Spirit of Boudica

My daughter, a Celtic Studies graduate student, requested a doll in the likeness of Boudica, a Celtic warrior queen. So I made this doll and gave it to her during Thanksgiving weekend. Boudica is known in historical literature for her long red hair, flowing robes held by a round gold brooch, a gold choker necklace, and a piercing stare. She is adorned with a crystal on her front and a sprig of sage in her stuffing to make her a true "spirit doll" with protective qualities.

I attached Celtic styled charms above her name on her back. I learned a number of new beading stitches making this doll, my 2nd beaded "spirit doll". I also learned she is a stump doll, meaning she has no legs and stands on her own. She is about 12" tall and weighted in the bottom by small river stones.

I must mention that the work of bead artist Robin Atkins is my inspiration for spirit dolls, bead embroidery, and beading in general. Her wonderful books have allowed me to be "self-taught". However, that's really a misnomer because I wouldn't have learned a thing without her guidance.

Mystery Project

This was a mystery project at my guild last year. We were given the clues about 20 mins. apart with the end result being a table topper. We had no idea what we were making until we were almost done. It was so much fun to see it evolve! Some might think the red is a holiday fabric, but I keep it on an end table year 'round because it adds a colorful touch to the room. If you enlarge, you can see that it's tied together. Tying seems to be my method of choice these days.

"Love Those Fat Quarters" Fabric Basket

Stampin Quilter Barb and I used Pink Penguin's tutorial to make a fabric basket like posted on Michelle's Quilts and Stuff (whew, done with links). I wanted to use the "Love Those Fat Quarters" print that I won in Gene Black's (oops...*now* done with links) giveaway. When combined with other fabrics, it made a cute scrappy basket with an eye-catching lining. It's time to show yours, Barb!

Beware of Kona black

This was a quilt shop block-of-the-month promoting Thangles (although I don't like Thangles and used measurements to get the same result instead). The fabric was provided -- bright batiks and off-white background. I wanted to do it Amish-style with a black background, so I purchased Kona black thinking it was the best and used that instead. Oh my -- it was a huge problem as I worked with it! It frayed all over my sewing room, plus the quilt has "bearded" considerably. Little fibers of the polyester batting are coming through the black Kona everywhere and are highly visible. They are impossible to remove! I don't think you can see them in the photo, but they are everywhere. Perhaps different batting would have helped, but it's too late now. This keeps me from enjoying this quilt as much as I'd hoped, but I do keep it thrown over a chair in front of the TV.

Mystery Quilts are fun!

I love this lap quilt that came together one mysterious step at a time given at my guild meetings. I vowed to use my stash fabrics, and I think the result is really neat. If enlarged, you may see pins where I eventually tied this quilt. Do a mystery quilt if you get the chance. It was fun!

November 13th will mark my first year of blogging. I've made friends and enjoyed every minute; and I want to thank Stitchin with Peg for nudging me to set up a blog. To mark the occasion as well as pay it forward, I'm having a blogiversary give-away very soon. Tell all your friends and neighbors! ;)

Applique madness

Pat's posts about her posie block reminded me of my applique experience. She's done it the only way I ever found possible -- using plastic template material and a drawstring. I learned that method with some of my "Dear Jane" blocks. They made me heady with applique success, so 2 years ago I decided to try another applique project with a local shop's block of the month. The 12 block patterns are called "Elegant Garden". Thankfully I tried only one (see photo) before signing up for the whole year. I persisted with this one, but was saying "Never again!" by the time it was done. I've yet to do anything with this one, but will someday.

Now I must decide if I'll return to my "Dear Jane" blocks to finish the quilt. Many of them are applique. I have enough done to make a smaller "Baby Jane" quilt or wall-hanging -- more on that another time.

Moving right along...

I'm trying to keep my blog from becoming stale while I can't show the holiday surprises I'm making. In the meantime, family creations are taking center stage. This is another of my daughter's palette knife paintings. She also took this one for her apartment, and I miss seeing it in our home.

Lucky!

Thanks to Gene Black, I'll be the recipient of the most unique fat quarter I've ever seen! I don't know what I'll do with it yet, but it's an incredibly amusing print that I think should remain as whole as possible. Stay tuned for the result!
I've been blogging for almost a year now and got really excited about giveaways in the beginning. I entered and won twice, and the tug to enter more was stronger than ever. However, I was trying to keep my time at the computer to a minimum, so I decided not to take part in more giveaways. I held to that decision until I saw this wonderful fat quarter. I had to enter! Now that I've won *3* times, it *really* is time to have a giveaway of my own. I think to celebrate my first year of blogging in November will be a good time for that. More later!

Unique quilt rack

Since I don't want to give away the holiday surprises I'm working on, I'm digging deep to find new things to post about. My husband enjoys woodworking in his spare time, and he made this one-of-a-kind quilt rack for me. It's quite large and sits in our dining room where I'm constantly changing what's displayed on it. Enlarge the photo to clearly see the heart and shamrock wood cutouts, inspired by Irish heritage, of course.

Not Patches or Beads

I'm in the process of making a few surprises for the holidays, so I don't want to show them here yet. In the meantime, I'll post some non-patches and bead projects done by my family. This is one of my daughter's oil paintings worked with a palette knife. It's one of my favorites that I enjoyed seeing on our wall everyday. However, she recently took this (along with some of her other paintings) to decorate her first apartment. Now I miss seeing it in our home, so I decided to put it on the "wall" of my blog.

Beading winter again

The only good explanation I have for making beaded snowflakes in July is how hot and humid it's been in south Jersey for over a month. I set my computer background to display a blizzard photo and have been beading more snowflakes (prettier when enlarged) for the historic Walt Whitman house holiday decorations (explained in a previous post). I can't say all of this makes me feel cooler, but it probably keeps me too busy to complain.

First improvisational bead embroidery

When I started this 4" x 4" piece, I didn't set an intention or know where it would take me. I just knew I had to try Robin Atkins' suggestion to work "improvisationally". Not knowing where to start, I followed her advice to just pick one thing I liked and stitch it to the background fabric. That was the round shell button (enlarge for clear detail). The rest of the design grew outward from there, and I can't explain the image that emerged except that I was reading Stephen King's "Duma Key" during the weeks that I beaded this piece. This novel has all the usual other-worldly Stephen King characters and takes place on an island. Perhaps I should have titled this post "Beading What I'm Reading". I have a feeling that may happen again.

Keeping up with The Other Barb

Our joint scenic applique projects are done -- well, almost. Stampin' Quilter Barb's is really done, but mine is waiting for borders. The trees and foliage are all there (compare to the post on this below), so the applique is finished. This is a wall-hanging -- about 18" x 24". Any border, backing, quilting, or embellishment suggestions?

Holidays are coming!

Stitchin' With Peg's lovely elf blocks made me realize I've also done something for the holidays. I saw some gals making snowflakes at a local quilt shop with the intention of donating them for holiday decorations to be used at the historic Stafford-Whitman House in Laurel Springs, NJ. This house was once the summer home of Walt Whitman, and it's nice to know I can contribute something to be used there. Here is my first snowflake (detail is prettier when enlarged), made with plastic beads left at home by my daughter who used them throughout middle and high school years. It's very easy to make a snowflake and requires only beads, wire, and about 1/2 hour of time.

Something different

Here she is, my first "Spirit Doll". Click on her for clear detail. She was inspired by the work of bead artist, Robin Atkins. Except for her solidly beaded face, I allowed the pattern of the fabric to guide my beading. Like my beaded heart in a previous post, she has a sprig of sage from our garden inserted with her stuffing and a crystal embroidered among her beads to help set the intention I gave her. She's 8" tall, add 3" for the beaded loop hanger. I'm enjoying learning about beading and hope to have another project to show soon. In the meantime, I'm also working on the scenic applique with trees shown in progress below. It's about 85% done, and I hope to embellish it with some seed beads like I used on this spirit doll.

What happens when I'm not looking...

Scenic applique in progress

Since some visitors said they enjoyed seeing "All Roads Lead to the Sea" in progress, I thought I'd also post about this one as I go. Stampin' Quilter Barb mentioned that we are doing this project together (her scene is different) and we'll have something to show *someday*. She's right that this will take awhile, so that's another reason to show it in progress. It's batik applique on muslin with the pieces sewn down in order, back to front of the scene. It's much like doing a painting where the background is laid in first. We are using a pattern, but I hope to have learned the process from this one enough to interpret some of my old paintings in fiber-art the same way. Also, I had so much fun embellishing my "All Roads..." quilt that I plan to do some of that on this piece as well. There will be many more trees and the foreground will have foliage of all kinds.
PS: Pat asked about the applique process on this. I haven't mastered needle-turn applique, so the edges of each piece are turned under 1/4", pressed, and the piece is pinned with small applique pins before hand-sewing it in place. The trick is to hide my applique stitches -- a challenge! If you enlarge the photo and see basting stitches, it means that edge does not need to be appliqued because another piece will be installed on top of it. The pencil lines toward the bottom indicate some of those pieces (mostly foliage).

A little bead embroidery

I've found myself drawn to bead embroidery lately. Embellishing quilts and wall-hangings is fun, and since I bought pretty glass seed beads over the years just because I liked them, I was ready to try using them. I'm also drawn to Native American artistry (probably because I've been told I have some Native American ancestry) and that led to discovering even more about beading. These photos show both sides of my first little project, and I do mean little -- only about 2-1/2 " x 2-1/2" in size. Learning about Native American spirit dolls gave me the idea to insert a piece of sage inside the heart (can also use sweetgrass), and include a crystal as one of the embellishments. These complete its intention (which can be joy, healing, love, protection, energy, strength, etc. anything exuding positive energy). I wanted something as a little going away gift for my daughter who is traveling this week, so I didn't have time to try making a whole doll, but I hope to do that soon.

Asian Ginger Jars

This is the 42" x 52" Asian Ginger Jar quilt top (have yet to do the border) that I first posted about last November. It was a block-of-the-month at a local quilt shop, taken from October, 2007 "Quilter's World" magazine. Fussy-cutting while assembling the blocks gave the jars an added focal point. Click to enlarge and see the detailed Asian fabrics which I think are beautiful. It seems I've started another fabric collection. ;)

My Give-away Finish

Thanks to Karen of Pieces and Plenty, I now have this lovely new little quilt, “Warm and Wintery” by Cotton Way. Karen included the pattern, charm pack and background fabric in a give-away I won (I'm embarrassed to say how long ago). At any rate, it's now done and in our family room where we see it often. I wasn't certain what I was going to do with this quilt but we all like it, so there it will stay. Since hand-quilting has become harder for me, and since I'm a traditionalist at heart, I've started tying most of my quilts, this one included. Sometimes I tie to the back (like with my "All Roads..." quilt), but I tied this one to the front. The blue DMC floss ties are in the middle of the hour-glass figures (or are they bow-ties?). I'm thinking of also putting them in the middle of the small 9-patch blocks. Additional ties aren't required to hold the quilt together well, but I think they might look nice there. Any suggestions about that? Although it looks darker in this photo, the border fabric is a lovely brick-red.

Icing on the "All Roads..." cake

From the front page of Thursday's local newspaper. :)

The Old Mill Quilt Show experience

This Historical Society quilt show is held annually in the restored mill pictured above, and it's very unique. I hope these photos give you a sense of what it's like to be there amongst the dozens of quilts hung and draped everywhere.

"All Roads Lead to the Sea" journey ends

This is me at the quilt show standing next to my finished quilt which I hand-tied every 6 inches. The old mill is full of nooks and crannies so it was hard for my quilt and Stampin' Quilter Barb's to hang next to each other, but they were displayed very close together.


The next photo shows Stampin' Quilter Barb looking at her quilt which she hand-quilted outlining the elements of the design. My quilt is in the background. I'll have a couple more photos soon from this unique quilt show. It was fun!

This weekend at the old mill

I've been spending all my time finishing "All Roads Lead to the Sea" so it can be displayed in a local Historical Society quilt show this weekend at a restored mill in our area. So the pressure is on, and the fence, border, and binding are now done. Peggy asked who will quilt it, but being a traditionalist, I'm tying this one (to the back so it won't be a distraction from the scene). My friend Stampin' Quilter Barb is finishing hers for this show as well, and we are hopeful they will hang near each other so the different look of two quilts made from the same pattern with different fabrics can be appreciated. If I can get a photo from the show, I'll post it next week. This show is not a competition, it's just for fun to show off the restored mill and work of local quiltmakers.

"All Roads Lead To The Sea" -- 99% finished!

The schoolhouse is in. Still left to do -- a fence across the bottom and some embellishments. This quilt is so big that I had to hang it in the garage to take this photo. My friend and neighbor Stampin' Quilter Barb is almost ready to post her version too. Be sure to check it out and compare them. Although we used the same pattern and worked together, we used our individual stash fabrics; so, in the end they do look different.

Recycling a Silk Tie into a Purse

There was a demonstration at our guild meeting yesterday on how to recycle a man's silk tie into a really cute evening purse. I couldn't wait to try this before I forgot how to do it, so I started as soon as I got home from JoAnn's (where I had to pick up the cording and gold lining). It measures about 8" x 4" and went together very quickly. The transformation was fun!

Jester Hat Threadcatcher

I saw one of these at my friend Stampin' Quilter Barb's house. She said her good friend, Beth, made it for her, and she gave me pattern information on the Internet. I was eager to have this handy little threadcatcher for myself, so I was off and running -- or so I thought. What I quickly learned is this little project (about 4" diameter) isn't as easy as it looks, but I persisted. Now I'm glad I did because it will sit next to my sewing machine for a quick place to deposit all those threads, and I think it's really cute. Here's a link to the pattern, one word of caution -- you may need to read some of the steps a couple times before you "get" it.
How to Sew a Jester Hat Threadcatcher

All Roads Lead to the Sea progress

We are almost done! Stampin' Quilter Barb and I cut more fabric today. We are now on our way with finishing the last building - the School-House which will go bottom left. BUT, we found mistakes in the pattern (again!) and are not sure how easy it will be to put these pieces together. Wish us luck. Until then, this is the way the quilt looks laid out. When the School-house is done, all rows can be sewn in place. There's also a fence across the bottom, but that doesn't worry us too much. Sorry for the tilted picture, but this is a very large quilt that's hard to photograph.

Where's Waldo?

Actually the question is where's my new kitty Sasha? But the challenge reminds me of "Where's Waldo". She does keep me company in my sewing room!

My largest finish -- forever!

This is not a recent project, but it's one of a kind because I will never hand-quilt anything this large again. It's shown folded on a twin bed, but it's a King size quilt. It's called a "post card" quilt, meaning the template for the scrappy pieces was the size of a post card. I used fabric scraps from my stash, including some of the memory fabrics used to make my daughter's toddler dresses. It took 4 years to finish the hand-quilting which I did by placing an "X" in each piece. However, someone else probably would have done it in much less time. I just don't work very fast. I gave it to my daughter, with a nameplate that records her full name, year of birth, my full name, date it was finished, and location where it was made. I figure it needs all of that info to be worth something on "Antiques Roadshow" someday. ;) The pillow on the bed is one of my first attempts at using fabric scraps appliqued by machine to create a scene. It reminds me a little of a Grandma Moses painting with things unbalanced and the chimney sticking out to the side, but it was fun.

My new project

Not a quilt this time -- now I have a new "quilt inspector" Devon Rex kitty named Sasha. My project is getting used to having her involved in everything I'm doing. Her short, wavy fur feels like "Minky"! This breed barely sheds, so her fur won't be all over my quilts after she's done inspecting. Isn't she cute?

National Parks Quilt

I made this quilt from a pattern honoring our country's national parks that was published in one of the quilting magazines. This is a generously sized quilt that hangs on our dining room wall. I made it completely from stash fabrics and hand quilted with outline stitches around the block components. The theme begins with flying geese at the top and descends to the fish underwater with animals, trees, log cabins, maple leaves and bear paws inbetween. It was a fulfilling and fun project! My friend Stampin' Quilter Barb reminded me in her comment that she has also made this quilt so click through to her blog to see her version. She also still has the magazine pattern. You can let one of us know if you're interested.

Another "Babushka Babe" with Babies

I'm not sorry I started this little project, but before I was done it got very tedious working so small. The larger of the 3 dolls is only 4-3/4" tall. After the dolls were assembled, I enjoyed practicing embroidery and using beads in the daisy centers. Credit for this pattern: Maize in Montana

"All Roads Lead to the Sea" - about 2/3 done

We're getting there! :)

Babushka Babe

In an effort to try something different, here is a little Babushka doll that I created this week. Her 9" tall body is made of the wool felt I bought to make pin cushions.

She's the only doll of her kind I've seen with a real babushka, so I guess it's an original. I got a refresher course in stitchery with this, and I'd like to get more practice. It was fun to feel creative away from the sewing machine for a bit.

Colorful retro scraps

The latest entry on Gene Black's blog reminds me of this wall hanging I made last year. It's made of pieces of fabrics sent to me as a "thank you" by the museum mentioned in my "Quilting Nostalgia" posts below. These fabrics were made in the 1930s by the mill now in the restored museum village that I posted about. I wanted to do something special with them, so I fashioned this little wall-hanging. There's no rhyme or reason to the design. It's just my own creation that's a nice splash of color on a dark wall in our family room.

Better than Dunkin'

I saw this pincushion online (there are many patterns for it out there) and decided it was too cute not to try making. This is my first attempt at working with wool-felt, and my first try at buttonhole stitching. Oooof -- it's not as easy as it looks! My brain kept thinking backwards, and it started to remind me of learning paper-piecing. I had to go back online for a buttonhole tutorial and sit in front of it with every stitch I took for awhile. Believe it or not, as you can see on the edge of the icing, I still got it backwards! Oh well, I still think it's very cute so it's a keeper.

Bah, HUMBUG!

This is a "Humbug Bag". I don't know why it's called that because it's so whimsical and cute. It was a workshop at my quilt guild meeting yesterday, and it only took about an hour to complete. The instructions are given for S-M-L bags, and this is Medium at about 7 inches in actual bag height (without handle). It's constructed of pre-quilted fabric with a zipper. I don't know what I'll do with this yet, but my husband thinks our daughter might like it. Want it, Beth? :)

My All Roads "Tipsy House"

Above is the first section in row 3 of my "All Roads Lead to the Sea" quilt, and it reminds me of the "tipsy house" in "Memoirs of a Geisha". It also looks a bit haunted, so additionally I'm reminded of Poe and others. I spent some time embellishing again, so I'm lagging behind Stampin' Quilter Barb. We are doing this quilt together with our stash fabrics, so it's fun to compare mine with hers (below). Peggy, you will especially find this interesting since you are using altogether different fabrics for your BOM version of this quilt. No two "All Roads Lead to the Sea" quilts will be alike, that's neat!

While I was away...

I worked on my "Dear Jane" blocks and finished two that are applique. Here is a photo of all the blocks in row #1. I've been making these quilt blocks off and on for over 2 years (more off than on ;). Today I decided to blog about it in order to add a little pressure. Now you can all hold me accountable to finishing it someday!

FINALLY! My "All Roads Lead to the Sea" first 2 rows

I got sidetracked by embellishing (something I've wanted to try for a long time) so "Stampin' Quilter Barb" and "Stitchin With Peg" got ahead of me on this one. You probably won't see the embellishments unless you enlarge the photo. There are a couple bird nests in the trees, a beacon in the lighthouse, flags on 2 boats, a button door knob, and metallic gold stitching around some windows and the church steeple. I may do more with beads, not sure yet. This is the most difficult quilt I've ever worked on, and it's not even half-done (564 individually cut pieces so far). Matching all the points is hard (many rip-outs and do-overs) -- brain freeze without ice cream!

Another "Cozy Wozy"

This is the 2nd Cozy Wozy I made for a Christmas gift. At the request of my grandson who said his Mom and Dad were always stealing *his* Cozy Wozy, I made this one for his parents (my son and daughter-in-law). Because this family loves to spend time at the Jersey shore, I bought coordinating old-fashioned "Friendship by the Sea" fabrics, a panel with the pictures and the print for sashings. Being a "Cozy Wozy", it's backed with fleece and has no batting. The quilting is done by machine to make it extra durable and washable.

I hope to soon have a photo of the next row of "All Roads Lead to the Sea"! It's been awhile, in fact that quilt was what made me start blogging. Being a scenic quilt and a big project, blogging felt like a good way to "journal" the making of it. However, Stampin' Quilter (The Other Barb) and I got sidetracked by the holidays and the arrival of her first grandchild. Good reasons for procrastination!

A "Cozy Wozy"

I made this for my son for Christmas. He takes a lot of nature photos, thus the butterfly wing fabric (click to enlarge). It looks like a typical quilt, Rail Fence design, but it has no batting. It's backed with fleece and quite warm, so batting isn't needed. Although there are only 2 layers, they still need to be secured, so it's machine-quilted (in the ditch). That makes it extra-durable, which is good because it's meant to be used everyday in front of the TV, while reading, etc. I also made one for my grandson, and he's the one who named it his "Cozy Wozy"!

Project for this week

I admired Peggy's Button Bag weeks ago and decided to make one of my own. I don't know what I will do with it yet, but I love buttons and anything scrappy, so I think it's cute.

A little "Back Art"

My daughter's Celtic quilt (below) was made with batiks, but the pieces are so small that one can't see the design of the fabrics. So I used the same fabrics in large pieces for the quilt back. Suddenly there are leaves and boats!
The label in the bottom right corner has the usual information along with a flower patch that I appliqued onto her favorite teenage jeans years ago. When the jeans got old and she trashed them, I salvaged the flower patch to be used in some nostalgic way, someday.

As promised :)

I wanted so badly to show what I was working on for Christmas, but didn't want to give away any surprises before the big day. So, here is the first one, a batik wall-hanging for my daughter who is a graduate student in Celtic studies. This pattern is from "Celtic Pieced Illusions", a book by Karen Combs. What I like about this book of Celtic patterns is they are pieced, not appliqued. However, there's no strip-piecing, so there were 792 pieces to cut for this quilt. The hardest part was matching the points to keep the design flowing. Don't enlarge and inspect the photo too closely!

By the way, there's a "humility block" in this quilt. So far my daughter hasn't found it. ;)

Quilting Nostalgia -- Part 3 -- end of story!

Here is the last photo of this quilt, the nameplate I put on the back with photos and info about the quilt-makers and a little history.

There's a part of me that feels this quilt belongs in the cotton mill museum, but the curators put together a display about the quilt with my photos, so I've decided to be selfish and enjoy it at home for now instead. Perhaps I'll "will it" to the museum someday.

Family company has gone, and I'm hoping to get back to "All Roads Lead to the Sea" to celebrate the new year.

Quilting Nostalgia -- Part 2 -- LONG JOHNS!

The batting had balled-up in all 4 corners of this 1930s quilt, so I had to start restoration by taking it apart. Wow -- I received quite a surprise when I found a portion of men's long-john underwear along with the batting! It was unmistakable with the placket intact (not sure which placket). I immediately contacted the woman I purchased the quilt from, and she told me the long johns most probably belonged to her grandfather. Nothing was wasted during the depression years, and the long johns added warmth. I put them back into the quilt, and the 2 photos show their ribbed material through a hole I didn't repair because I wanted the long johns to be visible.
Next installment will include the final details of this interesting quilt's story and an additional photo.

Quilting Nostalgia -- Part 1

A fitting post for the holiday season as we receive cards with old-fashioned horse-drawn sleigh scenes, etc. This quilt was in tatters at a flea market where I bought it for $20, and it was *VERY* dirty. Something made me want to try restoring it, and after hearing the following story, I was hooked. The woman selling it told me it was made by her mother (and grandmother) when the mother was a young girl in the 1930s. It was made entirely by hand using a lot of feed-sack fabric, and the larger stitches do seem the work of a beginner. This young girl (the seller's mother) was raised in a worker's cabin on an estate where her parents (the seller's grandparents) were employed as the cook and butler. Hearing this story made this quilt start to feel like a little piece of history, so I asked why she was selling it. She explained she has other quilts made by her mother and grandmother that are in much better condition, so she decided to sell this one. I took a few notes with names and dates, and with a leap of faith about its history, I bought it. It sat in a corner of my sewing room for quite awhile. Restoring it seemed daunting, but I did some research on the family names I had been given. Everything checked out, and in fact there is now a restored museum village at this location because it's the site of one of the first cotton mills in the country. I corresponded with the museum curators and they confirmed the names and dates of those who lived and worked there decades ago. Wow, I thought, I actually do have a little piece of history, so I finally set about restoring it.

This is a l-o-n-g story, so I'll stop here and save the BIGGEST SURPRISE of this quilt for the next installment. It was so much fun -- stay tuned!

I won these blocks!

These two photos show a quilt I made with "Air Castle" blocks won on an Internet "Block-of-the Month" site. The blocks arrived in squishy envelopes for weeks from all over the US and Canada. It was great fun! This quilt was given to our son who lives in Chicago, so this one really got around! The second photo was taken by The Other Barb after the quilt was put together. I hung it outside my front window for her to see -- a unique kind of "Show and Tell" from one house to the other.

All my Christmas gift quilty projects are now done, photographed, and wrapped. I'll share photos as soon as the giftees (who may be checking my blog) have been gifted.

It's a good day for hunkering down in my sewing room, but our daughter is home from grad school for winter break so things are busier than usual here. Happy week before Christmas to all!

Here she is!

As promised in an earlier post about my daughter's memory quilt made with fabric left-over from dresses I sewed when she was a toddler, here is the doll I also made to wear those dresses. The fabric used for this red dress can be seen in a few of the blocks of the memory quilt. The shoes were also my daughter's, but no matter how hard I try, the feet just won't rest in a natural position! ;)

A Memory Quilt

I know I promised a photo or two from our guild holiday luncheon, but I forgot to take my camera. We did have a nice time, and there were no turkey covered dishes!

Instead here's another Show 'n Tell -- a memory quilt I made for our daughter using BOM patterns. It's made with left-over fabric scraps from toddler clothing I sewed for her about 20 years ago. This lap quilt is all cotton except for the striped hat with buttons on the right. That fabric is plush I purchased to make a bath robe for her. I hand-quilted wherever it made sense on this one, mostly outlining or 1/4" from the seams.

She's away at grad school these days, but this quilt remains in her room with a few other things that I'll post in the future.

My first attempt at "scenic"

Hi everyone, I hope the turkey leftovers are gone, and now onward toward the holidays. I'd still LOVE to show you all what I'm working on right now, but must wait so the surprises are not spoiled.
Instead, here is something I did a long time ago. It was my first attempt at putting pieces of fabric together (machine applique, meander quilting by hand in the background) to make a picture. I had no idea what I was doing, and she's w-a-y out of proportion, but I still like her.
I guess I've always been interested in doing something scenic, thus the reason "Stampin' Quilter" (The Other Barb) was able to easily talk me into trying "All Roads Lead to the Sea" with her. I'll get back to posting about that one as soon as the holiday projects are done and delivered.
Have a good week!

Asian Ginger Jars!

Since they are holiday surprises, I still can't post about what I've been spending the most time working on, which is frustrating because I'd like to share!

However, here's a photo of the first 2 blocks in a BOM I'm doing that will end next month. I just love the Asian fabrics, and have held a blank wall in reserve in my sewing room.

Our quilt guild is having it's holiday luncheon on Monday. We are all bringing a covered dish, and I hope they are all not made with turkey! I'll take my camera and share a photo or two next week.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ONE AND ALL!

My pattern-eating mini-Dachshund

I'd like to post about my quilt-making, but I've been spending all my time on a Christmas gift; and I don't want to spoil the surprise by showing it here, so I'll post about my quilt pattern-eating mini-Dachshund instead. She must have needed more fiber in her diet as she ate page 2 of the "All Roads Lead to the Sea" pattern. Here she is, looking very guilty. Thank goodness the other Barb has the whole pattern right across the street.
Happy Thanksgiving!

"All Roads Lead To The Sea" -- Row 2, Block 1

Some have asked, so here's the answer -- although it may appear this scenic quilt is appliqued or paper-pieced, it's entirely rotary cut and machine-pieced. There are 5 rows of various sized blocks in the entire quilt, and it's hard to discern when looking at the photo where the blocks and rows begin and end. My friend and I have started cutting out the pieces that will make the first block in row 2, a log cabin flanked by 4 pine trees. Although this block will be large (14" x 17") it's incredibly made of 134 pieces of fabric. We're about 2/3 finished with cutting the pieces for this block, and we'll finish next time we get together. Cutting and deciding how to assemble the pieces (pinning so we don't forget) is the hardest part, so we do that together. Then we take them to our separate houses to sew on our machines. When we're both done with that, we get together again to cut whatever's next. I'm posting a photo of my block in progress on my design board. The pieces are not sewn together yet, but it gives an idea of the layout. We still have about 50 pieces to cut to complete this block.

"ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE SEA" by Country Creations


OK, here we go -- first post about "All Roads Lead To The Sea"! The photo of the completed quilt is from the pattern image.
This is undoubtedly the most intricate and difficult quilt I've ever tackled! My good friend, another Barb, saw this quilt hung as a "Block of the Month" in a south Jersey quilt shop. She fell in love with it and talked me into doing the project with her. However, she decided to buy only the pattern rather than join the BOM so we could do it at our own pace and use our stash fabrics instead. We get together to cut the units then take them to our across-the-street houses and sewing rooms for assembly. When we are both finished, we get together to cut again. We've decided neither of us would be doing this quilt if we weren't able to work on it together. Two heads are better...etc. etc. Sometimes it takes a second pair of eyes and hands to get the cutting and layout right. It's very tricky in a lot of places!
The other photo show's my friend's completed first row. We have started cutting and assembling the 2nd row, and I'll post a photo of that when it's put together. It's looking pretty good, but the sewing and matching of points hasn't really started yet. Wish us luck!