a little progress

Here in Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving over the weekend. I was thankful to find some extra time to do some quilting. I quilted all around the first corner - 3 more to go!

I was also thankful that the lines came around the applique straight and I didn't have to "fudge it". I do see that I definitely will need to quilt something in the large red center. The lines are just under 3/4 of an inch apart and I'm still deciding whether I am going to cross them with more lines. Probably just the one direction is enough quilting for this type of batting but is it enough quilting for me...? :0)

I'm still making these blocks in between piecing other things. I laid them out today to see how big they've progressed to. I definitely need more - lots more!

And I can't resist a picture of the pansies still blooming away in a pot on my deck. The flowers are lasting so well this fall - I love it!

Happy Quilting!!

antique applique quilts

I was so excited to have the opportunity to see up close 3 incredible antique applique quilts. We were allowed to take pictures and I only wish I could take better ones.
This first one is a Rose of Sharon quilt but my friend calls it the lobster claw quilt. It is blue, white and red - an interesting color combination for this pattern.
It has a wonderful scalloped border with stems of berries hanging down.

Does anyone else see a fried egg here? :0)

It was densely outline quilted but none of the applique pieces were quilted at all so it had large unquilted areas under the flower, leaves and scallops.

The next quilt I had seen as a black and white line drawing - even from that I knew I would love it but I was SO surprised by all the surprises in this quilt. I'm calling it the Bowls of Cherries quilt. It dates to 1840-1860.

The blocks were set together with piping - I had never seen that before. But it was the quilting that absolutely delighted me. It had so many different motifs. In the bottom corners on either side of the block were quilted maple leafs. This quilt comes from Ontario, Canada so those leaves are perfect!

Clamshell quilting was done in the sashing. It was interesting to see that the baskets were quilted with colored thread - yellow and green. I love the cheddar band.

Here is another one of the shapes used for filler in the border.

I really liked these circles quilted into the scalloped border than ran around 3 sides of the quilt.

The next quilt is a Whetstones and Chips quilt that was said to have come from Scotland. Dating to 1840 - it was a beautifully pieced and appliqued quilt.

It had triple rows of fine quilting with feathered wreaths everywhere.

I just loved the border design.

The yellow flower centers were fussy cut and reverse appliqued so that the flower in the yellow print wasn't visible.

The pieced blocks were circles appliqued onto the background fabric which was 2 lengths of cloth joined down the middle. There were some interesting repairs done to this quilt - if only the quilt could tell it's story...

I rambled a bit with this post - I just wanted to remember all the incredible details about these quilts. I hope you enjoyed them too!

Happy Quilting!!

Peahen block and a finish

I finished my first block for the Civil War Bride Quilt/Bird of Paradise quilt. It's supposed to be a peahen - from my internet search (studying their feet mostly) I learned they are not really this colorful. Oh well - I like this block and am excited about starting the next one.
The feet were a real challenge. My first attempt at them was pretty bad. I redrew them, picked different fabric and tried again. Spreading out those toes helped a bit. I know it needs an eye and that head thingy (crest?) those are to be embroidered when I work up the courage to try that.

This was my first attempt at the feet. My 2 year old declared they look like hands. :0)

I was very happy to finish this quilt for India. Friday evening at 11pm I finished sewing on the binding and Saturday morning after breakfast I delivered it to the church. There's nothing like a deadline to get things finished up!

I did some very simple machine quilting.

I hope it brings some cheer and warmth to the child who receives it.
Happy Quilting!!

sunshine

I finished 2 more Crowfoot blocks. One more and I'll have 25 made. They are so fun to make but I'm excited to be getting close to putting this top together.

We haven't seen much sunshine this week - it has been very rainy and overcast and I've been potty training my 2 year old so you know... I've had better weeks. So when Monica over at Diary of a Quilt Maven passed this award on to me it really made me smile. :0) Thanks Monica!

What a pretty blog button - I must figure out how to put it in my sidebar. I am supposed to choose 12 blogs to pass it along to but all my favorite, inspirational, quilty blogs are in my blogroll and I don't think I could choose only 12 of them.

I've had this book out from the library - WOW - what a great book!! So much inspiration! This book will get checked out on my card a lot.

I've been working on my first Civil War Bride block. It's taking awhile and I don't want to post it until it's done but I've been thinking about some blocks I want to design to replace some of the blocks in the pattern. I've been looking at applique quilts in this book and getting ideas. I think I'm going to give my bride a husband and 4 children (kind of like me only I guess it's been a few years since I've been a bride - lol) A couple of the kids could be sitting on a swing like in the center block below.

It was hard to get a clear picture of the block from the book - its a fabulously interesting quilt to look at - it must have been fun to applique. It's called The Burdick family Child's Centennial Album quilt.

I think there's lots of potential to personalize the "Bride" quilt and it will likely be an enjoyable project for years to come :0) Yeah it's going to take me years to applique all those leaves!

Happy Quilting!

2 tops done

It has been a good weekend for finishing things (rainy) :0) On Friday evening I finished up with the border for my Corn and Beans quilt. I decided to leave the corners without the extra leaves. Valentina put in words what my DH sensed about the corners. "I like the fact that it visually rounds off the border keeping your eye looking toward the quilt" Thanks Valentina!

The deadline for finishing the quilts bound for India was moved up so I'm glad I was able to finish getting this top together yesterday. For the border I used up lots of little scraps leftover from making the blocks.

I pretty much used them all so I'll have to figure something out for the binding. Now I have a couple of weeks to quilt it.

And the weekend isn't over - there's still holiday Monday yet... :0)
Happy Quilting!!

new projects

It was not my plan to start something new. Neither was it my plan to spend 4 days in the hospital with DD#1 (she had a nasty asthma attack that wouldn't resolve) While sitting in emergency for hours the first night I was just itching for something to sew. Both of my handwork projects are at the stage where they are too big to carry around so...
When my husband relieved me for a few hours to come home and shower ect... I grabbed a recent magazine, a stack of fabric and my handsewing bag before I went back. I decided to try hand piecing again. These stars are the result. I think I need a LOT more practice. :0)

Last night I had a chance to get back to this border applique project. This is the first corner appliqued. I can't decide whether it should have a couple more leaves under the corner flower. DH says not - which surprised me. He doesn't very often have opinions about my quilting projects. What do you think?

And after over a year of resisting - I succumbed and bought the pattern for this lovely quilt. Maybe I should have stopped following the blog - lol. Lizzie has already invited me to join the blog and I'm excited (and a bit intimidated) to be a part of that. As soon as I get the other 3 border corners finished I'm going to get started on it.

Happy Quilting!!

something so different even my kids noticed

This is practically the oldest ufo I have. The colors are so not me that when DD#1 and #2 wandered into the sewing room they asked me if the blocks were even mine. :0)
I made 11 blocks of a BOM offered at a LQS about 7 years ago. We had recently moved from a different city and I hadn't made any new quilting friends yet and was missing my old guild. To start it cost $5 and if you brought your completed block to the next meeting your next block materials were free (which is why I only finished 11 - there was no reward for finishing block 12 - lol)
There are some women at my church who are making quilts to send to northern India. I thought I could make a cheerful little quilt for a child using some of these blocks.

I even managed to find the perfect backing fabric 40% off. There is NOTHING in my stash that goes with these fabrics.

This pink block made me laugh. When I made it I thought it was the ugliest block of the batch and the name...Devil's Claw... was just awful. However, it is the exact same block that I am making piles of now for a large quilt. Crowfoot sounds so much better than Devil's Claw. :0)

And I want to share a picture of my foxgloves now blooming profusely in the garden. I start them from seed every March and they will bloom through the light frosts until it gets really cold. In some places they are wild flowers but not in my part of Canada.

Happy Quilting!!