Quilt Finishes, and Almost-Finishes 2018

Happy Sunday! My house is almost put back to its blue self and now it's time to look over what I accomplished during 2018. Oddly I was less productive that usual, despite or because of feeling fairly well after my long bout of inflammatory hip/ joint pain. Because I was able to be active, not just go out, but also do things like walk Mo, go to the beach and flea,and even cook, my sewing time, especially hand sewing time was much less than in the past few years. But that's okay. Mo and family and real life come first for me.
So I don't have 4000 finishes,lol. (Seriously, one woman had 40 quilts done! That's about 9 days spent on each quilt! I can spend---years! on just one).

Another fun landmark was my 1000th blog post  here! And in October 2019 I will have my 10
year blogging anniversary, imagine that. Might have to do something special for my friends here?

So finishes:

Westering Women top.

Fall Festival, quilted, complete.

When the Wild Geese Fly, quilted, complete [ my all-time favorite quilt].

The next two never had their own complete reveals, so a bit more detail on each. (My friends allowed me to photograph these quilts in their beautiful home and garden. I wanted to show my quilts in a more modern setting,  for a different point of view. Thanks, guys!] My friend has a wonderful driftwood ladder! I am quite envious.

Opie's School Shirts: Vintage plaid and check shirtings in a thrifted top, c. 1920-1960.

I call it Opie's Shirts because the plaids look like a 1950s little boy's school shirts. Opie was a little kid on The Any Griffith Show, rural cops etc.

The backing is an ABCs print I've had about 10 years. I added a tomato soup red section on one end. To complete the school theme.

Closeup and you can also see the beautiful quilting by Lori C.

I love the subtle glow. Half square triangles are abut 5 1/2", biggest I have ever seen!

And the final reveal of Quilty 365, aka Dotty. Don't we love this one!

Works well in a modern room?

Last square is the label, describing the project briefly.

Close-up of Circles and beautiful quilting, and of the large scale text fabric on the back.

Pens and pencils border. This is after all a diary, though made with fabric and thread not paper and words.

Stars, Stripes, Geese: I wanted a small patriotic quilt for June and July. Antique Flying Geese from a friend; tiny flag. I'd love to make a large quilt with Flag and Geese blocks like this.

Small quilts, tops only so far.
Evening Stars in Madder, using antique c. 1875-1890s Star blocks.

This is the inspiration doll quilt, c. 1835-1850? Mine will be a closer color match when tea dyed.

And my Christmas busywork project: Cheri Payne's "Joyful Christmas".

A few more almost-dones. I am hoping for a February 1 finish on both tops, above with a March 1 finish of the two below.

TQC 1880 Sampler

Sajou [Lori/ Humble Quilts]

Last but not least Bitty: The hand quilting will resume at the beach this summer.

Of course there are way too many other projects in work, leftover from 2018 or even earlier. A Santa I can't learn to hook, knitting for me and Mo! The Antebellum Schoolgirls sewalong! You'll never forget Hideous!

Schoolgirls Blues

Then many more Stars for Silent Night maybe April?  Feathered Star, postponed for hand applique next summer, piecing Winter 2020.

And though my intention is to resist joining every sewalong that catches my fancy. I do plan to at least make trial block of Blue Baskets, using strips from my thrifted men's shirts, for Lori's String Quilts Sewalong. I don't count it as a add because it has been on my list for a few years now. This will be the pattern, I drafted it for Westering Women and sure hope I saved it! The body of the Basket will be string pieced [more soon].

Maybe small starts on The Blue and The Grey and Yes It's Cheddar? Just for fun? Last, one more sweet project that I'll tell you about another time. Because we quilters always need something new! It looks like a fun and interesting year. I love the winter months, spent with Mo, in the sewing room. It need not snow or be too cold! I'm hoping for lots of winter beach walks.

Thanks to everyone for being supportive about my anti-minimalism. Thrifting and fleaing posts will therefore NOT be cancelled.

What will be your first project of 2019? Is it done yet?

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

"Walkies? That sounds like a horrible idea, mommy!
Hi Dorothy!" --waves paw,  ''Lookit me, I am naked!"

Amaryllis, for everyone but especially for Julie who is growing beautiful amaryllis too.

Quilty 365 Revisited + Westering Women

Hi! It's May. No basket on my doorstep, too bad. Today we're revisiting Quilty 365 because this is the final post/ show and tell/ linky day with Audrey, the project's inventor. You can see many more versions on  her blog Quilty Folk.

A bit of a rehash for my regular readers, I'll just do it briefly. I know I had lost the final photos, so here is my top completed. My project is called Dotty 365.

Dots are in order of days made.

Text backgrounds, spacers, and backing, to refer to the idea of a quilt as a diary. Pencils print border.

The funny splotch dot is intended to be the binding. You can look at my Dot Quilts Pinterest board for ideas of how it will be machine quilted. I don't cut out my backings behind the circles because I believe it weakens the top.

Here is my little companion diary. I'll make a small pocket for it once the quilting is done.

Project notes included.

Label made, though I also have a nice printed strip: Remember.

Too bad it was such a crappy year for me, due to poor health and intense pain, but I enjoyed every moment of making Dotty and love the final top. Surprisingly I did not fall behind, though I did do the sewing in batches of 5 to 10 at  one sitting. Also the pieces went together so smoothly and perfectly; a pleasure for me as after sewing my entire life, since age six?, I still struggle with my piecing skills or lack thereof.
 It will be quilted as soon as I save up for the quilting. (And I suppose you'll have to see it again once it's done, hahaha.)

************
Westering Women, a 2016 sewalong by Barbara Brackman, following a pioneer woman on the wagon train west in 1853. My girl is Annabelle Emilia Smith, from Cherry Grove, Ohio. Her maiden name was fancier, but her husband comes of good farming stock and Annie is proud of her plain wifely name of Smith. She is 24 years old and has two children so far.

I finished Brackman's blocks earlier this winter, but chose to add more blocks to have a square quilt of  16 blocks. These are my final blocks. I had made Prairie Queen first, Annabelle's block,
Block One. She'll have the strength and gumption and resolve needed to travel west and prosper. Post HERE though I may remake this block, I'm not sure it does Annie justice; it's rather dull, isn't it?
Final three added blocks, below.

Corn and Beans: referencing having to cook meals everyday after a long hot walk behind the wagon. How difficult and exhausting that must have been! Where did drinkable water come from? Who built the fire [gathered firewood or oxen pats?], scrubbed up afterward? Where was the bathroom?!

Log Cabin: Destination is reached and the Smiths build their first small home in the farmlands of California.

I decided to use this  very traditional Log Cabin block because Annie is using up the last of her scraps, handpiecing now after chores are done , as the light fades and the children sleep.

Basket: I saw this block on a number of mid-19th century blocks that Brackman has been showing.

Sometimes the blocks are signed or quite boldly dated.

This is the final block of Annie's quilt. The fabric of the Basket was once her mother's best go to meeting dress, when Annabelle was a tiny child. When it wore out, Mama made herself an apron from the good parts of the full skirt, then later a pinafore for Annie. Nothing was wasted in Mama's house! Annabelle has used this last scrap, remembering her home in Ohio, knowing she will never see her Mama or Papa again in this life. But she stays hopeful. The Basket represents the Smith's first harvest and their future as well as the past.
Peace and plenty and good times in the Promised Land.

These are possible sashings for the blocks.

I wanted Star cornerstones but I think they may be too fussy for a quilt that was so humble and would be needed in case winters are chilly in California? So that's another post.
Mo helped with the photo shoot!

Be sure to visit Quilty Folks blog and see the rest of the projects. Thanks again to Audrey for her fun idea and for including us, and documenting our 365 journey last year with her posts and linky set-ups.

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach...

from the thrifting  finds, this seashell was drab til I ran it thru the DW a few times.
Now it's a gorgeous pink!
I don't think people wash their beach finds?
Clorox and the dishwasher make a big difference sometimes.