Family Quilts and December Mini

 I'll start off with the mini, which is another cheat (ahem..)  as I made this in 1999. But it has a story, so that should gain me some points, right?

 The story behind this little quilt is, my mom had ordered the pattern from a magazine sometime in the 1950's, but never got around to making the quilt. 

Backing up a few decades ... my mom grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, the youngest of eleven children.  Quilts were made, but who knows what ever happened to them. One was a Sunbonnet Sue, which my mom was particularly fond of, but could never track it down after her dad lost the farm and all her siblings had scattered. She talked about that quilt from time to time, always with sense of loss. 

At some point she decided to make her own Sunbonnet Sue quilt, but probably got sidetracked with raising four kids, and sewing clothes for us, plus the cousins, neighbors, and everybody else as well. Sometime in the late '90's I found the pattern while rummaging through her sewing room. She said at that point she had no interest in making it, but I thought maybe I could make it for her. I also brought home some fabrics she had squirreled away, apparently intended for quiltmaking. 

The pattern was for a much larger quilt, and I think Mom was a little disappointed when I presented her with a wall hanging. But as you know I am not fond of applique, and although the applique in these couldn't have been easier, after six blocks I figured I was done. Plus I had just enough of her fabric to complete this small quilt, so there you have it. 

 

 While digging around in the trunk, I found one my mom did make. This sweet old quilt was made for my baby brother, right around 1960. Its one of only two quilts that Mom made once she was married.

I'm not sure the origin of those fabrics, as I don't think they're scraps from any of our clothing. It looks like she even made a make-do block.

I brought this home with the intent to salvage the butterflies and make a new quilt, but my friend Carmel, who studies quilts, said I should preserve it as-is. Sadly, it lives in my trunk. I do treasure it though, because its  history. And it shows just what she had to work with as a young mother without a lot of discretionary income. Much of the quilt is made from old sheets, including the batting which is flannel sheet. 

Further digging in the trunk ... 

 

 

... revealed this one, made by  Mom's sister Milly, who was the only one in the family (that I know of) who seriously continued the quilt making tradition. She gave me this quilt when I was in my early 20's and just moved in to my first apartment. As you can see, it is well used and worn. And obviously not re-folded in a long time - shame on me.

And humble. Aunt Milly was not a purist when it came to fabric. The brown print is some kind of polyester double-knit, which she used shamelessly in many of her quilts.

 I love the wide binding, and the big stitches! 

These are now hanging outside, for a good air-out. 

I will post a link to Wendy's blog, once she publishes the Monthly Mini's for December. 

 

love, Sandy

Merry Christmas!

My sister made Christmas cookies and sent us a tin full.

Aren’t these adorable?

There are more, but they’re still in the tin, individually wrapped, and I don’t want to disturb them ... quite yet.  

Do you, or did you ever make these? (decorated, cookie cutter Christmas cookies)?  As kids, our mom baked the cookies and we kids decorated them. It was fun, and we got pretty elaborate with some of them. (remember those little silver balls that practically broke your teeth when you bit down on one?) Anyway, my sister (with her kids)  has carried on the Christmas cookie tradition for many years - minus the silver balls. 

I have been sewing a lot. I finished my bedspread top, which for me is huge. I’m so glad it’s done! Now I have to figure out how to get it quilted (ie: find the right machine quilter) because I don’t think I ccould handle it. I’ll wait to post a picture til it’s completely done and on the bed!

Meanwhile I decided to make more of these:

I still have lots of orphan blocks, partial blocks and various bits and pieces, along with several bags and bins of scraps to use up. Haha, as if that’s possible, right? This is a fun project to work on when I don’t feel like working on something else. I know some of these blocks look like they’re a lot of work, but the process is actually very freeing because they don’t have to be perfect. Don’t forget I did not start from scratch as most of these started with “something “ already made. 

I’ve also finallly moving forward on making a postage stamp quilt, which something that has been on my bucket list for a long time. I’ve been saving 1 1/2” squares forever and have recently started sewing pairs together as leader/enders. Once I finally figured out a method to sew them all together so they consistently nest at every stage, I made some blocks and laid them out on my wall. 

My method, if anyone is curious, is to start with four-patches, making sure the seams all “spin” in the same direction - let’s say, clockwise. Then sew the four-patches together into 16-patches, making sure the outside seams are still all going clockwise. Then combine those into 32-patches, and so on. This way I can work block by block, and I can turn each block any which way whenever I put them all together. 

Well that’s about it for me.

I hope you all are enjoying your holidays, whatever way you can. I highly recommend zoom get-togethers, if you cannot gather in person with friends and family. I believe 2021 will be another tough year, but the tide has turned and there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We just need to preserve through the rest of this dang tunnel! 

love,

Sandy

 

November

Hello! 

I hope you all had a decent thanksgiving holiday, in whatever form that might have taken. My husband and I got "Thanksgiving dinner for two" from our local grocery store. With the exeption of the green beans (which were like cardboard and went promplly into the compost bin), the rest of the meal was actually pretty good, plus we had enough left over for two more meals. All that for twentyy bucks! Then we zoomed with family, which was fun. 

Here is my mini for the month of November. Again, it is a bit of a cheat, as I made it several years ago as a gift for my mother-in-law.

Does it look familiar? That's because its a shameless copy of someone else's quilt. The original was made by Marion Edwards - though I didn't know it at the time, but who has recently and graciously given me permission to post mine on my blog today.

Below is Marion's original "Three Dolly Quilt", and the book that inspired her to make it.

You may remember Marion Edwards Dreamweaver blog, which has been inactive for several years, but you can still find her (and her adorable quilts) on instagram. 

So back to the story of my own three dolly quilt. I had initially machine quilted it, very sparsely and purposely wonky, as I was going for the "primitive" look. However instead, I think it ended up just looking sloppy. Every time I'd see it over at my MIL's house, it bugged the heck out of me. When we were there last month, I asked her if I could take it home and fix it, and she agreed. So I picked out all the sloppy quilting and proceeded to hand quilt it, IMO a huge improvement.  And ... it makes it fresh, so hopefully that means it qualifies for this month's Montly Mini? 😄

It is now ready to send back to Mom.

To see more November Monthly Mini's, please check out Wendy's blog, The Constant Quilter. Enjoy!

Meanwhile I finished my Madders quilt, which I'm now calling my Autumn Quilt. 

 

And I machine quilted my Log Cabin in the ditch around all the blocks, and now I'm considering hand quilting inside the blocks. Yes that's a lot of quilting for these poor hands, but I really like how it looks. That's DMC perle cotton, which so far handles pretty easily, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of the Big Stitch. This may take me forever.

So... still have several things to finish. I still haven't sewn together my blue 16-patch bedspread. The blocks are all done, but they need to be squared up first. I'm stalling. What I really want to do is start something new (of course!). I have several ideas brewing... stay tuned! 

love,                                                                                                           Sandy

Blessings

 Yesterday I helped out with my quilt guild’s quilt giveaway to families who lost their homes in the CZU lightening complex fires. There were hundreds of quilts sent from all over, and from our guild members. There were all sizes and styles, from the most basic utility quilts to the more elaborately made. There were even a few hand-quilted vintage quilts that were donated. 

Now I wish I’d taken some pictures of those stacks of quilts. It didn’t occur to me I would be blogging about this event, but it’s still so high in my consciousness, and I really didn’t have a heck of a lot else to say anyway. 

A month ago I gave one of my own quilts plus one a friend made, to a couple who lost their home. You remember Berzirkistan: 

The recipients were very grateful, and, amazingly, also very upbeat and positive about their future, in spite of losing everything. 

Yesterday I helped a woman who’s story was similar to my above mentioned friends: family compound in a remote location, homes they spent years building with their own hands, adult children who also had homes on the propery, also burned out. This lady was something less than upbeat. She looked ... lost. I helped her select some quilts, and talked with her a while. It was her image that I woke up with this morning. 

This whole circumstance, the fires, the loss, and the aftermath, is impossible for me to fully comprehend. Beyond that, I am truly at a loss for words.

I have to confess I’ve been going through a bit of a slump mood-wise, and I even feel guilty about that because what do I have to complain about? I need to start reminding myself of my blessings, and making a list (each day?) of things to be grateful for.

I’ve been sewing. No mini this month, but I did hang a few in my sewing room. 

I’m calling this my Indigo Corner. Please ignore the mess below. 

 

Wendy posts the Montly Minis here, if you want to take a look.

Meanwhile, I made this:

Which is my repro version of an antique quilt, and current sew-along with Temecula Quilt Co. 

I’m posting from my iPad, which apparently doesn’t let me resize my photos, but you may be able to get a better view by clicking on them. 

That’s it for now! 

Love, Sandy

Things to be grateful for:

my home

my husband 

my community 

my friends

quilting, which is truly keeping me sane

September Mini - and Other Things

 

Just under the wire ...

This little quilt is another “Frankenstein” meaning it’s composed of leftovers, reject blocks, and various odds and ends. (remember, Frankenstein wasn't a bad monster - just misunderstood.) Some of these are rejects from my Summer Sampler, and I dug others out of my “spare parts” box. I think they ended up playing together nicely.

It was initially intended to be my July mini, but I deliberated for weeks on my border fabric, to the point where I became practically paralyzed and I had to put it away and move on to something else. I finally settled on this Cocheco Mills piece which I’d been hoarding for years, which was not much bigger than a scrap. There was barely enough, and then I mis-cut one side and had to stitch it back together, leaving a nice Frankenstein scar down one side. Barely visible, but still. 

(is it just me, or is there something weird about these photos? not blurry - which is my usual - the details are crisp but there's something unreal about them. The one below practically vibrates!)

I did not deliberate long on the back. This is another old print I’ve hoarded for a long time. I’ve lately been using more and more of these “special pieces” for small quilt backs, because I know they will be appreciated and enjoyed with the rest of the quilt. 

I thought it would be nice to hand quilt this, possibly because I was too lazy to haul out my big Janome with the hand-quilt stitch, and clear off the dining room table to set it up. Marking the fans was an unanticipated issue. The Sewline white worked fine in the darker places, and a lead pencil was ok on the light fabrics, but the constant switching back and forth between the two did not make for a smooth line. I know from experience yellow chalk could stain the whites, and I don’t trust those blue things.  

I thought about free-handing it, but I had too hard a time seeing my previous line of quilting! Problem ultimately solved by marking said line with 1/4” masking tape. This was not a relaxing process, so it went very slowly. By the time I finished, it was the end of September. Anyway, here it is! Be sure and follow the link to Wendy's blog to see more of this month’s mini’s.

I also finished my Summer Sampler, making for two finishes this month!

Those things that look like bleach spots are actually sun rays coming through the trees.

Thank you to everyone who followed this process and encouraged me along the way.  

The back is another piece I've been hanging on to for several years, waiting  for just the right quilt.

 

Meanwhile, this top was still nagging me. I felt it needed something more.

A single row of triangle squares across the top and bottom I think will do the trick.

love,           

Sandy

Hello! I have reverted back to Legacy Blogger.

Yesterday it was 108 degrees at my house. No wonder I was in a foul mood when I posted. (could you tell? ;-)) We live about two miles from the beach on the central coast of California. I don't think it was much cooler on the beach itself. This might actually be a record high here. We do not have air conditioning, but rely on a few strategically placed fans around the house. One (rotating) in the living room, one in the bedroom pointed at the bed, and one about three feet behind my sewing machine, pointed directly at my head. You can probably figure out where I spent most of the day yesterday! 

Mostly I worked on machine quilting large fans across my Summer Sampler. In addition to pin basting, I went ahead and spritzed a tiny bit of 505 basting spray here and there, avoiding the edges as I was doing this on my dining room table. So far so good, everything is staying in place with no drifting, stretching or pushing. Which can be an issue for me, even with a walking foot. I'm using the stencil I got from Barb (Fun with Barb), and then extending the fans even larger with the guide on my walking foot.

I also used the technique (see arrows) where when you butt up to the prevously stitched fan, you turn and stitch down the one you are butting up to (directly on top of the previous stitching) for the width of your blades, about 1/2" in this case, then pivot again and sew your next fan blade going the other direction. This avoids having to end your stitching and start again, leaving all those loose ends to bury. It does take a lot of pivoting though, and could be challenging with a large quilt. I hope this makes sense.

Meanwhile ...

I've been looking at this antique quilt on Pinterest.

 I'm not the only one. Barbara Brackman featured it on her blog about Madder quilts a few months ago. Katy (katyquilts) was also inspired, and made a darling mini from her madders.

I happen to have a stack of madder prints begging to be used, and a few stacks of shirtings, many of which qualify more as scraps. Perfect for making four-patches. So away I went!

(btw in the photos my madders look browner than they are in real life. They're closer to the original, but maybe not quite as "orange".)

First I played around with an on-point setting with the idea of using this print for side triangles, but ass you can see, that wasn't going to work.

Then I laid them out in a straight set and played around.

Julie K had just sent me this cool cheater medallion. I love it, but I don't think it belongs in this quilt. (note: I also have a big stack of reds that are begging to be used, so you will see this again.)






 Meanwhile, I kept making more four-patches and the top grew.

I was trying to think of ways to make the quilt more interesting and engaging, so as I went along I increased the number of the more eye-catching fabrics.  Then I put them up using the "true random" (aka paper bag) method so that there would be random groups and lines of the same fabrics. This helped a lot, but I still thought it might appear somewhat ... boring?

Then I got the idea of adding a "rogue block"* which turned into several, which imo, was exactly what this quilt needed.

*"rogue blocks" being the brilliant idea of Janet Olson, the Rogue Quilter, when she used them in her 365 challenge quilt.

Voila!  Nothing like the original inspiration quilt, but my goal was to make it look "old", and I think I've accomplished that.  In keeping with that idea, I may do fans again, but meanwhile I'm waiting for a piece of fabric to arrive (a nice  vintage-looking shirting) for the back.

I had to revert to Legacy Blogger in order to manipulate my settings, but I believe your comments will again go to my email. I hope Blogger fixes the many snags with their new format, and in the meantime keep giving us time to figure it out - and to revert to Legacy when we need it. (are you listening, Google?)

love,
Sandyy

September

Blogger is being a real pain in the xxx this morning so this will be a short post
I finished my interpretation of Lynn Wilder’s “Lil Orphan Scrappy” aka what I’m currently calling “Orphan Scrappy’s Long Lost Cousin.” That name may change.  Its significantly different than Lynn’s quilt (there’s a link in my previous post - not goin’ there today.). The point being, you can use her pattern to make her version, or mix it up a little like I did (if you’re brave) and come out with your own unique quilt.

It’s looking  like yet another blurry photo. 

However it’s 95 degrees outside, and I really don’t want to repeat the process of staging and photographing my quilt in this heat. Which I do not do well with.

The detail picture is much better.

Good news is, now that I finally bought a new iPad, I am once again able to leave comments, but the bad news is I’ve fallen way behind, and really, I have no excuses. Maybe it’s my mood, which is finally reflecting the effects of all this sequestering, and addition of the fires. The horrible devastation, and the constant smoke.  The other thing is, your comments are no longer showing up in my email, so I don’t have a reasonable way to answer them. I apologize, and I still enjoy reading everyone’s blogs every day.

The first time I posted using my iPad, it was easy. This time it’s messed up. I wii go ahead and post this before it gets any more messed up. 

Love, Sandy

August progress

 Berzerkistan is finished. Quilted, bound, and washed. 

 

I confess that the longer I worked on this quilt, the more I lost enthusiasm for it. It got to a point where it actually hurt my eyes to look at it. But I had to soldier on and complete it, in order to get it out of my life. 

So I cleared off my big table and laid out the backing fabric, right side up, and laid the top on top of it - basically to measure if the back was wide enough. In doing so, I effectively "created" a dark denim blue border. 

Suddenly the quilt was transformed. The dark blue border somehow calmed the whole thing down. I had a huge piece of that denim, enough for the backing AND to make borders, so I went for it. 

(The only reason I split the back was I discovered a big fade line right down the middle. Enter inserted leftover blocks.)

 

Upshot: I have now bonded with this quilt, and seriously love it. That said, I think it may be going away. Some acquaintances of mine (good friends of good friends) lost their home in the fire currently blazing through Santa Cruz County, and I think they may be needing a quilt. I immediately pictured this quilt with them. Their home is a ranch on the north end of the county, and they live a very rustic lifestyle. I think this will be perfect. 

Of course, now I want to make another one ...

Also finished is the (still un-named) quilt inspired by Lynn Wilder's Lil' Orphan Scrappy.

 

Finished, that is, whenever I complete stitching the binding.  (More pictures will follow ... )

Meanwhile my blue low-contrast 16-patch guest-room-bed quilt is on hold, while I figure out the sizing, and how I'm going to get the dang thing quilted, as it will be too large to baste on my dining room table. No hurry though, it will be a long time before we have house guests.

 

 

Time to take a break and make a mini. 

I was looking in my box of pre-cuts for.. something.. and came across this little pack of 2 1/2" squares of William Morris prints. I have no idea where it came from. But I went ahead and pulled it out and went "hmmm.. " Just below was a stack of 10" squares, with this brown one on top. Another "hmmm... hmmmm... "

I liked it. 

It just so happened that laying there right next to where I was "designing" was this beautiful piece, just given to me by my friend Claire. Another "hmmm.... ! "

The perfect frame for my little "garden window" ! (and nice opportunity to show off those pretty WM squares) As you can see, this little quilt practically made itself! 😀

And perfect timing for my Montly Mini, for August. I'll link up with Wendy when she posts the mini's at the end of the month. Do check them out! 

love,

Sandy

Experimenting

 I finally broke down and bought a new iPad. My old iPad was (is) a generation one, and served me well for seven years, but it was slowly becoming more and more dysfunctional. Then a couple of weeks ago I dropped it and the screen shattered,..

I’d never been able to write and publish a blog post on the old one, so I thought I’d give it a try on the new one. 

  Below are the bonus triangles left over from my flying geese quilt, made mostly into pinwheels plus a few outlier blocks. The lemoyne star is from an English paper piecing project I abandoned several years ago. Looks promising as the center of a medallion quilt, which has been on my to-do list for many years. Not sure what comes next.

Next up the beginnings of a bed quilt for my guest room. Low contrast and blendy. 

Windham Fabrics Upstairs at the Manor House.

(Interesting how any text added below a photo is underlined, and blue?)Not seeing any option to preview post, so will go ahead and publish and see what I got.

Sandy

Hm. Text now black and the underline is gone. 

July Monthly Mini and other things

So... what happened to all this free time I'm supposed to be having? I'm retired, I can't go anywhere, I don't have kids or grandkids ... yet it seems like I still exhaust myself just trying to keep up with what needs to be done around the house and yard. (Granted, there's a LOT that needs doing.) That, and simply keeping in touch with everyone, whether by phone, text, or zoom. Good grief.

I did manage to make a mini.

I'm calling this Pineapple Squares, because the blocks were supposed to be pineapple blocks, but ended up looking more like square-in-a-square. Some of them are pretty off-kilter, one of them actually has a hole in it (I just noticed when taking the pictures).

Oops. See the hole? Apparently my chosen scrap wasn't long enough. Must repair ...

I recently purchased Barb's fan stencil (available here) and tried it out  on this little quilt. It was pretty easy, and I like how it turned out.

My friend Joanne described to me how you can backtrack over the previously quilted fan to start a  new line, thus avoiding all those starts and stops. You can see here the backtracking is well hidden, helped no doubt by the busy fabrics, the crinkling, and the very thin thread.

Yes I know, some of those black triangles are pretty darned cockeyed. Who cares. Overall effect - think galloping horse - it all looks good.

For the back I used a piece of this versatile toile, which my friend Shauna gave me an entire bold of ( !! ).

Please visit The Constant Quilter, hosted by Wendy, to see more of this month's mini quilts, which are always delightful!

On to "other things" ...

I'm almost finished quilting my "Little Orphan Scrappy" from said pattern by Lynn Wilder (Sewin' Wild Oaks). Simple grid, because I could not come up with anything else  wanted something uncomplicated.

I also went ahead and marked one corner of my Summer Sampler.

I've realized I was deluding myself thinking I could hand quilt this. Too many obstacles. For instance, I don't have a frame, hand-held or otherwise, that would accommodate a single one of those fans. And the fact that my hand quilting would disappear right into that dull blue with the white dots makes all that work kind of pointless. I'll save the stress on my hands for something that gives me more bang for the buck. Now that I know the overlap trick, I'm confident I can machine quilt this easily.

That's it for the quilting part of this post.

a couple of notes -

Comments:  I am no longer able to sign in to Google on my ipad, which means I have not been able to leave comments using that device. That's what I use to read the blogs, and I'm not often motivated to get out of my recliner (or bed where I do much of my reading) and go in the other room and turn on the computer.  I ordered a new ipad a week ago, but its delivery has been delayed. I'm hoping to be back in business soon. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Blogger:   I don't know if I am using the new blogger or the old one. I did not select "legacy blogger" when I began this post, so I assumed I was using the new one. I did not experience any problems, in fact there were only a few little differences, such as not being able to resize pictures. We'll se what happens next time. I'll admit I am not very sophisticated.

love,

Sandy