Hey, look, my quilt is in the latest issue of Generation Q
! I picked up an advance copy while at market and even got Thomas Knauer to sign it. That's him on the cover with his daughter.
They'll be shipping very soon.
My pattern, Flower Power, "is easier than you think".
1967 - My sister next to a tobacco field. Our dad was an Agronomy professor at Virginia Tech. He used to take our picture next to roadside fields for size reference and use the slides in his lectures.
Happy Birthday to my sister. She has a BIG birthday this weekend!
I was honored to be a part of the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase which was open during Fall Quilt Market and Festival. It was a wonderful exhibit featuring modern quilts from across the country. I had seen many of the quilts online but it was quite moving to see them all hanging together.The Kelp Quilt by Rossie Hutchinson of the Ann Arbor MQG and the Mid Mod Bee (Cheryl Arkison, Amanda Carestio, Debbie Grifka, Rebekah Craft, Robin Ferrier. Lauren Hunt, Blair Stocker, Jacquie Gering, Bernie Olszewski)Zinnias by Lynn Harris of the Ann Arbor MQG. (So fun to see my quilt hanging next to Rossie's.)J Rock Star by Victoria Finley Wolfe of the NYC Metro MQG
Here is our little Halloween elf.
I made the top from B's old terry/velour bathrobe using Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern. I also added some pink braid from my trim collection.
The pattern for the hat is Lyalya Hoodie by Natalia Schaffer. (knit earlier in the year and blogged here.)
Pretty close to the design she imagined, I think. She is thrilled with the soft, warm top.
1969 a family day hike on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.
I'll be sewing hexies on my flight to Quilt Market in Houston today. Woo hoo.Have a great weekend!
P is a skinny girl. Seven years old and all of 40 pounds. Usually when a shirt or top fits her in the shoulders it is way too short and doesn't even reach the top of her pants. Not a great look. So, she usually wears shirts that look a bit big on her.
Enter Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern. It seemed like this pattern was made for Miss P. I cleaned out my dresser on the weekend and found an old shirt of mine that P liked. We cut it down and made a great new shirt for her. This is the first shirt that has actually FIT her in years! She loves it.
The pattern is super easy and I was able to keep the existing sleeve hem and neck finish of the original shirt with careful placement of the pattern pieces.
She likes the top so much that she had to wear it for the rest of the day - which was spent threshing the black beans that we grew this year.
A few weeks ago we pulled up all of the black bean plants and wrapped them in old sheets and put them on our upper porch to finish drying (we didn't want the beans to fall from the pods into the garden). Yesterday was the perfect crispy warm fall day for threshing.
First we wrap a big bundle of plants in a tarp. Then, P's favorite part, we thwack it with a stick to pop the beans from their dry pods.
Then we pick out all of the plant parts making sure there are no beans left in the pods.
What is left on the tarp is a pile of black beans mixed with chaff.
On a breezy day we will pour this mix from bucket to bucket and let the wind carry away the chaff and we will be left with black beans to store for future meals.
Yesterday was a perfect fall day!I also found the perfect pattern for the top of P's Elf costume for Halloween! She'll be a skinny elf in a Skinny Tee!
1974. I have no idea where this dull looking campground is.
Here's the finished king size Point Me quilt.I'm thrilled with the quilting on this one, it was a great quilting plan for my domestic machine. A also think the organic nature of the quilting compliments the minimal design of the pieces flying geese section of the quilt.
It is so big that I can't hang it on the line or have someone hold it for photos.
D helped get it spread flat and squared for trimming when he was home on the weekend. We lined up the quilting lines parallel to the floor boards and then did some 3,4,5 triangulation trickery to get the bottom and top perpendicular to the sides. I used the carpenter's laser level to help mark a straight edge on each side.
Finished size: 108 wide by 101 tall.
I have a few small recent projects to share with you.
Here's a pink pixie hat for a friend's daughter.
Bee blocks for Jennifer, she requested words of encouragement and healing.
Just one more pair of bee blocks and I'll be finished for the year. Tia has requested bird blocks!
It has been getting colder so I want to make sure that we all have warm slippers for the winter. I'm making a pair of "frankenslippers" that will use up a lot of the small ball ends I found when I pulled out my selection of worsted weight yarns. It will be good to clear these out of my sewing room. Yay for cleaning up and using what I have!
These fun vintage fabrics came in the mail yesterday. I did a little fabric swap with Katie. Don't you love those little Kangaroos? The two fabrics on the left are the old 36 inch wide yardage.
1967 - on my grandmother's porch
The Ruby Oakshott quilt is finished and I thoroughly enjoyed the quilting process on this one. It was a delight to watch the fabrics move past the presser foot. I was mesmerized by the subtle color change of the fabrics as the machine moved them along.
I did some close line quilting (quarter inch spacing) to cause the fabric to bend and show the different colors of the warp and weft.
Have I mentioned how much I love this fabric? I've actually ordered more fabric from them, (cough) twice this month.
M came in the sewing room when I had the pieces for this quilt cut and piled on my sewing table and noticed the color change as he walked across the room. He snatched up a couple of pieces for closer examination and then declared, "This fabric is AWESOME!"
I have to say that he has NEVER said anything like that about any of my fabrics or projects before. Now, if fabric can get a teenage boy to take notice it's got to be good.In thinking about how to finish this quilt I decided that I wanted it to end with the edge of the piecing, that is, to have no bound edge. I finished it with a facing, like you would use in garment construction.
It took a bit of fussing to figure out how to do a facing and get the sharp looking corners that I wanted. I'm happy with the finished look.I didn't take photos of the steps for adding the facing - now that I have figured out a process that works for me, I'll photograph it if I do it again.
Here you can see the facing. I edge stitched the facing to the outer edge of the quilt so that it would more easily fold to the back. I hand stitched the inner edge of the facing to the back of the quilt.
I like the clean looking edge.
February 1964. I love those drapes on the right!
I finally put together the Oakshott Ruby Red quilt top. I started with the Ruby Red pack of Oakshott shot cottons and paired them with some cool colors that I already had.
I made the blocks back in the summer and at the time thought they needed some sashing between them.
I chose a deep purple for sashing that was out of stock for a while.
The sashing fabric arrived Monday morning but when I tried them together I didn't like that look either. It was a bit boring. Then, I tried setting the blocks turned in different directions. The interaction of the blocks made it much more interesting.
Here's the full view.
If you haven't tried any of the Oakshott shot cotton, you really should. It has a beautiful luminescent quality that just can't be captured in a photo. Believe me, I've tried.
That brings the finished quilt top number to SIX that are ready for quilting. I'd better get busy.
1964 - Cary, North Carolina.I think holding the purse helped my balance for walking. I like the cute hair bow.
I've had this Frippery Washi top finished for a while but hadn't gotten any photos until today. The pattern is Rae's Washi. On this version I did the plain scoop neckline.
I'm please that I was able to get the stripes to match at the side seams!
The Point Me quilt is quilted. I still need to trim, bind, and wash it. I like the added interest of the unquilted strips. When it's finished I'll try to get a picture of the whole thing.
I've also been building bigger blocks from the wee stars. These are six inch nine patches.
It has been a productive couple of weeks here on the farm!
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