Summer Porch (P2) Sewalong Update.

Hi! Oh it was hard to tear myself away from Lori [Humble Quilts]'s new doll quilt project...

...and refocus on her full sized quilt sewalong that we've been working on for maybe six months now. This month's P2 assignment was pretty big! One large block and some filler blocks, AND we were supposed to sew together the entire lower third of the quilt. Wow. I did it!

But before I show you my project I want to share this darling kitty made by my blog friend Lise.

Lise is somewhat modest and says she is not a trained needlewoman, but I think her work is exceptional! The Kitty is from P1, A Little Porch Time, by Lynda Hall; we made it here online in 2013. Lise made only her kitty, with wool applique and embroidery. The Tree and Autumn Leaves are her own design. I love the whimsy, and the texture of all those french knots.

Back to P2~
Here is my lower third section.

This time I was extra careful, measured, measured,and trimmed before sewing and the parts went together better than my usual hair-pulling disaster.[Just goes to show, that old ''measure twice, cut once'' works well if handled with patience.]

I took the section of the quilt outside for good pictures, good colors. Howling wind, note the 35 mph gusts. And the weather station is on the mainland, so picture right here on the oceanfront.

...but it looks so pretty. I am pleased.

This month's large applique block [left, above the watermelon] was a big birdhouse with an even bigger bird. That didn't appeal to me, so I drew up my own idea, drawing on memories of summery porch days with my best friend Anne. We'd be so excited when the Bookmobile would bring us books! We'd sit on the front porch of her big yellow Victorian house and pore over each week's stack of new books. Anne was older---we were maybe 7 and 9 or so?--- but I was the best reader, so we read more or less the same things.

Besides reading books on her porch [my house had no porch], I remember her mom making us lemonade or KoolAid, and funny bland lemon wafer cookies. We played a lot of jacks, too. And later cards, board games. My mom didn't approve of games like that so it was an exciting thing for me. Last night as I sewed my quilt together I had fun remembering those long ago hot summer afternoons---the porch was shady and cool, with a dark green painted cement floor--- and I looked up our street on Google Streetview. Haha, her house was pretty, but NOT a big Victorian after all.

Small bunglow in real life. It did have the extension of the porch and a bathroom in the upstairs dormer with the round window, but otherwise it was / is exactly the same as the small house I grew up in. My dad added a lot to this house, so it got bigger than it looks, maybe. And it now has a small porch! Both are still pretty, to me anyway.

So my substitute block for P2 is a stack of books, with one of my kitties sitting on the top. Her name was Polka Dot [aka Pokey],

I loved her dearly. She was tamer than my other two male tomcats, though I loved them too of course. The design of the books block was inspired by the border of a Gwennie Medallion Quilt [project also by Lori, she's a busy lady!], the border was designed by a French quilter named Katell Renon. Katell kindly gave me permission to use her idea/ design for my quilt. [Merci, Katell!].

I waffled around about how to make the book titles: hand embroider, machine embroider? Computer printed titles? Books I loved back then, or, lasting lurking memories like Moby Dick or Bleak House, eeew? In the end I used words printed on the selvages of fabrics in my stash. This appealed to my found object/ serendipitious finds mind set the most. I even found a Lizzie's Journal.

Pokey I simply drew from watching my feral cats here, the Twins.

I gave Pokey a star to wish on, instead of having her facing the Bird on the Basket.

Then there were the spacers, to the right of the Books. I added a small Basket to the line-up, the pattern called for just a blank square.

Fun and summery, isn't it? But instead of summer, outside we had the high winds, blowing flocks of tiny birds overhead. Some rain, and finally cooler.

cold front coming in

Mo is snuggly, the beach is turning golden. Dinner will be pork chops with cinnamon apples, Thai coconut rice, steamed Fall asparagus. The apples sauteeing in their pan smell delicious.

Hope your weekend was wonderful too.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Post script~ Anne and I stayed best friend always, through grade school and high school, different colleges, and family moves. Her dad introduced us to antique shows, took us always even as very tiny girls where we'd ooh and aaah over the French and German be'be' dolls and Civil War era ''ear bobs'', like Scarlett O'Hara wore. I admired Anne because she could sing and played the piano, was even taller than I was, and her mom sewed.  I designed and made Anne's wedding dress, and a gingham rainbow [Trip Sround the World?] quilt for her baby daughter. She and her husband renovated an old schoolhouse for their home; they raced dog sled husky dogs. Separated by time and different lifestyles, we wrote often. We never forgot each other.
She was the best friend ever.
Sadly Anne passed away in her early thirties, a young wife and mother, felled by brain cancer. She fought well, though; she had a happy , optimistic soul.
I loved her. The Kitty and Books block is for Anne.

Be sure to see everyone's quilts on Lori's Blog: Humble Quilts

Quilt Blocks Done - Poke Berry and Summertime

So far.... Hi! I feel like I've accomplished so much this summer! And it isn't over yet. Here are my projects for July and a bit of August.

Summertime: 
The side blocks are actually the Summer issue, part 2 of this quilt. I'm a little behind because Part 3 is all piece work so it will have to wait.

I added the kitty.

And I finished the basket blocks except the leaves which will be machine appliqued when my good machine is repaired. :-(

The pattern didn't call for buds but I felt it needed something and I hate leaves. My etsy friend Sue made these beautiful yoyos for me! I wanted texture and something 'not-pokeberry'. I do think I made a mistake and they'll have to be removed for quilting? I LOVE them, the fun-ness, the dimensionality, the pop of color. I plan to use yoyos also on the border which seems to have about 36 berries. Thank you, dear Sue!

Remember last month I showed you the Star fail for the corners?  Great Star suggestion from Cathy---use wool. I love it and am so surprised at how well the wool star sample has washed.

Pokeberry:

I did all the berries, yay. Except a few that cover seams. The rolled ribbon is stems that extend down through future blocks at a later time, then leaves may be added.

My friend L who does beautiful embroidery warded off her pre-wedding [her son's] jitters by embroidering these blocks for me. When I did Flags last year I found out how much it means to me to have friends add to my quilts.

The flag will go in a small House block,
subbed for the church.

Here are all the Pokeberry blocks so far. I think I am about 2/3's done? I love this quilt. It has been so fun. I love learning new things and have so enjoyed the wool applique. I'm thinking of using silk batting, has anyone tried it? Please let me know. And I'd love to use velvet for the backing, I suppose that's a disaster recipe?

I don't love some of the pattern's blocks though. This project is loosely based on my Midwestern prairie childhood memories. The Urn block [see cover photo, below] is being replaced by a crock of black-eyed susans and blue chicory, memories of driving to the Kane County County Flea for crocks, roadsides filled with prairie wildflowers.

I found out it is actually easier to make one's own design than it is to copy, transfer and translate a pattern made by someone else! This was so easy! 

a bit wind battered.
Brown velvet black-eyes for the susans.

Both quilts are by Jan Patek. Here is the cover of Pokeberry so you can see what still has to be done.

I'm in a bit of a quandary about the Horse block. I had planned to sub the large black Kitty from A Little Porch Time since horses aren't a part of my life. But I am making my ground fabrics black, so Kitty won't show up. Maybe a calico cat? or nothing?

Most of the remaining blocks, except the wreath, are pieced and will not be worked on until Fall. I'm redoing the wreath, simplified and less wonky, with apple blossoms and a robin with her nest. Wools ordered from a fave etsy seller Quilting Acres . Errin is so helpful and patient and her wools are beautiful.

This Winter Blues doll quilt also resides in my beach bag. It is my alternate project and is being [rather badly] hand quilted when I run out of applique work or it's too windy. Not looking forward to quilting all these hearts on the border. Hmmm.

And a finish. This sweet doll quilt is finished and bound, ready for my eBay and/ or etsy shop. I may keep the large quilt I made from the same top, not sure yet.

And very last, a peek at a long time project! A new custom quilter did the quilting, what a gorgeous job she has done. "Cordelia's Quilt"....it has a story, to be shared at a future date.

Mo is learning to be patient. Here he is supervising the photo shoot, a big improvement on eating the quilt blocks as I take pix.

How about you, do you like a summer project? My friend BJ is taking a hand applique class, in case she decides to make the Ohio Sampler quilt with me. But it need not be sewing---maybe learning new things? My mother always had a new interest she'd study---one year Provence, the next---Paris or New York. [she liked to armchair travel on hot summer days...].

Or maybe just a little downtime is the best thing, a glass of wine or lemonade, an evening stroll.
Speaking of strolls, Mo and I have been garden peeping. We'll share that next time.

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach............

August surf