Monthly mini - February Snow

This month’s mini is in honor of the great Earle Scruggs. One of my favorite albums growing up was “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (Lester Flat and Earle Scruggs) and my favorite song on the vinyl was “February Snow”. 

My friend Karen won two little Hmong appliques at our annual auction back in October and she gave me one. It reminded me of one of the wonderful snow art (made by walking in the snow with snowshoes!) of Simon Beck.

The border print is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I liked the name. It’s a Hoffman print titled “Call of the Wild Snowflake”. I machine quilted the border in jagged lines that looked somewhat icicle like. I felt the hand appliqued center deserved a little hand quilting. 

Here are links to all the fabulous monthly minis. Do take a look! Please let me know if I have missed anyone. As always, feel free to jump in any time. If you've made a mini just let me know and I'll link it up! I try to post them in the last few days of the month.

Randy (Barrister'sBlock) Randy has both her monthly mini and her Pam Buda in this post. Way to go!!

Barbara (Quilts,Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors)

Barb (Fun WithBarb)

Kyle (TimelessReflections)
Janet (Rogue Quilter)  

Cathy (Big Lake Quilter) Cathy has her Pam Buda project in her post as well.
Quilting Babcia (AmityQuilter)

Shasta (High Road Quilter)

Sizzling String-a-Long

Here are a few more string quilt blocks waiting for me to finish the bindings. 

As I mentioned before I am determined to make these potholder blocks completely by machine. After 20 plus potholder quilts, I am finding it to be quite a challenge to rely solely on the machine. I put the first few bindings on the back and brought them around to the front like this.

Then I made a mistake and put it on the conventional way and found I liked it better even though there is an extra stitch line on the front.

I didn't like that little flappy edge on the front, and I figured I would be making the same mistake 48 more times, so I am just doing the rest the conventional way!

You can see all the wonderful “string” quilt wonders at Lori’s (Humble Quilts) link up today. Thanks for the challenge Lori!

Hospital Sketches block #1

As soon as Barbara Brackman announced her “Hospital Sketches” sew-a-long, I knew I’d have to join in. After all, she promised it was “all applique” how could I refuse? I was having trouble deciding on a background. Then, one day a few weeks ago when I was “busted” by a friend in the fabric section of a local discount store. I had absolutely no business buying so much as a fat quarter when my shelves are so full that the house groans whenever walk into the room! 

But Sue happened to have in her cart the most luscious shade of green! So….

I can’t seem to capture the true color with my iPad. Taking it out into the snow helps, but it is really a lovely shade of yellow/green.

Since this was a symmetrical design, I using the backbasting method. As you can see, I don't always hit the mark, but I can live with "close enough"! 

 Anyway, it feels good to have block #1, ("Periwinkle Wreath") done! Check out all the fabulous blocks on the Facebook page (here). 

Update: Barbara did some photoshop magic and this is much closer to the true color.

Bea and Cecile's Flower blocks update

Finally finished my hexagon flower blocks in my Bea and Cecile sew-a-long. See all the wonderful flower blocks and quilts on their Facebook page (here). 

Border auditioning. More to come.

On Saturday, five of the “Seven Sisters” went to an event at the Maine State Museum. We were to bring a quilt we had made for a special charity or a special friend and talk about it while being recorded. I brought this quilt made from vintage feedsacks that will be going to one of the many charities our group supports. 

I was the first guinea pig so of course I broke the camera! Something went wrong and I had to do it twice. It worked out great because I think my second rendition was better. I’m sorry I didn’t get photos of all the quilts, but the recordings will all be on the MSM website and I will post it when they become live. We had a ball and of course went to lunch afterward! 

I will be posting more about the museum's plans for a fabulous quilt exhibition that will run from July 2020 to July 2021. Laurie LaBar (Chief Curator of History and Decorative Arts) is in the midst of choosing the quilts and writing the book that will accompany this 250 year span of Maine quilts. Stay tuned!

I'm joining Small Quilts and Em's Scrapbag in their Monday link up. I should do this more often! It makes it easy to read blogs that I don't always get a chance to follow and it is so inspiring. Take a hop over! 

Come Join the Circa 1880 Club

About a year ago I got an e-mail from Pam Buda telling me a little bit about this project and asking if I would like to participate. Would I??? This was right up my alley! She then called and explained a bit more and just like that I was hooked. The hardest part of this project was keeping it a secret until the actual club began. See Pam’s post (here) and The Marcus Fabrics post (here). 

I began making these tiny blocks and exchanging them with Pam and Janet (Rogue Quilter) and Cyndi (BusyThimble). I was nervous at first that my blocks would not be perfect enough for exchanging. I’ve seen how tiny Janet can go and I know how perfect Cyndi’s piecing is. But with Pam’s suggestion to spray starch (a method that is new to me) the fabrics and blocks, these went together (almost) perfectly.

At first I was piecing them in strips in order to make 4 identical blocks at a time for exchanging. Now I am just using them as a feeder project. I am shocked at how many I can produce while making something else! 

the box is filling up! 

Of course Pam had to finish her quilt before the release of the pattern, but Janet has already started piecing hers together too. See her post (here). I'm going to take my time and see if I can exchange with a few more people before I start piecing my top together. 

To find out more about the club and find a participating quilt shop near you, visit Marcus Fabrics (here). If you are lucky enough to live in (or near) Maine you can join at Cyndi’s shop (Busy Thimble).

Pam Buda's Vintage Patchwork project #2

It’s a good thing I put the goal of making one Vintage Patchwork project a month in writing, otherwise I might have skipped this little pin cushion. Not that I don’t like it mind you. It’s just that it didn’t really like me!

Despite all the trouble I had with that circular insert, I did learn a lot. And I love the vintage buttons! I put the pins in a "P' for pins and then it dawned on me it is also for Pam! Actually, it doesn’t look that bad as long as you don’t compare it to the one in the book! Thanks Pam! 

If any of you have made one this month, let me know and I will link it to this post.