Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Last night, just as I was ready to bake the home made crescent rolls I had mixed up, our power went off.  Bummer!  What to do?

Well, necessity is the mother of invention.  I baked them in our gas grill.  Yes, I did.  They were scrumptious.  And if you sniffed really deeply, they smelled like grilled hamburgers.  True story.

I have kept 3 oil lamps on the shelf in our foyer since we have lived in this house.  They are always ready to be used in case of power outage.  I am sorry to say that it happens often after a rainstorm.  That's one on the right in the picture above (from last night).

Anyway...the rolls turned out great.  We had two pans.  A couple burned on the first pan, but I just cut off that layer.

~Joan 

Crumb!

Usually when someone says, "Crumb!" they are frustrated or something.  Not this girl.  Last night I was looking at my new b-friend's blog.  Her name is Natasha, and she is a new quilter.  She made a gorgeous crumb quilt and even had a tutorial.  I've seen these, and they have never interested me, until NOW.  I thought I'd try one block. 

I thought I didn't have many crumbs, but a search in my small-pieces drawers yielded enough and MORE for a large top.  I have all of the block centers finished, and am now working on making the blocks I want from them.

Years ago I sold Thimbleberries fabric (I still do, but don't work at selling it, KWIM?) and got sample squares (about 2-1/2" squares...a small piece from each fabric in the new line).  I had some weird colored packs...pinks, mint green, bright purple!!  I threw them all in the mix.  They are Thimbleberries, and they fit right in in spite of not matching at all.

This IS  like eating potato chips...I could not stop with just one.  I had all kinds of tiny blocks that I don't recall making.  But they do make the cutest block centers when framed out with odds and ends. 

The pictures below show my original plan on how to set them.  But the more I looked at Natasha's, the more I liked the way the two blocks played together.  The first picture is my 9-patch blocks with a larger center.  I got really creative and pieced my cornerstone blocks (the ones in the pic below are single pieces of fabric).

Here is a pic of both types of blocks together...the 9-patch and the 8-point star blocks.

Here are a couple of my favorite blocks...I don't know where else I would have used them.  The first one's center star was from this post...in 2008.

People are always asking me how I decided to put this fabric here or that one there.  I have no real plan except this rule for this quilt.  The block centers (which measure 4-1/2" unfinished, BTW) that have cream touching the outside are being used for the 8-point star blocks.  The all color ones are being used for 9-patches. 

As I was looking through my drawers, I came across 25 string blocks that miraculously measured 4-1/2" square.  I don't remember why I started making them.  Only two were incomplete.  I had been piecing them onto phone book foundations.  The paper had been torn off 23 of them.

I can't wait till the kids go to bed so I can sew some more.

~Joan

Random Baby Quilt Top ~ Hopskotch

I just love the look of this quilt.  Finished sewing the diagonal rows together tonight.  I did all the school grading I could before my eyes glazed over.  Still have 2 loads of laundry to finish up, so I'm going to do a little more sewing, then make 2 key lime pies for supper tomorrow, then clean up the kitchen.

This little lovely is 42" square.  I am not adding borders.  I am liking the old-fashioned look of borderless quilts.

This will be quilted later and gifted as a baby quilt.  I don't know to whom it will be given...yet!

~Joan

This Mother's Heart Hand-Quilting Started

This past few days have been some of my strangest ever.  Thursday night about supper time, I got a call from my daughter's fiance.  He had heat exhaustion...in Florida.  He was calling because Emily asked him to...she wanted to see why he was so ill and what he could do about it.

Emily (who was at work at the time) asked if we (she and I) could drive down to see him and "help him get better".  He had Friday off because he worked Memorial Day.  So, I had the bright idea of leaving when she got home from work, at 9 PM.  We drove all night and got there around 5 AM.  All in all, we figured we slept about 12 hours from Thursday night until we arrived home at midnight on Monday.  Total.  That explains a few things about how I've felt the past couple of days!

Just about every moment was filled.  I managed to quilt most of the outermost edge blocks on my This Mother's Heart quilt.  I did a few of the inside blocks, too.  Every second I had free was spent hand quilting.  I guess that was a lot of seconds, although it seemed like we worked non-stop on other things.

Above are a few pictures of how I'm quilting this.  I am quilting the "vein" between each heart section.  This will be lightly quilted compared to some, but I think it will make a nice summer quilt.  I am outline quilting the appliqued parts and echoing the design where the 4 empty block corners meet.

~Joan

New Quilt on the Wall

Last night I had an emotional, heart-rending discussion with a young woman who is presently living with us right before bedtime.  She is having problems...big problems.  I was so emotionally upset.  My husband said, "You need to sew...it's...therapeutic."  Such a wise man!  He and I both knew it would take me a long time to fall asleep.  So I started the above quilt blocks.

Same young person was sick during the night and I had to stay home from church with her all day again...hence, lots of unanticipated sewing time.

Susanna had (ahem) encouraged me to go through my quilt magazines and purge them (I don't even know what that means!).  In the process, I pulled any patterns I would EVER want to make, plus some pics that did not have patterns per se.  This was one of the quilts that was on the wall of a quilt shop picture.  The alternate blocks in the pic were pink.  It looked so cute.  Mine are purple because I use Thimbleberries nearly 100% of the time, and pink T'b is not cute.  But I like it.  Pieced blocks are 5" square finished.

This was all from my 1-1/2" strip box (thank you, Susanna, for making it so accessible...see--this is all HER fault).  I cut some 3-1/2" wide strips for the creams on the outermost borders of the blocks.  I am making it a baby-sized quilt and calling it finished without borders. 

I just need to go to quiltville.com to see what size side and corner triangles I need to cut and to see if I have enough purple to make it.  I don't think I do since this was a large scrap.  But never fear...I have another in the wings that will match sufficiently.

~Joan



No Pic, But Progress

I didn't photograph it, but I got my quilt top hand basted tonight.  One of the girls we are keeping is ill, so I had to stay home from church with her. 

The upside?  Used the time to piece a back (purple crumb fabric) and got the top basted and ready for hand quilting.  Let the texture begin!!

~Joan

Top Finished!

My quilt top is finished!  Now on to the hand quilting.  This will be quilted lightly.  Just inside and outside the circle of hearts and one or two of the same shape where the 4 block corners meet to echo the design.  That means making and cutting a template for marking, which will be the hardest part.  Maybe I can get it hand-basted today. 

It measures about 64" x 80" now, but the quilting will draw it in a little bit.  I'm eager to bring this top to life with quilting.

I have had several ask (Debbie!) where to get this pattern.  I got mine online here http://thegoldenthimble.com/heartsandgizzards.pdf.  I set mine 6 x 8 then made half blocks for around the sides (blocks completely empty of applique for the corners) to finish out the ring of hearts.

~Joan