Another Quilt From the Archives

Here's a pic of a quilt I made during 1980-81. It's a standard pattern that can be found in most quilt block encyclopedias called "Jewel Box." I saw an Amish quilt in a show that I simply fell in love with. It was a completely different pattern but I loved it-the colors more than anything. If some one is not familiar with Amish quilts, they are made from solid color fabrics. Even though the fabrics can be bright, as long as they are solid color fabric it's OK. Prints are considered too worldly, thus they use none of those. To the right are some examples of Amish quilts. They are all done in the solid colors I mentioned. I found the photos at The Amish Quilt Connection on the internet.

These are just a few of many that are pictured for sale. I could never afford the prices they are asking, so since I could I make my own, I did. I've done about 8 different size and pattern wall hangings from small to large. Working with the solid colors is fun and challenging.

The quilt I had seen used a dark purple grape fabric for the background and then lots 0f the lighter softer colored fabrics for the rest, so I replicated the colors in my quilt. It's all pieced by hand. I had always wanted to quilt it by hand but that is too time consuming since I work. I actually didn't have the top quilted until 2006 and then I had a professional machine quilter do it for me. She did quilting patterns in the Amish style and it did turn out beautifully. I have given up any hope of hand quilting any of my quilt tops that I have made over the year so am having them done one by one. As I've mentioned in previous posts in learning how to do all aspects of quilt making by machine. As the saying goes "So many quilts, so little time!" And now I've thrown Crocheting into the mix. The one thing better about crochet is when you're done, you're done. All that needs to be done is bury the loose ends. With a quilt you just have the top, and a lot more work to go. Even though I am lovin' crochet my quilting will always get equal time.

Mile-A-Minute Quilting

Here's my quilt from the July Sit & Sew at Miss Millie's, the Quarter Square Log Cabin Block. We had the choice of making anything from a table topper to a king size quilt. This time I decided on a lap size so maybe I could get it done faster. I also decided to try the Mile-A -Minute technique to machine quilt it. I've had this book for a couple of years and just didn't get my nerve up to try it. It's like quilt as you go but in long strip sections instead of just single blocks. I've tried to do some regular quilting on my sewing machine and it was just so hard to manipulate. I gave up. Then I found this book and knew I had to try quilting on my sewing machine once more.

The Sit & Sew was a lot of fun. Because of space there is a limit of 10. There were quilters I knew and some I didn't so I made some new friends. We all had such a good time. We paid 5.00 for supper. This time pizza, snacks, and ice cream. And we sewed for about 4 hours straight. It's amazing what you can get done with no interruptions except talking. Since the Sit & Sew was so popular it is continuing. I, along with most of the other Friday Nighters signed up again for the August Sit &Sew which was this past Friday. And we signed up again for September. Because of the response there's a Saturday one and a Sunday one will probably start. It's really nice to be using our stashes and not have to buy fabric for the project. Of course there always seems to be some little thing that we need. Luckily we're in a quilt shop where we can find every thing.

Oh, and as usual someone was in the middle of my quilt while I took it's picture.Good ole Cotton had to walk all over it . The kitty stamp of approval.

Another Daisy Square

Just a quick pic of my second Daisy Square.
Actually the first one I did seemed to turn out good. I can see I'm still learning and made some small errors on this one. It just will take practice and making a few more, which I am. The more I make the better they will get and I'll learn from my mistakes. I want my squares to be nice before I send any to KrochetKrystal. As they say "Maybe the third time will be the charm."

Kittens

Well, we've got more kittens. My son lives out in the country and about 2 weeks ago found these little guys on the side of the gravel road leading to his house. He's an animal lover like the rest of our family so of course took them home. He has had lots of pets so knows how to care for animals. The problem was he just didn't realize how young they were. My daughter lives the closest to him and on Sunday got a phone call from him saying the little yellow one was limp and very sick and maybe dying and the grey one wouldn't stop crying. My daughter rushed to his house and then called me. We decided to call our veterinarian and she said to bring them to the office, so my daughter did. There was nothing wrong with them except they were hungry and cold(even in this hot weather we're having) The shocker was they were only 4 weeks old right now. They needed more than kitten food and regular milk. My daughter decided to care for them at her home. The vet said to be sure and keep them warm holding them as much as possible and get as much as the special mothers milk formula into them feeding every couple of hours. By the afternoon it was like a miracle. Their bellies were bulging and they were both active and playful. They just needed lots more care and a surrogate mother which my daughter became. They are really cute little guys-both boys. Now we've just got to decide where they will make their home. Where ever it will be a good one.

KROCHET KRYSTAL'S DAISY SQUARE

Well, I finally finished a Daisy Square. This one will stay with me as a sample that I can use for a guide in making my next ones. I was a little bit of a trial but I finally got it after crocheting and ripping and crocheting and ripping, etc. It becomes very rewarding for me to learn something new and complete it. I've thought about making one each of the of the patterns in the 200 granny squares book but wondered if I could understand all of the instructions. Making this pattern has given me some confidence. And it's really a neat square.

If you'd like to make some squares for Krystal Krochet for charity, check out her blog.(http://krochetkrystal.blogspot.com/2006/09/daisy-flower-crochet-charity-square.html) She very generously will get a copy of the pattern to you and-you may use it for some of your own purposes- which is very unusual She just would like you to make some squares for her ongoing charity project.

Still Rippleing Along

I'm still working on my first ripple. I really like crocheting on it the most late at night while just watching TV. It's my quiet time when still up by myself. I've been working on my different quilt projects and some small crochet projects and granny's, so have limited my ripple time right now. I am looking forward to finishing it and starting another (or maybe starting another before I finish this one). I really think I am totally hooked on crochet and will give up trying to knit except for sox. There are enough mistakes in this afghan where I forgot to increase or decrease but they aren't visible. When I reach the next row I just do some correction there. I'm sure not all crochet is as forgiving but this ripple is. Even though I have made mistakes I'm going to finish something and will have built up some confidence. This was a learning process for me, anyhow. Now that I've learned the technique I can pay more attention to what I am doing(and do it and not have to worry so much about the learning part). When I first started it I didn't understand the rhythm of a pattern row. Then all of a sudden everything makes sense. For years I've wanted to crochet, not just grannys. I'm finally there!!!!

My Medallion Wallhanging

This wall hanging was made in 1980 when Jessica was about 1 1/2. We've always had cats helping me quilt by laying in the middle of whatever I was working on, but I also had Jessica always helping in her own way. I mentioned in a previous post that I was taking my first quilting classes when I found out I was pregnant. As time has passed I can equate quilts I've made to her age.

I took a class on medallion quilts. We had to plan out the quilt and do some drafting to make our different borders fit as the quilt grew. I decided on stars as the main blocks for it and then had to size them so each row would fit. Whoever may have been quilting and taking classes in the 80's can remember that they were a lot longer. I think this one was 6-8 weeks, meeting once a week and doing homework the rest of the time. This quilt is all hand pieced and hand quilted.
There are about 860 pieces in the stars. I am amazed at what I could do back then. I didn't have to work outside our home, just did the bookkeeping for our business, so had quite a bit of time. And then there was nap time. Pure quilting joy.

Now that my kids are all grown I work full time at our business so not as much quilting time. I'm going more to machine work learning to do all the techniques that way. I've already posted some of my first time tries at applique. I made 3 quilts pieced by machine in 2006. I joined the Thimbleberries Club at Miss Millie's quilt shop and there are always different club quilts being offered. I'm getting a lot of machine sewing experience with them. I'll be posting Pics of those later on.

Blue and Lilac Granny

Does anyone else have so many projects, both finished and unfinished, that you forget you have something. The granny above is one of those items for me. I think I didn't like it a whole lot while crocheting it thus the forgetfulness about it. I was looking for one of my quilts in my Steralite clear plastic container jungle in my basement. (Over the last few years I have been buying so many of the large ones and organizing all of my belongings in them, from my china and crystal to my kids special keepsakes, just everything. Then I realized how nice they would be for storing-but better for organizing- all of my quilting, crochet, and craft supplies along with finished quilts, etc. that I don't use all of the time. )I have stacked them about 4 high and put them in rows so I can see what's in them. Any how I was looking through my containers with quilts in them and found this at the bottom of one. I made it about 15 years ago when I was tired of making little granny squares with all those yarn ends to weave in. I thought one big rectangle granny square would be nice to try, and a lot less yarn ends. Then what really inspired me was the closeout baskets at Wal- Mart. Mind you this is 15 years ago. They had 4 oz skeins of a soft knitting worsted weight yarn for 25 cents each but of course limited colors. They had the dark blue, lilac, brite rose, light orange, light green and dark green. There were a few other colors but not enough to make an afghan with. Since there were lots of each if these colors I bought, I think,8 skeins of each of the 5 colors. 40-4oz skeins for only $10.00. I had a pile of yarn. I used the blue and lilac for this project and the other 3 colors were used in an Annie's attic mile a minute afghan. (It's not done yet- I'll have to find it and get it finished. That will be a post for another time) I think I ramble on too much, sometimes. Anyway back to the big granny. It was fun for a while but then just the two colors got really boring. I eventually finished it but it got to be a struggle. When it was done I put it away without even weaving in the ends. But it only cost me $4.00 for the 16 skeins of yarn. Now I think I might want to love it a little and want to cozy under it on some cold winter days that I'm really looking forward to. It's 104 degrees today. The thermometer has been hovering around 100 degrees for almost 2 weeks. I've had enough!

Subcouciously in a purple mood?

In the last two months I have chosen purples (and greens, too) for three projects and didn't realize what I had done until this morning. I was laying my blocks out for my 1/4 square log cabin from the sit and sew, getting ready to assemble the quilt top. For my setting strips I'm using a dark purple and green batik fabric which I used the class on Saturday to make the fabric bowl pictured. When I picked the fabric for the bowl, I thought the batik would be pretty and did want something more subtle than print fabric for my first try, didn't think about it being purple. While cutting the strips for the bowl I thought it would be nice for quilt setting strips. I had been struggling a little trying to figure out how I wanted to put the quilt top together. So now I'm almost done assembling the top and the bowl was finished at the class on Saturday. Lastly the Sunbonnet Sue wall hanging( about 18" square) is for Missouri Girls Town. I needed to put a sleeve on the back and add a decorative rod. When I took it to where I was sewing and laid it down I saw purple again. Pam at Miss Millie's had asked anyone who would like, to make a wall hanging. I chose the purples when I started it two months ago. They will be donated in October and hung throughout the rooms, just to do something nice for the kids( last year we made Christmas stockings and the year before cute pillow cases for everyone.) Miss Millie's does something for Girls Town every year and lots of us participate. It really surprised me to see how similar all three of these items are in coloring.

What I'm Reading

I had never hear of this book until a few months ago. I was in Joann's having some fabric cut and visiting with some of the employees, whom I know on a first name basis. What else can I say besides what is the name of my blog. Anyhow, we got to talking and got on the subject of books especially fantasy like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc., and started making recommendations to each other. The store manager said she had read a book called "Wicked" and loved it. I had never heard of it. I love books and read as much as I can between working, Quilting and Crocheting.I did go right out and buy it but just now got around to starting it this weekend. I sat down and read about 50 pages so far and I enjoyed what I read. I took a 5 hour class at Miss Millie's Quilt Shop on Saturday, read Saturday nite, and then spent time Sunday trying to get close to finishing my quilt from the Friday nite sit and sew. Then there's the normal minimum of cooking and straightening. Not a lot of time to read right now. I'll just have to read in spurts I guess. Too much quilting and crocheting I both want and need to do.

2nd Second Saturday Block

Another block finished for the Second Saturday Sampler. This one was more difficult with all the layering, but I got it done. Actually the picture looks pretty good. I would say "don't look too close" because there are some sewing errors."

Thank Heaven for invisible thread. I've decided not to worry so much about perfection of the quilt this time around but concentrate on perfecting my machine applique skills. I've been hand appliqueing for many years and there is much more room for working out the errors or just redoing my work. The one thing bad about machine applique is once you start on a shape you really don't want to stop till done. And machine applique has very tight stitching which I don't even want to try to pick out. Oh well, I'm satisfied enough with it.

Jessica's Baby Quilts

I almost forgot about these quilts. I made the pink one for Jessica right after she was born. Back in 1978 (the dark ages?) it wasn't the norm to find out what gender your baby would be. We all just waited for the birth. I got the girl after two boys. I wanted something quick that could be thrown on the floor, dragged around, etc. so I came up with this. Made it in a few days. The binding by hand took a little while. I had just machine pieced the squares. A friend was having a baby and of course we didn't know what it would be so I made both a pink and blue quilt. That way I'd be ready. It too was a girl so she got the pink one. No little boys came along so Jessica got the blue one, too. Those 2 quilts were dragged from pillar to post. My boys-Troy and Kraig-liked going to the movies and I realized I could buy a whole lot of popcorn and a snacks for what a baby sitter would cost. I decided to pack up a bag with everything Jessica would need along with one of her quilts and tried taking her to the show with us. And it worked . She was always so good. I'd just wrap her up and she'd take a nap all cozy in her quilt. At that time kids under 5 got in free so it worked out great. As she became a toddler she liked going to see the movies and having popcorn and she'd drag that blankie along. There were always lots of good movies for kids. As Troy got older, it was just me, Kraig and Jessica. Then when Kraig got to old to go with mom, It was just me and Jess. The kids and I enjoyed many a matinee. At home she always used a quilt when napping, sometimes on the floor while I sewed, rather than in bed. When it was nap time she'd say "make me a mess(meaning nest)" and I'd wrap her up in the quilt. Both quilts are still in good shape after many many washings. Now they're packed away safely for when Jessica wants them.

MOM'S TABLECLOTHS AND LINENS

Today I feel the need to go back in time to when life was simpler and not so busy. I was reading someones blog a day or so ago but I can't remember whose it was. She was wishing for the time when thing went a little bit slower. I find myself wishing that more and more. There just seems to be so much pressure. A lot of different things are dependant on me in our business and lately it's been wearing on me. It's not a hard job, it's just hard keeping track of everything for ourselves. I can remember working at regular jobs- just put in your hours and go home. Being self-employed, work goes home with you and that gets tough, sometimes.

When I have a day off I try to cram so much into it. Of course there is always some house cleaning and straightening but I keep that at a minimum. Every night I do a few jobs so there are not as many left for my off day. Then I have more time for my quilting, crochet, reading, etc. I try to do a little of each or dedicate myself to one project that I really want to get finished. And just try to enjoy the day and the little things like hearing the birds singing outside, watching a squirrel play in the yard or seeing the wind blowing through the trees.Today I was off and planned ahead so didn't have much housework at all. I've been straightening my linen closet for a few days now. I didn't want to do it all in one day. It's a large closet about 3 feet deep and 6 feet wide and tall with lots of shelves and it's full. Lately I've just been shoving stuff wherever and not worrying about it, and it has gotten messy. So the other day I just started emptying the shelves and putting things on the double bed in an extra bedroom. I filled it with stacks of sheets and blankets, all kinds of towels, tablecloths and miscellaneous linens. And there were still more shelves to empty. I've been re stacking everything and and getting all the similar items together. It's all going to go back in and a lot neater. Today I did put quite a bit back and was emptying the last shelf when I found one thing I had been looking for and a bunch of thing I forgot were there. First was a beautiful hand crocheted tablecloth that a neighbor's mother had made for me about 30 years ago . I'm going to post photos of it on the crochet along. But what I was also very happy to find were my moms tablecloths and linens that I had put there a few years ago. She did a lot of embroidery as a young wife. When she moved here she decided to give them to me since she doesn't use them. She has a nice little condo but also is not a pack rat like her daughter. She keeps what she needs to use and that's all. I am the queen of pack rats. If it has a memory or is something belonging to some one I love I save it.

I haven't wanted to use any of the tablecloths for fear of damaging or staining them, but now i can. At Christmas i had a nice holiday cloth on my kitchen table and was worried about something happening to it. So I got a brite idea and went to Joann fabrics and got some clear vinyl by the yard. Enough to cover the table a protect the cloth. Today I took my plain cloth of and put one of my mom's on the table, then put on the vinyl. Now I will be able to use then all the time. Some I remember being on the table when I was a child. Others I remember stored in the china cabinet drawers. There are some that are just old timey prints from the 30s and 40s and some that were also hand embroidered by my mom. It will give me a special feeling when I look at them(all warm inside). I decided to photograph them all before putting them back on the shelf. so here are those photos. I've decided to keep an album of everything I post as a history That we can pull out and look at anytime. I will always want a paper trail. Don't like to think of everything just stored in a computer.

Anyhow, I have lots of great memories growing up. Not quite "Leave it to beaver" but close. Weren't those the good ole days. The little corner grocery, the five and dime, neighborhood bakeries-everything within walking distance. Times now are good but there's something special about those times. Things just did move more slowly and there was time to, as Mac Davis sings ,"Stop and smell the roses." I was able to be a stay at home mom for all 3 of my kids. I either worked part time evenings in retail stores or did day care when our two boys were young and before we had our business. After that I did the bookkeeping at home while my daughter was young . I worked off and on at the store as the kids could take care of themselves and now that they're not at home anymore I work full time again. I guess it sounds silly but I miss those simple times. Both when I was a care free kid running an errand to the grocery or going to get some penny candy for myself, and then when I grew up and was able to be with my little kids and take care of my home. I always had some time for my sewing , needlework, and crafts and reading. All 3 of the kids were good afternoon nappers so there was always time for me. We'd have lunch, crawl in bed and read a book or play a quick game, and fall asleep. Then I usually had a couple of hours for myself.

Enough of my whining. I think I'm very lucky to have such fond memories. Here are the pretty linens of my moms.