It's Been a While.......................

Can't believe a whole month has passed since last post!  Finally caught up on Barbara Brackman's Time Warp Stars.......Here are Lancaster Blue and Greek Key.  Swapped blue for keys with a friend who found some on the net.  As it turned out, I found I had some in some old Judie Rothermel stripe but just did not recognize it in time!

And here are Chocolate-Blue and Printed Lace.  Another friend came through with the lace!  I have some lace print fabric from many years ago, but it is an "allover" and I think we needed to use lace stripes.

These two, black-grey and Asian prints were not hard to find!

Nor was Claret!  Nice thing about this particular Claret is that the back is a lovely solid color that might be useful when appliqueing flowers that need several colors for shading.

Last month Sue Watters (her blog can be found here) from the UK visited and brought me and Wendy (her blog can be found here) each a little quilt!  Isn't it darling?  It is such fun to meet fellow bloggers!  Another one is coming later this month from the west coast I think!  

New fabrics include these "Polychromes" from Margo Krager (Andover).

Plans to go to the Red/White Infinite Variety show in NYC in 2011 were thwarted by illness in family.  Book is the next-best-thing!  I love the look of 2-color quilts but I think it would take me a long time to make one!  Quilts of multitudinous colors appeal to me the most!

"Nurture" pre-cuts by Collection for a Cause by Moda is here.......lovely Early Prints (1810-1840) that I love!   Bolts have also arrived!  Nice Tree of Life center medallion comes in a kit.

Also, "Alice's Scrapbag" by Barbara Brackman is new and I want to use it soon!

One reason it has been a while is because I took some vacation time and went to Prince Edward Island in Canada, accompanied by my oldest granddaughter.   (Actually, I accompanied Her!  Nice to not have to be the driver anymore!)  The pbs movie is what she fell in love with when she was about 7-8!  Nearly wore out my old vhs tape!  But we have dvd now!  This is just one photo of the Anne of Green Gables' house.........will post more later.....loved the interior......I first visited in 1989 and found that the house was similar to what I had imagined when I read the books around the age of 10-11.  Remember when we had to "imagine" back in the day before movies?!  My mother had loved the books as a child and when she gave the thick, hardcover books to me for Christmas, I was rather intimidated, but once I started reading, I could not put it down!  She got me the whole series so it must have kept me busy for a while!

We stayed at this Lovely B&B in Charlottetown, the Fitzroy Inn!  A beautiful old (built 1872) house filled with antiques!  Will have more photos later.....our room was on the third floor (dormer on the left).

I have absolutely no business starting anything new right now but this little table topper on the cover of an old "Quilts and More" magazine caught my eye and I started rummaging through the fall fabric shelf!  Hhhhmmm,  Might need to change out that white background hexie now that I see it in a photo!  English-Pieced over paper........had to also go rummaging for the cardstock  subscription forms in some old magazines....... one thing I have Not Saved over years, but guess I need to stockpile a few now!!

Time for another Giveaway of another 90 of the fabric sample packets!  For those of you who like to make small, scrappy quilts!

They fill this medium, flat rate box!

I have a new favorite color!

Stars Caught Up by Accident!!

Loved this week's colors (not too many I don't like, actually)!  The first photo is my "bronze" selections, tho now I think points of the first star are too green!  That fabric is the reverse side of an old primitive print....a case where I like the back better than the front!  The next one is a color combination of light bronze brown, tan/gold that we often see in late 19th century quilts.

I think the golden brown with the green leaves and red berries qualifies as a bronze as well as the darker one beside it.  Why is this font "bold"?  No idea!

 Now for the greenish-brown Manganese.....please excuse the crookedness....working on a different laptop that doesn't have the nice Edit program on it!  

 And another Manganese that seems to also be a Cretonne print, which is this week's fabric less from Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp!  So, by accident, I am caught up!  

 Fabric arrivals yesterday were the Pre-cuts from Barbara Brackman's "Alice's Scrapbag"..............

Aren't the colors in her bundle scrumptious?!?!?

A few bolts of Margo Krager's "Polychromes" are here but will wait to photograph until after I remove the plastic.  Jo Morton's "Isabella" is due this month also.

Please note that the shop will be closed the week of Sep 23,24,25,26 for a vacation with my granddaughter.  

September/October have always been favorite months ever since I was a child....loved Fall even then!  And I loved going back to the school routine!  Here is another poem-of-the-month that my fifth-grade teacher, Marguerite Fitzsimmons, had us memorize....this was the first.

SEPTEMBER

by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

The golden-rod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes

Are curling in the sun;

In dusty pods the milkweed

Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest,

In every meadow nook;

And asters by the brook-side

Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odors rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

But none of all this beauty

Which floods the earth and air

Is unto me the secret

Which makes September fair.

'T is a thing which I remember;

To name it thrills me yet:

One day of one September

I never can forget.

Wonder what that "one day of one September was"??

Time Warp Stars and, and, and

More Time Warp Stars......hope Barbara has another good idea like this for next year!  Love the inspiration/motivation we get from her weekly posts!!

Upper left is my "dun" pretending to be a faded green but could not resist making the background with the lovely Froncie Quinn chintz wood block-type print!  Upper right is from "Savery Quilt" 1844 PA signature quilt reproduction line.  All other fabrics in the line were beautiful, bright colors and this one looked so faded and out of place!  Turned out to be perfect for a faded print!

Lower left is Later Turkey Red with just a touch of pink with a Conversational background.  Lower left is Turkey Red with black. 

Isn't this little Pineapple ornament sent to me by Janet O just darling?!?!

Will be on my Christmas tree front and center!

And she has yet Another Talent!  She makes soaps that look good enough to eat!  LOL  Before I opened the package I thought they were candy (the rectangular one looked like Penuche fudge to me......my favorite but I rarely make it.....you know why!) but upon opening, a most delicious spicy scent wafted upward!  They are wonderful......almost too good to use, but I am....love the way they make my skin feel!  Thanks, Janet!

Anew quilt acquisition at New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA.

Dated 1865

 Love Lemoyne Stars and all that whimsical applique interspersed among them!  

 Beautiful fabrics and good workmanship!

 Broderie Perse applique is so gorgeous!

"Cloverdale House" by Di Ford for Andover......the whole line....... the Pillar prints and serpentine stripes are going fast!!!  Beautiful colors.....the teal is my favorite.  Love all the "Go-Withs" too!!

My first block, made in "potholder style", for my entry into our MaineQuilts16 "Small Quilts from Antique Inspiration".  Need to make "only" 39 more....all different.....based on a c.1840 quilt made in Bristol, Maine.......am tackling a more difficult one next so I won't save all the hard ones for last!  Haven't yet decided on which method for binding......either separate or back brought to front..........time enough for that decision later!

NOTE:  Shop will be closed week of Sep 23 thru Sep 26 for a vacation adventure with one of my granddaughters!!

Winner of Giveaway Box of Samples

is Lori of humblequilts.blogspot.com!!!  I asked my random generator (husband) to pick a number between 1 and 67.......he picked 34 which turned out to be Lori's place in the list of comments!  Send me your address, Lori, and I will send them on to you!!   I think I have enough samples for 3-4 more postal boxes full and then I will go back to my Giveaway of shop scraps......which are accumulating daily!!  Anything less than 6" x 42" (which I am now rolling up into little rolls for the basket on my checkout) goes into the scrap basket!


Really like to include photographs in posts so I will leave you with this one......bet a lot of you will know what/where it is without my telling you!!!

More Stars in a Time Warp and a Special Visitor

My Stars in a Time Warp for Lapis blue, toiles and floral trails.  Trying to use odd combinations and a few with low contrast as often found in old quilts.......

A visit by blogger Janet O (rogue quilter)!!!  She and her lovely family came to Maine to visit a couple lighthouses and drove about 100 miles out of their way to come to my shop!  I am honored to say the least!   Be sure to check out her blog.....she makes the tiniest of mini quilts!  

Summer deliveries are mostly holiday fabrics which I do not usually stock, so from Moda, "Forest Fancy" by Deb Strain, some Fall Jacobean-types!  Bright colors for me, aren't they?  

On Aug 11 Wendy (theconstantquilter) and I went to the New England Quilt Museum to see the AQSG Civil War Study Quilts and the current exhibit of quilts from New England quilt guilds.  Wendy will show you the study quilts but you can also purchase the book here!

A few Highlights of the exhibit:
Wendy displayed her "My Maine Quilt Heritage" quilt..........

This "Tree of Life" is one my Favorite Designs and the quiltmaker, Sandra Reynolds, made a fantastic rendition of it!!

Stars and Baskets by Millie Cunningham, inspired by a quilt in the Connecticut quilt documentation book.

"Simply Baltimore" by Barbara Roberge

ORANGE by Regan Martin, a fellow Mainer!  She calls it "My Jubilee 2014"

Sandra Keller's "Civil War Bride"

And another "Civil War Bride" by Stella Blunt.....

I'll leave you today with a photo of one of our pastures of "contented cows"!!

One more thing.......Wendy and I cut 1-1/2" squares for each other as we cut them for our own projects.......little box contains 1463 squares....all different....have a ways to go to match the 3347 she gave me!

And One More One More Thing.............

The newest Giveaway box of fabric samples collected for Many Years!  Small pieces are great for makers of small quilts!  There are about 90 little packages of samples and there will be More Coming Later until the box in the attic is Empty!  You know the drill....leave a comment and I will draw a random name August 27!  AND, there will more boxes to give away......looks like at least one a month for the next 4 months!