Well that was a week!

Lost the map to the treasure.   In fact I even forgot about the treasure till Thursday.  But here is a small rug hooking treasure from a class I took a number of years ago.  If I could fit it in, I'd definitely do rug hooking!  :)

Got lost in a trilogy after a hard day of art 101.  :{   But the grand kiddies are back in the groove of drawing and shapes.  Then my other class got a mini lesson on bookmaking with a small notebook.  The cover is fun foam and the paper plain but lots of opportunity to personalize the cover and pages.   My first class had way too many options.  This class went way too quick.  Third class I'm a hoping...

Hopefully after redoing the focus of the unplanner I can get it together for next week.  I have discovered the mystery of printing the planner pages - untick the default boxes!  :/  

Prepping the cards in batches and using Avery stickers are my new secret weapons!   The cards are ready for quick finishing and the Avery sticker sheets can be printed, painted, stenciled etc.  Loads of fun!

It is not working to get much fabric medium into play but I'm hoping to sort and catalogue UFO projects before the month is out and definitely get it front and centre for February.  Thank goodness there are five weeks in January!  lol

But chillaxing in the ambiance of the front room made the whole week worthwhile!   The Rooster has fresh gluten free muffins perfecting in the oven and I do believe coffee break is approaching!    Happy Sonday! 

Lets start small

The Miniature Mania

The above are the real deal but it all started with a cheater fabric I believe.  I bought a yard of fabric with printed quilt blocks in greens and reds. Gosh, that must have been almost thirty years ago!  :O  For some reason they intrigued me and I challenged myself to make as many different examples of red and green quilts as I could.

And it was a successful challenge because I really did eventually get everything but a few slivers into these little quiltlets!

the bottom one was tea dyed

the bottom one was an added idea

Kinda useless as they aren't even good for placemats!  But I learned lots about what I like and don't like.  And that is a treasure in itself!

I'm linking up with A Quarter Inch from the Edge for Throwback Thursday.

Red and White Treasure

Canada is celebrating its red and whiteness today!  :0  So I thought I'd postpone stripping for a week and show some red and white myself.

I am a big fan of Gwen Marston and early on in my quilting life I was going to make a dozen miniatures to compliment my folk art period.  Unfortunately the folk art period passed before I got very many done. ;^)  This is hand appliqued.  I also tried my sewing machine's hand quilting stitch.  Boy, all that back and forth took a long time to stitch out!  :O

I had made three quilts for my parents but my mum kept talking about a red and white quilt that her mother had made.  I finally figured she wanted one also.  It must have been an Ohio Star and I was not looking forward to making a two colour boring quilt.  :{  I actually used an early EQ program to make sure I wouldn't be doing this twice. ha! If I alternated the colours it looked better to me.  So I proceeded. The blocks are about 9 inches.  And as a nod to my assymetricalism  I put a wee star in the corner.  The backing is a strawberry print, my mum's favourite fruit.  The batting is 100% cotton and I machine quilted it in a plaid pattern to add a bit of Scottish heritage.

I was still into miniatures and couldn't resist making a smaller version for myself. I think these are 6 inch blocks and then the wee guy.  I hadn't quite figured out that miniatures take just as much time as full size quilts.  LOL

They were made as a Christmas present and I called mine Peppermint Star!  A sweet treasure!

I am linking this up to Jenn's Throwback Thursday!

A sampling of treasure

 In the early nineties I invited a few ladies over to see if anyone was interested in quilting.  We started a little quilt group and called ourselves The Country Road Quilters as we were all in a rural setting and traveled at least a half an hour to get together.  We met every week and took turns hosting the meetings.  The first rule was no food and it was pitched out when the first meeting began with coffee and goodies.  Somewhere along the line we included lunches.  :O    At some point the original four of us made 4 blocks representing our home in each others chosen colours.  Then we each set the four blocks into a wall hanging.

But before we got to that point we decided we all needed to sign up for a sampler course at the nearest quilt shop.  As with most classes we had to buy our fabric at the store.  I was mightily resisting the whole calico thing by this time and I was struggling.

 So I found a paisley in amongst the bolts and dared to pick coordinating solids in blue. Now I was into the country look and the blues would work in my bedroom even if paisley isn't exactly 'country'.   Everyone had their eyebrows up but I stuck to my intentions.  

By the time I got around to the borders I had to figure out how to stretch the fabric I had and make it fit the double bed.  Then came the quilting.  :O  Everyone hand quilted and we brought our hoops and worked on them every week.  I again struggled.  The rocking stitch defeated me.  So I stab stitched in secret!  LOL  Turns out lots of quilters stab stitched but it wasn't how 'real' quilters did it in my neck of the woods.  This quilt would still be 'hooped' if I hadn't discovered Harriet Hargrave and machine quilting.  :)  I resisted the urge to unpick everything, finished up the last few blocks by machine and made creative choices for the border.  I should have stood my ground on the backing but knuckled under to a plain white cotton which looks simply horrid with all that catywompus blue quilting thread on the very visible back.  :(

Not being a traditionalist I decided I didn't like samplers and would never do another.  Never say never for there are many ways to make samplers and the quilt group chose several.   But those treasures must wait for another Tuesday!

A Squirrely Treasure

This block is an old traditional pattern known by a few names- Churn Dash, Quails Nest, Monkey Wrench and Barn Door.  Using the border fabric as a starting point I picked my colours, trying for lights, mediums, and darks in several colours as I wanted a scrappy effect.  The alternate blocks are neutrals.

 This quilt probably started my luv affair with on point or diagonal designs.  :}

It is a well used quilt, faded; and the cotton batting has gotten quite thin.  The quilting is just straight lines with a walking foot.  I guess I could say it is a summer quilt.

I spent hours, heck days, spreading my colours around to display a pleasing balance.  I particularly wanted the few yellows to be separated.  After sewing it all together and basting it I discovered that some blocks had moved from their pre-arranged position.  :[  The butter curdled.  The monkey threw a wrench. 

I thought nuts! and changed its name to Squirrels Nest!   I was not laughing then, but I do now.  ;^)

Tuesday Treasures- First Class

While I was busy sewing up all my rail fences I was telling The Rooster's sister all about my new found happiness.  She also sewed and I was horrified to hear she was going to make quilts after she had explored garment sewing to her satisfaction.  Oh, no.  She had to start asap because there wasn't going to be enough time for us to do all the quilts we would be planning.  So we enrolled in an Irish Chain class and I don't think she got much garment sewing done after that!  :^)

This looks to be about 1990 judging by DS#3.   I finished it with the requisite narrow inner peach and wide outer blue borders.  It stands to reason that once you know how to sew strips it is an easy progression to cutting them up and sew them into new configurations.   Now I don't remember what happened to the Irish Chain quilt but again not my style but when in Rome class...

 Realizing time was of the essence I tried miniatures.  Isn't this a hoot!  So not me but that was the fabric I could get.

This is another value study but I see the chains could have been stronger.   I also practiced my machine quilting on these smaller quilts.

I did take to sewing and cutting like a duck to water enabling me to get lots of leftover strips from later projects chopped up into scrap quilts.  The rail fence blocks that didn't make it into last week's treasure became a table mat.  That's a penny on the light square.  I've learned I rather like small than big but goodness that takes time and fiddling. :{

Squares aren't my favourite shape but I was quite into blue and yellow for a time.  These fabrics were for DD#2's double wedding quilt.  I really wish I could do a project without having so much fabric leftover.  :O  But I did get to practice some machine quilting on those bigger lap quilts. 

The treasure nugget I carried away from this hunt was that monochromatic scraps work wonderfully in quilts especially with a bit of an accent colour.

Life on the rails

My very first pattern was the Rail Fence.  This is the only quilt I've actually liked from all that I've made and I was delighted when DD#1 no longer needed it and traded it for another!  ;^)

My first luv was, and probably still is, home decorating.  I was a busy gal and had no time for make work projects like cutting up fabric and sewing it back together again.  But then I went to a national quilt show and SAW what all that cutting, rearranging and sewing could do.  Coordinated bedding!  Somehow I missed the art aspect of it although it was there.  This would have been back in the mid eighties.

This is a lap sized quilt with diagonal cross hatching.  I am a machine quilter and I used the large border to practice feathers.  I tried to do a value lesson with rails from light to dark.  I still need lessons in value!  lol But I liked the scrappy look.  This was from my folk art period.  LOL

My friend and show tour guide showed me using scissors to cut, templates for each rail!   :O  I bought fabric, those indescribable wee calicoes in bright reds,  whites, and blues. I mixed poly cottons into the whole thing.  I had enough fabric to cover our small town and after making two twin beds, a crib, some pillows, etc, I decided a queen size for my sister was gonna be the end of that colour run!  :}

But I was hooked.

It frustrated me as one can see in the small doll quilt which is so typical of the colour and fabrics available at that time.  It is hard for those verticals and horizontals to end up playing nicely.

Not much remains of any of those early quilt projects but I was surprised to see the influence the pattern holds.  I learned some things.  Rotary cutters and strip piecing are the way to go!  LOL  But quick cutting and piecing often leads to a bigger time commitment to figure out layouts and quilting.   I learned more is better.  More rails, smaller rails, and less contrast appeals to me.

I also learned as I was searching for photos and old treasures that this first quilt block has actually influenced a lot of my quilting but that is for another Tuesday.  Who knew it would turn out to be such a treasure!

This post is linked up to A Quarter Inch From The Edge  and Throwback Thursday!