The Snowman Post

Last year I threatened to do a snowman post one day, and it looks like this is it. The weather is appropriate (several days of snow in our forecast). All but one of the chilly guys are wool.


Four years ago this month I took my first wool class. Lisa Bongean taught wool applique at the little shop over the mountain. We used one of the snowman blocks from her Warm Winter Blessings pattern. Not only was this my first wool experience, it was my first snowman as well. I was hooked (but I still haven't done anything with this particular block--I can't even find it).


 





Using the same snowman pattern, and a table runner pattern from Primitive Gatherings, I cobbled together this little snowman wall hanging.




Eventually I did make the whole Warm Winter Blessings, in the mini size, of course.

I had made one other block in the full size before switching to the mini. As you can see here, I turned that one into a pillow.


Other Primitive Gatherings snowman projects include this little candle mat, from an issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects a few years ago, which  can now be found on the Primitive Gatherings website as  Snowy Gathering.













And there is this larger candle mat, Winter Cabin, that I made in a class with Lisa at our state guild Quiltfest in 2015.




















With Karen's help, I began making the 2015 Attic Heirloom ornaments of the month a couple of years ago. The first one was a snowman. I loved the little designs, but didn't like making them into the ornaments after stitching the design. So I gifted this one, and then started over again.







I made them into little quilt blocks, and after making 9 of them (3 snowmen) I decided I liked it as it was.


 Snowball, from HeartToHand was finished up last year at this time.

Looks about the same outside right now as it did then, but I think we have more snow this year.

This jolly fellow was an adaptation of a  patterned offered by Stacy at Buttermilk Basin a year or two ago. I used him to replace her last block in her free BOM last year. All of the blocks are finished, but I haven't decided if I will set them all together, or make small holiday banners with the holiday themed ones and put the others together into a smaller wall hanging.

The only snowman left is NOT wool. He is paper pieced from a free Carol Doak pattern. I reduced it a little (of course).
I made the nose on this little guy a bit too big. Maybe I should name him Jimmy Durante. : )


 





Have you built any snowmen lately? If you'd like to make these snowmen, say so in a comment and I will choose a name by my next post.
Until next time,
Janet O.

 

Could.Not.Resist!

Did you see the little doll quilt Lori D. received in her swap? It was made by Karen Dever. You can check it out here.
It called to me like a siren and I found myself powerless to resist. That is pretty sad. So here is my little version--not an exact copy, but "inspired by."

I have no idea the size of the original, but mine finished at 10 1/2". I was working from a little bag of these scraps that a friend had given me, so my pinwheel size was based on what these bits and pieces could do. They also dictated my color scheme.
I see there will be another mini pinwheel quilt in my future.

The patchwork border gave me some grief--with my pieces so small, I would have been cutting something to a 16th of an inch. Not this time, thank you. So I cut and recut to try and see what I liked. That left me with a lot of odd squares and rectangles and that inspired me to make these.

I found a small piece of a pretty stripe that was just enough to create the rows between the patchwork strips. They measure 6 x 9 1/2, and 9 1/2 x 12. Why do I keep adding to my pile of little quilts to be quilted, when I was almost finished with them?

And while we are on that subject, my Primitive Gatherings Pinwheel Garden is now a flimsy, though at 14 1/2" square, and with all of those seams, it isn't extremely flimsy.

It is supposed to be comprised of 12 blocks, but when I had 9 made, it told me it was done. There is also supposed to be another row of the tiny HSTs around the outside, but it told me an emphatic, "NO!" (Or maybe I was the one telling it--my memory is a bit fuzzy on that point.) Since I made my blocks smaller than the pattern (any surprise there?), the outer HSTs would finish at 1/2". I have done that before on another one of Lisa's designs and I foundation pieced those. I didn't want to foundation piece anything on this quilt, although the pattern recommends it, so I stopped. Besides, as small as this is, it is looking very busy.

On this photo you can see a quarter to gauge the size better, and you can see the pattern to know what I am not doing to mine.

It isn't all little quilt finishes around here. Recently I improvised a couple of pillows. The one on the left was from a retreat with Stacy West (of Buttermilk Basin fame) back in January of 2015. It is designed to be a picnic hamper cover, but I don't own one of those.

The snowman pillow is one of the blocks from Lisa Bongean's Warm Winter Blessings quilt. Back in January of 2013 I attended a retreat where Lisa taught us her wool applique methods, using blocks from this quilt. I made three of the quilt blocks before I decided I needed to make the mini version instead.

And just for fun, before I gave away a couple more of the little quilts I have finished this year, I spread them out on the dining room table, stood on a chair, and took this photo. Twenty of the twenty-three I had finished at this point are in this photo. Since this was taken I have gifted a couple more and finished a couple more.

I promised a shorter post this time, so I'd better stop. But I'll leave you with this view after a recent rain.

 Until next time, 
Janet O.

Living up to my name.

I just finished stitching up three small quilt tops and I realize I didn't stick to the pattern on a single one. That is where the "rogue" comes in--"aberrant behavior," which means I deviate from the standard. Those who know me would say I am anything but rogue, and I know a good many quilters who don't stick to patterns, so I am really not too unique. That said, here are my three "rogue" quilts.

Close Harmony
This one is based on Lori's "Harmony". Mine is similar, but I couldn't loosen up enough to try not to be"too perfect". Sorry, Lori.

As I studied the original and Lori's version I had an irresistible urge to make a churn dash out of it. So using the color scheme (which I love) and dimensions of Lori's center block, I created a churn dash. From there I was somewhat faithful to the pattern--with a few modifications. Hence, CLOSE Harmony.

Winter Warmth

This little creation was derived from two different Primitive Gatherings patterns--Warm Winter Blessings and Snowball Runner. I used a mini charm pack of their Snowman Gatherings line, and filled in the chinks with some of their Old Glory yardage. I still need to put the blanket stitch around the snowflakes.

Black & Blooms

Here we have my version of Primitive Gatherings Little Buds. This was made from their kit, but I did sub a couple of pieces of wool, and almost all of the cotton fabrics were from my stash. I still can't believe I made this.

The original is in tan (their larger version is in black), but I wanted the small size and the black background. I had this black cotton houndstooth in my stash and thought it would make a great backdrop for the blooms. Then I had to find brighter colors, because the ones in the kit were meant to go with the tan background and seemed a little dull against the black. 

Remember this is tiny. Each of those HSTs around the border will finish at 1/2". The whole quilt is only 10 1/2" x 14 1/2 ". Now I need to work up the courage to quilt this baby.

I've been working to get my sewing room organized, and this is my latest piece of "equipment". It has given a good home to my wool scraps, while keeping them happy in their color families. It is also housing the tiny pieces of holiday fabrics that I use for the little pineapples. They are separated by holiday, of course. When my scraps are happy (and organized), I'm happy. : )

Well, it is finally Springtime (even though we were in the low 20s last night)--the baby lambs are frolicking, the mountains are still snowcapped and my favorite daffodils are blooming.

If you look at the Daffodil in my Black & Blooms mini you will recognize this flower. They are a little droopy here because of the hard frost last night.

Until next time--and hopefully it won't be two weeks,

Janet O.