Yankee Puzzle

Today's free quilt block is Yankee Puzzle. I love the pinwheel center and the movement created by the flying geese units.

I've discovered Widgets. They are little features you can attach to your blog. I've put in three so far. One is the last post about Harry Potter. Then I found a widget at the website of my favorite TV network, Turner Classic Movies. If you look to the right side of my column, you'll find it. You can play movie trailers, view lobby photos and old hollywood stills. I just love old movies and this is a little bit of fun I can share with all of you. The last widget I found is the game Bubbles. I've never been much for games on my computer. In the past I've dabbled with online jigsaw puzzles and games of solitaire, but this little game has got me hooked. I find myself playing this for hours at a time. I'm afraid it's going to impact my sewing productivity. My top score so far is just over 17,000. Go ahead, give this game a try, but I warn you, it's addictive.

Till nest time.... Happy Quilting!

Harry Potter Nerd Alert!

The truth is out, I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd! I've read all the books (more than once) and have seen all the movies (more than once). I can't wait for the Half Blood Prince. I plan on going the first day to see it at the IMAX in 3-D.



Till next time.... Happy Quilting!

To and Fro

Today's free quilt pattern is To and Fro. It is based on a similar block called Hither and Yon. It goes together well and would also look great on point. Last Christmas I got a new iron. No one but a quilter would be thrilled with a top of the line Rowenta, but I was ecstatic. My old Rowenta was over 15 years old. It still heated up, but it also spit deposits whenever water was put in it. I used it for over two years without water. Boy the difference is amazing and pressing yardage is so much better.

Having a new iron brings up the topic of pressing while making patchwork. When I write instructions I always include pressing instructions. When you pay close attention to pressing, the blocks lay flatter and it's easier to achieve the correct size. When I'm sewing a block, I almost never press with the iron. I finger press until the whole block is together. I then measure the block before I take the iron to it. After I've measured, I know whether I need to press gently (if the block is the right size or a little large) or agressively (if my block measures a little small). I also use this method when I make pieced borders. All the units of the pieced border are finger pressed during construction. I don't press with the iron until the pieced border is attached to the quilt top. Because pieced borders are long, it is easy to stretch them out while pressing. I get a much better fit when I finger press along the way.

Half time is almost over. It's time to cheer on the Spartans, who are trailing the Wisconsin Badgers. So... until next time.....Happy Quilting.

Toad in the Puddle

This blog's free quilt pattern is Toad in the Puddle. For a long time I called this pattern Spring Beauty, but while researching the history of the block, I realized that Spring Beauty has an extra square in a square block in the center. I like the name Spring Beauty better than Toad in the Puddle, but in the interest of accuracy, I'll start calling it Toad in the Puddle from now on.

Before Christmas I did something for myself that I'd avoided for a long time. I went to a store where I was fitted for a decent bra! The store in East Lansing is called Front Room Underfashions in the Hannah Plaza off of Hagadorn Road. They specialize in masectomy patients, but sell to everyone. The ladies at the shop were sweet and really knew what they were doing. It turns out I was wearing a bra that was a size too large in width and two sizes too small in the cup! The best part was the prices were very reasonable. I told my two best lunch buddies and they went and got new bras, too. One of my friends as it turns out, wears a very odd size that they carried. She also special ordered some other ones. So I want to encourage everyone who has never been professional fit for a bra, to go for it. It was well worth the time and money.

Till next time... Happy Quilting!

Scrap Quilting

Boy, could the news get worse? Everyday there's more and more people joining the ranks of the unemployed. I got layed-off this summer, but am thankfully back to work full time. I keep hearing how supporting art programs comes under the title "pork". It's also thought that these are not job creating institutions. I beg to differ, since I work at a museum. I agree we need to spend money on infrastructure, here in Michigan our roads are terrible. But a refusal to support zoos, museums, local theaters and education is short sited. And when those programs are cut, what part is cut, employees! We either spend the money on unemployment benefits or we can actually get something for our money, by keeping people working.

The bright spot in all this is that I am a long time quilter. I began quilting in 1974 and have been seriously stockpiling fabrics since 1981. I have 28 years worth of fabric to make quilts with. And since my favorite quilts are scrap quilts, I'll be spending the next couple of years using "quilt therapy" to get through the financial mess we're in.
If you're in the same boat here a couple of ideas to help you quilt with just your stash:

• piece the backs of your quilts
• use class samples or UFOs you no longer like on the back of your quilts (I got this idea from a lecture at my quilt guild by Sue Spargo)
• if a pattern calls for one color, say pink, substitute with many different scraps of that color
• borders are often an area where you need a lot of yardage of one fabric. Substitute that yardarge with squares of the same color of fabric i.e. many squares of tone on tone blacks can substitute for a single black fabric.
• piece your battings. I save all my batting scraps and sew them together when I need to fill a quilt. I've even used different weights and fiber types and nobody has ever noticed they aren't the same batting
• even bindings can be pieced with different scraps of fabric
• just remember the more similar your scraps are the more it will look like one piece

The pictured quilt is done in a scrappy style. The sashing, corners and border blues are all different. I also used all different brands of batting including 80/20 and 100% cotton. In upcoming blogs I will give away the 12" block patterns, as well as the sashing, corners and card trick borders for this quilt.

I highly recommend working as much with scraps as possible. The more you do it the more you'll like it! Right now I'm piecing a scrappy border for a baby quilt. The weatherman promised our temperatures are going to hit 50 degrees today, so in between the melting snow and puddles I'm going to walk Boomer.

Till next time....Happy Quilting!

Flying Geese Sashing

The Capitol City Quilt Guild has a small quilt auction at their biannual quilt show. Daisy's Charm group is going to make two quilts for the auction, a blue Courthouse Square and a Red and White Log Cabin. Here are my two contributions to the effort.



































I wrote a pattern for the Flying Geese Sashing and Four Patch Corner for the Blind Man's Fancy pattern from two weeks ago. If you're reading Carol Sc, this strip is for you. The photo turned out a little dark, it's better in person!






Till next time...Happy Quilting!

Brother's Quilt

This is the quilt I just finished for my niece Sarah. She is having her first baby, a boy, this March and her baby shower is February 7th. The pattern was published in the Detroit News from November 1934-January 1935 by the name Brother-Sister Quilts. There were 14 patterns, 7 for boys (which I used) and 7 for girls. The girls quilt patterns were 6 dolls and one perambulator (baby buggy). It was attributed to Edith B. Crumb, the editor of the Quilt Club Corner, but it was actually designed by Florence LaGanke who syndicated the patterns under the name Nancy Page beginning in 1933. I enlarged the patterns from 8" to 9" and hand appliqued the blocks. The appliqued blocks were machine pieced with plain blocks. The appliqued blocks were hand quilted, but the rest of the quilt was quilted by machine.

Since these patterns are not yet in the public domain, I can't give you the patterns for free, but you can purchase them on eBay. You can also learn about more quilt pattern series published in the 1920s and 1930s on the blog Quilt Papers.

Sarah is a first grade teacher, so the alternate blocks are printed with the alphabet. Her husband Chad is a sports fan so the backing has football players. You can also see the quilt pattern used in the border, a moon with a star.

Last night I watched the movie, Intruder in the Dust. It was made in 1950 and was based on the novel by William Faulkner. The story is about an old black man falsely accused of murder in the South and an old lady and young boy who help prove him innocent. One scene in the movie shows the home of the black man and on the bed was a log cabin quilt. The film was in black and white, but the log cabin blocks were very dark on one side and scrappy on the other. There was another quilt in one scene that seemed to be a light star quilt, but it was hard to tell. Since the movie was set in the 1930s, both quilts seemed appropriate.

Till next time... Happy Quilting!

Blind Man's Fancy

This week I got my first patient for the Quilt Doctor! I belong to a block exchange group that meets monthly at Ruth D's. We each bring a quilt block and instructions on how to make the block. Everyone then makes a block for each person in the group. The process takes 9 months, then we each have a wonderful group of blocks for a quilt. Carol Sc found a picture of a quilt block she wanted to use in the block exchange but was struggling to draft. Since I love to draft, especially things on point I volunteered to try drafting it for her. The result is Blind Man's Fancy.

Carol wanted the block to be Civil War era, so I made this block to test the pattern. The picture Carol gave me to draft from was of an antique quilt using this block. The quilt had a sashing of 12 flying geese units and four patch corners. In my next post I will give instructions for the sashing and corners. The trick to this pattern was not only that it had elements that were on point, but the finished size had to accommodate the 12 flying geese units. After fiddling with the numbers I came up with a 15" block.

I had a lot of fun drafting and piecing this block.... So if anyone has a drafting problem, I invite you to send it to me. I'll draft it, piece it, and write it up as a free block for the blog. The only restrictions are it has to be a traditional block that is copyright free. I can't legally draft someone else's original work and then give it away publically. Please email me an image and any specifications you have (like block size or setting info) and hopefully I can help.

Till next time.... Happy Quilting!

Cross and Crown

Today's free quilt pattern is Cross and Crown. Today's been a busy day. I started out walking Boomer, then shoveling snow. Next was shopping for some new kitchen stuff. I bought a mandoline, one of those vegetable cutting things that makes super thin slices and julienne fries! I've had cheap versions of this before, that didn't work too well so this time I bought a Cuisinart for $60. I haven't tried it yet, but I hope for the best. I also found some plain white china dinner and salad plates for 98 cents each. I don't have "good" china because my family are rather hard on dinnerware. I've decided white would be easy to replace, I can mix and match and as long as they are white they'll all look good together. When I got home I spent an hour taking off the glued on labels and washing them. Then I made soup, a new recipe with vegetable broth, tomato puree, navy beans, rice and lots of spinach. While that was cooking I made two batches of macaroni and cheese, one for home and one for the Charm Quilt potluck tomorrow night. Then I cleaned the kitchen again and now it's 7:30pm! I had planned to sew today so I'll be signing off to work on a baby quilt for my niece who is having the family's first baby. I've hand appliqued patterns published in the Detroit News in 1935 called the Brother's/Sister's Quilt. I set them with plain blocks and added borders. So far I've hand quilted 5 of the 7 applique blocks and will probably machine quilt a grid on the setting blocks. I'm still deciding on what to quilt on the borders. When the quilt is done I'll add it to the blog.
Till next time....Happy Quilting!

Weathervane

Today's free quilt pattern is Weathervane. After the last week, I couldn't pick a more appropriate pattern. We've gone from 10" of snow to 60 degrees and rain, then back to freezing cold.

I had a great Christmas. My daughter Katy came from Chicago for a whole week. We put her back on the train this morning. The train was only one hour late, but since she was leaving from the East Lansing station (she often travels from Battle Creek) it wasn't too bad. While she was here, we went shopping with Colleen. Katy found so many clothes, she couldn't carry them all on the train and I'll be sending her a box of stuff tomorrow. Colleen and I were also lucky. I've got a whole new wardrobe and since I really hate to shop, that is a major achievement.

On Christmas Eve I got a real treat. Tom, Katy, Colleen and I went to visit my cousin Kathy in Northville. She hosts a Christmas Eve party for all my relatives on my father's side of the family. I have have 16 cousins, 6 aunts and uncles (still living) and too many second and third cousins and cousins-in-law to count. I usually host my in-laws on Christmas Eve so rarely make it to the party. Yesterday all the in-laws came and that was fun too. Now I have way too many leftovers and cookies!

Till next time.... Happy Quilting!

Floating Hearts

Today's quilt block is Floating Hearts. It is an original design that was inspired by the Bear's Paw pattern.

I'm feeling really good tonight. One of my goals is to finish all my UFO's and my quilting and blogging buddy Cindy Mielock (check out her blog, Lavender Pie) has offered my an opportunity to do that while helping a young mother have a happier holiday. It seems she wants a homemade quilt. I have literally hundreds of blocks waiting to be made into quilts, so I'm donating enough to make a queen size quilt and a child's quilt for her 4 year old. Cindy is lining up helpers to piece the top and get it quilted, bound, etc. I'm going to have to do this more often.

My father-in-law has moved to an assisted living center, so we've been cleaning out his house. My daughter wanted a beautiful teal colored hutch cabinet that was her grandmothers. The problem is she lives at home and my house is so packed with furniture it was hard to make room for the hutch. Long story short... the moving entailed emptying shelves of fabric. While working on this task it hit home that I have more fabric than I can ever sew. I also own more quilts than I can ever use. Cindy's request for quilt blocks has given me hope that I can sew and give away the results. I know that making quilts for charity isn't a new idea, but for many years I just couldn't part with anything. Now, not only does it seem easy but it feels great, too!

Another milestone this week. My daughter Colleen (the hutch owner) has finished her first quilt. It is 84" x 101". She used charm squares from my stash. Both she and a friend each made quilts and still didn't make a dent in my charm squares. Colleen hand pieced the nine patches and machine pieced the blocks together. She machine appliqued stuff all over the top. While making the quilt she liberally used a reducing glass, so you can see her on the quilt looking at her quilt. I machine quilted it and bound it off. She's been using it on her bed and I'm very proud of her.

Till next time.....Happy Quilting!

Bachelor's Puzzle

Today's pattern is Bachelor's Puzzle. I like it because it's easy to piece and has a 3-D effect. I've been working on reorganizing my web pages, so if you haven't been able to get one of the patterns this evening, that's why. I think I've got them all done now, so they should all work. If one of the links doesn't work, just drop me an email so I can fix it.

This weekend I'm going to St. Charles, IL. It is a small town just outside Chicago. We've got tickets to see David Brenner on Friday night and will be meeting friends too. On Saturday we'll all be taking the train into Chicago to visit Katy. I'm hoping to see the Christmas windows at Macy's and stay in the city long enough for it to get dark and see the lights on Michigan Ave. I'm hoping the driving will be good. The northwest corner of Indiana and the southeast corner of Michigan is a real snow belt and can get quite treacherous.

The Spartan basketball team defeated IU-Fort Wayne tonight. It was only on the radio, which tees me off, after all the hub-bub about the Big 10 Network. They claimed they were going to carry all the games that the networks didn't carry. Oh well, at least we won. Saturday is the Penn State game. If Ohio State loses to U of M (this will be one of the few times I root for U of M) and we beat Penn State we go to the Rose Bowl! Go Green! Go White!
Till next time...Happy Quilting.