Threads of Memory 1

Barbara Brackman is hosting another of her wonderful Block of the Month projects. This time it is Threads of Memory, as she explains on her Civil War Quilts blog:

The theme Threads of Memory refers to the Underground Railroad. Each month you'll get a block named 

for an important place in the story of the network that assisted slaves on the road to freedom. We'll explore true stories of people who lived in slavery, escaped on the "Liberty Line" or helped the fugitives.

The twelve blocks will finish to 12" and each is an original pieced design for a star block.

(No applique!)

The first month tells us about Ona Judge Staines, a slave who belonged to George Washington and her saga through escape and remaining free.  Read more on this very interesting story here.

The first block is call the Portsmouth Star, and here is my version:

I will be using a variety of stripes, reds, white and gray. My initial fabric pull from my stash:

I need some medium tones, and maybe another light. I have already added a very light grey, used in the block above.  I am working on technical aspects with these blocks along with honing my design skills by incorporating lights/med light/medium/medium dark and darks/bright.  As you can see from the fabrics I like dark, light and bright! But the mediums add the depth I really like. 

I think I will use red in the star points as we move forward. This is just month 1, though, so that's is subject to change at my slightest whim!

Dixie Diary Top is Done!

I finished the top I made through the Barbara Brackman Civil War blog for 2013.  I used my paternal grandmother's embroidery in it and I love how it all worked out. The embroidery was used each month as an integral part of the block, and also in each cornerstone for the setting. 

Here's a detail of the bottom left corner:

Each of the cornerstones in the middle of the top is different, and they alternate between flowers and greenery. I incorporated four of the fabrics used in the blocks into the four outer cornerstones.  I used a very bright contemporary fabric for the border as I enjoy mixing the vintage and contemporary. This will hang in my bedroom and worked best there out of the options I was considering for the border. It really does make me smile!

Next I need to have it quilted and I am stymied. How would you have this quilted? And do you have a favorite quilter you would recommend?

KAQ PHD 6 Project Program

My favorite local quilt shop, Kelly Ann's Quilting,  is sponsoring a PHD 6 Project Program, from the blog:

"You choose six projects that you want to finish. It can be any project, at any stage – number them 1 to 6. Send me an email (kelly@kellyannsquilting.com), bring your list into the shop or post the details on the Kelly Ann’s Facebook page with PhD in the subject line, and give me your project list, numbered and with the name of the projects. I’ll pick a number on the 15th day of the month and post it to my blog and Facebook that will be the project you work on for the month. The objective is to get you to finish some of your projects, but if you don’t finish during the month just set it aside and start working on the next project when a new number is published. The program will begin January 15th."

On January 15, we learned we needed to complet our project number 6.

My #6 is a set of 2 1/2 x 5 1/2 bricks I was originally going to do a brick wall quilt with, but didn't have enough and decided to do a smaller wall hanging with black to show it off. I reworked my original plan a bit, using an English garden for inspiration. I cannot count it done yet, because it is not yet finished. It needs to be quilted and bound by Feb 15th!!

I am using this program to force myself to finish a couple of projects languishing for one reason or another, and to practice some machine quilting.

Here's the top for project #6:

Now I'm off to YouTube for tutorials on making a quilt sandwich!

Anyone know of a good one?

Globetrotting

Well, in the category of "You Can Never Have Too Many Projects", I decided to join in Pat Sloan's Globetrotting BOM! (More info here.)She is picking cities she has either been to or wants to go to each month and creating a block inspired by each.

The design is a large block in the center and smaller blocks all around.  It was inspired by an old map Pat saw of Washington, D.C.

I am pulling from my stash, using mostly some fabrics I picked up on this year's Quilter's Quest at each shop.  Given it will go all year, who knows where it will end up!  For now, anyway, the color scheme is blue, gold, brown and cream. I suspect another accent color may make it's way in at some point!

I frankly am not worrying too much about construction on this one -- if it looks good from a galloping horse, it's going to be fine with me. I will work on technical aspects in my other projects!

The first block measures in at 25" square:

Stinkin' Cute

Baseball

My baseball-loving buddy has a grandson and they are very close. So while I was gone last week, I decided to make his grandson a small quilt with some of the same fabrics used in his quilt and a couple of other fabrics I had with me. I think it turned out cute:

I hope he likes having a quilt like "Pop Pop" has.

Dixie Diary

And now to the Dixie Diary - the main border decision has been made, and now I am considering whether to use cornerstones in the outer border.  The pictures below show the cornerstone option in the upper left, and no cornerstone on the bottom corners. When I went to bed last night I thought I did not want cornerstones. This morning I think cornerstones might provide a visual resting place. If I use the cornerstone option, they will be the same embroidery in each corner. So, as usual, I have to think it through!

Cornerstone Option 1:

Cornerstone Option 2:

Next I will need to decide on the quilting. Not sure how (if?) the embroidery will affect my choices. Guess there's more research in my future!

Let a Business Trip Stop Me?

Nope. I was able to borrow a sewing machine from someone on this trip. So far, after one week, I have:

1. Finished putting together a quilt for a buddy who loves baseball: 
2. Made 5 Dear Jane border triangle blocks (two still need applique)
3. Finished assembling the pieced border for the Celtic Solstice mystery by Bonnie Hunter
4. Finished making cornerstones and assembled the Dixie Diary top

 Quilt for Steve:

He loves baseball, so as it goes with my "code" quilts, baseballs are considered "dots". The pennants around the edges are the colors of the teams in Major League Baseball's National League. West Cost Division teams are on the left, Central Division teams are on the top, and East Division teams are on the right.


Dear Jane - no pictures yet

Celtic Solstice Pieced Border:

Dixie Diary Setting:

Option 1

This one is the liveliest of the options. I like that it has so many of the colors in the quilt, including the red. I also like this one because it has a variety of green shades, as do the blocks.

Option 2

This option has fewer colors and uses the predominant colors. I like the large scale of the print in this one. A variety of greens is in this fabric as well. This plays more in the background than option 1.

Option 3

 This option stays in the background and has lighter versions of most of the fabrics in the blocks. It also has quite a bit of the dark tan color used in the cornerstones of the setting.

I will have to ponder this decision a while. I really do not know which I prefer.

As for the coming week, I plan to:

1. Start the backing for Steve's quilt
2. Decide on the border and attach it (maybe) for Dixie Diary
3. Work on more Dear Jane triangles

My Mother Always Said

Dorry is arranging a quilt show at ArtSpace in Herndon to start in mid-January called "Something Blue". She decided to issue a challenge to include in the show to produce a 12" square block, blue included somewhere on the front, with a title of a saying "My Mother Always Said".

I thought of a couple of things, but nothing hit my fancy. So, I called my Mom to see if she could remember anything she said often.  We batted ideas around and I settled on "You'd lose your head if it wasn't attached to your shoulders".  I could never find anything....my friends will tell you I still am that way.  I even had to go on vacation once when I was a kid without my glasses. My Mom found them next to my bike outside (nicely folded) when we got home!

Then the question became how to represent this.

When Dorry issued this challenge, I was rearranging my sewing room. I scaled down from two bookcases to one, and had taken everything out of both and was putting things back on the shelves.  I am including only things I love and that may help provide some inspiration. One of these items is an old bobble head doll from when the Senators were the baseball team in Washington, DC.

So, I thought to myself, how about a fabric bobble head doll?  Well, after a few prototype flops, I figured something out that I think works.  It is also a bit of an "I Spy" piece. Can you help me find my glasses, cell phone, keys and purse?

Here's my techniques:

• Machine applique:  Sofa and cushion (phone and purse are just caught in the applique process); window
• Fused to background: Figurine body, dress, shoes, picture frame
• Sewn on: Picture (I sewed the top part of the picture in place and fused the frame over it)
• Fused to paper and glue: Face was fused to a circle cut from a manila file folder. I drew the features on with a ball point pen.
• Accordion paper folding: Head - I took a strip of manila file folder and folded it accordion style. I then stitched it down and glued the head to the strip of paper. 
• I then glued the hair to the head, and then the glasses to the hair.
• The glasses are cut from a paint color sample card and colored with a black Sharpie pen. 
• The dress is embellished with some fancy machine stitching and a button. 
• I also gave her bracelets that I beaded on thread. 

For the quilting, I lightly machine quilted around the outer edge and around the sofa. There's also a couple lines on the wall.  I hand quilted the floor.

And Dorry said when she issued the challenge barely a month ago, "It's just 12 inches, right?"!!!


The finishing is not as crisp as I would like, but over all I am pleased with how it came out. This was the first time I've done a challenge like this and I hope it will "measure up". I enjoyed the process thoroughly!

This piece is a very literal interpretation of the theme. Others are using the theme as an inspiration.  For example Cheryl's Mother said "Learn Something New Every Day" and Cheryl used a new technique for her piece.  See her blog about it here.

It should be a fun show to see, so come check it out if you are in the area! The show is Tuesday, January 14th through Sunday, March 2, 2014 at the Herndon, VA ArtSpace.

After I was done with this piece, I started a corollary piece inspired by a phrase I often heard after the "You'd lose your head ...".  And that is "A place for everything, and everything in its place".  Update! Final version of the corollary piece:

This one is inspired by the saying using a grid and a few purses.  I plan to machine quilt it in a grid fashion.  The square in a square blocks are paper pieced and finish at 2" square.

This one is not for the show, but I thought it would be fun to make this one, too.

What did your mother say?