A Pumpkin Extravaganza

Every autumn when the chill sets in, I get a hankering for pumpkin. None of those “pumpkin spice” imposters, mind you, but the real deal! My friend, Linda, recently shared a mouthwatering assortment of fresh-baked pumpkin goodies, including cream cheese frosted pumpkin bars, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies (not pictured for some reason) and pumpkin whoopee pies. What better way to display them than on a Pumpkin Seed doll quilt!

Here’s an autumn-inspired doll quilt with a pumpkin theme. The pattern is Pumpkin Seed, a slight variation of the popular Orange Peel design. In this case, the appliquéd segments are a bit narrower than the more robust Orange Peel.

18” x 21”

My friend and former QBU colleague, Mary Radke, made the quilt top for me, using Cherrywood hand dyed cotton fabrics. Mary machine appliquéd each pumpkin seed segment to a background square. I hand quilted, outlining each segment and continuing the pumpkin seed design into the border. The design turned the corners nicely at the top of the quilt, but since the bottom corners were unresolved, I filled the space with the date of completion.

Have a great Thanksgiving. I’m very thankful for you!

To Everything There Is A Season

Hello everyone. I love the changing colors of fall. Our Autumn Purple Ash trees put on quite a show. Their outer leaves turned a rich russet color while the inner ones remained gold. When the sun shown through the foliage, the trees seemed to glow from within. 

It's hard to capture in photos, but the effect was truly extraordinary! 

At the same time, we're transitioning my parents from their home of forty years into supervised care. Dad’s dementia and Mom’s tenuous health make it unsafe for them to be on their own anymore. To everything there is a season. 

Here's an autumn inspired quilt I made using reproduction fabrics.

These anvil blocks make a handsome quilt when set on point “strippy” style. I like how the dark browns set off the other colors. 

Each 8-inch block is machine quilted with a feathered wreath. 

Anvil Strippy Quilt

Checkin' In

You know it’s been too long between posts when your nonbloggy friends point out your infrequent updates. I got an email from my buddy Sheila recently, asking what the heck I've been up to. Well, there’s plenty going on, just very little that’s appropriate to share here on a quilt blog.

Health and family matters require my energy and attention right now. I need a little time to process all that’s happening. When I can write about things without sounding like I’m completely spilling my guts, I’ll share. I know many of you have dealt with the same issues I’m facing. They’re not new, just new to me.

In the meantime, let’s look to quilts for the solace and distraction they provide. My quilt (above) was inspired by a late 1800’s quilt (below) which appears in Sandi Fox’s book, Small Endearments: Nineteenth-Century Quilts for Children and Dolls.


I don’t know if I tried to recreate the antique quilt from memory or if I was just lazy, but I substituted four patch blocks for the nine patches of the original quilt. The result resembles the antique enough to please me.

The primary fabrics are from Harriet Hargrave's Heirloom Collection, produced in the mid 1990's. It was a great line of reproduction fabric, with lots of fine detail and several strong colors.


The background fabric is a mottled chocolate brown print which makes the quilt look old while still letting the colors shine.


Mine looks like it could do with a good pressing before it gets quilted!

Thanks for checkin' in on me!

A Vacation Souvenir

Our family vacations tend to center around what my husband and kids enjoy--Civil War battlefields & other historic sites, museums, zoos & aquariums, or driving 22 hours to see family in Florida. Sometimes it feels like I’m just along for the ride. 

Of course, the best vacations have something for everyone, and our recent trip out West included a stop at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, home to both dinosaurs and an impressive collection of quilts!

This spunky nine patch was my favorite. Made by Mollie Stine for her daughter Alice, it traveled with the family from Missouri to Montana in 1898. Details of their covered wagon journey were documented in a Bozeman newspaper (below).

double CLICK to read

Two hundred twenty-four nine patch blocks pack a punch, especially when a wide array of browns are paired with bold cheddar. The interplay of color in this quilt creates an energy that's palpable!

Source

I began piecing nine patches the minute we got home! but I'm afraid my dream of duplicating the Stine quilt is a no go. The rotary cutting and machine piecing are beyond me

Updated June 2018: No quilt yet, but I did share some blocks with my friend, Barb. Hope she enjoys them!

Fiber Therapy

Vicki Hodge from "What a Load of Scrap" celebrated her first year of blogging with a fabulous fabric giveaway--a chance to win 5 fat quarters and 50 3” squares of beautiful reproduction fabrics. I seldom enter drawings, but Vicki's prize was hard to resist. Lo and behold, I won!

Vicki, thanks for such an awesome prize! I can't stop petting, sorting, mixing, matching, and imagining all the possibilities these fabrics hold for projects yet to come.

Update: Vicki Hodge has a new blog, “From the Button Box” as well as a book, Button Box Quilts. Check them out!

Gilding the Lily, Part 5

As you can see, I finally settled on a traditional layout for my Carolina Lily quilt. Plain alternate blocks give those busy lilies some much needed breathing room. They are now the focal point of the quilt, without overwhelming the whole design.

Those 15 ½” setting squares and 7” borders provide yet another opportunity for choice, this time, of a quilting motif. Will I decide on something tasteful or will I cross the line again, between classic elegance and over embellishment? Wait and see.

I found a gorgeous inspiration quilt at Feathered Fibers (Click the photos for more incredible detail). Everything about this quilt is perfect. In fact, if I had seen it 18 years ago, it would have saved me a lot of grief in the design department! 

Let me know if you can recommend a machine quilter who stitches like that! Thanks.

Gilding the Lily, Part 4

With a betrothal announced, I finally had an incentive to get this quilt finished. As usual though, I couldn’t do it myself. That’s what I get for waiting 18 years!

I’ve mentioned my awesome quilt friends before. They’ve come to my rescue many times, finishing ill-fated projects with their expert needle skills. This time, they were particularly generous and agreed to assemble an entire quilt top for me!

What makes their gesture so poignant is that these are the same friends who made my son this baby quilt 23 years earlier. They’ve known James his whole life and put such love into both quilts.


Here are my dear friends Mary, Sheila and Kathy. Ever modest, they insisted on squatting for this photo, to show off more of the quilt.


And here they are again, striking a more glamorous pose. They'll be furious that I shared this photo, but I just love it. Their personalities really shine through!