Lots O' Pumpkins!

Those Frankfort Girls sure do keep a quilter on her toes! At the beginning of the month we - well, most of us - met for 3 days of sewing at Terry's house. We'd agreed earlier that we would all work on the same quilt - Harvest Pumpkins from the newly released book, County Seat Quilts. Click here for details on this mini-camp. 

Yesterday, we had our regular bi-weekly Friday morning get-together and some of these gals had quilted theirs, and were stitching the binding! Whoa! Mine still hangs from my design wall where I put it after doing my borders.

I thought I would share a little Harvest Pumpkin progress report/update. As the rest of us finish ours, I am sure I will do additional updates. Everyone's interpretation of this quilt looks so different! I marvel at how fabric and color choices can completely change a quilt's looks. This effect has always fascinated me. Maybe that is why I never tire of making some blocks over and over - all will look completely different with each new fabric/color treatment.

Back to pumpkins. Here is our first look at some finishes.

Jan has bragging rights on a total finish. Hers is completely quilted and bound; ready for fall displaying. 

Terry will be a close second place; she has quilted hers and was stitching binding while we visited yesterday. She wanted us to study hers closely to see if we could find the mistake. She didn't see it until after the quilting, so it is a permanent boo-boo.

Ever the industrious gal, Terry had extra bits cut for more stars, so she whipped up this table runner, has quilted it, too, and only needs to stitch down the binding. Way to go!!

Becky has her quilt finished to the flimsy stage. She intentionally made her borders narrower than the 5" that the pattern called for. Design choices! They are as varied as the quilters. 

Fun! We sure do have a lot of fun when we are together, and we help one another continue to grow as quilters. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Second Pillow

 Bit by bit, I will get all my pillows made. I now have a second one finished, fresh off the sewing machine last evening.

In this post from awhile ago, I shared my goal of refreshing some of my decor around here. Pillows offer a lot of pizzazz easily and economically.

Yes, you correctly noticed that this pillow is not an exact mate of the first. My error in thinking that my additional fabric on the first pillow was enough for a second. It was not. Durnnit! This meant I had to get creative and find equally pleasing fabric to coordinate with the first. It pays to have a sizeable fabric stash; digging commenced and have a look at what I unearthed!

Similar enough to work together, don't you think? By using the same vertical quilting, and blues that are really close in shade/hue, I believe I have sufficiently pulled them together. I DO have enough of the multi-floral print to make another pillow, so that will be next. Then I will consider using the bits left over in a simple pieced top. Hopefully that will complete a "look".

The first pillow is made with fabric by Timeless Treasure; additional information unavailable. The second pillow is made with AGF fabric by Maureen Cracknell called Flower Child.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Virginia Quilt Shop

Our goal as we kicked off summer was to take a mini-vacation every month. Pick an area of interest, go for a scenic drive, tic some items off our bucket lists, and be back home in 4-6 days. 

In May we took a southerly route - Columbia, Charleston, Savannah, Beaufort, Hilton Head, Augusta, Gibbs Gardens of Ballground, GA, and home. Fun trip. Great weather. Gone 6 days.

June's trip has just been completed. We still headed south, but not quite as far south - Shenandoah Valley, Skyline Drive, Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg, Lancaster County, PA. Another fun trip. Some stormy weather this time. Gone 5 days.

While I love seeing all this great big gorgeous country, I don't know if I am up for more trips. I like staying home, too! Maybe July will mean just a 2-day trip somewhere. We have not decided anything, so before we make more plans we will recover from this trip while we mull over some options.

I will do a more complete vacation wrap-up later when I can have my gazillion photos sorted and ID'd. Today, I want to tell you about some vacation shopping.

On May's trip we did not stop at any quilt shops. *GASP* I know! A travesty! You can be sure I made it a priority on this trip, and based on a neighbor's recommendation, I went to a good one! 

We chose a visit to the Shenandoah valley because here in Ohio we live amongst a growing community of Mennonites who mostly came from there. Having never visited the area, DH and I wanted to see it. I asked one of the neighbor girls with whom I've gotten acquainted for recommendations - not just quilt shops, but definite must-see locations in their homeland. Kathaleen recommended a good quilt shop! Patchwork Plus, located in Dayton, VA, was exceptional.

While I have no real need for more fabric, I do have a baby quilt to make, and my supply of suitably whimsical baby-type options had become limited. That situation has now been rectified. *grin*

Fat quarters to the rescue! I just couldn't resist all these playfully fun prints of dots, numerals and old-timey toys. It will be fun coming up with a sweet quilt for this grand-nephew due in September.

Patchwork Plus looks rather small from the outside; a deception, to be sure. It seemed that the rooms went on and on! Here are some various areas to satisfy your curiosity.

I really like the way fat quarters are stored directly above the matching yardage; this was quite convenient. The displays are really scrumptious, too! I think they had a wonderful variety of fabrics to satisfy every preference a quilter might have. I did not take any pics of the Kaffe Fassett section, but it was there! And I did peruse it! I also checked out their notions, templates, and book sections. A very complete quilt shop, for sure.

It's good to explore, but it's also good to be home. Today involves laundry and household stuff. Yippee!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Spring Dreams Sew Along - Grand Finale!

 

I am away again on another quickie vacation, and very nearly forgot to put up this post! Forgive me, please!  But hey ~~~~~

We did it! We spent the entire spring season playing 'together' as we made our Spring Dreams quilts. I have used up so much stash fabric through this effort, and for one quilt, bought some new! The pattern is one that I would consider making again and again, especially if I needed a quilt in a hurry. 

Today, we present our Spring Dreams Parade of quilts. Grab the cup of coffee or tea (or, at this late hour, perhaps something a little stronger!) and have a scroll through our individual interpretations of Spring Dreams.

Frienzie Pam made her quilt early on from fabrics she acquired after the passing of her husband's aunt. She was limited by her background fabrics, so her 3x3 mini-quilt was enlarged by adding borders. Now it fits a card table perfectly.

This whispery sweet bit of goodness is Parisian Dreams from Sharon, using a 3 Sisters line called Paris Flea Market.
 

Sharon has a dreamy-soft Blue Dreams using fabric from her stash by 3 Sisters. Sharon used a unique method for extending her fabric options when making this version. She was running low on 'light' fabrics, so she flipped a few blocks - in other words, the back or wrong side of the fabric is facing out.

 

Dee's is different in a couple ways. First, she opted for the 9-patches with 5 darks/4 lights. Another difference is the light used as sashing. This pattern is so versatile! I don't know if Dee has given her version a name, but I see ribbons of color when I glance at this, so maybe Ribbon Dreams will work for now.

My original Spring Dreams is quilted and bound! The fabrics are all from the stash, including the backing.

Next, I made Scrappy Dreams, a 3x3 quilt like Pam's above. However, I chose to forego borders. It makes a nice little quilt. It, too, is quilted and bound. 

 

LuLu Lane Dreams came about after a trip to my LQS (local quilt shop) which inspired me to check out my Coriander Quilts fabric stash. Along with a good amount of remnants, I discovered a jelly roll I'd forgotten about! 

I really went deep-stash diving for Patriotic Dreams. Most of these fabrics came from my grandmother's treasure boxes of quilt goodies. This is a tablecloth-sized quilt and will be perfect for summer picnics.
 

Sanctuary Dreams is the only one I made with newly-purchased fabrics, which I bought while at retreat in April. 

Pioneer Dreams, my latest effort, is made from an older layer cake by Pam Buda and stash yardage by Thimbleberries (dark sashing) and Johanna Wilson/Plumcreek Patchwork (neutral). I knew that using my background for the cornerstones would result in diagonal white chains across the quilt, and I am not mad about this at all. In fact, I like the look.

Thanks for playing along, everyone! It has been both a fun sew along, and a productive one. It forced me to think outside the box for a few of these, and I definitely have made a dent in my stash, which is always a good thing.

Before completely closing the book on the sew along, I must be sure to give one final shout-out to my cyber friend, Helen Philipps, whose picture so many months ago inspired us to make our quilts. You can find Helen here at her IG account, or here at her blog. I promise you will love looking at all her lovely, whimsical and pleasingly simple designs. 

So, this vacation has taken us to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the eastern Pennsylvania farmlands around Lancaster County. The car is pointed toward home now, and I should be back to more regular posting - maybe Tuesday evening, but more likely, Wednesday morning.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Decor Refresh

After awhile, things just get a bit tired, don't they? I have noticed that my pillows and cushions have quite a sad look about them. I intend to fix that in the coming week or two. Below is the first of several pillows I intend to make in my effort to spruce things up around here.

Family room sofa

After having such satisfying success with refreshing the pillows on our bed, I have decided that I need to follow through on the downstairs portion of the house - front room and family room, specifically. To begin I will make 4 pillows, and will likely add more later.

For now, I have just the one finished. Instead of the envelop back, I used a zipper in the bottom. I prefer the zipper, I believe. Crisper look when finished, in my opinion.

Here's another look at it from the front room. I have enough fabric to make one more to match, and then I will need to dig out other fabrics - or piece some quilt blocks - for more.

 I ordered a set of 4 18" inserts through Amazon, and this size will look good. Prior pillows I've made were all 16" which didn't look substantial enough, somehow.

Quickly before signing off I want to share a picture of how gorgeous our front yard looks at 6:30am. For some reason I was awake and looked out to see the sun just ready to come up over the trees. I hurried downstairs to greet the morning on the front porch. What a peaceful time of day!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Finish For Fall

Maybe you noticed that I was mostly absent from blogging last week. Today you get to see what was taking my focus away from writing and sharing.

Some time back I mentioned that I would be attending a mini quilt camp at Terry's on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week. All the Frankfort Girls were coming (we mostly made it at least a day or two), and we were making the quilt you see above.

My fabrics were shared in this post, and below is the background fabric - from my stash, of course.

 

So for three days, making this was our focus, and I am pleased to have a fall quilt waaaay early for the season. So very unlike me! The quilt is called Harvest Pumpkins, from the book County Seat Quilts by Julie Hendricksen and Vickie Gerike.

By the end of the second day, I had all my stars made. It sure is a satisfying sight to see this stack of beauties. Can you believe that when stems are added these stars actually end up looking like pumpkins?

The block-making was the detailed work of the quilt. Making all those flying geese, then making all those HSTs, then putting the units together to make the stars. The last day was easy - putting the pumpkin stems on, then sewing all the rows together and finally, the borders. It finishes at 45.5" x 53".

This is a quilt that I would never have made without the encouragement of the Frankfort Girls. I don't have a lot of seasonal quilts, and making a supply of them has not been a particular goal. Even so, I am glad to have this one, and believe it or not, I might even try to quilt it before fall arrives. Whoa.

So here at home this week, I am playing catch-up with some of the household chores that went neglected last week. I cleaned lots of windows yesterday, did some food prep, and stared at two bar stools that I want to paint. Gotta' make this week productive!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sew Along Update - Week 16

 

We find ourselves entering the final week of the sew along, and I wonder how everyone has enjoyed making this quilt? 

Its ease of construction cannot be beat, quite honestly. The 2.5-inch block and strip are just the easiest sizes with which to work, and the resulting design is as fresh and clean as can be. If one were trying to teach a beginning-level seamstress to quilt, this would be a most appropriate pattern to use. A newbie to quilt-making would learn simple block construction, seam nesting, pressing options, matching intersections, and color placement. And a big quilt would provide plenty of repetition for honing those skills.

Today I have a partially finished quilt top to share. If you recall, I was working on Pioneer Dreams - the same pattern as our Spring Dreams, but done with reproduction fabrics. I was curious as to how the pattern translates to other "looks." 

I had enough blocks for a quilt that will be square - 9 rows by 9 rows. My background fabric is a fairly old piece of yardage from my stash. It paired well with the Pam Buda layer cake of one of her older lines called On Maple Lake.

In an earlier post, I explained how I prefer to sew smaller sections of a quilt top together and then wrestle just once or twice with the big bulk of the entire top. I currently have all my rows and sashing strips ready to connect; a few, in fact, are already connected. Shown above is a section of two block rows and three sashing rows sewn together for a unit. 

 

Today's work will involve putting all the rest together. I have everything hanging over a bar of the long arm in the order they will go together. It should be a very straightforward effort today to put them all together.

The final installment of the Sew Along will be next Monday! The Grand Finale! I will have a special guest this week, which will be a surprise for our finale. In that final post, I am planning a Spring Dreams Parade, so if you want your quilt to be included, please shoot me a photo and you can march along with us!

Have a great week, dear readers!

Happy Quilting, Friends!