A Light In The Window, etc., etc., etc.

This is a pattern from Journey Three of Pam Buda's Prairie Women's Sewing Circle. I have been wanting to make it for a long time, and when I saw her new Old Plum Calico line I knew that was what I had been waiting for. Several of you guessed correctly that I was referring to Pam's new line in my last post--and one of you even guessed the churn dash block!

Pam had sent me some small cuttings of the fabric before it was released to the public, and I started making the churn dash blocks right away. 
She had asked that I not share it until the fabric was available, so I held off posting.
Pam is a proponent of the "make do" philosophy of our prairie fore-mothers, and wrote into the instructions to make 3 "make do" blocks in the 20 that the pattern calls for.











I had decided that I would make as many blocks as the cuttings she had sent would make, no matter how much "making do" I had to do. As it turned out, I was able to squeeze out 13 blocks--five being "make do", and one of those five being extremely "make do". Thirteen is a hard number to put into a quilt, so I settled on 12 blocks, leaving the extreme "make do" block for something else.

When Pam offered a pre-order special on fat eighths and fat quarter bundles of her Old Plum Calico line I didn't hesitate to order a fat eighth bundle (that is a splurge for me). As I was making the blocks I decided to wait until the bundle arrived to make the setting triangles and borders.

The original is in blues and greens. I had decided to replace the blues with purples, and though I love purple and green together, I wanted to use a blue where her green had been. I was hoping for a lighter blue repro, but couldn't find one that clicked for me. I finally settled on this medium blue that is from another one of Pam's lines.

Between the cuttings from Pam and the fat eighth piece I was able to make all of the setting triangles out of the same fabric. When it came to the border I had to make two of them from one fabric and two from another. That is okay with me. I like that look.

I am really happy with my "Light In The Window". Now it goes into my greatly diminished, but still growing "to-be-quilted minis" pile.

I fell behind immediately on my Quilters Madder (SAL at humblequilts blog) project. Spent the past couple of days trying to catch up. As usual, I complicated things.

I made the blocks half the size in the pattern (surprised, right?). It will finish at about 15" x 18".  I also added a row, and I included the HSTs on the two sides as in the inspiration photo Lori shared. 
My seam ripper has kept me company on this project. I have miscalculated many things in adjusting the block sizes, and had to make one whole step over again. There were also a few blocks that I had turned the wrong way and it just looked too busy and crazy to me to leave it that way. 
What I love most about this project is that it contains bits and pieces of fabrics from three special friends I have "met" through blogging.
I have decided that I will put the HSTs on the top and bottom, too. They are in the works.


 



Speaking of things from friends, Karen (logcabinquilter blog) sent me some "scraps" (I use the term loosely), and included these sweet little applique blocks from a project for which she had lost her steam. I don't do needle-turned applique, but am in awe of those that do. Each of these sweet blocks will receive a border and be made into a little seasonal wall hanging. They are each about 8" square, and I will try to keep them to about 12" finished. Thank you, Karen! What a treasure.

Also, last year I received a box full of Jo Morton patterns from a friend that was dying of cancer. I finally went through them carefully and realized that I should pass the applique patterns to someone that will make good use of them.

If there is a lot of interest I will draw names for the individual books, so if you would like to be included, please indicate in your comment which titles interest you.

Until next time,
Janet O.

Drawing Closed!