CIVIL WAR QUILT FINISHED

I finished my Civil War Block of the Week Quilt from 2011 featured on Barbara Brackman's Blog.   I enjoyed making the blocks and looked forward to Saturday mornings when they would appear on Barbara's blog.  The setting I used was one that she offered as a suggested setting here.  It is the second one shown in this post and I just love it!  It took me over a year to get it finished (not counting the year to make the blocks, but here it is!

A big thank you to Barbara for her wonderful blog and for the blocks of the week and all the history included.  I really need to take my time and study it more extensively.

Center Block - Railroad Crossing

the backing

The quilt measures 95" square and it is the second very large quilt that I have quilted this year.  I'm going to be working on smaller quilts for quite a while - I hope!  Thanks for all the encouraging words!

BLOGLOVIN

I'm going to start using Bloglovin and hopefully it will transfer all the blogs I follow.  Google Reader is going away soon and I have lots of blogs on my list.  I am not happy with them as they already have changed Google Reader and it's not working like it used to.

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If any of you have signed up with Bloglovin, let me know how it is working for you.

I'm almost finished with my Civil War quilt.  I just have the border to quilt and the binding to put on.  I'll have it finished by Monday night's quilters guild meeting!

My quilting pattern for the pieced blocks comes from this block.

Order Number 11,  Civil War Block #40

I used this template that DH made for me to mark each block, which had to be done with a  marker for dark fabric and another marker for light fabric.  I find it very hard to quilt following a line, so my quilting has some zigs and zags in it.  

This one has a zig in it.  They probably all do, so if I stopped to rip out every one, I would never get finished.  I'm hoping that the over all effect of the quilting will draw the eyes to the good parts!  There are 52 pieced blocks in the quilt as this QAL lasted a full year and there was a block every week.

Finishing this quilt is my priority for the next few days.  Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a quilty weekend!

2 Qs: QUILTING AND QUINTUPLETS

Back here I told you about the quintuplets that I am helping with once a week.  Thursday morning when they were all up at once, I asked to have my picture taken with all five.  What a group!  Aren't they adorable?  They have grown so much since my first post about them and are so much fun.  Today, they will be going to church for the first time.  Check out the family blog for more information.

Seth, Marcie, Will, David and Gracie

This week I have been quilting my Civil War quilt and I think I'm a little over half way with it.  I decided to do feathers in the setting squares and I'm doing it without a template.  Here is how I do it using the "hooked on feathers" method from Sally Terry's book of that name.

First I use the magnifying glass to trace around for the center circle.

I quilt feathers on the inside of the circle first, which is my least favorite part.

Finished center of circle.

Finished block.

Believe it or not, doing the feathers this way is pretty easy.  I didn't believe it until I actually started doing them.  Luckily, I got lots of good tips from other bloggers with more experience.

Last week a friend of mine gave me a doll bed.  I almost didn't take it, because I had decided not to take any more, but then she said she was going to throw it away!  That got me!  So I took it, DH fixed it up - it had cracked wood and now it looks great!  Next step is to make a mattress, sheets and quilt!  I already have a doll pillow I can use with it.

Today is Easter, the day we celebrate Jesus' defeat over death and sin.  His free gift of eternal life goes to all who put their belief and trust in Him.  Happy Easter!

BTW, I posted something on Country Log Cabin Secrets.

SOME PROJECTS

I am finally getting back to quilting my Civil War quilt.  This morning I was up at 5:00 AM and got in at least an hour and a half of quilting.  Then I had to do some yard work and now I'm blogging.

DH & I went to a couple garage sales on Saturday and I saw a display case which I bought.  I had been wanting to get one to display some items from my Grandma & Grandpa.  I put a few things in it, but it isn't fixed up the way I want it yet.  The items I put in are:  butterfly block Grandma made (I have one more of these - there were only two), mittens Grandma made (I never liked the mittens because they weren't "cute" like my friends had), Grandma's buttonhole scissors, Grandpa's bank book, and the article about their 50th wedding anniversary celebration in 1949.  I want to get a copy of their wedding picture to put in as well as a better copy of their 50th anniversary picture - which my sister is going to send me.  I also have some lace that Grandma crouched and put on a pillowcase.  I plan to remove it from the pillowcase and put some of it in the display case.  

I bought one of those tiny 2 1/2" charm packs at the quilt show and sewed them together.  It's not very big, so I'm adding the embroidery on each end.  One is finished and I have the other one to do.  The two ends will be rounded.

I made this GFG lap quilt (top only) several years ago and it is on my UFO list.  I decided to make it bigger because my original idea of just adding a border didn't look right to me.  So I'm enlarging it and the border will be more hexagons made into smaller flowers.

Like these.  They will all be made with red fabric - except the one black one (I just love that fabric and don't have any more left).

Hope you are getting some sewing/quilting done this week!

THE WEEK FLEW BY

This has been a strange week for me.  First of all, I started having problems with my quilt puckering in one corner, so I started removing some of the stitches and I think I have all the stitches out that need to come out and my next step will be to rebaste that section of the quilt.  I know, Liri, if I would have basted it according to your method, I probably wouldn't be having this problem.  This is the reason I didn't.  I'm taking a quilting class on Craftsy and decided to follow the method for basting that the teacher (Cindy Needhan) recommended.  Actually, it is similar to Liri's method, except you don't baste the batting to the backing first and then baste the top to the batting/backing, you use safety pins.  I used it for the applique quilt and it was fine.  The applique quilt is larger than my civil war quilt, so I'm not sure what went wrong.  Hopefully, I can fix it and get it quilted soon!

Last Sunday I prepped the March baskets and I got them all finished by Tuesday!  It is really easy when they are prepped with spray starch!

I forgot to show this bundle of FQ shirtings that I got at the Dallas Quilt Show 2 weeks ago.  My friend, Karen, convinced me to go ahead and get it and I'm glad I did.

The rest of the week was taken up with a couple small projects that I really can't show the pictures of right now, plus working on a table runner for my Etsy shop.  Then, one day was taken up getting the carpet cleaned.  I've also been trying to get a little yard work done in the mornings.  So, that was my week.  I'm hoping for more to be accomplished this week.  Have a nice Palm Sunday!

QUILTERS' SEW-CIAL FOR INTERNATIONAL QUILTING DAY

I got up this morning and checked some blogs.  Sewcalgal is having a  virtual "Sew-cial" to celebrate International Quilting Day!  To participate, you spend time quilting, and then post about it on your blog.  Then, you link your post to Sewcalgal's blog.  I thought it sounded like fun, so here is my post.

I got up at about 6:00 AM, a little later than usual, so decided to get started right away.  When DH got up, I told him about what day it was and that I was "required" to quilt all day!  I'm lucky to have a DH who understands me.  Hee Hee!

It was still dark outside, so the light is on  in my sewing room.  (Notice the poster of the "Dear  Jane" quilt on the door.

I started getting my March BOMs ready for appliqué - 12 little basket blocks.  Here are some with freezer paper ironed onto the fabric.

The Quilt Show  was  airing all their programs FREE in honor of the day, so I watched about 3 episodes while I prepared the baskets.

The Quilt Show

As some of you know, I have tried several methods for the applique and decided that spray starching the seam allowance to the back was working best for me.  This time I decided to use some clear template plastic to see how it would work, because after reusing the doubled freezer paper, the paper starts to fold over some.

The plastic template worked pretty well, except the plastic got warped from the little iron.

Some baskets with freezer paper ironed on ready to starch.

The curve at the base of the basket has been the hardest part to get smooth.  I think I'll get some plastic that can withstand the heat of the iron to try next month.

Here are all the baskets ready to appliqué!

After lunch I started quilting my Civil War quilt.  At this point, I'm stitching in the ditch around all the blocks.  I have been watching a Craftsy class taught by Cindy Neeham and for this quilt, I have been following her advice on basting and quilting.  

So, I feel like I had a pretty productive day.  I took a couple breaks to do some non-quilty chores and take a walk, but pretty much kept quilting.  After watching 3 episodes of The Quilt Show and one episode of Cindy Needhams class, I was excited to get some quilting accomplished.

Did you participate in the Sew-cial today?

SOME NON-QUILTY SEWING

Sunday afternoon I went to the Dallas Quilt Show and while I did take some pictures, I'm only posting one of them.  There was a big sign saying that we can take pictures, but need to get permission from the quilt maker in order to post them on the internet.  I wouldn't know how to contact the quilt makers, so you are out of luck there.

While at the quilt show I ran into Karen, the president of my guild and we walked around for a while together.  She is an amazing quilter and has been a member of the guild for longer than me - I've been a member for about 15 years!

The one quilt that I am posting is legal because I actually made some of these blocks for this quilt as a member of the Creative Quilter's Guild of Ellis County.  I sometimes join that guild, but don't go to very many meetings.  My long time guild takes precedence.  Anyway, this quilt (the picture doesn't show all of the border which has some applique on opposite corners) is their raffle quilt for this year. 

My non-quilty sewing consisted of making a dress for Abby and her doll, Lulu.  Each dress has a gingham slip under it which "shows" beneath the dress. I spent 2 full days, plus some more time working on these dresses.

Lulu's dress

Abby's dress

Then I decided I better get these bow ties made for my oldest grandson, who likes to wear bow ties.  I had gotten some silk fabric at a fabric outlet and had already sent him the red one (before Christmas), but just hadn't gotten around to making these two.  They don't take any time at all, so I don't know why I didn't make them sooner.

I thought he might like to wear the green tie for St. Patrick's day - maybe?

Today, I'm planning to baste my civil war quilt.  I want to get that one finished soon.

A FINISH AND A WIN!

The quilt is finished except for a few little things, like embroidering antennae on the butterflies and quilting some accent lines on the some of the flowers.  Yea!! Now I can cross it off my list!!!  Don't look too close - of course, now you will!  I'm somewhat, but not completely happy with it.  I'm not looking for compliments, just admitting it isn't as good as I wish it was.  My excuses are:  I didn't have a pattern and I was making it up as I went along.  Ugh!  I don't really like white quilts and I'm not very experienced with applique, although I am attempting to remedy that.  I found that quilting the feathers is easier than quilting straight or semi-straight lines.  

Oh well, it's not going into a quilt show and it's for family.  I hope they will be happy with it. 

Now, I can work on my Civil War quilt, which is ready to baste.  In the mean time, I'm making matching dresses for Abby and her 18" doll, Lulu.

I was lucky enough to win a copy of of this book from Carolyn and just received it!  I am almost finished with Jennifer Chiaverini's other Civil War book, The Union Quilters, and have been enjoying it, so I'm looking forward to reading this one.

Since this is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, now is the time to learn more about it and Jennifer's two books, at least the first one (and I'm sure I'll find the second one too), has a lot of facts put into it and I love historical novels.  Also, the movie about President Lincoln as well as the Killing Lincoln book by Bill O'Reilly and movie that was on TV are available too.

QUILTING, QUILTING & MORE QUILTING

Saturday, I finished this table runner made from civil war reproduction scraps.  I quilted it with feathers all over - the first time I had tried that.  One reason I did it on the table runner was to practice for the big applique quilt.  I listed the table runner on my Etsy shop and it sold already!

I saw these bins at the store for a cheap price, so I decided to get them to better sort my scraps.  

 

It just barely fits under my sewing table (which is cleared off because I have been quilting the appliqué quilt and I had it off so I could spread it out and see how it was looking).  The bins don't fit under the table in the same place that my scrap basket has been, but at least I can use them to sort the colors - this will be mainly for strips.  I will have to combine some colors - like red & pink, etc. as I only have 6 sections.  I put a divider in the middle of each bin.

I have been quilting my little heart out on this applique quilt and I'm almost finished with the main center portion and then will "just" have the borders to do - which is still a LOT of quilting.

Back view.

I'll be glad when this is done.  I don't think I'll ever do a mostly white quilt again, for sure.  The problem with this quilt is that I didn't have a pattern.  My DIL just wanted some flowers scattered across the white background.  Since I haven't done much appliqué, I would have preferred a pattern, but it's almost finished!  Whew!

MY WEEK

It's been a week since I've posted anything, mainly because while I have been busy sewing, but there's not much to show for it.  I mailed the giveaway off to Sally, she received it and sent me a nice note.

I finished appliquéing the baskets for February.

One day this week I was reading a blog by the Cuddle Quilter and she was telling about the rainbow challenge.  I did check it out and I'm NOT joining it, however, I liked the idea and decided to try it out with some string blocks.

While I was sorting some of my string scraps into color groups, DH came in the room, picked up the camera and took a picture of the mess.  He said I should post it on my blog, so here it is.  You can see my scrap basket on the left side of the picture.  This basket lives under my sewing table so that when I have any scraps or strips I can easily drop them into it.  Lately though, in order for the scrap to stay in the basket I would have to stuff it down, otherwise it would just end up on the floor.  In other words, it was packed with scraps.  I did get some of it sorted into colors, but it is still 3/4s full.

Here are a few of the blocks I made into color groups.  I am going to use these for a donation quilt and will arrange the colors into a rainbow type plan, or something else that looks good.  I really need to make some of these every day in order to empty my basket.  If I don't, the scraps might take over the whole room!

One of my main goals was to get the applique and the civil war quilts basted.  I did baste the applique quilt, a table runner and a doll quilt.  I still have to baste the civil war quilt, but decided to start quilting the appliqué quilt first.

Have a nice weekend everyone!