June flowers

 Another block done! But I think it needs a ribbon or a bow around the stems I'm thinking yellow.  I’m not going to meet my goal of completing all the blocks in June but only one left. click to see all the blocks —Ann—

June flowers

 I dug this out of the closet because I thought I was going to need a little go project but we didn't need to go so instead I have been working on this with my afternoon coffee.  I started it in 2017 I think.  I had all but a couple leaves left on two of the four now finished blocks.  That was so easy to complete that I kept at it, the stems are now finished on the pink bouquet.  I may finish the last 2 blocks before June is over and as hot as it has been it is a very doable goal.  I'm going to add 4 patch and little pinwheels all in a row to fill in and square up these blocks.  Thankful for central AC.  --Ann--

out of the cupboard

 

Another little quilt out of the cupboard for Valentine's Day.  Just little 4 patch hearts with an applique vine and leaf border  I must have made this 20 some years ago.  --Ann--

Out of the cupboard

 

On one of those cold windy days last week I folded the last of the Christmas quilts to put away for the year and pulled out this summery quilt and took a short mental vacation to a warmer sunnier greener spot.  I made this  well over 20 years ago with mostly William Morris fabrics.  The quilt guild I was a member of would get  bales and squares of fabrics from a company called Merryvale they had the complete line of all the newest fabrics and since the town I was living in did not have a quilt shop at that time it was great way to get new fabrics.  The squares were 6 x6 and the bales were 6 x 18 inches.  The only fabrics that were not from a Merryvale bundle were the flowers and foliage.  The flowers were all hand appliqué either blind stitch or buttonhole with embroidery floss.  I had so much fun with the bees and butterflies.  The wings of the dragonfly were from a frosted tree print perfect for the veins in the wings.  The bees are all yellow plaids.  Then I sewed a few bug buttons on because I had them and daughter was too old for cute bug buttons on her clothes.  I also stuck a few broaches on just for fun the blue dragonfly was my grandmas.

The Monarch butterfly is leather and a birthday gift from my mother when I was still a teenager.  I used to pin it to the back of my sweater.  I can't remember where the other pins came from.  The one below looks like abalone shell.  The white one on the yellow flower in the top picture is fimo clay.  No garden is complete without a spider,  I hand quilted the web with metalic thread.  A little bit of summer in my sewing room.  

--Ann--

The Colors of Early Summer

Another quilt out of the cupboard and on the wall for summer.  I love pastels did you know that about me?  I love working with pastels, brights are fun, plaids are cozy, earthy colors are comforting,  RWB are patriotic, but pastels just make me sigh......long sigh.....they do that to me in the store when I'm choosing them and when the lady is cutting them and when I take them out of the bag, why............ because they are the colors of so many of my favorite flowers and my favorite flowers are usually what is blooming at the time.  The pattern was in a book Mullbery Lane by Teri Christopherson published in 2000,  so this is another quilt that is close to 20 years old.  Its just half square triangles I had enough fabric for a wide border so I added the appliqué.   --Ann--

Pansies

I finished hand stitching this over the weekend.  We moved our camper near our son for the summer and had a typical spring weekend, starting on Thursday it was hot and humid then a burst of wind and a deluge of rain followed by cooler almost cold Friday and Saturday and more wind, lots more wind.  Sunday was sunny and warm in the sun if you were out of the wind and downright chilly in the shade.  We found out the camper is water tight and how to run the AC, the fireplace and furnace all within 24 hours!  Needless to say I spend most of the weekend at son's house or in the camper stitching, reading,  knitting and rubbing his dogs ears.  --Ann--

Long weekend

We spend a lovely weekend at son’s.  The guys
went fishing. I had time to read, knit, sketch, do some hand sewing, played with his dog, sat in the sun, sat in the shade, then in the sun.  It felt sooo good. Then I turned pink then red. But it felt so good.

I worked on these socks on the long drive there and back.
I started on another blanket stitch appliqué block that I organized last spring click  My hands felt awkward and uncoordinated .  Up close my stitches are uneven but got better with repetition. The wind wasn’t helping but it felt so good to sit outside.

Now at home I’m basting the edges and basting in place. Next time we go I will get more done. He gets minimal television reception, there were 4 remotes on the table too complicated for me so I enjoyed a techno free weekend.  --Ann--

Out of the Cupboard

Scrappy Stars and hand appliqué   I made this quilt the late 1990's  it was a little project I started early in the summer with the intention of hand appliquéing one star a day.   That was a very manageable goal, I didn't do one every day but I did get them all sewn by the time kids were back in school and I mastered appliquéing peaks and valleys.  The stars, backgrounds and some of the sashing is from Merryvale packets that the local quilt guild was selling because at the time we did not have a quilt shop in the area.  I used a lot of scraps in the borders and around each star.  The sashing fabric is still a favorite of mine and I wish I had bought 6 yards of it instead of three.  It was such a great fabric to tie all the scraps together.  The continuity of it gives the eye a place to rest after viewing the variety of fabrics because no two stars or backgrounds are the same.  I free motion quilted on my domestic machine.  Pulling this out of the cupboard is like seeing an old friend.  --Ann--

New reading list and a week away

Hubby and I spent last week at our son's home,  he had to go to a meeting so we took care of his dog and supervised some work on his new garage.  Hubby planned to play with the boat, I was planning on sitting on his deck and reading or sewing or knitting all week but South Dakota weather had other plans.  It was cold, windy and rainy.  So I read the Dakota series books by Debbie Macomber, they went fast because there is so much repetition from the previous books, then I received a notice that Britt Marie was available so I read that book too.  I could relate to Britt Marie and her list making.  I used to write a lots of lists then when hubby retired he would add things to my list.  I quit writing so many lists or kept them out of sight and I suggested he write his own list. I also blanket stitched the first two blocks of my 1990's stash flower quilt. And I did some knitting.  

1. In the Great Green Room by Amy Gary about Margaret Wise Brown of the children's books fame
2. Spark Joy by Marie Kondo more on tidying, sorting, storing, and throwing away our unneeded possessions 
3. Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt  Newberry award winner for book club
4. Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland  another wonderful book about art and artists set in France between 1937 and 1948.
5. At the Waters Edge by Sara Gruen  WWII and Loch Ness monster love story
6. Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber 
7. Dakota Home by Debbie Macomber
8. BrittMarie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
9. Always Dakota by Debbie Macomber
10. Buffalo Valley by Debbie Macomber. 

It was a relaxing week  I hope we do it again this summer when it is summer.  --Ann--

Easter Birthday

I hope you had a joyous Easter.  My kids were all home sometime over the weekend so it was a weekend filled with laughs and too much good food.  Darling daughter had her third Easter birthday. To commemorate the occasion I finished this quilt for her.  The blocks and photo transfers have been sitting for years and every few years she would ask about it.  Still basking in the marvelous feeling of ta da da done.........I only wish I would have finished it weeks ago so I could have enjoyed the quilt a little longer.  --Ann--

Pastel IX

I started sewing Sun Bonnet Sue's out of the scraps from dresses I made for darling daughter.  They were a lot of fun to sew both the dresses and the Sues, then printing photos on fabric became possible.  I pull this out every few years and think of ways to put it together but still have not put any action with the thoughts.  I have 25 photos and as many 5.5 inch Sues to work into it. And I still have a box of fabrics from the 1990's good thing.  Right now I like grouping all the photos together and putting the Sun Bonnets in a border since the challenge is to keep it small.  But for now they are going back in the box.  Happy Memories.  --Ann--

out of the cupboard

 This is a round robin quilt from at least a decade ago.  Each of the quilters from the Wednesday night ladies chose a color palette and made our own center block then it was passed to quilter # 2 who was to add a border with triangles, #3 was to set it on point, #4 add a narrow border, #5 add something pretty, #6 I can't remember the specifics for the border with the saw tooth stars on point, #7 was an applique border, #8 half a border with stars, #9 the other half border with hearts. And then we each got our quilt back after months of not seeing it. I was thrilled with mine. I sent a bundle of fabrics with mine to keep everyone on track with my colors. It was professionally quilted by Kay at my Olive Branch, she did a wonderful job.
The other quilt I showed in yesterdays post was the spool quilt  which still isn't finished I only have a couple spools left to hand quilt then all those flying geese. I need to set a side a couple hours a week to hand quilt instead of knitting. --Ann--

Design Wall

 Still no change to my design wall, if you look close at the edge of the photo you can see winding ways behind.  I've been putting Christmas decorations away and pulled my winter quilt out of the cupboard and the best light was on the design wall........I think I made it in 1995.

  The large snowman block started as a 4-H project for second son the 4-H leader thought all kids should know the basics of sewing second son was to use a running stitch to attach the snowman to the background and sew on the buttons. He didn't have much interest so it became a part of my quilt. I think he did 10 stitches on the right side. he was only 8 or 9 at the time.

Hubby and kids each chose a favorite fabric and I traced their hands and appliqued them.

 My evergreens are bowing to the wind. Notice there are snowballs and snowflakes in the cornerstones.  This is a trip down memory lane with all the fabrics I used.... first quilts, a blouse for  me, a skirt for daughter, and lots more quilts.

Oldest son finished his 4-H project way back when he had fun with the embellishments.
Next week there will be something new on the design wall. Check out all the new projects at Judy's Design Wall Monday. and stay warm--Ann--