiful patterns on her web site.  She also had patterns in quilting magazines.  I just checked Pam Bono’s website and found out that she passed away in 2014.  She had designed such beautiful quilts.

This little quilt is a gift for someone.

Have a great day and happy quilting.