Quilt Lovers' Favorites Volume 10

I mentioned in a previous posting  that two of my little quilts were included in Volume 10 of  Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Lovers' Favorites.  There is no link on the web to order this book yet.  If you're interested in purchasing you can call the publisher at 1-800-491-0647 to order.  I'm sure they can answer all your questions regarding price, shipping, etc.  (I don't have any of those details)

It's hot outside, but things are cooking in the quilt lab...

It's too hot to go outside and pull weeds.  Too bad, I have to stay inside and sew.  I've been wanting to reproduce this doll quilt from the book Childhood Treasures.  I played around with the size a bit, deciding on a 2 inch finished hourglass unit.  Huge, I know!  I had to start with 3.5 inch squares.  Oh my goodness.  It's so hard to sew with such large squares!

This is the first blue I tried for the sashing.

Then I changed my mind and will use this instead.  It's not quite as bright.

As usual with me, one quilt leads to another.  I made this block with the small rejects from my first attempt at hitting a size I liked. 

That will become a quilt with 9 of those blocks. And these blocks will make nice ornaments.  This is a good thing, because I just got an order for 40 ornaments from the museum shop in Doylestown.  I have until November (phew).  I then remembered a quilt I made a few years ago and decided I wanted to make it again.   These color combination will make for good ornaments too.

The creative juices are flowing now.  See the mess, that's a sure sign.

Finished ornaments

From this

To this:

3" stuffed ornaments/pincushions.  The button is tied on with floss that goes through the cushion and comes back out.  Pearle cotton loop added as a hanger.

What's up in the quilt lab?

I finished this little quilt top.  It is 9.5 inches square. 

In the mood for little squares, I am also working on 16-patch ornaments for an order from the museum shop in Doylestown.  Here they are in various stages.  Each will be sewn to a backing like a little pillow and stuffed.  A button will be added in the middle and tied with floss.

Are you a pinner?  I pin everything before I sew.  It helps me handle the little squares better.  As I approach each pin, I pull it out just before it comes under the needle.

Here's my little pile of pulled pins.  Say that 10 times fast.

Another project that is underway.  There you go Kathie, your favorite block--the nine-patch.

Link to quilt mentioned in last post

I found a photo of the quilt I mentioned in my last post:
www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=4A-7F-D3A
The flying geese border is great--very small scale for a large quilt.

No more potty talk, just quilt talk

Last Saturday I spent the day with 24 quilt enthusiasts viewing the quilt and coverlet collection of the Hunterdon County New Jersey Historical Society.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to photograph any of the quilts to show you, but I have a few photos to share of the society's museum.  The event was held to raise money to buy proper storage boxes for the textile collection. 

We started our day meeting at the headquarters of the historical society in Flemington, NJ.  Except for getting a little confused in one of NJ infamous traffic circles, it was an easy drive from PA.  The museum and small garden  in the back were beautiful.  Here are some photos.

We then took a short drive to the society's archive building.  It looks like a barn on the outside from its shape and red color, but inside it is a state-of-the-art storage faciily with climate control and moveable shelving.  Pretty cool.  We viewed about 40 quilts and coverlets, studying the design, fabrics and quilting.  All the items were of local origin.  The ranged from as early as 1840 to 1930.   My favorite was a contained shoo-fly.  I am going to try to look it up on the Quilt Index (the number is 4A-7F-D3A).  I haven't done this before so I'll let you know if I find a picture of it.

All in all, a fun and educational day. 

New Bathroom At Last!

It is finally done!  Here is my new bathroom. 

Each mosaic tile is 5/8"--even smaller than my smallest quilt square.

I love Pottery Barn stuff, can you tell?  Medicine cabinet, light fixture and train rack.

Oh, and look what is this?  A nine-patch in the tile?  This was actually the idea of the woman and the tile store, to take 3x3 mosaic fragments and place them in the upper part of the bath/shower area.  Fitting I think.

The quilt lab has re-opened for business

Our bathroom rennovation is nearly complete.  I have some painting to do...and a lot of cleaning...dust everywhere...but the workers are gone.  Yay!  No more showers and the YMCA down the street.  Double yay!

I have managed a little sewing lately.  I am working on a small checkerboard quilt.  I have made this design numerous times.  It always seems to sell at shows.  It is a simple alternating pink and yellow checkerboard; it is fun to use many different prints.  My version has 3/4" finished squares but you can make it larger of course.  You can see the size compared to my iron in the photo.  It will have a med blue border added, after the painting is done!