June Kindred Spirits Meeting

I've managed to fall behind with my Kindred Spirit posts, so I will attempt to get caught up this week. We had a great show-n-tell in June for our meeting, and I will let the photos speak for themselves.

The photo above is Celestia's row-by-row "Strawberries" done in purple 30s fabrics, and the next row called "pinwheels". Our new project will be a 2-month quilt called "Two Way Street." I've laid my rows out on the green fabric that will be the borders. (My quilt will measure about 16 x 18 inches) Anne super-sized her blocks and made them out of multiple blue fabrics. I love it, Anne! Nice job!

Tammy made a special quilt for a special co-worker who is retiring. She loves to can her garden produce, so Tammy's choice is wonderfully appropriate. I feel very strongly about signing our quilts, so wanted you to see her label on the back. Easy to do, yet it documents the who, the why and the when. Simply use a pen that is safe for fabrics, and include the information on a label on the back of your quilt.

Fannie showed off a beautiful pillow she made using French General fabrics. Nice job, Fannie.

A double 4-patch in red fabrics made by Pat, a great flag quilt made by Charlotte, Pat, is that your sheep? I can't remember! And I'm sorry, I didn't write down who made the landscape quilt....let me know please!

And last but not least, one of my favorite quilt patterns, ever! I was going to pass this pattern onto someone because I thought I'd never get to it, so Pam took it on as a project, and I just love what she did with it. I have put it back onto my "must do someday" list. Great job, Pam!

Thanks for stopping by, and till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary in VA

What's on my Design Wall

I've had a very nice Memorial Day weekend, and I hope you have as well. Some of the tributes on tv have been hard to watch. It is good, however, to be reminded that our freedom comes at a cost. Tonight Diane Sawyer is doing a wonderful tribute to the Vietnam Era vets--which is what my husband is. So in honor of Memorial Day I thought you might enjoy seeing one of my "flags" which is on display all the time in our living room. It's a padded cover to one of my Longaberger baskets. I purchased this cover in Dresden, Ohio. And what a fun place that is!

A few more flags flying near our fireplace mantel. Even my Jim Shore angels are red, white and blue!

This little quilt is the "One Patch Doll Quilt" from Civil War Sewing Circle. I had a leftover charm pack from another project and decided to use it up. It's called "Java"  and is made by Moda fabrics. This is the first quilt that I've quilted with my new Bernina 820. It has a stitch regulator, and is it ever fun machine quilting with that little attachment! I really enjoyed working on it. I changed up the border as I wanted to use up my charm squares with minimum cutting and no waste.

These are the blocks currently on my design wall. They are for the "Union Stars Quilt" from Civil War Sewing Circle. The blocks finish at 12 inches. There are two colorways, the one above has a blue center and large red triangles. The alternate block, below, has a different blue center with large blue triangles. I made a few mistakes that had to be corrected. I made 2 sets of hourglass blocks and my math was way off and they wound up being way too small. So I had to remake those. And in another block, I sewed 3 hourglass blocks from one fabric and the 4th from a different red fabric. I didn't spot that until the block was completed, so I had to rip that part out.

Isn't that ziggy print in the center a hoot! I have no idea where it came from! Here's my design wall with the 12 blocks on it. I'm very pleased at how they  turned out. The next step, of course, is to make the sashing and cornerstones. And I'm pleased to say this is another quilt made only from my stash.

And I just now noticed the mistake in the block on the bottom row, middle. I guess that's a good enough reason to get those blocks up on a design wall. You notice things that you otherwise might not notice! Okay, so I guess I'm not quite ready for sashing and cornerstones...have to do a little frog stitching first (that's rip-it, rip-it).

That's it for today! I've been working on another "Leader and Ender" project that uses 2-1/2 inch strips of fabric from my stash. But that's for another day! Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

The Wayward Girls

The Wayward Girls had another fun get-together last Saturday with our sewing machines and fabrics and fun projects. Pam worked on several projects, including our Scrap Therapy mystery quilt.

 Step 1 are these gorgeous 6 inch 9 patches (above).

Step 2 are the 4 patch blocks, and step 3 uses the 4-patch blocks to create a 4 x 12 inch strip (above). Pam is using her Oriental fabrics--won't it be wonderful!

This is the 2nd project Pam worked on--These Signature blocks are from the Civil War Sewing Circle book by Kathy Tracy. She is on her way to having 44 of them. Now she needs at least 43 friends to sign a block for her!

Carol worked on her Thimbleberries project. Aren't these teapot blocks adorable? Each block will finish to 4 inches square. Even though they are so small, they were rather time consuming. Carol used a fusible product and her machine blanket stitch, plus a decorative stitch to add the leaves and stem design. I can't wait to make mine! I'm thinking blue teapots, but I might change my mind before I actually start this project. Red would be cute too!

We had lunch at Red Lobster for a change...they're having their Lobster Fest right now. Then we checked out the yarns and threads at Hobby Lobby, stopped at Starbucks for a coffee and cake pop (have you tried the salted carmel ones? They're my favorite!), and picked up sandwiches at FireHouse subs for dinner.

I worked on two projects:  My Scrap Therapy project step 4 (no photo) and a Fons and Porter project called Blackbird Crossing, from their January-February 2009 issue of Love of Quilting (below). I had already made the 36 red pinwheels, and traced the patterns for the center medallion on my fusible paper.

Don't you just love those little blackbirds? The pinwheel blocks will measure 6 inches finished. I need to do all the blanket stitching on the center medallion, and on the 10 star blocks. I have finished 22 blue and white pinwheels and need another 22 more--so I'm half way there!. The quilt is finished with a row of flying geese all around.

And the really fun thing is that I'm making this quilt and the Scrap Therapy mystery quilt all from my stash. They are both a "no-buy" project. That adds to the challenge and makes it special.

I hope you're having a good week and get some time to do something creative. Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

Memorial Day

Thank you--such small words--but I truly am grateful to those who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today. To those in the military--all gave some, but some gave all. Both my parents served in WW2--my dad was an army cook, in charge of an entire mess hall kitchen, my mom was a navy nurse, my uncle was in the navy, my husband was in the army--a Vietnam era vet, and one of our sons was in the navy. Our time in the military really helped us appreciate what we have in this country.

And now, how about a little patriotic quilt show?

I love how my friend Pam fussy cut the design for this quilt.

These two quilts are actually the same design, I think it's called "Calico Patch" by Jo Morton.

This is another Jo Morton design--Rally 'Round the Flag.

Turkey tracks.

Joy made log cabin table runners for each month. This is her July tablerunner. These are a few patriotic quilts my friends and I have made. I love a good red, white and blue quilt, don't you!

Till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary