One UFO Checked Off the List

I can actually check off July's UFO! On Tuesday, when Sharon was here to sew, I put borders on my 16-patch scrappy quilt! It is quite exciting to have a finish to report.

 I started this quilt at my Friday get-togethers with the Frankfort girls. Originally I was hand-piecing 9 patches. When it got to the point that I didn't have enough parts to make 9-patches of 4 matching lights and 5 matching darks, I began mixing leftovers randomly in 16-patch blocks. Before very long, I had quite a hefty stack of them, and decided it was time to move them to the quilt top stage.

I really considered a lot of options for putting these blocks together, and somewhere in the fuzzy, faded recesses of my mind, I recalled seeing a quilt that featured stars in the sashing units. I guessed at measurements, and came up with what you see here. 

I decided to add 3 borders and I love the combination I used. The inner and outer borders are Thimbleberries fabrics; the narrow center border is a Brackman-Thompson fabric - all from the stash! Hooray! This is truly a scrap quilt. All the pieced blocks were from dozens of old projects and leftovers. The sashing strips and cornerstones were stash fabrics, as well.

It feels so good to have a finish!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Overnight With Aunt Jayne

What fun we had earlier this week when my twin nieces Anna Rose and Mary Jean came to stay the night. They will be 8 next month and have never stayed over at our house. We just don't live a convenient distance from them, and we aren't in the direct line of travel from their parents' work.

The Highland County Fair began on Saturday, and all local schools close down for fair week. Anna Rose was showing a steer in the Open Class show on Sunday evening (Mary Jean opted out), so I headed over to Hillsboro to see the steer show.

Here's our little cowpoke all decked out in her finest glitzy, glamorous steer-showing duds. Those are sequins on her shirt and belt, and even the pink boots had some sparkle. That rump roast you see behind her is Betty, the steer that AR showed. Betty had been given the treatment, too, and was fluffy and clean for her performance.

After the show, we ate some fair food and drank some fair drinks - it was H-O-T! - and at around 10:15 we loaded up the girls and their bags and stuffed animals and began the trip home. They were exhausted from a full day at the fair and were up much later than their normal bedtime.  Next morning, though, they were bright-eyed and bushy tailed! Ready to sew before the pajamas were off.

I had two tubs of fabric that were my daughters' from over the years. Whenever my girls went to the quilt shops with me, they were generally allowed to buy one fat quarter (kept them occupied making a decision). All those kid-picked FQs were stored together in tubs; they were perfect for the twins, so I dumped the tubs out on the floor and let the girls have at it. They loved selecting which fabric they would use to make whatever it was we were going to make. At this point they were talking a lot about Barbie clothes; I was reluctant to start that little stuff with them as novices. We soon had some decisions made.

Mary Jean, seated at the machine, decided she wanted a bag to be made from some blue, teal and purple fabric. You see her above stitching the handle. Anna Rose, seated opposite, is pouting as she was not happy about having to wait for her turn.

Here MJ is hard at work on the body of her bag. She was quite focused and really concentrated on what she was doing.

And before long, she was modeling the bag that she made all on her own! Well, she had some guidance form Aunt Jayne, but she really did do all of the stitching. Should I admit to having to use the seam ripper? It was my fault: I didn't have right sides together on one seam, daggone it!

Finally! Anna Rose had her turn at the machine. She found an old, old piece of fabric that had been cut out with a pattern - it was likely a dress back, from the markings and notches. AR's imagination took over and said it would make a perfect apron! I agreed, so we proceeded to turn under all the raw edges. Here she is doing just that. Those were long rows of stitching, though, and she was bored almost immediately. While I took over some of the stitching, she went back to the fabric tubs and found a fabric that she wanted to make a pocket from. And we did! We added a pocket to the front of her apron and it looks just as cute as can be!

She was so happy to model her finished apron for me! Her sister is in the hallway "tooting a horn" to announce the finish. They are so funny.

After sewing was finished, we headed downstairs. AR wore her apron while we made an apple pie. They made a "fort" of the pile of quilts in the chair behind them (above) and they harassed loved on Rocky, who was here for the week.

We had a wonderful time with the twins here. We are talking about the next school holiday, and possibly doing a repeat visit. Hope it works out!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Miscellaneous Remaining Quilt Show Pics

I had to take a couple of days away from blogging but I still wanted to show you the remaining pics from the Circleville Quilt Show. These are a few quilts that struck my fancy for one reason or another. Mostly, I just thought they were pretty.

The Raffle Quilt; made by members.

Additional raffle items.

Who doesn't like a blue and white quilt? I fall for them every time.

A project for the guild was to make this Carpenter's Star; quite a few were entered

More Carpenter's Stars.

Pastel Basket Quilt; hand quilted; 3-dimensional in  places.

Made with batiks (or look alikes).

A little quilt.

One of the Best of Show quilts; very striking.

My reason for being absent for a couple of days was that my soon-to-be 8-year-old twin nieces came to spend the night and we had "activities." I will bring you those sweet pics, and a fantastic finish for me, too!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Featured Quilter

As I mentioned in the last post, Laura was the featured quilter at the Circleville quilt show which just ended. These are most of the quilts she displayed. I will just show you pictures and omit narrative as I really don't know a lot about the stories behind these quilts.

I have seen a lot of quilts that Laura has made, but most of these were new to me. I know she is a prolific quilter, so this does not surprise me. Congratulations, Laura, for being the featured master quilter!!

Tomorrow, I will finish off the quilt show by sharing the remaining pictures I took.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Circleville Quilt Show

A nearby town, Circleville, has a very active quilt guild which has sponsored a quilt show on or near Labor Day weekend for years and years. The Good Time Quilters, as they're called, do a fantastic job for a local quilt show. A couple of the Frankfort girls are in the guild, and I wanted to show you their quilts. Tomorrow I will share the quilts of their featured master quilter, Laura Henthorne, who quilts with us at Canter's Cave and, on  occasion, at Terry's when she has sewing days. And finally, I will share some quilts from the show that struck my fancy.

But first, let's look at quilts by Sheryll and Jan, both in the group I refer to as the Frankfort girls.

Burgoyne Surrounded; Sheryll worked on this at Canter's Cave.

One of Sheryll's UFOs for the challenge.

 Jan had more than one quilt entered in the show, but this is the only one I photographed. I distinctly recall several little quilts in their raffle area. And there might have been one baby quilt that I missed. I feel bad, only getting this one. You saw this from Jan at Canter's Cave, too.

Here in my own sewing realm, I have finished the center portion of the 16-patch UFO. I thank a few of you for your border suggestions, and I think I know what I will be doing: 3 borders medium, narrow, wide. I am tempted to piece things for the border, but I would rather finish quickly and get this crossed off my list, so it is likely to be straightforward and simple.

I really like it, and am eager to get the borders attached. When it is a completed quilt top, then I can claim it on the UFO challenge. It's been a multi-year project, if I count all that time it took to stitch the 16-patch blocks by hand.

Off to Centennial Celebrations at the high school! If you want to read about the Historical Society's book on Edward Lee McClain, then click here.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

As Promised--UFO Progress

Never have I been compared to lightning, but I do eventually get things moving -- and finished, on occasion!

Sewing with Sharon on Tuesday really helped. I did a lot of prep work on the 16-patch UFO that was supposed to have been my July project. Better late than never, as the saying goes.

What you see above is three rows put together with two rows of sashing. It's really very straightforward. I prepped all the sashing units, and it's simply a matter of methodically working my way down the quilt. I am not worrying about how the pieced blocks are arranged. I see a couple of places where the same fabric appears to touch (across the sashing), but I'm just ignoring it. In the end, I don't think I will be at all bothered. This is a scrappy UFO, and so I'm letting the pieces fall where they may, to use another saying.

I have given absolutely no thought whatsoever to borders. I will be pondering this as I proceed. It seems as though this will be a rather small quilt, so I might opt for some sizable borders--we'll see what transpires.

One of my earlier dilemmas was finding a suitable 'make do' fabric for the stars. I had hoped to use the smaller print throughout, but found that I didn't have enough. What do you think of my 'make do' choice?

Yesterday afternoon I went to Circleville for the Good Time Quilters Quilt Show. I have several pictures to share. Tomorrow.

Today marks the beginning of a 3-day celebration for the 100th birthday of our beloved McClain High School. I was deeply involved in writing the historical society book on MHS, and so even though I am a Hillsboro grad (rival school), I have come to love this beautiful, historic building.

The cornerstone was cut away yesterday, and the time capsule placed there 101 years ago was removed. The contents will be on display this weekend at the various activities. Tours of the building will be conducted; a massive dinner is being held with over 600 people being served in the school cafeteria. The re-dedication ceremony will be Sunday afternoon followed by an ice cream social. Several classes are holding their reunions in conjunction with this Centennial Celebration.

I will be helping out at the historical society table and assisting with the dinner. One of my close friends is sort of "in charge" of this dinner, and she needs all the hands she can get.

The significance of the celebration, for those who don't know, is this: our high school was a gift from a native of our town - Greenfield - after he made a fortune in the manufacturing of horse collars. The school is the crown jewel of our town, and has been in continuous use as our high school since opening its doors in September of 1915. Not only did McClain donate the school, but he also filled it with art. There are friezes on the hallway walls, paintings, statues and drawings throughout. One teacher said it was like teaching in a museum or art gallery. My DH taught there for about 25 years; I taught summer school there for about 6 years, and all 3 of our children attended and graduated from MHS.

I hadn't planned on giving you all a history lesson this morning, but there it is, anyway. I suppose I tell you all of this to let you know that I might not be getting much sewing done with all of the celebrating going on. *wink* 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

An Unplanned Absence

Let's begin today's post with a quiz. It's multiple choice. And just one question.

What is going on with Jayne when she fails to post a blog entry for days on end?
a. She's reading a book.
b. Her internet is out.
c. She's in a quilting funk.
d. All of the above.

If you answered 'd,' then you are correct. I left you a week ago Monday and had 4 days to read a 500+ page book - A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson. This was our book club discussion on Friday, making this a big job to finish. I did it, too, believe it or not. I was reading in nearly every available minute.

Fortunately, I'd already taken those two work shirt quilts, shown above, to Terry, my quilter, and really didn't have anything extremely pressing to finish in the sewing room. I could read without guilt. 

On Friday, I had quilting with the Frankfort girls from 9-noon; that was followed by book club at 12:30. Terry had finished with the two work shirt quilts. I planned to bind them over the weekend.

On Saturday night, our internet went out. I made multiple calls to the service department, but it was Tuesday before a technician came to the house to fix whatever was wrong. It turned out to be a radio on the roof needing to be replaced. I swear, the service we've had lately has been anything but smooth. We are beginning to look into options and a possible change in providers.

So, I was supposed to bind those quilts over the weekend, but the funk took over, and I didn't get that done until Monday. I delivered them yesterday to Kathy, the friend who commissioned me to make these quilts. I am happy to report that she was thrilled with the results, and wants me to go ahead with a third quilt out of the remaining shirt fabric - and there's a lot. This one will be lots bigger than the lap quilts. I will try to get at least a twin quilt, and maybe even a double/full.

Sharon was over on Tuesday, and we both got a lot done. She is working on that red and white quilt that she began back in July. I returned to the 16-patch UFO that I teased you with in my previous oh-so-long-ago post. I will bring you a picture tomorrow. Promise.

Happy Quilting, Friends!