Design Wall Monday::An Actual Finish

I went to a mini-retreat with my sewing group this past weekend, and, TA-DA!, I actually have something new to show on my design wall today.  This is a little wall hanging that somehow got stalled out over the summer.  I had nine blocks done, but the other four blocks had to wait until this weekend when I finally got them put together, along with the sashing.  I love this little block.  It's a great way to use up odd scraps and to play with a lot of color combinations that I ordinarily wouldn't try.  The pattern info is here, if you're interested. (I had to go in the WAY BACK machine, ahem, last June, to find it.)

Because I can't resist, here are some pictures of some of my favorite blocks:

And another one:

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BTW these blocks are 8 inches, finished.

And, I got some other things done, too!  Ah, it felt so good to be able to sit and sew.

I finished another of the basket blocks from the basket quiltalong at Piecemeal Quilts.  The pattern is available right there on Sandi's sidebar.  This is the third one I've completed, and I love her clear directions.  Thanks, Sandi!

I did two other blocks at a retreat last spring, and I might have enough for a quilt top sometime this decade... IF I get to attend enough quilt retreats.

But that's not all.  I got some of my civil war jelly roll fabric cut for the album quilt I've been eying here and there on the webs.  I also picked up some Moda Bella solid for the background.  I have the pieces for one block cut out, but didn't have time to get one whole block put together.

Alas, Sunday afternoon came too soon and I had to pack up all my stuff and come home. 

You can check out what others are working on this Monday by checking out Judy L.'s blog Patchwork Times. 

Have a great week!

What do you do when you don't sew?  Shop.  Online, that is, since I certainly haven't had time to make it out to a quilt shop.  In my last post I talked about the nosegay block that those of us in my sewing group had been admiring.  We couldn't figure out how to make the kite shape for the "handle" of the bouquet.  I went ahead and ordered the plastic template from Marti Michell and it arrived in today's mail.  I don't know when I'll ever get to this, but at least I can cut the pieces when I finally have some time.

I was in a bit of a fog this weekend, trying to recover from my first full week of school and catching up on things I let slide during the week.  By late Saturday afternoon I needed something I could do that wouldn't require too much in the way of brain power.  I had been admiring the Willow Cowl (Ravelry link) and since it just needs one ball of sock yarn, which I just happened to have lying around, I fired up some movies on Netflix and started knitting.

I worked on it a bit on Sunday, too.  Round and round knitting; all you have to do is keep track of is the number of rows in a simple pattern.  Just what the doctor ordered for de-stressing after a long and tiring week.

School Days and a Nosegay

School started this week.  (Insert descending chord here.)

As you may recall, I moved to the middle school this year.  I spent most of the month of May packing up the tons of teaching gear I've accumulated over the years and dividing it in two parts: a Mt. Everest size pile of primary (grades K-3) materials and a Mt. McKinley size pile of intermediate (grades 4-5) material.  Mt. Everest got transferred by my always-patient-and-helpful husband and me over two hot and sweaty weekends to a storeroom I am lucky enough to have access to.  Mt. McKinley was moved over the summer to my new classroom, just waiting for me.  It took the better part of a week, but I managed to get all the boxes emptied and broken down and the stuff put away before the doors opened on the first day of school.

This week I felt as though I had started a whole new job. New procedures, new forms, new computers, new schedules, new students, new faculty and staff, new everything.  This year is going to be an adventure for sure.

As far as sewing goes, except for my Friday night sewing group, I haven't picked up a needle for a week or more. 

I do have a quilting story to share, however.  Two weeks ago at our Friday night sewing group, one of my friends brought over two absolutely beautiful heirloom quilts that belong to her neighbors.  One was an appliqued poppy, done in several shades of red and dark pink on white muslin, which I didn't get a picture of.  The other was a nosegay pattern. I borrowed these pictures from my friend Anne's cell phone.

I know that had I seen this pattern in a magazine or book I might not have taken a second look, but in person it is truly amazing.  This one looks as though it was sewn last week.  All the fabrics are bright and unfaded and it showed very little wear. 

We all began to try to figure out how to make the kite shape at the bottom of the bouquet.  Anne found an older pattern, but it called for making 1-inch grid paper and tracing the pieces (remember those?).  I thought I had directions for rotary cutting a kite shape, but it turns out that the angles are the wrong size.  What to do? 

Saturday I googled the pattern and I found one at the McCall's website, but I couldn't get the templates to print out at the right size.  And then I saw several references to a Marti Michell pattern that was in the October 2010 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.  The very selfsame issue that was sitting on the table next to my computer.  In fact, we had been paging through that magazine the night we all saw the quilt. The paper templates are, of course, in the magazine, or you can order plastic ones from Marti's website. 

It just blew me away that I had paged through that magazine so many times and never noticed the quilt.  The quilt featured in the magazine is very pretty, but not "my colors".  I guess my eye just skipped over it without absorbing what it was. 

So another project is added to the list..

More Odds and Ends

These blocks have been sitting on my design wall since last month.  Each time I thought about cutting the lattice strips and starting to put this little quilt together I hesitated.  Thinking it over, I finally decided that I really LIKE these little things and I want to make more. 

So the other morning before it got too hot in my sewing room, I cut out fabric for a few more...

I have a large scrap basket next to my cutting table just for reproduction fabrics and I pulled fabrics more or less at random.  There is enough cut here for four more blocks; I'll sew those and then decide whether to go on.  I think I probably will.

Design Wall Monday::One Thing Leads to Another

I spent a frustrating Saturday morning dealing with real life stuff and nearly all of Saturday afternoon at the computer.  At first I was looking for a mystery quilt pattern I could use for the guild--not too hard for beginners but with something of interest for more experienced quilters.  Then I got a little sidetracked as it's so easy to do when hunting around on the 'net.

One of the quilts on my bucket list is called Album, or Chimney Sweep, or Chicago Pavements, depending on the source or the coloring.  I just happen to have a jelly roll of Barbara Brackman's Civil War Homefront which would be perfect for this. Clicking around on the 'net yielded dozens of variations of this block.  Bonnie Hunter did a scrappy one based on an antique quilt she saw.  Mereth at Pages from Me did one with a paisley coloring scheme.  She even has cutting and sewing directions for the block on her blog.

With a few more clicks I found myself at what surely must be one of the best sites for antique quilts, the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Not only do they have a fantastic collection of quilts viewable online but they have several interactive features which make it easy to lose hours browsing through their collection.  Which I did. 

And there I found yet another block pattern to fall in love with.  It's one I'd never seen before, and I finally found a name for it after searching through Jinny Beyer's great book Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns. It's called Sunshine or Spring Has Come, depending on the source or variation. I don't know what it is with me, but I like to know the names and histories (if possible) of the blocks I work on.

So yesterday I booted up my ancient copy of EQ5 and drafted patterns for both of the blocks.

Purely as an exercise to see if the rotary cutting measurements were in fact accurate, you understand, I cut out fabric for the sunshine block and started to put it together.

And that's why I have a completely new project up on the design wall today. 

You can check out what others have on their design walls today by visiting Judy L's Patchwork Times blog.  Thanks again, Judy, for hosting this!

This Isn't Design Wall Monday

This isn't Design Wall Monday or even WIP Wednesday; somehow the week got away from me, I'm afraid.  But I have been sewing a bit here and there and have three more star blocks almost completed.  Most of the blocks have a dark and light blue center, but I felt that things were looking just a little too uniform, not enough surprise for the eye, I guess, so I tried a red and blue center.  That red paisley print kept jumping out of the sewing box begging, "Pick me, pick me!".




I did, and I like the result.  It remains to be seen whether I make more.  Although I am enjoying making the blocks, I'm not feeling the love enough to want to make a ton of these.  So far I've cut out enough to make nine blocks total (three more than my original plan), so despite myself this seems to be taking on a life of its own.

My husband was away over the weekend and I decided to take advantage of the relative quiet to work on the challenge quilt for my guild.  I set up an ironing station and cutting station on the kitchen counter and my Featherweight on the dining room table and had a wonderfully productive two days of cutting and sewing.  All the stuff that is normally clattering around in my head (what to do about dinner, is that load of laundry done yet, did I remember to take out the garbage, etc., etc.) just vanished as I got completely submerged in the moment.  I cut, I sewed, I unsewed, I compared colors, I think I even invented a new quilt block.  I wish I could get to that level of concentration more often because it feels so incredible to come to oneself hours later and see all you have accomplished. 

This is just a teaser, I fear, because we are supposed to keep these under wraps until the big reveal next month.  And of course I still have to quilt it.  I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and do it on my machine.  Here's hoping that I don't muck it up too much with my less than stellar machine quilting skills.

New England Quilt Museum

After seeing the Mark Twain house and spending the night in Hartford, our plan was to drive north, skirt the northern suburbs of Boston, and pick up our son who was taking the train out from Boston to spare us the drive into Boston proper.  Since we had gotten a very early start we had a couple of hours to spare, but we figured we could find something to do. Mid morning we pulled off the interstate at Lowell, Massachusetts for a pit stop at the McDonald's.

This is the first trip we've taken with my husband's GPS device.  Despite a few quirks, as when it kept insisting we get off a highway that was clearly marked for our destination, go around the block and reenter the highway at the EXACT same point, potentially sending us into a never-ending loop through rush hour traffic, it had proved an invaluable tool for getting around unfamiliar towns and cities.  Once you get used to a disembodied voice suddenly telling you to turn right (or left) in "point two miles," that is.  One of its best features is that it can find restaurants, gas stations, hotels, and, as it turned out, tourist attractions that are close to wherever you happen to be.

As I came out of the McDonalds with my coffee my husband suddenly announced that there was a quilt museum nearby.  Would I like to go?

He is a sweetie, isn't he?

So that's how we ended up at the New England Museum of Quilts.  The museum is located in the downtown area of Lowell in an old red brick bank building.  The special exhibition that was just ending as we were there was called, "Women's Writes: Signature Quilts and Their Stories."  It featured quilts, tops, and blocks that had been signed or embroidered with names, either as friendship quilts or as fund raisers for various causes such as temperance or abolition.  Some of the quilts were from the museum's permanent collection and others were on loan. 

The museum area is fairly small, but there were about three dozen quilts displayed.  Some were hanging on walls, some were draped over beds, and (my favorite) some were folded up in a dresser so you could open the drawers and see them close up.  In addition to the display area there is a classroom and a library (!).  I kind of briefly considered whether moving to Lowell might be possible, but then, sadly, decided not.

My husband gamely paid his admission, took a walk around the display area with me, but when I started another turn around the galleries, he opted to explore more of downtown Lowell on his own.  Kind of a good thing, actually, as I could spend some time browsing the gift shop on the first floor relatively guilt-free.

Lowell has a quilt festival in early August which benefits the museum.  It looks like it would be a lot of fun.