This and That

It's hard to believe we are in the last week of January already.  If this is an example of how fast this year is going to move, then I think I should start baking for Christmas.  I don't know why time seems to be moving so quickly but it feels like I'm not getting anything done. I also feel like I'm going in a dozen different directions. 

Even though I've been bad about posting, I have managed to do a bit of sewing.  I spent a couple weeks this month appliqueing a block as a pattern tester for a designer.  It's a lovely block but I can't share it until she publishes the pattern which probably won't be until this summer.  So you'll have to trust me..it turned out pretty nicely and it did take a lot of hours.  That explains some of January.

I'm still trying to get the remaining quilt pieces cut out by my grandmother turned into finished projects.  I'm  mostly down to these

I made five more Brilliant Star blocks in the last 3 weeks

I think I remember one of my aunts having a dress from this fabric

A relative shared some scraps with Grandma and I in the mid 70's when we were making crazy quilts.  This fabric was left over from P.J.'s she made for her sons.

Another of my aunt's dress scraps

 The day our great-granddaughter Aly, was born, I needed a good take along project to keep me busy while we waited, so I grabbed the little hexagons in Grandma's pieces and started working on these Flower Garden blocks using English paper piecing. It does get addictive and I've made a few more in the evenings since. 

I think I have enough of her pieces to make about 27 blocks.  They are small, so maybe I can make a table topper or runner out of them.  The fabrics are older than the ones I'm using for the Brilliant Star blocks.  These look more like vintage 30's or 40's fabrics.  I don't have any memories of any of them in clothing.  Perhaps Grandma got them as scraps from her mother?   The center muslin pieces are somewhat discolored with age.  At first I thought I'd cut out some new muslin, but then decided to go ahead and use the aged fabric.  It's vintage fabric..and I want it to retain that look.  Besides it's for me and not the quilt police.

Oh, BTW, the quilts are laying on my new kitchen floor.  That took most of a week  out of my month.  New floors in our kitchen, hallway and front entry to go along with the two new bathroom and utility room  floors in Nov/Dec. You would not believe the number of quilt magazines I had to remove from the kitchen in order to move bookcases, etc. out and empty the room.  My dining room table is still full of most of them.  Then there were the over 300 cookbooks that live in my kitchen.  So two days of moving stuff out and two or more of moving SOME of the stuff back.  In the middle were three days of our former grandson-in-law putting the floor down.  I love it!

hallway

front bathroom ..the same flooring went in utility room and front entry

While we were in the middle of redoing the kitchen floor a friend called and asked if I'd like some of the fabric she and her mother no longer needed.  What quilter ever says no?  So approximately a dozen BIG shopping bags full of fabric were deposited in my living room.  I'm still working my way through it.  It's wonderful quilt shop quality fabric, but it's all been washed and now needs pressed and refolded in order to make it fit in my stash somehow.  So much for reducing the size of that! 

Last week our chicken and noodle dinners at church started up again, so one day was spent baking four pies for that.  Three made it to the church. One custard pie ended up upside down on my new floor.  Don't ask!  All I will say is that custard pie cleans up a whole lot easier on wood floor than it would have on the carpeting that was there three weeks ago.

And despite my vow each January not to get involved in new BOM's, you all know how easily I cave on that one.  I've posted the four blocks I've made this month for Barbara B's Civil War BOM.

With this being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War I'm seeing projects relating to this popping up all over the web and I know I'll not be able to resist.  I'm already downloading patterns and hoping to start two more.  What can I say....I'm weak!

So why do I feel like I haven't accomplished anything this month?



Do You Know This Block?

Since finishing my Dutch Treat quilt on the 17th, I've been kind of bouncing here and there trying to settle on something to work on.  I spent several nights catching up on my Raggedy and Friends blocks.  I finished the embroidery on all three I was behind, but have only pieced one of them, so no pictures taken yet.

Last night I dug out my container of quilt pieces from my Grandmother.  I've posted pictures of these in the past but it's been awhile.  I decided to work on some of these blocks

I don't know the name of the block.  The closest I can find is that it might be a variation of the Hexagon Star in Maggie Malone's book.  Grandma had several of these hand pieced

I had a skirt made from the orange fabric in the first picture. My sister and I had skirts from the two fabrics in the upper left of the second picture. I had the turquoise and she had the lavendar. 

In addition to the pieced blocks there is a string of cut pieces

The string on the left contains pieces for this block, only slightly smaller.  All of the components are there, strung in order.  I can't imagine having the patience to sit and cut all of these pieces out.  I'm more of a "cut a few, piece a few" type gal.

I dug out another stash of pattern templates from Grandma and found these pieces cut from (I think) a Workbasket magazine.

Unfortunately there is no name shown for the block.  Grandma had several cardboard and sandpaper templates cut.  She seemed to have issues regarding seam allowances.  The pieced blocks correspond pretty well to the size shown in the pattern.  The string of cut pieces seem to be minus the seam allowance.  And, at least for her, cutting with scissors didn't yield perfectly sized pieces. 

She also used a variety of white fabric and it isn't the best quality so I've decided to cut new white pieces and use her fabric for the hexagon and colored triangles. 

I pieced two of them by hand.

My points are never as sharp as Crispy's.  Wish she lived close enough to give me lots of one on one hand piecing tutoring.  I know in theory what to do. It just doesn't always work out that way.  Of course it would help if the pieces were a bit more accurately cut.

So maybe this will be my sitting in the recliner, listening to TV evening project for awhile.  I'm thinking there is no chance the blocks will set together like show in the pattern so I'm considering sashing them all.  Or I found an enlarged block with this as the center in Maggie Malone's book . That might work too.  I may decide to take apart the blocks Grandma pieced and cut them down to size to fit with the others.

Anyone recognize this block?

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We did. 

Stay warm.

Mary



Reality Check

In 2007 I made this silk flower and tulle wall hanging and donated it for the silent auction at our guild's quilt show.

I don't know who bought it or remember how much it went for, but I think it was a decent price.


It was one of favorites, actually. I liked it alot.

Well guess what? It's back in my home!

A couple weeks ago a friend from quilt guild was shopping at a local thrift shop and guess what she found there?


With this price tag?

No chance of getting a big head around here! LOL.

I'm glad I had my name on the back. For $1.50 I'll happily keep it myself.

Last weekend I was feeling in between projects and still letting ideas for the border of my Baltimore Album quilt percolate in my brain. So I dug out a box with more of the pieces my grandmother cut out.

There were just a few hexagons in this size so I sat and hand pieced them. Not sure what I'll do with them now. But aren't the fabrics fabulous? In one block alone there are fabrics from a skirt I wore in the 1950's, a dress I made myself in the early 1960's and p.j.s I made for my sons in the mid 60's.

Today is chicken and noodle dinner day at church. So my custard pies are baking and I need to go tend to them.

Tomorrow I'll try to post some pics from Monday night's fabulous trunk show at guild.