Autumn Jubilee 2018

If you have been reading my blog for at least a year, you know that I enjoy all things “Autumn Jubilee” by Carole Carter of the blog From My Carolina Home .  This year Carole has a list of sponsors that include the Fat Quarter Shop, Aurifil Threads and many more.  Hop over to her blog, and see what she is talking about, and be sure to follow!  You can win STUFF too!  Carole has a wide array of things she posts about (yes, there is more to life than quilting…..go figure).  She will share recipes, tablescapes, have some type of sew along, talk about fall decorating and much more. So, please, go take a look.  Enter the contests to win stuff~!!!~  And be sure to comment and tell her I sent you to visit.  I am super excited about all the opportunities to win cool stuff, but even more excited about what patterns she had created for us to stitch!

ps….if you make any of the projects from the blog, be sure to share photo’s on her Facebook group!

 

Autumn Jubilee Quilt Along with Carole

REVISED **

Like I NEED another project…………..but I just can’t resist a “scrappy project”.   Yesterday morning, Carole – From My Carolina Home on WordPress posted her Autumn Jubilee Quilt Along .   Of course,  I was hooked as soon as I read her blog post!  If you comment on her blog post you might win a prize!  Carole has Aurifil Thread as a sponsor!

I went out to my sewing room over the garage, and I diverted my time from Mittens!  ( I swore I wasn’t going to let anything interrupt me…..)

I pulled out the bins from the cabinet that hold my “scrap storage system” .  (Thanks Bonnie Hunter  and Joan Ford ); collected some already cut 3″ and 2.5″ squares in the Autumn colors.  I even had the neutrals, already cut, in those sizes.

(note – Bonnie and Joan have similar approaches; both have books and blogs.  My system is a combination of both, which I have previously written about.  Links at the bottom of the post to both Bonnie & Joan, and my previous post about scrap storage.)

I laid out a block; dug in my scrap baskets (sorted by color) for pieces to use for the stems, and got busy.  While I was digging in the scrap basket, I pulled some other pieces that could be cut into squares and starched, ironed and cut them too.

I got these blocks together before dinner.  They all need squared up to 6″.    

**Carole just sent me a note –  the blocks finish as 6 inches, at this stage you square them to 6-1/2 inches to allow seam allowance.

I went “back out to the garage” after dinner. (The dishwasher was running and I left dishes in the sink, but hey, I was on a mission and dinner really interrupts my flow……)

I decided I wanted more blocks.  Carole said –  “If you want to make all the projects in the quilt along, you’ll need 24. “

So, I got busy!   Since I pretty much pulled out of my scrap storage box all of the colors, I dug into the scrap bags for the oranges, golds and browns.  I did a little more starching, pressing and cutting.  While I was at it, I cut some other sizes to go into my scrap storage boxes; things that were too small for this project, like 1.5 & 2″ strips and squares. (I always cut the biggest size I want first, in this case 3″, then I cut the remaining into the next usable size).

I built a few more stems, sewed some more half square triangles (HST)  and looked at the clock. It was nearly 10:30 pm.  ( I swear I was only going out for half an hour!)  Time flies when you are having fun!  I brought my small cutting mat and trimming tools into the house with me and will do a little squaring up of the HST’s this morning.

I think these will give a bit more variety to the leaves.  I might have to dig in my boxes again for greens for another round……. I really don’t know how many I will get made.  At least another 6.

I don’t know what the project will turn into.  That is part of the fun of the Quilt Along that Carole does.  Next block won’t come out until next Friday, and I am leaving for Texas at the crack of dawn the next morning, but I will at least have a start. It will be nearly Halloween when I get home, and I won’t be able to keep up, but I will follow along while I am away.   I think these alone will make cute place mats or a nice fall table runner (which I need), or 4 together for a table topper.  I will have to “wait and see” for now.

What are you working on?

NOTE:  NO YARDAGE WAS USED IN THIS PROJECT……all scraps!   

Bonnie Hunter – Scrap Users System –  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrap-users-system.html

Joan Ford  – http://hummingbird-highway.com/do-you-need-scraptherapy/

My scrap storage posts –  https://stitchinggrandma.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/scrap-storage-containment-system/

Linking up today – Show off Saturday

 

 

My little Blue Bird

Well, I promised photos and update on my workshop with Pat Sloan. I failed to take many photos during the class, but I would like to share with you my project from Tuesday.

The class on Tuesday, taught by Pat Sloan,  was Easy Machine Applique with the Blanket Stitch and it was definitely heavy on the technique. Pat covered everything from brands of fusibles, using full vs cutaway, types of blanket stitches, prepping the design for applique, types of threads, and maneuvering our stitches around curves, points, 90 degree angles, and circles. We did lots of practice stitching on sampler pieces that I posted photo’s of earlier.

Quilters by the Sea Guild of Ocean Pines Maryland hosted the class and I was happy to get a spot.  What a great facility they have available to use!  We each had an 8 foot table and they lunch was included in the fee we paid for the class.  I would definitely take the opportunity to visit them again for a class.  There were 4 members of Ocean Waves Quilt Guild, Lewes DE at the classs.

Now, with my background up on the design wall and some of the shapes for the “My Little Blue Bird” pattern drawn out, I was inspired last evening to get more done!  I was motivated to continue getting the shapes drawn out on the Heat n Bond Lite, and onto the fabrics!  The pattern and design is by Pat Sloan, and is called Little Blue Bird.  Go and check out all the amazing things you can find on Pat’s website  . Follower her blog, enjoy her patterns, radio pod-casts, facebook page etc.  (The groupie in me is showing….but really….check her website)

My background prepared and some of the designs ready to fuse to the fabric

Pattern and all the parts

Curves and center

parts of the flowers

more flower parts

the fun stuff

Working with the heat and bond

The process worked well for me.  I did the pattern tracing on to the heat n bond while we watched the debates, and did some preliminary cutting out of the shapes last evening.  This morning after breakfast, while the news folks analyzed the debates, I sat and did more cutting.  Then this afternoon I selected my fabrics for the applique.  Only 2 pieces came out of the stash. The rest from the scrap bag that my friends have been so kind to provide.  Every thing in the basic pattern is fused on, and now it is time to start the blanket stitching.

Center panel fused

Blue bird!

Thought a close up of that cute little blue bird was in order!  I tried to use tonal fabrics or batiks as the background of the panel was a bit busy with print.  The green is a tone on tone, and so is the big red berry.  The little red berries have a print as does the flower.  It has a gold print over it, and so do the feet of the little blue bird.

I think I will do one more “practice round” before I begin on the project.  The pattern calls for 2 more borders and a finish size of 40×40.  Pat Sloan recommended we do our center section stitching before we add those borders so we have “less” bulk under the arm of the machine.  Let me tell you, that those kind of tips were happening all day in her class!!

I have to be honest, I thought that I would find the task of tracing, cutting, trimming, cutting etc tedious, but in fact, it was VERY relaxing.  I enjoy listening to an audio book  from the library while I sew, and today it is the fiery book INVISIBLE, by James Patterson.  My list of books that I have enjoyed listening to while I stitch is on the Goodreads list on my sidebar.

I will share some links with photos from Monday on my next post! Time to sew.

Iron Caddy tote

I admire all those bloggers who put together such great tutorials!  I had a quilt bee today, and we were to bring our own projects to work on.  What to do??  Well, I had seen a tutorial on a blog (can’t remember where) with a PDF file link for making an Iron Caddy tote.  I printed out a copy a month or more ago, and decided it was time to make one.    What is it?  Oh, a carrier for your iron, plus a place to iron when you are at a retreat, sit & sew, etc.  Took me less than a day to make it….could have been faster, but it is finished!!  First of all – here is a link to the PDF pattern – Iron Caddy Tote.  Thanks Tri County Quilters!

(Could have been faster if somebody hadn’t plied me with a bottle of Leinenkugels Summer Shandy. But that’s another story..Oh those wild girls in my quilt bee)

A quick look at the pattern will give you a feel for how it looks, both open and closed.  I shopped for the “shiny silver ironing board material” and found it at Hancock Fabrics.  I had the Insulbrite on hand already, and lots of scraps of batting in a bin.  I chose  a green floral with some great animals for the main fabric, and a coordinating brown for the handles and the “flange” on my “go-to” Susies Magic Binding.  The pattern instructions have you  make a full scale copy of the pattern and then stitch through it for the quilting.  If I were to do it again, I would mark my stitching lines with a pencil. The paper was newsprint and not so easy to pull off.  I was using an older machine without a walking foot, so I lengthened the stitch, where I really should have shortened it!  After I got the paper off, I stitched again with a shorter stitch.

Notes to remember – use cotton thread, top and bobbin for the area that is going to be ironed on.  I used Aurifil in a nice brown and it doesn’t look bad on the silver pressing surface.  My first run thru stitching I had it in the bobbin.  I switched machines (I started at a friends house during our quilt bee meeting) when I got home, and stitched those “fold lines” one more time.

At home I put the Aurifil brown in the top thread, and had Superior Cashmere in the bobbin.  Since there is no heat on the “cotton side” I didn’t think the poly thread would be a problem in the bobbin.  I used the 2 layers of  cotton batting, the silver iron board fabric and the Insulbrite, so I think the poly thread will be ok on the pretty side of the project.

The only thing lacking in the directions is “how much” fabric to cut for the binding, or if there was a preferred method for putting the binding on. So, I resorted to my Susies Magic Binding Method, and added up the 4 sides of the mat and figured it out for myself. (Oh no…engaged the brain….).  I dug through the button box and found two nice brown buttons with shanks, and dug through the “elastic box” and cut some “vintage elastic from my mother-in-law’s “stash”.  Check out the price of that elastic!!  I think the buttons are vintage too.  Wonder what year that elastic is from? It was still stretchy, so why not?!!

 

The high price of elastic.

 

ready for a full size iron

Folded up and ready to tote, even hot

close up of the fabric and binding

Nice to do a project in a day; start to finish!! Now, on to the grandkids projects before my next visit!!!

Happy sewing!

My review no thanks to helper monkeys

Good morning fellow bloggers….Seems that WordPress wants to share my stats with you Via “helper monkeys”   … Well…I’m no monkey, but  I think I did a decent job a couple of days ago; writing about my projects for the last year. (Blog post was 2014 was a very busy year). (It was a photo journey of the year)

I do find the stats interesting but not as interesting as my own photo’s etc.  But, I will share a couple of things more, as I am a number cruncher.  Before I do, I want to know what are your OPINIONS on this “forced round-up” ?  Are you playing along?  I’d like to know.  I think there will be a lot of “THE SAME” in the posts if every one using WordPress acts like a Monkey and shares the post.  Facebook is doing something similar.

So; here are my stats; as I see them:

1. this is post # 201; I get a lot of “traffic” when I publicize on Facebook and Google + .  Most traffic has been when I have done a link – up with Bonnie Hunter – aka Quiltville.blogspot.com   .
2. Another stat — 1345 spam comments — Thanks WordPress for filtering them out!
3. Another Stat – 155 followers through WordPress and 199 through Facebook.  Do you “publicize” you blog through other social media sites or look at other blogs on blogspot or google plus?
4. And my final Stat – I had a busy year with Quilt guild meetings; Quilt bee gatherings; a 3 day quilt retreat at the beach; and 2 – 3 day sit & sew retreats (no overnight) with ladies from 3 sewing bees; numerous classes with the guild; 4 bus trips to quilt shows, one trip on my own with a friend to a quilt show.  Each gathering produced projects and learning opportunities; and lots of shopping on the bus trips to quilt shows. Spent a dollar or two on fabric and notions.
5. My “best buys” of the year have been at Superior Thread during quilt shows.  I need to make my own THREAD CHART before I go on another trip, so I know what I have (Going to take my hubby’s example and make a spread sheet & keep it on the smart phone).  I like Aurifil, but I LOVE Superior Threads and I like the deals you can get at the shows.
6. And somewhere in the midst of it all; I have organized and made a mess and re-organized; and shared my space on 2 occasions with my friends in the Material Girls Quilt bee. I might have sewn a little too.

Wishing you a happy healthy and fulfilling year in 2015;  of creativity, while you sew, knit, crochet, cook, photograph or travel, sing, work, mother, and live.  I keep thinking of a word for 2015 and I believe that word is “use”.  I am going to try to USE what I have before buying more. (Note…in my world, that means really using that scrap storage system I started & blogged about last January!)

I leave you with a photo the latest improvement in the sewing room  studio…… (Maria in Alaska reminds me that quilting is an ARTISTIC endeavor; so I will henceforth have a studio instead of a room! That is as close to be an artist as I will ever get!)

MORE POWER! 12 outlet power strip just above the desktop.

 

Barn Raising completed

Phew…that was a lot of work….all that wood and such………..

Kidding…..last post I let off with a peak of a couple of potential layouts for my “silk” project. Last week I posted about playing with them on the design wall.  I had 96 half square triangles  (3.5″) from our May class – Cheryl Lynch “Sewing with Silk” .

I had settled on the Barn Raising pattern.  By Wednesday afternoon it was ready to layer and quilt after trying  out some backing fabrics.  We settled (with hubby’s help) on the fabric for the border, back and binding.

I got them cut and attached, and ready to layer….  OOOPS….need to get batting A trip to Hancock Fabric was in store for the evening, and I managed to get 40% off of some nice warm and white batting.

I got it all put together and quilted by Thursday evening.  Now, I have Quilt guild on June 2 and I wanted to take it for “show & tell”, but I hated the way the thread I had used looked when it went across the blue and the magenta.  I had used a varigated seafoam green, and quilted in the ditch along all the squares. So, you know the seam ripper had to come out.  The seafoam green disappeared into the greens and pale purples…but not so much on the blue and the magenta/cranberry color.

On Friday I took a bus trip to the Quilter’s Unlimited Quilt Show in Chantilly VA, and selected some threads at the Superior Thread booth.  Saturday I spent picking out the stitches on some of my quilting. (Listened to an audio book, Simple Genius – David Baldacci while picking…)  Well….the threads I picked at the quilt show were great…at least 1 was. Since I failed to take a fabric sample with me, I ended up with a red tone, not a cranberry/magenta that I needed.  The blue I got was fabulous….you can not even see it on the finished top.  By the time I picked out all the threads that crossed the blue and magenta, I realized I could just pull from my embroidery thread rack…..and I did.

So, all the ripping out, quilting and binding were the effort this weekend. I am much happier with the end result.  I added a hanging sleeve just before I put the binding on, and actually HAND FINISHED the binding, the sleeve and my Stitching Grandma label.  So…here it is….the Barn Raising, in Silk.

 

Adding the label

All of the colors are represented in this batik

 

Putting on the binding

Barn Raising in Silk
27 x 39″

First finish for JUNE !!! (Hey it IS June….and I spent about 4 hours today hand stitching that binding down and getting that hanging sleeve on…….)

Quilt show….spent too much money of course, but picked up some fun fat quarters. We play a game at our Quilt Bee that involves trading, and the them this month is BEACH. I had a lot of fun to pick out fabrics that fit the theme.  Also I tripped over some reproduction fabrics that will become a table runner in the near future.  And, I bought a pattern to make a quilting tool book tote for going to classes. I have all the supplies on hand except a 2 1/8″ metal ring. (Either the quilt store or the hardware store tomorrow for that!). (It will be a race with my friend Barbara to see who gets it finished first!!)

Let’s see…oh, 2 new pounce pads. One for white and one for pink.  (Somebody….me… put blue in with the white, forever making it a blue pad……). Had interesting discussion with the “Pounce” man about application and got out of there without buying any more stencils.  Got  big spools of thread from Superior (you know, buy 3 and they are ONLY $15)….and….found a product that will make applique a bit more high tech….8 1/2 x 11″ run thru your printer paper, similar to wonder-under.  Transfer your design right to the paper via the magic of your computer. (You know I will spend as much time trying to cram as many designs on a page as I would tracing them free hand.) 🙂

We saw some great quilts and these all caught my eye.  The last one is a Bonnie Hunter design. It is called Celtic Solstice and was a mystery quilt last winter. (On my “to do” list too!)  The USAF Logo is also on my list…but first I need to find the design somewhere or buy design software.  There are two that look like optical illusions, and I loved them both.  And how about those feet….that was a paper piecing challenge at one of the chapters of Quilter’s Unlimited. Too cute!

Air Force

June begins with a busy week starting tomorrow with Quilt Guild meeting on Monday and a class with the Guild on Tuesday.

Our speaker will be Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr “The Luminous Quilt” lecture and trunk show. The class on Tuesday will be Snowdrift Quilt taught by Bill Kerr, and is a Graphic Curves class.  (I have not mastered curved piecing yet…..). Have my fabric chosen for that project; as well as for 2 other projects in line.  (Did you notice I skipped right over “That Shoulder Bag”pattern I downloaded from Gourmet Quilter….no, I have not forgotten…it is on my list….).    Meanwhile….the weeds in the garden grow ever taller…but the Peonies are outshining them anyway!

Happy stitching everyone!

 

Tshirt quilt update

Yesterday, I decided it was time to get back to work. It has been nearly a week since I worked on the t-shirt quilt.  Spent a couple of hours working on a special label to stitch on the back side, along with a couple of other special surprises for my friend.  My hubby was a huge help with the computer and figuring out how to “layer” photos on Microsoft Word. He was my tech expert, and got my label “just right”.  I printed it on fabric and last night I attached to the back of the quilt with fusing. It will get “stitched down” with the quilting, and I will come back and add some hand stitching around the edges.  Ever since I read about quilts being stolen, I have tried to stitch my quilt label down with the actual quilting.  I don’t like the way the quilting looks over my label; but nobody is getting that sucker off with any kind of ease.

Well; the quilting has gotten underway in a big way.  I played around with methods, and went for the DITCH. I have a cool foot for my Janome that has a blade riding in the ditch on the walking foot. I need more practice, but I did get it done.    At least, around the outer perimeter of the blocks. I stitched with variegated blue around all the blue sashing. Blue meets blue and blue meets brown.  Then I switched out to a light beige thread and stitched in the ditch between the brown and the actual t-shirt block.  Most of that “ditch work” I did last week and last night.  Did a little “Bonnie Hunter Quilt Cam stitching last night as I worked through the beige thread.

Wondered what to do next, and that had me stalled for a little bit.  Got a little courage today and decide YES, I can free motion quilt.  (Courage provided by Wendy Sheppherd and her threadtalk.  She does amazing work on a Bernina and if you haven’t seen her blog; go check out Ivory Spring, where she does thread-talk, and so much more!!  http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/  )

I started with grey thread…and then I switched to variegated blue.  I still have about 6 or 8 more blocks to go; getting better as I go along. Saving the dark grey and black blocks for last.  It’s not perfect, but doesn’t look too bad from across the room.  I feel like I need lots more practice.

Actually got out my marking Pencil and did a little marking for tomorrow before I stopped for the day.  Put about 4 hours into it this afternoon.  Up over 35 hours on this quilt so far.  Now, before you look; back up about 5 feet so it looks better….giggle…

Quilt made in Honor of Mr. Mahoney – block is in the center of the quilt.

This was his wallet police badge

Police badge for Officer Mahoney – photo printed on fabric

Mr. Mahoney was a proud member of the Knights of Columbus. Emblem image printed on fabric.

Another of his police officer badges, photo printed on fabric

USAF Block – sweat shirt fabric

FMQ grey thread – Had fun with the FMQ in this block…got a little wild with the flower in the 0 ..

My friend Karen is a USAF Major. Her dad must be very proud.

Had the best time doing the quilting on this block. My favorite!

Houston goodies!

Well; I have been home 6 days from the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  It’s taken me 6 days to sort out life at home before I could give you this – My report – GO if you can next year!  GO for an entire week and take classes!!  I met up with my sister-in-law from California and we went non-stop. Classes; lectures, banquets, costume parties! Well; that took care of Mon, Tuesday and part of Wednesday!!  The cool part of the show is we got “VIP” entry into the quilt show; from 5-7 pm on Wednesday evening!  Public entry began at 7.

We were armed with our “vendor” map pre-marked with booths we wanted to get to before the public was admitted.  We made it to all of them!  We spent a boatload of money (more than I will admit to in public) the first day. (Ok, I gave myself a budget and really only blew it the day I bought the COOL iron ….you know the one the gal on Missouri Star Quilt Company uses..the pretty yellow one – the Oliso..that has a thing on the sole plate that pops up when you are finished ironing!)  I did manage to NOT buy a long arm….that is a story for another post!  I remind my husband daily that I saved him anywhere from $4000 – 25,000 !!  (Basically…I stink at FMQ…but again, that is a story for another post.)

I took 3 Free Motion Quilting classses; one on a domestic machine; one on a “sit down” Sweet Sixteen by Handi Quilter and one on a real long arm.  I also took 2 “binding” classes; and an applique class.  We attended lectures by Kaffe Fassett ” Shots and Stripes or Where Have All the Flowers Gone ?

Luncheon/Lecture— with Jodi Barrows – “The History of Women and their Quilts”

Lecture— Lois Hallock –    “Grab N’ Go—Seven Secrets to a Quick Getaway to a Mini-Retreat”

Lecture— Esther Miller – “More Stories from Amish Quilt Life“

Lecture – Julie Moberly -‘ “Crafting an Ideal Day“.

Of course we dressed up for the IQA Quiltapalooza Fundraiser – a costume party/dinner where there were tons of door prizes!  And on Saturday the “Gala on the Green”.  We missed the Mix and Mingle before the Gala on the green; were I understand even more door prizes were given out.  And we “missed” reading our program completely, and didn’t realize dinner was part of the activity on Gala on the Green.  (Could have saved the $20 we spent at the Hilton for dinner and used it on more FABRIC!!)

 I also took a great class about borders, batting and binding.     I didn’t take any classes on Thursday to allow time to really see the show; and by Saturday evening; I was still feeling a bit “quilt deprived”.   If I go again; I will do classes from Monday – Wednesday; leave Wednesday evening open of course for the VIP; and leave all day Thursday & Friday open for the show.  Classes on Saturday are nice because the show is so crowded during the day.  And, I would stay THROUGH Sunday next time….(heck, you are already there, one more day won’t hurt).  We spent a bit of time on Saturday evening walking the show and on Sunday morning as well.  Good comfy shoes were the rule!

It was fun to see some of those famous quilting celebs – Ricky Tims in his booth, Pat Sloan with a golf club in the Aurifil booth, and even Maria Schell at the Craftsy booth!  Got to meet and hear Eleanor Burns give a talk (& get an autograph on one of her books!)  Especially enjoyed seeing Libby Lehman’s beautiful quilts. Her sisters were at the show, and it was nice to meet them.  I’ve been following Libby’s recovery on Caring Bridge since she had her stroke, and pray everyday that she will be healed.  She had a large collection of quilts present at the show.

Next post will be “all quilts” from the show, but today; do you want to see some of the “goodies” from the show?  I will share my pictures of the goodies; and on another day the photo’s of the quilts.    I promised a 100th post prize for the best comment on my last post, and will have to “re-read” all three before I finish this one to choose.  The prize is hidden amongst these photo’s ….so enjoy!

The giant Handi Quilter bag was handed out everytime you walked past the booth not carrying one. I have 6! Big enough to carry a quilt in or all your rulers & a mat!

Lots of books and magazines! Eleanor Burns autographed my Irish Chain book!

Got these in a variety of colors and sizes. Magnetic pin/sharp holder. Has a removable magnet on the back, and you can WEAR it…..no more pins stuck in your blouse!

a collection of fun! I was shopping for neutral fabrics; got some nice thread from Superior thread, a pounce pad and stencils and lots of fat quarters!!

Hiding amonst the fat quarters is a “just curves” foot for the sewing machine, and some new stabalizers from Sulky

Some thread from YLI and Aurifil. Needed more “browns” for the embroidery machine

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Texas fabric. (We sure would not find that in Delaware!)

And the winner get’s this lovely bundle of fat quarters!

So, LubbyGirl, if you are reading this; send me an email with a mailing address and I will get your prize out to you!

(my email is live2skide@yahoo.com)

Delivered and put to use!

How fun to see the “wedding quilt” in the home of the newlyweds!  They said it was the “best wedding gift”….so my heart sings with satisfaction.

Quilt for Silas and Amanda delivered

Looking forward to the Quilt show this weekend for the Kent-Sussex guilds. The show is held every other year and I have never been.  I joined one of the local guilds this year; and am excited abot the show.  It will be held in our town and I have a couple of jobs during the show!  Tomorrow I will be selling “raffle tickets” for baskets of goodies for an hour; and on Sunday I will be a “white glove lady” while visitors view the quilts. I worked with my “bee” today and hung 10 or 12 quilts. Glad I had my step stool in the car.  I will leave it in the car until time to take the quilts down on Sunday evening.  I had a few minutes to look around before I left and  I saw one quilt that I had seen previously at another show that I just loved….

My favorite fun quilters quilt!

I will look forward to spending some time enjoying all the quilts this weekend.  Two of the quilts I hung were for sale; and I can’t wait to take pictures to share …..

Show information – SPLASH OF COLOR – Saturday 10-5; Sunday 12-5; admission $6; location; Cheer Center- Sandtown Road & DE Rt 9, Georgetown Delaware

Wedding Quilt Finished and Shipped

I’ve been quiet on the quilting front for two weeks!  I have put the wedding quilt in the mail, and promised myself not to post any pictures publicly until I was sure it was received.  So, as I write this, the good old US Mail will be delivering a big box.  It took me a week to get it in just the right box.  I wanted to “present” the present in a nice wedding gift bag; and I didn’t want to crush the gift bag in the boxing up.   I had tried several I had here at home; and determined  a queen size quilt will not fit in a 12x15x6 box…needed a deeper box~!~  So, my dear hubby found me just the right size box at work and brought it home!

While I waited on the box, I gave the quilt a good washing and drying, a last run through for any toe catcher threads, took some pictures and wrapped it nicely.  I included a letter to the recipients with information about laundry, the story of the quilt and a color catcher….just in case.  When I did the run through the washer, I used a color catcher, warm water and a very warm drying cycle.  I love to see a quilt crinkle up in the wash process.  I also wanted to make sure there were no problems with any seams etc.  The quilt did wash beautifully; and the color catcher “caught” a lot of green! No bleeding onto my light colors or yellow; and when I compared the quilt to a swatch of “unwashed” green – there was not any real change in the color. (Silent sigh of relief for the whole process….thinking back to my one block wonder disaster).

Well…on to the photo’s…..tried to get a few outside in the daylight; and did our best, considering the gloomy weather.  My dear hubby could not hold the width of the quilt, so I was unable to get a good full view photo.  I did manage some on our porch rail that give you at least a reasonable look of the quilt, the quilting; and the labels.

Queen size….hubby could not hold the whole width!

Pattern is “Jared takes a Wife”  by Bonnie Hunter – Quiltville.com.  Bonnie offers many free patterns on her blog.  This link takes you to the source for this pattern:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/jared-takes-wife.html

If you read through the pattern you discover that the block is often called Blackford’s Beauty, which is a Civil War era block.

“The block was named for a ford or river crossing near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River at this point to get back to the safety of Confederate ground, not knowing that they outnumbered the Union Army there. This was following the bloody battle at Antietam, on September 17, 1862. It was the Battle of Gettysburg the following summer that broke the South’s spirit.”  http://upstateheritagequilttrail.org/Images/Forms/107Blackfords%20Beauty.pdf

In my note with the quilt, I told the recipients –  “Bonnie created a unique layout by adding the sashing ‘between’ the blocks (the green that separates each block).  I added my own touch by using the big blue squares in the corner. So; what you have here is a UNIQUE quilt….civil war block; patterned into a quilt by Bonnie Hunter; made by Mary Deeter, especially for you.   Each of the big blocks has 53 pieces. I threw a few “USAF” blocks in there for fun!  Silas said you would like greens and blues, and I hope I have managed colors and tones that you will enjoy in years to come.  I’m sending along a printed copy of Bonnie’s pattern; so that you have a better idea of ‘how’ the quilt is made.  I’ve been posting my progress on creating this quilt all summer on my facebook page and my blog (www.stitchinggrandma.wordpress.com). I won’t put any final pictures up until you have received the finished quilt.   I want the two of you to see it first!”

So, another finish for the year!  Another blog in the can!  (Approaching 100 posts….might have to do something special for it…)

Happy stitching!