Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!

Hello, everyone! If you live outside the purple zone on the weather map, you may be unaware how bitterly cold it is here in the Midwest. Our single-digit temperatures and -25° to -40° wind chills are breath-taking cold! Bone-chilling cold! FROSTBITE COLD! Needless to say, we're hunkered down for the duration.

My husband keeps his "expeditions" to a minimum in weather like this, braving the elements only to trek down the sidewalk for mail or to clear the driveway of snow--not that we're going anywhere! Each time he opens the storm door, it whines in icy protest as if to ask, “Are you sure you want to venture out today?”

I'm snug and warm with a cozy new quilt made by my friend, Mary Conley. "The blocks might look familiar," she whispered as she placed it in my lap. Indeed they did; they were red and green nine-patches I'd abandoned almost twenty years earlier! 

I could hardly believe my eyes! Here were those very blocks looking fresh and new in a jaunty on-point setting. Mary's choice of homespun really compliments the nine-patches and ties everything together. 

There's homespun on the back too and swirly quilting for the final blustery touch.

So, here's where you'll find me this winter, wrapped in the comfort of Mary's quilt. In the meantime, Happy New Year and best wishes for 2018!

Will Strip for Fabric!

Hi everyone. Hope you're keeping cool this summer. I get so lethargic and irksome in this heat. Most days, it’s hard to do much more than nap! 

My Piecemaker friends shared photos of quilts they made from our Spider Web fabric exchange. It’s fun to see each quilter's interpretation of this classic string-pieced design. Enjoy! 

And here’s our friend, Patt, dressed as a stripper. How else would you dress for a "strip" swap?

Hey, Macarena!

Hello all! It’s been awhile since I posted a bona fide, start to finish, made with my own two hands kind of quilt. I made this Spider Web, aka Kaleidoscope, in a fabric swap with my "Piecemakers" quilt friends. 

The theme was “pastels” so each of us contributed six yards worth of assorted strips to exchange with the group.

By the day of the swap, three banquet tables overflowed with strips of every color and hue. We paraded around the room to the festive rhythm of “Macarena,” snatching a strip from each table we passed. Between the music, laughter and fabric flying, we looked like a crazy conga line or raucous game of musical chairs. "Hey, Macarena!" 

Some chose their strips at random while others had a particular color scheme in mind. I selected 1930s-style colors and prints for my quilt. 

After sorting and sewing our strips into strata (6 strip sets), we used this 45 Degree Kaleidoscope Wedge Ruler to cut the eight segments required for each block. 

Coordinating the colors within each block was lots of fun... 

but, I liked the scrappiness of mixing random strips almost as much.

Nothing went to waste. My leftover strips found their way into the scrappy border.

I chose a 1930s-style print for the back too and bound the quilt in pink.

Kaleidoscope or Spider Web 

84" x 100"

Machine quilted by Stover Quality Quilting.

Another Year Older

                                         23 February 2017

Dear Barb,

Your birthday quilt arrived and I wish you could see the ear to ear grin on my face. What a happy piece of patchwork to open on a gray February day!

I love a good Log Cabin quilt and this one is charming. Is there anything sweeter than 

pink and blue sitting side by side like this?

The beautiful bird toile on the back makes an elegant foil for the quirky conversation prints on the front of the quilt. Baseball players and baby faces--What fun!

    

Thank you, Barb. Your birthday quilts always take the edge off turning another year older! XO

Scrappy Birthday!

I remember visiting my friend Barb's sewing room many years ago and exploring a drawer full of miscellaneous quilt blocks. You know the type of thing--spare blocks, abandoned blocks or other bits & pieces left from previous quilt projects. What fun it would be, I thought, to arrange them like a puzzle into different quilt designs.

Well, that’s just what Barb did when she made this birthday quilt for me. All the elements came from her stash of "spare parts". The quilt measures 10” x 12” and is randomly set with blocks of various sizes made to fit by adding on or trimming back as need be.

I’m guessing Barb started with the vintage Shoo Fly block, then added Broken Dishes to continue the classic blue and brown color scheme. When the strip of Flying Geese was too long to fit, Barb simply lopped it off leaving a quirky little partial block behind.

Adding to its "make do" charm is a backing pieced from three strips of chintz. It takes a keen eye to spot the seams. Can you find them? Barb also varied her binding just like a long-ago seamstress might had she run out of her intended fabric.

Lastly, a gentle tea bath gives the quilt its aged appearance. Don’t you just love that detail?

Weeks before my birthday, I spotted a vintage bowl on Etsy. "That's just what I need," I told myself. "Wouldn't it look great filled with old buttons, sitting atop a scrappy quilt?"

After Barb's quilt arrived, I raced back to Etsy to buy the bowl. Happy birthday to me!

By the way, here are photos of Barb's actual "miscellaneous block" drawers. Do you see the allure? Wouldn't you love to reach right in there and rummage around? 

Thanks for another great birthday quilt, Barb. They always manage to surprise and delight me! XO

Sweet Hearts

Happy Valentines Day!

At Times Like These

Hello everyone. Where were we when I last posted? Oh yeah, smack dab in the middle of the worst year ever! Twenty-sixteen brought an unrelenting onslaught of disasters -- everything from wildfires, hurricanes and floods to mass shootings, civil unrest and unprecedented political farce. In the midst of it all, a sudden death in the family left me paralyzed with grief.

It's only been nine months, and healing from grief takes time. 

Meanwhile, my friends have stuck by me every step of the way. Lately though, I've noticed them promoting pursuits more constructive than my usual ranting and raving. Kathy keeps asking if I’ve written a new blog post, and Linda has gone so far as to issue an ultimatum: "No new quilt photos until you start blogging again!" 

While social media is hardly a cure for despair, creative endeavors are. To that end, Linda did a deep dive into my sewing room looking for something to pique my interest. Well, something finally did, an assortment of homespun plaids all cut and ready to sew. Kathie Holland, do you remember sending this kit to me years ago?

The blocks are pieced using Mary Ellen Hopkins' “connector corners” technique. Stars cleverly appear as the blocks are sewn together. Wanda Hanson assembled the quilt and added plaids of her own to make it a more functional table runner size.

Wanda chose a lovely striped backing and binding in my favorite colors. I like how her diagonal machine quilting echoes the linear theme.

Plaid Fancy

18" x 27"

Some of the comfort a quilt provides comes from the soul of its maker. This one's imbued with the love and kindness of compassionate friends, who in bringing it to life, restored a bit of my own!