A Little "Season"-ing

Fall
Lest you think all I ever do is work on tiny things, I thought I would show you the progress I have made on my "It's So Vermonty" quilt. (The inspiration for this quilt and its name are explained in this post.)

Yes, this really is made from Bonnie Hunter's Crabapple pattern in her Adventures With Leaders and Enders book. I wanted it to fit my Queen size bed, but I didn't want to make more trees than originally called for (see all the ones I have yet to sew are lined up at the bottom on design boards). So I cut up some fall colored batik yardage to make setting squares. If you enlarge the photo you may be able to see that I have fussy-cut swirls that are in the batik. Haven't yet decided on what to use for the setting triangles, but I will wait until I have the trees finished before I worry about that.

Halloween
I never did get the Halloween decorations out this month. I mostly use scarecrows and pumpkins (Halloween is not scary at my house), but they are still in their boxes. The only decor I managed to muster was stitched stuff--the collection of little black and orange quilts I made last year, plus the Flying Scarecrow pillow designed and stitched by the very talented  Kaaren (The Painted Quilt blog) that I won in her drawing last year. Fun bit of trivia (for me, anyway)--Kaaren and I discovered that we share the same birthday. We already knew that we share a similar taste in fabric. : )

One of my little Halloween quilts never got quilted. I had every intention of quilting it this year, but as the holiday approached and I could see it wasn't going to happen, I hung it up anyway. Maybe I should have trimmed the fraying threads first.
This quilt was based on Julie Letvin's Pool Lil' Punky Pincushion pattern. I made a bunch of those, and managed to keep one for me.
Once I had made those I felt the urge to incorporate the happy little gourd into a small quilt. I wanted to make it in Halloween colors, but use repro fabrics. This is what materialized--and maybe one day I will actually get it quilted.

Christmas
This summer I saw a cute set of "wool" ornaments hanging in a LQS, but there were no patterns nearby. Upon inquiry I learned that they came as a kit, and you could not get the pattern by itself. I didn't want the kit--I have plenty of wool, and it appeared that the kit included felt, not felted wool. I decided I could live without them. Fast forward a few months and I found myself in another, more obscure, LQS. My mother had asked me to take her to try to match a fabric, that she had been unable to match in the other local shops. As she decided on a fabric, I browsed the notions and patterns. Lo, and behold, there was the ornament pattern without the kit. I nabbed it. This evening I was not in the mood to stitch, though there is plenty of stitching I should be doing, so I grabbed some wool and the pattern and started tracing and cutting. I made a good start. They aren't as dark as this photo makes them appear. Even with a flash, the colors wouldn't lighten up. I am trying to make them just a bit more primitive looking, so I am adapting some things. I probably won't get to stitch these up until December, but it was a nice diversion for me to cut them out.

BTW, the pattern, by Rachel of Greenfield, is available online here.

I'm pooped. I wasn't going to write this post in the wee hours, but when I looked at my schedule for the coming day, I thought I'd better get it done. Now I'll be a zombie all day for lack of sleep, but I guess I can get away with that on Halloween.

Until next time,
Janet O.

Oh My Stars!!

And they are my stars now, but I didn't make them. Aren't they beautiful? These were made by Karen (Log Cabin Quilter blog). Apparently she has been sorting through UFOs--shedding the projects that she no longer cares to finish. She had told me something was coming my way, but I had no idea what to expect. Two boxes arrived at my door the other day. This shows the contents! I was floored!

Not only the stars were within, but the pattern and parts to finish the quilt,
along with makings for an apple core quilt, a half log cabin, and the
beginnings of a Sister's Choice quilt. Oh, and some shirt parts.
It was an early Christmas!!

 Another piece of fun mail was this Australian magazine from Liz (quilterie blog). She is featured inside along with a wonderful quilt she designed. Isn't this great? It is a wonderful issue about traditional patterns with a modern twist. I love what Liz has done. Click to see it larger.

Aside from opening fun mail, I have mostly been working on some swap projects and birthday gifts, which can't be shown yet. But I can show you my slow progress on Bonnie Hunter's (Quiltville blog) Crabapples (aka It's So Vermonty). I  have around 1/3 of the blocks made. I've been trying to decide on a sashing color and have tentatively settled on a really dark brown tonal print. However, I am open to suggestions.

I know I said I wasn't doing any more SALs right now, but I needed more leader/enders and I had some already cut pieces just the right size for many of these, and the others were really easy to cut and it hardly took any time at all, and I just cut from the scraps that were sitting on my cutting table. Have I justified this enough? Of course, this is a SAL from Cheri (quiltsbycheri blog). She calls it "a piecework sampler." I just have three more little blocks to make and then each block gets bordered and the whole thing gets sashed. You can see Cheri's version here.
It works up very quickly and there is really no excuse not to make it--at least I couldn't find one.

I hope you have time for some fabric therapy today.
Until next time,
Janet O.

Fourth of July, Spring, Christmas, Fall

I'm a sucker for patriotic fabrics, and I love Primitive Gatherings stuff, so when Lisa came out with her "Old Glory" line of fabrics, I knew I was going to have to make a quilt from it. I also knew I would make said quilt from the first Primitive Gatherings pattern I ever bought. Here you see the beginnings of my Old Glory Picnic Quilt on my design wall.

Does it look familiar? Here are the first two I made.

 I am reversing the value placement in the red/white striped blocks to give more of a "flag" feel.
Also, I made these two bigger than the pattern indicates so that they would fit a Queen bed. I'm not sure if I'm going to make this one that large.



Well, I decided not to unpick the feathers on my Colorblind Baskets, for now. Maybe it is pure laziness, but it is now bound and hanging in my sewing room. It has a nice Springtime feel to it. I just try not to look too closely at the quilting, and then I can enjoy it.

This little pile of 6" Christmas blocks that were made while I worked on my Barrister's Sow-Along quilt is a constant reminder of my inability to "keep up." I started out making two sets of blocks, one set from shirts and one from Christmas fabrics, but I got bogged down in too many projects and after a while I set the Christmas blocks aside. This year I decided to work on completing this quilt top while sewing along with The Rancher's Daughter. I'm not making every block. John'aLee posts a block every Monday (along with a story from her life as a Rancher's Daughter). I figure if I make two blocks a month I will have a nice throw size quilt for the holidays. I had started falling behind already, so today at my monthly quilting day with my Mom (and occasionally a sister), I made a few more. Now I am only 1 block behind.

Finally, I have begun my version of Bonnie Hunter's Crabapples. Back in the Fall of 2008 DH and I went to Vermont with my parents. We drove back to Rochester, NY, to fly home and with the help of his GPS unit, DH found The Ivy Thimble along the way (what town is it in, Sarah?). Mom and I loaded up on fabrics in the colors of the season, determined to each  make a quilt to commemorate our trip. Mom chose a string pieced pattern and had her quilt made within a few months. I've only changed my mind about which pattern to use about 4 times, just recently settling on Crabapples. I'm sewing up the squares as my leader/enders, so this isn't going to happen quickly. I've got a few blocks prepped on design boards and in the queue, waiting their turn.

Next month marks two years for my blogging adventure. I'm planning a little giveaway to mark the anniversary. Stay tuned.
Until next time,
Janet O.