The Well-Traveled Quilt!

I mentioned in my last post that I was awaiting the arrival of the doll quilt I was to receive from the Humble Quilts 10th annual doll quilt swap. Little did I know that it had already arrived--and been sent back again, due to an error on the part of my local post office. Happy to announce that it was sent again by the talented creator, Marian Edwards of Victoria Australia, and it arrived yesterday! Here it is!

Isn't this adorable? If you ever followed Marian's blog (not active, but still there), or currently follow her on Instagram, you will recognize her style. It is just perfect. It is all hand quilted, and washed to give it that scrunchy, vintage look. Lori tells us the quilts are to look like they traveled through time, and Marian has always been so good at that. Here are a couple of other shots from my photo shoot with it.

It finished at 9 1/2" x 12".

Even though Marian works with 1800s repro fabrics (and some consider those drab), she always manages to create something saturated with color. I am totally thrilled with this little beauty!

It came in such clever wrapping--pattern pieces, for those of you who may never have done clothing construction.

I am saving that tag to use as a bookmark. One can never have too many books or bookmarks.

Thank you to Lori for hosting the swap, and thank you so much to Marian, who was kind enough to send this twice--all the way from Australia!

I actually have more items of a quilty nature to share, but I will save them for another post, and end with these photos of a rainbow we saw here a couple of weeks ago. My daughter-in-law (who has a degree in photography, among other things) captured this first photo of the total arc.

Within a few minutes the right side was fading and the left side grew brighter. I took these next two.

Can you spot the horse in the photo above?

We just returned from a quick trip to Oregon.  We didn't get out much, due to several family members suffering from severe allergies, with the pollen count sky high. But we did enjoy time together as a family as we supported our youngest granddaughter in her decision to be baptized (in our church that doesn't occur before age 8).

Next time I will finally have the promised drawing for my 12th anniversary of blogging. Until then, be creative and be kind!!

Janet O.

Overdue

My post is what is overdue, not the quilt. I received my quilt from Cecile (Patchwork Inspirations blog) in the first week of the month, but haven't seemed to be able to get a post written in order to share it. So here it is! We were participants in the Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap, and Cecile had my name. Lucky me!!

This little treasure came all the way from France, along with that clever card in the corner with wildflower seeds embedded in the paper. The wonderfully scrappy Ocean Waves pattern is one I have long admired, and the beautifully hand quilted feathered wreath in the center is an added bonus.  Thank you so much, Cecile. It is an honor to have a quilt made by you!

Another thing that was overdue was getting my little miniature quilt rack stained. You can read about this rack here.  I hired one of the many woodworkers in our community to make this for me. He had it finished in October, but I had told him to leave the staining for me. I love staining wood and it only took me 7 months to get to it. :)

This is where the rack was sitting before it was stained, and I liked it here. But now that it is pretty much the same color as the floor, the baseboard, and the hutch, it is a little way too much brown. So I moved it over by my full-size quilt rack (made by another woodworking neighbor).  I think it fits in better here visually, but physically it is a bit awkward. Still, it will remain here for now.

I know many of you would have painted this piece a pretty color, and it would have been lovely. I also know I have far too much wood in my home, but I love the look of natural wood grain, and I can't bring myself to paint over it. The red oak in this is gorgeous. Here is a view of the side.

Another thing that was even longer overdue was the clearcoat finish on the quilt ladder I bought from a sweet elderly woman at a craft show over 7 years ago (I'm probably getting very close now to the age of that "sweet elderly woman"). It had already been stained, but it really needed a light sanding with fine grit, and then a couple of coats of clearcoat. It is smooth as silk now, with just a hint of a shine.

 

Of all the quilts in this photo of the ladder, I only made one--the top one on the ladder. The next one down was by Jill Reid (this link takes you to her patterns at Windham Fabrics website), and the lower one is by Barbara Black. The one over the chest is by Barb Vedder. Love them all! This is kind of a red/green/cheddar corner.

 

Nothing overdue about this. Is anyone else as excited about this pattern as I am? My copy just arrived and I wish I wasn't buried under so many projects. I'd love to work on this now, but I will try to exercise restraint. Those little baskets finish around 3", you know. So fun! You can find the pattern here.

 

The final overdue item is my blogiversary. On May 16th, three days ago, it was the 10th anniversary of my blog. I never dreamed I would still be at it, and that I would have made so many amazing friends from around this country and the world. I have learned many lessons from you, my friends--some about quilting, but equally as many, if not more, about life. Several dear friends have departed, and I miss their wisdom and insight, along with the shared humor. Whether via Zoom, texts, emails, or phone, the laughter has been good for my soul. As time consuming as blogging can be, I have to say that it has enriched my life by expanding my circle.

You know there is always a drawing for thank-you gifts around this time. I am giving away a couple of little quilts from SALs. To me these SALs are a symbol of the community we create with our blogs. 

 

This first one is from the most recent Humble Quilts doll quilt SAL. I have given away a few of the quilts I have made from her SALs and I am always a little torn to let one go. I call this one "Mud Pies". You can read about it here.

 

Some of you may remember Cheri Payne. This second quilt was from a post of hers on Labor Day  in 2012, where she shared the instructions for this little quilt. She called it Labor of Love. I made mine a bit larger than the original (highly out of character for me). 

I will draw two names and send each one a little quilt with a few other goodies. Please don't publicize this drawing. It is just for those who are regulars here. Thank you for your friendship, and for all you have shared with me. And don't forget--if you never receive a reply to comments you make here, or if you don't usually comment, so you have no idea if you would receive a reply or not, PLEASE leave your email address IN your comment. If I can't contact you, I draw another name. I reply to everyone who comments and has their email linked to their comment.

Enough of that. I hope COVID numbers are decreasing in your area and that you are able to look forward to a greater degree of normalcy going forward. Let's make this a great day by making it better for someone else!

Until next time, 

Janet O.

Drawing is now closed

You may have noticed I have no header photo. I removed the old one to replace it and now it is doing crazy things and will only load my header photo into a small corner of the header space. The photo file is large enough, but no matter what I do it shows up very small on the screen. I've even tried a few other photos. So this would have been my header photo, and may be one day if this ever gets fixed. Click to enlarge it and soak in the serenity.

Anyone else have this problem changing headers, or am I just lucky? It's not like I've never changed my header photo before!

Doing Dual Duty

My monthly mini (with Wendy at The Constant Quilter blog) is also my swap quilt for Lori's Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap. You don't see the others cheating like this,  but I have never claimed to be of sterling character. ;)

This was the quilt I sent to Jane S. in Ohio.

I hand quilted it and washed it up and it really crinkled. I thought I'd killed it!

I had shown you the inspiration quilt in my last post. It is made from diamonds. I didn't have a diamond template (I do now), and I was too lazy to figure out cutting the diamonds with the lines on the rulers, so I used Panama Pyramids triangles templates to just give a similar impression. As in the inspiration "Sugar Loaf" quilt, I was going to leave the larger triangles between the pieced triangles as one plain triangle of background fabric. But for some reason, on my creation it didn't look good to me, like it did in the original. So I chopped up those plain triangles and inserted colored ones in the middle. First I tried multiple colors, but they seemed to create a distraction, so I opted to go with all browns. When I noticed, after final assembly, that in the second row all of the brown center triangles were a floral, rather than having them spread throughout the quilt, I shook my head and let it go. That was a big step for me.

 

Jane has no blog, but she sent some photos she said I could share here. They are better glamor shots than anything I have. So here is the quilt in its new home. She says a dolly has already spent the night under this quilt, and that warms my heart!

 

I understand that my quilt has been sent to me, but is coming from very far away. I am excited to receive it!!

You may recall that I was going to a tulip festival. It was sprinkling on us most of the time we were there, but I'd rather have that than temps in the 80s (as they had been experiencing) any day! Tell me if you see a strippy quilt in any of these photos. And if while viewing these you are tempted to pull out your uke and start singing "Tiptoe through the tulips", you may be as old as I am. Are you ready for a tulip overload?

 

In case you are wondering, yes, this is just a fraction of the photos I took. :)

Until next time, when I hope my doll quilt has arrived!!

Janet O.

p.s. A reminder that if you get notifications of new blog posts via the Feedburner email list, you need to be choosing another option. It will be ending those notifications this summer. If you use a blogger dashboard, the Friend Connect "Follower" list is a good way to go, or there is the Bloglovin' option--each are in my sidebar on the right hand side. If anyone is aware of another option I should check on, please let me know.

 

Staying On Top Of Things (sort of)

This is my first year participating in the Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap. I am so pleased that I actually got it sent off before the end of the month deadline. I am not going to share my quilt until it has been received, but this was the inspiration.

 

 

This quilt is from the book "Childhood Treasures" by Merikay Waldvogel. It measures 16" x 21".

It is from an unknown maker and is estimated to be from the 1890s. The pattern name is Sugar Loaf. 

My version is not exactly this design, but was definitely based upon it.

 

 

 

                                                                    This is the label on my quilt.   

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am caught up with the Hands All Around sew-along with Barbara Brackman. One block a month, and I am making two of each pattern. The color on this photo is very poor.

Had been doing pretty well with Gay Bomers' Heartfelt BOW, until last week. Haven't done that one yet. And a new pattern being released just after I post this will put me two weeks behind. But this is what I have so far. You can still join up through the link. She has extended the registration.

 

We won't talk about how I am doing with the Little Blocks 365. But in case you are interested, Gay has extended the registration again--the requests just keep coming. So click the link, if you dare, and play along. They are very fun.

Now for the results of the drawing. I split the wool patterns in half and drew 2 names, since there was so much interest.  Joyful Quilter and Denise Panter will each get 7 patterns. Julie Q was drawn for the apple cores, and Darlene was selected for the Lori Smith kit. All have been notified.

Very soon I will be attending a tulip festival in the Northwest, on a day with an 80% chance of rain. But I am thrilled because my youngest granddaughter (oh, and her parents) will be there. :) Really looking forward to it!    

Until next time,

Janet O.

                                              
P.S. Just in case you get notifications of these posts via email, you should know that Feedburner will discontinue those notifications after July of this year. I understand that signing up through the bloglovin' widget will still give you email notifications, and I have that option on my right sidebar, as well.