I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Monday, June 21, 2021

Summer Begins! ~ Spring Quilt Wrap Up

 


Hi everyone! On this Monday the first full day of summer, the Sun has been battling with the fog, with help from a gusty wind. Now as I type this, in a quiet half hour before Mo's dinner walk, it has turned into quite a lovely day.

I managed to load *some* photos to show you what's been happening in the little quilt room. Yes I am over my snit of "nobody loves [me] my quilts''. And of course have carried on with both ongoing projects and some finishes! Because, in the end, I make things to amuse myself.

I finally got two projects off to the quilter! Blue Pineapples and its mad, wild, unsuitable but we love it tropical print from Kaffee Fasset.





And also though it is  a secret exchange, ''one for you , one for me'' so I can't show it here, we can take a peek at the backing and the quilting plan.


Not appropriate to the time setting of the design,  but I loved it, so I used the Pins print for the backing.


I asked for Feather quilting!

That may not work so I offered the alternative of miniature Baptist Fans [Rainbow Arcs].My quilter, Lori C, of Quilters Imagination is wonderfully competent and I always love the results of our endeavors. But I find when working with another person, the results are best if I clearly state my ideas, while keeping an open mind to suggestions.

Each quilt gets its little write up.

One thing I have learned is to let Lori choose the thread colors. I used to specify and made some fairly unattractive mistakes in my early years of using longarm quilters to finish my tops. And I often ask for her suggestions as to quilt patterns. In this case I have NO idea for Blue Ps, she can hopefully weigh in.

Those went  out last week! Always so exciting.

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Lucky Brown Hen

Then this past week for no discernable reason I made this tiny doll quilt. Why? I was tired of this scrap of poorly pieced, very old, 16 patch blocks wafting across my sewing table. The piecing is absolutely awful! I made up a story about a very little girl who'd rather be out feeding the hens, or playing with the baby goats, anything! But  the tiny 1 1/4" ish squares are finely, minutely  whipstitched together, as in English paper piecing, which seems odd considering the poor quality of the piecing. !860-1880?


I put the rosebud border to try to contain the wonkiness of the blocks. Looking at the finished project, I see the border is too formal--but I figured the little girl in my story would love the roses.


I have hand quilted in an  X in each block so my quilting looks awkward too. But has the feeling I wanted.


And I bleached and overdyed some of my red Horseshoe fabric for the binding. It came out an interesting dirty cheddar color, not the pinky-brown I wanted, but it works and so, okay. The use of the Horseshoes was so that this quilt could be part of my Lucky series: little and not so little quilts that are make do and unintended. I was also practicing my tiny 1/4" single fold binding; need to to on that technique though.


Brown circle  dot backing. I just couldn't bring myself to use the cocoa brown Tiny Stars I was gifted by a friend.

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And last, Mo has been insisting on his deck time every late afternoon. Besides Lucky Brown Hen's handquilting, I worked on the Snowman for Silent Night's border.

Lots of finicky details! And maybe not as perfectly sewed as one might wish. Friend Sue mentioned on Instagram that my use of wool was very forgiving, lol. In truth the wool was easy to work with despite some fraying as I am out of Fray Check, but the white body fabric, Grunge Dots, was very difficult to use. It's a bit stiff and heavy, almost poplin like, and every time the iron hit it, it shriveled badly and all my stitching showed and shrank up. I redid it twice then gave up. Once quilted and washed, it'll be fine, or good enough anyway.


                                                        

Here is this week's applique, The House, prepped not sewn. It too is all Grunge fabrics. I never learn, sigh. [I like Grunge for appliques because there is no show thru, as happens with many light solids.]



And I started making HSTs for my next Pineapple project, a very prim wall quilt by Jan Patek, book with pattern sent to me by Penny all the way from S Africa.




I began making a few of the triangle squares each evening after dinner. Then I trim them during Mo's deck hour.







You can see how large the project is. I will make it at 75 or 80%





I think it will be a very fun project. My dream is to finish for Thanksgiving and hang it on the wall in the dining room, as I gather my loved ones around my table again.

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Here is Baby Mo supervising Lucky Brown Hen's final photo shoot. He voiced no opinion.







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In other news, here in NYS almost all Covid 19 restrictions were lifted. My county has 75% vaccination rate. We had unexpected fireworks to celebrate. Brought tears to my eyes, the end of a dark year and a half.



Welcoming Summer, these are my 2021 summer bracelets. The Rainbow celebrates the end of the pandemic in the USA. The white Pearl is a friendship bracelet. I'll wear these all summer, into the Fall. Woman Shops World



The sun is out, the breeze is sweet. Mo and I are off for our walk,


love

lizzy 

gone to the beach....

 













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12 comments:

  1. So much in this wonderful post. I adore your little mini, "terrible piecing" and all. It's so charming and I love the little story you made up for it. I think you are wise to collaborate with your long armers and let them shine and use their knowledge and expertise. That's great about the 75% vaccination rate and what a great reason for fireworks!! We have just heard that our "county" will finally be scheduling vaccines for our age group soon. Ugh.... it's about time!

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  2. You are moving right along with your projects...
    Love those wonky triangles...with the cheddar--really neat...

    [Is that a horseshoe crab I spy??]

    It is such a relief to have restrictions being lifted...and to begin to try to pick up life where we left off...so nice to see people's faces and smiles once more...
    Enjoy your deck time--;)))
    Hugs, Julierose

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  3. Thanks for the “ wonky squares” quilt...I got a stack of similar
    blocks at a flea market a few years ago, as did a friend. My friend took hers apart and redid them. I like yours better...and shall do what you did!

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    Replies
    1. It is each person's choice of course, how to handle or remake old blocks and tops. I personally do not remake anything, tho I may patch a section that is deteriorated or missing. I want to celebrate what came before, what the original maker did; I don't need busy work and I do not feel the need to impose modern ideas of perfection's necessity onto old found objects. But that is just me.

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  4. Love what you made with the old wonky squares, the little quilt came out really cute! (I think Mo's foot on it looks a little like he was trying to claim it, lol.)

    So good to hear the restrictions have been lifted in your county! The fireworks were a nice surprise, too - and a good reason to celebrate!

    I'm looking forward to seeing your new pineapple project come together - and hope you *DO* get it done for Thanksgiving!! Hopefully the weather and circumstances will give you lots of nice deck time this year. I envy you your deck and your great view!

    Our weather went from unseasonably cool to the 90s, quite a shock! Then we had a couple cool days which was a nice break, but the forecast shows the heat will be back today. Something in the middle would be a lot nicer! Can't fix the weather, though!

    Cool picture of the horseshoe crab! I always love your pictures, makes me feel like I visited in person!

    Thanks for sharing and have a great day!

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  5. The little vintage doll quilt turned out so cute. I was fun hearing all the things you did to put it together. I've never thought about removing dye from the fabric. I need to think outside the box more. I was thinking about you yesterday morning as I was hand quilting. The quilt I'm working on isn't gorgeous but it is fun and has a story. It's all about the process in quilting for me, the ending is fun but it isn't as satisfying as having the creative juices flowing. I gasped when you said you had fireworks. We are in such a drought here that fireworks have been banned in a lot of places and since that's what I hear about every night on the news - that's what I think about. I'm glad your were able to celebrate.

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  6. What a full summer of sewing and fun you've posted for us to see, Lizzy. I know it will be even more exciting when your quilts come back from the quilter!
    The background quilt is so beautiful and Lucky Brown Hen is charming. How fun that you made up a story to go with the quilt. I'm sure the little girl loves those roses on the border.
    I'm eager to see what happens next with you little black and gold half-square triangles.
    And belated Happy Adoption Day to Mo. I'm sure he's as happy there with you as you are to have him.

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  7. Lucky Brown Hen is just as sweet as it can be! Could it be that the sweet brown rose fabric was a leftover piece from mama's new Sunday best dress, saved especially for little Sara's first quilt? What dolly wouldn't want a piece of mama's beautiful fabric for her very own quilt?

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    Replies
    1. Yes! Perfect addition to the story, thank you! And oddly I couldn't quite grasp the child's name, kept trying out Samantha, but that wasn't quite it---of course it is Sara! Sara Grace?

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  8. Always fun to see what you're up to! The little quilt turned out pretty cute. Mo's foot looks so small.

    Your weather sounds nice. How did the full moon look?

    Enjoy the weekend!

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  9. A little gem of a quilt plus Mo! What more could you ask for?
    For me, the border enhances the helter skelter blocks adding to Sara Grace's delightful story. I love the contrast of the linear rose fabric with the marvellous mayhem of the centre. Perhaps busy mother gave Sara Grace a hurried piecing lesson and grandmother finished it off for her so dear dolly would be warm in Winter.
    See what you've started!! Irresistible.

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