Basket Quilt Progress

As promised, I am sharing my progress on the basket quilt, slow as it is. Sharon and I sewed together on Tuesday, and I've not taken one stitch on it since. That's just the way life is for the moment. Getting settled in to a new semester at OUC, adjusting to fall hours as opposed to carefree summer hours - this takes some getting used to.

But I digress. Let's see some quilt pictures, shall we?

I am finally able to use some chain piecing for this part of my construction process. It assures that I am keeping baskets facing the correct direction, and I can manage handling the quilt so much more easily. I am pinning very thoroughly, even though that might be unnecessary. I feel more confident that I'm eliminating mix-ups by pinning.

As I worked, I had to move from the table to the guest bed. The additional rows just became too cumbersome. Plus, I like seeing the progress row by row.

I have made decisions about the vertical sashing strips. I will also use one color per vertical strip just like I am doing one color per horizontal strip. At the intersections, I will use the background as cornerstones. In essence, I will be framing each individual basket, and while that is not the way the pattern shows the finish, I am happy to be using more of my Roman Holiday fabric.

Are you getting ready to celebrate the Labor Day weekend? Our plans are low-key, but we are meeting our daughters and their guys for dinner in Columbus this evening. Then we will bring a particularly adorable kitty home with us to babysit for the weekend, while DD1 and her hubby go out of state. Rocky gets his own vacation at our house.

Besides that, we anxiously await our first college football game tomorrow at noon! Go Buckeyes! We are always excited for football around here.

Here's hoping your weekend is enjoyable!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Two Mennonite Quilts

Each Wednesday this summer, I have been driving two neighbor girls to their job at a nearby "Amish" market. The girls are our neighbors and are Mennonite. Odd isn't it, that the store is owned and operated by Mennonites, yet everyone refers to it as 'The Amish Store'?

Anyway, the girls - young women, actually - Kathaleen and Betty, are sisters, and have been nothing but delightful to chit-chat with as we drive to work each Wednesday morning and back home in the evening. They have heard me prattle on about my quilting endeavors, and have shown such an interest. At one point, I even took a stack of my basket blocks with me to show them.

Last Wednesday was my last day to provide their transportation due to my university semester beginning this week, so they asked if I had time to stop for a quick peek at two of their quilts, made by their grandmother, one of which is a basket quilt.

Seriously! How could I say no? *grin*

This basket quilt is Kathaleen's. The block size is larger than mine, so I estimate hers to be 8 inches. The work is entirely hand-done. The quilting in the alternate blocks is strikingly beautiful.

Betty, left, and Kathaleen hold up the quilt for a picture. I could tell they were very proud of their grandmother's handwork. The fabrics are a variety of scraps and to Kathaleen's knowledge had not been remnant of dresses - just a lot of scrappy calico prints.

Interesting coincidence discovered through our weekly chit-chat to and from work - Betty knew the workers from the Ashland quilt shop I visited in May. Small world! Click here for that post.

Betty then invited me to see the quilt on her bed, and well, yes! So, here is another handmade quilt by their grandmother; the pattern is called Periwinkle. The quilting is not as dense, but still looks very attractive beside the pieced blocks. And speaking of the pieced blocks, all the periwinkles are made with checks, plaids, or stripes, which I find to be an interesting departure from the typical calico I would expect to see. I wonder if these fabrics were from discarded shirts or dresses.

I noticed that soft pink was used in both these quilts. I wonder if the grandmother did this with all the quilts made for the granddaughters, and, likewise, used soft blue in ones made for the grandsons. I wish I had asked. I will surely be seeing them again, so I will try to remember to ask. I also want to ask how many grandchildren there are, as they told me that every grandchild did get a homemade quilt from Grandmother. How nice.

Isn't it great to have friendly neighbors?

Today, Sharon was here for sewing. We both made good progress on our Roman Holiday quilts. I will show you Sharon's first, as her top is now put together. She will next be adding borders. I have about half of my vertical rows stitched to together with the sashing, and will continue plugging away on them this week.

Come on back for the Roman Holiday update!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sashing Those Basket Blocks

After deliberating for a day or two, I decided the best course of action on my sashing dilemma would be to use the Roman Holiday fabric.

I did give myself opportunities for finding more background. I dug waaaay deep in my tub of whites/off-white. None worked. Then I found myself in the vicinity of a quilt shop, looked at the options available and even bought 2 yards of a fabric I was positive would be perfect. Nope. Too white. I don't think my fabric looks that off-white, but you know how varied the whites are. I was foolish to think I could do it by guessing.

Those two strikes sealed the deal. It became obvious that I should just use the Roman Holiday. It's a Roman Holiday basket quilt - why wouldn't I use it if I have it??? I will be perfectly happy with it. I have no problem with my quilt not looking like the pattern. Featuring the gorgeous fabric is the goal. Always has been.

I have begun the sashing portion, and it's gonna' be fun to see how this works!

I will use a different color for each horizontal sashing. I have a red line and a blue line going so far. My next big decision will be whether to use color for the vertical sashings. I probably have enough of my neutral to do the verticals, but I may prefer to use the color. Verdict is still being deliberated.

I mentioned in a previous post that the 6-week long process of making these basket blocks was quite daunting. One fun trick that kept me motivated through the 100-basket countdown was listening to an audio book. When the story is a gripping one, staying on task is a no-brainer - I want to know what happens!  The book that captured my fancy was Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner. I highly recommend it, and I am currently into my second Meissner audio book, A Fall of Marigolds. Both books are historical fiction, and I believe Meissner's signature story-telling method is framing a story set in a historical time inside one set in the present. I am liking this author, as well as this method, and plan to seek out more titles by her. I am indebted to another quilt blogger, Nicole, at Sisters Choice Quilts, for recommending this author on one of her recent book-review posts.

Today is special in two ways. First, our oldest, Adam, turns 36 today. Whoa, how can that be?! He's all the way across country in Oregon, so we are celebrating from afar. Second, I begin another school year at Ohio University-Chillicothe. I have a M/W schedule this semester, and look forward to another challenging term. DH and I have had a fun, refreshing and relaxing summer; I am ready to meet another group of incoming freshmen writers.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Looking Ahead

Maybe it' a bit too early to being thinking about July's activities, but because I have decisions to make and need to have a plan in place, I am looking ahead.

For Sharon and me, July is Roman Holiday Month! We both have remnants and some new (to us) jelly rolls in our Roman Holiday stashes, and we want to use this beautiful fabric! Through text messages, I know that she, too, is looking ahead and trying to establish a plan so that when July arrives we can go-go-go.

One type of quilt I've never made is a basket quilt, so I think that I would like to pair my Roman Holiday fabric with a basket pattern. This idea has fairly consumed me the past few days, and I have browsed through dozens of books, magazines and internet sites for inspiration.

Many fabric shops, fabric companies and pattern designers offer free patterns, which I have also perused. Moda's blog has a lengthy selection of freebies, and Picnic at Daybreak is one that I particularly like.

I spilled out the content of my Roman Holiday stash and added in the new charm packs and the jelly roll. This picture indicates that most of my quilt will be red, which I wouldn't mind in the least. The collection contains a good bit of brown and green and yellow and blue, believe it or not. I have a bit of yellow yardage which you see in the picture, but I only have the other colors in the precut forms. This definitely limits my options, so I must be deliberate in choosing a basket pattern.

While my brain works this all out, I have been stitching on Lake Effect, watching Cleveland Indians baseball and enjoying a lot of down time. Life is good here!

I've joined Confessions of a Fabric Addict and her weekly party Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Antique Delights - Part 1

This is the beginning of a series of posts I plan to share about the amazing collection of antique quilts belonging to a friend of mine, Mrs. B.  For nearly a year now, we have talked about getting together to take pictures of her quilts. Finally, that happened last Thursday. Oh. My. Goodness. What beautiful quilts!

These quilts originally belonged to her mother, Miss Rebecca. Since her mother's passing, Mrs. B. has been putting great effort into dispensing with all the household items, these quilts among them. Can you blame her for adopting them?

Without going into a bunch of detail, which will undoubted unfold as this series unfolds, let's just get to the first of the quilts. It  has been rather a conundrum as to how best to sort and organize all of them. By age? By color? By technique? By theme? I had quite a lot to consider as I edited and cropped the 70-plus pictures I took that day.

This first post will feature the two basket quilts in the collection.

This quilt definitely has some blocks that are deteriorating quite extensively. Did you notice how varied the handles are on each block. I wonder about the quilt maker- was it a young girl just learning how to applique? Miss Rebecca acquired these quilts and most of the ones I will be featuring in this series at estate auctions, so knowledge of the quilt maker is unknown.

This second basket quilt is in much better condition, and the colors have not faded much at all. Those different little appliqued flowers in each basket sure are sweet, almost whimsical. It is worth taking a moment to study the quilting and the designs in the white spaces, which on the older quilts is rather dense. Finally, check out the sawtooth border - that's definitely a labor-intense endeavor, isn't it?

So there's the first installment. I don't quite know how often I will post these, but when I do (possibly every few days), I will be sure to link all previous ones so that when we get to the end, all the links will be easily available.

I'm linking up with Connie over at her Tuesday party.

Happy Quilting, Friends!