I love it!

 I finished the quilt top I was making with my Blackbird Designs fabric.  I used Ella's Linen Closet (my absolute favorite), Madeira, Meadow, Blueberry Crumb Cake, Chelsea Boutique, and Nell's Flower Shop.  You might recognize some Jan Patek, Robin Pandolph, and Jo Morton too.  

I love love love how it turned out.  It's going to be fun to quilt and sleep under.  I'm making this to go on my bed to replace the quilt that has been on it since 2002.  It will have cotton batting and a great vintage blue print backing that I think came from a Thimbleberries Christmas line.  (Gotta use up those Thimbleberries).

And speaking of using up things. . . no, I didn't use up all my Blackbird Scraps.  There were just some that didn't fit into the theme.

Like this yardage from Beach House and At Water's Edge.  Both lovely fabrics but I'll have to use them for something else.

Along with a 3 yd. piece of the Madeira line in the red colorway and 2 1/2 yds. of Meadow in a blue colorway that just didn't fit in with the other pieces I had chosen.  

Here is the quilt with the flying geese going East.  I just like them all going North the best.

The pattern called for a mixture of directions for the flying geese but I didn't like it.

It just looked all jumbled up.

I prefer the North point configuration.  The pattern is called "Northbound" by Mary Fons.

We have had such lovely (although dry) skies lately.

I got up "at dawn's early light" the other morning and the hibiscus was delightfully blooming.

I love how nature blooms all summer long.  Each flower has it's time to stand out and sparkle.  How dynamic but sad it would be if everything bloomed at once and then it was over.

I made a pie with whole wheat crust from dried apples.  I rehydrated the apples but I forgot how much apples expand when they cook.  They raised so high the crust broke away around the outside.  It was very tasty.

This picture is for Michelle McLaughlin Pennsylvania Piecemaker if she happens to read this.  It's concerning her post about knitting spools.

Looking forward to a beautiful day~

Robin

Finally finished

 I completed my Civil War Sampler (again) this week.  I started it with the 2011 Block of the Week program on Barbara Brackman's Civil War blog.  (I love that you can see my grandson's hands at the top of the quilt.)

I call it Succession to Emancipation.  The 7 stars in the middle represent the 7 original states that succeeded from the union.  And the border of girls of different skin tones, holding hands, represent Emancipation.  I also pieced the batting to represent the Union being pieced back together.

I finished it to the hand holding girls border and put it in my closet awaiting  quilting.  When I took it out to quilt I decided it needed another border and sewed the panel strip border around the outside.

For whatever reason (do I really need a reason?) it got put away and when I decided to get it out  again. . .   it needed another border  I ended up buying Barbara Brackman's book of patterns (which it really good BTW) and added another border.  It was complete at last.  It is 81" square.

I backed it with a faded looking floral from the "Say it With Flowers" line by Jan Patek and then pin basted it.  I watched Kate Jackson at the Last Homely House (on youtube) quilt at her table with a cutting matt between the quilt and the table.  I wanted to try this method..  So I pin basted it and using size 8 DMC cotton thread, I 'big stitched' it.  It came together so fast and quilting at the table didn't strain my back or hands like quilting at the frames does.  

I will definitely be using  this quilting method again.

I'm still working on the "Northbound Quilt" pattern designed by Mary Fons.

I wanted to use up my Blackbird Designs scraps but I have had to add a lot of other pieces.  This is a great scrap buster.  I need 121 blocks for the size quilt I want to make and I've only made 80 so far.  The block size is 8".  It's coming along.  

I'll finish with this fabulous looking hamburger my daughter #2 made.  We had a family party last Thursday night and I had to get a picture of this luscious looking burger (green chilies - yum!).

Enjoy,  Robin