stitch group

Today the stitch group got together for the first time in several weeks. Most everyone had done some traveling so we had a big show and tell today.

Barbara has been to Wales, she says the dollar is worth cc=!x over there so she wasn't able to do a lot of shopping but she did bring back a few small things. She hopes to have pictures for us maybe the next time we get together.

Dianna had been to Utah to visit sister and other family.  They did some sewing together and made two of everything

Utah is the bee state so they made bee keeps .

 

Of course she loves Halloween.

This table topper is made for one charm pack. Dianna really likes doing those prairie points.

The same in pretty fall colors.

Like me Faye didn't get to go anywhere so she has spent the last couple of weeks finishing somethings. This was made from the scraps from another quilt she made with the scraps from a Thimbleberry block of the month, so it is a scrap scrap quilt.

This is one she had started a few years ago.

I think she said this was from a class with Billie Lauder about 5 years ago called Four Patch to the Max.

Oh the picture does not so this one justice. Much prettier colors in person.

This is just show and tell from 3 I'll save the others for tomorrow. Have a great weekend.

Carolina Chain

Thought I would share my Carolina Chain. This is a free pattern by Bonnie Hunter. It was first in Quiltmaker Mag. but is also on her web site. All the darks and most of the lights came directly from my 2 inch drawer no additional cutting from my yardage except a few lights. This one put a pretty good dent in my 2 inch drawer but in no way cleared it out. When I pulled a strip to cut these blocks I would cut the rest of the strip into 2 inch squares to use in Nine in the Middle another Bonnie Hunter pattern. I have all the nine patches made for the next one and am working on cutting the outside of the block. Hope everyone gets to sew some this weekend.

Stars Aligned

 

I got the borders on Stars Aligned. I put a 6 1/2 inch outer border the pattern only called for 4 1/2 inches.

 

I took it outside to the pool fence. The colors are better in the natural light but still not sure of best was to display.

 

Using lounge chairs, no fence. Oh well at least it is another UFO that has now moved to the TO BE QUILTED pile.

Birthday Wishes

First of all I can't believe we are into October but that also means today is my brother's birthday. So happy birthday Troy Breeding. Troy and his wife Debbie moved to Missouri about 8 years ago, then about 3 years ago they moved to Ohio. That got them a little closer to home but still too far to see very often. I thought I had a picture in my camera but the only one Troy is in, he is leaning out of the shot.

I got 8 more blocks done yesterday, 5 light and 3 dark. That is one third of the amount needed for the lap quilt which is a pretty large 64  x 76. The pattern has a contrasting blue border but I don't think I will do that I plan to just make the first border that matches the setting triangles wider. This way the stars will float in the center.
I've change the layout here to get a better idea how it will look only larger.

more old projects

Last week I'm not sure what kind of mood I was really in but I just didn't want to deal with little pieces. Plus my sewing room was really getting the best of me with all the clutter so I put a few things away and pulled out an old project. This is Stars Aligned a strip club pattern. I had all the strips cut and most of the large blocks made just had to finish 3 and make the sashing stars. I got all these completed and set together, now I just need to add borders. I'll get a finished picture then.

On Saturday Ada came for a visit and brought fabric to do Judy's Happy Quilt. Ada is still recovering from shoulder surgery so I cut it out for her. She is now able to do a little sewing each day but not much cutting yet. Ada also brought me some Thangles she got on the way home from Kentucky so now I can get back to Holy Toledo.

While Ada was here Donna came over and I showed them a couple of old projects that I was trying to make a decision on, should I finish or toss. One was an old fused applique project that I started before I really knew what I was doing and it had 3 or 4 layers fused together. This made things very stiff, so we decided this was a toss. Another was a project where you sewed circles together sort of orange peel, I was doing it in 30's reproduction. We decided to make a table runner and place mats from those I had completed. This will make this a doable project.

 

These blocks were part of another project. The pattern is Picnic by the Falls, it is in the book 9 patch Reunion by Atkinson Designs. I knew I didn't have many blocks finished and had thought I would just put them in the orphan box. Donna and Ada convinced me to finish enough for at least a baby or lap quilt. I think I will do the lap so I need 15 more light and 9 dark. This book was published in 2003 and I'm pretty sure I got it when it first came out, so I'm sure my skill level has improved since then so maybe the blocks will go a lot faster.

Tossing one and finishing one this week will empty 2 boxes, yeah!!!!!

Another Monday

I can't believe how fast this month is going. Of course this last week was just a little zombie for me. I got a terrible head cold and didn't feel like doing much. Thank goodness Johnny is recovering the fingers in the lawn mower accident but now he has my cold. We were hoping with all the antibiotics he was taking he wouldn't get this cold, but no such luck.

I just wasn't in the mood to finish the string blocks in Fair and Square so I pulled out Holy Toledo that I cut some on while cutting Star Gazing. I really want to empty this tub of wovens I have  and these two quilts have really put a dent in it.

 

I got these 8 blocks done and have pieced HST's using Thangles until I ran out of Thangles. I need 12 more sheets to finish the last 72 of the 560 HST's needed. Hopefully this is something I can work on this week once I get caught up on household chores that didn't get done this past week.

A friend asked me to quilt this little Hoot Owl wall hanging. I couldn't figure how to turn the picture so you are looking at it sideways. oh well

Bed Turning

Each quilt show we have a bed turning with stories about each quilt. This year since it has been 150 years since the civil war all the shared quilts were made from civil war reproduction fabric. I thought I would share some of the pictures, of course I don't remember the names of the quilts or who contributed them.

 

This first one is Women's Voices, this one I know because it is one of my UFO's.

 

I believe this one was Butternut and Blue with an explanation of the butternut color being easier to obtain than the Confederate Gray.

 

I don't remember what pattern this was but it looks like something I might like to do so may need to get information again from Lou Ann.

This one is mine, the pattern in American Heritage, it was an 8 month pattern.

This pink and brown one had something to do with the start of the war in the Carolina's.

 

This one was called Wheatland, which I think was the name of the home of President Buchanan.

 

This was an example of the cot quilts women made for soldiers only this one has the added borders that allowed a quilt to go around bed post.

I am drawing a blank on this one except I think it represented both the North and the South.

 

This was Cindy Robinson's Elk River Cabins. A Judy Martin pattern. Log Cabins were very popular during this time frame.

 

Court House Steps which is a variation of a log cabin.

 

This is a half or quarter log cabin.

This is a pineapple log cabin. I want to do one of these some day.

 This is a Dear Jane, no desire to try this one.

I think this is Dear Hannah, don't think I will go there either.

Snail's Trail.

Churn Dash, Monkey Wrench and Shoe Fly, don't  remember the exact name.

 

Totally in the dark on this one.

 

I think this was the Hospital Commission or commissary. It depicted the generals of both the North and South plus President Lincoln and other important people of that time.

Northern Generals on top and Southern Generals on bottom.

 

I think this was a 52 week block sampler.

 

Seems like this may have represented something about the begining of the war.

 

I am pretty sure these last two were made by Sue Manley.

As usual Lou Ann did a great job with the story telling.