{Post 1,519} Pressing On

This is one of the little girls we kept for nearly a week.  The ones for whom the I Spy quilt in the last post was for.  The ones who had never spent a night away from their parents.  The ones who are 4 and 2.  The ones obsessed just a little with princesses.  Here is the senior one's princess hair.

Here is my tumbler quilt.  I am putting the binding on.  I have started doing every part of the binding sewing by machine.  I don't think I got a picture of the whole quilt.  It has a bazillion tumblers (actually, 13,600, some of which are pieced).

This is the hand quilting on my Mennonite Mosaic quilt.  It would get finished faster if I actually worked on it.

Occasionally, I get an itch to sew something quick and with different fabrics than my usual go-tos.  How many sad stories start with, "When I was at the quilt shop...?"  This one isn't sad.  I bought a mini charm pack (2-1/2" squares) of a line of reds and taupes.  

Here is what I made from them.  It now has a border of one of the reds (with enough of same for binding!)...this is 35" long, I think.

Thus ends my blog post for today.  I hope your day is a blessed one.  Look for the silver lining!

{Post 1,492} Oldie But Goodie

If I have shared about starting to hand quilt this, I can't find it on my blog.  My eyes have evidently changed quite a bit since I last hand quilted anything.  I can't thread the needles of my usual betweens needles anymore.  It's rather depressing.

I finished piecing this in February 2008.  Its time has come to be finished.

Somewhere (of course, with old age comes forgetfulness) I read about "big eye" quilting needles.  I could not find them locally.

On my trip to take my kids to camp 90 minutes west of here, I scouted ahead and Googled a quilt shop one mile out of my way.  Yay!!  And they had the exact needles I was looking for.  Double yay!!  See second picture for needles.  I got the same size I used to use, and they are fabulous.

Here is part of the progress on my Mennonite Mosaic quilt.  I am hand-quilting this to use in my bedroom.  The one with the yellow walls.

I am marking a diagonal line with a disappearing ink through every color and hand-quilting with the same color thread as the fabric.  It's all about the texture.

There was a first for this quilt.  I basted it on my Handi-Quilter for hand quilting.  I had never thought of doing that before.  It sure saved my back.  I have always hand-basted them in the past.  This worked splendidly.

I have a large stencil for the border, which I think is 12" wide.  It's an outlined feather, with corner!!

{Post 1,485} Where in the World is Joan?

I have had many folks ask if I stopped writing a blog.  Well, obviously the last 2 months have been too busy to put anything down here.  Many family activities, short trips, life in general!

Here's a few pictures from the last couple of months, in reverse chronological order!

I still quilt as often as I can.  That just has not been much lately.  I have started teaching a friend to quilt.  Here's her first little quilt top, which she promptly quilted and bound.  It turned out beautifully.

Finished this quilt (crumb HSTs--twin bed sized) and gifted it to a friend at church who has faithfully served there before we even arrived over 15 years ago:

Quilted this beauty (also twin bed size to be used as a throw) for a wedding gift in September.  It still needs binding, washing, and labeling:

Finished this quilt for my soon-to-be-born grandson:

Started hand-quilting this beauty...it is 88" square:

Hosted one of my other grandson's first birthday party and made these cupcakes:

Worked many hours on gutting and rebuilding our downstairs bathroom.  I love the wall color.  It is called "rainwashed".  The only thing left to do is put the shower walls up.  Here is an in-progress picture:

A picture from the window of our room at our church's family camp, near the Smoky Mountains:

Had a visit from my favorite (and only) sister, my parents (dad pictured), and my niece:

So, yes, I am still here.  I am doing well.  Busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  Thanks for asking :)

I will try to update more frequently, but there's no telling!

For Sale Soon on eBay...

Soon I will be listing the above two quilt tops for sale. I am cleaning out some of my unfinished quilt tops that I can bear to part with.

The top is called Zigzag Star. It might be staying here. It is lacking two borders. I love the zigzag that runs down the quilt and can just imagine it with a large feather quilted there. I also really like the stars with the tiny 16-patch centers. But now that I've pieced it, it just doesn't scream "keep me forever". Well, maybe it's whispering. I think I'll refold that one and put it back in the drawer.

As for the bottom quilt top (Mennonite Mosaic), it definitely must go. I was this close (imagine pic of my forefinger and thumb a nanometer apart) to hand quilting it. I even bought the right shades of each color thread to correspond to the fabrics in the quilt. When I first saw this quilt top on two other blogs, I HAD to piece one...it was like an obsession. It is really an amazing design. The colors read as solids from a slight distance, but they are all actually tiny Thimbleberries prints. The problem?? There is no place for red fabric (in this large of a dose) in my life. I don't want to repaint any rooms or make new window treatments for the living room, so it must go. I am seriously considering making one with brown where the red is so I can use it for a bed quilt in my bedroom. Hand quilting has me in its grasp, and I should piece and hand quilt one before the grasp loosens!

If you are interested, check out my auction button to the left...might be a day or two before it's listed. I hope to do it today, but one never knows!

~Joan

I Spy "IT"!!

I was sitting at the school table yesterday correcting a math lesson (which is in the center of the sewing room) and said to my oldest daughter (sitting across from me), "There IT is!" You see, the chair I was in faced my overstock/seasonal/flannel fabric bookshelf. I've already shown you my main shelf, but this holds those that don't play nicely with the others. There IT is, on the far right.
Maybe I can sneak over and persuade it to come a little farther out of hiding...

On the far right--that's IT! "it" is my backing fabric for the Mennonite Mosaic quilt. The top is nearly boring with it's almost solid fabrics (none are true solids, but they sure read that way from a little distance). I wanted something for the back that was a little surprise compared to the front. I bought that bolt of Thimbleberries back when it was on clearance. I intended to use it for jumpers for my girls, but only one liked it enough to wear it. It's sort of a periwinkle/light blue/denim-colored background. it has tiny red dots and the little daisies (which are my favorite flower). PERFECT! Now I need to incorporate all my little scraps into the back. 1. to get rid of them 2. to make the backing slightly larger than 2 widths of this fabric.

A plan is in place. Since I finished the top, a "what fabric am I going to use for backing" track has been running through my mind (albeit on the back burner) constantly. On the outside it might look like I'm giving a math lesson or cooking or hand sewing, but I was really in search of that fabric. Now I can play another sound track.

~Joan

Mennonite Mosaic Top is Finished

Good morning from a very chilly NC! 30 degrees...brrrrr...

Here is my Mennonite Mosaic top finished. It measures 88" square. I took these pictures outside, so they are a little over bright from the sunshine. I am now trying to decide what to use for backing. I'd like a small shirting print, but I really don't want to BUY anything because I have a whole bookshelf of bolts of fabric. I'm sure something will strike me (thud!).

Off to do some school with the children.

Just a reminder that if you comment, make sure your email address is in the text if you have your account set at NO REPLY. I can't answer you otherwise.

~Joan

Leaner and Meaner

One of my two sons above gave me the title for this post. Leaner and meaner. Which is which? LOL! I'll never tell. They had their Civil Air Patrol pictures taken in their dress blues tonight, so I had to get a shot to share and remember.

Above is the center of my Mennonite Mosaic. It probably has a lot to do with all the extra stuff going on in our house the past few days, but I'm burned out on piecing. What? You're not surprised? I haven't ironed the seams between the 16 blocks in this picture...maybe tomorrow. This part measures 66-1/2" square.

One of my daughters (who was very inactive yesterday and most of today because of the illness that's overtaken my family, except for me and one other) came down to the sewing room tonight and saw the top nearly complete. She commented that it's no wonder my blog readers are amazed at the number of tops I can piece in such a short time...she can't keep up and she LIVES here! Too funny.

I was planning to hand quilt this, but now I'm thinking that with the right shades of variegated thread, peacock quilting would look really neat. I'll have to think about it for a while.

Good night!

~Joan

My World Today

Only one person has actually taken the above medicine, but we are all (except for 2 of us) sick with the crud that's been going around...high fever, cough, sore throat, sinus congestion, and all other manner of fun.

I am not feeling all the effects (yet), but I don't think it will be long for me either.

I finished up all the "A" blocks for the Mennonite Mosaic quilt this morning. There are 8 A and 8 B. I ran out of steam (physically, not in the ironing sense) after blocks A were complete. I took a 2-1/2 hour nap, and feel like having another. Hard to believe that this entire quilt can be broken down into such simple sewing. Sewing the strips made it go really quickly and look so good. I think sewing all the little squares together is less neat from a sewing standpoint. My design wall is only big enough for 3 of these blocks at a time (well, 6 if you count the invisible ones).

I had the camera in hand when I went out to check the mail. Saw these beauties coming up...tulips we planted 2 falls ago. Last year they were pretty. Seems like they have multiplied a lot already just after a year. I think Emily planted them. I can't even remember what colors are where. Our front yard is mostly 2 huge natural areas. We planted several groups of these. Once in bloom they won't last long, but they are spectacular when they show up.

My only non-ill daughter in the middle, playing hula hoops with 2 of the neighbor's children.

Time for a good, brisk SIT. Hope you're all doing well.

~Joan

Beginning of Something BIG

I wasn't the kid in the back seat asking "are we there yet?", but I've always wanted to know, "How much farther?" What you see below is 18% of the 16 eleven-row blocks needed for the center of the Mennonite Mosaic. All cut and stitched up today.

If you compare this to my earlier post of color selections, you will see that I substituted a different red and green. These are the lighter side of Thimbleberries. I just can't put my trust in another fabric name brand. These wash up so well and rarely fade.


I'm already looking forward to putting some hand-quilting stitches in the finished top. How's that for VISION??

These worked up quickly. I'm taking a half of a width of fabric and piecing one row, then cutting it into 2" wide strips and piecing the strips together. Much easier than laying out all 2,025 two-inch squares (the original pattern actually calls for 1-3/4" squares, but I'm making mine a bit larger). I plan to use brown quilting thread and doing diagonal lines through all of it, but seeing someone else's might change my mind.

I cut out all my Apple Core quilt pieces. That will be my car project for the next few weeks of violin/piano lesson time (2 hours of car time per week). Maybe I'll make some progress on it in spite of not making the van trip this weekend.

Good night!
~Joan

They Are All Here!

Here are all the fabrics for my Mennonite Mosaic Quilt. After we return from our trip, I will begin cutting and piecing this. It's my next big hand quilting piece.

This afternoon I also cut an apple core piece (4" x 5") from all my small scraps so I can cut and hand-piece more of my Apple Core Quilt on the long van trip.

Hope you're enjoying a few quilt-y moments today.

~Joan

I Spy...Periwinkle

I'm still on a mission to use up some of my I Spy fabric stash. A month or so ago, I put a periwinkle binding on a quilt for my oldest daughter's piano teacher. I chose 3 periwinkle prints and she picked her favorite for the quilt. I cut up the leftover pieces to use as alternate squares for this I Spy center. Nothing fancy. My 8-year-old son pieced the rows (his first sewing project). I sewed the rows to each other (with a few minor seam allowance adjustments...I didn't want him to be discouraged).

I am hoping that the rest of my Mennonite Mosaic fabric arrives today. I'm eager to start cutting strips for that.

I started taking a prescription allergy medicine yesterday, and I feel sooooo much better. It would be great to have some energy and sleep well!!

Our family will be traveling Saturday and Sunday (5-hour drive one way). I'm hoping to cut some apples for my Apple Core quilt. I will hand piece those in the van. That's 10 hours of prime sewing time! It's been years since I even cut out one piece for that. Maybe I'll see some progress on this trip. I'll take the antique string quilt to work on while we're not driving. I find hand quilting in the van very difficult. It's not a steady ride in a 15-passenger van.

Big news today is that the feathered population here, and I mean HERE, is down to two parakeets. We had numerous finches (who had babies, who had babies). The number varied constantly with people buying them, new chicks, etc. Since it's been cold, they have lived in my sewing room. The noise was enough to push me over the edge at times, but I tried to be patient as we had no where else to put them in the cold weather. But today, grand day of days, we sold the last 3 to the local pet store (Fins & Critters...isn't that cute?).

~Joan, who is off to actually COOK. Definitely a red-letter day!

Yel-low There!

The title is supposed to be read like "hello, there". It's one of those silly things we started saying who knows when.




On a quilty note, the above fabric arrived in the mail today. It is going into my Mennonite Mosaic quilt. I was thinking about the joy of starting a new project that I am undoubtedly going to LOVE. As I thought about buying all the fabrics for it, my eyes kept wandering over to my fabric shelf. It is just to the right of the desk my laptop is on. I have about 100 bolts of Thimbleberries fabrics on it.

Before you think I really am an overachiever, remember that I sell fabric from my home online. Very small business. My husband likens me to a drug pusher. He says I just sell it to support my habit. And he is right!

In the interest and self-preservation of frugality (after all, money doesn't grow on trees!), I wondered if I could make the quilt with all Thimbleberries and still stay fairly close to the original quilt's colors. There is nothing like the quality of Thimbleberries. I have quilts I've washed many times that still look like new. Sorry--we interrupt this commercial moment to finish this post.

Well, I had 3 small hurdles to clear...light blue, pink (?), and light yellow. After sleeping on it for a few nights, I decided to buy just what I needed in those colors and use my stash (above) for the rest. That's in the interest of saving money and still making (another) one of my dream quilts. Stay tuned. As soon as the blue and pink arrive, I'll be cutting strips and on my way. Ladies, start your sewing machines!!

Waiting for the checkered flag to drop...

~Joan

It Was Meant To Be

It started out innocently enough, and with such good intentions. I was taking my 4 girls to the library this afternoon for an hour or so.

Oh, while we're out, I'll just stop by the Bernina store and get some solid white quilting thread to finish up a customer quilt. So, I bee-line right to the machine-quilting threads and pick out this spool. I take it to the register.



I have looked neither right nor left because, after all, I'm not there to SHOP or BROWSE--I'm on a mission. As I reach into my purse, my eyes are drawn to something lying on the counter...

I snatch up this magazine in utter shock and disbelief (can't you just read those emotions on my face...and they were still there when I got home--when I took this self-portrait!). I've been coveting, I mean admiring, a vintage quilt that Lucy and Kathie have pieced. I never saw the magazine in my usual haunts, so I figured it was not to be. Well, lo and behold...


Here's the quilt that has my attention. It's been on the back burner of my quilting plans since I first saw the picture on Kathie's blog. As they say, the rest is history. I want to make it in colors very close to the ones in the picture, so I'll have to wait for a trip to Mary Jo's, which should be in the next couple of weeks.

Isn't it beautiful? Isn't it gorgeous? Don't you want one??

Still basking in my good fortune...

~Joan