Quilting Buddy and Another Doll Quilt

As I mentioned in the previous post, I like to make my doll quilts by patterns used for big quilts.

This is one, made similar to the bed quilt in the next photo. The pattern came from the 2003 spring issue of the Quilt magazine and is called "Garden Trellis". The big quilt needed to be a little longer than the pattern so I added the picket fence border at top and bottom. The doll quilt didn't get the fence border because it would have made it out of proportion.

Did you notice the little lady at the end of the last post? That is Fannie Marie and she's my quilting buddy. See, she has a quilt in a hoop on her lap. Somewhere, when I first started using the computer, I read that quilt making and doll making go together. She's so special to me that I have even written a short book about an adventure she had.








In the photo on the left she is posing with another little quilt on a bed I purchased on eBay.

See her basket of quilting scraps in this picture? There'll be much more about the dolls at another time.

Now I'm off to see what I can stitch up this afternoon. Our flu is all messed up so I'll have to warm up the sewing room with the little electric heater. I believe fall is really here -- finally.

Have a good day,

Charlotte

My Sources of Information on Quilting

As a quilter, I like to find ways to help me improve my workmanship. Two things helped me: the program, Simply Quilts, and the magazine, American Patchwork and Quilting. When we first received satellite reception I found the HGTV network and watching the quilting show soon became a morning ritual for me. The show is no longer on HGTV but has been replaced by home designer shows; not much about gardens either. I wonder, how many times can a person re-do their house? Of course I imagine some people wonder, how many quilts does one need to make.

I learned so much about using a rotary cutter, mat and ruler, how to square up blocks and how to measure correctly for sashing and borders. The quilt I'm working on now (picture) was made way back before I knew anything about measuring blocks before cutting the sashing strips, so I cut them just the size the pattern gave, and I've run into a lot of fulness in the blocks. One day I just took on the attitude of Scarlet O'Hara and said to myself, "Oh well, I won't think about this block today; I'll think about it tomorrow." I finished the other blocks on that row and rolled the quilt onto the next part. Now I'm sure I'll have to take out part of the stitching to correct that block, but a seam ripper is no stranger to me! I refer to this quilt as my "white ribbon quilt" because of all the trouble I've had with it.

The magazine was full of patterns and ideas. I've saved all of them and go back for information every now and then. I taped all the TV episodes too, so I still have help.

We're having frosts now and it seems to have made the late greens and lettuce taste even better. I've been freezing greens; what a difference a little touch of green will make in winter meals.

Stay warm and happy!! Charlotte

Doll Quilts

When the shelves begin to fill with bed quilts and you're not ready to give up quilting, what do you turn to? Doll quilts, of course; they take up very little room. I like to make my doll quilts by patterns used for big quilts if I can draft them down into the smaller size without making the pieces and blocks too small. I don't usually make miniature ones (less than 12 inches square) but rather in the size range of 15" x 15". I think these are referred to as "little quilts".

This is an example of one made by the Shoo Fly pattern, and measures approximately 13 1/2" x 17"; block size 4 1/2" x 4 1/2". The pattern came from the book American Doll Quilts, by Kathleen Tracy. Quilting doesn't need to be as close on these or else they become too stiff to drape nicely.









The idea for this little quilt came from the same book and is called the Prairie Quilt, because, "...fabric was scarce and quilters used up every scrap they could find..." I wrote a little story to go with this quilt and gave it to one of my handmade dolls. It looked very plain until the bright blue binding was added and it was just the spark it needed.

This pattern I simply took from the book, A Quilter's Companion, put it into the copier and reduced it to fit a 4" block. It is an old pattern called "Recollect and Remember". The little figures are hand appliqued with the blanket stitch. I gave it to Brandie.

I'll share more doll quilts with you later. They're lots of fun to work with and nice to place around the house.

Charlotte

Ps. 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Busy, busy day

We got baby chickens today so there isn't much time to write. This time sure comes around too quickly! Tomorrow I hope to start writing about some of my quilting projects. Have a good day!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Here's hoping you're having a good day; take it easy with the leftover candy. This is a picture of my cousin and me, sometime in the early '50s.

The Farm

"I think I'll sell the farm," he said.

She looked surprised! Then, standing at the window, she silently communed with the land. "For forty three years you've been our home. We built a house on one of your corners and three little girls played on your green grass. We bought you with pride and anticipation, and with a sense of possessiveness we fenced your boundaries. We scattered barns and buildings over your surface. We pocked your face with wells, ditches for water pipes and electric wires, and graves for the old dog and the precious fuzzy cat.

You gave us grazing for the sleek, black cows and soil for a bountiful garden.

Your dust has filled our nostrils in the summer and in the winter your mud has clung to our boots, making us one.

"It's too late to sell," she said.
(This is a re post; having a little trouble with the blog and trying to see if this gets it back for me.)

Dishcloths

I need to buy new dishcloths. Each washday I hve intended to throw my old ones away; they're reduced down to not much more than holes with strings around them. They fuzz up in the washing machine and make lots of lint in the dryer.

It will be difficult to select new dishcloths. They come in so many patterns and colors: waffle weaves, terry cloth, plaids, solids, stripes, hemmed, and fringed. My old ones come in a variety of patterns and fabrics also: ends of old hand towels, tails of tee shirts, ribs of sock tops, or squares of flannel from an old sheet. These are dishrags.

Notice I said dishrags. There is a difference between dishrags and dishcloths. Dishrags come from an era when women recycled before they knew they were recycling. Every piece of fabric was used to its limit, whether it was as another wearable or as a rag. Today a young woman can throw away something before its time has come and buy virgin dishcloths. Oh it's true, some women have used an old cloth diaper for a dishcloth, but only after they experienced the unpleasantness of the waiting contents of the disper pail and decided not to be so environmentally protective after all.

I'll probably pick waffle weave dishcloths in a blue and green plaid; they'll match my blue kitchen countertop. They'll look nice and new in the drawer beside the old rags. I'll keep the old ones for a while; there's just no way I can scrub brown, scorched residue from a pot with a crisp, new dishcloth. I'll take the best of the rags for that, and maybe some of them could be used one last time as dusters. Tee shirt tails, sprayed with a little Pledge, are perfect for dusting.