November ~~ Little Quilt

Here we are again; we have the beginning of a new month, and the eleventh little quilt of the year is ready.  Where has the time gone?  It's cool enough now to need quilts on the bed, especially if you're like Teddy,

 

who seems to have a sore throat and fever.  He drinks hot tea and then snuggles all the way up to his chin underneath the warm quilt.

 

 

I even made new flannel sheets and a pillowcase for his bed.  Doesn't he look comfortable?

 

 

I made the quilt from a pattern in the book Liberated String Quilts, by Gwen Marston.  I do my string piecing on a paper foundation, rather than cloth, since I hand quilt, and it means one less thickness of fabric to stitch through.  I like the Scottie dog print for the backing; the quilt could be reversed if Teddy thinks baskets are for girl bears.

 

Enjoy,

Charlotte

 

 

I'm Making a Little Progress

The spider web quilt is finally finished! I started working on it in November, 2011, so that is about five months of off and on quilting.

The backing is a small tan and brown print from Connecting Threads. I like to use prints for linings; they cover a multitude of quilting "sins".

This is how I fixed the backing for the Ohio String Stars top. Since the sides of the top had a thin strip of red for the inside border, I attached a red strip to each side of the insertion which was needed to make the lining long enough. It worked! Now since this is such a large quilt, it will probably be much longer than five months before I finish it, especially since hay season will soon begin. I sorta dread looking at it for that long. lol

Charlotte

Preparing a Quilt Lining

This week I brought this quilt top out of the cupboard to put on the frames, after being stored away for a few years. It was made from a design by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins, collectively known as Piece O' Cake Designs. The centers of the star blocks are made from four, small, paper pieced string blocks and they are set together with a beige on beige print. I had already purchased enough of the beige print for a lining. Now this is a large top and when I laid out the lining fabric for measurement, it came up a few inches short. What to do? No way could I find more like it. I had seen pieced linings on quilting blogs, and thought, "why not?" And then I found an article in a quilting magazine about artistic additions on the backs of quilts, resulting in "backstage" productions, simply by piecing different fabrics or inserting extra blocks from the quilt top for a surprise on the back.

The borders of the quilt are made from one inch pieced strips, so I decided to piece together strips to go across the lining to lengthen it:

The pieced strip will be inserted into the lining fabric, making it long enough for the top. Problem solved? I sure hope so; if not I'll simply piece another row of strips and insert it. I think it will be as entertaining as the main performance!

Charlotte

Ready for the Frames

The little string quilt top is ready for the frames; it measures 38" x 45".

This is the fabric I chose for the borders and the backing. The borders were added, not to make the quilt larger, but to make a stopping point for the string blocks. This piece of fabric was given to me by my oldest daughter a few years ago, and once, when I started to use it for a backing, much to my dismay, it had little holes every so often in the fold. They look like someone snipped the fold while on the bolt. I had wondered if I'd ever be able to use it; today I made the borders from it and have a solution for the holes.

I made five of these wonky house blocks and set them here and there in the top.

This is a picture of the string blocks, showing how I used selvages in them.

Now, this little bear is the solution for fixing the holes in the backing fabric. I'll take his pattern and applique bears over the holes. After all, most of the animals living in the wonky houses are bears. The paw prints on the backing fabric may be dog tracks, but we can pretend they're bear tracks, can't we?

Charlotte

Gleaning the Fields

The past few days we've been gleaning the fields for a few more bales of hay, hoping for rain to make the grass grow for one last cutting before fall. It was good hay but very few bales as compared to what there should have been.

This is the view from the front of my tractor; I'm almost a full wind row ahead of the baler. That's the way I like it, so I don't have to feel pressured to hurry.

Today we hauled bales from the field to the house.

Now for some updates on previous posts: 1)The little calf died; she was just too weak to survive. 2)There were twelve comments left for the tomato question. Everyone agreed it was the top of the tomato. You see, I'm the only one in my family who thinks it is the bottom; however, one comment said I was technically correct. I always looked at it this way: that is the end where it is attached to the stem, and if it were not for the weight of the tomato, it would not hang on the vine the way it does, upside down. Also, the blossom would be at the top, I think. Of course, it isn't important; I just know that no one ever wants to eat that slice, whether it's top or bottom; the center slices are always picked first. And since I can't stand to see ONE slice of a good, ripe tomato go to waste, I just take that slice and leave the others for someone else. Another comment ask if a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable -- ?? 3)There is only one little string block left to piece to make enough for the top; needless to say, that one little block has been on my mind all day, but I'm too tired tonight to sew it.

Hope you have a happy Sunday with good friends and family,

Charlotte

RAIN

We got rain last night -- 3/4 of an inch!! Then we've had two small showers this morning. The skies are beginning to clear from the north so that will probably be all for now. I just wanted to let those of you who have sent comments to me, following my complaining, that God is gracious to us, and we give him thanksgiving for these showers.

This morning is being spent in the chicken houses getting ready for baby chicks coming tomorrow afternoon. Maybe this afternoon I'll get a chance to piece more string blocks. I have about 70 so far and five wonky house blocks. My daughters thought the house blocks needed a small border around them to set them apart from the string blocks. I added a border to them and it did make them show up better. I guess the little bear in this house would rather read than sew. :)

Have a wonderful day, Charlotte

There's A New Cat in Town -----

There's a new cat in town tonight; he moved in this afternoon and now he's all tuckered out and washing up before bedtime. He'll be living a few blocks down from the bear.

Smiles, Charlotte

This Makes Me Happy ....

What does a person do with a mess like this ... a pile of strings and squares of paper?

Well, I take the squares, sew the strips onto the paper, press, and then trim. Presto!! pretty little quilt blocks.

This time I'm adding selvages to the blocks with the strings. I think more fabric companies are making pretty selvages now, for they used to just be plain. I don't have a big stash of selvages, only what I've cut off and some that my daughter saved for me. I don't know that many women who sew anymore to ask for their selvages. I have learned, when cutting the selvages, to leave at least 1/2 inch of the print with them for a seam allowance.

Next I made this little wonky house, with plans to include a few here and there with the string blocks:

It may be a sparse neighborhood; it took a long time to "build" this house.

Making these little blocks makes me happy; when one is finished I want to start another and time goes much too fast to do all I want.

Do you have a hobby that makes you happy?

Smiles, Charlotte

Another Colorful Baby Quilt

A baby quilt, very colorful, from scrappy, paper pieced, 3" blocks with pale green strips running diagonally across each block, tying them all together, and enclosed with the same green for a border. The backing is from the same fabric as the outer border; it was hand quilted and bound with the green. The strips were pieced on 3 1/2" squares of newspaper which is cheap and tears off easily. These string quilts have to be a favorite of mine; they're so bright!

Wouldn't you like to try string piecing? It's a good project for these hot summer days.

Charlotte