Current Project

A blogging friend asked me to show the current project I have going.  I found this pattern in the April, l999 (issue 37) American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  Since it's a paper pieced project and uses lots of tiny scraps, I jumped right in on it.  That was a couple of years ago, and this winter and spring I picked it back up and plan to finish the piecing at least.  The name, Scrap Apple, comes from the fact that it's the Pineapple block made from scraps.

This was with the picture: "Quiltmaker Betty Lenz pulled scraps from her stash to make the 120 foundation pieced Pineapple blocks for the center of this quilt.  She also used scraps to applique flowers on a solid black background for a stunning finish."

The blocks are six inches, finished, and I have put a dime on the pattern to show how small the pieces are.

I have pieced 88 of the 120 needed, so I'm getting there.  I try to piece at least one block each afternoon.  I love doing this, picking and sorting through the little colorful scraps and seeing the finished blocks made from pieces so small that most would be thrown away.  I think it will be a pretty quilt.  "Waste not, want not."

A follow-up to the previous post:

Easter Sunday came on my birthday this year and so the girls brought supper that evening.  One daughter brought a bag of 50 gladiolus bulbs to give half of them to me.  Ah-ha!  A perfect chance to "pass off" the little doll head!  While she was busy with something else, I offered to open the package, then let her count out the bulbs.  When I opened the bag, I slipped the doll inside with the bulbs; he's almost the same color and size.  She put her hand inside the bag, and said, "I think this one must be ..." (rotten) and lifted out Shelby.  We all had a big laugh!  Isn't laughter supposed to be the best medicine anyway?

Have a good 'un!

Charlotte

Remember these blocks?

These, with many more blocks, are what they have become:

a big, colorful quilt top.  The scrap pile seems no smaller ~ sigh ~  Most points matched up perfectly which made me happy.  What do you think about using black in a quilt?  I think it makes the colors pop!  Now on to another project....

Charlotte

Flying Geese Quilt Top

I believe this year is following in the footsteps of last year, for here it is the middle of January already!  How can we slow it down?  And how we wish for some days with sunshine after a month of dreary, damp weather.  Do we never stop complaining about the weather?

I feel like I've made good use of my time so far; remember the flying geese blocks I was piecing, hoping to use up some scraps?  The top is finished ~

and as soon as I feel like working with a big lining fabric I'll put it on the frames to quilt, after I've checked to make sure all the papers are removed; sure don't want any surprises when I'm quilting! It turned out to be a BIG top.  During really cold days my sewing room is too cool to work in comfortably, so I have other projects to work on (another post :)  Remember those triangles left over from these blocks that I just couldn't throw away?  Here they are, paired up with white triangles, trimmed to size and boxed up, waiting for another time.

Waste not, want not~

Charlotte

My effort to empty a few boxes of scraps continues.  The piecing on this project

came to a halt whenever all the black fabric had been used.   I have 190 blocks pieced and will need several more.  So I ordered more black fabric and while waiting for it, I drafted a pattern for a 6" x 9" Flying Geese unit, printed the pattern onto paper, pulled out the scraps again, and began paper piecing these:

I try to piece five units each day; there are 75 finished ones.  One usually thinks there is a lot of waste when paper piecing because she cuts the pieces a little over sized, but not this time:

As I trim a unit I flick the trimmings off onto the floor rather than take the time to hit the waste basket; I have a broom and dust pan in the sewing room and sweep up the mess as I finish for the day.  This is the layout for the finished blocks, minus a connecting strip between rows:

Did this make a dent in the scraps?  Hardly!  And look what's left when the units are trimmed; a large stack of pretty triangles!

 Sew these to white triangles, trim to 2 1/2 inch squares, and you have the makings for another quilt!

Why not throw them away, you ask?  All I can say is, when you're raised by parents who lived through the depression and made-do with what they had, and every penny was pinched until it screamed, that frugal characteristic lives on.

Charlotte

A Delayed Hope Chest Addition

I'm afraid there's no finished item for the October addition to the hope chest.  But in between big chickens going out and getting baby chickens back in, freezing wonderful garden veggies, selling calves and wrapping up the last of the hay season, I do have something started:

paper pieced string blocks for a quilt.  Their finished size will be 4 1/2 inches, and I have estimated that I will need at least 300 of them to make a big quilt; I have 90 made.  When the chance to work on them happens, I try to piece 10 at a time, keeping them in numbered groups of ten so I'll know when I reach that goal of 300 (or more).

So, if they never get put together into a quilt by me, maybe the person who gets them will have the joy of finishing it or can give the blocks away.  It seems no matter how many strings I use, the pile never shrinks.

This morning came with a beautiful red sunrise.  The whole area was clothed in red.  We were up early to load the calves for market.

This afternoon I'm very, very sad, and SO angry!   Remember the baby calf I was feeding on the bottle?  She was growing, very healthy, and eating sweet feed and hay.  Right before noon, the neighbor's two big dogs attacked her; she was in a pen beside the barn eating grass.  The farmer saw them and ran them off, so there's no denying whose dogs they were.  Good thing the only weapon he had with him was a rock!  I took pictures, which I won't show here, but it's bad.  I know she must be in a lot of pain from the gashes.  Hopefully she will recover. 

I'll try to do better for the month of November; the weeks go by so quickly ----

Charlotte

Scrappy Log Cabin quilts are my favorite quilts to make, whether for a big bed or for a baby.

This one is made from six inch blocks, paper pieced, and quilted down the center (more or less, or perhaps I should say more and less, since every line might not be centered) of each log, and is for a baby.

The binding is also scrappy, made from snippets of bindings left from large quilts.

Some people prefer baby quilts with appliqued animals, etc., which end up being wall hangings.  This quilt is to be used for a warm covering or a play mat.

A hint for the next hope chest item: it went on the quilt frames as soon as this quilt was taken off.

Charlotte

Story Quilt

"Once Upon a Time"....The possibilities are endless for bedtime stories, poems, or maybe a song with this baby quilt.

How about a story of the little bear who became his team's most valuable player.

Maybe there's a poem about the giraffe siblings who live at 123 PSE street.

And surely someone knows why the cat sits in the window at night and washes his face before going to bed under a clear sky filled with stars.

The entire quilt is full of wonders, all made from scraps of novelty prints with paper pieced wonky houses.

The binding is even scrappy, and no need for fancy quilting either because it would get lost in the string pattern.  Lots of fun here for some little child who likes to pretend.

  I like to pretend, but when we were little we said, "play like, this or that" instead of, "let's pretend".

Charlotte

I know some of these pictures are blurred; shaking old hands do that sort of thing. "Play like" they're clear.

A Bit of Work From the Sewing Room

The rains have made such a difference in this August and the August of 2012; the pond is full, the grass is thick, and the cows are fat.  We're starting on the final hay work.  We know nothing of a vacation, other than it meaning a couple of weeks when there are no chickens to be constantly on our minds.

 

There has been a bit of work going on in the sewing room: doll dresses, baby bibs, aprons, and doll quilt tops.  This is one of those quilt tops, in simple pinwheels, made from Kathleen Tracy's book, American Doll Quilts.  I love the softness of the colors in this top.

I always have trouble with half square triangles, so a few years ago I purchased a pattern for paper piecing them.

The papers can be cut for the number of HSTs you will be making of each color.  In my case I needed four HSTs.  With right sides together, the print and the white are placed beneath the pattern,

then stitched on the dotted lines and cut apart on the solid lines, resulting in perfect HSTs.

I cut off the little "dog ears"

which my daughter suggested I leave for the Borrowers.  :-)  They can pick up threads from the floor and maybe find a very small needle to sew them into HSTs.

Have a good day!

Charlotte

29 Days Between Posts

What a thrill to know I've been missed!  Some have asked if I'm o.k.; I am ~ just a little weary and wondering if I should continue blogging.   My daughter started this blog site and asked if I would like to contribute a story now and then and show some of my quilts.

 

It was fun and exciting to read comments about my work and soon, every stitch I made was examined and carefully done so I could write about the quilt.  That was the way it was for all the years I entered quilts in the county fair: what will the judges think of this or that, and soon it almost became a chore, rather than an enjoyment, trying to be perfect.  Now I almost feel burned out with quilting, because the last one I put up stayed on the frames for about six months, just sitting there, covered up to keep it from fading.  Yesterday I took it off the frames, folded it up with its batting and lining, and put it in the cupboard.

 

Does this make me a failure?  I don't think so; I feel relief that it's out of sight, and now my frames are open for baby quilts and doll quilts, and I can still piece tops when I want to. 

 

Many hours were put into paper piecing the top.  I just didn't feel up to trying to hand quilt through all those seams and didn't want to take a chance of ruining it by machine quilting it, because it is a pretty top.

 

The pattern is a Marcia Hohn design from the Spring 2003 edition of the Quilt magazine, called Flowers of Friendship. 

 

Now of course, this set-back in my creative spirit isn't the reason I haven't blogged.  I'll try to find time to post that story tomorrow.  I have tried to find time each day to read your words and look at the beautiful pictures you post. So, let me thank each of you who looked for my words and wondered about me; makes me feel special...

 

Charlotte

New Stitches

I got a new sewing machine in December as an anniversary/Christmas present.  The Singer I have makes nice stitches but it gives me fits coming unthreaded so much of the time, and with my aging eyes and fumbling fingers, threading the machine is a chore.  The new machine is a Brother from Wal Mart, not a fancy expensive machine, but it has a needle threader! and a button for raising and lowering the needle so it doesn't come unthreaded!  And -- it has a buttonhole foot, another great thing for me.

Another of its features is a multitude of decorative stitches, and of course I wanted to see how they look when put to fabric.  So I made some little crazy patch blocks and added some of these stitches to the seam lines of each piece.

Not all the stitches appeal to me, but I especially like the cross stitches, little hearts, flowers, and leaves.

The machine automatically sets the length and width of the stitches, but as I became more familiar with them, I began to make them longer and wider which gave a different look; I like them better this way.

Now I know these are no where near as pretty as hand stitching and I don't plan to use them much, but for a little doll quilt or doll clothes they can add a sparkle of interest.  It's been fun playing with the machine.  Now it's off to feed cattle -- after I clean up the mess; threads everywhere!

Charlotte

Doll Quilt

 

My latest finished doll quilt, in the traditional Courthouse Steps pattern.

Paper pieced and hand quilted

Approximately 16 inches square

 

I'm slowly making progress on the works in progress list.

 

Charlotte

 

 

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

 

 

October ~~ Little Quilt

Fall is definitely here!  We're having much cooler weather and good soaking rains.  The leaves of the elm trees are turning yellow.  October's little quilt is a good example of all the beautiful colors of fall.  It was paper pieced on the machine and hand quilted.

The pattern is called "Wild Goose Chase", and was inspired by this big quilt in the book Quilts, Quilts, Quilts, by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes.

 

Teddy loves to wrap up in it and wait for the wild geese to come honking across the fall skies.  Actually, we don't hear many geese anymore just in the fall; we have them all year round on the ponds and in the pastures.  I miss hearing them fly over; it was always a sure sign that cold weather was right behind them.

 

 

 

Charlotte

Blue String Stars Quilt

In April I wrote about this quilt and how I had to piece a strip to make the lining long enough.  Then I put it in the frames, so it took me almost five months to finish it.

 

It's a really long quilt ~ why I ever thought it needed to be this long, I have no idea, since no one in my family is this tall!  I remember thinking it would take me all summer to finish it, and it did, even though the drought kept me from the hay fields.   But finally, it's finished!

 

I turned back one corner of the quilt so the row of lengthening strips can be seen.  Since the inner border of the quilt was a red print, I added red prints to border the strips and also for the binding; gives a real punch to the blue.

 

 

The quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted.  You gotta love blue to like this quilt!

 

We've been without chickens for about two weeks now, and won't get anymore for a few days, so I have a baby quilt in the frames, hoping to finish it before going back to work.

 

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