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.

What Do You Think?

I finished the quilting on this little HST quilt.

Some of you had asked to see what I brought home from HMQS. Well, here is the haul--a couple of bloc-loc rulers, some silk thread to attempt quilting on some very tiny quilts, little bits of fabric and LOTS of Primitive Gatherings patterns. Then there is that 1" clamshell stencil, which I put to use on this quilt.

The clamshells look upside down to me in the first photo, so here you get the proper viewpoint. : )

Now for the binding, and that is where I need help. I wanted to use that orangey-coral color to bind it (give it a little pizzaz, right?), but I have no yardage of any of it. These HSTs were gifted to me, so I have no more of the fabric than what you see here. I searched the repro stash and was surprised to see that I couldn't match it.

What next? I pulled out  a couple of scraps I had of one of the blue prints in the HSTs, but there wasn't enough. I had no other blues that seemed the right shade for this, unless I went almost navy, which I didn't want to do.

I found a brown that blended well enough, but appeared rather blah.

If I pieced every scrap I have left of the border fabric, I might be able to bind it in the same fabric, but that would foil the plans I had for those leftovers.

As a last resort I went to my non-repro stash and found the perfect color, but in a rather large print for the scale of this quilt. It is across the top. Would you do me a favor and enlarge this photo and tell me what you think? Is it too much? Should I go with the blah brown? Or should I keep searching? I am so ready to finish this and move on, but maybe I need to be patient. I would appreciate your input.

Come to think of it, I have moved on--I have been ditch stitching on this basket quilt whenever I have a few minutes and can stay awake to stitch.
This quilt was made with scraps from one of my Mom's quilts.

I can't wait to put feathers in those setting triangles, and I think I might put feathered wreaths in the setting squares.

My blogging may be hit-and-miss for the next couple of weeks because these two happy people are arriving tonight and will be spending two weeks with us. I am so excited!!
They are making a cross-country move from New Hampshire to Oregon and will be stopping with us along the way.

The only down side to this is that I will most likely not be meeting up with my New England blogging friends again, but what a blessing it was to meet Vic, Grace, and Cyndi. There were others I had hoped to meet on future visits, but since I don't get out much, other than visiting family, the odds are against us now.

Now if you live near Eugene, OR, there may be someone knocking on your door sometime, wanting to meet you, and it may be me. : )

I drew a name from those who had asked to be included in the drawing for the snowman patterns and Janet Drennan came up as the winner. Congratulations, Janet! I will be waiting for your snail mail so I can send the patterns your way.

Until next time, 
Janet O.
(In the meantime, enjoy the view.)