FIND!

I was downstate recently to be with mom during and after her surgery. One day, after visiting with her, I met with daughter Lisa and together we stopped at a few garage sales plus an antique shop. This wonderful old hand-quilted quilt was for sale for $15!














There are a few issues with it but those are mostly around the edges. It needs new binding and a few blocks need repair. I'm going to take off the last two rows on one side... those are in very bad condition and then I'll rebind the whole quilt. The "batting" is a piece of flannel so this quilt is very nice and light.

The pattern is called London Stairs. I looked it up in a quilt block book.

Here is one of the seams that is falling apart but it's easy to repair.














The back is in good but worn condition but good enough to add to the end of a bed to brighten a room.

It's charming, isn't it? This is a closeup of some of the nicer blocks and the very fine hand quilting.

There are a few other things I'd like to post about but I'll wait till tomorrow. One of them is a bag of old star blocks that my sister found at an estate sale.
I plan to applique them to a plain background.
Pics to come...... 

Just a little update

Many of you know that my mom is in the hospital. She has lung cancer and has just had an operation that HOPEFULLY got it all. The docs are optimistic saying that they only saw the one small area in the middle of the lung. They think they got it all but are checking the surrounding areas to be sure. Mom is in ICU recovering right now. She's doing great as far as the actual surgery is concerned but has always had trouble with her throat, swallowing and coughing up excess fluid. As soon as they get this under control she'll be able to go home. She'll still be on her feeding tube till her throat muscles get stronger but her voice is good and that's a positive sign.

I won't be blogging much until she's out of the hospital. As I visit with her, I've worked on a couple of my quilting projects. Today I'm bringing my seven sisters with me. It's better that I just sit and keep her company and not get her chatting too much. Docs all say to give her voice a rest for a bit.

Anyways, I wanted to THANK all of you that have sent good wishes and prayers. I know they've helped her.

Shopping for 30's repros

Today I had a little time to work on my seven sisters quilt... yes, I'm still at it. It's only been, what, three or so years since I started it. When I was in a quilt shop today, I picked up a few more small pieces of 30's fabrics. I usually buy a 1/4 yard and split it with Lisa. She's doing yoyos and I do the stars or strip quilts. Both of our projects are long term ones.

Stitching up a LITTLE quilt ...just for the fun of it

 This is Jenn's old bedroom... she moved out and it's starting to become a child's room. SOMEDAY I may have grandchildren and this would be a perfect place for them to stay at grandmas house. I've kept her old teddies and added some Dr. Suess books (my fav), some dolls and now some doll qults. The rocker is my mom's rocker from when she was a girl

 The little quilt is something I stitched up the other day with some scraps. Somedays you just have to sew a little fun project and get away from the "have to do" things. It was a fun break.

 This is a computer rendition of Pat's Pines. I added the tutorial for it HERE. I made one block yesterday.. just fooling around again. I think I'll make the whole quilt, I really like it.

And here is Al's den... all painted. We moved the rug and a few other things back in last night. The chair is only there for a little while until we decide what else is going in. He wants a new desk and my old couch is going to be reuphostered. We are going to search antique stores for a corner cabinet or bookshelf... maybe get a coffee table... and well.. we'll see what else. Doesn't my friend Mer's painting look great up on the wall? Al couldn't wait to get that hung.

I'm sewing, Al is painting and the yard is blooming

Al is still working on his den... the painting is now done and is a beautiful deep beige color. This is him earier doing edges.

I got the binding sewn on my Star Sampler and am now hand stitching it down. I decided on one of the green Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabrics for the binding.  

Just had to show a picture of one of the trees in the front yard... a bradford pear... it's in full bloom and boy does it look pretty. We have about a dozen of these trees scattered around the property. When we first moved in, we found an end of the year sale on them... cost us about a dollar each. We bought all they had left. A couple fell victim to the deer but most have survived and they're now big enough that the deer dont bother them.

OH... as a final note... Today I added a tutorial on making the block PAT'S PINES. Go here for the tutorial and pattern... plus some ideas on making the quilt. This is the block we have painted on our barn.

Saturday chores

 Al and I both have chores that need to be tackled today, his is a LARGE project, mine is just catch up work. This star sampler quilt has been my "finish up" project of the week and is almost done. I'm quilting the border of sampler stars and then will start on the outside white border. Hope to be binding this tonight as I watch tv. 

I'm in the kitchen quilting this instead of my sewing room because Al has a project in the den that requires me to come running every so often. He's putting up trim around the room so that he can paint the ceiling a nice white and the walls a dark beige.

 And the reason for his enthusiasm? Well, he had a local artist do this watercolor for him. We are both just NUTS about it. He just got it back from the framing shop.
This is going on one side of the windows with a bookcase below and a painting that daughter Jenn did, is going on the other side of the window. He has a collection of Beatles stuff... some from trips, some were presents. He's going to hang daughter Lisa's guitar up (as long as we're storing it for her, might as well decorate with it also.

 So as I wait to be called to "lend a hand", I'm stitching and eating my Peeps... love those things!

 Update: FINISHED with the quilting! Yes! Now to start making the binding. Al finished putting up the trim in the den and even got it all primed. We're going to take a short break and get a walk in... the weather is BEAUTIFUL today.

Auction winnings arrived plus shopping with Jenn

My new/old vintage quilt patterns arrived yesterday and they're fantastic! These are in wonderful condition (how did that happen?) for newspaper cutouts that are almost a 90 years old. The oldest one is from 1928! There are 47 patterns for blocks and quilting designs. Here's some pictures of par1929 with an article about the building of the Boulder dam.

This block is called Broken Circle or Sunflower. It's going to be one of the first that I plan to tackle. I'm think that if I do it using English paper piecing method instead of hand piecing as it suggests, that it will come together easier for me. We'll see. One thing I'm really surprise at is the size of these blocks. Many of them are 6", 8" or 10". Seems like most blocks nowdays are much larger. Do you think it's because they were trying to use up little bits of fabric?

 Okay, here's another back... I had a good laugh at this one... house frocks, smocks and HOOVERS? for only 50 cents. What the heck is a hoover? Did they have vacumns back then and was this for wearing while you did housework? Maybe someone that knows can tell me.
The house frocks I get... I think my mom had some of these "house" dresses worn around the house for cleaning and cooking... and I KNOW she had smocks and aprons. And check out the sizes listed... 16 to 50? Sizing must have changed since back then.


The Oak Grove Star Block is another that I'm planning to make. Using two colors would be pretty, maybe a third for the circle in the center. I'll post pictures when I get my first block done.

So, yesterday I went "mother-of-the-bride" dress shopping with Jenn. We had a fun time (except for the trying on part). We drove to Grand Rapids which is about 3-1/2 hours from here. Jenn and I had breakfast, lunch and dinner out... we hit some great shops. I found her some nice birthday presents that she got to take home with her. And I found some gifts for the shower plus a few FQs for me and the girls. BUT I can't say I found what we really went down there for.

There just arent very many pretty dresses for mothers to choose from. They are either too frumpy or too young ... and by young I mean they don't have enough room in the bust, they show the upper arms (not good) or are strapless, have too many ruffles (all in the wrong places of course) or are too slinky. Someone needs to design a line of mother dresses that are stylish and in pretty colors. These would need to cover up the parts of us that are getting a little too soft, wrinkly or bumpy. It would be nice to have built-in waist and hip control (kind of like control top pantyhose?). Then add a flowy layer... make it a little romantic maybe? And what about some subtle prints? Maybe a print that looks like a soft aqua and green batik? Or maybe a royal blue and white "Amy Butler" type print?

Maybe some dress designer out there will read this?........

Working on my Blue and White Star Sampler Quilt

Today I spent some time working on my class sample, the blue and white star sampler. I have to finish up my sawtooth stars and then add them to the center. Next I'll need to get the corner star finished up for May's class.

 Last night the class made their centers. Some of the ladies finished up the centers during the class and laid them out on the design wall with thier surrounding sawtooth stars. They're all so different and beautiful. I'm excited to see all these different quilts when they're finished up.

Late last night I was on Ebay looking at old quilt patterns and feedsack fabric. There were a few fabrics ending that I had my eye on... I didn't win them.. just couldn't see spending 30 dollars for a yard of feedsack with stains and holes BUT I did win a collection of 45 old Kansas City Star patterns from the 1930s newspaper. These are originals and I just can't wait to get them home. There's one in particular I've been looking for and it's in this collection. I'll post a picture when they get home to me. 

This is my SPRING table center that I just finished. I have a class coming up in mid April where I'm teaching machine quilting on home sewing machines. Plus in mid May, I have a class/demo at the library showing English paper piecing. With these two in mind, I thought I would make something to show both parts of quilting. If you know me, you know I love English paper piecing and I love stars. Using some leftover Fig Tree fabrics and some Lily and Will scraps, I pieced this ring. Then I appliqued it to a 17" background piece. The little center circle was appliqued on last. The batting in this also leftovers... one piece of scrap cotton and on top of that, one piece of wool. It makes this very puffy.

Working on the wedding quilt this week

I started working on Jenn's wedding quilt when I was at the quilting retreat downtown about a month ago. Four centers are completed and waiting for the gray fabric that I need for the HSTs that surround each block before they are sashed. After looking EVERYWHERE for that gray fabric, the quilt shop owner's daughter found it out in the Las Vegas area. They had a yard left on the bolt and what did I need? A YARD! How's that for luck :) I'm just waiting for her to send it out here and then I'll be able to finish the blocks and put this top together.

This is a picture of the finished quilt from the QUILTMANIA magazine, issue #77. It's mainly 4 big blocks and a sashing, which I'm going to increase. I'm also going to increase the border sizes so that this quilt is a larger queen size. I bought a "honey bun" of this fabric and I think I could make a nice strip border out of that to increase the size too... still considering my options.

This past week I received my long awaited FLOWER SUGAR fabric! Don't you just love it? I'm putting it on a shelf in my sewing room as incentive to finish up my half started projects... I'm not touching it until Jenn's wedding quilt is done and another gift quilt is finished. Those two are HAVE TO BE DONE quilt. There are two more quilts that SHOULD be worked on soon but one hasn't come in yet... an Amish sampler quilt.. and the other that should be worked on is a quilt for the guild. I'm hoping to start working on that today. It isn't a large quilt but there's lots of applique on it. We picked a song title and have to make a quilt with that theme. I have the idea of what I want to do.. just have to get motivated to do it. Then there are the many UFOs that are in my sewing room.. way to many to mention but here's a few of them:

1. Blue and white Star Sampler

2. Red and white crown of thorns

3. Red and cream redwork

4. My ME quilt which I started a few years ago ... a quilt for myself

5. Charlevoix quilt

6&7. 2 Red and cream 9 patch quilts

8. Ugly quilt, top done, working on patching a backing together

9. Civil war dresden

10, 11, 12. Three baby quilts

13, 14. Two Round robins

15, 16, 17. Three Happy Block quilts (one is almost done)

Well, darn this list could go on and on and on. I just wanted to let all of you know that you're not alone in starting one project, putting it down and going off in another direction. I think it's just part of being a quilter.

Shopping at Hearts to Holly (and working :) today

Today is a beautiful spring day here in Charlevoix. It's raining which is a good thing because our fire danger was high... due to winds and no rain. The temps have been in the 80s! Unbelievable if you know our area. We should still be skiing. So it's also a work day for me but it's quiet this morning so I'm shopping as I work and put stuff away. This fabric below is called Gotham and it really caught my eye. It's in the sale closet so it's 50% off a yard or more!!!! Doesn't it have an ART DECO look? I think it would make a great medallion for the center of a quilt. The second picture is the border that surrounds it, top and bottom. I think I could cut them up as blocks... maybe in the corners? I think I need a yard of it. That will get me the center and enough border to play with. There's still a couple more yards on the bolt if anyone else wants any. I'm going to give you Sue's number here at the shop so that if anyone sees something (and like me) can't live without it, you'll be able to grab a piece. H2H's number is: 231-547-2729.

 This is a new fabric that just came in ... THE BERENSTAIN BEARS!! Don't you just love it. I like all the coordinating dots... and the blue fabric with baseball bats, balls, trikes, soccer balls... how cute for a boy.

 And here's a new one for girls with little ballerina dancers on it. So darling!

 This is a group of brights that I'm getting ready for a lady that wants to make a bright "Turning 20" quilt. It's much brighter than this picture shows. Don't you love the puzzle pieces?

And finally, another one I'm thinking of taking a piece of is this city/car/tree fabric called "Rainbow Gardens". Can you believe this is in the 50% off room. It feels wonderful! Still a couple of yards left on that also... after I take my piece.