Christmas Projects 2008

I seem to always wait til just before Christmas to start my Christmas projects. Grannie use to make something for everyone and she said that she started Jan. 1 to have them all due by Christmas. I haven't learned my lesson yet.

We draw names among the adults in my family and I always try to make something for them. We got Jonathan's name again. I know that I did him a wall hanging last year, so this year I thought I would do this framed piece.

It's called the Oriole Circle (glad I don't have to pronounce it). The picture looks really good, but here is my version getting started. The points in black and white are due using the paper foundation method. I've only used it once before when making a vest.

I didn't have any paper foundation paper, so I just used copy paper. This first block I did by hand watching TV last night, but today, I did the rest of them on the sewing machine. I'm trying to get all the point done so that I can take them to my grandmother's tomorrow and then while I sit with her, I can add the black corners.

I'm hoping that this project goes pretty fast. Where the picture has the block matted and framed, my mother thinks that I should use material instead of the mat (still frame it) but do some fancy quilting in the black to give more detail. I'll just have to see have far I get when it gets closer to Christmas.

Jonathan & Michael (my nephews) got married right after we moved back to Tennessee. With the move I didn't have time to make them a wedding quilt (which was my plans). I did crochet their last names and had them framed. They seemed to really appreicate them. But I always wanted to do them something quilted.

When we got Michael's name a few years back, I did him a wall hanging with flags and stars. He was in Iraq for 2 tours and was fixing to leave for his first tour when I gave him the wall hanging. Suzanne is his wife.

For Jonathan, I made his wife a Christmas table runner one year with wreaths and packages on it (a pattern I designed myself for the packages). But they divorced shortly after and I didn't ask if she took the table runner (I did make it for her). So I've been really happy that I was able to do him a couple of pieces.

We also got Suzanne's name this year, which I had a couple of years ago and did a blue log cabin table runner for her. I'm thinking of doing a couple sets of pillow cases using some of these materials as a pieced strip across the ends. I'm not sure which color to go with yet, I've got to do some research and see what her colors are in her bedroom.

As I was hunting through my material stash, I found these two blocks which I'm thinking of doing something for each of the kids, but I can't decide what to do. So I would welcome any thoughts and suggestions.

This flower block done with wool green, green/plaid, & black was done by Grannie Lewis (who passed away right before Sally turned 1 year old). It's done on a heavy white material, so it would be hard to quilt it. I'm thinking that I have enough of the pieces to make 2 blocks, I've got to find some green to match the stems, eveything else, she already had cut out. This will probably be Adam's gift.

This Dresden's Plate was done by Grannie Carathers. Don't tell, but I "borrowed" it from her house. I added the center and appliqued it to the white material last year, but just never figured out what to do with it after that. I didn't "find" anything else that would have gone with this one block...so again I need ideas on what to do with this one. It's going to be for Sally.

At the Tip of Our Fingers

Thimbles are everywhere in my home, my mom's and my grandmother's. I never liked using one until I started quilting and still have trouble finding one that fits me just right.

I borrowed my mother's button jar the other day and found this ivory thimble in it. The pictures not real clear, but I hope that you can see the needle holes all around the top of it. It was used so much that that grooves and holes were made in the thimble. My grandmother has one that had the top come completely off from being worn through by the needles. That takes a lot of quilting.

Here are some pictures from a recent local quilt show. I've labeled the ones that belong to us. Mom and Grannie had several in the show. I had one that was a sampler that I quilted, but all the children did the blocks and then we gave to Grannie as a Christmas gift. I think it was the first quilt she had received as a gift in a long time.

Christmas Gifts 2007

I was reminded of this wall hanging yesterday and realized that I haven't updated this blog in a while. To be honest, I haven't done any sewing this month. With my daughter moving back with her friend, my sewing room became the place to store everything, but slowly, it's getting cleaned back out and I can get motivated again.

This wall hanging I called Jonathan's Star. It was made from the scraps of Sally's graduation quilt. The star pattern was on the cover of one of Grannie's old magazines and I made the pattern from the picture. It was my nephew's gift.

This is all the wall hangings I did for Christmas this past year. They were machine and hand pieced and all hand quilted.

The snowman was for my Grandmother. My pictures didn't come out too good, but Grannie love it. The red and white was done for my neice, Crystal. I see alot of pictures and try to make patterns from them. This is one such example. The red diamonds are actually strips of about 5 shades of tye died reds I used to make some scrafs. I quilted with red thread, snowflakes in the white blocks. It wa actually prettier than the picture lets on and she was happy with it. I've got about 5 months to figure out what I'm going to do this Christmas.

Devil's Puzzle

Devil's Puzzle - Adam's quilt


This quilt is going to be made up of 9 blocks made with 2 sets of this section. Then the borders are made up of sets of the 2 bottom rolls.


Figuring out how to get the curved pieces took some research. Since Mother only gave the a picture of the layout, I've had to figure how to sew on the curve (something I've never done in a quilt before). This is all the pieces. I have this nifty little mini cutting board that has a cushioned grid on the one side.




If I postion one piece over the other (right sides together) straight edges matching, and pin at the diagional line on the grid, it gives me the center of the curve.






Then I simply pin the edges and fit the curves in. I'll be honest, I tried to sew it on the sewing machine, but I got pleats in the curve, so I'll do it by hand. I did go ahead and pin all the pieces for the rest of the block, so tonight all I have to do is sew.





To size the block (which is a 4inch block), I flip the board over and trim it using the cutting board.

I really like this cutting board. It gives me a little working area when I'm watching TV without bringing out my big work table. It's also small enough I can take it to work with me and have a work area when I'm sewing in my car.



I went to Mother's yesterday, and she was quilting on this throw quilt. Her hands will probably have to have surgery soon, her fingers are "locking up" on her. But she is quilting this one by hand. She really loves to lap quilt (no frame or hoop at all).

All Those Scraps

I started pulling out the quilts in one corner of the room last night to document. I almost forgot about these throws I made for the kids one Christmas. I made several that year and gave as gifts to my nephew and brother. I believe that they were made with three blocks of a goose on one. I can't remember what was on the other one, but I believe it was red, pieced block. These strips were added to fleece blankets.





This one is Adam's. They were fused onto the blocks and then I used invisible thread to make sure they stayed. I have never really trusted the fused stuff. I was trying to make the blocks out of material left over from outfits I had made the kids. But Adam was only about 2 at the time and just the blue square and the red colored square were from his clothes.








With Sally's, I was making her clothes all the time. I srarted this hand appliqued dutch doll, thinking I would one day make a full quilt of a calendar quilt...well, I got the first 3 months. Almost every part of this strip was made from her clothes. The red hat was her first Valentine dress and the green hat was her first dress that I made her. The green on the March block was one of her Easter dresses, as was the border strips.




This log cabin was made by my mohter when I was a kid. This block shows some of the scraps that she used from my clothes. I remember the Ragedy Ann material, one of favorite blouses and the blue flowers was a dress. I had to be in the 1st or 2nd grade then.











I took the quilt to college with me and still have it. There are alot of strips that are thred bare and the quilt's batting is worn out. Alot of the light strips were made from material my Grannie L. brought in from the shirt factory she worked at years before. They always reminded me of pajama tops.




The first time my brothers came for a visit to our home in Alabama I got into some trouble with my quilts. With all their families staying with us, we had to pull out all the blankets for kids to have beds. This blanket caused some questions and then they started looking at all the other quilts. It seems that this quilt (and some of the others) had been on their beds at one time. Of course, they both moved out and didn't take their quilts unless Mother gave it to them.




Well, I took my quilts with me. It had been on my bed too. So now, no one will let me sleep under any of their quilts because I have been know to keep them if I sleep under them. But I don't let anyone else keep them if they sleep under them....although Sally seems to be taking up my habits.

Comments on first journal

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The Stitches That Bind

I started piecing this Drunkard's Path a few months ago, but today I actually starting putting the block together. I only have enough to do this one block, but it's a beginning. I'm doing this one by hand, piecing and quilting. I want it to be for Adam. I saw the design at last year's county quilt show and really liked it. Mother cut out all the pieces, enough for all three of us to make one. She and Grannie have already finished their's...I'm running a little behind.

My inspiration....my Grannie. 95 years old and still piecing at least 30 minutes every day. These stars were in her work basket today. Most of what she is doing now is simply finishing already started quilts and she's got enough to work on until she's 100!

I reminded her of a new pattern that we both liked, Raise the Roof (Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.). A log cabin with stars. She thinks she got enough browns to do the quilt. We're wondering if we can talk Mother into cutting out the pieces again!!

My Barn-Rising Log Cabin. I've been working on it well over 10 years now. All lap quilting, with 1 ince grid in the dark greens. My goal is to have it done for this year's county fair....August!! All I like is a small part of the border and the binding.

Each block was machine pieced and then hand pieced together. Everything else was by hand, including all the quilting using a large, round hoop. The back is more beautiful than the front, showing all the grids. I only work on it in the winter since it's so heavy and large. It gets too hot to work on in the summer. Me and the kids have already taken several naps under this quilt.

This is Sally's graduation quilt, called "Out of the Box". I've always encouraged her to think outside the box...well, actually, she did it on her own. This pattern starts with a basic "box" in the center, with some points trying to get out (or my thoughts when looking at it. It's from scraps, but I started running out of similar scraps, so I through in some reds, just because.

I peiced the blocks at work, duirng breaks and lunch. I quilted it using my grandmother's quilt frame (pictured above - Grannie C.).

The thread that I used to piece it was from my other grandmother. She worked in a shirt factory and she had all these big spools of thread. Grannie L. gave me a spool a long time ago, and it's still a long way from being empty. (She died when Sally was almost 1 yr old).

The quilt frame sits on 2 half, round chairs. The same chairs that always held up Grannie C.'s quilt frame. It meant a lot to me and her to be able to use her frame for the quilting.