A finish and a treat...

I promised a finish a few posts ago and here it is! I put the last few stitches on the binding last night. This quilt would never have happened without a lot of help from friends. First the pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's book, Adventures with Leaders and Enders. I was encouraged to finish the top because my friends Angie and Pat were also making this quilt and wanted to put them all together in the next Quilt show (pressure and deadlines help!) My friend Maggie Hunt quilted it for me and Paula attached the binding on her machine for me (my arms are a bit weak at the moment - heck, I am weak at the moment...)

To celebrate I treated myself to some Lemon Blueberry Bread. My sister put me on to a new recipe site (new to me at least) www.joyofbaking.com I've made a couple of their recipes and all have been really good. (I did substitute 1/4 cup of lemon yogurt for half of the milk in my bread though...)

I will pass on my Aunt Ellie's tip for keeping the blueberries high in the bread (works for muffins too.) Wash the blueberries then place them single layer on a dishtowel for 15-20 minutes. Place a papertowel in a bowl and put the berries into the bowl gently shake them so any moisture goes onto the towel. Remove the paper-towel. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of flour over the berries. Even though the berries I used for this bread were huge they were evenly spread throughout.
Back to the quilting front...I found a stack of rwb blocks that were destined for a QOV. Laid them out and remembered why they weren't finished. It was done as a group and there is a fairly large variance in block size! Brownie helped me sort them. I think if I make a dozen more blocks we can get a top finished at our next bee...need to go rummage in the 2-1/2 inch strips and see if I have any red, neutrals or blues left!

For each finish a start...

It is still brutally hot out so I continue my hibernation in the sewing room. (could this be a quilting cave?...just a thought....)
On the good side I have been sewing a binding on so soon will have a real and complete finish to show! On the other hand some of you may have read Bonnie Hunter's post the other day when she showed a photo of a 1940's Jacob's ladder quilt then posted the direction and asked if anyone wanted to "play" along with her making the quilt. Did someone use play and quilt in the same sentence...whoosh, I was off the cutting board. Who needs a finish when I can start a new quilt!
Yes, I know we have all been there - sigh...at least I am using fabrics from my stash. ( That rationalization works about as well as the about drinking diet soda with pizza to cancel out the calories...)

I finished this week's Civil War block...Now that I have a short stack I wish I had been bit more consistent in fabrics. These 9 blocks work well together while when I spread the whole bunch out...not so much. And that is coming from someone who loves scrappy...maybe the "scrappiness" combined with all the block variation is a bit much...I'll have to think on this one....

Moving the projects along...

I'm still on the finish it track...

This week I put together the blocks from a "material obsession" project I started earlier this year. This weekend I hope to get the borders on and piece a back! One more UFO off the project list...

I was planning on entering this little doll quilt in a contest but the bed I was going to use is 1 inch too tall for the contest rules! I do have another bed but it would mean making a mattress and changing the quilt top a bit. At the end of day I want to use it on the bed I designed it for so now I can show it to you (one of the rules was no publishing prior to the contest...)

It is based on a full size quilt that I bought in Pennsylvania back in the 90's. The original was stained from being kept in a cedar chest but I still loved the overall design. Anyway, I have a back ready and plan to baste this tonight. I will hand quilt it.
One of the dangers of being ill is spending too much time on the internet...oh, dear. I bought 6 books from "That Patchwork Place" during their warehouse sale and a box came from Hancock's of Paducha yesterday...

Herding and branding UFO's

I've hunkered down a bit the past week...hiding from the heat! Determined to clear out a few UFO's this summer I have made a pile and started "kitting" them up so there is no excuse not to work on them whenever I have a minute or an ounce of extra energy. MY Dh looked at my "organized" piles with their post-it notes and called it branding time....
I did finish a quilt-top from the UFO pile. Not my oldest UFO but not my newest either. I have a set of 6-7 blocks from the 1940's with this pattern (BB #1654, Richmond or Pinwheel) and I had wanted to reproduce them for a long time. In the end instead of reproducing them in pastels I went for my reproduction stack instead.

Now this moves to the "to be quilted" pile...which is getting alarmingly large again!

Almost Quilting...

Today I dragged myself out of the house and went to "mini-retreat" that my guild holds two or three times a year. Didn't stay long but I did at least get out of the house and almost quilted!
Also, I got to see my birthday quilt blocks all put together into a quilt top! Lots of scottie dogs and tea cups, red sox, patriotic, moda and Mary Englebreit. (There is even a block with the house I lived in while in England!) It is a fun quilt!
Some other folks were working on the guild's next donation quilt. It is a patriotic quilt and is looking good!

Dobby is now officially the big cat in the house...he outweighs Goldie by 4 ounces and is just slightly taller...I am afraid by the time he finishes growing he will be bigger than Macbeth my Scottish terrier (I think Mac is a bit concerned too!)

Mystery box

I'll admit there are still a few boxes from our move two years ago that still have not been unpacked. One marked "Linens" was in the back of the closet in my sewing room and finally was opened this past weekend...I guess our movers had never seen a box full of quilting UFO's before!
I showed a couple in my last post but this is the box that just keeps on giving...one big surprise was this piano key border that was made for a king size quilt. When I was finishing the quilt I looked everywhere (well, almost everywhere) and could only find three sides...so I ended up remaking one. Now I have the original 100+ inch piano key border to play with....First, I looked for a quilt in need of a border. No luck. Then I tried using the box of 4-patches with the piano key...not so much. Finally I cut the boarder into three pieces and auditioned fabrics for the alternate strips. The first group was too predictable and dark...the second took too much attention from the piano keys. This is the one I ended up choosing...
I think I'll baste it and handquilt some elbow/baptist fans. Maybe I'll call it the Goldilocks Quilt....

Made my Civil War block of the week...feels good to be back on track with this project again.

Daylilly, a finish and a find!

The heat has me and my MS hiding indoors this weekend...just hope it isn't for the rest of the summer.

My eyes are a bit wonky (went to an outdoor auction last week and got way overheated) so today I spent time sorting fabric in my sewing room...can't believe I unearthed another box from our last move! Bit of a mystery here...what was I planning on doing with over 150 3-inch four-patches? I have no memory of sewing these but they are made up of my regular fabrics so I guess I must have...but why?! humm....

I also found this table runner top...this I remember! I found a back for it and may quilt it up tomorrow. It will be nice for the summer...
I do have a finish! I made this little quilt for my sister to take to a conference this summer. They collect blankets at "crafter's court" and donate them to a local hospital...this will be her donation!My daylillies are putting on quiet a show...there are at least a dozen different colors in bloom right now. The blooms below are about 6 inches across each so lots of color!
I want to use a couple of the daylilly photos to make an "art" quilt...stay tuned for my latest project!

Quilt Guild...

Maggie's Happy Hexegons

Last night my evening quilt guild had their monthly meeting. As usual my favorite part was Show and Tell.

Lots of fabrics from a now closed LQS...Shannon used a Shop hop in Atlanta as an opportunity to boy lots of ocean or beach themed batiks then used the turning 20 pattern so she could enjoy them!

Can you believe this quilter made two of these quilts for her guest room? She started them at retreat last January and already has the tops done. On one she was very careful about "placing" the fabrics but on the second it was a "grab and sew"...they ended up looking the same. There is a lesson there...

Our youngest "member" made a pillowcase...

All and all a good time...

Southern Baked Quilts

As the thermometer went over 94 degree and hovers there for most of the day I am reminded of the bane of southern quilts...southern attics. A neighbor stopped by with a family quilt and wanted to know if it could be repaired. It is hard but I had to say no....

Goldie on a half-baked top...

When summer comes here in the south we will inevitably get the lectures from the weatherperson on how hot does it need to be to fry and egg, or how long is too long for you to leave a child in the car, or the dangers of leaving pets out in the yard in the heat of day. In my dream-world they would also remind folks to check their attics for antique or vintage quilts. The same heat that cooks the egg and makes the metal on the seatbelt a branding iron also sucks all the moisture out of the cottons. And when that moisture is gone it's gone. Now there may be ways for museums or high end conservation to stabilize it but for most textiles that is the start of a steep and slippery slope that ends as a dog bed cover, a flea-market table cover or (yikes!) becoming part of a stuffed animal.

Heat can also cause fabrics dyes that have been stable for decades to suddenly start to migrate, for fabric "freckles" to appear, and for the batting to start to disintegrate. (Last year I had one will a wool batting that really did look and feel as if it had been cooked!)

The quilt in question today had signatures from 1884 on it. Some of the ink had eaten through the fabric. The quilt was so fragile it felt more like paper than fabric. The owner was in her 60's and remembers the quilt being in good condition while she was growing up. A few weeks ago her brother passed away and she found the family quilt in the attic. She hadn't seen it in 20 years.

After many cups of tea, a few slices of lemon-blueberry cake, and a glass of sherry we came up with a plan. Tomorrow she will have the quilt professionally photographed. That way she and her family will have a record of it before it disintegrates any further. She ordered an acid free box and some paper to store it in to delay the disintegration as much as possible. And finally she is commissioning a quilt to reproduce her family one that can be put on a guest bed in her home to remind her of her great-grandmother who made the original quilt.

So as the mercury climbs remember to be kind to your textiles and give them a bit of TLC so they can ride out the summer months safely too! And that my friends is this month's quilt safety announcement.....

ps...no photos of the quilt due to owner embarrassment....sorry!

So over it....

I got a lot of quilting done this weekend...at least a lot of quilting related stuff...

On Saturday I actually finished this week's civil war block of the week. One more overdue block and I am caught up! (note to self - do not fall behind again!)

I also finished a little quilt top for my sister. Sort of for my sister...she attends a law library convention each summer and they have a "craft court" that collects blankets and quilts for a local hospital. My sister doesn't quilt so I am helping with this project. Since taking the photo I've pinned it and started quilting...should be done by the end of this week...

Sunday went to preview an auction that advertised several quilts (they are ok but not too exciting.) I may go to the auction on Saturday as much to see a huge signed Edgefield pot made by Dave around 1860 go on sale. It is an amazing piece of Southern history.
So I've gotten over the whole AQS thing (sort of) and mailed off the application to retest next year (deadline was today.) I'm putting together a plan but a lot rides on what my DH's schedule for the next 12 months...it is all in flux right now. But, if I waited for everything to be settled in my life I could never plan for anything so off I sent my application....


Those of you that know me know my response to crisis is to cook...or more accurately, bake. So yes, as I've been making my decision I've spent more time than usual in the kitchen. So my path to recovery was sort of like this
(sung to the tune "twelve days of Christmas....)

twelve dozen biscotti
eleven pints of pickles
ten pans of brownies
nine batches of muffins
eight banana breads
seven pecan pies
six boxes of fudge
five zucchini quiche...
four chocolate cakes
three linzer tortes
two vanilla flans
and a strawberry almond cheesecake mess....(yum...)

Got to go waddle off to the sewing room now....

Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day I remember my Dad who flew PBY's for the US Navy during World War II. I grew up hearing his stories of attending flight schools around the south, landing in New Orleans and listening to live Jazz for the first time, landing at Pensacola only to find his gas tanks totally empty, and working with a Red Sox baseball legend (Ted Williams) to make sure he passed ground school.

I also spent this morning catching up on my Civil War block of the week...boy had I fallen behind! I made three...which only leaves two more to make me current.

It is way too hot to be outside today...I did get a few photos of the pink daylillies that bloomed this morning. The bloom measures almost 6 inches across!

Wrapping up May...

Feels like May has just been a crazy month...looking forward to lots of time in the quilt studio in June!

Today I cut some fun/ugly pieces of fabric for Tonya at Unruley Quilter. When you look at your own stash it is difficult to find "ugly" fabric...I mean at some point I bought it or at least accepted it, washed it and folded it! So mainly I looked for things I didn't think she had...like cat in the hat fabric.
I also came across a pillowcase of blocks that had been on the missing list since out last move. (It was in the basket with backing fabrics.) Anyway, this very small antique liberated block was in the case. It is a favorite of mine that I had almost forgotten about!

Red daylillies blooming this weekend

The talk Friday on colonial quilts to the 4th grade class went well. They loved their blue and white quilt and were all very careful about signing their names. I heard lots of stories about quilts that they had in their families. All fun. Who knows next year I may even dress up in Colonial costume...tough to be the only one there in jeans (to talk about modern indigo) Also I followed Benjamin Franklin on the agenda - always a tough act to follow!
On a totally different note...tonight I went to a cookout at a friends and got to meet her brood of chickens. She has had them less than a year but is getting lots of eggs from the older ones. Wish I lived in an area I could keep some!

Bear Paw and indigo

This weekend I worked on a project for a local 4th grade class. They are having a colonial America day next Friday and I am going to demonstrate hand piecing, applique and quilting. To help get them involved I am bringing this quilt that they can sign. Then they will tie the quilt and I will leave it with them for their classroom.
Their school colors are blue and white so I used a lot of indigo fabrics in this. That also leads to a great piece of S.C. history since indigo was a profitable export from this state during colonial times. The school mascot is a bear so I used a bear paw block in the center. Since bear paw is one of my favorite blocks and indigo my favorite color and I got to practice some of Cindy Williams techniques and it is for kids this is an all around feel good project!

Mac helping me design a pieced border

I needed to get this finished since I will be in Charleston a few days this week visiting with my Dh's family. I hope to slip away for a few hours and see the "Textiles of the Civil War" exhibit at the Museum of History there.
Fortunately we are driving so I can carry my latest fabric history book. It took Amazon a long time to get this but it was worth the wait!