what's up wednesday

only hump day but busy week nonetheless....first, in the hoop is a small autumn leaves wall quilt...the joseph's coat isn't yet basted and that needs to be done by may, so pulled this for a quick finish...

and while sewing up some placemats for the guild sale, decided to start something that has been a pile on the sewing table far too long....the aqua was gifted to me and the black/white strips were from a long-ago swap.....the pattern is "mistletoe lane" by rebecca greenberg.....am trying to thin the herd of 2.5" strips and this pattern was ideal, though not at all christmas-y...

this will be a great gifting quilt or maybe even flimsy.....works up uber fast too!   and a birthday?

this month is the 200th birthday of maine statehood....so proud to say one of my female whitney ancestors from gorham was on the committee to incorporate statehood.....and lastly,

today it's been 18 years since my dad departed this world....we still miss him...this was taken at our favorite oceanside spot that he tolerated because he loved us...he preferred quiet lakes with fishing gear in tow and a simple rowboat....where did those 18 years go?

a finish and a story

the blue and white is done and ready for snuggling!  pattern by bonnie dodd-witt, who made it with other colors, but of course i went for the indigo....

there is a great story behind this quilt....the pattern came from this specialty magazine from 2011...

if you have one of these, it is pure scrap quilt gold!   so many beautiful scrappy quilts....serious eye candy....when i bought it, one quilt grabbed me right away....it was this one....

and guess what!   it was made by my stashbuster pal nann!  not only did i love the quilt, i was gobsmacked by nann's colors and scrappiness!  but she makes a LOT of beautiful scrappy quilts...we are color sisters, meaning we have the same color sense and vision....and there was also this beauty...

another show stopper by sarah wilhelm......but wait, there's more!   if you recall, i made a scrappy postage stamp a couple of years ago and the inner border was made of light inchies.   i borrowed the idea from this quilt near the end of the magazine....

this was made by helen weinman on cape cod...she used pastel scraps, but i love how she separated the sections with the light border.  thank you, helen, for inspiring me!   if you ever find this book, by all means snap it up!   ***  it is more and more like spring here.  flowers are starting to bloom and trees are greening up, ready for leaves to pop.  i've pulled a small wall quilt for the next quilting project until the joseph's coat is ready.  hoping to have both done by the end of april.   i've also started a couple of new small things and more potholders are needed as well.   spring and summer plans are being made that'll include some time with my maine family....countdown to the guild's quilt show means busy days ahead....all fun!

friday again???

the weeks fly by fast enough without added things to do, like this week.  the guild's quilt show is coming up next month, so it's all hands on deck in addition to our regular activities...but i did manage a tiny finish....

it's the first 2020 finish for me, a small but pretty wall quilt.  pattern from betsy chutchian, who made this in reproduction fabrics as previously stated.  it's hand pieced and minimally machine quilted; not sure of its destination yet but it's a formal UFO now off the list.....and with the joseph's coat just about a flimsy, attention turned to another inspiration UFO....wildest dreams.

these are 16" blocks and the pattern calls for 16 of them, big enough for me a shorty at just 5'1"....this came from American Patchwork & Quilting, unknown maker owned by miriam kujac...issue is october 2009.   the original has a reproduction double pink as setting pieces, but i went with a solid.  being vintage explains the smallish size...there are no borders.  if i add one, it'll be 2-3" and probably not the pink.  ***   we are on the cusp of spring here in mid-atlantic america with daffodils now blooming and cherry trees all budded.  this was our no-snow winter which suits me just fine.  ***  after household chores are caught up, the blue/white binding will be finished and will have another UFO death this weekend.  no time to slack off tho....time flies with or without the fun!  

Baaaaaa

March has arrived just like a cute little lamb....the header photo is last year's cherry tree seen locally......looks like the blue/white will definitely be a march finish....but until it's done, thought i would post my 'month of sundays' wall quilt for march....

and this being the very first day of march, want to send special birthday wishes to my dear sister....she's had a hellish couple of years but has rebounded with amazing resilience and strength....not sure how i would have fared in similar circumstances.   finally able to get on with her life, she is absolutely thriving with a renewed vigor for the precious gift of life...

here she is in her winter finery circa 1966.....happy birthday love!

quilt show!

being leap day, thought it was a good time to advertise my guild's upcoming show....if you are in the area, would love if you stopped by....

Faithful Circle Quilters’ 2020
Quilt Show
Facets of Quilting

Thursday, April 16, 2020
10:00 am to 6:00pm

Friday, April 17, 2020
10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Saturday, April 18, 2020
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Quilt Art Presentations daily at 12:00 noon

of course there is a stunning raffle quilt......

Through the Looking Glass
Raffle quilt tickets: $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00
Raffle Quilt Drawing Saturday, April 18 at 3:00pm
(need not be present to win)

a $10 and under table, a silent auction, a peddler's table (think quilty yard sale) and raffle baskets

First Presbyterian Church of Howard County
9325 Presbyterian Circle, Columbia, MD 21045

Admission: $8 admission for 3 days; children 10 & under free.

Please do not bring food, beverages, or strollers into the show

some progress

while most of my sewing time has been spent on the border of the blue/white, yesterday sat down at the machine and got this little flimsy ready to baste...

the paisley and its companion border print were donations to the senior center.....can't figure out why the designer used purple for the background on the larger border print but decided to use it anyway....there was just enough for this little wall quilt that measures about 13" wide by about 16" high....and for those of you battling winter snows, this was sighted just the other day at the local post office...

no, i can't believe it either....it's been the winter without snow this year and completely foreign to me even after experiencing 3 of them...daffodils are up as well and even the landscaping crew was here last week pruning and readying for mulch to come soon, no doubt.  ***  the remainder of my time is being spent getting acquainted with windows 10 and my new BFF Cortuna...the talking advisor...lol!

back at ya!

whew....it's been a looooong 11 days without internet access but thankfully the drought is over!  if you got a strange text or email from me, it was my fat fingers on the tiny phone keyboard...and what--you might ask--have I been doing instead of surfing???   here's an update.....

first, started hand sewing the setting triangles and squares for 'wildest dreams'....just to get an idea how easy it would be and what kind of time it would take....have decided to assemble the 8 diamonds by machine and hand sew the pink squares and triangles....plan is to make all the scrappy stars first and then put together a portable sewing project for the finishes...and more diamond units got pieced as well...

i'm getting better at points, hoping not to sacrifice too many...lol!

then this small piece of diamonds got sewn by hand, borders to be added and then bound for a very small finish.....it's a betsy chutchian pattern originally done in her book with repros, but I had this paisley that was begging to be used....and lastly

have finally reached the border of flying geese on the blue and white....one side and part of another is done.....might not be finished by march's arrival but not too soon after...all this sewing plus exercise time and the cooking of cardiac-friendly dishes have kept me occupied...finally, happy to say my dear mum celebrated another birthday a few days ago....God has blessed our gang of four with her wisdom, love, nurture, humor, caring and presence for many years--me the oldest for 70--and wish it could be 70 more....

glad to be back to blogland!

 

happy valentine's day!

just a couple of "heartfelt" photos of past projects.....this was from a patrick lose book of holidays, gifted to my mom....and this little stitchery heart was made for a dear aunt....probably went to goodwill long ago....doesn't matter as she enjoyed it when she was alive...i certainly would NEVER hang the thing here in this deathtrap....sidelined again today after a smelly and suffocating night from one of the nasty tenants....have to skip fitness and bail on a volunteer commitment.....thankfully God is watching over me; otherwise the neighbors would have killed me long before this.  some time ago i was told the staff lets this behavior slide out of fear of retaliation and that has to be the case....way past time for new management and a firmer hand. 

monday sewing

aren't these cute?  it's the guild's block of the month.....they sew up pretty fast and used up some of the 2.5" strips....some lucky recipient will get them....i like to make the monthly blocks but would rather not win them...LOL...and the pizza monster was gnawing away at me so whipped up this uber-low salt version that was tasty and satisfying...yes, i did notice the missing salt and in a perfect world, there WOULD be pepperoni, but still good and healthy....

besides, cardiac RN says NOBODY should be eating pepperoni....

pajama sewing

no, not sewing pajamas but IN my pajamas...lol!  without any formal schedule that's what happens sometimes.  today's agenda is light and decided to work on my second inspiration project...wildest dreams.  all the pieces have been prepped for some time,  just a matter of the sewing.  triangles with bias edges are a bit fussy but this looks ok from the back of a galloping horse....

wasn't sure about this pink, but purchased over the internet where color is often skewed.... had always planned to hand sew the finishing squares and triangles but may opt to hand sew the 8 pieced diamonds as well....will see how they go....it's always the center point that is tricky.   this top consists of 16 blocks plus a border....it's another reproduction scrappy project and a few more are on the UFO list...guess i'm just a traditional gal at heart despite occasional forays into mod territory.  ***  friday night spent quilting away on the blue/white after got in my 30 minutes of cardio.  and thursday night was spent appliqueing circles on the joseph's coat.  with the addition of new stash, not a moment to waste!