February 5, 2024: “Winterberries” and “Tiny 9 Patch” updates; Earthly Delights

Greetings dear readers! The “Winterberries” project is moving along. 8 of 16 appliqué blocks and 1 of 25 pieced blocks are done:

There are also 16 setting triangles with appliquéd leaves to make so still a lot to do. I had a challenge this week. The background fabric is a special sueded, hand dyed fabric from Liberty Homestead in Missouri. I purchased a 2 yard piece at a major AQS show 7 years ago. The pattern calls for 2 7/8 yards. I cut pieces for the appliqué blocks and started making them, thinking I’d order more soon as they have an online business.  This week I discovered that they seem to be out of business! Their site is still up but there’s no checkout cart, no Instagram or Facebook posts since October, and no return phone calls. What to do?  I searched my stash and found a large piece of muslin very close in color, but not exact. Probably not noticeable without looking closely in good light. I made a block using it so I could compare:

The muslin is on top and the hand dyed fabric I’m using for the appliqué blocks is on the bottom. You can see there is a bit of texture in the latter (on the left below):

I’m in a “make do” frame of mind, so decided I’d go ahead and use the muslin if I had to, though not ideal. Different background fabrics are not infrequently seen in antique quilts and some find that charming! Rather than mix up the 2 fabrics in the same blocks, I decided I’d make as many blocks with the hand dyed fabric as I could first. Guess what? With extremely careful planning, I was able to cut enough pieces out of the special fabric to make ALL the blocks!

Turns out I needn’t have worried! Makes me think that it’s likely the fabric requirements given with patterns are very generous.

Week 4 of the tiny 9 patch challenge begins today, meaning our task this week is to make blocks # 31 – 40. Well….I am up to 70 and posting blocks 51 – 70 this week. Just for fun I’m showing one of the groups with a green instead of red background – pretty sure I’m sticking with red when I start sewing these together, but can’t hurt to look at other options:

Here’s how they look on the design wall – keep in mind these are 2 inches square:

I’m trying to quilt Time of Plenty for at least 30 – 60 minutes a day:

As I sew my 9 patches, I’m working on a leader/ender project and have just over 100 quarter square triangle blocks so far:

After almost a full week of very gloomy, cloudy weather, the sun has been out the past 2 days with brilliant blue skies. I walked along the river:

Along with the blue and white in the landscape, there are peeks of amber beech leaves glowing in the sunlight:

And green lichens clinging to logs in the snow:

Once again, I enjoyed seeing and photographing the ice formations at water’s edge:

And some a bit further out; this was sticking out and I’m not sure what’s under that “glob” of snow:

Hovering over the water on a hanging branch:

Hope you are all finding some delight in your every day. Hope some of that delight is in making and creating.

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

January 26, 2024: Culling books and more…

Greetings dear readers! In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to start significantly paring down my large collection of quilting books. I’m doing it! My goal is to page through every book and be ruthless in deciding whether I’m likely to make a quilt in that style (ever or again), will use a technique for which I need the book as a reference, or need the photos for inspiration, given that there’s so much visual inspiration on the internet now. Here’s my pile so far:

I still have a way to go, but it’s a great start! One of the books that’s going into the pile is this one from 2001:

Look what I found inside it!:

Because of the red “background”, this is basically the 9 Patch quilt I am making for the sew along In which I’m participating, but in a different size! My “teeny tiny” patches finish at 1 1/2 inches and I’ll need 480 of them. The above quilt has 16 patches across and 17 down for 272 patches. Based on the size given, and the on-point setting, I was able to figure out that those patches are about 3 1/2 inches square – much bigger than the ones I’m making. Nevertheless, it gives me a good idea what my quilt will look like if I stick with using red for the alternate squares. I am enjoying making these 9 patches so much that I’m forging ahead and have what are supposed to be weeks 3 and 4 ready to share:

On the design wall:

The other 2 projects getting some attention are Time of Plenty – I finished hand quilting one more block:

One more block hand appliqued for “Winterberries”:

When I showed my sewing room last post, I mentioned that most of my stash was in another room. In 2006, I had these drawers built to fit into a large closet:

Some fabrics are arranging by style, some by color, but all drawers are full!

What’s crazy is that when this was built I thought it would hold ALL my fabric, forever!😵‍💫. After I cull all my books, I should make it a goal to get rid of enough fabric so that all that remains fits in this closet. That’s going to be much harder!!

Currently reading this interesting book set in Saigon in 1963, featuring a couple of military wives. Only about a third through it, but like it a lot; Alice McDermott is a wonderful writer.

We are deep into the north’s winter season. In between the frequent gray and damp days are scattered clear days good for walking in the cold, fresh air and appreciating the blue and white landscape:

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

January 19, 2024: 9 Patch Party!; Cleaning; Earthly Delights

Greetings dear readers! The number of online sew alongs seems to have increased exponentially over the past several years. The options are amazing and they can be hard to resist 🙂. Because I often like to design my own quilts and hate having projects that I have grown tired of languish unfinished in my closet, I’ve been very disciplined about ignoring the siren call of most of those sew alongs. I’ve been careful not to overextend myself and not to commit to projects I’m not pretty sure I’m going to love. Previously, I’ve participated in only 2, Barbara Brackman’s 2015 “Stars in a Time Warp” and her 2019 “Hospital Sketches,” both of which I loved and resulted in beautiful quilts. 5 years after starting the last one, I’m finally committing to a third, Taryn’s (Repro Quilt Lover) “Teeny Tiny Nine Patch Challenge.” I like that it’s a piecing challenge for me and that there’s the flexibility to choose whatever style fabrics and size quilt one wants to make, even though there’s an antique quilt we can replicate if we want that is the basis for the sew along:

There are 480 nine patches in the quilt. She’s showing us closeup 10 per week and we can try to replicate those or make 10 out of our own choices of fabrics. We can choose to make the original “teeny tiny” 1 1/2 inch blocks – squares finish at 1/2 inch! – or the “tiny” 2 1/4 inch blocks, or the “small” 3 inch blocks. At first I wasn’t sure what fabrics I wanted to use and what size I wanted to make and whether I even could make the “teeny tiny “ size, so I experimented:

I found I could be successful with the tiniest size using a strip piecing method:

Each strip set can be sliced to produce a block with “dark” value corners or “light” value corners. So far I’m using mostly 3 fabrics per strip set, but several different combinations are possible, even 9 different fabrics per block. It will be fun to explore the possibilities!

I’m sticking with the teeny tiny blocks and mostly reproduction style fabrics and am pretty sure I’m going to go with a red background, though subject to change as the blocks pile up and I look at other options 🙂:

Pressing the seams open seems to work best. Here are the backs:

I find I don’t usually need all of each strip set so am storing the leftovers in baggies per value of the corners and I can use these in future blocks:

Making these blocks is addictive and I think my problem is not going to be how to make 10 per week, but how to stop myself from making many, many more!!😊

I managed to make 2 more appliqué blocks:

And a tote bag gift for my son’s partner’s birthday:

The inside has 2 pockets, one on each side:

The gray print is an Essex Linen, lined with heavy muslin and that combo makes the bag more sturdy. Hope she likes it!

I decided I needed to start the year with a CLEAN sewing room. It goes months sometimes without vacuuming or dusting because it’s a pain to have to move so much stuff to get to the surfaces and corners. It feels so good, however, once it’s done! Here’s my clean room starting by looking left as you come in the door and going around clockwise:

The glass front cabinet on the left above has only my Asian fabrics in it and I’m lucky to have space in the spare bedroom next door for most of the rest of my fabrics. Next job for me is going through the books in that bookcase – would love to eliminate half of them. Many are techniques I’m never going to do or do again and there’s so much inspiration on the internet. Even though it will hopefully still be several years till we feel we need to move to the CC Retirement Community we got on the list for last year, in one’s mid seventies, you never know. Beginning to downsize now is the prudent course of action.

I love visiting the bog in winter – very peaceful and quiet and lovely:

After recent snow:

The moist areas are iced over and the patterns over the amber captured leaves is lovely:

The pond is also peaceful:

A somber beauty to the shape and texture of the dried flora:

Hope you are finding daily delights in the new year!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

January 12, 2024: Looking back/looking ahead; “Comfort Zone”

Greetings dear readers! It’s time to look back and to look ahead. I’m one of those people who finds it helpful to spend at least a few moments thinking about what I did the previous year and what I might want to accomplish in the coming year. At the very least, I can survey my unfinished projects and make a plan on how to approach them.

First, in 2023 I started and completed 3 new tops for my own collection: – “Red and White Crib Quilt #2”, “Red and Green Christmas Quilt”, and “Treasure Trove”, my Tomi Nagano inspired Spirit of Japan quilt:

I also completed 2 lap/twin size donation quilts, a gift lap quilt for our neighbor, a baby quilt, and two small wall quilts, one donated, one gifted.  However, my major accomplishment for the year was completing “Sweet Journeys” – an 8 year project, hand appliqued and hand quilted. It now hangs in my living room so we can regularly enjoy it:

I finally got a good start with the hand quilting of another major project, “Time of Plenty”, the top of which was completed in 2020:

This brings me right to plans for 2024. A major goal is to complete “Time of Plenty” and exhibit it at the Cocheco show in October. I also hope to complete the Red and White crib quilt for that show and have started the hand quilting on that:

I have decided to send “Stormy Weather” (top finished 11/22) and “Quarter Log Cabin” (top also completed in 2022) in addition to the Red and Green Christmas quilt shown above, out for long arm quilting – a hard decision, but I can’t hand quilt everything!:

I made great progress in 2023 on long term projects, “Hexagon Stars” and “Dutch Sunflowers”, and they are both ready for borders – this year I hope! They don’t have to be complicated, but each will take some time and effort:

I am keeping “Maple Leaf Rag” and “Treasure Trove” in my “to be hand quilted” pile, but won’t get to them until late in the year after my current 2 hand quilting projects are completed:

I want to get Ursula’s Spring Baskets top sewn together:

I’ve already started 2 new projects in 2024! 3 of the appliqué blocks for the “Winterberries” project are done:

The “Tiny Nine Patch” year long sew along by Taryn at “Repro Quilt Lover” starts in 3 days and I’ve been experimenting:

The black and red completed 9 patch on the left is 1 1/2 inches. The pink and cream one on the right is 2 1/4 inches - the seam allowances were cut off on the latter so I could compare how it would look finished. Quite a difference!! I have made a decision to go with the smallest size, patches that finish 1 1/2 inches. I now know I will enjoy this very much and will share more about this on my next post.

I’d like to make a couple more donation quilts in 2024 if possible. I also allow myself the freedom and flexibility to change my goals to fit my needs and life demands, because, for me, quilting is mostly play and joy and very little actual “work” 😊 and I’m not making quilts specifically for competition. Because the family related stresses that affected my life so much in the latter part of 2023 will likely persist well into 2024, quilting this year for me is also going to be “comfort” and I plan to stay in my “comfort zone”. I don’t need to be saddled with any extra difficult quilting goals or challenges and the ones I have, per above, are going to be “loose.”😊.  I’m profoundly grateful for the joys quilt making and being part of the quilting community have brought me and look forward to their continuation!

In 2024, I look forward also to continued observation and sharing of “earthly delights.” A recent walk to the river revealed some interesting chunks of ice clinging to stems, branches and other structures at water’s edge and closeup photos reveal interesting abstract designs:

Ice has finally covered the pond:

There is beauty in the dried winter flora at the edge of the pond:

We finally got our first real snow of the season!

From my home to yours – thank you all for reading and I wish you a healthy and good 2024, full of joyful and comforting stitching!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

January 4, 2024: Projects, Earthly Delights, and Books

Greetings dear readers! The new year is upon us and I have not managed to compose a “looking back/looking forward” post yet, probably because it requires some thinking and analysis 😊 – hopefully it will be the next one.  Meanwhile, I completed the embroidery embellishment and spent a few hours recently layering and basting “Red and White Crib Quilt #2” in preparation for hand quilting:

I’m using Quilters Dream Request, a very thin cotton batting for this one. I’ve used it successfully before and it’s what I had on hand.

The photos were taken at night so the background appears a bit more tan/yellowed than it really is.

I am using the same French General backing fabric that I used for the first R&W Crib Quilt:

I drafted a few possible quilting designs for the main leaf-like shape and think this is the one I’ll use:

Now this project will compete with “Time of “Plenty” for my hand quilting time! Good thing it’s winter!

Completing that top left me with no appliqué 😪 – not OK! I also am still feeling a strong urge – even after finishing the Christmas Quilt top – to work with red and green. I pulled out this book, which is full of lovely projects, for inspiration:

I wanted to make them all 🙂, but decided to go with the Jo Morton “Winterberries” design because I love it and it has both appliqué and piecing and isn’t too big or complicated (don’t need that type of challenge right now):

The first thing I noticed is that the instructions are for the “back basting” appliqué technique, which I don’t do. And look at the 1/8 inch area where the leaves come together!

I decided to do the main leaves using the “needleturn with paper on top” method, doing each leaf separately and put a small circle in the center to cover the raw edges. First, I found a 2 yard piece of this fabulous off-white fabric in my stash for the background and I have a good stash of red and green reproduction fabrics I can choose from for the leaves:

Here you see the leaves with the “raw” tips in the center:

Honestly, the hardest part was the cutout reverse appliqué in the center of the leaves! There’s not much fabric to grab on to there! I wasn’t that happy with the pattern of the red leaves shape so decided to elongate it:

And now you see the final block, including the little gold center covering those raw edges nicely:

I love it! I think I need 18 of these so am happily looking forward to choosing several different fabrics and making these over the next several weeks.

Oh, and I may be joining another sew along for this year! Taryn, at the blog “Repro Quilt Lover” and on Instagram @reproquiltlover has an antique quilt with 480 (!!) 1.5 inch finished 9 patches and is challenging quilters to make a quilt with tiny 9 patches! I decided to experiment and make a few just to see if I could:

Each square is only 1/2 inch! They aren’t perfect, but I can use a strip piecing method and do reasonably well. Taryn is open to participants using any kind of fabric or technique they want and also to making the blocks a little bigger – 2 1/4 inch or 3 inches – if they want. The sew along starts 1/15 so I am currently mulling over what style of fabric I want to use and whether I want to go with one of the larger sizes. Stay tuned!🙂.
There was an excellent essay in the opinion section of The New York Times on 12/31 titled “When the World Falls Dark, Seek Out Delights” by Catherine Price. She says “Let’s make 2024 the year of delights.” Of course, I love this because of my devotion to “earthly delights.” She says, “You make a point to notice things in your everyday life that delight you. It could be anything – nothing is too small or absurd. Ideally share them with another person…..essentially this is a form of gratitude practice……it’s also a form of savoring.” The point is that doing this is so good for our mental health! With that in mind, here are some recent earthly delights from near my home in southeastern New Hampshire:

And a culinary delight with which we ushered in the new year; Ina Garden’s Winter Minnestrone is the best minnestrone I’ve tasted:

My recent reading has been eclectic! I reread the classic Jane Eyre and loved it all over again. It was the perfect read for me leading into the holidays:

I read Lauren Groff’s new book and loved it, even though there were some tough, difficult, and harrowing events described. The writing was truly excellent. I especially loved the descriptions of the beauty of nature. Highly recommended:

Mary Pipher is the psychologist who authored a renowned book about teenage girls, “Reviving Ophelia” and the more recent excellent book, “Women Rowing North” about dealing with aging and loss. Now she has a memoir out about growing up in Nebraska in the 1950’s and 60’s which I am enjoying:

Wishing everyone a healthy, peaceful, and prosperous 2024 with many moments of delight!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

December 28, 2023: Christmas quilt top completed and more!

Greeting dear readers! My Christmas Quilt top is finished!

I’ve done my best to get a good photo, but it’s not perfect – it’s hard to get “green” correct in some indoor lighting; the red is brighter than the photo shows. The quilt is actually very pretty and I love how it came out! I’m glad I substituted the flying geese border for the original half square triangles.  I FPP’d strips of geese, then sewed them together - LOVE the accuracy of FPP. I had enough fabric to miter the corners and here’s a photo that shows how the red binding will eventually add a wonderful finishing touch after the quilting:

For a reminder on how to do the mitering, I used this excellent book, one of my “go to”, highly recommended references:

Hand stitching the corners is the method that works best for me.

Oh how I wish I had the time to hand quilt this! However, my pile of finished tops is growing taller as my years left on the planet are dwindling so I am forced to prioritize and make decisions. The Christmas Quilt will go to to a long arm quilter some time in 2024 and be fully ready for display for next year’s holidays. I think this top came together so quickly this month because I was reveling in having time, once again, for being in my sewing room and this was PURE JOY to make! Working with these colors really put me in a holiday mood.

When hand quilting a large project with a deadline in mind, I like to break the process down into manageable parts. The deadline for completing my “Time of Plenty” is October 2024 – in time for my guild’s annual show.

There are 25 blocks in the center – 16 pieced and 9 appliqued – plus 12 setting triangles and 4 setting corners. And then there’s the border!😊. 4 of the appliqué blocks are done and I just finished the 6th pieced block:

I’ve started one of the setting triangles:

Some time soon I will attempt to divide up what I have left to do into chunks of time it will likely take so I can stay on track for finishing on time. Borders, in particular, can take longer than expected; mentally we often underestimate their overall size.

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to go to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. One of the exhibits featured African American art and this wonderful log cabin quilt was part of it:

I LOVE it when quilts are part of an exhibit like this!😊

While piecing the flying geese for the Christmas Quilt, I decided I needed a “leader-ender” project so I didn’t have to keep cutting off and restarting the thread on my machine. I cut a number of 4 inch squares from my reproduction fabric stash in cheddars, reds, browns, and blacks and started making quarter square triangles:

I’m just playing – no idea what I’ll ultimately make!🙂. I’ll keep you posted. This could stay a very slow growing “leader-ender” project or could morph at any time into something I’m actively making. 

Walking in the woods has happened a few times recently and I have a couple of “earthly delights” to share. The woods are full of both growth and decay and in winter the latter is especially visible. The decay of rotting wood with the growth of moss:

The decay of leaves with the growth of lichens:

The storm of 12/18 pummeled us with wind and lots of rain. We had some tree limbs come down, but luckily not on the house. The nearby Lamprey River flooded some but not enough to do any real damage. The water in this photo – taken the day after the storm – is several feet closer to the path I usually walk :

It has since retreated but the water is still high and running swiftly.

I got a new iPhone for Christmas! It’s the i15 max pro – replacing my seriously outdated i7! – and I’m looking forward to exploring the new photography options on the camera, especially the telephoto capabilities. It was raining outside yesterday when I got the camera so I took some photos of our tree instead! 🙂:

And representing my favorite hobbies:

I’m hoping to post something by the 31st that looks back at 2023 and ahead to 2024, but in case I can’t get to it until January, wishing you all a peaceful and satisfying 2024 with moments of joy. Thank you so much for reading my blog!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

December 17, 2023: Finally back!

Greetings dear readers! A month away from blogging was helpful for me and now I hope to get back to fairly regular posting. 2023 has been a year of challenges for my family and loved ones. Details in this space are not appropriate (respect for privacy), but it’s safe to say that I devoted a significant amount of time and energy to the role of “caregiver” (granddaughter) under stressful circumstances these past few months. I empathize with others who take on caregiver roles, whether it’s for aging parents, ill spouses, needy children or grandchildren, or even friends. It’s what we do when we care, but it can really upend our normal routines and make us feel out of sorts at times. Self care often takes a back seat.

That regular caregiver role for me has finally ended (whew!), though the underlying circumstances that led to it will continue to be an issue in 2024. It hasn’t been all bad; there are often silver linings and blessings amidst adversity. I have a new, deeper relationship with my granddaughter Ursula (who will be 5 in just a few weeks) and a new granddaughter, Ophelia!

Sewing/quilting has been a comfort and excellent escape and has helped keep me balanced. I planned the red and white quilt to provide plenty of handwork during these past couple months and gradually finished hand appliquéing all the leaves and now have the majority of the vein embellishment completed as well:

Hand quilting will follow soon.

Ursula and I together made a utilitarian quilt for her new baby sister. She picked the fabrics, I cut them, she arranged them, and I sewed them.

It was fun!

I scheduled a long armer to quilt the gift I made for our neighbor, then finished the binding and gave it away yesterday! They were so surprised! 

It felt so good to do something nice for them after all the help they’ve given us with various tasks over the years.

I managed to find enough time to make a small wall quilt for my quilt bee’s annual Yankee Swap at our holiday party.  Long time readers may remember this quilt I made 2 years ago when I was making “monthly minis” – it’s one of my favorites!

I recreated it, but had to use a different background:

I prefer the original’s background- it’s a bit darker and the spots look like stars, but I made do with what I had and I know the recipient loves it!

Hand quilting “Time of Plenty” is progressing slowly in fits and starts. Another appliqué block is completed and the quilting on another pieced one begun:

And, against all odds, in the midst of busyness and turmoil, I actually started a new project! I felt a strong need to get into the holiday spirit by making something in red and green, a Christmas quilt, in fact. For a few years now, a particular antique quilt owned by Barbara Black – I recommend her blog, “My Joyful Journey” – has been on my “to do” list to make some day. (Barbara runs the BOM programs on “The Quilt Show” – I highly recommend a subscription!). If you search “Christmas Quilt” on her blog you can read the story of how she found it:

I love this spring green color with the bright red. If you look closely you can see the lovely hand quilted cables on the border and here’s a closeup of the green blocks:

I knew I didn’t want to use solids and that I’d probably make a lap size rather than bed size quilt. I have no idea what size the original blocks are, but, at 6 inches, mine are almost certainly smaller.  I’ve had 3 yards of this green fabric in my stash for several years and it seemed perfect for this quilt:

The green is not as “olive” and the red is brighter than the photo above shows. I got the red this year when someone downsized:

The background (the dots and lines are gold sparkle) is another fabric I got for free and is just right for a holiday quilt:

The center of my top is complete, with 30 stars (the original has 42) and I’m in the process of doing something a little different from the original border. Will share my progress on this in my next post!

I’ve had less time for walking, so no “earthly delights” for this post, so how about some culinary delights instead?🙂. Look at this beautiful tray of home baked cookies from dear friends, Sarah and Ron:

This is a good start on catching up! Being part of the wonderful quilting community is such a pleasure – many thanks to you all for reading.  Wishing you all peace and joy during the holidays and happy stitching too!😊

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

November 14, 2023: Cocheco Show, Part 4; my projects; a little break

Greetings dear readers! Here are a few more photos from the Cocheco show for your viewing pleasure. First up is another lovely piece in wool:

Our guild president gets to pick her favorite quilt and she chose this one.

I always love a traditional basket quilt and this one looks great in solids:

One of several whimsical quilts in the show:

This elephant pattern has long been one of my favorites:

A piecing challenge conquered!:

A lovely wall quilt:

Autumn quilts are always especially appealing to me:

Our guild “Challenge” for this year was interesting with lots of excellent entries.

Left to right, spring into summer:

Summer into fall:

Fall into winter:

I’ve been mostly doing hand work recently. I’m making slow, but steady progress on hand quilting Time of Plenty with the goal of finishing in time to exhibit in the next Cocheco Show, almost a year from now:

I’ve advanced the Red and White Crib Quilt #2 quite a bit! The leaves were all prepared via the “turned edge” method and basted to the background and about half are hand appliqued down. I’ve started to add some of the embroidery embellishment by hand:

Definitely planning to hand quilt it.

There’s very little bright color left in the landscape here. This is some of the last of it:

Dear readers, I mentioned previously that my sewing time has been limited recently due to family obligations. Those are increasing over the next month so I have decided to take a 3-4 week break from posting. I hope to be back to sharing my quilting journey on a regular basis by mid December. I wish you all a lovely Thanksgiving!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

November 7, 2023: Cocheco Show Photos, Part 3 and more!

Greetings dear readers! I’m a morning person and like the extra light in the morning after turning the clocks back this weekend, but I’m not happy that it’s dark before 5 PM! Nevertheless, will, as always, find ways to be grateful for my days. 🙏.
The past week I’ve been focused on moving some projects toward the finish line. I completed the top for the quilt I’m gifting to our neighbor:

I also pieced a back for it out of some large pieces of reproduction fabrics and now I’m ready to schedule quilting with a long-armer. Yay! I also need a back for the library donation quilt and have this beautiful Michael Miller “Paradise Island” print/panel, given to me by a friend who downsized, which I think will work:

It’s wide enough and I can fill out the top and bottom with this lovely fabric, also from that friend:

Not sure I remembered to mention that the library silent auction will be in the spring instead of this holiday season, so the time pressure is off; nevertheless, it will be good to get this one out for longarm quilting too. I also pulled my Quarter Log Cabin quilt top out of the pile and decided NOT to hand quilt it and get that one out for longarm quilting too, so I pieced a back out of black and brown reproduction prints:

(That’s the top on top of the backing, of course.)

The other thing I did over the past few days was get out the Hexagon Star quilt and begin to make some final decisions about the border. I knew I wanted to use this red reproduction print, but what width and ? with a vine and leaf border? I tried a mock-up of a vine and leaf border and didn’t like it at all – too busy; there is so much to look at with the stars that it doesn’t need a fancy border. But, just the red alone? (Sorry, the lighting isn’t great.)

It seemed like it needed something more so I added a black print between the center and the red border:

Better, but still not quite right. After more study, I tried adding a narrow tan strip between the red and black:

Much better, I think! I will still need to determine the best way to appliqué the center to the black print ; I may ultimately add a tan flange between the red border and binding. Now that I have a good idea where I’m going with this, I’m putting it aside again probably until after the holidays when my personal life quiets down (I hope 🙂).

Now on to more quilt show photos! This first one features beautiful hand dyed fabrics and I like the “takes a village” concept:

I do love a classic quilt – baskets! – with hand quilting:

More beautiful wool work and I love the the winter theme and accompanying images:

Really pretty stars in a soothing color palette:

A lovely hand quilted version Edyta Sitar’s “Alaska” pattern:

And finally something whimsical and fun:

Still more photos from the show to come in future posts! Meanwhile, the last of the fall colors before we slide into brown/gray/pine green for the winter:

Above – My Japanese maple tree’s burst of brilliant red after all the other red is gone.

Below – the beech trees hold their leaves longer than most others and I love the gold and amber colors as the sun shines through:

Wishing you all the joy and comfort of stitching as we head into late autumn!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

October 31, 2023: More Quilt Show Photos and Fall Color

Greetings dear readers! It’s hard to read about/watch the news these days – war, gun violence, political dysfunction, resentment, intolerance, and injustice. To deal with this, it helps me to keep in mind – “in dark times, shine a light” – try to be the best person I can be, do what good I can, and hope for the best. I’m grateful that quilt making provides both respite and community as well as the opportunity to be creative. Creativity is one of the glories of being human – something positive instead of negative! With that in mind, please enjoy and possibly be inspired by, these photos of more quilts from the Cocheco show:

This wonderful quilt is by my friend Jean. I love her use of green and the sentiments expressed.

There were several quilts in the show featuring wool work and this next one was especially lovely. And of course I love dark backgrounds 🙂:

This next quilt might have won an award for best use of color if we gave one out:

This wonderful small quilt won a Judge’s Choice award. Another “wool” piece with fabulous detail:

This next quilt looks like it was a major challenge to construct!! I love the color scheme:

One of the long time features of our annual show is a “Meet the Quilter” section in which we feature the work of 3 of our guild members. Those folks spend quite a bit of time there over the course of the show talking with attendees about their work. This year my friend Jean was featured. We’ve been quilting buddies for at least 25 years – back when she was my Human Resources go-to person at the University! Here are some photos of her booth:

More quilt show photos to come in future posts!
I bought something at the show that I have fallen in love with!:

A guild member was giving a demo on piecing and mentioned how much she loved this rotary cutter. Over the years I have exclusively used Olfa cutters and been pretty happy, especially when used with “Endurance” longer lasting blades. The Quilters Select cutter is quite a bit heavier and requires almost no pressure to effortlessly cut, thus reducing the strain on the hand, wrist, arm, and shoulder. So far, I’m in love ❤️ and it does seem ergonomically more efficient, especially if you do a lot of cutting. I think it will be worth the investment (not inexpensive!).

I considered buying a set of Applipops – metal rings for making circles for appliqué – but decided to stick with my Karen Kay Buckley plastic circles for now. I would love to hear from any readers who have used the Applipops – do they work well? How do they compare to the KKB circles?

There has been some lovely fall color this past week, almost certainly nearly the last of it. The “burning bush” has been shining in both pink and red:

The sumac leaves have been brilliant:

And the peaches and golds make the whole scene glow:

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day – and SHINE A LIGHT! Gladi