September Mini(s)

A while ago a few of the “7 Sistahs” had a day of retail therapy. My friend Kathy spied this wild and crazy border fabric (Jason Yenter). I fell in love right away. Now, Kathy can make a silk purse out of any old fabric. Give her something unusual and she will turn it into a gem! I am much more regimented and find it hard to venture out of my reproduction fabric comfort zone. Since we both loved the fabric, we decided to challenge ourselves to make something each in our own style. I was going to keep mine a surprise until Kathy made hers, but… it has been a busy summer for all of us! Since I entered it in this year’s show it is no longer a secret. Here is what I came up with. 

 My friend Ann machine quilted it for me, leaving the center open for me to hand quilt. I am not a longarm quilter, but I understand that this was not an easy task! I appreciate it Ann!! 

I had a few scraps leftover from this giant so, I made them into my September mini. 

So cute! I am NOT a precision piecer but, they are close enough for me! I like to think that what I lack in precision, I make up for in spirit! 

And, since these scraps just wouldn't go away on their own, I whipped up this little mug rug with the leftover half squares! 

I think I may be over my "neon" phase for now. I will have to get back to it someday as I still have a lot of these repros! 

Take a little time to visit my partners in crime to see what gems they have come up with.

Quilting Babcia - AmityQuilter

Janet - Rogue Quilter
Kyle - Timeless Reflections 
Barbara - Quilts, Gravestones and Other Elusive Ancestors

Janet - Mrs. Sew n'Sew
Sandy - My Material Creations

Cynthia - Wabi-Sabi Quilts

These 2 fabulous faithful friends have had a busy summer as well and may not get to post a mini this month. I am linking them up so you can catch up on what they have been doing! Happy quilting!
Randy - Barrister’s Block
Barb - Fun With Barb 

Puzzling!

This summer flew by with little time for quilting or posting. So, I will show you this puzzle quilt that members of the Pine Tree Quilter’s Guild made back in 1998. It would be considered a potholder quilt except for the fact that the blocks are not sew together, but rather travel together basted on a backing. I made the one with the appliqued tree in the center and drunkard’s path blocks around the outside. I remember stitching on this during the ice storm of 1998 with a snake light wrapped around my neck as we had no power for quite a while. 

The best reason for the shortage of quilting time was this: 

We are so fortunate to have this one once a week (and more if we are lucky). 

playing in Nana's scraps

But we were so happy to have a visit from this one who moved to Florida almost two years ago. We go to visit whenever we can, but I am so much happier when he is here!!

Pure joy! Oh how he loves the water!

I love this shot looking through the screen door on the front porch!

I hated letting go!

But, we will be flying down to visit again in 3 weeks. 

I hope you all had special family time this summer too! 

Back to quilty postings next week!!!

Pam Buda - Vintage Patchwork September project

Vintage Patchwork (by PamBuda) project #9, “War and Peace”.

 

You may find this hard to believe, but in my 50 plus years of quilting, this is my first log cabin quilt! I have made a few blocks here and there for other projects, but this is the first truly log cabin quilt.

I had fun making this one and I may even make a few more in the future. My friend Cyndi (Busy Thimble) is a true log cabin lover. Her piecing is impeccable. The header quilt on her blog (here) is sensational. I think the logs measure ¼”. She is amazing! 

It's never too late to get Pam's book and give one of these little quilts a try! You can get it on Pam's site (here). 

Humble Quilts - String a Long

It isn’t often I post twice in one day, but I completely forgot about my Humble Quilts String blocks update. I have made some progress this summer. I am making this one in the potholder method.

I know – nothing new there – but I am experimenting with this one by making it entirely on the machine. Not easy in the hot summer months, but I have had a few cool mornings to get some blocks stitched together. 

Not sure I will ever do another completely on machine again. One of the things I like about the potholder method is the hand work. I did enjoy piecing these guys. I used a strip of orphan pieces in the center of each one.

My friend Meliss gave me a bunch of half square blocks which helped the cause nicely. I might even get this one done this year! Check out Lori's blog (here) to see how everyone else is doing on their string flings!

August mini quilt

I won’t mention how fast summer flew by because I think we have all felt the same way. Instead I will impart my funny story about this month’s mini quilt.

At our state show back in July, Laurie LaBar (Chief Curator of History and Decorative Arts – Maine StateMuseum) curated a fabulous exhibit of Maine quilts from the museum. Laurie has been working diligently on an upcoming book on Maine Quilts and we (along with friend Sue Rivers) spent some time chatting about it. One of the things she mentioned was that she didn’t think there would be room for any patterns in the book. Sue and I looked at each other and said, “Well, we have no problem with that but… you might sell more copies if you had just one pattern”.

We gazed around the room and almost at the same moment pointed at the beautiful c1830 Puss in the Corner quilt and said “perfect”.

Simple, yet elegant. We could give directions for the full size and one mini! Problem solved – oh wait did I mention that the deadline was August 17!!?

So… we don’t know if the pattern will make it into the publication but in the meantime, Sue has a lovely full size rendition and I have my August mini done.

Since it was a Maine quilt, I used this little vintage map fabric on the back. It was a bit troublesome to hand quilt through, but I love it!

The second part of the funny story is that I couldn’t find the photo I took at the show but because of the time crunch I chose fabrics and started cutting and piecing from memory. I grabbed all the c1830 fabrics I could find in the colors I remembered. I put the whole top together and decided I didn’t like this block

and that it needed more early green. So, I picked out the seams and replaced it with this one. 

After I had the whole thing basted and ready to hand quilt I found the original picture – yup you guessed it. There is almost no green at all. I usually have a good memory for fabrics, especially antiques. I think I was smitten with this one eccentric print that had a touch of green and yellow. Luckily, I like the new block and the whole quilt anyway! It is one quarter of the original and will be an easy one to reproduce should the patterns actually make it into the book.

End of funny stories!

Do visit the rest of the merry quilters who have made a little mini for August. Cheers to all of you who have taken a few precious moments of summer to stitch these lovelies!

Kyle (Timeless Reflections) 
Barbara (Quilts, Gravestones and Elusive Ancestors) - Barbara made 2 this month!
Janet (Rogue Quilter)
Randy (Barrister's Block)
Sandy (My Material Creations)
Shasta (High Road Quilter)

Although Dawn (Collector with a Needle) is not officially following along , you will really want to the two little quilts she made for a canopy doll bed (here). Gorgeous! And, my friend Gladi (Gladi's Quilts) makes a trio of mini's each year and I thought you would enjoy seeing some of her progress (here).

 Check back from time to time as I may be adding a few more followers!

Hospital Sketches update

I have been faithfully stitching along each month with Barbara Brackman’s Hospital Sketches (Civil WarBlog). However, I have not been keeping up with my postings. I must admit it is easier to simply post a photo and quick blurb on the Facebook group (here), but when it comes to posting on my Blog I like to be more descriptive and that takes time I just don’t seem to have this summer. 

I know I am preaching to the choir. Many of us are in the same boat this year and I for one am happy that we are all still afloat!

My last Hospital Sketches post was the Coxcomb and Current block in May (here). I think that one was my favorite, but I’ve made 3 more since then. They have all be a joy to make. I adore my fabric choices – right up my color alley!

The Pineapple was block #5. I added the leaf shapes in the center as I needed to add some purple somehow for balance. 

I was happy to see that the Laurel Leaf was the next block since it is so simple and July is so hectic. 

The Tennessee Rose was my latest finish. I do love how bright and perky this one is. 

Only two more to go. Still trying to decide if I will finish this in my ever popular “potholder” method. What do you think?

Do visit the Facebook group for some wonderful renditions of these blocks. There is so much variety. It makes me want to make another one – maybe half size??

Pam Buda's Vintage Patchwork August project

Vintage Patchwork (by PamBuda) project #8 – “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”. My sister liked Thomas Hardy and read many of his books back in high school while I was still reading Roy Rogers comic books!

This one was a cinch. I had so much fun piecing all those little half squares. Trimming is not my favorite part of quilting, but when doing a little one like this it is essential. This is the pile that was left after trimming! 

 I actually finished this one early as I wanted it to go to our silent auction (with “designer permission” from Pam) last week along with these past monthly minis. 

Our state show (Maine Quilts 2019) hosts a silent auction for different causes each year. This year’s proceeds went to the “Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence”.  Not sure of exact totals but, I think they all did fairly well. Thanks to all who donated and purchased!

 You can get your copy from Pam (here). 

I have been working diligently (but not speedily!) on my c1880 blocks as well.

I joined through Cyndi's, Busy Thimble shop, but you can visit Pam's Blog (here) to see how you can join the fun!