Mary Brown in Wonderland

I originally thought I would use a FQ stack of have of Hope's Journey by Betsy Chutchian to make  this Celebrating Mary Brown quilt.  It's a beautiful collection.  But, I haven't been able to find it yet.  I know it's somewhere in my sewing room so it's a real mystery why I can't find it.  It's not like it's a big room.  

This is one of the quilts made from Hope's Journey from Betsy Chutchian's Blog

It is a very interesting post so go check it out. . . 

Anyway, instead of tearing my hair out and going out in the backyard to howl. . . I went to plan B.

Here is my background.

It's a snow background, not gray.  I'll have to take a better picture later.

I've been wanting to make something using a little collection of Alice in Wonderland fabrics I have from different lines.  I know, it sounds odd.  So, I'm trying to figure out how I can use some of this fabric in Mary Brown without it being too weird.  I don't want the quilt to shout ALICE IN WONDERLAND - I want to just have subtle hints here and there. 

 I have a really lovely floral by Blend that I using as my inspiration piece and I ordered some pastel grunge fabrics (which are adorable) and they came yesterday.

I'm sure I'll be adding pieces and tossing pieces as I go along.

This fabric choice may or may not work but I think I'll know after the first couple of blocks.  If it's just all wrong I'll get busy and tear my sewing room apart and start over.

I'm also in the process of reading a book by David Day called Alice in Wonderland DECODED.  It's quite fascinating and is immersing me in this whole project.

I've had out-of-town company all week and am just itching to get started on this quilt.  I think I'll still have to wait until Wednesday before I can begin  (BIG SIGH).

Robin

PS I know I'm crazy.

This is for Julie

I had to go back to 2007 to find a picture that showed the whole frame, not just the quilt that was on it.  The Grace frame uses ratchets to move the quilt forward to quit as you go.  My husband drilled holes in a wooden disc and holes in the side piece that holds the poles.  I use a metal piece (called a linch pin) to put through the hole in the disc and the permanent hole in the side piece.  You'll notice I'm only using two of the three poles. I prefer layering the quilt and pin basting it before I roll it on the frame instead of using the three poles to layer the quilt as I go.

I can do a quilt up to 90" wide.  I made a quilt years ago that was 99" wide and I had to get out the old board and clamp quilt frames to do that one.

Here is the current Grace Frame.



My floor hoop is by The Grace Company.  I'm not sure they make these anymore.  It can be taken apart and stored flat.

The cross hatch stitching you see in the white alternate square is basting.

It has a 24" hoop (I think).  You can buy one with an 18" hoop.  I tried to find an online image , there is one on Pinterest but I couldn't link it.

Quilting this time of year

I've been working steadily on the Wheel of Fortune quilt.  I'm using the big stitch and it's going fast.  I am into the 3rd week of working on it and I should be 3/4 done by the end of the week.  The last quilt took me 5 months to stitch and it's so refreshing to be sewing on something that is progressing faster.

I am rather late to the low-volume party but I thought I'd give it a try.  I made 20 of these circle pieces and am now hand appliqueing them to the backgrounds.  It is such a quiet and soothing project because of the light colors.  My working title for the quilt is "Absence of Heat".

Although we are still having very summer-like temps (98 yesterday) the garden has moved on to fall.

These are the Thompson Seedless grapes that I make into raisins.  They are not ready yet.

Roses this time of year always remind me of one of my favorite poems about  fall by

EMILY DICKINSON   NATURE LXXIX

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry’s cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,

The field a scarlet gown.

Lest I should be old fashioned,

I’ll put a trinket on.

This is asparagus.  It always looks so decorative this time of year.

The Anaheim peppers are  producing more than we can use.

The concords are ripening fast.  I love the smell. . .

And one of the sad parts of this time of year, my lilac bush.  It gets so hot toward the end of summer that the moisture in the leaves is sucked out faster than the roots can replace it.

I have a houseful of company/family that have moved here from Kansas and are looking for a permanent place to stay.  They thought they had a house all set up but the landlord rented it to someone else.  They cook for themselves because they are restricted diets and so they don't require much.

Hope you have a wonderful day,
Robin

Ahh! A finished quilt

Lilac Breeze

I finished quilting this quilt by Jan Patek and Alma Allen.  The pattern is called Baskets, Berries, and Leaves.  I couldn't find a link for this pattern, I'm not sure it's still available.  I call the quilt Lilac Breeze because of the fabric line I used to make it (Lilac Hill) and the thing I like best about lilacs is the wonderful scent wafting in the air.

I used Barb Vedder's baptist fan template for the quilting.  I like it because you can mark two units at a time.  You can find out more about it here.  I bought the large single fan.

This quilt took me five months to hand quilt.  I was expecting to get it done sooner but hand quilting is something you can't hurry if you want it to look nice.  Sometimes my hand would go numb if I quilted too long at a stretch or didn't allow myself some days off once in a while.

It's a big quilt measuring 103 1/2" X 84 1/2"  I need to put the bedskirt on this bed so you can't see the aqua colored mattress - Ha!  Feels good to have it all finished.

I had my youngest daughter pick out some quilts so I could share the wealth so to speak.  I have far too many quilts on shelves and in closets.  She ended up taking the quilt that is usually on this guest bed.  I guess she knew I had another one almost ready.  It's funny how things turn out.

I put a toile border around this little challenge quilt but I think it still needs some more red.  I pinned that red strip up to see if that is the answer but I don't think a solid stripe will work.  I could do some HSTs or a checkerboard or applique on the toile.  Who knows?

 I'm going to ponder on this for a while because I need to catch up on the Cheddarback quilt here and my house desperately needs some attention.  I think I'll start out by cleaning the refrigerator.

Hope your day has a needle and thread in it.
Robin

Little flowers finished

I finished appliqueing the little 6 1/2" flower blocks for the "Floral" Ad Hoc challenge.  They are based on a Cheri Payne flower that I enlarged and gave a different setting.   I got out all my big floral fabrics to audition for the alternating blocks.

Top is blue background Blessings by Brannock and Patek.
Bottom is light background "Coming Home" " Country Paths" by Brannock and Patek.

Top is Navy background "Fern Hill" by Jan Patek.
Botton is green backround "Blessings" by Brannock and Patek.

Top is "Harvest Home" by Brannock and Patek.
Bottom is "Madiera" by Blackbird Designs.

This is Black background "Blessings" by Brannock and Patek and I liked it the best.

• 

This is where I am so far - it's not sewn together.  I have cut out green setting triangles.  I think it needs red next.

I love creating colorful projects but it is so disappointing when one of them bleeds.  Yes, it happened again!  I try to be so careful and pre-wash everything and I am very particular about the reds I use.  Well the red in the flower center with the black and green check stem/leaf is a bleeder.  I had some of this (chicken) fabric that I used in another quilt without a problem.  What I think happened is that my sister gave me a bunch of fabric and she had this chicken fabric too.  I neglected to wash this one - argh!  The bleeding is only noticeable on the back, it bled on to the backing and a little on to the green surrounding it.

Do I replace it?
Robin

Next quilt in the frames

I have wanted to make a quilt for a friend of mine for a long time.  It's finally time.

I took some quilt tops over to her house yesterday and she picked one out.  It's not the one I thought she would choose so I was glad she had the opportunity to make the decision.

This is the one she picked out.  It's a bigger quilt than I was planning on because I want to get two of them done before Christmas.  So I got busy and put it on the frames this morning (my knee will attest to that).  I only have a partial ball of pearl cotton so I need to go to the store before I begin.

I think I can work on it first thing in the morning and then again after dinner to make the progress a little faster.  At least, that is my goal. . .

Hope you're having a lovely Saturday.
Robin

Christmas in Cedarburg

The book that I used for the pattern had the sawtooth border on these blocks going two different ways.  If I had looked a little more closely at the other blocks I would have noticed that some of them have that border all going the same way.  I wish I would have noticed that sooner but my blocks are done and they are all made crazily alike.

I can't decide if it needs another border.  It is 72" square and so I'm leaning towards it being done.

Look what greets me every morning as I look out my back door.  We have six hibiscus bushes but this one seems to be the heartiest.  Such a cheerful greeting each day.

Have a great Saturday.
Robin

If you want to find out the story behind this quilt, go here.