I've been quilting

I'm still not totally done with jet lag...I can't believe it is taking me this long but I'm hoping that I broke it completely today. Its not just the unusual sleep patterns-I just don't seem to have the same energy level. I have however managed to do some quilting.


I had rolled the Double Wedding Ring quilt in the frame before we left and I'm now here...

and I've already completed half of this roll.

I've also been doing some machine quilting...I had basted the embroidered Bonnet Girl quilt before leaving but hadn't started the quilting at all. I've done the straight lines on the embroidered bars and I'm thinking I'll put a cable in the narrow green floral bars.

 You can see I'm just sewing right over the embroidery...looks fine to me! :) and easy too!

Handquilting update and feedsacks

Hooray! I finished that roll of the frame...

 and turned the quilt in the frame

 and now I'm ready to start quilting here.

 Nice feedsacks in this section-here are some that just turned up :)

Week 2 Progress Report on Handquilting my DWR

Here's what I got done this week:

 I have to remember to outline quilt 1/2" at the outer edge so I won't just cover the quilting with the binding later. (Actually I'm not sure if I'll add a binding or do a knife edge but there's plenty of time until I get to that.)

So I've now finished half of this roll! Yeah!

I've started a new project-what I think of as the ultimate scrap quilt-a postage stamp quilt. I spent the week figuring out the sewing scheme-I'm doing it in rows-and cutting directions.
I'm using unbleached muslin and quickly cut that up. I needed 1 1/2 yards and I had a uyard and some large scraps so that was taken care of.

 Then I started on this mess of strips from my scrap strip drawer. I'm going for a dark quilt so I'm also sorting out the lights. Trimming them to 1 1/2" wide took a while.

 When I got tired of cutting, I started sewing some of the strips together in groups of 4 or 5. I'm going to need anywhere from 7-21 scrap squares sewn together in sections so I thought this was a way to get some strip piecing to speed things up and still have a lot of variation in those sections.

 Next I went to work on the smaller strips, squares, etc. Some of these were long enough for strips and some I just cut into 1 1/2" squares...again it will help with the variation though I don't want to sew all squares.

 I started to get a bit more creative in sewing the strips. From this weird bit, I'll get some 4s and some 5s, and at the end some 3s and maybe even a 2.

 See its working...some sections ready to be sewn together and some "strata" read to be ironed and cut and some strips to be sewn into strata plus those individual squares
I hope to have some rows sewn today and something to show soon. If you know the pattern, I've decided against using focus fabrics around the muslin-I like the look but since I'm using dark fabrics, dark focus fabrics didn't show up and I don't think I'd like the look of light ones.

Hand Quilting on my Double Wedding Ring: A Progress Report

I need some help. I put my double wedding ring into the frame in 2010 and I have only just passed the half way point. I've decided that I will shame myself into finishing it by posting weekly progress reports. I took this photo last Friday-I had just turned it.

  I'm ready to start quilting this section: my needle is right there in the center of the melon and my thread, candle to wax my thread, scissors and thimbles (the bigger one is for when I'm quilting away from me-I wear it on my thumb; when I'm quilting towards me, I use the smaller size one on my index finger).

And here's my progress pix for this week:

I know it doesn't look like much progress but it is some. I can only reach to quilt half the design so actually I've done 2 sections here. (You can't see it but I'm patting myself on the back. ;)
Thought you might like some close-ups of some of the feedsacks in this section.

 The top wedge in the next photo isn't a vintage feedsack...its a regular fabric from the 1950s.

I've been quilting

I've been busy with classes but I have done some machine quilting on the Drunkard's Path...I'm still working on the white areas and then I want to go back and add something in the yellow-I'm thinking of a diamond grid-the parallel lines are just too "straight" but I'm not sure yet. Its a lot of fun doing the free triple circle "flowers" in the white but they do take a lot of time and a lot of thread-I can't believe all the bobbins I've made!I've also been hand quilting on the Double Wedding Ring...I think I'm about half way now. I took this pix at night but I think you can see that I've quilted in my name-using a 30s style printing. (The color is a little yellow but with the flash it was totally washed out.)
Isn't this just a gorgeous feedsack? The friend that gave me this one, the next one and others that I used in the DWR is here visiting and will be joining us for Thanksgiving dinner! We'll be about 14 this year-American friends from all over Israel-its really a lot of fun and a lot of good food.

Basket Quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival

Its time again for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, graciously hosted by Amy. I thought I'd share a favorite quilt of mine-my basket quilt.
The pattern is actually called Cake Stand but I've always thought of this as my basket quilt. I just love the ribbon border. There are 36 baskets made with 14 different fabrics. I remember that from a fat eighth (9" x 22") I could get 2 baskets. I "gridded" the triangles and it was quite easy to make all the HSTs that way.
You all know how much I love vintage things. This was the first time I tried my hand at a "vintage look" quilt. I wanted a 1930s feel to the quilt-it was just when 30s repro fabrics were coming out and while I used some I mostly used quilting or dress fabrics that gave the impression that I wanted.

The above fabric was given to me by a friend (dress scraps) and the below is actually one of the early Japanese quilting fabrics.
It is hand quilted...you can see below the feather wreath, a little fleur de lis design and one inch parallel lines that I used in the spaces between the baskets. (You also get a peak on the upper right of one of the 30s repro fabrics.) I just outline quilted the baskets with 1/4" and 1/2" lines.
This quilt was on our bed for years but then I noticed that it has started to fade. It was in the closet for two years but I missed seeing it so now I've put it out in the guest room (and I'm keeping the shutters closed unless we actually have guests!)

Hope you enjoyed seeing this quilt...hop on over to Amy's and visit all the wonderful quilts being shared this week.

Tuesday Tomes: Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire plus a Lone Star Quilt

Tuesday Tomes is a weekly book review of mainly vintage books. If you’ve reviewed a book recently-new or old-send me an e-mail and I will link to your post.

Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper and John J. McGuire

This is a humorous short science fiction novel…now I know that science fiction isn’t for everyone (I personally love it!) but this little book is really more silly than scientific. First published in Fantastic Universe in 1957, in 1958 it was published as a book with the title "A Planet for Texans" but when it was published as a part of a double book with Four Day Planet in 1979, it was once again under the title "Lone Star Planet".
You may have guessed already by the title that this planet was settled by Texans. When it became possible for human beings to leave earth the State of Texas decided to move lock, stock and barrel to this planet…yes, even including taking the Alamo with them.

Now it's generations later and a new ambassador from the Solar League has come-mainly to warn the New Texans of an imminent attack by the s'Scrauff-a canine descended group of space villains and to try to find out what really happened to the previous ambassador-was he murdered and by whom? Will he be able to convince the New Texans of the danger and the need to return to the earth fold?

Well read by Mark Nelson, be warned this may have you either chuckling or groaning out loud.

You can download this free audio-book here or the free e-book in pdf. or kindle format here.

This Lone Star quilt hangs on our living room wall...lol! yes, behind the TV!

The corner design is a Rose of Sharon, the border design is a tight cable and the star itself is outline quilted. This quilt is hand quilted and is one of the last quilts I did using a polyester batt. It has been on the wall for years and still looks pretty good.

Working on 3 projects at once: Yikes!

Look what DH surprised me with....It vacuumed and I machine quilted on my black, white and red log cabin...I think I'm in love!

I'm almost half done...I knew it would be slow going. I have to remember to machine quilt in the early morning or in the evenings when its a little cooler and the air conditioner works well enough. (In other words, when its in the low 90s rather than hovering around 100!)

I embroidered all the vines on the batik star and rosette quilt top and I like it. The trail isn't as noticeable as with the leaves but its there and gives that something extra.
While I was at the LQS teaching last Sunday, I picked up some silk ribbon in shades perfect for this quilt. I think I better test wash the dark purple and the maroon to make sure they don't run...oh, I hope they don't.
I've also been hand quilting on my double wedding ring...I put it on the frame ages ago and really didn't quilt much but now its the perfect summer project. I'm about half done with this "roll" of the frame, once its quilted all along the width of the quilt, then I'll roll again and finish this design.
I used a mixture of vintage fabrics and reproductions for the arcs of the DWR. Here are some pictures of some of the 1950s vintage fabric "wedges" in the quilt...
and here are some 1930s fabric including a feed sack on the right. You can see I'm outline quilting-very traditional!
Now I'm off to watch a film with DH and DS who came up to "rest" after a big final exam this morning...well, I'll watch a film if they can decide on what to order from pay-per-view! :)

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Inspired by Karen's hand quilting and Eileen's posts about the wedding ring she's working on, I decided it was time to take this big block Double Wedding Ring Quilt out of the closet and get working on it.

I drafted the pattern a few years ago after seeing my friend Teresa's vintage wedding ring quilt-I had always intended to trace the pattern from her quilt but never did. ( They were transferred and so I lost my chance :) I loved the big rings and thought it would be easy to sew such gentle curves.

I was right. The quilt top went together quickly and easily...once all the fabric was marked and cut with scissors!

I finally decided on the quilting patterns and I hope you can see one here! I've marked about half of the quilt so far but then had to put it away as I got busy cooking and baking for Thanksgiving!

Here's the pattern for the "melon" pieces. This is an adaptation from a vintage Mountain Mist border pattern...I like the idea of echoing the rings in the quilting-the square to me represents the home!

You're probably wondering already about the fabrics used: part vintage and part reproduction.

Here you can see some more fabrics-on the top left arc the first two are vintage, next two reproduction, next vintage, last is a red dotted swiss that while a new fabric is timeless. The vintage fabrics range from feedsacks from the 30s and 40s to dress cottons from the 1950s and 60s .

I'm planning on marking some more tomorrow: DH will be playing bridge and I'll use the big dining room table, put on some country music and mark away!

BTW has anyone else had trouble uploading pictures to blogger? I tried at least six times starting yesterday and finally I was able to load the pictures one at a time and even then one timed out and I had to start that one over again!

Floral Mock Log Cabin Quilt Finished

I finished this quilt last week and its already at home at its new owners! The patchwork pattern is a variation on the mock log cabin pattern, woodpile. Its fast and fun to do-all strip piecing. I used all florals and it has a very sweet colorwash look, I think. It is machine quilted with an overall cable design.

Its a lap quilt and I thought it looked a little long and narrow so I added an extra narrow border only on the sides-which gave me room for a little free motion quilting in a leaf/vine pattern with a few leafy hearts thrown in.

Here's a close-up of one block-you can see the cable quilting too, done in a variegated thread. I use my walking foot whenever I do cables-I just gently turn the quilt like you do for any curved sewing - such as sewing sleeves.

I just love the back of this quilt...it reminds me of the wonderful North Country whole cloth quilts I saw on our trip to England a few years ago. It makes me think that maybe I want to make a machine quilted whole cloth quilt. (BTW, the pillow is hand quilted!)