Henrietta goes Over the River

My house is out of sorts as I am getting a new sliding glass door for my patio. It was 40 years old; the screen door was immovable and the seals had broken on the glass panes of the door giving it a dull look no amount of glass cleaner could help.

So that room is where my sewing machine and cutting table reside   and now the living room is a make due substitute as I needed to give the crew space. 

The doors were to be done yesterday, but now it will take a few more days. Can't wait to use them!

So I have been doing embroidery on my Over the River panel from Crabapple Hill.  I am seeing progress slowly.    Most of this section was done over the weekend watching a couple movies.

And I have prepared two more blocks for Henrietta Whiskers ( out of 5 left to do)   These are a 9 block applique by Bunny Hill.  Each of the 9 blocks has applique with pumpkins, or  crows, and Henrietta Whiskers with a little patchwork on the sides. I initially started with needle turn and abandoned them. I like the wool much better. Now I can blanket stitch these. 

Last blockhead and some quilting

Last Blockheads block!  Hooray!  This one, number 45, is by Jo Morton. 

I know I have more than the 48 of the program as I did several of the applique.  

I have chosen a different layout: so I will need to buy more navy in order to do this. 

Latest on the sewing machine: I finished the quilting of this wall hanging which is about 24 inches.

The five blocks were leftovers from our guild quilt which we are making for a raffle for our next quilt show in March of 19. 

Here is the front:

And here is the back, although the lighting was not great on this. 

I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine.

Just needs binding.  I don't have the black fabric. 

More Blockhead blocks

Little by little, bit by bit.

2 more 6 inch Blockheads

I have finished two more of my Blockheads blocks.

This first on is 73 pieces; I kid you not. 

This is an alternate block from Lisa Bongean for block 40.

It looks like it would be hard 

But I will say that I use Best Press prior to cutting, trying to be very precise.

You need to have an accurate 1/4 inch seam. 

I did use a product to make the 3/4 inch triangles, but still needed to trim a few.

The picture is hard to tell colors but the center background is a green

The outside is two purple fabrics.

This is another alternate block from Lisa Bongean fro block number 46.

(They are alternates for applique) 

The center star is 2 inches finished. I had to research for cutting sizes as her directions were off. 

Flowers around the cabin!

FINI!  DONE!  BRAVO!

I started this quilt in January of 2017 as a part of a Log Cabin Quilt along online.

I have always loved Kim Diehl and this is her pattern from one of the 5 books I own.

I easily got my blocks done in time, but wanted to do the applique by hand. 

There are 53 of those little circles which I used Karen Kay Buckley's circles. I also used Kim Diehl's paper for making templates. 

The quilt was started from my collection of Thimbleberries fabrics.  I love their rich colors. But  I did add some  pinks and purples and blues ( which I seem to use a lot). 

Here is the back which was quilted by Julia Rockwell who no lives up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. 

She does exquisite work . The center is an all over design. The first border is a small 1/4 inch lines. And the border is echoed. 

The back is just a tone on tone black. This shows more of the applique which took me 4 months to lay out and then stitch around. I am proud of my work on this one. 

More photos of the applique design and quilting. 

Art fair and binding

This was the weekend of Madison Art on the Square.  ( Madison, Wisconsin)

My spouse and I have gone for 20 ish years.  

Yesterday, I proctored the ACT test at school, so we were unable to go then.

But today, we left early and arrived as they opened at 10:00. 

It was HOT!  But we saw all kinds of beautiful things; there were booths lining the 4 streets that surrounded our capital building in downtown Madison.  

Here is me near some wall art!

Here is the Capitol and a few of the booths.

And yes, the guy in the hat is my spouse. 

This is a lovely look down State Street with a few more booths.  Lots of good music, too.

And we had a good lamb gyro.

After we returned home, showered, and napped, I got out my quilt and finished the binding on the last side.  

Tomorrow I will reveal my quilt.  It is so cool and I really like how it turned. out.

But here is the back that shows the quilting on the bottom around the applique border. 

And it is done!!!!! Hooray!  A year and a half in the making

Foxes and blocks

Still working on my blockheads: 5 done of what I had remaining and 4 more to go for the whole 48 week set plus substitutions for the applique blocks.

Remember these are only 6 inch blocks. 

This one went together well.  I was surprised when I put the 4 blocks together.  I didn't have lots of intersections to deal with . These ae 3/4 inch half square triangles. This is number 44 by Betsy Chutchian.

This is number 48  by Lisa Bongean. I got my geese with the 2 colors flipped. But at this point, I don't care. 

Lastly, I finally got this foxy baby quilt together.  I had extra sashing between the foxes that had to be removed.  Sometimes, I frustrate myself. 

Blockheads: 3 more!

Small blocks, that's what these blockheads are!  Only 6 inches finished.  So I really get practice being precise in my seam allowance and cutting.  

My fabrics are all from different lines from Kansas Troubles.  And of course I purchased more.  It is hard to get the navys as they sell out fast. 

This is block 41  And the half square triangles in the pinwheels needed trimming down.  ( according to directions by Lisa Bongean)  So I took it apart and redid the center.

Block 39 from Jo Morton

Block 43 from, Lynne Hagmeier

Now only 5 blocks left and then here is what I am thinking of doing for my setting: 

Here is the link from Color Girl blog: Link

My plan is to have the light beige print for one zig zag and the second be either the gold of Kansas Troubles or a background with a colored print from the same general coloration.

Found my mojo!

It is summer! The break in the weather has been FANTASTIC.  Opening windows and doors is a delight. Such a contrast to almost 100 degrees. 

And I finally am back to being productive.  And boy, does it feel good. 

Last night I got out my Crabapple Hill embroidery; it has been untouched for a long time. 

This is Over the River and Through the Woods.  I have one panel totally  completed. This is the most busy. This is all I have on the right side.

Here is a bigger picture of what has been completed.

And here is what needs to be embroidered on the other side:

Baby steps, baby steps!  

But this week has been a whirlwind of cleaning.  After school is out each year, I like to do the deep cleaning that never gets done during the school year and clean up the accumulation of stuff as well. 

And I finally started. ( only a month after school is out). 

And I am on a roll, with a few more floors, cupboards and such to do. We will see how long it lasts.

I even finally cleaned out my garden beds from the winter's dead.   It has been TOOO hot to get to it. 

And then since I am done with a couple projects, I needed to get things going.  So I made 40ish of the Blockheads from the first go round. 

A little of this and that

So I got this wall hanging together. It is made of 5 extra blocks from our guild's raffle quilt.  All had been paper pieced. Two had to be tweeked to be 7 inches square. One had a pattern run off from and email file that was slightly larger.  The other needed the sashing strips redone. 

The rusty orange batik really makes it. 

So I made the setting squares and have put it together.  It took one movie to remove all the little paper pieces. 

Any ideas other than more rust for a border?  

Next is my stash bee block for July.  Easy peasy!  12 inch block.

Shipshewana shopping

After the shower last week, I took a detour on the way home to Shipshewana, Indiana on the way home from Warsaw.Yes, it was a week after there big quilt show, but I didn't have the crowds. 

It was good to see the Amish again; I grew up 20 miles from a group in Ohio. So I was always aware of their farms as we passed them on the way to my Grandmother's house. We visited their  local shop that had all their farm and home supplies. And we passed their buggies and purchased their home baked goods. 

This group was dressed in oranges, yellows and reds: in Ohio and Wisconsin I see more blues, greens, and purples.  And the local highways had a lane specifically for them.Driving beside them was rather scary  when you had to pass them for me. Many of the buggies were preceded or were followed by individuals on bicycles with vests like construction crews wear in neon colors and reflecting tape. 

But I knew about Yoder's Department storewhich still has many of their staples like cast iron skillets, and horse harnesses, and undershirts, etc. We, "English" can buy their goods as well and I found some wonderful treasures like Coke tins and lunchboxes, toys for the grandkids, and of course, fabric. 

It was large and had 2 sides: one for the clothing and fabric and the other for house goods, and hardware, and more. I didn't even walk the whole stores. Plus there was a small front store with African crafts such as beadwork, baskets and clothing in their bright colors, inexpensive and just beautiful. 

Here is the side of the building:  love the barn quilts.

Next door was another quilt shop that I also located some great background fabric for a quilt for my brother and his wife. 

It was a great diversion. I even ate a a pretzel shop that had a hot dog wrapped with cheese and pretzel dough and had "buggy bites" on the side which were little soft cuts of their pretzels. Yumm.