Roseville Album, Apricots, and Egypt

I finished my Roseville Album quilt top a few years ago.  I didn't do the border from the pattern because I had already spent a year appliqueing  and I was DONE.  I didn't want to do all the monkey hands that the border required.  

It is a beautiful quilt but it never felt finished,  When I was getting to the end of quilting the "Love Letters" quilt I wanted something else to work on when I wasn't at the quilt frames.  I decided to finally work on a border and after searching for ideas on the internet  I decided on scallops - 80 of them.

When I finished the scallops and the corner designs I looked at the overall quilt.  I found this little blue bird on the right that looked like it was absolutely lost among all the other colors.  

I replaced it with this golden feathery fabric.  I've given  all my bright fabrics away and this is what I could find in the stash.  I'm not sure I like it but I like it better than the ghost bird.

This is a picture of one side of the quilt to show the scalloped border.

  It looks finished now.

 I don't have a space to spread it all out and there's no one around to hold it up  The little bird gets lost in the rest of what is going on but you can see it above the chicken and to the left of the cat.

Now I need to figure out how it's going to be quilted.  If I hand quilt it that's another multi-month long project.  AND, after taking six months to quilt the last one I'm not sure I'm ready to dive in to another big quilt right now.  It measures about 92" square.  I have wondered about taking it to a machine quilter but I don't know what pattern I would like.  I know I don't just want echo quilting.  And the amount of quilting it would require would make a heavy quilt.   

Does anybody have any suggestions?  

It summer harvest season at my husband's farm (our yard).  The strawberries have finished, the raspberries have peaked but are continuing to look lovely and taste wonderful.  The apricot tree was full with beautiful orange fruit.

Many of the apricots have been picked in this picture.  But, there's still bushels left to pick.

Last Thursday my husband was picking and sorting and distributing.  The family was here for a dinner and one little guy became my husbands shadow. 

It was so cute to watch him trot back and forth with my husband from the tree to the shed.  Some of the apricots were even low enough for him to reach.  He helped pick up the ones that had fallen to the ground.

Finally he decided to taste one and was smitten.  He's our youngest grandchild and he's just delightful.

It has been hot enough that I put the crockpot outside last week instead of heating up the house all day.  I'm really good in the winter with soups, stews, casseroles, and cooking whole turkey breast etc.  But, when it comes to summer I'm not much of a salad maker so my husband suffers through a hot meal after working out in the 100 degree heat.  He doesn't complain, he's just hungry.

Egyptian blue just fascinates me.  I've been wondering how I could include it in a quilt somehow.  It's an elusive color.  I love to watch all the archeology shows on Egypt and am intrigued by the ancient Egyptian culture.  I love the scarabs too.

A shabti (above) is put in Egyptian tombs as servants for the deceased in the after life.  

A shabti can be 5 - 30cm and commonly made of blue or green glazed Egyptian faience, but can also consist of stone, wood, clay, metal or glass.

The color of Egyptian blue is kind of like "Haint Blue".  There's not one exact shade or color

 
 

I got four squares done for the S'Mores quilt by Jo Morton.  I love working with these fabrics.  Is anyone else working on this quilt with me?

I have company coming for a few days and have been doing some deep cleaning.  I sure love a clean house, I wish I would do it more often - ha!

Robin

Sweet little project

 I'm starting a new Christmas Quilt.  It's mostly applique and is in the planning stage right now.

I wanted to sew a little something at the machine when I'm not hand stitching so I got out my box of Jo Morton fabrics and started a new little project with square in a square blocks.  I saw this quilt in American Patchwork & Quilting February 2013 and have always wanted to make these squares that will are set on point with sashing in between.

I think I'll cut a few out at a time so I can just sit down and sew for 15 minutes, get my fix, and move on with the more pressing projects.  

It's a beautiful day out there but this weekend is supposed to be hot hot hot so instead of complaining, I'll just blissfully work on my projects -  sitting in front of a fan.

Robin

Well, what do you know?

 I don't think I've taken this long of a break in blogging in the 15 years since I started this blog.

I have to admit I've been bogged down with the hand quilting of  my Blackbird Designs "Love Letters" quilt.  I started quilting on January 1st and just finished on June 30th - WHEW!

I did tight rows of echo quilting in the center (that took a whole month) and then decided to do something different from diagonal lines so I would stay interested.  I know me and I get bogged down with the same thing over and over.  I absolutely love the diagonal grid when it's done but I sure don't like actually sewing it.

So, I made a cable template and used it to quilt up and down in the North and South blocks, side to side in the East and West blocks, and diagonally on the corner blocks.

The cabbage roses block is quilted up and down

The pomegranate block is quilted diagonally.

I used my blue water soluble marker to to mark everything and so I had to rinse out the whole quilt when I was done.  I'm a little disappointed - after all that work - the hand quilting doesn't show up very well at all.  

The sun is pretty bright so the colors are bright too.

Sigh, it's done and ready to use.

In between times I have been working on other things.

I finished my Moda Blockheads IV quilt top using Minick & Simpson fabrics, primarily Prairie Paisley II.  I sent it to Ray LaGrange for Quilts of Valor.  He sent me a lovely thank you note that made me feel so good.

One day I felt like sitting at my sewing machine and I didn't have anything to sew.  I had this pattern sitting out on my sewing table.  It is one that I cut out of a Quiltmaker 2002 magazine.  It just looks homey.

 

So, I gathered some OLDIES, a bunch of UGLIES, and some definite HAS BEENS and started cutting out a new quilt.  It took a while to put together and it is no beauty but I enjoyed putting it together (if you don't count all the ripping out).   I'll probably tie it for a car quilt or a picnic or a camp quilt, .

  It will be made to be used and used.

Judge for yourself  ~

The bright sun makes it look a lot prettier than it actually is.

I made the tiny quilt from the Temecula quilt Co.  I think I must have been on Instagram because I can't find the directions on her blog.  It measures 6 1/2" X 4 1/2".  It was really fun to make.

I'm also working on the border (finally) for the Roseville Album quilt.  I didn't like all the Monkey Hands in the original border.  I wanted something much more simple.  So I just appliqueing a scallop. 

 

 

So I've been keeping busy, quilting is never far from my mind

Robin

I'll leave you with some pictures of our trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico at the first of June.

First up is the most amazing bathroom your have ever seen.  I just can't get over how delightful it was.  And I think it's right up at the top as the cleanest bathroom I have ever been in.  I know, I know. . . I went to Sante Fe and I'm talking about a bathroom.  Unbelievable on both counts.

The bathroom was located inside Adelita's.  The food did not disappoint either, I ordered it Christmas.

It was actually that green.  Copper perhaps. . . 

We'd go for miles and miles and suddenly a rock formation would appear all by itself.

It was a rainy day on the way home.  Doesn't this formation look like a early American sailing ship in the ocean on other side of the bank?

Well, it should,  This is Shiprock.  The formation that Shiprock New Mexico is named after and located  right smack dab in the middle of the Navajo reservation.

We saw a lot of rocks that had tumbled down,  I assumed it was because of all the snow last winter and the freeze/thaw cycle.  It went on for miles.

Well, if you've lasted this long - you're a real trooper.  All I've got to say is that I went to Santa Fe New Mexico and was so caught up by all the sights that I only got pictures when I was holding still.  There's so much more to see.

Be sure and check out Design Wall Mondays on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to see what beautiful things others have made.

I just finished Jane Austen's Persuasion

  I've seen the movie numerous times, the BBC version.  Click on the BBC link for the video trailer,

Most Faithful to the Book and Most Critically Acclaimed: Persuasion (1995 Film) Similar to Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, Austen fans and film critics agree that the BBC's 1995 adaptation of Persuasion is both truest to the original text and the best crafted film.

But, I realized I had never read the book.  I'm so glad I did.  It explains things that either weren't addressed in the movie or they just went over my head.  Sometimes I miss the innuendos and clues of a period piece because I'm so enamored with the spectacular scenery or the décor in a room, or the fabulous costuming.

It went into more depth of personalities, family ties, and the relationship Anne has with her school chum.  I might read it again just to get all those things firmly in my mind.

There a Robin building a nest in the crook of the Wisteria.  He was busy for two days and then stood sentinel for a couple more.  I haven't seen him all day today.  I think he realized that there's too much people traffic on the sidewalk nearby.  No female wanted this nest which is a shame because in just a few days. . . 

The wisteria will be in full bloom and the leaves will disguise and hide the nest.  

So, going along with my theme - Maybe he will come back and be more persuasive the second time.

Those little spikes coming off the stem are actually buds, very large buds, that will turn into the 12" long strands of lovely purple wisteria.

And, in quilty news. . .  I finished this table topper from over 10 years ago.  It has been waiting impatiently for me to get around to it

And it will be used Friday for our Cinco de Mayo family dinner.

Ole,

Robin

I wanted a little quilt with cheddar.

I finished my wheel quilt top.  We're expecting a big snow storm so it's really cloudy and dark and this picture is rather shadowy.  My DD#2 is holding the quilt up for the picture.  It measures 50" X 45".  She makes a great quilt stand.

I loved the wheel and wagon wheel quilts I have seen online.  Especially on Lizzy's gone2thebeach.blogspot.com and Hat Creek Quilts.

So I took (stole) some ideas from the quilts I saw and came up with my own take on it.

I made the circles by tracing around a bowl on some lightweight paper.  I marked the center and sewed a piece of fabric (wrong side down) from the center to the outside of the circle.  I folded it over so the right side is up.  Then I pressed it and trimmed it to form a wedge.  I put the edge of the next fabric on the unsewn edge and sewed a 1/4" seam.  I fold it over and pressed.   Then I again trimmed it to form a wedge.  I did this all the way around the circle until I overlapped the first wedge.  I trimmed it so I could turn under 1/4" and then I sewed it by hand.   I also removed all the paper from the back.

I wasn't sure how many circles I wanted so I kept sewing until it was about the size I had in mind.  It turned out I made 12 wheels.  I only wanted a wall hanging so I thought that would be enough.  I wanted to set them with cheddar fabric.  And, this is how I did it.

First I appliqued an orange circle over the edges that come together in the center.  I auditioned black and red for the circles but the orange looked best.  I trimmed the back of the wheel where I had appliqued the center so it wasn't so bulky.

Now it was time for reverse applique.

I cut a 10" square out of the cheddar.  I centered the wheel on the cheddar, right side down, and machine sewed around the outside edge using a basting stitch so it would be easy to unpick.

This picture shows the block from the other side.

I pinched a small portion of the back only, 1/4" from the stitched line and made a small cut.

I slipped the point of my scissor between the layers and trimmed 1/4" around the circle being careful not to cut the wedges of the wheel on the other side.

This picture shows that I have trimmed all of the circle and am ready to clip all the way around,

I then appliqued all the circles onto the cheddar by pulling out a few basting stiches at a time, turning under the 1/4" to the inside, and applique stitching all around the circle.

 

I auditioned a few fabric for sashing and borders and ended up using black baby wale corduroy for the sashing and inner border.  I made small hourglass blocks that are also in the border.  I love the richness and texture that the corduroy gives to the piece.  I'll have to take a picture in the sunlight so it's more obvious.

I added a little bit larger red outer border and I'm going to bind it with the orange to repeat that color from the center of the wheel. 

The corduroy was a little bit tricky to sew on.  It wasn't bulky just soft and rich.  It was hard because it doesn't stretch at all like regular quilting cottons can do.  So, I had to cut the strips a little bit longer than the measurement and ease them to the end.

I made this quilt entirely without a pattern.  It's as close to improv as I get.  Some of the wheels are a bit wonky but I left them in . . . adds to the charm.

I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt this.  I don't think it will be that hard to quilt on the corduroy because it soft but I'm not sure I want to see quilting stitches on the corduroy, if that makes sense.  So, I'll have to give it some thought, I'm in no hurry.

Thanks for checkin' in,

Robin

Picture of the snow built up against the back door.

If you look closely there is a 12" ruler stuck in the snow and you can just see the tip of it peeking through on top of the banister.  Notice the snow on the bird house.

Snow on the cars outside

We have received over 12" in the last 24 hours and it's still snowing out there.