Happy Independence Day!

And happy Monday to all of my friends outside the U.S. of A.!

After donating the first little "Patriotic Star" I made from Diane Hansen's pattern, to our family reunion auction, I decided I wanted one--this time I made it from plaid shirts. I knew that would invite a lot of wonkiness, because it would be impossible to keep all of those plaids lined up perfectly on such a little quilt. I decided I could live with that.

I am pretty pleased with the end results. Maybe I will call it "Patriotism in Plaids". This had not been one of the little quilts in the running for #36 for 2016, but it is the winner.

 

Here we have little finish #37.
As I mentioned in my last post, this is my adaptation of a recent Temecula free pattern offering called Freedom Flag.

This is how they are currently displayed in my sewing room.

Back in 2014 I was gifted a little hand stitching project by my good friend Annie M. It was to keep my hands busy during  some air travel I was going to be doing. This is from the "Building Houses From Scraps" movement. I got the first six blocks finished and made the little quilt on the right I call "Annie's Neighborhood". I have used the other six blocks as my go-to handwork for car trips, but finally decided it was time to "getter done". There were only 1 1/2 houses left to go. (Don't look too closely--I am not the most precise hand stitcher.) I thought I knew just what I would do with these, but now I am debating breaking them up into 2 or 3 projects. I will play with them and see what happens. 

On a recent thrift store trip I scored on vintage men's pants hangers. I love these for hanging little quilts and I only had one. I had actually found myself tempted to abscond with one or two when I saw my Dad's pants were all hung from this type hanger--but I stepped back and took deep breaths and then walked away.
At half a dollar each. I was happy to walk away from the thrift store with the whole bundle.

Two of them now grace the stairwell that leads to our bedroom. To the left is the top view and to the right is what you see as you descend the stairs.

Last of all, are you doing any of the Row By Row shop hop? I just visit my local quilt shops, and these are their license plates this year. The "Fabric Cache" plate plays off of the fact that we live in  "Cache Valley", so named because it used to be a hunting and trapping ground for Native Americans and mountain men. They would bury their furs in caches to come back and collect later.

I have an extra "Mama Said Sew" plate, so if you are interested, say so in your comment. I will draw a name and ship it out. "No-reply" commenters need to include their email in their comment to be included. : )

Until next time,
Janet O.

All my bags are packed...

... I'm ready to go. Just sing along with me here, unless you are unfamiliar with the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

I am only going to be gone 7 days, but there are so many things people want me to take to the new baby or the new Mom--and there are a few things I wanted to take to them, too. : )

Maybe I can put my carry-on inside my checked bag on the way home (I hope).








There are a couple of hand-stitching projects tucked into those bags. Nothing new, but some that I will enjoy working on when I have sitting time.

Making Houses From Scraps was a gift project from my friend Annie M. when I was flying to visit my daughter a couple of years ago. There were 12 houses in the kit she sent and I got a few of them finished on that trip and then I worked on them at home until I got enough of them completed to make this little quilt which I call "Annie's Neighborhood."

 It currently hangs in my living room and greets you as you walk in the door.  I have a different layout planned for the other house blocks. I hope it will work out.

This is an old photo of the other project I packed. I have made a little progress on it, but it is packed away and I can't get a photo of it.

Maybe I will have something more to show when I get home.

I leave for the airport in less than an hour, but I wanted to let you know that Taryn (of Repro Quilt Lover blog) won my giveaway. Congrats to Taryn, and if you aren't familiar with her blog, check it out. I love her style.

I probably won't keep up with blogs much while I am away, but I'll catch you in a week.

Until then,
Janet O.

No Surprises Here

 I'm still making minis. Imagine that. : )

The three pictured below are all at flimsy stage. 

This photo is misleading. Those are oversized, decorative spools.

 You may recall these houses that my friend, Annie Miksch, prepped for me as a travel project when I went to visit DD#1 last Fall. There are six more houses waiting to be stitched up. Maybe the last six won't look as wonky as these first six do. My hand stitching skills were very rusty! I already have plans for the rest of the house blocks, but I won't be trying to finish them up for the trunk show.
These houses finish at 2 3/4 inches.

This little medallion style quilt is centered around a leftover basket from an earlier quilt. The basket finished at 2 1/4 inches. The geese finish at 1/2"x1" and, yes, they are paper pieced.

Didn't you expect me to make a mini pineapple
quilt? These blocks are the same size as my little ornaments--2 inches finished. Haven't removed the papers from this yet, and I am not looking forward to that!

Next up is a tiny Feathered Star. The star block will be 4 1/4" finished. I haven't yet decided the setting for this. The pattern puts 4 of them on point, but I don't have time to do that.

I've got 5 mini flimsies that need quilting. I need to get finished with the piecing and move on to the quilting and binding very soon!

Spring is finally here, and as proof there are 19 baby lambs on the farm. Triplets were born Friday. Maybe I can get a photo of some of the cute babies tomorrow to share in my next post.
Until then,
Janet O.

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.

Back Home Again--So Much To Share!

Still trying to get back into routine, but thought I could share a few things with you.
The night before we flew out I had an idea and I pulled out the little "Building houses from scraps" kit. I put all of the houses out on a design board and started switching up the pieces, so they took on a scrappy look. This was the result (excuse my very thready design board).

I have not pieced by hand in years (other than hexies--and that is a whole different thing). My goodness, my skills were rusty! I couldn't even seem to stitch a straight line. When the lines are stamped on the fabric, that is pretty silly not to be able to follow them.
By the time we touched down in Manchester, NH I only had 1 house finished and another nearly done (we were up at 2:45 a.m. to catch our flight, so I dozed a lot). We were always on the go while visiting DD#1 and her DH, so I didn't pick it up again until awaiting our flight home. I got three houses finished, total. I need to unpick my first attempt. Those Y-seams stumped me at first, and house #1 is pretty wonky. It is the house in the upper right of the photo below--isn't even the same size as the others. I am really liking these little scrappy houses. Tempting to just work on them, but I am going to try and keep them as my "on the go" project, and let it get finished whenever! Thanks again to my dear friend Annie Miksch for this thoughtful gift!

Since DD#1 lives 10 minutes from Keepsake Quilting, a visit there was inevitable. Blogging friends Grace (acityquilter blog) and Vic (Park Hill Farm blog) had arranged to make the effort to meet up with us there.

Vic, me, and Grace

Tough decisions made at the cutting counter.

I had been saving my pennies for this experience. I had been warned that Keepsake did not have a large selection of CW repro fabrics, but must say I was very surprised at just how small it was. MY LQS, whose selection is not huge, carries more than Keepsake. Luckily, KQ had very different lines of fabric from what I can get at home, so I found plenty to purchase. Now, if it is batiks you are looking for, you will find a room full! That overwhelmed me. I had to walk away and think about it and return with a narrow focus of what I wanted to buy.






After that very hard work of making decisions, carrying bolts of fabric and opening the wallet, it was time for nourishment. Vic and Grace took us to a lovely establishment called The Canoe, where we dined and chatted and laughed.



The day before this grand adventure Angie and I had visited Quilted Threads in Henniker, NH. This shop was a recommendation from Mrs. Goodneedle, and it did not disappoint!

 So here is my haul. To the left is the fabric, Aurifil threads and Valdani flosses I picked up at Keepsake Quilting.

On the right is the fabric I purchased in Quilted Threads.






The Primitive Gatherings pattern was at Quilted Threads, and Patchwork Stars was in the sale bin at Keepsake.

Angie and I have been making pineapple and log cabin ornaments for my other daughter's fundraiser in November. Angie has her share all finished and I was able to provide them transportation back to Utah. Aren't they lovely? Now I need to get my share finished!

When we were at Quilted Threads Angie found some 1/4" hexie papers. Oh, my goodness, they are small. She vacillated as to whether or not to buy them, but they finally found their way home with her. The night before we left she actually started playing with them. Can you believe this? Can you even see it? I left the needle and thread in the photo so you could get the proper perspective. That is a small spool of thread.

We had a wonderful trip. There was so much to do in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. I will leave you with this shot as DH and I took a canoe ride in the canal behind our daughter and SIL's apartment. It ends up in Lake Waukewan.

Until next time,
Janet O.

Last Minute Stuff

As I approach departure for a trip my "Need to Do Before Leaving" list seems to take on a life of its own. I find myself crossing off a few less critical items just to save my sanity. I was considering doing  that to the line that reads "prepare handwork project," when this arrived from my friend, Annie M. (no blog). It was assembled specifically for plane and airport time.

How cool is this? The little kit contained everything I need to make a dozen of those cute little houses that were known as "Building Houses From Scraps" in blogland last year. It is the perfect project and such a well thought out kit. The pattern pieces are ingeniously stamped on the backs of the fabrics with a rubber stamp from the designer (which you can purchase here, just be advised that shipping to the USA will about double your outlay). The houses are all gorgeous Fall-colored repro fabrics! The kit includes the reference sheet, craft scissors--compatible with TSA rules--needles, and thread. I can just grab it and go. I am so excited and can't thank Annie enough! She did suggest taking a piece of flannel on which to lay out the pieces.

                                                      I decided, instead, to do this.

I cut up the box in which it arrived. The lid was just the right size. Then using my trusty glue gun, I covered it with some pretty repro fabric, and then glued a piece of cotton batting to one side--a mini design wall. On the right you can see the project and the container in which I take my handwork when I am on the road. My little design board fits right inside. You can also see that I got all of the house parts cut out and bagged up. I am set to go!

I am very late in the game with these, but I finally completed two doll quilts for the Get Your Mrs. Claus On project headed up by Debbie (Stitchin' Therapy blog). She has already reached her quota for this year, but I wanted to get them finished before leaving. They will be early for next year. : )

Not much else to share. I have been making more pineapple ornaments for DD#2 to sell at her fundraising booth next month and I've been sewing eye masks for cancer patients to wear during treatments, as part of a service project DS#2 was in charge of at the local university.

I will be absent from blogland for over a week, while I spend time with DD#1 and her DH, meet up with a couple of blog friends, do some sightseeing in New England, and hit a quilt shop or two. Now everyone behave while I'm gone, okay? :)

Until next time,
Janet O.

p.s. When I posted this little quilt in July someone told me the pattern, by Lisa Bongean, had been available free on the internet, but they couldn't find it anymore. I happened to stumble across it and thought I would share the link.