Long time coming!

This quilt has been on my design wall for about 4 months now and it is finally all sewn together! Here we have "It's So Vermonty"in flimsy form.

This is based on Bonnie Hunter's Crabapples pattern from the book Adventures with Leaders and Enders. I've mentioned before that I wanted it to be bigger than the pattern so that we could use it on our bed. I made the 25 trees as the pattern indicated and then added setting squares between them to create extra rows. I simplified the borders, too, to keep the focus on the trees in the center (and to make it faster to finish).                                                          

I was trying to capture the feeling of dense Fall foliage, and I am pretty happy with the results.

While watching the Olympics I haven't done as much stitching as I usually do during TV time--I get too caught up in the action! But I have stitched up one more little house (Building Houses From Scraps) and have about half of another. This is usually my travel project, but it was handy to grab, and needed no prep work, so I made an exception.


Speaking of the Olympics, I have enjoyed seeing the Matryoshka Dolls--especially the huge one on the Slope Style venue. I have been a long time collector of nesting dolls, starting my collection before the break-up of the Soviet Union, when exported dolls were mass produced and very regional.

Over the years I have given several dolls away, feeling like my collection was getting out of hand. I haven't bought any for a few years, but I did purchase a bobble head nesting doll Sochi Olympics pin this month. Here is my current collection of dolls.

My biggest doll is about 10" high and the smallest is 2 1/2".  Here they are, side by side.

The large doll is a set of 20, the smaller doll is a set of 10. You can click the photos to enlarge and see details.


After the Soviet Union dissolved it became easier to find beautifully painted dolls. These are a couple of my favorites, front and back.

This doll isn't the tallest, but it contains the most dolls. There is a total of 30, with the smallest one being smaller than a grain of rice. Can you see it at the bottom of the doll to the far right?

 This picture gives you some perspective--those are the smallest dolls from the three full sets displayed above. The tiny one in the middle is from the set of 30.

Haven't had much sewing time lately, but it feels so good to finally have an empty design wall for a minute. I think I will pull out something that only needs a border and see if I can get it done in less than 4 months! : )

Until next time,

Janet O.