It’s a beautiful day for working in the gardens.  My front gardens are mulched, except I need five more bags to finish the job.  Next week will be just great for doing that.

My garden series is up to blocks 11 and 12.  I saw a setting on Pinterest that uses 12 blocks and will put the garden blocks together that way.  I’ll search my stash for the setting pieces this week.  Then the garden series will be done.

I’ll continue to make all the blocks in Cindy Einmo’s book, but will just make the blocks for a sampler quilt.

 

Block 11

1        

Block 12

      

Have a great day and happy quilting.

What do you do with one little paper pieced house?  It stayed in the Gaa-Barge bin for a long while before I decided to put it on a hill and use scraps for the landscape.  It made up quickly and counted for the gaa-barge of the week

.

Red flowers are in the yard.  The light is on in the window and the path leads to the front door.  The border strips were left uneven.  This tiny house is a fixer-upper.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

After I had pieced my first two quilts, I wanted to know how to actually quilt them.  I saw an ad for a quilting class.  I signed up, hoping to learn how to quilt, only to find out that it was a piecing class, not a quilting class.

I did learn a lot.  One of the handouts was a quilting dictionary.  I had no idea that there was a quilting language.

We made a sampler wall hanging.  I still didn’t know how to “quilt”, but just sewed the top, batting and backing together.

 

 

 

I started to quilt using the Quilters Newsletter magazine.  In one of the issues, I found a pretty wall hanging.  At the time, it was so hard to make.  It took a long time.  Of course, at that time, I made templates, drew around them and cut out each piece separately.  Now, as I look at it, it is just nine patches and strip pieces.  Using a rotary cutter and ruler would make this wall hanging very easy to make.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Shortly after I became a quilt maker, I thought that I could add to my income by making consignment quilts.  I was led to a lady who wanted me to make a quilt from eight blocks that her mother made.  We agreed on a price and I bought fabric for the sashing, borders and backing.  I put the blocks together and hand quilted the piece.  When I delivered it, the lady was very angry that I didn’t make a king size quilt out of eight 12″ blocks.  That almost stopped my career in consignment quilting.

My next consignment quilt was one that I made for my daughter. She wanted one to give to her sister in law for a wedding present.  We agreed on a pattern and the fabric.  I cut out all the pieces and started to piece the quilt.  This was before rotary cutters and rulers.  The process was to copy the pattern, paste it on sandpaper, cut it out and trace around the template on the back of the fabric.  After cutting out all the pieces, the blocks weren’t going together easily.  They didn’t fit together at all.  I checked the book where I found the pattern and found that the seam allowances were not included in the pattern.  I had to go back to the quilt shop, buy more fabric and start again.  The quilt did come out very nice.  I learned a lesson to read all of the instructions before cutting.  I also was a wreck when it was finished.  My daughter loved the quilt so all was well at the end.

My third and last consignment quilt was made from cut out pieces cut by a co-worker’s grandmother.  I knew enough at this point to tell her that it would be a wall hanging, not a big quilt.  She was fine with that because she wanted to hang it in her kitchen.  Luckily, I found some fabric to add that complimented the blocks.  At that time, I hadn’t made any drunkard path blocks, but by the time it was finished, I could do curved piecing.  The colors were not my usual colors.  I agonized all the time that I was making it.  My co-worker loved it and was very pleased.  After making that wall hanging, I decided that quilt should be my joy and pleasure and there was no joy or pleasure in making consignment quilts.

I had read “Knitting Without Tears” by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  She said in the beginning of the book, “If you don’t like knitting, don’t do it.  Do something else that gives you joy.”  I agree with her.  I didn’t like to make consignment quilts, so I’m not going to make any more.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I’m in Maine for a few days.  It is cool here, but I keep warm by weeding the flower beds.  The daffodils are in blossom.  Usually I don’t come up here this early in the season and miss their beauty.

 

 

 

 

When my children were  married, they received a wedding quilt.  In the past, I used to take a picture of each quilt that I gave away and put it into one album.  I’m so glad that I found the album and can share some of the pictures with you,  When I make a quilt for a specific person, I have no problem giving it away.  When I just make a quilt, I  tend to keep it until the pile gets too large.  Then I can easily give them away before the shelves collapse under the weight again.

One of my daughters received the unicorn wall hanging.  It was fun to make.  I like to applique, although at time, I hadn’t had lessons.  I also thread painted the pine needles on this piece.  I didn’t even know the term “thread painting”, but I found that I enjoyed doing it.

 

 

A son received the next quilt.  It is made in my favorite colors and was a joy to piece.

 

 

 

 

Another son received this quilt. The pattern  is called “Lover’s Lane”.  I like the center on point square.  This quilt was hand quilted.

There are many more wedding quilts in the album.  They will show up on a later blog.

When I placed the pictures into the album, I wrote the  name of the recipient on the back of the pictures.  Frankly, I forgot that I made many of the pieces, especially the wall hangings,  and who has them.  It’s a good thing that my family likes my quilts.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

h

The weather has been beautiful.  My days have been spent raking the lawn, picking up branches and pinecones.  Today, I fertilized and limed the lawn just in time for the rain.  I also reseeded where the lawn was winter killed.

Tomorrow, I will start to do it all over again in Maine.  When I get back home again, I’ll plant the flower seeds and hope that the flowers will grow and be beautiful.

In the meantime, my sewing room is neglected.  When the Spring cleanup is finished, I’ll have more time to spend sewing.  The gardens will just need a little weeding and deadheading.

I’ll have to blog about pieces made in the past, not what I’m working on now or finished ufos for a while until I can get back to the machine.

This Gaabarge is made from small scraps that were laid on a background, covered with tulle and stippled quilted.  It looks like a spring piece.  I made four pieces of made fabric.  One with tiny yellow scraps.  One with green scraps.  One with purple scraps and one with green, yellow and purple scraps.  Then I cut out the made fabric and pieced the little wall hanging. 

 

 

 

The made fabric was bulky so I butted the pieces together and then  zig zaged the seams.   All of these scraps came out of the waste basket.  Garbage to Gaa-Barge.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

This was a fun gaa-barge to make.  The background is a hand dyed fabric that wasn’t the color that I intended.  Lots of little triangles were sewn down with a zig zag stitch.  Then some stippling and thread painting.  It is larger than most of the gaa barge pieces.  It’s about 20″ x 20″.

 

  

Miss Molly is inspecting the piece.  She looks as if she is still thinking about it.  I don’t know whether she’ll approve it or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great day and happy quilting

These quilts were given as gifts for various reasons.

I have a friend who wasn’t married, but had a girl friend for nine years.  He asked me if I would make a quilt for him.  I replied, Yes, when you and A get married, I will make a quilt for you.  What is your favorite color?  It was blue.  I never expected them to be married so thought I wouldn’t  have to make the quilt. I was surprised the next year to hear of the wedding,  I made the quilt.  It is one of my favorite scrap quilts and is the first one that I machine quilted. Someday, I want to make another one in this pattern.

 

One of my co-workers married a much older man.  She had learned to quilt at my dining room table after work.  The office gave her a baby shower when she was expecting her son and this was my gift to her.  When she opened the present, she told everyone how wonderful it was and how hard that quilt was to make.  There are Y seams which I don’t find hard, but apparently she did.

 

 

 

A family had a house fire in another city.  They lost everything,  I made this log cabin quilt for them, but don’t remember who they were.

 

 

 

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The crocus are blossoming.  The garlic is up as well as sage, parsley and other herbs.  It’s time to rake the lawn and remove fallen branches.  The fertilizer and lime are ready to apply.  Spring must be here.

Blocks #9 and #10 from Kimberly Einmo’s book have been pieced. There are 21 blocks in the 10″ category in the book, so I am half way done with this project.

I have several different color iris.  They are all beautiful.  The purple and white iris is striking because of the contrast in colors.

The Shasta daisy is a welcome addition to the garden.  They are sturdy and last a long while.

 

Soon, I will be able to use colors from current flowers.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

I am still checking all my closets and the attic for UFOs.  There are so many.  The pile does not get any smaller. I find more every day.  I did find a stack of table mats that are  fun.  I can remember finding the watermelon seed fabric and making the mats.  Then, I went on to other things and put them aside.

I’ve finished four.  They have a solid color backing.  They will go to the Charleston, Me firemen’s silent auction.

 

 

There are four watermelon slices left to finish,  I’ll find a seasonal fabric for the backing.  Maybe a Christmas theme.  That will make them reversible and I can use them in the winter,

 

 

I also found two lemon slices.  How fun is that!!  Great for a tea or a picnic.   The backing could be another season or holiday.  It takes just a few minutes to sew around the mats, The turning hole can be sewn while I watch TV.  They finish so quickly.

 

I must have used a template and cut with scissors when I made the mats.  I didn’t have a 10 degree ruler at that time.  Cutting out the pieces four at a time with the ruler would streamline the process.  A set of half circle table mats would make a great shower or Christmas gift.

Have a great day and happy quilting.