Charming

We are considering which Dear Jane block to hand piece at next class. We may do G06. But just look at that center star. It finishes at one inch:

So this calls for paper piecing of the little star, then hand piecing of the rest. Look how small the paper piecing templates are:

Personally, I think Jane must have penciled in this part :-). Or else gotten Virginia of galloping pony to help her out. All I can say is, wish us luck. We are only humans.

The latest Stickle block:


Cotton Charm Quilts is having a challenge this month to finish a UFO. I simply must join:

I made a careful choice from my 1,000 UFOs and have decided to finish Baskets of Posies:

This is from Baskets & Bumblebees by Cabbage Rose, Barbara Brandeburg. What I got stalled on with this (lo so many years ago) is that I created a machine embroidery border for it, put one border on, it looks real cute (really cute), but it's my own design and I would like to make a pattern out of it. So it really ought not be intermingled with another designer's pattern, eh? eh? So not P.C. It must stand alone :-). So I shall rip it off to save for a pattern and find perhaps a cute flowered print (go to thy overflowing stash, Karen, not to the online buy buttons) for the border.

Baskets of Posies is my primary To Finish. However, I would also like to finish this slipcover, especially since I have abandoned it for a few weeks and it is oddly sitting on the loveseat making the whole room look (so typical but) peculiar:

And just to torture myself, here is a third To Finish, my little quilt of LeMoyne stars. This began with Indigo Stars from the book Sweet Summer by Blackbird Designs, but has morphed to other colors and a slightly different design:

Notice they are sitting under my sewing machine table to keep them near the top of the pile.

I started this yesterday. Another project that I was sure I could finish in an hour ("I'll get this out of the way and then get back to the patterns I want to work on"). I worked on that and the DJ block all day. It takes such a loooong time to pick fabrics and get them back in their places (better to use a honey bun like Melisa did), especially since I didn't have very much in the way of the melon and turquoise that I needed to coordinate with the curtains and had to hunt and hunt and reject lots of things that were almost okay. Melisa of Sweet Home Quilt Co. showed this on her shop blog (it's at the end) and powie! it was exactly what I needed to cover the top of my farm table, which one cat (who shall remain nameless but her name starts poorpoor) wants to sharpen her claws on. It is a pattern called Strip Center from The Teacher's Pet:

And in closing, Julie-Ann has posted a picture of her finished Silhouette No.1:

It's such a thrill to see one of my patterns made up by somebody besides me LOL! Thank you, Julie! So do you think there are enough links in this post or should I add some more???

Further Reduction

Hot Dog, two more finishes. These both date to the fateful 2005, the year that I could not resist making five versions (blended, blue and white, batiks and friends, main colorway, and browns) of the monthly Second Saturday Sampler block, which oddly enough, resulted in five UFOs. But this takes care of the blended:

and the batiks, which I attempted to make look Amish via the setting:

and the pile reduces...

The next one has part of its binding attached by hand, so I will have to continue in that vein. This may take a while.

Rembrandt, looking like a gazelle on the veldt:

Another Finish

Obviously putting on the photo of the stack of Almost Dones has helped. This morning, I quilted and finished tacking the back of the Lincoln's Platform quilt. It is labeled. It is donedonedone:

As KarenDianne put it, this quilt also simmered, from its beginnings in summer of 2006 to summer of 2009 :-) . This is in mostly Jo fabrics, with gradation of color around the prairie point border, with Jefferson County toile for the border.

And the stack has reduced in height:

A Patriotic Quilt *Finish*

Later that same day....

I finished a bit of stray quilting on this one from the top of the Binding Pile and put on the binding...and the label! It is done, done, done.

Christmas 2004? Yes, I had intended to finish this 4-1/2 years ago. But as they say in Galaxy Quest, never give up, never surrender :-) .

Circuit Rider and DJ Blocks *Happy Fourth*

Happy Fourth, all U.S.A.ers.

Got caught up on Circuit Rider blocks:

The five so far:

Recently done:

Not recent, but not sure if I've posted:

Also got caught up on Stickle blocks, helped along by Anina's Fourth of July holiday, thank goodness:

Here is my stack of quilts that only need the bindings or quilting in some cases. Just think, one simple binding, or quilting and binding, for each standing between me and tossing these quilts all over the house to be seen and used. I'm hoping that Blog Exposure will help me to sew on these bindings and eliminate the stack, left prominently right in front of my sewing machine:

Kits at Ye Olde Schoolhouse

Recently, Ye Olde Schoolhouse (in a historic building in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, once used as a school) put a selection of my patterns in their shop. I heard from Julie-Ann that she purchased the Silhouette Primitive Portrait pattern (click on her name to see her portrait so far) and that Ye Olde has kitted the patterns!

The Field Trip Phase is Over

Well, Marcie seems to have gone back to her beachfront home in Virginia, so I must quit visiting quilt shops and get back to work. While showing Marcie my quilts and UFOs, this UFO surfaced (among a hundred others), so I snatched it up and finished the appliqué (naturally it was the appliqué that was undone):

This is called Tulip Farm. Am hoping to sandwich and quilt it later today after I work on my website for awhile.

Next I had to face the fact that I have fallen too far behind in making Circuit Rider blocks. I'm trying to sew along with Dottie at Little Quilts this year to make twelve of them. So I got this guy done, making three total:

and started to prepare this one. Go, Karen, go:

Four of the fabrics in this one are from the field trip.

I assembled this portable table last night, thinking that it might help me do appliqué from the comfort of my bed. It definitely helps and I've gotten a bit more done on the snowflake for Under the Mistletoe:

Two more Stickles.

The Windham Williamsburg Sampler fabric just arrived at Little Quilts yesterday, so I made this block last night to make sure I got that cute little sampler urn into my Dear Jane quilt:

Rembrandt says "hi".

Visiting

Marcie Patch came to town and off we went to visit quilt shops in the southeastern part of Atlanta. There was no bloodshed at all and we did just fine getting to know one another (well we already did know one another from, as Marcie puts it, excessive emailing :-) ).

Marcie even gave me this incredible gift! Is this not the dearest coin quilt ever? It has the darker Harvest Home newsprint fabric in the border; my bedroom curtains are the lighter shade, so this will find a home in that room:

I had never been to the quilt shops we went to. They've been open for years! This tells you something about how seldom I get out. A Scarlet Thread was a lovely, large shop. The owner, Karen, was so friendly (most Karens are simply lovely people :-) ); in fact, every person in there was so pleasant to talk with. I found a dandy little assortment of fabrics there:

How I kept resisting the Christmas fabrics in both shops I will never know, except that I just started that wonderful Under the Mistletoe quilt. Boy, they had the cutest Christmas fabric lines.

On we went to Sweet Home Quilt Co., which I have been intending to get to ever since it opened. People always say what a wonderful shop it is, and how friendly the owner, Melisa, is, and they are right! Well, it took Marcie's visit to get me into gear. Dear old vintage quilts on the porch (and there are other collectibles displayed inside):

Look where we parked at Sweet Home: out in the woods! By a rustic shed! Sweet Home is housed in a historic home in Conyers. It is even on the Historic Register :-) .

It even has historic steps, which reminded me of my intown 1920 shotgun cottage (also with historic steps) that I bought when I first came to Atlanta. Marcie and I had to take pictures of our Sweet Home fabric finds on them:

Marcie and I had a very nice time visiting; she is also visiting her Atlanta-based daughter. I am happy to report that she will be coming back to Atlanta in September to stay with me and to see the East Cobb Quilt Guild Show. This is a very good show that is put on only every other year, so consider attending if you can. See you then, Marcie!

Stickle Here Stickle There...and Marcie!

First the Under the Mistletoe quilt. I was delighted to find that I have birchbark fabric in two shades that should be great for the background. Snowflakes and birchbark in a Christmas quilt, what could be better? I'm so excited about this quilt. The red fabric is another Moda, but not Mistletoe Manor.

The Stickles.

Plus last night at Dear Jane support group, we all tried out hand-piecing. The only hand-piecing I have ever done was to complete some short partial seams in another Dear Jane block, and I can't say I was thinking about technique at the time, I just wanted to get 'er done. Fortunately, one of our group had very recently taken the Cindy Blackberg workshop on hand piecing, so T. showed us how to do it.

I finished this one this morning, and am very happy with it. It's only a skinny schooch under the 5" size.

I'm leaving now to pick up Marcie from her daughter's house and we're going to spend the afternoon together! What if we don't like each other and we rip each other to pieces?? Oh dear this could turn into a very dramatic blog. Stay tuned.

Quilters are the Greatest. Cats are Mischievious.

When I asked her about a Christmas quilt displayed at Lolly's in Shipshewana that took my fancy (4th photo down in her post), Sue at The Monomaniacal Quilter, so kindly made a trip back there and got a color copy of the pattern, originally from Moda, and sent it to me! Many thanks, Sue! So I was gloating over this pretty pattern, Under the Mistletoe, that I now possess, when I thought, hey, don't I have some of this fabric? Fabric that I truly love? That I've never done anything with? Why yes, I believe I do:

So I will try to work these fabrics into the quilt, although there are not many duplications of the original fabrics.

Two more DJs:

Rembrandt, shown here, looking innocent...

...ran off with several of my earrings months ago before I gave up on flinging them onto a tray as I walked into the house after work. The tray was at the very top of a small (shall we say rickety) triangular shelf thing; I never saw her clamber up there but the earrings kept disappearing. Only one of a pair. The singles have languished in my jewelry drawer ever since, useless but still loved. Happened to glance into the mortar that is way back in the stovetop alcove and discovered one of them. The little blue ceramic bird that I love lol:


In closing, don't we all sleep with our faces against the window?