Monday, April 20, 2020

3 FINISHES; A LARGE QUILT, A MINI QUILT AND A PUZZLE!

This "Barn Quilt" is made with my 6" Moda blockheads that I made a couple years ago.  They came out one per week and I kept up with them for quite a while, then got behind.  I knew I wanted to make a queen size quilt and that I would probably need extra blocks, so I started making additional blocks (OK, I confess - I made extra blocks of some of the easier ones - not the 72 piece ones).  I saw a quilt that I really liked that had a barn in the middle with some rows of the blockhead blocks.  I posted about it January 28 of this year.  I found a barn that I liked better and put it in the center and added borders to make it large enough.


If you have any ideas for a name I could give this quilt, I would appreciate suggestions.  "Barn Quilt" isn't cutting it for me and I'm not good at naming quilts.

My DS and DSG came over for dinner yesterday (we didn't do any hugging) and I had 2 people to hold it up.  It is too large to hang on my clothes line.  It measures 94" x 96".  DGS and DH had to stand on step stools to get it high enough and then it was still dragging on the ground.  I had to take the picture quickly so I didn't have a chance to get it straightened out better (DH said to hurry).

I also finished the Honeycomb mini quilt (I won the pattern from Janet).  I like the way it turned out - I machine prepped it according to Kim Diehl's instructions and quilted it with clear thread, again according to her instructions.  I am pretty good at following directions - I would never try to figure out how to paper piece it or piece it any other way.


My lily of the valley plants are blooming, so I cut a few stems and put them in a tiny vase on my desk.  I have always loved the way they smell!  And they are so dainty!


DS has a new camera, so he took some pictures of my flowers with his new lens.  They look very different enlarged and close up.

Clematis

Bleeding Hearts

Pansy
 Here is the 1000 piece puzzle that we finished this morning.  Ordinarily, I wouldn't make a 1000 piece puzzle, let alone buy one, but when I saw this at a garage sale for only 50 cents and it was a Springbok puzzle (my favorite kind), plus a puzzle with all sewing notions, I couldn't resist it.  I think I have had it for at least a year, maybe two years, so I wasn't sure I would ever make it.

But, we had made all the other puzzles that we have (except the Christmas ones), so I decided to bring it down from the attic and set it up.  It took a whole week to get it finished, working on it while watching TV usually.  Turns out that it is missing one piece, which is pretty good considering it was bought at a garage sale.  The weird thing is that it had some duplicate pieces.  I had to set up an extra table to hold the trays of pieces because the puzzle took up almost the whole card table.  We're leaving it up for a while so we can look for the lost piece.


 Well, quilting and non-quilting friends, it has been 4 weeks and 4 days of isolation (except for the trips to the store for food) and we are still somewhat sane!  How about you?



13 comments:

  1. That is a gorgeous finish. I'd be inclined to call it Barn Quilt Surrounded. My husband loves to photograph flowers too. Maybe one day spring will finally reach us.

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  2. how about barn dance squares? anyway, nice finish...and sane? still but for how long is anyone's guess...LOL

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  3. Your barn quilt is beautiful! My suggestion for a name is "Country Living". Also loved the closeup flower pics. Makes my finger itch for pulling out my watercolor paints! Sandy at sewhigh.blogspot.com

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  4. Love your quilt! Wow! Really great job. That barn is beautiful. I love it. For a name ... how about Harvesting? what I see is a field of beautiful blocks just waiting to be harvested. anywho! That's my twopence.
    I love how you say "somewhat sane". It describes my place pretty good too. We are hanging in there and if they don't let us out soon, we won't fit through the door any more, haha! Glad to hear you had a nice visit. Take care. ;^)

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  5. Both your quilts are beautiful! So are your flowers! What about "The Old Farm Barn"? Those borders are just a perfect finish. I don't know how you stayed with all those little pieces in all those blocks, but they really made an awesome setting for your barn! ---"Love"

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  6. I'm not sure I was sane to start with, but doing well here. Both hubby and I are essential, so life has changed little for us, though I am craving a meal out! The barn quilt is amazing! I don't blame you for picking and choosing which blocks to duplicate, though I tend to find myself leaning towards liking the more complicated ones best and get myself into hot water! No ideas for a name, though - I've never been creative that way. The missing puzzle piece is a problem I've known my whole life! We used to do puzzles as kids with my mom and we were always missing pieces. Even with new ones - because we had a long-haired cat that either stole them, swished them off with her tail or they stuck in her fur some and were carried off. (She liked to help - mostly when we were sleeping!) I suppose that helped suppress any OCD tendencies at a young age?! Good luck finding it. It is a fun puzzle though!

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  7. Thanks to quilting and outside projects we are fine. Live on a farm so can get outside and enjoy spring arriving.

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  8. I love the barn quilt. I can’t come up with a better suggestion than has been made. I played “I spy” and finally found the missing piece! It’s perfectly placed. It looks like just another thing that someone left on the table: a puzzle piece from a previous puzzle.

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  9. Oh my, your quilt i beautiful. I'm sure a name will come. The little quilt turned out well too. Such a lovely vignette. Who is that distinguished lady in the photograph? DH's new lens works a treat. Magazine worthy images there. I haven't done a puzzle in years. Duplicate pieces isn't fair. Or are they the ones folks lose most? Luckily I've only had two weeks lock down as I work in an essential service. The world is strangely quiet but the air is so clean. I feel a bit guilty, I've got an easy time of things but I know how hard medical teams are working right now to save lives and grateful for their efforts.

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  10. Hi Ruth, what beautiful quilting pyou do. The Dear Jane in your header is magnificent. We are also doing puzzles during what is now 6 weeks of isolating for us. Pretty photos too. Happy Stitching from me in Canada!

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  11. Your barn setting for the Blockheads blocks is oh so good. Caught my eye right away. I have always found barns interesting. Different style barns in different parts of the country.

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  12. I love the barn quilt, you could call it Barn Dance. I love the barn block in the middle. The honeycomb mini is cute, the quilting looks great. I had lily of the valley in my yard when I lived in Illinois. They are such cute little flowers. I like the peek at the blue baskets quilt behind the vase. Love that quilt! The flower photos are so pretty, looks like a fun hobby. That puzzle does look challenging. I looked for the missing piece but couldn't find where it is in the puzzle. It certainly would keep you busy.

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  13. what a fun post. I love your barn quilt. The only name that came to mind was "The Farmer in the Dell"
    I wish I could smell your lily of the valley. I just adore those and had a bit patch in NJ.
    Cute little quilt.
    Stay well and keep sewing and puzzling. What a great puzzle.

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