Typical

Toss a quilt on the floor to get a quick picture and a cat will come out of hiding to check it out.  Quilts and boxes, perfect cat traps.



I can't figure out the red eye filter... oh well.

Now the little Ohio Star quilt is all finished and square again (though in the picture it doesn't look like it on the long edge, but it is :)

Painful

It's bad enough having to rip blocks, or quilting...  but when it was hand stitched, ouch.  After Julie and Mary both suggested removing the binding and getting that border squared and quilted, I decided to just do it.  I'll never be happy with this little quilt until it is fixed.

Ohio Stars--Image Heavy

I have an antique quilt that I love that is a scrappy Ohio Star.It has a mix of some great 1880's fabrics, and they alternate with a great purple fabric. The purples of that era can be difficult to find because they are a refuge color. I have some parts of the purples where it looks brown, but the majority is intact. I took some quick pics of it attached to the bottom of this post.

I worked on a doll quilt using the idea of my 1800's Ohio Star, but I used blue as the alternating block since it was what I had in nearly a yard. My error? Not quilting in the strip border. I tossed it in the wash with a few other quilts for a quick wash and I ended up being very unhappy with how it came out. I pressed it and attempted to re-square it (it was totally squared up when I applied the binding), but I cannot send that out to someone for the doll quilt exchange. Though the stars are wonderful 3" blocks, that dang border ruined what I hoped for in the quilt. I'm not really sure what I'll do with it next.




And now some pictures of my purple Ohio Star quilt. A friend handquilted it for me, I absolutely love this quilt!  From what I can tell, there are 56 different fabrics used for the stars.


Some madders:






Other gorgeous fabrics:












The star on the left was a purple, but now the purple is gone:


I bought the quilt top back when they were pretty inexpensive to come by on Ebay.  I don't know if prices have come down or not, it's been a long time since I have bid on anything there.  My winning bid for this top was $79.  A friend of mine handquilted it for me, I included a reproduction fabric for the back, but the binding is a black mourning print from the 1880s.  I wish I had a huge place to display this quilt in its entirety, but I do display it once a year in my rotation.

Clicking through the pictures, you can make them larger at flickr if you would like to see more detail in the prints.

Hexagons

I couldn't stand it.  I decided to go ahead and unsew the one offending hexagon and turn it.  So now the top diamond has all its hexagons in the right place now :)  I also finished a fourth.



Now I'm ready to prep some more!

A New Exchange

I came across a blog post for a doll quilt swap and I decided to go ahead and join.  It's been (I think!) YEARS! since my last exchange, I have been burnt out by them and I have a lot of blocks that need to be put together.  I don't recall ever being a part of a finished quilt swap however, and the small scale of 24" or less was appealing to me.

The likelihood that anyone that I am matched with actually reads my blog (except Mary... do you think we'll be partners? :) is slim, so I am going to go ahead and post my progress and thoughts on what I'm doing.

The first thing I thought about doing was something with hexagons.  Judy D, guess what?  I am using your cute little 3/4" hexies.   I know that top diamond has a hexie that wasn't placed exactly right, but they are small enough that I wasn't concerned about changing it:


I had an idea in mind which uses 13 diamonds. I actually sewed these fairly quickly, but I don't know if I can give it up after it's finished! I am going to keep on working on this and decide if this will be the doll quilt for the exchange (I have until the end of May to mail off).

But then... I came across this quilt:
http://www.stellarubinantiques.com/items/1222179/item1222179sra.html
Description: Double Pyramids pattern crib quilt (aka Old Maid's Puzzle)that is ever so Pennsylvania. The rust and yellow calico color combination is typical of Lancaster County where this was made. The blocks are nicely scaled to make a child size quilt. Excellent condition; circa 1880. Measures 37 1/2" x 39". Backing is a beautiful brown plaid.

I fell in love with it.  I don't have a red/yellow print, but I do have a lot of pinks to use in place of the red, and I used up my cheddar fabric for the yellow.  The center is a different pink print--slightly darker than the final border, I ended up using up both of those pink fabrics as well.  The repro fabrics came from my stash which I had been collecting to complete my Jane Stipple quilt, and since that quilt is all done, it was nice to come across an exchange that called for them.  They aren't my typical fabrics that I am drawn to, but sometimes I love the rich browns and other prints from the 1800's.  I was thinking about using up some shirting fabrics for this exchange, but that just didn't happen.  This quilt top is approx 21", the cute blocks are 3".


So which quilt will be exchanged--or will I make a third??  I really wish I had more madder prints to play with!

Dulling My Joy?

I always thought the phrase was harshing my mellow :)  Anyway....

A study came across my screen a couple of days ago and it gave me pause.  Article: Your pain reliever may also be diminishing your joy I have been having tooth pain for the better part of five years.  It started off as a dull, tired feeling, but as of the past year and a half it has been sensitive to cold and hot--as a shooting pain that makes my toes curl and tears up my eyes.  I have been dealing with it by taking tylenol mainly.  The dentist I used to go to never came up with a plan and it frustrated me to no end.  I finally had enough in December and called a new dentist (after a ton of research).  She suggested two plans, one was a bite adjustment and the other was a root canal.  We started with the bite adjustment and it actually did feel better after about a week... but then the pain came back.  I finally called about the referral and today I finally had the root canal done.  It went perfectly with zero pain.

So now, back to the article.... Could Tylenol have been dulling my creative joy? I have had such a hard time lately even feeling motivated for much of anything.  I am going to test that hypothesis and stay off of the acetaminophen for a month and see if the dullness goes away or if I am just a dull person in general :)

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Now to add some pretty pictures.  We got back on Tuesday from a short vacation to Ocean Shores, WA.  We arrived to warmish weather and no wind.  Day two it poured down rain, but by the evening the rain stopped and we were able to visit the beach again. I also got some great pictures.  The last day had some rain, but started off with sun.  It was a nice way to end.

We boarded our dog and boy was he happy when I came to pick him up.  Also the cat (who we left alone for two nights) was like glue to my side.  The last picture shows the buddies together again.  Enjoy.











Water spout or squall?  It was there for a long time.




Final blast


Reunited

QM April Bitty Blocks

I'm trying so hard to get my sewing mojo back, it has been difficult to do.  Ever since our last kiddo came into our family, my brain has been fried.  Finding the moments where I feel like creating have been fleeting, and I try and grab them whenever they come.  I'm not quite sure what is going on with me but I'm trying to rectify it.

The last two days I have been working on QM's Bitty Blocks for April.  I have 16 finished (just worked out that way when I was cutting), so for that extra block I may add it to other extra blocks for the quilt top.  Though the fabrics I am choosing are blue and white, I am thinking that for the flying geese rows (for the larger size quilts) I will make those blocks in a different color--maybe red or orange.






I did order backing fabric for an engagement/wedding quilt for our oldest son... one step closer to quilting it up!  I started it a year ago :)   I am seriously considering sending it out to a longarm quilter, but I haven't decided yet.  After I get the backing fabric, I will then decide.

Oh!  I forgot to write in my last blog post about finally using up all the bobbin thread that came with my featherweight.  That last bobbin had 6 different kinds of thread on it!  Just when I thought I finally used it all up, bam!  Another color of thread was wound on it.  So now at this point I am finally using the same top/bobbin thread.

And one more update:  Even though my sewing mojo is lacking, I have been sewing on the hexagons.  I only have five more flower garden blocks left before I start on the background.  I think I have that part figured out, but we'll see what I commit to.