Back to Work

Yesterday I had to return back to "reality", but when I got home, these were waiting for me:

These are vintage Kansas City Star patterns.  They have been kept very well all these years.  Unfortunately, the directions for the patterns are cut off most of them, but the entire templates are there for all 5 of them.

I guess I will photo copy them for use and then put these originals in a protective sleeve.  It's neat seeing the stuff that was in the paper on the backs of these!

Takin' Her for a Test Drive

Not a lot of quilting activities going on today.  I started physical therapy today for my plantar faciitis and it's the first time a "massage" made me want to cry!  But, I survived and stopped by Joann's to get some "cheap fabric" for my test drive and some smaller spools of thread for the featherweight.  

When I got home, I cut out the next five blocks for my Farmer's Wife quilt.  Hats off to Marti Michell for giving us free directions to use her templates but sometimes I need just a little more detail.  She suggested a shortcut explained in one of her books to eliminate a seam, but I don't have the book and without the proper cutting dimensions, I just couldn't figure it out.  So I relented and cut the stupid half square triangles and will do it the hard way for me.

I got around to the test drive just a couple hours ago and I must say she sews like a dream!!

Strip Sewing

A Little Chain Piecing

The Final Blocks

I guess I'll go ahead and sew these into a blanket for the kitties.

Sunday, Busy Sunday

I joined the Simply Charming Small Quilts Club from Homestead Hearth. It's a series of 12 small quilts from this book:

I got the book at the 2011 Quilt Festival in Summersville, WV.  I actually bought the book from the author, Tara Lynn Darr.  I didn't know that at the time or I would have gotten my quilt geek on and had her autograph it.  Today I put together my first quilt from the book called Nellie's Nine Patch.

After I finished that I put together that Shamrock block from yesterday. The binding is just pinned down in the picture, but I think it turned out pretty good.

After that .... yeah .... I was on a roll ... I put together three more blocks for my Farmer's Wife quilt:

These are (left to right):  Block #70 Prairie Queen, Block #72 Railroad and Block #84 Spool.  Now there are only 106 more to go!

Lastly, I sewed the Spiced Apple blocks together and cut the borders. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get them sewed on so I can take it to the quilter this coming weekend.

Whew!  It was a busy day!

Sew Many Projects, Sew Little Time

Today I went to Quilts by Phyllis and picked out the fabric for my other class at the Mill.  I'm taking the "Sweet Mint" class and this is what I ended up with:

I just went with Fat Quarters until I see if I like the pattern.  Curved seams are going to be a new thing for me.

While I was there I picked up an awesome book called Fat Quarter Winners and I can not wait to make something from it.  When I got home, I had a new "old book" in the mail that I got off eBay called Star Quilts.  It's a compilation of patterns from the Kansas City Star Patterns from 1928-1960.  It is incredible and I can't wait to make something out of it too!  I need more time!!

So since I don't have enough projects going on .... I thought I'd do a St. Patrick's day mini quilt for my mini quilt stand.  I found a pattern online for a 12-1/2" block, but that was way too big.  I needed to scale it way down to fit and I think I figured it out!!

I'm going to sew it together tomorrow and see how it works!!

Lazy Friday

I had great intentions of actually getting the machine out today, but it just didn't happen.  I did, however, lay out all the blocks for the Spiced Apple quilt and have them ready to sew.

I'm attending the 16th Annual Quilt Retreat at Jackson's Mill, WV here in a few weeks so today I figured I'd better start cutting some of my fabric. I'm taking a class called 45 & Life to Go which is a pattern by Primative Gattherings (I think).  I'm using the Primative Gatherings line of fabric as well:

I cut my 1.5" strips today and sorted them into piles to sew together:

I still have quite a bit to cut, but at least it's a start.

I also laid out the fabric for a couple of other cute little projects I'd like to get done before I leave for the Mill in March.  Hopefully I'll find time to get everything done!

Tomorrow I'm going to Quilts by Phyllis to pick out fabric for the second class I'm taking at the Mill.

Spiced Apples

I'm not posting a recipe ... just another quilt!

I started this quilt a little while ago after a trip to the Quilt Shoppe in Summersville, WV.   They don't have a website, but if you are ever in that area, I highly recommend stopping in.  The owner is Vickie Fleer and they have a wonderful selection of fabric.

But I digress ...

I bought this book on that trip:

Vickie had the Spiced Apple Quilt in her shop and I just had to make one.  I've posted pictures of the work in progress on Facebook, but it's hard to keep a record there so I want to repost every thing here.

I started cutting strips and of course I had expert help, our two Bengals, Khaleesi and Keira:

 

It was in the middle of this that I discovered  that Keira was a fetcher.  Yes, just like a dog.  See the collar in the picture below?  That's her toy of choice to bring back and forth for you to throw.  It does make it difficult to use a rotary cutter with something constantly being dropped in your way, but it's so worth it!!

I finally got all the strips cut though:

 Next I had to sew all those strips together:

Then those got cut apart and sewn into blocks.  And yes, kitchen colanders really do make great baskets!

Then ... those blocks got sewn in to bigger blocks.

I've finally gotten all of those sewn together and started laying out the quilt:

 So this weekend I hope to get this one sewn together and then I can show some of the other projects I've gotten myself into!

The Farmer's Wife Quilt

Because I'm crazy, I started my Farmer's Wife Quilt this weekend. I know a lot of my friends reading along have no clue what that is so I'll tell you. It's a quilt consisting of 111 different 6" blocks. Yes, 111.

Here is the book:

I'm using Marti Michell templates to cut out my quilt.  So I'm making them in the order she recommends.  Yesterday evening I assembled Block #16 Calico Puzzle and #21 Contrary Wife:

 

Only 109 more to go!!

My Birthday Present

My hubby got me a 1936 Singer Featherweight for my birthday. It came Thursday and he went ahead and let me have it even though my birthday isn't until the end of the month.  He's been working on it all weekend ... it received a little damage in shipping.  He's going to have to order a few replacement parts for it, but the lady he got it from graciously offered to pay for all repairs!  Can you imagine?  Most people would just say tough luck.  Anyway, this evening after much taking apart, cleaning, oiling and hard work .... he got it running!!!! And I got to sew a little on it!!  It's smooth!

I can't wait to take it to class!

 

The quilt hanging in the background is the center of a Carpenter's Star Quilt class I'm taking.  I had "homework" and finished it today.  More about that later though ....

Lastly, here's my sewing from the machine!!!

Did I mention that I was really excited?

Welcome

Welcome to my quilting blog. Most posts will be about quilting, but you just never can tell what will pop into this deranged mind.

Bear with me as I try to figure out how I want to format this blog.  This is all new to me.  Any tips and tricks are welcome!

Sit back and enjoy the read ...