Spring Happenings

 I'm well along on my Instagram sew-a-long with Taryn (Repro Quilt Lover) called "Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge". Lots of little square in a square blocks made from tiny scrids of fabrics grabbed from one of my many scrap drawers and baskets. The scraps never seem to end! 

 

 

I'm making mine in the potholder method (surprise 😉) and having lots of fun choosing the cheater fabrics (of which I have many) for the backs of each block. I used this marvelous Mary Koval Lancaster blue print for the sashing and binding. The thread count is super high so it makes for a nice crisp edge. 

 

I've also finished my first block in Barbara Brackman's "Liberty Birds" sew-a-long on her Civil War Quilts blog. With only one block per month, I feel like I might even be able to keep up with this one! 

 

Bluebirds are beginning to nest here in Maine. 

Happy Spring!

 

A Few Finishes

 I finally finished hand quilting my 2023 Quiltmania Mystery quilt designed by Susan Smith. This one will be at our "Maine Quilts 2025" show this July in Augusta, Maine. Hope to see a few of you there!! 

 

 

I wanted to make a strippy quilt in the potholder method so I grabbed some vintage feedsack scraps and started appliqueing. I hand quilted the applique strips and machine stitched the strips directly onto the batting and backing for the pieced strips. I love how the back came out! I'm calling it "Rock Candy".

 

I liked this so much I decided to try another one with this marvelous Christopher Wilson Tate giraffe fabric. It all went well until I washed it and one of the reds ran! I prewash all my fabrics and usually wash reds twice before using, but this one must have slipped by me. I switched out the red circle and tried my solution of baking soda and Dawn and most of it came out. Lesson learned! I've named this one "Nonpareil". 

 

 

I love the slightly pink toile of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Since my name is Wendy, it seemed appropriate.

 

I've just started Taryn Falkner's (@reproquiltlover) "Scrappy Meets Thrift" challenge on Instagram. And, I'm starting Barbara Brackman's Liberty Bird's on her "Civil War Quilts" blog today. That should keep me busy for a while! 

Enjoy the day! 

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!