Spring At Last

Earlier this spring, my friend Debbie shared photos from Flowers on Fargo, a private garden in Geneva, Illinois. Each year it attracts locals and visitors alike, first with crocuses and tulips, then with other flowering trees and perennials. E sure to check out the link above. 

I've always liked the crocuses bestof The moment they emerge, often while there's still snow on the ground, their hardy blooms seem to dance with abandon like they're grateful to be leaving winter behind... and aren't we all?

   

crocuses blanketing the landscape like a colorful patchwork quilt. 

Perhaps it's the colors that drew me to this vintage Dutchman's Puzzle quilt. Do you suppose the maker had crocuses in mind when she pieced those purple triangles or was this just a popular color scheme in the 1940s?

All those triangles

poking through a bed of white

to dance their way across a quilt

sure look like crocuses to me!

Wishing you all a happy spring & summer!

Midwinter Blues

Hello everyone! I had a birthday recently and with it came this marvelous quilt from Barb Vedder. You may recognize it as Midwinter Blues, a pattern designed by Lori DeJarnatt for her 2014 Humble Quilts sew-along. Double-click photos for more detail.

Aren't Barb's fabrics exquisite? I've never seen such deep, saturated blues or bold cheddar prints! All those patchwork points and angles could make for a "lively" quilt, especially when high contrast fabrics like these are used, but Barb managed to tame that energy with a couple clever tricks.

First, she used gentle curves of teacup quilting to draw the focus away from the angular patchwork itself.

Second, Barb minimized the impact of her machine quilting by swapping standard cotton thread with silk in a neutral gold color, Look closely and you'll see how the stitches practically melt into the background leaving just a hint of texture behind. 

There are often surprises on the back of Barb's quilts, and this one's no exception. It's a patriotic print with the phrase "E pluribus unum" or "Out of many, one."  All I can say is, out of many pieces came one fantastic quilt!

You can see by the label that Barb originally made this quilt for her dear friend, Mary Borst. After Mary passed away, Barb thought I might enjoy having it seeing as Mary and I were college classmates as well as good quilt friends. Thanks, Barb. You bet I will! XO

 

Instructions for the Midwinter Blues quilt are still available on Lori's Humble Quilts blog: 

Part 1,  Part 2,  Part 3,  Finale.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful!

If you live outside the purple zone on the weather map, you may be surprised to hear how bitterly cold it is here in the Midwest. Current temperatures are in the single-digits with wind chills of -25° to -40°. That's breathtaking cold! Bone-chilling cold! FROSTBITE COLD! Needless to say, we're hunkered down for the time being.

In weather like this, my husband keeps his expeditions to a minimum, braving the elements only to trek down the driveway for mail or to shovel us out... not that we're going anywhere. Every 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 keeping warm with a cozy new quilt that my friend, Mary Conley, surprised me with. "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 years ago! 

They look fresh and new in this jaunty on-point setting. Don't you love how the homespun plaid sets them off?

The red homespun backing makes it even more inviting!

Thanks again Mary. Whatever plans I once had for these blocks, your beautiful quilt far exceeded them!

Happy New Year everyone and best wishes to you all!

Will Strip for Fabric!

Hi everyone. I hope you're keeping cool this summer! Temperatures like these (90 degrees plus with high humidity) wreak havoc with my MS. In other words, it's not the best day for blogging, but I can certainly cobble a few photos together.

In my previous post, I described our quilt group's fabric exchange and the making of my own Spider Web quilt. This time, I thought you'd enjoy seeing other quilts resulting from the swap. It’s fun to compare each quilter's interpretation of this classic string-pieced design. Enjoy! Most photos will enlarge.

And here’s our friend Patt who came dressed as a stripper... because how else would you dress for a "strip" swap?

Hey, Macarena!

Hello all! It’s been a while 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 exchange with my Elmhurst "Piecemakers" quilt group. 

The theme for our swap was “pastels.” Each participant contributed six yards worth of assorted pastel fabrics, precut into various width strips.

On the day of the swap, banquet tables overflowed with strips of every value and hue. We paraded around the room to the rhythm of the “Macarena,” snatching a strip from each table we passed. Between the festive music, hysterical laughter, and fabric flying we looked more like a drunken conga line than our usual sedate selves. "Hey, Macarena!" 

Some quilters chose 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 sets, we used this handy 45 Degree Kaleidoscope Wedge Ruler to cut the eight segments needed for each block. 

Coordinating the colors within each block was fun... 

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

Nothing went to waste. Even leftover strips found their way into my scrappy border.

I used a 1930s-style floral print on the back and bound the quilt in pink. Isn't it sweet?

Kaleidoscope or Spider Web 

84" x 100"

Machine quilted by Stover Quality Quilting.

Another Year Older

                                         23 February 2017

Dear Barb,

My 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 just love these scrumptious pinks and blues sitting side by side like this.

The elegant bird toile on the back is a perfect foil for those quirky conversation prints on the front of the quilt. Baseball players and baby faces--So much fun! 

    

Thanks for your beautiful birthday quilts, Barb. They always take the edge off turning another year older. 💕

Scrappy Birthday

I'ii never forget a visit to my friend, Barb's, sewing room where she revealed the secret behind much of her design process. It was a drawer full of miscellaneous quilt blocks leftover from previous projects. Wouldn't it be fun, I thought, to arrange them like puzzle pieces into various quilt designs?

It turns out that's precisely what Barb did when she made this year's birthday quilt. All the elements were "pieces and parts" of other projects made to fit by adding on or trimming down 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, Barb simply lopped it off leaving a quirky little partial block behind.

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

Finally, a gentle tea bath gave the quilt its aged appearance. Don’t you love Barb's attention to detail?

Weeks before my birthday, I spotted a vintage blue 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?"

When just such a quilt arrived, I raced back to Etsy and bought the bowl. Happy birthday to me!

By the way, here are Barb's actual "miscellaneous block" drawers. Do you see the allure of reaching in and having a rummage around? 

Barb, Thank you for another great birthday quilt! They always manage to surprise and delight me. ❤️