Two Finishes, and a 48-yr-old dream fulfilled!

 I am so excited to share this finish!

My Circa 1880 quilt, designed by Pam Buda, is completed!

I started this quilt in January of 2018. It has been an amazing journey, and I am grateful for each of the friends who have swapped blocks with me to make this a beautiful friendship quilt!

It took me two years to get it all assembled into a top (I did have shoulder surgery somewhere during that process). It took me another 6 years to finally decide how I wanted it quilted, and whether I would do it, or quilt by check. The checkbook won. Then it took several months to buckle down and bind it. I am thrilled with the results.

Hubby tried to hold it up over the deck rail so I could get a photo, but the quilt was too wide for him, and the sun was too harsh and made the quilt look strange.

And if you go HERE you can see the rogue blocks I added to every other row.

And if you scroll over halfway through THIS post, you will see a little explanation on how I labeled the rows of blocks that I received in swaps.

The second finish I want to share is from Lori's (Humble Quilts blog) doll quilt SAL, Summit. The last time I shared it, it was just the top, and I said I wasn't going to add a border. But one day, not long after that, I was in the quilt shop over the mountain, and I saw this Judie Rothermel fabric that was just calling out to me to be the border for Summit. So it is, and I couldn't be happier with the results!

This ended up about 22" square. I had made my 4 patches smaller than called for to accommodate the use of leftover stars from my blue and cream schoolhouse quilt.

I quilted around, and through each of the stars, and also did diagonal crossing lines through the neutral blocks of the 4-patches. I wanted something more in the border, now that the tension issue is finally resolved with my HQ Sweet Sixteen. So i used a stencil and pounce pad. Then I practiced on a sample piece.

This pre-binding photo gives you a better view of the quilting. But I hadn't yet stitched the Xs through the center of the stars.

This completes the quilty content. ;)

In May Hubby and I fulfilled a dream we have had since we were first married. We spent 8 days in Ireland, soaking up the beautiful countryside, the amazing ocean views, the castles and fortresses, the friendly people, and the incredible history! I can't begin to do it justice here, but I have selected a few favorite photos. You should be able to click on them to enlarge.

Lookout Point on Dingle Peninsula.

Irish countryside, with a view of the ocean.

Bluebells in Killarney National Park

Giant's Causeway

Cliffs of Moher

Kayaking on the Lagan River in Belfast

There is so much more I could share, but I will leave it at that. We really hope to get back again before we are too old to do some of the other things we would love to do there.

I had planned to get this posted in June, so it would only be one month past my blog anniversary, but since the clock just ticked past midnight, I did not make it. Welcome to July! I am putting together a little blog birthday package to gift in a drawing. If you are interested in participating, sight unseen (because I don't yet know exactly what it will include), please say so in a comment.

Are you enjoying the World Cup, or not a soccer fan? I do love soccer, and catch games whenever I can. 

Wherever you are, I hope you appreciate the beauty and diversity of this world we share. 

To my friends in Canada, Happy Canada Day, and in the USA, Happy Independence Day very soon. Let us stand for everything good in our country, and not sit idly when we can be an influence in a positive direction!

Until next time, 

Be creative and be kind!

Janet O.

Amethyst, Onyx, and Topaz

The working title for this piece was "Amethyst Crystals", but as I was finishing the binding on it, my love of semi-precious stones led me to think of stones in more of the colors of the quilt. Hence, the new name.

After tying off the thread on the last stitch of the binding, I placed it on my kitchen island while I went for my phone to take photos. That is when I noticed the matching colors in the gorgeous bouquet of flowers my daughter had given me. She works part-time for a neighborhood florist, and for Christmas she gifted me a "Bouquet of the month". This was the beauty she brought me in January. She knows how much I love these colors together.

The top of this quilt was finished 2 1/2 years ago, based on the Pam Buda pattern called Haunted Maze. I started it in a class she taught for Village Dry Goods in July 2023, and completed the top the following month. It became buried in a pile of small flimsies. I finally pulled it out last fall and started the quilting, doing stitch-in-the-ditch on my domestic sewing machine. When I got to the border, I switched to my Sweet 16 quilting machine, but tension issues would not resolve. So it was back to my DSM for some straight stitch quilting in the border. I had planned on something swirly, but I don't like to FMQ on my DSM, so this is what I settled on, and I'm okay with it.

An "almost finish" is my Circa 1880 quilt (another Pam Buda pattern). I had it quilted by my longarm quilter. I thought I would do it myself, and even practiced the Baptist Fans on another quilt to make sure I could handle it. But my shoulder didn't love all the pushing around of the quilt for those sweeping arcs, so I let the expert handle it--and she did it so well. It has been 6 years to the month since I had the top assembled and bordered. It is about time it got quilted!

When it came to the border quilting design, I didn't want it to look modern or fancy. In searching vintage and classic quilting patterns, I came across this book.

Can you see the design quilted on the border of the cover quilt? It is just diagonal lines, and I liked it right away.

Here it is up close.

I am very pleased with how this border design turned out for the Circa 1880 quilt, and I can't wait to get it bound and actually use it on our bed.

The stencil used for the Baptist Fan quilting is from Barb Vedder's Etsy shop. She designed it herself! You can find it HERE. My longarm quilter also quilted my Schoolhouse quilt using this stencil (hopefully I can share that in my next post), and she really liked it, so now I have ordered one for her.

That is the end of the quilty content. The orchids in the kitchen windows are blooming, which always brightens cold, winter days.

These keep blooming until spring flowers are starting to open, so I really don't care that they usually don't bloom again until winter returns. They are at their best when I need it the most.

The sunset was stunning a couple of nights ago. It was another one of those nights when the sunset was flaming in the west, but casting a beautiful glow onto the east.

Western Sky:

Eastern Sky:

Walking north from my home, I could turn to my left or my right for glorious color. It was magical!

Getting this post written in February was something I was determined to do, and I am just squeaking this under the wire. 

I hope that in this time of chaos and division, you are finding some calm and peace with needle and thread, good books, music, nature, family and friends--whatever soothes and comforts. Find the beauty and the good where you can, and create it, if you can't!

Until next time,

Be creative, and be kind!

Janet O.

Circa 1880 top assembled (mostly)

Technically there are still borders to add, but it feels monumental to finally have the rows assembled. Here it is laying on our guest room bed.

I made the first blocks for this quilt at my usual January retreat in 2018--two years ago! At an invitation from Pam Buda to strip piece our blocks and then swap our duplicates to get more variety more quickly,  how could I say no? Though I admit that I wondered at the time if I would ever actually get one made. Lo and behold, I even made this larger than the pattern called for. I never dreamed I would have that much patience!

In the pattern every block is an uneven 9-patch, but after I heard that Lynn Hopkins (who works at the shop where I was participating in the Circa 1880 club) was going to put some little baskets in his quilt, I couldn't let that idea go. After a bit of pondering I thought, "Why just baskets?" Hence the "rogue blocks" were born. I added 7 actual "rogue blocks," and then I included 8 of what I like to call "surprise centers"--a 1" block in the center of the uneven 9-patch.

Here they are on display--and if you are looking for perfectly matched corners and no cut off points, go somewhere else. I wasn't that concerned about those things. Feels more "Circa 1880" to me if things aren't quite so precise.

First up: Rogue blocks
 

  

Blogger won't let me position photos like I normally do, so these look pretty random.
Next up: Surprise Centers

 

This has been the mainstay on my design wall for 2 years, and I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to swap with Pam and a few friends. Now I need to decide what will live here for the next two years. :)

     
I didn't think I would get to go to my winter retreat this year,  but within the last few days the persistence of family and friends has come together and the way opened up--how could I say no? I know Mom is in good hands, and it is only 30 minutes from home, if there should be a need. I am on my way today and SO looking forward to it.

Until next time,
Janet O.

Monthly Mini--pretending it is still June

Late--again. Sorry, Wendy.
Here is my completed June mini.

I pieced most of this at my January retreat this year. Wish I could find the pattern that inspired this so that I could give the designer credit. On a recent sewing room clean up I found it and set it aside--now I can't find it again.
As usual, I did the stitch in the ditch on my Pfaff.  On the right you can see the border design I stitched on my HQ Sweet 16.

The HSTs in this little quilt were from scrap bags gifted to me by friends. The sashing and binding are from a small piece I have left of one of my favorite black prints.

I have completed 4 of the hexie flower blocks and have 4 more flowers pinned down and ready. Much of this stitching has been happening as I visit with Mom.

I made another row for my Circa 1880 quilt. Only two more rows to piece, and then I can start sewing them together. Can't believe I am closing in on this one.

I love these little uneven 9-patch blocks. When I was digging through some scraps last month I found a small piece that begged to be fussy-cut. It was enough for four blocks, and I couldn't resist putting them into pincushions.

Still heavily involved in Mom's care, and not getting as much quilting/blogging time as in the past. I'll try to keep up the best that I can.

Until next time,
Janet O.

So little to show for the passing of a week

This post may come as a shock to some who know that I don't spend a lot of time on hand work. But since most of the piecing I have done this week has been for the Indigo Challenge with Sandy, to be shared at the end of the month, I had to scrape the bottom of my quilting barrel to come up with anything to share.
First off--quilting on my BIG hand quilting project that has been basted and waiting for years! (I can see from the photo that this needs more lines for the background quilting.)

When I started quilting this I was having shoulder troubles and finally gave up on it until I could have the surgery. That got postponed a couple of years. Then my healing was slow, and I felt like I couldn't stress my shoulder. But eventually it got better, and now I have no more excuses. I gave myself a swift kick recently and committed to at least quilt 30-60 minutes a few nights a week. Back issues keep me from doing more at a time.
This quilt was to commemorate my youngest son's time as a missionary in Brazil--he has been home for almost 10 years (yikes)! He'll get it eventually.

Then there was the stitching I did while we were on the road for about 3 hours today (Saturday). My Stars in the Garden mini hexie quilt is my "go to" road trip project. The problem is that I don't enjoy stitching hexies and this little thing could very well be my lifetime project. I forced myself to attach 3 hexies to this flower today. That was all I could manage.

I keep a photocopy of the potential finish in the lid of the project box. As I finish a section I cross it out. When I look at what I have crossed out I try and tell myself that I am making progress. Then I remind myself how many years this much has taken and I realize I am practically standing still on this one. (Don't roll your eyes at me, Sarah--the hexie queen!)




















I  also made a smidgen of progress on my Circa 1880 quilt. I stitched my final "rogue" block, and laid out the row it will call home. This was foundation pieced, and I still have to remove the papers from the block. This will be in row 24--it is the last one I will make from my own blocks. The final three rows will be made from swapped blocks, when the last of my swaps are completed. This one is so close, I can almost taste it.  

I have a few more patterns that want a home where they will be loved. Most of them are wool projects. Some are patterns I have already made, some are duplicates, and some I'm just sure I never will get made. I am not separating them--I just want to send this out as one bulk group.

If you are interested, please mention it in your comment--and if you don't know whether or not you are "no-reply", please include your email address if you are serious about it. I will choose a random name from the interested parties.

Just for fun, I am sharing a photo of me that was taken exactly 60 years ago. I came across this as I have been working on my Mom's history lately. 

And exactly 8 years ago I began my blog. What fun it has been to build a blogging community with so many kind and generous, fun-loving and mischievous (you know who you are) quilters. Thank you all for reading, commenting, lurking, or whatever it is you do here. :)

Until next time,
Janet O.

A Puss in Every Corner--And Then Some!

The Circa 1880 Quilt I am making as part of Pam Buda's Circa 1880 Club involves lots and lots of uneven 9-patch blocks (aka Puss-In-The-Corner blocks).There are 500-and-something of them in the finished quilt as designed by Pam. I am making my quilt two rows longer, and two rows wider. It is all that I have worked on in the two weeks since I last posted, though there is not much new to show. Here is what I have so far--hasn't changed a whole lot since my January retreat. I have sewn a lot more blocks since January, but haven't made many more rows.

There are 13 rows completed (or almost completed)--the bottom three in the photo still need to have their ends finished. I will make at least 12 more rows.

These are the blocks I have left of the ones I have made that are ready to use. There are 135 blocks here.

These are the blocks I have sewn, but have yet to press and trim. There are 125 blocks here.
Any guesses as to how many of these blocks I have made--including the ones I have sent away in swaps? Hint--I have made a whole lot more than I will need for this quilt. :) 


 

I have swapped with 7 quilters and these are the blocks they have made that are yet to be sewn into rows. There are about 160 blocks still to come from swaps. Seven of the rows in the top photo are made of blocks I have received in these swaps. As much as possible, I am making the shorter rows each from one quilter's blocks, and I will write their name on the end of the row made from their blocks.




And here is the next row laid out and waiting by my featherweight for the next time I can sit down and start stitching it together.

I am sure you will be seeing a lot of this project in the future. I hope to complete the top at some point during the year. The quilting will most likely wait until I have some other projects completed. Pam's is quilted with beautiful, small feathers, but I am considering an allover Baptist Fan design.

I will be starting to work on a fun mini quilt challenge soon. I am looking forward to sharing that with you as soon as I can. 

Until next time,
Janet O.