Bag of vintage blocks

 Sometimes it's just impossible to drop by a thrift store and not give something a new home.  Recently I stopped in at the little store that supports the food shelf in the small town near our cabin.  This little bag of 3-inch fabric squares and some partially made blocks came home with me for a mere $1.50.  Of course I also made a cash donation to the food shelf, and dropped off 5 boxes of items that will not be making their way into our remodeled cabin.  Win, win!

What sweet fabrics I discovered when I got home!  Clearly they were the discards and leftover pieces from some quilter's projects in the 1970's.  Some fabrics were much older, maybe late 50's or early 60's.  

The fabrics in the little 4-patch are adorable!
That red mini-print is definitely 1970's.

There were four finished blocks in red, white and navy.
Hopefully I can make another four to put with them.

Not sure what these were, but they're coming apart.
Every seam is double stitched and backstitched.  UGH!

What would you do with these seven blocks?

A Little Unity

 Last July, with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, Bonnie Hunter graciously shared a mystery sew-along "Unity" on her Quiltville blog.  So many quilters, sewing as one.  Joined together in a sisterhood of creativity, even as we spent much of the year as isolated as possible to reduce risk of illness.

The first few rounds were enjoyable, and I was able to keep up.  But my attention was pulled away by other priorities.  By the time round 4 came my piecing was falling behind.  I wasn't sure I liked that particular star in the color values I had going.  I also realized that I didn't need another large quilt in those colors.  I love a pop of turquoise, but this was really too much for me.  It needed to be tamed down, and sized down too.  

So, I chose a different star block for round 4 and then added a dark blue border.   As it was being completed, the January 6th assault on the Capitol building was in the news.  Such an awful and divided time in our nation.  It's been named "A Little Unity" as a reminder of these stressful times and its smaller size.  The backing is 59-inch wide gray fleece.  58x58 finished size.

A lesson in (in)consistency

 Over several years my tiny 1-1/4 inch scraps have been turned into log cabin blocks.  The first 24 were done about the same time and put together into a rectangle.  This winter I picked it up again and added 8 more blocks on each end to create a table runner for our rebuilt cabin.  The original blocks were pieced on one machine, but the newer ones were done on a different one.   All seemed well until the quilting was finished and the edges needed to be trimmed straight.  Oops!  Looks like the earlier blocks in the center were smaller than the more recently made blocks.  The poor dear has an hourglass shape!  

You can see the batting showing along the sides in the center.  But all the quilting is DONE, and it's not coming out.  She'll get a black binding to try and camouflage the fact that I've trimmed a half inch or more off of each side on the ends.  You won't tell, will you? It will be our secret.

Storm at Sea

Storm at Sea is the one quilt that I have wanted to make for years, but was never sure I was ready to tackle that kind of challenge.  Fabrics were found and saved up a bit at a time.  Some yummy hand dyed light blues from Vicki Walsh that I won in a contest...  Leftover batiks from another project...  And a couple lucky Thrift Store finds... Finally, in June 2019 I decided to give it a try.  

Patterns were pulled out and examined from a number of books in my 'library'.   Not one of them was exactly right.  The dark blue diamond blocks needed to be a specific size to take advantage of a wide stripe fabric I wanted to use.  So, I drafted my own pattern to get the right size block.  Then came cutting and piecing sample blocks.  I had to adjust the size of the diamond block pattern a time or two, but finally got the right combination.  A bit at a time it came together.  All the fabrics were pre-washed, some a number of times because the dye ran.  

Over the past year Storm at Sea took shape.  One of the last things I did in August 2020 on the wide open spaces of our cabin kitchen floor was to sandwich and pin two queen size quilts.  Storm at Sea was one of those.  Then we turned our attention to a full-scale rebuild at the cabin and quilting was put aside.

By December the quilting was underway and the cabin interior was nearly finished.  Stitch in the ditch was done and then I stalled out.  Did it need more quilting?  Yes.  No.  Yes.  Maybe?

Last weekend I gave it a good looking over again.  From the back there seems to be enough quilting.  Or at least it seems balanced in density.  So let's call it a finish and put it on the bed in the brand new cabin.  

The quilt is actually scrappier than it looks in the photo.  There were at least five light blues used, two white prints, a purple batik and three navy prints.  The border batik makes an appearance in some half of the square-in-square blocks too. They all blend so well!   Here it is draped over the sofa.

Snow on the River

 A new quilt will soon be going on our bed as the season changes to winter.  My version of Barbara Brackman's "Snow on the River Wandle" was finished late this summer and has been waiting for a snowy day to make it's debut.  It's impossible to see in a photo, but the white-on-white background fabric has a winter trees and snowflakes on it. Here is the link to Barbara's free pattern:  Snow on the River Wandle.

This is the quilt that our little Woodchuck, who accidentally became locked in the garage for a week, tried to have for a snack.  I'm so thankful the damage was completely repairable.

I did finish one more quilt this fall, but still have a bit more quilting to do before I can share. 

Happy New Year to all.  May you be blessed with Health, Happiness and plenty of time to quilt awhile in 2021.

Shoo Fly Shoo finally gets her binding on

 On a sleepless night, what better thing to do than some hand sewing?  Instead of tossing and turning in bed I got up and finished the binding on this cute little quilt.  Relaxing, nearly mindless, and just the right recipe to calm my busy mind.  A bright and sunny morning was just right for her glamour shot!

Shoo Fly Shoo 34 x 40 inches

Moda Love finish

It is just a week short of a year since "Moda LOVE" quilt top was completed.  

Moda LOVE 90 inches square

This weekend the binding went on and it's DONE!  The hardest part was deciding how to quilt the last border.  I mulled that over for a couple weeks, marked and re-marked.  Finally my sister helped me get it all worked out, pinning and drawing lines to get things to line up correctly.  

The maple leaves in the red border give it an autumn look, but the free motion flowers in the floral border don't show up at all.  Well, at least no mistakes will be visible there!