Time Out for Family

I haven't been in blogland much the past few days. DD#1 is visiting with us from New Hampshire. We have 8 days with her and we are keeping very busy. I have tried to keep up reading blogs, but haven't had time to comment.
Haven't done much sewing, either, but I will share my smidgen of progress.
This little 8" square mini finally got quilted and bound last night.

I recently received some scraps from Kathie (of Inspired By Antique Quilts) and among the scraps were 8 big  HSTs. I wanted to incorporate them into a mini quilt somehow, so using a 1 1/2" square ruler, I cut two small HSTs and 2 solid squares from each of the large HSTs.





Maybe you can get a better idea from this photo.

I used the little HSTs to create the pinwheels in this mini. Most of the fabrics used are from Kathie's scraps--even the backing.
Now this little quilt hangs from my new sewing room shelf and keeps company with another recently created mini which you have already seen.

I completed one more of the Crabapple blocks from Bonnie Hunters book "Adventures With Leaders and Enders." My sister thinks I should name it "It's So Vermonty," because the quilt is in honor of a trip we took to Vermont one Fall, and we are big fans of movies from the 30-50s. The name she suggested is a line from an old movie. Just for the fun of it, the first person who comments with the correct old movie will get a gift bag of my herbal soap. Anyone think they know? : )

And finally, all of the strips sets have been sewn and sliced for my patriotic version of the Primitive Gatherings Picnic Quilt.  This is made entirely from Primitive Gatherings fabrics--mostly the Old Glory line, but you will find a bit of Snowman Gatherings and Little Gatherings in there as well. Just keeping things interesting.

Now I need to sew the blue and tan strips into blocks and sew the blocks together. I have made it bed size by adding an extra row to a side and the bottom and including borders. I highly recommend this pattern for a quick, visually interesting quilt. This is one of very few patterns I have ever made more than once.
We have been having so much fun with DD#1 here. Among other things, she and DD#2 had a late night learning session on Gidget. I am pleased to inform you that both of my daughters caught on to this much more quickly than I did. Here is DD#1 at work on a practice sandwich. Their "first time" machine quilting puts mine to shame. The fact that I can machine quilt at all should give everyone out there who is struggling, all kinds of hope. If there had been a dunce hat in my first class, I would have been wearing it.


My girls are pretty special. When in the world did they get to be in their 30s?? And what does that make me? We don't want to go there.
This weekend we will have my sons (they are pretty special, too) joining us for some quality time before DD#1 heads back home mid-week.

This coming Thursday I will be attending the HMQS in Salt Lake City. Anyone out there going that day? I'd love to meet you!

I may not be back to blogging until after that show, but you know there will be lots of great quilts to share--AND in less than two weeks I hit my 2nd anniversary of blogging. There will be a giveaway for all of you patient people who follow my ramblings, you can be sure of that. So stay tuned, and in the meantime--can you name that movie?
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.

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.

Things Just Hanging Around

Finally remembered to ask DH to hang a shelf I had for my sewing room. Then comes the fun of filling it. The Flying Scarecrow pillow is the handiwork of Kaaren (The Painted Quilt blog), which I was amazingly lucky enough to win about a year ago. I couldn't bear to put him away when Fall was over, so he has been sitting (or flying) in various places around the sewing room ever since. Now he has a good home. The wool hooked star pillow next to it was part of a wonderful gift from Gayle (The Middle Sister blog) when we finally met each other for lunch this past week. More on that in a minute.

Hanging below is the little rail fence quilt made from the leftovers of my Little Buds project. I just got my order from Ackfeld Wire, so as soon as I had this bound I got it hung. I have also hung the charm bracelet from the Charming program, made by Julie (Me and My Stitches blog). When it isn't being worn it should still be seen, IMHO. It keeps company on the same peg with a little necklace of a Singer Featherweight that DD#2 gave me. And on the far right is a little ornament made by Grace (citymousequilter blog) that I think is too cute to have stored away most of the year. : )

I've made a few more pineapple ornaments lately, too. I hung them from the shelf for the photo.

They will all be on their way to good homes come Monday.

And the last thing hanging around is this. I know you have seen it a lot lately, but I wanted to show you how it looks in its new place. I just got this hanger from Ackfeld Wire as well. Easter came so early this year, I am leaving the decorations up for a little bit longer to welcome in the warmer weather.

Now for a couple of things that aren't hanging.

I'm trying to get some Springy projects finished. This is one of my many versions of Temecula's Blessings Baskets SAL. Remember how I said it reminds me of the colorblindness tests in the old encyclopedias? So I've decided to name this Colorblind Baskets. This one has given me some grief while quilting it. Well, really I've created the grief myself, I guess.                                                      

Can you tell what happened from the photo on the right? The excess backing edge had folded back under the quilt and I hadn't noticed. There was a bunch of unpicking to do. While doing it I noticed that the feathers in the white setting triangles had awful tension. I had played with it in the beginning and thought it looked good, but upon closer scrutiny I can see that "white thread+white fabric+old eyes+late night quilting=disaster." I lost my enthusiasm for finishing it. I am trying to talk myself into unpicking the feathers. Will it ever happen? We'll see.

I mentioned earlier in the post about meeting Gayle. It has been something we have been hoping to arrange for over a year. We were both actually in attendance at a Jennifer Chiaverini book signing back then, but neither knew the other would be there so we didn't meet. She has been my mentor as I learned to repurpose wool clothing for quilting. She talked me through the steps of felting and Kool Aid dying. And she is just as kind and gracious in real life as she has been through email (no big surprise there, right?). She brought wonderful gifts--the pillow in the first photo, and this cute wool pincushion on the right in the photo below, along with a wonderful array of wool pieces from her stash. I think I am ready for anything now! Thanks so much, Gayle, for the gifts and a lovely afternoon. I hope there will be more opportunities to meet in the future. (I can't believe I forgot to get a photo--I had my camera in my purse the whole time.)

I'd planned to share more, but this is plenty long. I'll save it for another time.

So, until next time, 

Janet O.

P.S. Spring is finally creeping in around the Rockies. 

Did I really do this?

That is what I ask myself when I look at the progress on my Little Buds project from Primitive Gatherings. Even as I ordered this kit I was chiding myself to get real, thinking I would never really get it made. I surprised myself. It is almost finished!!

I just have the 1/2" finished HST border to make and I am waiting for the Thangles to arrive by mail in order to make that. When that is added this will finish at 10 1/2" x 14 1/2"--teeny tiny. The little flower blocks are 2" x 2 1/2" finished and the colored strips around them finish at 1/4"!

I had a bunch of those little strips leftover because many of the first ones I cut were brighter than I wanted, once I laid them around the blocks and stood back and observed. You know I have to play with my leftovers, and this is what came of them. It is around 10" square.

And now, the moment we have all been anticipating (not!). Here is the Easter mini waiting to have the binding sewn down. It isn't the best angle, but you can see the quilting best in this photo.

 I so appreciate all of the suggestions. I tried to reply to everyone, but I ran into a few "no-reply" bloggers. If you didn't hear back from me you may want to check your settings (unless you prefer not to receive replies to your comments).

You should have seen my sewing room when I was trying out all of the options. I had a design board propped against a dresser and a pile of fabric around it on the floor. I had two pages of possibilities I had printed out from all of the comments and I tried to come as close to each suggestion as I could with the fabrics I had on hand. Sometimes your idea prompted new ideas. Twice I thought I had the answer, but when I would look at the photo of it on the computer I would change my mind. I even got a border sewn completely on and removed it. I'm happy with the final result, but why couldn't it have come easier?!?
I had lots of little 4-patches left. I had made enough to use as cornerstones if I sashed between the blocks. Of course, I had to do something with those. The 4-patches finish at 1".

My mailbox has been really good to me this week. Carol (Brown Quilts blog) sent a little package of scraps for my Small Sums (mini version of Charming Addition). She had been the lucky recipient of scraps from Kathie (Inspired By Antique Quilts blog), the pattern designer, to put in her quilt and she was kind enough to forward leftovers to me, along with a bunch of scraps from her. I have been busy cutting them up and I have almost got them finished. It will be a great scrap quilt with reminders of friends in it. Thanks so much, Carol (and Kathie, indirectly). This has been fun to "add" your fabrics to my version of Charming Addition!

Then I purchased a little AAQI quilt from the last batch submitted by Lori (Humble Quilts blog). It came this week and immediately went up on my wall. It is called Dark Side. You can read about Lori's quilts, and the meaning behind their names, here. 

Today there were two more packages in my mailbox, neither of which was expected. That kind is always the most fun!  My sweet friend, Doniene (Now It's Just Quilts blog), had thought of me when she saw some Fall fabrics on sale (my favorite season and color palette). She is a very generous woman, and she sent me some of these goodies. I would work on Fall projects all year if I could, but I try to pace myself.  I am already thinking of what I will be doing with them. Thank you, my dear!                                                                   

The second package contained this lovely little quilt from a "no blog" quilt friend, Annie Miksch. She loves to do applique and she knows I am applique-challenged. When she saw the photo on my blog of my little quilt corner, she felt it needed a dash of applique. She was so right!  She created this little beauty based on a Lori Smith pattern.                         Annie and I have become acquainted through emails as she has commented on things on my blog. I know her to be a kind, thoughtful woman, but I was taken completely by surprise by this gift. Isn't it beautiful? I will cherish it, as I do each of these little quilts that connect me in one way or another to a quilter I have met via the internet.

We have finally been enjoying some lovely Spring weather around here and I look forward to a beautiful Easter Day.

Until next time, 

Janet O.

Help, I'm stuck!

Last year I had printed out a few free applique shapes from a couple of websites and had grand intentions of making my second attempt at fused applique by creating some cute Easter thing with them. It never happened. So today I dug out those shapes, pulled out my repurposed, Kool Aid dyed wool and started one of those "design-as-you-go" projects (I prefer that to "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants"--sounds more intentional, or dignified, or something). I got the blocks made, but am struggling to decide how to set them. I'm keeping it simple, but I'm struggling with color options for the border/sashing.

Is the black border too overpowering? I'm trying to stay with the colors in the wool, and since I have already used them all in the block borders, I didn't know what to do for a main border. I would probably bind in purple or pink. I will admit that I was influenced by the Little Buds I have been working on--all of the color against black is so striking, but does it work here?

 Should I put a narrow black sashing between the blocks?

Or should I stick to the tan for sashing/borders (but not necessarily this tan--it was just handy). I could bind this in the pink or purple--or even black.

If you have any other suggestions, I'm open to them. Just remember I don't want to complicate it (for once). I want a border, and I would prefer it not be pieced--the sashing is optional. What would you do?

I realize I have overlooked sharing this runner. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, but was sending it to DD#1 in NH for her birthday and I didn't want to post it until she had seen it. After she had seen it I forgot to post it. I call this one Patches of Fall. She wanted Fall colors and I made this from the Simply Charming book (with just a few additional blocks) and will eventually link this up for the next  Every Other Month Mini Sew Along. 

Can you believe it? That's all I have--of course I just barely posted, so that explains it. : )
Until next time (which won't be so soon),
Janet O.

Too Stinkin' Cute!

These little flowers just make me happy!

 You might recall from my post about Lisa's (Primitive Gatherings) trunk show, here, that this pattern comes in two sizes, the tiny one called Little Buds, which finishes at 10 1/2" x 14 1'2".

Then there is Bud Garden, which is 20" x 29" and on a black background instead of tan. At the trunk show I had such a hard time deciding between these two kits. I loved the tiny Little Buds quilt, but the black background of Bud Garden was so striking to me.

So I ordered Little Buds and switched out the background tans for a black houndstooth check I had in my stash. The outer black border will be more of a mottled solid black (is that an oxymoron, mottled solid?). I am not experienced with wool applique, and the stitchery instructions in the pattern are not extremely detailed, so I find myself with questions and I'm making up the answers. I think a reasonable level of experience is assumed, and I'm not there. These pieces are so tiny, the instructions say to use 50 weight cotton thread for the blanket stitch. There are other stitched details, but no instructions that I can find as to what size thread or floss would achieve the look in the photo. I'm learning by trial and error.

This is the first block I have stitched so far.  The photo gives you a size perspective. The yellow iris beard stitching obviously needed to be with a heavier thread or floss. I will have to redo that. In spite of my questions, I am loving this project.       

 I finally finished the last little Valentine quiltlet. It is already for next year. This photo shows the quilting to its best advantage. In keeping with my "Year of the Feather" I put free form feathers in the setting triangles and outer border. I used a couple of favorite stencils for the 9-patches and sashing designs.

Here it is all bound and sitting on the table it will most likely grace next Valentine's Day.

And if we are talking "stinkin' cute", I'd better show you these. I signed up last year for Julie's Charm Bracelet program. These two arrived today. The pineapple block was an extra optional purchase, which I was thrilled to get. Julie does an incredible job on these 3/4" charms.

This is the bracelet so far. I believe there are two more charms to come. This is so fun--when I am not wearing it I hang it in my sewing room. It deserves to be seen, not hidden in a drawer somewhere.

 I got the Coins in the Clover tumbler mini sewn together. This will get a simple stippling treatment and be bound in green. Hopefully I will get to that before the month is out and it will be ready for next St. Patrick's day. I like to think of it as always being ready way ahead of time, rather than getting everything finished too late. : )   

 Finally, I have sewn up 6 more blocks for my Scrappy Trips quilt. This is what I have so far. If I just use what I have cut I am 3 blocks away from the halfway mark, but I may enlarge this one. I think I would like it to be bed size, if I have enough of the KT fabrics left to pull it off. 

Another long post. So sorry. Go take a nap--you've earned it. : )

Until next time,

Janet O.