A Big Stitch in Time

 I wanted to start the new year off mastering something new. I had tried big stitch once before and was not happy with my results, so I whipped up a little top made entirely of vintage feedsack scraps for a practice piece. I used Barb Vedder's (Fun With Barb) Baptist Fan stencil which was so easy to mark. This is the first time I had marked an entire top before sandwiching it. I am a lazy quilter and do not baste for hand quilting except for around the edges to keep the batting from getting in my way. I simply start in the middle and work my way out to the edge. I tried my normal quilting thread for the first arch, but it was a bit thin looking so I switched to #8 pearl cotton. When teaching hand quilting, I like to tell my students not to worry about size as your stitches will get smaller with practice. Guess that rings true for the big stitch too because I started out with nice big stitches and they got smaller and smaller! 😂 So in conclusion, the jury is still out, but either way I need more practice!! 

 

 

May all your stitches be happy ones!

Another year of Quilty Fun!

 First finish for 2025. This is my little offering for the Instagram 2025 Doll Quilt Swap hosted by Linda Collins (Quilts in the Barn). All it needs now is a label and it will zoom off to its new owner. 

The center consists of simple random shapes using this fabric for the bird in the center and then surrounded by four corner circles. I just love throwing pieces down on fabric and stitching them in place. 

The outer borders were a bit more fiddly so I backbasted them to make sure of the proper placement. All in all, it was a really fun little quilt to make. Hope my swap partner likes it as well. 

 

I have also been hand quilting along on my Quiltmania Mystery quilt designed (with a few changes by me) by Susan Smith. I started it last January but abandoned it for nearly a full year before picking it up again. 

Off to the sewing room! I hope 2025 will be full of quilty goodness. Let's spread the joy!

Goodbye 2024

 I'm not going to make any resolutions this year. I am just thankful for each and every day! I will end my pitiful blog entries this year with a few recent projects and look froward to a new year of fun and adventure.

Earlier in the month I was finishing what I hope to be my last IVIG infusions for a while! I couldn't go to my regular infusion center because they were short staffed so I ended up at a local Cancer Center for the infusions. The staff there was so accommodating and sweet. I made a basket full of "mug rugs" and Santa chocolates for them. 

 

The loss of a friend is always hard. My dear sweet friend, Jennifer passed away and left us all with a hole in our hearts. She was an amazingly talented and prolific quilter. She left leaving a pile of unfinished projects and we (members of our local guild) all helped to finish quilts for her family. My friend, Meliss spearheaded the project and she thought I might like to finish the hand applique on this one. She was of course right. I enjoyed every stitch as I thought of Jennifer and her loving, kind spirit. I also had a few laughs with her, vowing that I would try to finish more of my own UFO's in the future! 

 

This is us at last year's Christmas party. I miss you my friend! 

 

I've been working diligently on the Tiny Nine Patch Challenge hosted by Taryn Falkner on Instagram. I've finished one quilt and am on to quilt #2. Made in the potholder method (of course). 

 

This next top is at the quilters, but when it returns, It will be heading to New York City to remind a friend of his roots in Maine! 

 

Maine will be hosting the 2025 AQSG (American Quilt Study Group) seminar in October. We are all very excited to have the opportunity to share our beautiful state with so many happy quilt enthusiasts! I have made 24 thus far and can't seem to stop. No worries as what we don't use on the tables will go to the auction at our state show this summer and proceeds will benefit quilt study! 

 

 

 

 

It was great to use up so many of the orphan blocks that have been hanging around for way too long! I wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope to spend a little more time reading and enjoying blogs this year!

 Enjoy the day!

 

What I did on my summer vacation...

 Early summer was great with lots of family fun and plenty of quilting time in between. Then, just after my last post in August, my Myasthenia Gravis kicked into high gear. I muddled through the daily challenges until mid September when I ended up in ICU for four days of infusions. It's been a long slog, but I am finally on a new schedule of infusions that is working well and I am back on track. I am thankful to now be spending time each day in the quilting room!

I want to now share some of my summer projects that haven't yet made it to the blog screen! 

I went on a "vintage feedsack" kick this Spring. I have been a feedsack collector for 60 years and I dug through lots of scrap boxes and drawers and came up with these.

I am calling this one "Home Cookin". I had a ball rummaging through the solid sack boxes to find the backgrounds and then just started cutting images for the centers. The outer borders went together quickly and I spent evenings appliqueing those little circles in the corners. It is (of course) made in the potholder method (whereby each block is individually quilted and bound and then stitched together) and I had fun choosing all the different novelty prints for the backings. 

 

 

 

Next up is one I call "Sugar Pops". I drew these patterns that are based on an antique quilt I saw in the Quilt Engagement Calendar back in the 1980's. There have been a few published patterns based on this quilt over the years. I have always wanted to make one and since I already had the sack scraps out... I think I had more fun with this quilt than any other in years. I just adore it! I enjoyed picking all the feedsack plaids for the backings. I don't use my plaid sacks enough so this made me smile. Again, this one was made in the potholder method. 

 

 

 

I had so much fun in fact that I thought I would try another one with my precious Dutch fabrics. I made this block with my favorite colors, but I'm afraid the placement of the red was unfortunate. When I looked at the photo I had taken, it looked like Bozo the Clown. Right?? I knew I could never unsee it, so I will place it on the freebee table at my next quilt meeting and it will go to some unsuspecting quilter at my group. 

 

While I still had the overflowing scraps on my table, I cut some little pieces for this potholder quilt which I donated to the infusion center.

 

You get terribly cold sitting for hours in those chairs and a quilt is a fun thing to keep you warm! 

 

 

I still haven't made much of a dent in my sack scraps! 

 

I also finished quilt number one of Taryn Falkner's (Repro Quilt Lover) Tiny Nine Patch Challenge on Instagram. This also went to the infusion center. 

 

 

I called this one "In the Pink" as I was feeling better by the time I finished it! And, now I am on to quilt number two. I got bored with the shirting background so switched to my favorite color, chrome yellow! 

 

That's all for now. Hope to get back into Blogland slowly but surely!! Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful Fall! 

Trying to catch up

 I'm trying to post 6 months of "goings on" in as few posts as possible. I'd like to get to "square one" before the end of this steaming hot summer! So...

Earlier this summer, my friend Julie Silber curated a show at the Cahoon Museum of Art in Barnstable, MA (Cahoonmuseum.org) called: Small Quilts, Big Stories. She used this little quilt that I had given her many years ago as part of the exhibition. The show (and a number of other wonderful exhibitions) runs until September 22, so if you are anywhere near the Cape this summer, please stop in. 

 

 

The news of the shutdown of Quiltmania Magazine hit all of us pretty hard, but none I'm sure as hard as for the founder and owner, Carol Veillon. We will miss this stellar publication and I wish Carol a "pieceful" retirement. Back in issue # 157, my friend Barb Vedder (Fun With Barb blog) had published her "Scrap Happy" quilt. I made a regular sized version and donated it to the local infusion center. 

Then I decided to try one in half the size. What fun!! I sent it off to Barb before I realized I had forgotten to photograph the finished quilt, but here it the top. I just adore this size and just may make another one "someday". 

                   27" X 32" 

I've been trying to use what I have on hand these days and that certainly includes a very large amount of feedsack scraps. I finished this one in January, but I never posted the finished quilt. I appliqued one feedsack circle onto a white feedsack square every morning of 2023. I finished 12 blocks of 30 squares at the end of each month and then hand quilted them and assembled them in the New Year. I call it "Sugar Cookies".  

 

 

I finally finished this LONG term project made from some of my favorite feedsack novelty prints and lots and lots of yo-yos. 

 

 

 

This little gem will be going to my niece's new baby boy. I adore these feedsack plaids. 

 

This might be my favorite feedsack quilt thus far. I used vintage embroidered tea towels and linens and framed them with vintage feedsack fabrics. So much fun!! I call this one "Tea Time". 

 

I liked it so much that I made another one with reproduction toiles and chintzes. I love this one too and I call it "Fancy Feast". 

 

I used fun cheater prints on the backs of each block. 

 

That's all I can muster today. Will try to do more catching up next week. I'd really like to get to "current projects" before I start another one. 😉

Happy Quilting!

 

Where I left off...

While looking for an old photo for my sister recently, I came across this. This is my mother holding a quilt I made in 1972 for a teacher's new baby. It made me realize just how swiftly time is passing. Although it was not my first quilt, I remember so very clearly making this one, as I wanted every seam to be perfect. This was going to be a gift to a special person and I wanted do do my very best. Seems like it was yesterday. 

 

Since my last post was in April, I thought I'd better go chronologically until I get to "present day". 😏 One short post at a time so as not to overload anyone or anything (like my PC). 

May: Another delightful retreat with my "Seven Sistahs" at our rented beach house. We had a severe early Spring storm here in Maine which affected many coastal areas, but we were fortunate that the house we have rented for the past 4 years, came through unscathed. We have a little (all in fun) challenge every year. When we were here last year we purchased a panel of strange and spooky images. Everyone took one tiny (6") panel and made their offering. 

 

I just donated mine to our statewide quilt show's silent auction. I chose the Venus Fly Trap since it was one of my favorite plants as a kid. I found some black plastic flies and gold honey bees to attach to the center of the "shoo fly" blocks. It was a lot of fun! 

 

I am by no means the most productive of the group. In fact, I might be the least since I have of late only brought hand work. But we all have loads of fun!!

 

Karen, Kathy and Charlotte hard at it!! 

 

Charlotte's challenge piece. She makes the best bags!! 

 

Charlotte also has a lot of fun with retail therapy! 

 

We have our share of just plain down time! 

 

And, then we just sleep and dream of all the quilting we will do in the morning!