News from Bonar Bridge

Hawaiian print quilt top is my daughter's project

Here is a look at "Quilting Central" down in my basement.  Finishing up UFOs is kind of like having a job.  There's a task to be completed so each day I go downstairs and put my time in.  Love Letters on the design wall is progressing slowly but each day I get more done.  I've completely finished machine appliqueing the center wreath and now I'm working on the Oak Leaf block from the empty space on the wall.

I'm still hand quilting the Plaidish quilt.  It is "big stitch" quilting so it's going fast.  I should be finished in about 3 days or less if I'm diligent.

I decided to pick out a backing for my "Cheddarback quilt".  I had originally decided on using a big blue floral that is purposely faded looking.  When I got it out there was 9 yds. in the piece and this quilt only needed 4 yds. so I looked for something else.  I found this early Fons & Porter piece.  It is marked on both selvages but it only says Fons & Porter by Bernartex with 2 colors.  I think it looks great with the quilt top and am anxious to begin.

As you can see in the top picture this quilt is layered on the floor.  I ran out of pins for the pin basting (there is still a bunch in the Plaidish quilt).  I don't know whether to unpin the border now or buy new pins or leave the quilt sandwich on the floor until I finish quilting the other quilt.

I remembered the Cheddarback quilt begin quite large but it is only 68" X 75" or something like that.  I suppose I could have put a border on it but I wanted it to be more like the original.  It is sure a fun quilt to look at.  I think I'm going to enjoy quilting each individual block, like visiting an old friend.

 This is a picture of my 'Spring Cheer' daffodil that blooms both spring and fall.  It has quite a heady fragrance and show no sign of wilting anytime soon.

My husband ruptured another disc a month ago and has been flat in bed during that time.  The insurance company won't pay for the MRI unless you go through 6 wks. of physical therapy.  He's been in this situation before and is gladly jumping through the hoops so he can further the process toward surgery.  He had his MRI Wednesday and is waiting for the results.

So I am staying close to home and filling my hours with my quilting.  And I'm his chauffeur as well.

He's the kind of guy who always has a project going and he's an avid gardener.  The garden was cleaned out and prepared for fall by my daughter, her kids, and me last Saturday.  I didn't know I had it in me!

Robin

It appears I can be talked into anything

This could be considered a squirrel project but since it's my granddaughter's and not mine - I'm not counting it as such.  I was planning on beginning the machine applique for my "Love Letters" quilt top when I suggested to my granddaughter that we do a Halloween decoration together.

I bought the small Kitty Corn panel and a few pieces of fabric from the line, thinking we would make a wall hanging.  

Silly me, it tuned out not to be a little afternoon craft project.  

No, she came over with a plan to make a whole quilt.

These are the fabrics from the Kitty Corn line that I bought to go with the panel - the orange check, the green dot, and the mauvey candy corn print.  I picked out some pieces from my stash and she and her mother went shopping for something with a light background and came home with four more fabrics and a backing.

It seemed that this franken-batting was appropriate for a Halloween quilt.

So I trimmed down the panel to a 23" square and then added the black border so it measured 24 1/2".  I cut out 6 1/2" squares from all our fabrics and then we began sewing.

 I finished it up today and here it is layered and ready to pin baste.  the piece of fabric that surprised me is the peach colored one.  It is from my stash and it really adds a sparkle to the quilt.

My granddaughter wanted me to hand quilt it and with everything else that is going on I told her that I couldn't complete it by Halloween so she has settle for "Blind Tying".  Not my first choice but I haven't been in control of this project from the beginning.😁

But, we're making memories right?

Robin

Yesterday

This is what I woke up to.  Isn't it gorgeous.  The whole eastern sky was engorged with colors like this.

We had a hard freeze warning for today so that meant it was time to harvest whatever was left and bring it inside.  My husband and daughter picked the corn that was ripe enough to use.  If  it froze at the end of October like it usually does, we would have had two more weeks for the corn to ripen.  But, snow was coming and during a drought like we've had, I wasn't going to complain about some long needed moisture.

They also picked all the peppers in varying states of ripening.  Actually, all the green peppers you see in the picture are unripened red peppers not bell peppers so the flavor was minimal.  But, I had enough for my goal of making corn relish, one of my favorite things.

The dahlias are in bloom and some of the blossoms got knocked off as they were brought in to winter in the garage.

I got all the peppers washed and chopped as well as the onions.  The funny thing about the purple peppers is that they look beautiful when raw and they have a wonderful crunch but, there is no flavor.  It's kind of disappointing.  We won't be buying that variety again.

My husband and daughter husked the corn.  My husband says "husked" and I say "shucked".  I guess it's just where we were raised.  What do you say?

Then the ears were scalded and dipped in icy water.

Soon, the corn was cut off the ears (my least favorite part).

And everything was mixed together to boil i.e. corn, onions, peppers, spices, vinegar, sugar, pickling salt, and a little water.

Then I put it the hot relish in 7 pts and processed them.  Lids are hard to come by this year and I had saved a few for just this very purpose.  The pints aren't as pretty as last year because I had less red pepper and it's not quite as flavorful as last year because I didn't have any green bell pepper.  But, I'm so grateful to have these 7 pts.  I'm going to really enjoy the relish as the year proceeds.

Thanks for stopping by,

Robin

 

Gift giving dilemma

 I gave a quilt to my cousins yesterday.  On the way back home she sent me this picture.

You can see the red and white backing showing through and she said, "It looks like a stained glass window."  She seemed pleased.

I thought, " this was supposed to be a bed quilt. . . sigh"

I texted back, "if you safety pin a sheet on the back it will protect the quilt from the sunlight."

"Great idea," she said.

Once you give a quilt away it is no longer yours and you just have to be happy that the recipient wants to use it.  But, if I'd known it was going up to a window I probably wouldn't have hand quilted it. 

Robin 

Next block finished

 

The Pomegranate block from 'When the Wind Blows is all ready to be machine appliqued. 

I loved doing this block.  There are 3 dots that go on each of the solid dark pomegranates on either side that I'll do after the machine work is done.

Karen at Karensquilting.com has just completed her pomegranate block too.  It is so delightful - all done in oranges.  Go here to see.

My husband brought in a bouquet of Dahlias.  Aren't they beautiful?

I got out some decorations for fall today.  It makes me laugh because fall always gets decorated with Jo Morton quilts from Little Women 11.  They just make everything look like Autumn.

Robin

Kale block all prepped

 for machine embroidery.  I've prepped 7 of the 9 blocks so far.

It took me almost two weeks to get this block done.  It isn't because it is hard to assemble, it just takes so much time for me to make my fabric choices and color decisions.  It turned out kind of busy but it looks great with the other 6 blocks.

I'm looking forward to starting the next block which is the Pomegranate.  

This quilt is turning out to be quite a project.  But it's going to be gorgeous someday.

My new goal is to be more optimistic. After the solemn and sad memorials from 9-11 yesterday I'm ready to look up.   I'm sure there's a lot of good and pleasant things still in the world.  All I have to do is just be consciously looking for them or I'll miss out.

Robin

Just checkin' in

I finally got started on another block for When The Wind Blows by Blackbird Designs  It is the Holly Block.  I've auditioned numerous fabrics on this block and have had to reject them after they are cut.  It just didn't look right.  I've got 3 more stems to press and then I can start applying everything.  This is block # 7 (although #5, the center, hasn't been made yet).  This block goes in the lower left.

Still working every afternoon on Sweet Land of Liberty.  I've been surprised that I can work on this all afternoon and my wrist doesn't hurt.  Now, if I put this in the frames and start quilting on it, I would only last about 90 minutes.  I think there is more small hoop quilting in my future.

 I can't remember if I posted about this or not.  It is from the pattern "Plaidish" by Kitchen Table Quilting.  The free pattern is here.  It was such a fun little quilt to make.  I learned a lot about value in this quilt.  There are pieces that I considered light that were probably medium etc.  

I also found another free pattern that I am anxious to make.  It is at Butterfly Threads Quilting/Diane Knott.  And you can find that pattern here.  I'm sure most of you have seen these patterns already but they are new to me and I really like them.

We had a very cool night last night.  September usually teases me into thinking summer is gone and then just when I am convinced, it gets hot again.  So we'll see how this plays out this year.

Robin