Happy Hallowe'en!

Greetings, Ghosts and Goblins!

Not too much new here to report, so I will show off my one and only Hallowe'en project. My best guess is that I made it about 10 years ago. The pattern is from Thimbleberries and much, but not all, of the fabrics used are from her lines, as well. It did all come from my stash, however. The wall hanging is machine pieced and hand quilted.

May your trick or treat bags be full of all your favorite goodies!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Fun Projects

On Monday, when I was at Terry's for a day of quilting, I took pictures of some of the thing the others were working on. (you saw my project in the previous post). 

Hostess Terry has undertaken a project requiring many, many half-square triangles. She had her machine humming away on some Thangles.

The picture of her project is there in the bottom corner of my pic. It's called Mollie Gray, a pattern by Country Threads. She and Monica went to the Iowa store several weeks ago for a camp and Terry came home with a big load of patterns and kits. This is one of them!

Here is a quilt top that Terry finished and showed us - it too is a Country Threads pattern, this one called Line Dancing.

Gorgeous! The scrappy look really appeals to me!

On to the aforementioned Monica. She was stitching away on yet another Country Threads pattern called Hot Buttered Rum. This pattern calls for a stitch-as-you-go approach. Here are a few of Monica's blocks.

The warm fall colors Monica us using in this quilt just invite snuggling. I hope I get to take a picture of it when she finishes it!

Here is a recently finished project that Monica had to share with us.

Across the table from Monica, Cherie was busy on a Jelly Roll Race quilt - but she wasn't using a proper Jelly Roll; instead, she was using a wide - very wide - variety of 2.5-inch strips from her stash to make this extra-long quilt for a family member.

Reminds me of the Coat of Many Colors from the Bible. What a variety! When she finished the borders on this quilt, Cherie got to work on her next project - Mary's 4-Patch, yes, also by Country Threads.

So, we were very productive on this windy, rainy gray day - awaiting the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

QWF - A Day of Sewing

Quilting With Friends.

One of the nicest things to do is pack up the sewing machine, grab a project (or two) and take off to a friend's house to spend a day sewing and visiting. Maybe this is the 21st century version of our grandmothers' quilting bees. They, too, knew the power of friendships.

So, I sewed a good portion of this rainy, windy, dreary day and will share now what I've done - at least the part I took pictures of! I will do another post on all that the other girls accomplished.

 

I added corner triangles onto the 9-patch blocks, and trimmed.

 

 

Do I  need to tell you how tedious trimming can be?? Probably not. Most quilters know it's a necessary evil - well, evil might be a rather strong word; it's not so much evil, it's just...well, tedious. Ha!

 

So, I have more SWF tomorrow morning, as we Frankfort girls will be meeting at Sheryll's. Afterwards, I will try to get busy on sharing the projects of the friends who quilted with me today - Cherie, Monica and Terry.

 

Stay warm and dry, and out of Hurricane Sandy's way!!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

New Project...and Old, Too

I started something new this past week. It will be really fast to finish, so I stopped. I need a project to work on at Terry's tomorrow, and this one will be perfect.

It requires 18 9-patch blocks, which I've completed. This quilt is going to be quite muted in color. I'm not seeing a whole lot of contrast in these blocks. That's not to say I think I am going to be disappointed. Quite the contrary. I have often admired quilts with low contrast--they are soft and soothing, every bit as wonderful as quilts with more traditional contrast.

You may recall these fabrics from a post I did back in the summer. I wanted to feature that fabric in the center of the block - a floral on a soft green-gray background, but I only had 1 yard of it. Well, as luck would have it, several weeks ago when I was just browsing through the flat-fold table of fabrics at my local Ben Franklin, and what do I see??? This same floral fabric!! I bought 2 more yards of it, and now I'm moving along with my project.

Color me a very happy quilter!

Another project for me this week was making 2 gifts for Frienzie birthdays. In my closet of UFOs, I had several things to choose from (it's like going shopping in there!). I ended up deciding on table toppers. However, I did NOT have time to hand-quilt them, which all along, that is what I thought I would do with these table toppers. I decided it was high-time I forced myself to machine quilt.

And so I did.

I did not have very much quilting to do on it, and I took my time. Overall, I was pleased with the effort. Tacking down the binding was easily accomplished in a couple of evenings in front of the TV, so all-in-all, this was a good thing to do. I removed 2 UFOs from my workspace, I practiced my machine quilting techniques, and gave gifts to 2 friends.

Pam, one of the recipients of a (belated) birthday gift, sent me a picture of her table topper already put to use in her house. She says it matches her decor very nicely. And I have to agree.

So, that brings me up to date on my projects.

Mostly.

I did start a little something late last night that I will have to share. Stay tuned! *wink*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Aunt Margaret - Quilt #4

The last quilt from my aunt is quite pretty. In fact, Margaret says this is one of her favorites - a scrappy 9-patch. This is what a going-on-90-quilter does when she is using up her scraps. I remember when Grandma was working on this quilt. She delighted in matching up the combinations and using up the tiniest bits in her stash.

Isn't it a happy quilt? Margaret's description of it in her email says it best, "I just love this one. It is the best example of Mom's use of color to its best advantage. She said she used up all her little left over pieces on this one and you can see why. It is just beautiful on the bed and I use it on the guest bed."

As I look at these various scraps, I see several that I recognize from different projects. This is a real record of all the quilts Grandma did over the year when you think about it. I am glad Margaret has it, for I know she values such heirlooms.

Well, for now, that concludes this updating of the chronicling of Grandma's quilts. I have several other aunts to contact, and then on to the cousins. And my siblings. And Mom. This could go on for quite awhile, I reckon!

Remember, you can see all of Grandma's quilts by clicking on the page heading at the top of the blog.

In my sewing room, I have been practicing my machine-quilting. I have a couple of small projects to show you in the coming days.

Happy quilting, Friends!

 

Aunt Margaret - Quilt #3

There's a cool story that goes along with this quilt from Aunt Margaret's collection. It is a Churn Dash made in red and tan. Here's the commentary that my aunt sent in her email.

I had a red & white 3/4 quilt on my bed that mom had made several years ago. It was stolen when our house was broken into 7 yrs ago. I didn't want to tell her I wanted a new one for my bed because I didn't want to tell her about the robbery. Anyway, as if she read my mind, she made this red & tan one which matches my bedroom colors exactly! Plus it was a queen size! I asked for it and she gave it to me about 6 yrs ago. It is on the bed every day and I love it!


Pretty nifty, huh?

I see that this quilt has been machine quilted which means I must have had a hand in it, but I honestly do not recall this quilt.

Stay tuned for one more quilt from Aunt Margaret's collection of Grandma's quilts.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Aunt Margaret - Quilt #2

This quilt is the Buckeye Quilt, as will be immediately evident. Grandma made her usual Ohio Star and Stepping Stones blocks in scarlet and gray to great success, whether a Buckeye fan or not.

This is Uncle Nick's "Go Bucks" quilt. Grandma made it approximately 10-15 years ago. There's a very good chance she bought some of this fabric with me on one of our shopping trips to Waynesville, OH.  Do you see how she did the borders? I imagine she was making sure she used up all the fabric she had.

I will be adding this quilt to my "Grandma's Quilts" page there at the top.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Aunt Margaret - Quilt #1

My mother's younger sister Margaret has sent me some pics of quilts that Grandma made. This will be my first effort at gathering pictures from family members for the purpose of adding to my record of "Grandma's Quilts" up there in the bar at the bottom of the header.

Margaret sent 4 pictures of this first quilt. It was made in early in the 1960's, as Margaret graduated from high school in 1961. All the flowers are made from Margaret's dress scraps, and the fabrics are all from the late 1940's through early 1950's.

Margaret said she always liked this fabric with the Western themed motifs - an Indian in a canoe, a bucking horse and cowboy are 2 that I can identify. It's hard for me to imagine that this was a dress, however!

Here are 2 more flowers. I like that paisley! The graphic one on the right looks interesting -- maybe a country scene?

Here you can see where Grandma replaced part of the border. Margaret said she used this quilt so much that she wore out the entire top border. So Grandma replaced it -- the darker green is the new part. Not a bad repair job, if you look at that wonderful quilting! Margaret said the repair was likely done in the 1970's.

And, did you notice?? The standard pattern that Grandma most often used on borders -- the cable pattern that she traced from a cardboard template.

So this is the first of several quilts that Aunt Margaret is sharing with me. I will try to post them in a timely manner. And, if this works out well, I will move on to other aunts and then cousins to do the same.

We three were together a week ago at the Ohio State-Indiana football game in Bloomington, IN. Uncle Nick took this picture of us. I'm the one on denim; Mom is in back; Aunt Margaret is in front.

Go Buckeyes!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Darcy is Quilted

Over the weekend I had an opportunity to stitch the binding down on my Darcy Schnibbles. It now adorns my kitchen table.

I have been hand quilting it when I stitch with the Frankfort girls. When we last were together, I noticed how close to finishing I was, so I just went ahead and did the last little bit of border quilting. Then, knowing I was going to be in the car for a ride to my FIL's, I knew I could stitch the binding.
Voila!! A finish!

 

The fabric used is Portabello Market. I went back to see when it was that I made Darcy, and I found the post in which I describe how it all came about. That was May of 2010. If you like, you can read it here.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

The Quilts at Terry's House

Over the years I have taken blog tours through the quilty homes of several of my friends. Sharon, Kay, Sheryll. Well, you are in for a treat today, because we are going to tour the lovely quilty home of Terry.

This little quilt is draped over a bench as we enter Terry's house. It is typical "Terry style" -- primitive, reproduction, and intricately pieced and  carefully quilted.

This sweet basket quilt is displayed on a cupboard next to the bench. Isn't it darling? Terry must have really liked it too, because across the kitchen is another one!

Slightly different items in the baskets, but same design. Same sweet quilt! Love 'em both!

This seasonal quilt hangs on the wall above the kitchen table.

We will step into the family room. There are many quilts decorating the walls. This one, above, has all the elements of a primitive quilt.

Terry has a very pretty balcony over her family room, and it looks spectacular with a patriotic quilt draped over it. It is wonderful, and makes quite a statement in her room.

 After entering the family room from the kitchen, if you turn around and look above the doorway, this antique quilt hangs in a protective frame. I am sure Terry has told me the significance of this heirloom, but of course, I am unable to recall it now...anyway, it is really pretty, and it hold such a regal place there above the entry.

There are quilts all over the place! Here is a small wall hanging.

This is on the coffee table.

Here is a small quilt on an antique cupboard.

This is a sweet Thanksgiving/fall wall hanging. So simple!

 

This quilt is draped over an easy chair. I remember showing this as a new finish just a few months ago.

 

And above that easy chair, this patriotic rooster struts his stuff.

 

To round out a well-appointed quilty room, we can't forget the pillows. Here is another patriotic rooster, this one is perched on a chair.

 

 Three fall-themed pillows rest above the sofa.

 

So, there you have it -- a quilty tour through Terry's lovely country home. I hope you are inspired by the beautiful array of quilted items.

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!