Slow Stitching Sunday

In all that tidying I was doing these last couple of months, I came across a table runner that needed quilting. I created this out of some orphan blocks and though it would look nice to incorporate into fall decor. The stars were made when I was just playing around with fabrics on a random day when I was probably procrastinating about something. Check out this post.

You can see from the date on that post that these stars have taken up space in my quilting room since 2018 - good grief! It needs finishing! At some point since then, I made and added the setting block, and I put the quilt sandwich together. Finally, it is nearly done.The hand quilting is nothing fancy or precise. I was not too concerned about marking lines; I eyeballed it. Just getting the job done. It's the most basic quilting ever. It will soon be time to trim it down and apply the binding. Perfect project for when I'm watching baseball on television.

 

For awhile this spring - in the past two months since we've been back from Florida - I have had an overwhelming feeling of too many unfinished little projects that, if finished, would be stored somewhere else besides stacked in my quilting room. I needed to deal with these little projects. And several have been dealt with, I can happily report. I share a few of them in this post. Since then, I've done another one, which I will share in an upcoming post. Now this table topper. What a satisfying feeling to be finishing off more little projects.

 Don't inspect the stitching too closely! Remember, done is better than perfect, right? I am going to have this one out of my view and another finish to check off my list. Hooray.

I will add my table topper to the slow stitching project party over at Kathy's Quilts.  She has a fun, yet incredibly telling graphic to begin today's post. The flow chart of project completions (!) is spot on. I love starting projects; finishing is another matter.

Oh well. Today, I am one step closer to finishing this table topper.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

 

 

 

Orphan Blocks

I'm not quite sure what happened to my post on orphan blocks. I thought I posted it yesterday, yet I find what was supposed to be a draft on another topic. Hmmm. I must have inadvertently deleted it.

Rather than try to recreate what I previously wrote and lost, I will just show you my little table topper built with two of the many orphan blocks hanging out in my quilting room.

 The star blocks were orphans. I made the connecting block with some scraps. I am considering using the big-stitch method of hand quilting. 

Those stars had been hiding out on this design wall. I'd had a quilt hanging there in front of all this for a very long time. When I took it down, a few months ago I found all these interesting orphans and UFOs.  Some of these items are really old; others, not so much. I really ought to consider finishing some - ALL - of this stuff.

We won't even talk about all the orphans that are stored in a too-full box over on the shelf as well as many inherited orphans of my aunt's and my grandmother's. 

Here is an old post about that box of orphans I dealt with a few years ago. Now I could gather up enough to fill yet another box.

How have you use your orphan blocks? I am not so sure I want to make a sampler quilt, but that makes the most sense, especially if I want to use a lot of them.

I'm gonna hit the publish button and see if I get it right this time.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

 

Grandma's Orphan Blocks

One family trait that I definitely did not inherit was my grandmother's skill at organization. She was meticulous about keeping things in their proper place, never putting anything where it didn't belong. After all I explained in yesterday's post about my difficulty with organizing and cleaning, you know that this clean-freak tendency skipped right on past me.

When Grandma gave me all her sewing stuff way back in 2012, each box was clearly labeled and neatly ordered. And even though I have shared much of her stuff here on the blog, I don't think I ever shared the contents of what I would call her orphan block box. Gosh, what a treasure trove! 

Let's dive into these blocks!

The makings of a fan; I found a stack of these wedges prepared for making more.

Cake Stand

I believe this 2-block combination is called Robbing Peter to Pay Paul.

A basket.

Another basket - or is it a cake stand?

Lemoyne Star - maybe?

A setting block.

Star.

A setting block to go with the two below.

A traditionally made Lemoyne Star.

Bear's Paw - this is a really big block.

Perhaps a block for an Irish Chain?

A 6-pointed star.

A basket block.

A tiny basket.

Another Lemoyne Star.

 So what will I do with these? I know the obvious thing is to make a sampler quilt which would include all these blocks. I don't know about that. The chaotic nature of all these colors would not be especially pleasing to me. 

Another option is to find related fabrics and make more of these blocks to create a quilt that incorporated both Grandma's blocks and mine. I actually have 2 boxes of Grandma's scraps; perhaps I could find enough of her fabrics to make more blocks and proceed with a table topper or wall hanging at the least. I dare not hope for enough to make a small throw quilt, but until I dig around, I'll never know! 

Doing anything with these blocks will have to wait. I don't see myself doing anything this year; maybe it can be a goal for next year.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Orphan Blocks

Sometimes, especially when I'm in between projects, I find myself making a single block just for the mere pleasure of pulling interesting fabrics and experimenting with new-to-me patterns. 

This pretty 8" star has graced my design wall for going on two years, I estimate. I gaze at it often, and make plans for one day using it in a quilt. How lovely it would be! 

It has a big brother hanging out nearby, made even further back. It  is simpler, bigger at 12 inches, and no less fascinating to dream about the eventual quilt it will become.

It has crossed my mind that they could be used in the same quilt, but I am leaning more toward a separate quilt for each block. (There's a lot less math involved in keeping one's blocks a consistent size in a quilt.)

With a new year, and a new set of goals, it occurs to me that I ought to act on these quilts and stop dreaming about them!

To that end, I have begun pulling fat quarters from my stash. Above is my initial grouping. It will be fun digging around through drawers and tubs to see what additional fabrics I can add. Definitely some brighter colors should be added and more neutrals.

 When will I make these quilts? I have no plan. The projects seem perfect for one of several retreats which are planned for this year. We shall see.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Frienzie Pam's Windfall

Long time readers are familiar with my Frienzies - those dear friends from my working days at CHS. We all had lunch together for years and years; not only were we coworkers, but we also shared many of the same interests, so naturally we formed some very strong friendships.

Most of us are now retired from teaching, but we still faithfully get together every month for a meal - either at someone's house or at a restaurant. Last month we sewed with Sherrie on Veterans' Day, and in the blogpost I did on that day, I mentioned that I would bring you additional details on Pam's treasure-trove of vintage quilt blocks.

In that earlier post, I alluded to the vintage blocks and quilting stash she'd recently acquired from her husband Charlie's late Aunt Margie. This aunt was known in the family as the quilter. Pam tells me that she and Charlie have one of Aunt Margie's quilts hanging above their bed. When the family needed to disburse Aunt Margie's belongings, Pam, a retired home ec teacher, was given the quilting items, which consisted of several tubs of fabric, supplies and orphan blocks.

Many of the orphan blocks are appliqued. Take a look:

A Celtic Knot

A river or stream with a boat?

Pam has taken the last three blocks and turned them into a table runner, using some of Aunt Margie's fabrics for the setting blocks.

Another table runner is made of three flower applique blocks placed on point. Pam did both of these table runners on Veterans' Day.

Now let's have a look at the pieced blocks. Pam has done some research on sampler quilts, and she plans to go this direction so that they can all be used in one quilt rather than a ga-zillion table toppers.

Drunkard's Path

36-patch block

A whale or fish

A starflower

Do you know the name of this block? I do not.

Pam turned these Storm at Sea blocks into a table runner.

Churn Dash

Snails Trails

Combination of blocks - unsure if it has a name, but pretty for Christmas!

Table topper made from triangles cut at 60-degree angles.

Scrappy signature block? 

As Pam creates her sampler quilt using these random blocks, I will try to bring updates from time to time. Pam likes to get things done, and never shies away from a challenging project. It will be fun to see what she comes up with.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Orphan Box

Orphan blocks - those lonely blocks that for one reason or another get put to the side, unused and/or unwanted. I have a box full of them, and if memory serves, I found a box of orphans in my grandmother's sewing things, as well.

I came across my orphan box one day last week when I was digging for something else, and I thought it might be fun to share some of what I have stashed away there. Most of the blocks are quite pretty, yet for whatever reason, I have chosen to hide them away. I might have to get busy on a sampler quilt and use these blocks for it.

Let's take a look at what I've got.

The box is a flat-ish puzzle box, large, but still some of the blocks have to be folded over to fit. I've just opened up the contents to a random spot and pulled out two. The top block is a leftover from the scrappy 16-patch stars I recently had quilted. The lower block is just a random 9-patch waiting to find its purpose.

There are more 9-patch blocks - many more, in fact - and they come in a variety of sizes. Here is just a sampling of them.

Some are made with KF fabrics.

Looks like 3-4 alike of this one in primitive fabrics.

This one is rather small.

Another made with KF fabric and white-on-white.

It appears I have a goodly number of miscellaneous stars in the oprhan box, also. A couple of these go way back, and I fear I don't even remember making others. 

 

And then we have the wildly random blocks that just seem to be stuff made for the sake of making them. Why? Just because, I guess! A quilter doesn't need to have a reason, right?

I remember thinking that this Churn Dash did not have enough contrast to suit me.

I remember 'unsewing' this block numerous times trying to make the points match.

Some aren't wildly random at all; this 4-patch is about as simple as they come.

There you have it - respresentative blocks from my orphan box. Maybe a goal for next year will be to use them. We shall see; we shall see.

I've been MIA these last few days. DH and I took a nice day-trip on Friday to eastern Ohio. Our original goal was to drive across the state on Old Rt. 40, the historic National Road. We ended up being sidetracked by genealogy-related stuff in Belmont County, where we traipsed around 4 cemeteries looking for surnames in my mother's branch of the family tree. We had a wonderful day and are already planning to go back.

Then over the weekend DD Erin and her husband Jeff were here with their cat. We watched a movie that the kids recommended: Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds starring Brad Pitt. My first Tarantino movie; good story line, but lots of gruesome bits, too.

Overall, we had a relaxing and laid back weekend, and I just didn't have the 'umph' to do even a simple blog post. My mother joined us on Sunday, and with the big cool-down in the weather, we had a beautiful day to sit on the screened porch and visit. I helped her finish a valance for her kitchen and attempted to fix an old sewing machine she'd brought with her (no luck with any fixes!).

Monday was devoted to syllabus writing and copying. With classes beginning for me today (8am and 12:30pm), I needed to be ready to go. And I was; the hardest part of the new semester will be getting up for that early class--it's been a long time since I've needed to keep those hours!

Happy Quilting, Friends!