BACKINGS AND BABY BIRDS

Look at the baby robins now!  Are they hungry, or what?!?!?  They are keeping mama busy.

Canuck Quilter had a post about backings here.  She showed some of hers and it got me to thinking about one of my favorite quilts - my Blogging Buddies friendship quilt.  I checked my blog post about it and noticed that I never put a picture of the backing on my blog, so I decided to take a picture of it.  I didn't have enough of the grey fabric, so I used up a bunch of orphan blocks that I made or won at my guild's "block of the month."  I also had 2 extra blocks from the front of the quilt.

DH held up the quilt and there was light coming in the window behind him, so you can see the front through the back.  Hee Hee!  I love the back almost as much as the front!  Most of the time, my backs aren't very special.

Right now I'm working on getting backings ready.  This fabric is for my Dear Jane quilt - its. Prairie Gathering by Pam Buda, Marcus Fabrics.  This is one of those rare times that I have enough fabric for the whole back.  I just love this fabric!

I plan to baste a few quilts at the same time and one of them is this quilt top that my Mom embroidered years ago.  I am finally planning to quilt it.  I have some fabric set aside, but it's not enough, so I'm not sure yet what I will do for this one.

This pile of fabrics is for the back my Flags of the American Revolution quilt and I really don't have very many large pieces of red or blue so I'm trying to figure out how to get these pieces put together so it will be big enough (trying to use up stash).  The quilt is 80 1/2" square.  I have lots of red and blue, but not many large pieces.  Probably used up on some donation quilts.

It's good that I've been using stash, but it seems like I have lots of small pieces and tons of scraps, but not many large pieces - at least that will "go" with what I'm basting.  Hmmm, maybe I'll need to do some shopping.  The LQS gives a 25% discount during your birthday week and my birthday is coming up soon, so I have some plans.

DEAR JANE, THE TOP IS FINISHED!!!

I'm very happy today!! I finished putting the top together yesterday, June 24, 2017!  Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!  Thanks for all your encouraging words.  When I first saw some of these quilts, it was at a quilt show in Fort Worth, Texas on Feb. 8, 2008.  Brenda Papadakis was there and gave a talk about her journey making the book and of course the book was for sale.  I didn't buy it.  I thought about the quilt for a long time and eventually put it on my Christmas list.

I received the book for Christmas on December 25, 2013, from my DS/DIL (after it had been on my Christmas wish list for a few years).  I had decided that if I ever got the book I was going to make it.  I  made the first block on January 22, 2014.  I pretty much made all the blocks in order or at least worked on the rows in order.  Sometimes, I didn't do each block in the row in order.  My plan was to make each of the 169 blocks with a different "main" fabric and not duplicate any of the "main" fabrics in the center square.  I did use background fabrics more than one time, but didn't really keep track of them except to try not to put the same ones next to each other.

I had a similar plan for the border triangles in that I didn't duplicate any of the "main" fabrics among them, but some of those fabrics might have been used in the middle section.  I bought some better quality muslin for the sashing and corner blocks (kites).  I will also use this muslin for the scalloped border around the edges.  That will be the next job - to sew on the muslin borders and mark it for the scallops.  Then, I will machine quilt it.  I plan to get it quilted before September.

Baby robin update:  The babies seem to be getting more feathers and they are being fed quite often.  We can see the adult birds flying into and out of the nest through our living room windows.

Now I can relax a little more!

FINISHING SOON!!

I've been working on DJ, trying to get the top finished!  The 4 corner "kites" are almost finished.

Two of the "kites" are finished and trimmed and two are still in progress.  Actually, the 2nd one just needs trimming (the one with the embroidered writing).  I'm almost finished appliquéing the one on the right and then it just needs trimming.  I chose to place the appliqué pieces directly on one solid piece of fabric instead of sewing fabric together - I didn't see the point.  I'm into using the easiest process that I can to get finished.

Notice, I machine appliquéd the 2 stars on the left "kite."  It is so much easier than trying to get good points on a hand appliquéd star.  (I'm sure Jane would have machine appliquéd if she had a machine that would do it, don't you?)  The next "kite" has a PPed star that the instructions from "thatquilt.blogspot.com" says should be reverse appliquéd onto it.  I just paper pieced it and left enough background fabric on it to sew onto the bottom section and then trim.  It is also hard to get a good point using reverse appliqué.

The right and left border triangles are on my design wall and I'm cutting fabric triangles that will be set in between each pieced triangle.  Each fabric triangle will be different from all the other ones, so I'm digging in my civil war fabric drawer to find the fabrics I want to use.

Probably my next post will be the whole top put together.  All I need to do is sew these 2 sides on and the corner pieces!!!!!

SOME UNSEWING AND BIRD'S EGGS

I'm starting to sew the triangle borders together.  Here's an example of a few blocks.  Oops!  I need to correct this!  I'm working on putting all the blocks together and will show you soon!

I received a beautiful basket of flowers for Mother's Day, but a couple weeks ago we noticed some robins flying into the basket with grass in their beaks.  Here is the result.  This morning whoever was sitting on the eggs took a break, so I stood on a stool to take this picture.  The basket is right outside our front door and front windows.

I think they are due to hatch in a couple days, but don't know for sure exactly when the eggs were laid.  It takes 2 weeks to incubate them and then they grow in the nest for a couple more weeks before they fly away.  I can't wait to see them!

Love put a link to a video of a baby robin hatching here.  

PICNIC IN YAMHILL COUNTY, OR, ETC.

Yesterday I went on a picnic with my grandson, who is a college student going into his senior year in September.  On our way to the park, we drove through Yamhill, OR where I took this picture of a barn with quilt blocks on it.

We went to Menefee County Park, which is a small park with 2 picnic tables, a lovely creek flowing through it and huge trees.

It was a cloudy day and the temperature was in the 60s, but at the park it was 59º!  We had a lunch of egg salad sandwiches, watermelon, juice, tea and cookies.

I thought you might enjoy the picture of the "facilities" in the park.  Needless to say we didn't avail ourselves to the use of this facility.

The big news is that I completed the last border of my Dear Jane quilt - the left side.  Here are the blocks.  For your information, I have done a lot of machine appliqué on these blocks and quite a bit of hand appliqué.  By the time I got to this point, I used more machine than hand appliqué, but I did use both methods in these blocks.

I will start working on the corner pieces right away and hope to start sewing blocks together soon.

I don't necessarily plan to work ONLY on my DJ quilt until it's finished, but my desire is to finish it sometime this year.

Thanks for visiting!

"FLAGS" TOP FINISHED!

I finished the top of "Flags of the American Revolution," which was designed by Jan Patek.  DH helped hold it up for a picture.  One side was clipped to the patio umbrella and DH held the other corner - it's a large quilt!  About 78" x 78".  It was windy outside, so it was hard to get a good picture.

This one is a little better, except the right side is behind the table.

Close-up of the eagle!

This flag right under the eagle will have 13 small round white buttons in the blue field.  The red and white stripe fabric looks like pink from a distance, but is really red and white.

I still need to embroider a tongue on the snake.  This flag was the U. S. Navy Jack during the revolution.  The snake was a symbol of resistance to the British.

The blue wool felt stars are all appliquéd on this flag.

The "76" will also have 13 small white buttons around it.  "Liberty or Death" is a slogan that the Minute Men wore on their shirts.  They knew that if they didn't win the fight for liberty, they could (and probably would) end up dead.

I'm glad that I had enough of this stripe to use for the border.

I'm going to fold this up  now and spend some time working on something else for a while before I baste it.  When I do baste it, I want to baste my round robin also as well as a quilt top that my Mom embroidered years ago.  

FLAGS OF REVOLUTION PROGRESS REPORT

Here is my "almost completed" top of the "Flags of the American Revolution" quilt (designed by Jan Patek) up on my design wall.  Not all blocks are sewn together yet.  

This block (below) is supposed to have 13 blue star buttons sewn on the tan field, but I have decided to appliqué 13 felted wool stars on it instead.  This is due to Lori's advice that buttons make it uncomfortable to lie on.

Here is a close up of the flag, is a replica of the one flown at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, which was a major turning point for independence.  FYI:  all the flag blocks have historical significance.

I think these stars will look as good as, or better, than blue star buttons.

Today I went to a garage sale and bought these "raggy" quilt blocks.  They were cut on one of those special "cutting" machines so that they have all the edges already cut, and they were put together with a piece of batting and a denim backing, but not sewn.  So, I sewed an "X" on each of the 36 blocks.

I also purchased some pieces of fabric, some Tupperware and some jewelry.  The house that the sale is at is loaded with craft items among other things and the Estate sale is next weekend!

Have a great weekend everyone!