All Around the Town - Block #7...

Yippee!  Another block closer to the finish of All Around the Town.  This one is called the "cat house."  I'm glad my kitty isn't this big...he would eat me out of house and home.  (When they say "he's lies AROUND the house," they mean it!!)

I've got most of the pieces to the next block,the bottom left-hand corner, "quilt show today," prepped and ready to assemble.  I just need to make a couple of miniature quilt tops for the grassy lawn first.

Here are the first 6 blocks (the right half of the quilt).

And here is the picture from the front of the pattern (it is by Sue Garmon).

Have a great day in your town!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

29 log cabins, some prep work and SCISSOROOS...

I have a lovely pile of 29 log cabin blocks finished for making a modified version of "Chelsea Cottage" from You're Invited! by Blackbird Designs.  This is a U.F.O. that I am trying to finish for my sister, Laurie (long overdue...).

I am making the quilt slightly larger, so I am using 10 inch log cabin blocks rather than 8 inch.  The blocks are scrappy green and neutral with black centers.  This means my appliqued house block will need to be larger and therefore will need more stuff in it...like some trees, maybe.  That will be fun.

I have also prepped these applique pieces for my next 2 blocks of "All Around the Town" by Sue Garmon.  Fun, fun, fun!

And even more fun...just look at the lovelies I got in the mail today from Natima of NotJustNat (all the way from Australia!!).  Scissoroos (little snips with a kangaroo on them!), a really cool needle case, and a lovely card.  Here is a close up of the scissoroos - ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!!!!!  Thank you, thank you - I will treasure them ALWAYS!

And you may have noticed a button on my blog from Singing With Birds - apparently my nephew's baby quilt caught her eye and it was chosen as one for her "Five on Friday."  Thank you for the honor!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Bonnie Lehman - a humble, but heartfelt, tribute...

I just read on Barbara Brackman's blog about the passing of Bonnie Lehman, who started Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, now Quilter's Newsletter.  It caused a sad and unexpected lump in my throat. 

Even though my grandmother quilted, I didn't start quilting until 1982 when my grandmother was in her last year of life and very sick.  She gave me her last quilt, A Grandmother's Flower garden, hand pieced of scraps from some of my hilarious homemade wardrobe through the seventies (when I was a teenager).  Here's a picture of her treasured last quilt (Weasley is checking it out):

I am a self-taught sewer and quilter who made (and still makes!) embarrassing mistakes on quilts (and clothes!).  Here's my first attempt at making a quilt...a hand pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden (still unfinished...currently one of those dusty U.F.O.'s (or P.I.G.S. - projects in grocery sacks...).  And I had never even heard of English paper piecing!  LOL!

Get a load of all that calico and the bright cotton/poly blue blend that I put the flowers together with (that blue was left over from making my college dorm curtain!)  Back then, there weren't a lot of good "how to" books out there to help floundering quilters like me.  Thank God I found Quilter's Newsletter Magazine!!  It was my first subscription to any kind of magazine in my life, and I was always hungrily looking for the next issue.

I loved the patterns, the articles, but especially editorial articles by Helen Kelly, who also died in the last couple of years.  Reading the magazine made me feel connected to the quilting community, which was great for me as a young college student, busy studying chemistry and music at Auburn University.

It was publications like Bonnie's that brought quilting "out from under the bed" for all of us.  When I first started sewing and quilting, the choice of 100% cotton fabrics was the pits!  Now look where we are, baby!  (Does this mean I can blame her for the hoarded stash in my basement?!?)

I made this Lemoyne Star quilt, unfortunately, before I learned the proper way to piece an 8-pointed star.  I think this dates from 1984.

Just look at all that plain muslin and cute calico prints!  And no one told me that the quilting cross-hatching (or echo quilting) from area to area had to be the same size and scale!!  HILARIOUS!!

Then look at how much hand quilting it took to get the star center to lie flat and not resemble a circus tent!!

I used to use plain muslin on all my backings and fold the back to the front for my lumpy binding.  OMG!

It's a little scary and humbling, showing you the "dreaded Lemoyne Star."  I feel a little like "my knickers are showing..."  I donated that quilt for an unknown baby years ago - I almost wish I still had the quilt (glad I at least have a couple of bad photos), and I know the baby didn't care, or even appreciate, how funny his or her quilt really was...smile).

I am so grateful for all the books, patterns and magazines that we have now.  I feel like Bonnie Lehman started all of it (I may be a little biased...).  I love all the new modern patterns we have now (not to mention the option of machine quilting), but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the older classics that I learned about from the earlier days of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and the feel of quilts that are hand quilted.

(The first quilt picture on this post is a hand pieced scrappy bowtie quilt - I got the pattern for the bowtie square from QNM many years ago.  I used to keep little fabric pieces in a baggie in my purse to hand piece when I had a spare moment.  It is one of my U.F.O.'s - I just need to finish hand quilting the corners of the borders.  In Bonnie's honor, I will push myself to finally finish this quilt!)

In stitches (and in memory),

Teresa  :o)

EXTREMELY rewarding finish - and an end to the "procrastination situation"

Little Asa's baby quilt is done!!  Mostly hand-pieced/appliqued (except for two skinny outer borders) and hand quilted.  I washed it to remove any residual Elmer's glue stick and cat hair (my sister is very allergic - to cats, not glue).  The washing gave it a nice, soft, slightly puckered patina.  I think I will call it Perpetual Motion...if Asa is anything like his Dad, he will be active.   :o)

He recently turned 6 months old...not quite yet in college, but still I am embarrassed about how long it took me to get my rear in gear to get this done.

I got the idea and initial method from Kellie at Don't Look Now.  You should check her site out and see what other's are doing with this quilt-along.  I made mine smaller than most people.  The first steps were easy and fun for me, and I just zoomed right along. 

When it came to connecting all my little circles to make a continuous pattern, I got bogged down and had to put it away for a while.  I have had so much quilt guilt over this thing!

 

After singing several rounds of "I am woman, hear me roar..." (any Helen Reddy fans out there?!?), I decided to jump back in and just get it done.  As things usually happen in these procrastination situations, it wasn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be...I had let my perfectionism problem get in my way.  When I finally decided to (in Ola's words) "just let 'er rip," it went together fine.

What's the worst that could of happened?  I mean, if it stunk, I could have lumped it all in the rubbish bin and made a clean start with another project.  I wasted several months sitting and stewing over it, and by the time I did approach the boxed project again, I could have made and hand quilted multiple baby quilts.

We quilters are our own worst enemies sometimes.  Maybe this is why we have so many U.F.O.'s (unfinished objects), P.I.G.S. (projects in grocery sacks), and D.P.B.'s (dusty project boxes) on our shelves, hidden under beds and buried in closets...self doubt and lack of confidence.

Maybe we worry too much about how perfect something is going to turn out and put it away, afraid that it may hurt whatever quilt reputation we may have or not live up to what we had envisioned in our heads in the first place.

Quilting is supposed to BE my therapy, not make me NEED therapy, for Pete's sake!!

(and who WAS "Pete," anyway?)

Sorry it took so long to finish, Lainie (and little Asa)!!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Some vintage Teresa - take two...

Still painting the bedroom, so nothing new to share today...more vintage projects, though.  I'm starting my Christmas lists, so it was good for me to re-visit some of these projects.  I did get some more hand quilting done on little Asa's quilt last night, after removing paint from my hands.  I hope to be finished with that soon! 

This wall handing was in a quilt magazine a couple of years ago (I can't find the issue right now...).  I think it was called A Partridge in a Pear Tree and features detachable pear-shaped ornaments that hang from little red buttons on the simple tree.  It was hand appliqued, machine pieced and hand quilted.  Here's a closer look at the ornaments:

This fun little wall hanging was made for a friend...I loved the phrase, then made the tiny rail fence blocks to put around it.  It was hand quilted, in the ditch on the fence blocks and in the background of the stitchery.

This next wall hanging is a birthday keeper from Nancy Halvorsen and Art to Heart.  I made a couple of these, for parents and parent-in-laws, but never made one for me (sad face).  I need one for myself!  I cheated on the applique and just used heavy duty Heat and Bond and just fused.  I knew this would never be washed (and that it might need to be updated and re-done at some point).  I did hand quilt it, though.

I liked these three projects because they made nice gifts and were fairly unique.  Thanks for letting me go down memory lane...this also motivates me toward thinking about THIS YEAR'S Christmas gifts - the clock is ticking!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Some vintage Teresa...

I am quilting like mad on my Joseph's coat quilt along quilt for baby Asa, but don't really have a picture yet.

So, I thought I would show some quilts that I did before I started blogging last year.  This is Bessie the Cow...she's a patriotic old girl...

Check out the quilting on her chest...

The one below is called One Room Schoolhouse, machine pieced and hand quilted, made for my daughter's kindergarten teacher (she is now going into 8th grade...when did THAT happen?!?).

Here's another gift for a beloved teacher and I called it Red Schoolhouses, machine pieced and hand quilted.

This is a Bagello Quilt wall hanging that is hanging in my living room...the skinniest "slice" is a quarter of an inch wide...YIKES!  It is machine pieced and hand quilted.

This next one was wild (for me!).  It was the wedding quilt for my youngest sister.  They got married on the beach in Destin, Florida on a perfect October day.  Their colors were the colors of the water of the Gulf of Mexico (teal, aqua, blues, greens)...and bright orange (for the Monarch butterflies).  I just made up something youthful and funky.

I hand appliqued some hearts and butterflies that I drafted (from hearts) on random blocks.  They picked October on a Florida beach in the pan handle of the state due to all the Monarch butterflies that are there at that time (hence the bright orange in their color scheme!).  They were flying all around during the ceremony...oh, so cool!  The quilt was machine pieced and quilted (along with the hand applique).  The colors are really brighter and more beautiful than my bad photography indicates.  I really enjoyed collecting all the fabrics for this scrappy quilt.

Well, that was fun...going down memory lane.  I always think of this blog as my quilting journal, but I've been making quilts since 1982 and have only been blogging a little over a year.  I've got a little more catching up to do when it comes to sharing projects (at least for the things I have pictures of)!

I hope to be through with baby Asa's quilt soon.  I have a lot of "quilt guilt" over it, as my nephew is now 6 months old.  Do you deal well with quilt guilt?  I hate it, but I have a hard time avoiding it.  This hand piecing, hand quilting stuff takes time, and sometimes life gets in the way of my quilting agenda.  I will definitely be doing a little happy dance when I finish it and can send it off to my very patient sister.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Not quite done...

Wow...two posts from me in one day...it's either feast or famine lately, huh...

I talked earlier (today) about trying to finish this baby quilt for my nephew.  I still want to put a skinny light blue border on, followed by another narrow white one, then bind it in white.

What you see was all hand-pieced and hand-appliqued.  Once I figured out how to connect all my little circles (that were on square backgrounds...go figure), I ended up appliqueing the whole mess on white borders.

Thanks to Kellie at Don't Look Now for this "adventure" in quilting.  Her tutorials were great...I'm just an idiot.  I like the name of her blog...I will think of it every time I think about the messy back of this quilt top (as in, "oooo, 'don't look now'...at this messy back side of the top...). 

When I get the other little borders on the top, I will show you the back side before I layer it all for the hand-quilting (and hide it all away forever and ever, amen).  Now THAT will be a humbling experience for me!  I always try so hard to press carefully so the back of my work doesn't look like a train wreck, but joining these round blocks on square backgrounds...let's just say it was like putting a square peg in a round hole.

The important thing is that I pushed through my mental block about this quilt and I will have it finished, layered, quilted, and sent on it's way to little Asa in no time!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Two finishes!

I finally finished hand-quilting and binding two small quilts from Barbara Brackman's Juniper and Mistletoe book.  These will be samples for the shop, then Christmas presents.  Ha!  That's ONE way to stop procrastinating on getting started on making gifts for Christmas 2010!  The first on is a block is from the sampler quilt featured in the books are "square"...it's just I'm a bad photographer!  LOL  I hand quilted little oak leaves in the cornerstones on the first one.

I used chocolate brown YLI quilting thread for the cardinal piece.  It's hard to see the quilting because it so closely matches the dark brown Maywood Shadow Play fabric I used for the applique background.

On an unrelated subject, have you ever started a project before you knew how it was going to end?  OK, that was a dumb question...we've all done that...duh!  Have you ever started something, showed your feeble efforts to the final recipient, then realized that you might not be able to finish it?  Then you put it aside because you can't face it, but you can't "scrap it" because the recipient is already excited?

I did this recently.  Remember the Joseph's Coat Quilt Along, sponsored, with tutorial, by Kellie at Don't Look Now??  I took one look at that awesome quilt and thought that it would make a darling baby quilt for my newest, soon-to-be-born nephew.  This project is supposed to look like this:

Kellie posted this first step of the tutorial in January and I thought it was INCREDIBLE and started cutting out little blue and lime green wedges.  I thought, "Wow!  I love this quilt!  The first step looks easy and I bet I can do this quickly and my sister will love it."

The first step was easy...look at my adorable "blocks"...I was ready for another tutorial step so that I could whip the thing out PRONTO!

Then the next step was posted by Kellie...uh-oh...a little tricky.  I hit a brick wall.  I stuffed the project in a box and avoided it for a while.  I'm sure other people found the next steps easy and went on to make a huge, beautiful project.  I was only making a small baby quilt, and I was afraid to go on.

To add to my misery, I broke my number one quilting rule:  NEVER show a recipient their quilt before it is finished; it deflates creative energy (and commits you to that particular effort, even if you hit the wall, like I did).

Well, when I was visiting my sister and new nephew in February, I was working on step one, and she saw the "blocks."  Uh-oh!

Well, my adorable nephew is now 6 months old and I feel so guilty that I have not finished his quilt.  I made the decision yesterday morning to "put on the big girl panties," get the project out and work on it non-stop until it is done!

I am making GREAT progress and will post a picture of the top later this evening...I'm almost done with the top...and that is saying something...it is all hand-pieced!  I am so proud of myself for pushing through this and dealing with all the feelings of "I can't do it" and "I feel so guilty!" and "he won't get this until he starts college!"

(You know...it wasn't so bad doing it.)

We are our own worst enemies.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Back "in town"...LITERALLY!

I've managed to get another couple of house blocks finished for my Around the Town quilt (by Sue Garmon)...I have not posted a block on this project since the end of May...my, how time flies!  The block above is block #4, called the "good as gold house."  And here is block #6.

 

And here are my first 6 blocks that make up the right side of the quilt:

This is the picture off the pattern...

This was the first block...I loved the whale weathervane...that's what attracted me to the quilt in the first place.

This is the right, top corner...

This is the gable house...

And this is the bottom, right corner, the "dark and skeery woods."

It has been fun getting to use the architectural fabrics I've been saving...stones, bricks, wood.

I've been choosing fabrics and prepping pieces of the remaining six blocks.  Maybe I will be more timely in posting another block!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)