Red, White, and Blue--Part Two

Last year about this time I did a little patriotic parade of all of the red/white/blue creations I have made over the last few years. You can find it HERE. Well, there have been a few additions since then, so I thought I would tack them on here.

 This fun hanging kind of came together out of nowhere--okay, maybe not "nowhere", but I started out to create a very different quilt.





As I was digging through my stash to find what I needed in order to make what I was seeing in my mind's eye, I came across these little flag pieces, shown below.






I have absolutely no idea which fabric company made these, or when. I think I picked them up years ago, in a now closed quilt shop that had a scrap basket I haunted fairly regularly. These were just as you see them and I never could seem to figure out a way to use them--until now. There were actually four of them in my scraps, but I couldn't get the fourth one to look like it belonged.

I'm pretty pleased  with the final results. The whole thing has a bit more of a whimsical feel than I usually do, but it seemed meant to be this way. The little star buttons, the swirly star border fabric, the striped binding fabric all surfaced just when I didn't know what to do next. Now I know what to do--hang it up! No name as yet. : )

I did it--I made one for me after all. I had such a hard time letting go of the little "Small Honor" hanging that I donated to my family reunion auction last month. Now there is one in my home. I just can't decide where it belongs. And in my last post I mistakenly listed it as finishing at 4x6 inches. I was wrong. It is a whole lot bigger than that. It is 4 1/2x6 1/2 inches. *LOL*


The banner hanging below was made by DD#2, and it graces my dining room wall during the summer. This year I added the little quilts at each end.

The little pinwheel quilt on the left is adapted from a quilt made by Kathie Holland, formerly of inspiredbyantiquequilts blog (anyone else miss her as much as I do?). Kathie donated the fabrics.
On the right is an AAQI quilt I purchased that was made by Jean Tanner, of Iowa.

Recently Miss Stacy (Buttermilk Basin), posted this wonderful free pattern for a little pillow, or pincushion, during the Summerthyme blog hop she was sponsoring.

I may just create a little wall hanging (can you ever have too many?), and was auditioning a border fabric. Everything is fused and ready to stitch. The buttons are being auditioned, as well. I just might get the stitching done on this tonight--then again, might not.

Her pattern makes a 5x9.5 design.
















I have a couple of other things in the works that obviously won't be ready for this year's celebration. I've wanted to make another little patriotic tumbler quilt, besides the flag (see tutorial in my Pages Bar, above).

So, as I have had my patriotic fabrics out working lately, I have cut some random 2 1/2" strips and come up with this. Nothing is sewn together--they are just clinging to a design board.

 The tumbler template I used to cut these is not the Tiny Tumbler from Primitive Gatherings that I used to make the Tumbler Flag. I wanted to make this to top an end table in my living room and it would take forever to sew together enough of those tiny ones to cover it.

I used the Missouri Star Quilt Company Mini Tumbler that is designed to fit perfectly on mini charm squares. You can see the difference between the two. Still small enough to be cute, but makes up a fair sized mini much quicker, when you have the need.

Finally, a while back I bought 7 of these 16" blocks from Michelle C (Michelle's Quilts & Stuff blog). I have 6 of them in a project box with a few other star blocks that I am going to combine into a throw quilt.

 So this orphan has been lonely, until I had a light bulb moment and decided to deconstruct it.

The block was made up of 16 squares, so I took my trusty "speedy seam ripper tool" (aka rotary cutter) and separated the blocks.

 Using the Itty Bitty Eights rulers, I sliced them into 3 equal strips.

 Then I turned my rotary cutting mat and sliced them into 9 equal squares.

When all of the HST blocks are sliced, I am going to play with some possible layouts for a R/W/B mini. May not get to this right away. But hopefully next year at this time, I can include the finished mini in that update.

July 1st we had a beautiful (though very hot) evening--moonrise and sunset were both gorgeous. I may put one of these in my header.

Have a glorious 4th of July, whether or not it is a holiday in your neck of the woods.
Until next time,
Janet O.

It's A Small Honor

That is the name of the pattern from which that little mini in the center was created.

 It was designed by Diane Hansen and was published in the July/August 2003 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting. It finishes at 4"x6". The pattern was sent to me by a special blogging friend and she knew I would love this mini pattern. Wish I could leave it hanging there, but I donated it to the family reunion auction on Saturday and my younger sister bought it. I was happy to see her get it. Maybe I'll make one for me someday. : )

 

The pattern is foundation paper pieced. I machine quilted it all, except the final round of quilting in the outer border. That is done by hand.

That little piece is really all of the quilting I have done since I got home from visiting DD#1 in NH. But I do want to share a couple of quilty things from my visit with her. If you are ever in the area of Milton, NH, and you love primitive style, be sure to drop in and visit Camille at the shop in the basement of her home. What a treat.

This is my daughter and Camille. Camille is looking at my new grandbaby, but due to the rules governing the private adoption, I can't share photos of the baby on public social media for a few more months. But you can tell by the look on Camille's face that she is very cute! : )

Click on the small photos below to enlarge them and take a tour of some of the displays in this very fun and friendly shop.

 This was what came home with me from Evergreen Country Primitives. Wonderful fabric finds, and great wool, patterns, and notions.

The other quilt shop experience I had in NH took place in Center Harbor.

I just happened to be visiting DD#1 the week of the Keepsake Quilting Tent Sale. I have often heard about it, especially on Victoria's blog, but never thought I would be there. Tried to meet up with Victoria, but had a little family emergency and couldn't get there until later in the day. My daughter and I each filled a scrap bag as full as could be, I bought a book, and these lovely fabrics.

When I got back home to Utah I found two delightful surprises--packages of scraps from a couple of blog friends. I appreciate them thinking of me. I do love scrap quilts and you can never have too many scraps! I emptied my scrap bag from K.Q. and piled them with all of the scraps from the packages together by color family or genre (if there is such a thing in fabric).

One last thing. Saturday was the 37th anniversary of DH and I. We spent the day at a family reunion for which my siblings and I were responsible, and then came home and crashed. But as a parting shot, here we are in our true characters. *LOL*

Until next time,
Janet O.