Quirky Little Quilt Complete

So sweet, the Quirky Little Quilt Along project is done, about 17" square:

Detail of quilting--I love orange peel quilting, so used a full one in the solid blocks, and a semi-full one in the pieced blocks--this allows me to avoid the center of the pieced blocks. This was done with ruler/template free-motion quilting:

It replaced another Temecula Quilt Company quilt I really like, The 12 Days of Christmas--the first block has 1 fabric, the second has 2 fabrics, the third, 3, etc. The pattern is still available Here. I have made several of these over the years:

I am working on more 3" blocks for a special project for next year, all made from a Charm pack of 5" squares:

My husband is now mostly retired from his civil engineering career so has time to be our full-time gardener. Spring is my favorite time of year at our house and here is my favorite spot, around the goldfish pond, with Spring flowers/shrubs in bloom:

And, as if life wasn't full enough, we will get to love on these babies next week when they are here for a visit. Stella is almost 4 and Sam is 7 months:

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Home!

May went by in a blur.  While all that travel was great, I am now glad to be home and able to do some sewing and teach local classes for a while.

Just so this is a bit about quilting, here is The Splendid Sampler block # 31 I took with me to work on while in St. Louis:

I didn't get much done but it will eventually be finished.  It's been many years since I've done hand embroidery--this takes me back to my childhood and samplers and kits from the 5 & 10 cent store.

We went to St. Louis for grand-girl Stella's first birthday.  It was so much fun to spend time with her and our son and daughter-in-law.  The party had 30 folks and it was the only day all week with rain so we were indoors most of the time.  There were 4 babies, 3 year old twins, and lots of adults.  Here are just a few snapshots of the excitement:

We were there 4 days and each day she was more familiar with  us. It was wonderful to hold her, read to her, feed her, and love on her a bit.  They will be here in two weeks for a family wedding, then we get a week with her in August at the beach.  

Today I got a photo of Stella in one of the dresses I made for her--so glad it fits:

Our garden will soon be producing, tomatoes and peppers, AND, in a few weeks, blackberries:

Friday I'll be teaching the Antique Rose Star at Patches & Stitches.  This is a fun class that can be sewn by hand or by machine, or some of both:

Now to search for the top of my studio table--it has to be under all this stuff somewhere.  Each time I came home I dumped stuff on it.  Only being home about 10 days in May the studio is quite a mess.  And since I want to sew, I first have to clean up. I'm behind on The Splendid Sampler, Circa 2016, Westering Women and a few other things I've been trying to get back to.  A personal retreat with my best quilting friends later this month should help me play catch-up.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Live Laugh Love

I finished the Scrapbasket Sampler from the Quilts by Cheri Facebook page:

Front  26" x 46"

Back

Cheri's pattern had a primitive design of flowers, leaves and vines at the top--I substituted one of my favorite sayings.  At the bottom I added my initials and the year--I love seeing those things on other people's quilts so was happy to add them to my own.  The back is made of all the 4.5" squares I auditioned for the front--I only had to cut 4 more to have enough for the back.  See my earlier post about the decision-making process here.  It shows some of my ideas about choosing those squares.

I had to force myself to make this quilt this size--I still don't know where I'll hang it but it's done, it was fun, and I'm ready to move on to the next thing on my list--making a few more dresses for Stella--she will be ONE June 2 and we'll be there to see her.  Here she is just the other day:

There is something so delicious about baby toes!!

My husband has been working very hard in our flower beds and his work is really paying off.  We were sad to learn one of our Knock-Out roses has the virus Rose Rosette caused by a tiny mite in the roots.  There is no cure, it is 100% fatal and will almost certainly spread to the other five roses right near by.  So sad--they are as beautiful this year as they have ever been :

Approaching the pond--there are 3 large Knock-Out Roses on both sides

The fish are happy:

And a few more quilty-things underway:

Westering Women block #4

Stella's Splendid Sampler block #22

My Tumbler quilt as it grows--a great Leader/Ender project, only 13 more rows to go

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Before and After

Most of this post won't be about quilting so skip to the bottom if you don't care for gardening.

This is what happens when you go to the Home Builders and Remodelers Show--you always find something you "have" to do to your house.  I didn't want to go but with a retired husband now, we're figuring out the new "normal".

BEFORE:

Left corner

Left Center

Cherry Tree in all her glory

Messy, messy, messy.  Sixteen years of growth, some not in the right places, just messy.

AFTER:

When it warms up, I'll put two big flower pots at the base of the steps.

I plan to add 3 more Drift Roses on this corner and we're adding a large birdbath near the corner too.

I must say it looks pretty bare to me right now.  We were able to save some of the shrubs and irises to move to other parts of the property.  It kills me to dig up perfectly good plants and throw them out but that's what happened.  I had to fight my husband for everything I kept.

While all the digging and planting was going on, I made quilts.  Here is my current BEFORE:

This is My Scrapbasket Sampler by Cheri Payne, a Facebook project.  I'm still not sure I like my setting blocks or the actual layout.  There is some applique' and borders yet to be provided--we won't get those until next week.  This long skinny layout is unusual and I might change that.  Will wait to see what Cheri provides next.  And I might buy a fat quarter or two in Chicago for those setting squares.  

I'm off to International Quilt Festival Chicago tomorrow morning, where I will work in the Education office and teach four sessions of Open Studios on the show floor--String Pieced Lemoyne Stars, Hexie Stars, and Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)--Baubles and Beads.  If you're there,  check the schedule  for Open Studios and come on by--it's FREE and full of great info provided by lots of teachers.

Hexie Stars

String Pieced Lemoyne Star

ATC by Mariette found on Pinterest

I'm sorry this is not one of my ATC collection pieces--they are now packed in the suitcase.  But Google Artist Trading Cards and find many links, images, and videos on the process of making these little baby art pieces, generally 2.5" x 3.5".  This is a great project for a group of friends to do together--it doesn't take a lot of any one thing but the more beads/baubles/photo transfers/ephemera/etc. you have, the more amazing your cards will be.  The idea is to make a bunch and swap with other artists.  That's where most of mine came from and I'll show them next week when I get home.

Have a great week, and let's quilt!

Barbara

Racing Stripes Complete

A friend found a quilt on Pinterest she liked and asked me to make one for her.  I contacted the original maker--she was happy her quilt was selected and kindly gave permission for me to duplicate it.

The Front

The Back
 

Here is the blog where the original was shown:  Between Quilts by Valerie.  I used Peppered Cotton by Pepper Cory for EStudio Fabrics for the gray borders--great stuff!  A little different than my usual work but it's good to stretch the wings from time to time.

A few garden shots--the pond is overflowing with pickerel, water lilies, parrots feather and goldfish.  It's time to do some serious removal of plants--guess I'll have to get in there this year.

And my small vegetable garden:  2 full size tomatoes, 2 cherry tomatoes, 1 zucchini, 1 cucumber and 2 pepper plants:

June is for red raspberries, these were picked 2 days ago:

Yummy!



July means blackberries, looks like a bumper crop this year, and August should be the vegetables.  Nothing like fresh produce from the garden.

Now that Racing Stripes is done I have to decide what to work on next.  There are swap blocks to do, String Blocks was the majority choice; I wrote about that here.  A large quilt needs the binding turned to the back.  I'm eager to hand quilt a finish from a few months ago, and several quilts to get back to.

Let's quilt! Think I'll go see what others are doing at Judy L's Design Wall Monday.

Barbara