Early Christmas Quilt...

Christmas came early this year.  My DH and I drove up to South Carolina to view a quilt collection that is about to go to auction.  I came home with a couple...early Christmas presents!  (makes up for my not going out shopping all Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend!)

First is a brick quilt done in columns circa 1880.  The blue sashing strips vary in width...largest to smallest differs by more than 2 inches.  Lots for wonderful indigos mixed with shirtings, and plaids.

 The binding is back to front and is sew down by machine...a bit rough on the corners but it is the earliest quilt that I own that has machine binding.  I'm thinking the maker was showing off her new machine!  The rest of the quilt appears to be hand pieced and hand quilted.

The quilting is a Baptist fan or elbow fan.  Interestingly the fans begin on each side of the quilt.  The arcs meet in the middle and the "empty" spaces are filled with parallel line quilting.  Makes you wonder if they planned this or got halfway through the quilting and went "how the heck are we going to join the two sides?!  Anyway, it works!

Worked on my embroidery a bit today.  Trying to keep calm as I have an MRI this afternoon and I hate being in those big metal tubes!  Anyway, hope to have a finished pillow to show tomorrow....

Easy Street step one...

I got quite a bit done on Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt, Easy Street, this weekend.  I am more than half finished with step one and since she only posted it a few days ago that is saying something.

Having done many of Bonnie's prior mystery quilts I am feeling sure that she started out with an easy step to lull us into a sense of accomplishment...I am sure I'll be splattered when the next step is posted on Friday!

I am looking forward to cutting into some of the fabrics I've put aside for this though.  I was surprised how many I had in the color scheme.  Maybe it is because I never put these in one quilt before!

I've also been working on some Christmas projects.  I have several of these vintage Dresden plate blocks.  I traced an embroidery design in the center.  Now I have to decide if I am going to use a variety of colors/threads

or just red or blue?  (more traditional...)  The blocks are 16 by 16 inches so I am making pillows/cushions.

What do you think?

Random sewing...

Not really focused on any particular project this weekend but I am sewing a lot...

My Dh has had to work all holiday and I have developed new MS symptoms...random facial and eye twitches (think of the police commander in the Pink Panther....yuck!)  Anyways, they have kept me indoors and though they make me a bit cautious using the rotary cutter I have got some things done!

I cut my strips for the first step of Easy Street...Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt.  I sewed a few together and like the repro gray I pulled from my stash.  It was difficult finding a gray that could hold up to the white and black fabrics...

                                                         Tim Latimar's mock-up....
Also I pulled some seed/orphan blocks from the sewing room to test out a scrappy Road to California Block.  A facebook group I belong to have been discussing this pattern.  The quilt from Laura Fisher Quilts  (a great source for antique quilts) is white and green and looks great a two color quilt.  Tim Latimar of TimQuilts.com did some great two color mock up's of the many ways this block could be set.  A question did come up on how it would work as a scrappy block.

Well I just happened to have a stack of HST left over from my Ribbon Candy quilt and a basket full of four patches from various leader and ender runs so.....

It isn't quite as graphic as the two color but then you get the fun of the fabrics!  Like it both ways....though you can see why some of these blocks ended up in the orphan pile...needed some squaring up!

Late and tired..Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving was a success at our house.  Even with the short notice that I'd be cooking a large meal for many it went surprisingly well.  It did cut into my posting and quilting time but as I do not go out on "black Friday" I should be able to catch up today.

For those of you who have or work with children a question:  Is there a book or a comic that has school lockers in it?  My 8 year old grandson is obsessed with getting a grey school lock for Christmas!  Funny kid.   He couldn't find the perfect locker on the internet so I drew one for him based on his "specs."  Then gave him a box of crayons so he could decorate it.  "Wow," he said in disbelief, "this is as fun as an IPAD."  Who knew...wonder how long it had been since he used crayons!

We made a huge batch of waffles this morning...somehow by the time the plate made it to the table we were one short.  There are waffle crumbs behind the couch and Dobby's belly is dragging a bit...doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure that one out!  Heck, Dobby can barely fit in his basket...we may have to get a shoe-horn to get him out!

Pre holiday craziness!

So only a few days until Thanksgiving and my plans have all gone topsy-turvy, catawompus, or just generally turned upside down and sideways....

                                                                   Set of vintage blocks that I'm putting together...
What was going to be a quiet few days in Charleston and Edisto Beach has turned into a home-stay holiday complete with weekend guests and a full table for dinner!  Yikes...

                                                                          Sprigs and Stars in process....
So today I am making the lists (love lists!) and am preparing for a week of cooking and cleaning  (love cooking...cleaning, not so much)...which means projects like the sprigs and stars in the photo above need to get off the dining room table, into a box, and then hopefully somewhere that I can find them again the first week of December.  How I wish I had a larger studio! (but don't we all!!!)

The good news is I did find some of the mint chocolate chips for my favorite holiday cookies - Mint Snowtops!  They only distribute these around the holidays so I have to stock up when I find them!

Poor Mac...all this activity has already worn him out.....

New Mystery

This past weekend I got lots of quilt-backs pieced.  It was the last step towards getting some quilts out the door to the long arm quilter.

It is amazing how many tops had joined the que since our last quilt show!  One of the big impetuses for this was Bonnie Hunter's next mystery quilt.  I couldn't let myself start another one until the last one (yes, that was a year ago!) was finished.  So I fixed that one corner of my Orca Bay, the backing was washed and pressed, and it is all ready to be quilted!

With that I allowed myself to play in the fabric stash and pull for Easy Street.  Fun colors.  I also stopped at Hancock's for their Veterans Day sale to do a bit of stash building for E.S. (I used a lot of green this year!  Fabric that is...)

Wouldn't you know it I ran into two other quilters visiting from near Columbia  S.C. who were also planning to participate in Bonnie's mystery quilt!  Amazing who you will meet if you just carry those paint chips around a fabric store!

Anyway, I think I am set except for the grey.  I don't have much yardage in this color.  Lot of fat-quarters and some solids...guess I'll have to keep looking!

Fold and stack...

Thursday was a reorganize day.  Quilts that had come out for the program this week were put back into the closet.  New quilts that I brought with me went back to the que in the sewing-room or into the other closet.

 And best of all...a long lost/misplaced project - Sprig and Stars - reappeared!  Please tell me I'm not the only quilter who packed two projects into one basket.  Obviously the Sprigs was on the bottom!

While all this was happening I also pulled two tops to quilt up this weekend so I could send them up to NYC.  Those folks look so cold.  I also heard that a soldier who worked for me years ago lost his house in the storm.  One of the quilts is going his way.  I can't imagine being a three months away from retirement and losing everything.  Fortunately his family is ok and he says he can rebuild...though perhaps he will put off retirement for another year....

A couple of folks asked about the pattern for the sheep pincushion.  It is by Just Another Button Company and is called "ewe look fabulous."  I think I picked mine up at Paduca last year...

Lots of Quilt Talk!

The last few days have busy quilting days...well, at least busy talking about quilting...

First, I went up to Seneca, SC to do a program for the Lakes and Mountains Quilt Guild.  They are a really great group of quilters.  I changed up my 100 year of quilting presentation to include how these antique and vintage quilts can inspire modern quilters.  I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did!  It is always fun to take the quilts out for a road-trip....

On the way home I stopped in McCormick S.C. to check out some of the Quilt Blocks they are putting up on local buildings.

The local antique store is where the blocks are drafted and painted.  It looks like a wonderful project...more will be up soon!

Then last night Bonnie Hunter came by so more quilt talk!  She was on her way to Florida and my house was about the halfway point.

  Our friend Paula came by so we sat around the kitchen table and stitched.  Paula and I worked on our Sheep pincushions (mine is the little one with her winter blanket!) while Bonnie stitched down the binding on her bow-tie quilt.  My DH watched the election returns and narrated....

All and all a busy few days.  I still need to put away the quilts but that may have to wait until tomorrow.  Right now it's time for a long nap!

Packing again...

Making one last look at the quilt piles to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.  I am off to a guild in South Carolina to do my talk on 100 years of American Quilts.  It is an overview of Quilting history using a trunkshow of parts of my own collection.

                                                                     Lemoyne Star...North Carolina
Can honestly say I haven't done this the same way twice.  First, I don't bring the same quilts.  Choosing which quilts is always a huge deal for me so it would be easier if I just picked a dozen and always used those but what fun would that be?!  Besides, sometimes that quilt may be up on the wall and that is where I draw the line...not climbing up on ladders and removing quilts from display to bring along.  It isn't like I don't have others that fit the same time period...I've always had the "Noah's Ark" approach to collecting (I wan't to have two of each type) so this works for me!

                                                                         Irish Chain with swag border...circa 1840, Marlyand
The second reason is I ask the guild members to bring quilts that we fit into the "timeline."  Sometimes there are only 6-10 and once there were over 50!  Definitely keeps me on my toes!  (Have to admit to being a bit brain-dead after the 50 quilt day...quilt speed dating!)

                                            Redwork, circa 1910, Washington D.C.

Halloween Re-dec

Due to the high winds all the Halloween decorations were taken in the other day.  I hope we will be able to put them back out tomorrow morning.

                                          Entrance-way with the witch's hat I made last year!
The wind has made it a good day to air out quilts...I'm going through the "stacks" to find a selection for a program on Monday night.  Every few months I like to check the quilts, refold or re-stack (many are laid on to of each other on a spare Queen size bed.)  A few minutes in the fresh air is good for them as well as getting them out into some good light so I can check for any issues.

This one is on my list to stabilize the border and a couple of blocks where some of the batting is escaping.  It wasn't a valuable quilt nor does it have a "distinguished or historically relevant" provenance so I may do some restoration.  The blocks are easy since I have a large stash of antique fabric and orphan blocks to pull from but the border is more challenging.  It will require a lot of fabric!  Do I break down and use a repro fabric?

This is another "southern" quilt (North Carolina.)  This is one of my few antique quilts with orange in it so I'm leaving it out for the holiday!  The quilting is a Baptist Fan or elbow design done in threads that range from tan to dark brown.  The batting is thick so the stitches are fairly large.  The binding is back to front - really common in southern quilts.

On the new quilt front...I have all the inner-border done on my ribbon candy quilt, one outer border attached and the final three new sewn together.  Should have a flimsy to show soon!

Sandy on the March....

Right now attention has gone from the elections to following the Hurricane Sandy as she marches up the East Coast.  To any of you in her path, please stay safe!  (Take a cue from Goldie and curl up in quilt!)

                                          Goldie on Ribbon Candy...she isn't making it easy to finish those borders!
I'm already reading of folks who have been "stuck" in Houston due to cancelled flight (I'm having a hard time feeling bad for them!  They just have to go to the Houston Quilt Show now....), some with snow falling (which is wrong before Halloween!) and others bracing for the winds and rains.  Sounds like a good time to curl up with some hand stitching or a good book.

Which by the way, I have gone through books at an alarming rate the past couple of weeks!  About one every two days.   I have this pile by the front door to bring to the post office today and send off to my sister for her cabin up in Maine.  They are good vacation reads!

In addition to reading lots of mysteries I did some internet-stress-shopping last week.  I'm blaming this latest delivery on the pain-killers....this pile of fabric works as well as the pills do!

wordless Wednesday

Past the halfway mark!

Finally I was able to work in my sewing room for an hour or so...took me a bit of time to remember what I had going and where it all was!

I finished putting the last row on my Ribbon Candy (aka Smith Mountain from  Bonnie Hunter's class.)  It still needs some serious pressing.  I have a pile of HST ready for the border.  I hope to have the first border finished tonight so I can make a decision on an inner border...and if yes what color/fabric?  I'm jumping ahead of myself.

This morning MacBeth had his annual checkup...it took three assistants to hold him down to get his blood drawn!  He is only 22 pounds but can that terrier wiggle!  Immediately after the wrestling match he rolls over on his back with his tail wagging...hard to be mad him.  How many dogs do you know wag their tail while they get their shots?!

 Overall they said he looks good...we'll wait for the lab work...

So it is Monday...

The first presidential campaign that I have any real memory or was the 1972 campaign of George McGovern vs. Richard Nixon.  Not that I was old enough to vote but I was aware of some of the issue.  I remember in my classroom there was a board for each candidate but it was obvious that my teacher, Sister Helen Agnes  was pro McGovern!

I was sad to see that Senator McGovern passed away this weekend.  He may not have won that election but he did play a major role in social change in the 60's and 70's.

I was able to get out for a bit yesterday.  Visited an antique store and picked up a couple of vintage handkerchiefs and a dollbed...the handkerchief may end up in a pillow and the dollbed just needs a little quilt!

Hope to get back to sewing this week....Goldie is doing a great job of keeping me company and is already dressed for tonight debates....