Ohio Star Block Exchange

You've read here on many occasions about the incredible enjoyment I take in the group activities of the Frankfort Girls. In addition to our every other week meeting for coffee and stitching around the kitchen table, we often have additional sewing days, take occasional shopping trips and do fun block exchanges and sew-alongs.

We just completed a block exchange, perhaps our most ambitious one to date. We started with 9-patches, then advanced to Churn Dashes, and this time we did Ohio Stars. We try to keep the rules of the exchanges as simple as possible, naturally, and this time we had 3 basic guidelines: 1) dark background, neutral star; 2) 9-inch block; 3) generally reproduction-oriented fabrics.

I took my stack of blocks and spread them out on my cutting table to photograph the variety. They will make a gorgeous quilt, don't you think?

 

You may recall the post from a few weeks ago in which I detailed our gifting one finished Ohio Star quilt to Frankfort Girl Sharon. You can click back here. You'll also see her quilt. I plan to finish mine very similarly to hers. I think most of us are following suit. It's just so darn pretty in its straightforward simplicity.

I doubt I get to this before Christmas, and perhaps not even before the new year. If that's the case, you can be sure it will appear on the goals list for 2022.

Have a wonderful Monday! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Hosting the Frankfort Girls

On Friday morning, I played hostess to my sweet friends in our quilting group fondly referred to as The Frankfort Girls. I've explained in previous posts that over the years we have evolved from the point at which all the ladies were from Frankfort, but the name has stuck. The Frankfort-Kingston-Williamsport Girls just doesn't roll quite so easily off the tongue! 

One of our group was out of town, so six of us sat around the kitchen table, ostensibly to stitch. Truth be told, very few of us stitched this time around. I did a bit of hand quilting, and maybe one or two others stitched a bit - most of the morning was spent simply visiting and catching up with one another. 

Terry had a fantastic show and tell for us - and seasonally perfect, too. She'd spent a good bit of time embroidering these nutcrackers. At some point she sewed this top together and had a friend in her guild do some custom quilting on it. It looks so good! I recommend clicking on each picture to zoom in on the details. Such beautiful work!

I am eager to see where Terry displays this in her home. She always does such a good job with decorating, so I know she has a place all planned out for it.

The only other show and tell was mine, and it was on the table at which we gathered. The quilt made out of two partial French General jelly rolls served as my table cloth. I talked about quilting it here.

This picture shows off the diagonal chains quite nicely. When I was making it, my one true goal was to figure out a way to have red chains going one direction and light chains going the other. It appears that mostly my goal was achieved, doesn't it? This is a pattern I sorta' just made up, so it feels pretty good to have it work out successfully.

The last time we Frankfort Girls were together, we traded our Ohio Star blocks, and gifted Sharon O. the surprise quilt we made for her. That gifting part has already been shared, but I have yet to show you my glorious collection of blocks! I will share them in my next post.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Checking on Those Goals

In all the years I have made a goals list, 2021 is promising to be the first in which I have made the most progress. This is a very satisfying statement to make, I tell ya!

The list is becoming quite marked up. Since I've made significant progress, I suppose that is to be expected. In previous years of minimal progress, no marking up of the list was necessary. Go figure...

Today, I want to address items 13 and 14, which are marked with special symbols above. (Keeping all the symbols straight is another thing that's never concerned me!)

Item 13, Scrappy Trip Around the World is likely not going to be done, but I did another scrappy quilt that will serve as a substitute -- Scrappy Irish Chain, which I worked on in July and August. Here is a link and a repeat picture below.

Scrappy Irish Chain was a labor-intense project, and I have to think that had I done Scrappy Trip Around the World, it would have been equally intense. I have no qualms whatsoever in swapping these two out on my goals list, and counting it as a goal achieved. 

It does mean, however, that Scrappy Trip Around the World will be in the list for 2022. Here's just one inspiration pic I'm ogling. There are gajillions on Pinterest. Click on the picture to be taken to the source.

 

Perusing Pinterest will elicit many "looks" for this quilt, and this one in particular appeals to me because it is controlled in the coloring. Rather than to throw every color of the rainbow in, I like that this one employs the calm, cool colors in the blue-green spectrum. I don't know if I am destined for a blue-green quilt, but I am going to try to be deliberate in my "look" - something I don't really do very well.

Now, move on to item 14, which is my latest flimsy finish (see yesterday's post). It still hangs on my design wall, but could very easily be quilted before the end of the year. It is small - about 42" square - and would be super-duper fast. I have plenty of my brown/pink fabric left for the binding, so I'm set. 

While I am speaking of the 2021 goals, let me just say that the two items left - 6 and 9 - are in serious jeopardy of NOT being started. Phhshaw. 

In all honesty, #6 Great Granny Squares will look a lot like the quilt above, Scrappy Trip Around the World. And, # 9 Little Orphan Scrappy just ended up being too daunting for me to think about this year. I still love it; I've bought the pattern; I will likely make another attempt in the new year.

That final item on the list - quilting 2 quilts per month - is still a work in progress, but looks like I will fall short of the goal. So far this calendar year I have done 16, and while they have mostly been smallish quilts, a few were big whoppers, so I have stretched my comfort zone, for sure.

And that is all the updating I have for you today.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Lunch Box Social Flimsy

For years I have put Lunch Box Social on my yearly goals list, and for years I have failed to accomplish it. But no more! About a month ago I cut it out with the intention of making it on a sewing day with the girls, and while that did not happen, I did continue working on it through the past few weeks, and today have finished off the top by adding the outer borders.

The pattern is by Kim Diehl, whose designs I just about always like. This one has been around for awhile, like over 5 years, I'm sure, and ever since I saw the one my friend Terry made, I've wanted to make one, too.

And now I find myself wondering why I had such an attitude about doing it! Gosh, it was so simple! There are only 9 blocks needed, and while each block has quite a few pieces, they go together quite easily. I had definitely been making it a bigger job than it was.

The block is made with rather an ingenious method of construction. The center 9-patch measures out at 3.5 inches. Instead of triangles surrounding the 9-patch, you add rectangles. The triangles are formed when the anvils are added to the corners. How nice not to have too many triangles to fuss with. 

Diehl's design also calls for hefty sashing strips, and uses more 3.5 inch 9-patches for cornerstones. My fabrics were all pulled from my stash, and it's quite a variety of old and new. With the goal of scrappy-looking, I really used a lot of variety in the 9-patches. The consistent neutral background and the brown and pink stripe for sashing and block triangles, it really looks more ordered than it might otherwise.

In the last post, I referenced several near-finishes I have in the quilting room. This is one. Now, to check it off the list, and move on to the next one.

I am still fighting the sinus congestion, and I am not happy about it! I have never had a sinus infection linger the way this one is. Ugh.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Slow Sunday Stitching

With some measure of embarrassment, I share the project I've worked on the past few days. Many of you long-time followers will have been assuming that it was finished, as my last post (in 2018) about this little project indicated that I was super-close. Inevitable!

No, not inevitable. The smallest of stumbling blocks is sometimes all it takes for me to just stop. The stumbling block facing me with this was losing track of my quilt markings. The plan for large-stitched Baptist fans became a "suggestion" of fans the further I quilted toward the borders. 

This week, I decided that regardless of how messy my fans looked in this table topper, done is better perfect. So, I've free-handed some semblance of quilting lines around the entire border of this quilt. I remind myself that perfection is not the goal. Finished is the goal. 

Still recovering from the week-long sinus infection I've had, this type of stitching is all I've managed this week. So many near-finishes await me, but this one will have to do until my head clears up.

I'm linking up with Kathy and her Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Different Quilt for Our Bed

The long and the short of it is this: I have a different quilt on our bed this week. The story is potentially a long and convoluted one, so keep reading if you are interested.

How it ended up on our bed begins with my bringing out my stack of Christmas quilts for use in decorating. It's a classic case of one thing leading to another.

First, you should know that for years I have had a wrought iron ladder over which are layered three quilts. I made all of them years ago and Grandma hand quilted them. She's been gone since 2015; she had mostly stopped quilting by 2010, so these quilts have been hanging out on this fixture for awhile.

Back to my story. So, I'd brought down a huge stack of red and white flimsies (they are multiplying; not sad about that!). It occurred to me that maybe instead of just refolding and stacking them on the bucket bench, might I try draping some over the wrought iron ladder? Yes, I liked that idea, so the 3 quilts currently living there needed to be relocated.

The top quilt always becomes my Christmas tree skirt. Every year I gather it around the base of the tree and Gracie immediately claims it as a new spot for napping.

The next two quilts were moved upstairs. The middle one hasn't been given a new home yet, and the bottom is now on our bed.

The bucket bench with a stack of Christmas quilts.

The quilt is HUGE! Our bed is queen-sized, and this thing dwarfs it totally, measuring a whopping 84" x 108".  I will use it for a week or so, then bring out the Christmas quilt that usually appears this time of year.

The pattern is from The Thimbleberries Book of Quilts by Lynette Jensen (1998). The publication date narrows down when it was made. I know I wanted to make it as soon as I got the book, but I took forever in deciding on fabrics. It was possibly early 2000s when I at last made it, and had Grandma quilt it.

And can we just take a moment to appreciate that fine, fine hand quilting? Grandma opted to stitch-in-the-ditch for the pieced flower blocks. In the setting blocks, she used a design which was a standard for her on hourglasses.

The borders afforded her the opportunity for a couple of her favorite chain designs. Just like those hourglass setting blocks, we could locate many quilts of hers with these same designs.

I like the look of this quilt in our bedroom. It is exceedingly warm, so we must've used a good wool batting, and even though the pattern is called Cottage Flower, it has a Christmas-y look with the burgundy and green making it festive in an understated way.

The revamped ladder with the flimsies draped over looks pretty good, too. I clothes-pinned a wall hanging to the top; my late Aunt Margaret made that little Christmas tree, and it has become another special piece of my annual decorating.

 Hope you are having a glorious Friday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome December!

 

A day late in welcoming December, yes. Blogging has not been my top priority the past couple of days, honestly. I hosted my Frienzies for lunch yesterday, and during all the preparations for that I was coming down with a sinus infection. Man, it is a doozy, too. I went for a test for "you know what" and the result, thankfully, was negative. So I am on an antibiotic. 

I thought I'd share my November collage in the absence of any substantial sewing/quilting updates. I did quite a bit of sewing and quilting last month, from the looks of my collage. Let's get into it.

TOP ROW: I finished the Cobalt Stars quilt top. I quilted a top made by a friend. Last, I started a quilt with my Temecula Fabrics that I am calling Temecula Baskets. Both Cobalt Stars and Temecula Baskets were items on my 2021 Goals List, so I am happy to be making progress on them.

MIDDLE ROW: Another item from the 2021 Goals List is Lunch Box Social, a Kim Diehl pattern. I only need to finish the borders and the flimsy will be done.The Christmas star in the center is an impromptu pillow I made. I quilted it on my older Bernina with a free-motion foot. The final sweet picture in the middle row is from Thanksgiving when DD Emma got to meet her newest baby cousin Archie. 

BOTTOM ROW: Another picture from Thanksgiving Day, where over 30 family members broke bread at my sister and brother-in-law's home. The middle picture is an all-the-way-finished quilt with multi-generational attributes, which you can read about here. And finally, late in the month, I quilted another quilt (that's 3 in November!). It still hangs over the long arm rod, needed trimmed and bound.

I have several quilts very near completion represented in that collage, so I won't have to work hard to come up with goals for December. And once I kick this sinus infection, I will get right to work on doing just that.

Happy Quilting, Friends!