Winner of box of 6" Squares!!

To decide winners of my Giveaways, I make a numerical list of the names in order received, then ask my husband to pick a number between 1 and whatever the last number is.  The winner this time is Kathie who commented June 6 at 3:39am.  However, she comments as Anonymous so I have no way to contact her.  Posting Anonymously is okay but you need to leave contact information!  I will wait until 8 am Wed morning to hear from Kathie and then pick another name if I don't hear from her!  Hope you think this is fair!!!

Catching Up!!

Weather is perfect here in Maine today.....after 3 hot days, it is cool and breezy again.  Not much gets done around here when it is hot/humid!  But today I plan to spend the afternoon in my sewing room putting together my 8-point Star strip quilt while listening to my current audiobook "Winter of the World", the second book of a trilogy by Ken Follett......great historical fiction!  

Can't believe it's been a month since I wrote anything here!  Life, and its glitches, sometimes get in the way.  

 Recently made this mini Tumbler using the little "Thimble" template from Come Quilt with Me.  There have been a lot of little tumblers presented on Yahoo groups lately that reminded me that I had one I had not yet used!  The fabrics are Moda "candy" (2-1/2" squares) "Everlastings" by Sandy Gervais.  The border is from an older line of hers...can't remember the name.  The little quilt measures about 9" x 13".

Bought this funky quilt top recently.......you can probably see why it was never assembled!  Wavy, wavy!  

This closeup of the center shows how visible the applique stitches are!  And no matching of thread colors as we do now!

This quilt block was purchased at the same time as the above applique......a friend was spring-cleaning!  This quilt has been cut up by someone.  The thing that intrigued me about this quilt was the wine red color.  Maybe I'll make something from the parts..... And another thing....the quilt had been tied AND handquilted in some of the blocks!

This little table mat was made using the same Sandy Gervais "Everlastings" as in the Tumbler above.  I wanted to see how big a quilt I could make pairing the 2-1/2" squares with the dotted background.  Had several choices for the border and finally chose this older brown Blackbird print.  Table mat measures about 24" square.  Below are the 3 choices.  I'll probably machine quilt this one.

If you have followed me this far...............
Now it is time for another Giveaway!  I  have so much more fabric that I can ever use that I am happy to share!  Fabrics are mostly Reproductions with some plaids and Fall fabrics!  These 6" squares fill to bursting a medium flat rate postal box.  Leave a comment and I will choose a winner Monday June 10.  Can mail this box only to US as the international rate has gone sky high!!  Sorry.

Srapbox Winner Revealed and a little more Fabric Nostaligia

Marge,the winner of my Scrapbox Giveaway contacted me and it turned out to be someone I met through the American Quilt Study Group!  AQSG has annual seminars which is Heaven for antique-quilt lovers!  Every other year a challenge is presented to membership to recreate an antique quilt of their choice that measures no more than a total of 200 inches for all 4 sides.  Some of the quilts become part of a traveling exhibit as well as being published in the Kansas City Star book.  "Revival" is this year's book, A Study of Early 20th Century Colonial Revival Quilts, just received last week.

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 This is Marge's quilt, "Summer Rose" inspired by "English Rose Variation" by Olive McClure Cook.  Highly recommend the book!  Many lovely quilts to see!

 This is the book from Kansas City Star 2011 in which Marge also had a quilt.  Another great book!  Her pattern is in the book.

 Marge's quilt in "Stars" is "Humble Star" which I saw up close and personal while the traveling exhibit was at New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA.  Love the fabric choices!  Probably I should have included the photos of the inspriational quilts .....maybe I will next time!

Now another little walk down Memory Lane for me again!  During April little sewing got done but I found this quilt buried in a wing chair and decided to work on the quilting.  Do you recognize the fabrics?  They are "Sarah Johnson" from the Shelburne Museum collection by RJR in the 1990's!  I had pretty much forgotten about this quilt but am glad to see it again!

Guess I liked Square-in-a-Square pattern back then too!  In looking at this photo, it appears to me that this pattern might be "pieceable" in a different way.....Diagonal rows of plain blocks alternating with "Hourglass" blocks!  Would have to plan color arrangements as done in a planned "Courthouse Step" of which I cannot find a photo at the moment!

Love this chintz border fabric!!

And the Winner is........

I wanted to post this sooner but Blogger has been working slowly for me today!  The winner of my scrapbox is Marge.  Please contact me with your address.  My method of choosing winners is to make a list of comments in the order in which they are received and then ask my husband to pick a number.   I will have another Giveaway soon for a box of 6" squares, not really Charms as there are some duplicates!    I really do have more fabric than I can use and am happy to share!

April is shophop month here in Maine so there has been little sewing done!  Looking forward to May when I can go back to my 4 days a week schedule!!

Scrap Box Giveaway!!!

I have filled another USPS Med Flat Rate Box with scraps and since alreadyI have more scraps than I can ever use, I am most happy to give it away!  There are even a couple pieces of woolfelt and a Civil War Panel of Grant & Lee!   Just leave a comment before midnight Monday, April 22, and you will be entered in my drawing!  I will continue to add more scraps this week as I cut for my quilts or reach the end of bolts!!

 All neatly folded in the box............can get more scraps in the box if they are folded nice and neat!!

 This is a little quilt from a LONG time ago (1988).....the pattern was for a doll quilt but I have always used it as a runner.  The fabrics from that period of time were prone to fading even without direct sunlight (we are most lucky to have the wonderful fabrics we have available today!) but I still love this piece.  Now take a look at what is on the back!

We called this fabric "forest floor" and it was a Favorite at the time!  In addition to this brown background (very little shows!), it came in blue, black and red backgrounds.....maybe more!

Anyone else have some quilts from the distant past to share?

Projects in Progress

These sweet little "shoofly" blocks are one of my current projects (wonder how many projects I am working on.......don't dare to count!) for Jo Morton's Little Women Club.  My sample is made and the components for the other 17 blocks are all neatly packed in the little box waiting for me to find TIME!!  I'll show you the little quilt when I finish it!

 

These next two blocks are the last of the 36 needed for my "Hope" quilt.  Stars are handpieced but the remainder of the quilt will be machine-pieced.  Hope to work on it this coming Sunday!  

Another bunch of Railfence blocks done!  Using these as my "Leaders and Enders" but after 4 rails were attached, I just finished them!  Sometimes I like to just sit and piece blocks!!

Another little quilt from the past.....pattern is by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.....Courthouse Steps in browns and shirtings.  I made kits for this quilt .....kit will make THREE of these little quilts (21" x 28") or a 36 block quilt (42" x 42").  I hand-quilted this little quilt in concentric squares along the center of the logs.......made it in 2006 and remember quilting it as I recovered from a terrible cold.........haven't had a cold since!! 

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Bits & Pieces and New Book

Have been going through some boxes in the attic recently and found a treasure trove of small fabric samples to cut into 1-1/2" squares for my postage stamp quilt............would love to have it be a Charm Quilt also.....each fabric used only once!  The packets above represent only a small sample.....the four at the top of the photo are the Smithsonian samples from around 1994-95!  When I first opened my shop in 1990, we had few salesreps (and no Andover, Moda, or Windham yet!) and this was the method of ordering fabric..........never one to throw anything away, I saved them.  I know where there is another box full but not all the fabrics will be useable to me as they are not all reproduction.  

This is a lovely new book from Betsy Chutchian and these are the two quilts I would like to make!  Love this Courthouse Steps done in mostly madders and shirtings, with a few greens, yellows and indigoes thrown in for good measure!

And then another Favorite!  Pinwheels, again in the madder fabrics I love.....brown, rust, gold, red, pink and again I see some poison greens and indigoes for interest!

Just finished quilting the border on "Stars to Freedom" from Carol Hopkins' "Civil War Legacies" pattern.  Love this wavy border that I have been using for a few years.....have 3 different sizes.  The red pen is "Sewline" from United Notions....I use only the White tho it comes in other colors too; it gives the nicest, and thinnest line, to follow while quilting and by the time the quilting is done, there is not much left that is easy to remove just by brushing or using the eraser on the pen.  Great also for marking applique pieces.....

Another darling little Four Patch quilt from my friend, Wendy!  She used Brackman's "Metropolitan Fair" line...............love how she placed the stripe for the borders!  Machine-quilted around the blocks but hand-quilted border with her lovely stitching!  Should have used a coin for a point of reference.....the blocks are 1" finished.

This little quilt hangs in my shop ......made it about 16 years ago when someone gave me a shoebox full of 1950's scraps (and some a bit earlier)......all neatly cut and stacked in the box....perhaps for a railfence block?  The string star pattern just happened to be in an issue of Miniature Quilts (sure wish we still had that magazine available!) received about the same time!

New fabrics in the shop!  Jo Morton's "Blue Variety" with shirtings!

This is "Virginia" from Windham......these Jacobean prints always make my heart go pitter patter!!

The final 4 bolts from "Women of Courage" by Windham.

  That's it for now, but stay tuned, another scrap box is nearly full for a Giveaway!!  Newest additions seen below!  The "scraps" are mostly all full widths (44-45") strips 5" or less.