Quilting for Comfort

I hope you are all doing okay and are well.  Things are so surreal. 
I'm working on this 2014 UFO.

I had planned to share my recent cruise photos, but I'm just not up for that today.  Here is what came out of the UFO drawer.

The nine patches are from my first Fun With Barb Block Swap in 2014.

Amazing sewing shrinkage!

It was a fun challenge to pick fabrics and animals.  I made several changes along the way.

I have fused them down and I'm machine appliqueing them with a tiny zig zag and monofilament thread.  This isn't an real video just a still because it is really hard to video with hand and sew with the other, lol.

 Nutmeg is almost 1 year old and she is a great little sewing room buddy and has deep appreciation for my large scale fabrics.

In preparation for Hanna and David, who live in DC,  I had to rustle up all the quilts in her room.  This was the easiest solution.  This is about half of my quilts.

My son's girlfriend, Alexis, is staying with us too and together we made slime.

 I used this recipe here.  It was a fun activity and it is therapeutic to play with.

This is her cat, Momo.  He is friendly and sweet and Nutmeg is "letting" him come up from the basement a little more every day.

We are very lucky to be a family group of six as we stay in and stay put.  Lots of working from home and lost of shared meals.

 coco and nutmeg are a perfect example of how to get along during mitigation.

 I hope you are doing okay, and if you are not please reach out to a friend or family member and let them know.

We all have to take care of eachother.
xo

Christmas in August

Toile' The Night Before Christmas!  66" x 66"

 At the last Clamshell Quilt Show I won a prize certificate for free long arm quilting by Debbie L.  I picked a swirly pattern.

I finished this top January 2016!!!!  yikes.  

I was playing with these in August of 2014.  They are blocks that I swapped with 3 friends from Illinois; Sheila, Kathy and Mary Pat.  You know I love a good swap!  We swapped cheddar nine patches, each combination making a pair.  We used my swap instructions you can find here.

I used two Circus themed fabrics for the backing.  It was quite a complicated piecing feat.

It is a funny "fake" Ringling Bros. print, avoiding trademark issues I assume.

I met up with Christine Wickert while at the Vermont Quilt Festival.  She is a such a nice woman and I admire her work so much!   Many of her quilts have won multiple Best In Show.  Click here to see a video of Christine. 

She had asked me to bring my quilting stencils so we had a little "boot sale".   Here is a quilt that she hand quilted for a special girl named Alice.

Summer Fun for Dogs:
I made some Pup-sickles for Coco and a visiting puppy Hoot.  I used low sodium beef stock and a few dental chews and cookies.

Coco loves them

and Hoot loved it too!

Up-cycling and paper crafts came together in a little Birthday package I made for a friend.  I'm trying to reduce my one-time use purchases so I used bits and pieces found in my craft stuff.

I always snap up old patterns from the free table at guild meetings.

I saw this construction punny "horse" on a walk with coco.  I love when people go the extra step to make something fun.

Hope you're enjoying these last days of summer!
xo

Stars in A Time Warp

Hello from very snowy Connecticut.  I guess I asked for it in my last post with my remark about it being an easy winter!

Hooray.   I finished my Stars in a Time Warp top.  It measures about 40" square.

I have two tips to share about using this setting:
Make a road map!  I made a color copy of my layout on computer.  I have literally turn pieces the wrong way in the 10 steps to the machine!

I ended up clipping and pressing the long connecting seams in different directions.  I tried an open seam, but it kept warping that point.  It is intended as a wall quilt so I don't need to worry about stressing the weakness.

I've decided to commit to sharing my project process and inspiration.  This quilt has a long winding road to come into being.

I always loved the Sawtooth Star (c.1890) quilt in this book co-authored by Barbara (see her blog here), Rachael and Natalie who are founding members of my NJ guild.  It is one of my favorite State Documentation Books - EVER.

Can you believe I removed page 110 and lost it?  The horror!  The Shame!  I still have the notes we made when making it for a guild raffle quilt.

Here is me and (former blog partner) and still great friend, Mary V., selling tickets at the 2007 quilt show.  Jill and Susan set the quilt for us and Mary quilted it.

We made a little quilt with leftovers to raffle to a guild member.

The color combination is one that I love and have used before.  Here is a quilt I made Hanna in 2002.    coco was so curious about it laying in the snow.

There is every color and style of fabric in this quilt. It was the result of a year long nine patch swap with my friends of the Piecemakers of Elmhurst, IL  and there is my little sparrow at the top.

Here is the backing (pretty sedate for me).

You can tell it was well used!  there are a ton of thread pops from tugging on the top.

I made a little mini quilt for her American Girl doll, Molly.

 It has a cute dollhouse print on the back.

Here you can tell just how little the little one is.  I resized the nine patch.

I also made this quilt with pink and black as a setting theme.  It's called "Good and Plenty" and is part of the Hanna Vedder Private Quilt Collection.

Here are some snowy photos - the first one is unfiltered - it was that blue in the early morning hours.

 It was so beautiful.

I'm off to New Jersey tomorrow to teach Folk Art Applique' - My Passion!  I will share some photos next week.

Let me know if you like having the back story of my quilts.   I never know it is too much or too boring.

Happy Wednesday from the great white North East.

xo

January = Sanctuary

Happy Tuesday!

I'm starting this post with an oldie.  I made this small quilt in 1994 for Mr. Fun's Office in Chicago.  It measures about 36" square.  I love to visit my earlier quilter self.  How organized I was with the placement of the pink and turquoise.

I admit I purposefully mixed up 1 of the nine patches.  I loved the look in old Amish quilts so I included it in mine.

Here is the back.  I machine appliqued along the print of this funny fabric and 

added a red sun to the purple sky.  Pretty arty for 1994.

I've been enjoying on my dining room table

Have you ever made an Amish style quilt?  I think I'd like to make another one to hand quilt.  It's been on my to do list for years (okay decades).

Hooray!  I finished my first block of hand quilting.  I am so so glad that I cut out the back of the applique'.  It's going really well.

The back - boy you sure can tell when I change directions.  I think it will block out, but we'll see.  You can also see I skip a few stitches.  So sue me!  I know the judges hate that, but I want the top to look even.

My fingers are already getting rough and a little sore.   I use Bag Balm.  It is a veterinarian product to heal superficial abrasions.

Take care!  It is very greasy.  I put in on AFTER I quilt or do dishes.  I massage it in and then wipe off any excess with a paper towel.   Trust me, a little dab will do you. I'll never finish this tin in my lifetime.

Thanks for all the nice comments on my newly finished top.  This year I'm going to include my inspiration where appropriate.  In this way I hope to encourage you to make it your own by using inspiration and not copying.

Here was the inspiration photo.  I don't know who's quilt this is, but I took the photo at Gwen Marston's Retreat on Beaver Island in the late 1990s.

This is what I mean when I say "make it your own" when I lecture.   You don't have to copy to use a great setting idea.  Mine quilt is quite different, but obviously related.

Coco is taking sanctuary this January in her favorite chair.  I rarely see this dog without a pillow under her head.  What a princess!  Yes,  my angel tree is still up.  I am enjoying it on these long dark winter nights.

OH my!  Look at this beautiful Red Shouldered Hawk.  He flew in last week and perched in the backyard.  I took this photo through the kitchen window on super zoom.  Can you see how he is standing on one foot? (claw)

I posted this on IG this week.  It is one of my favorite winter things to do.  I simmer citrus, apple slices, fresh ginger, cloves, rosemary, cinnamon, bay in water to scent and humidify the dry air.  It smells wonderful and lasts for several days of reheating.  I bet you even have most of the ingredients on hand.

I hope you are staying warm and busy!

xo