Sunday Quilt Finishes

Hi, guys! What a great rainy weekend I had! Home alone with Mo and I accomplished THREE finishes. Goals set and met. The two quilt finishes are long term projects from 2018, so the finishes [tops only] are especially sweet. Plus I love them which is unusual.

First ~ 1880 Sampler from Temecula Quilt Company. One 4" block made every week from mid-January to mid September. This was so fun, the tiny blocks are adorable, I think.

The quilt is approx 34" square. Somehow I expected a much larger quilt but in the end I  love its smaller size and can imagine actually hanging it on a wall someday.

The back will be pieced from two ''poison" yellow fabrics, aka chrome yellow. [ a deep lemon yellow, no hint of schoolbus orangey yellow.] One of the yellow prints is very similar to the setting black fabric I chose.

I did the zigzag setting, which I love.

I think the original antique is well captured by the TCQ design.

mine

c.1880 Sampler

Original at Stella Rubin Antiques here
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Second ~ La Grande Sajou, the quilt formerly known as Sajou Doll Quilt or Little quilt, from Lori at Humble quilts. My Sajou [a shop in Paris], grew and grew. And grew. 54" square.

The red border, a classic Provencal style is from the "Lorraine" line by American Jane for Moda Fabrics. I was very surprised to discover that the American Jane like is not just retro 40s-ish youth prints, but also these French inspired designs.

Sajou is not a scrap quilt. Each bit of fabric was carefully chosen from my fabric collection.

I have more fun finishes planned for her, including backing made with  a small tablecloth or large scarf/ pareo my mom brought home from the south of France (The Riviera! St-Tropez, Cannes!) long ago.

Her Souleiado

 

tablecloth is fine white cotton lawn, with handblocked flowers and picotage.

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And finally, my PomPom hat!

This was a kit given to me at Christmas by my children. It took me a long time to make it because I started over SEVEN times. The pattern is simple but I was reading it wrong so the swirl knit design never would form.This is supposed to be a beginner pattern [I've been knitting since I was 9]  but it is very unforgiving of any mistakes and required careful, constant counting of stitches, even when the pattern was finally decoded.

Stitch & Story USA HERE

The kit is perhaps from UK, given that measurements are in centimeters and maybe they write patterns differently there. [Thanks to my friend for modelling!]

Once I got the hang of it, it went fast and I love it! Softest yarn, barely spun almost like  wool batt or roving [unspun wool]. And the cutest pom ever! I plan to make this for my daughter and friends for next Christmas. Wish me luck changing the instructions to circular needles.

Today was a lovely faux-Spring day. Mo sat out on the deck in the sun.

Indoors the Costco forced tulips have grown like crazy and are in full colorful display.

This week: a doll quilt with TCQ leftover blocks, another cutie? And some velvet strawberries for the handsewers out there. Tomorrow, the annual Flower Show! I can't wait!

love 

lizzy

 gone to the beach...

PS I have added some fairly large bits of red, from Sajou's borders, to the Scrap Bag Giveaway box. Perhaps as much as a fat eighth, if that entices anyone to add their names to the drawing next Tuesday on Mo's birthday. Antique and vintage fabrics mixed in, plus some old blocks, late 1800s. You can comment on FB if you prefer.

Fall Festival Quilt Part 2, Westering Women, Wild Geese updates

Hello! It's the first Monday of March--already! Time for some sewing updates.

Fall Festival is a sewalong with Lori on Humble Quilts. Despite February being a short month, our assignment was BIG! Very diverse blocks  We did all the patriotic blocks, plus the oh so adorable Turkey.

I needed hand sewing to sit out with Mo on the [frigid] deck, so I did Turkey first. Very fun.

Flag..getting good at Flags, we've made a bunch by now. Though why we have the flag of Texas in the quilt remains a mystery to me. (Ok  I looked it up, the flag of Texas is different! But still....)

Then these Stars. big stars. Big pieced Stars. Made in an odd manner with freezer paper and ''eyeballed'' seam allowances.  I was crafty, and cut all the outer seam allowances XXL, so mine worked out okay.

Can't wait to see what we'll so next. Pineapples, anyone! [symbol of hospitality.] Not even gonna put the Baskets on my To Do List, probably save them for a lovely summer day, since I do all hand applique.

Yes, upside down. I know.

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Last night I made my first extra block for Westering Women. My block is called "Prairie Queen".

It's a modified Churn Dash with Four Patch, very humble for the queen! It represents my young pioneer woman in my imaginary travels west. She has used her favorite fabric scraps here, her practical brown dresses and  a pink apron stripe; a bit left over from a Sunday best white polka dot shirtwaist bodice.

Today I was going to make my next WW block, ''Corn and Beans''. But I couldn't face all those half-square triangles today ...

and instead made a bunch of Wild Geese spacer blocks for When the Wild Geese Fly.

The  blue shirts' worn soft fabric is harder to work with than the new cotton prints, I found. I expected to like the blues the best. This is the blue that inspired me to make the quilt, a gorgeous soft French blue.

The wild geese blocks are made in sets of four. Neither fast nor slow, but a workable method from the internet, also being used currently on Temecula Quilt Company's blog.  here
The sewed blocks are overlarge and require trimming, a quilting method that chafes my garment making soul and habit, where a pattern had to fit and fit together  perfectly before being cut. But it does make for neater quilting pieces, I suppose.

 48 Geese done, 100 more to go.
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On the home front, we had a huge change of weather~and howling March gale winds. Power outages even, though thankfully brief.

Brrrr. 

My pussy willow catkins are flowering.

And I taught myself to make origami boats, for my next beach walk! I was so proud, even though I have no understanding of what made this work. I'll fold some tiny boats with real origami paper, and have them in my pocket for my next ''spring'' walk to the beach.

cute but only 2 dimensional

3-D, site suggests pebbles 'or shells!] for stabilty.

Have a great week. Other quilters' Fall Festival blocks can be seen on Lori's blog HERE  Be sure to take a look!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

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