Since March is my birthday month I looked for a block that represented birthdays. My first thought was “cake stand” but I also found “Happy Birthday”, “Birthday Cake” and “Birthday Parties”. Spring Daffodil is adapted from “Happy Birthday” as identified in Jinny Beyer’s book, The …
Remembering: Under the Quilt I grew up knowing that when you were going to a “dress up” or public event proper ladies wore nylon hose. I learned about hosiery when playing under the quilt as my grandmother and her friends quilted at the country church. …
I belong to guilds in three states and probably enjoy show and tell as much as anything. Each guild varies in how show and tell is treated and when it appears on the agenda. Regardless of when it comes in the meeting it deserves the respect of all members choosing to view. One guild, in particular, does a good job of capturing the full attention of the membership with minimal sidebar conversations. I wonder if the full attention of that guild is based on the timing of the event. Committee reports have been given, program is coming up and people are settled in–that may be the key–settled in but not ready to go out the door for home or other obligations. Whenever the guild has show and tell I know that I need to be supportive of the quilter and their project so those who have not shared will be encouraged to share. I know there are a lot of quilts made in all of the guilds that I belong to that never get displayed for various reasons. I will be more attentive to those sharing so that I can continue to gain ideas and learn of new viewpoints in the world of quilting. I want to see all kinds of quilts–simple, complex, traditional, artistic and everything in betwee. I pledge to be better at respecting the making of quilts and the maker of quilts as they are shared in my guilds.
Blue Ridge Landscape Internet connections have been frustrating this past week! I’m glad I have a smart phone so that I can use it to get the basics but connection on it is also not the best so I look for excuses to go into …
It’s Finished!! I said that was gong to be my mantra for the first half of 2015 because I have several items to be finished. While most everyone I know that quilts has unfinished projects some of mine are growing into their teen years. Today …
February Block of the Month
You Are My Sunshine
This block was inspired by the month of February—Valentine’s Day, anniversary of my parents marriage and of several of their siblings and probably many others out there. It is named for my parents song, “You Are My Sunshine” as designated by their school yearbook, next to my dad’s picture. The block is known as Bowtie but also as Lover’s Knot. I use the block in the dimensional form with ombre borders and a few prairie points to resemble rays of sunshine. While I mitered my borders I give instructions for a blocked border. It can be made with scraps of different pinks or one fat quarter and same for yellow background. For an ombre border you will need ¾ yard to cut vertically, otherwise 1/3 yard of 42” fabric will work.
Instructions:
Cut three 4 ½” squares from each of four pink fabrics.
Cut eight 4 ½” squares from yellow background fabric.
Cut two 4 ½” x 16 ½” side borders.
Cut two 4 ½” x 24 ½” top and bottom borders.
Prairie Points: Cut seven squares varying from 4 ½” to 3”.
Dimensional lover’s knot: (there are many You tube videos on this method)
Fold one pink square in half and sandwich between a pink and a yellow square with all raw edges even. Stitch a ¼” seam on the right side edge.
Sandwich a yellow and pink square on the left side of the folded square (just opposite of the right side, see photo) and stitch.
I prefer to press the seams open to reduce bulk for the next step of sewing the four patch.
Pin right side yellow to left side pink. Open the folded square to match the center seams and continue to form the four patch. It will a little difficult to get the folded patch open and folded edge out of the ¼” seam allowance.
Dimensional four patch done! Sew four and arrange so “knots” form a ring. Add two side borders and then top and bottom borders.
After quilting, before adding binding, place prairie points along bottom and side borders then bind as usual.
Prairie points are made by folding the squares in half diagonally and then in half again.
Remember these small projects are a wonderful way to practice your quilting skills.
How did you make those branches? On a wall hanging that I posted recently there was a question about how the branches were made dimensional. It is a very simple technique. I cut brown toned batik into bias strips. Length really doesn’t matter …
The Curious Quilter When people view my more artistic quilt designs they sometimes ask how I got the idea or how I knew to use a particular technique. Usually I shrug my shoulders and say “it just came to me”. And that is the truth—but …
The use of linen and lace has become obsolete for most dinner tables and few make their own fresh flower bouquet to grace the table but somehow both continue to hold a place in my heart. (At least the romance of the look lingers in my heart. The reality of ironing those linen tablecloths and napkins gets pushed to the back of my mind.) Like many, I rescue those vintage linens whenever I find them—auction houses, antique stores and boutiques, even from their resting place in the drawers of my friends. I don’t grow flowers as beautiful as those found in the grocery store or the big box store much less the floral shop or, in my case, the fabric shop. My solution for satisfying the heartstrings is to combine vintage linens and floral fabrics in a quilted project for the wall, the table or the sofa.
Small or large, I dye the linens with no special regard for home décor color schemes or the popular color palette of the day or year but for whatever comes out of the dye bath. Those colors that seem most unusable for home décor present the opportunity to find a beautiful floral fabric that can become the flower arrangement.
The bright orange napkin at first seemed hopelessly unfit for anything but I was determined to utilize it’s sunny disposition and found the appropriate color combination in a floral from Westminster Fabrics.
Fusible was adhered to the floral fabric and a variety of flowers cut out. A tricot fusible was adhered to the napkin to stabilize it. My recollection of flower arranging from my 4-H days is quite simple: find a lovely vase (in this case a complement of turquoise to the oranges), make a pyramid, put in some greenery and voila, a flower arrangement! Add a neutral linen napkin for a base, coordinating batik borders, embellishment of beads and thread, quilt and bind. Vintage linens and flower arrangements once again grace the home.
Additional project ideas: A simple arrangement of something resembling bittersweet and the Japanese lantern plant combined into one allowed the design of another napkin to be highlighted through quilting and provide the backdrop for the vases.
Hand-dyed burlap used for a sofa pillow was the perfect background for a small doily with fused teacup fabric—Tea for Two.
You don’t have to have a last name beginning with “F” to use those initialed linens. “F” is for fruit including apple, pear and orange that might once again grace the dining table as a runner.
I still like to thread baste to prepare my quilts for quilting, especially when I am in my small space at our winter home (I make mostly small quilts). I made a hard foam folding board (48” x 13 ½”-54)” that hides under the …