Working On My Barn Quilt

It's no secret that I love quilts! I think that there is something so magical about turning a stack of fabric into a wonderful work of art, that is both beautiful and functional. It takes many hours of work to turn that fabric into a quilt. I love the whole process! I have one quilt that took me 120 hours to make. It is a paper pieced quilt. Paper piecing is magical! The process is very easy. Google it if you are curious. Pinterest is full of wonderful paper pieced examples. 

I am coming along with my Quilty Barn Along. I have two more blocks that are almost finished. I had to order more black on black patterned fabric. I just didn't have any in my stash. Can you find the mistake? Look closely. It is the barn on the bottom right. It's the cupolas. I reversed the roof and cupola "siding". But, it's ok. 

I just love the barn blocks. 

I know, I know......not another one. Yep, I found a Featherweight at an estate sale recently. The price was so amazing, that I couldn't pass it up. It's funny, back when I was really looking for one I couldn't find one at all. Now that I am no longer looking, they seem to find me. Not sure if I am keeping this one or selling it. It is in excellent condition with instruction booklet, case and other odds and ends. I don't think that the lady that owned it used it much. Thankfully she was just downsizing. I like those types of estate sales, they are not as sad to me.

It also came with a buttonhole maker for free. They just threw it in at no charge. Said that it didn't make sense to sell the buttonhole maker and machine separately. 

It's very interesting. I am not sure how it works but it came in a little box with instructions.

I love these old labels.

I have recently stumbled upon this site lostquilt.com. I was shocked and saddened to find that people steal quilts. I guess that I never really thought about quilt theft. Some of these thefts happened at quilt shows. So sad. The site is a great addition to the quilting community. Some of the quilts have actually been recovered. Recently a quilter lost 16 quilts to thieves. They broke into her studio and only stole the quilts. You can read about it here: Quiltville Friends on facebook. You may have to scroll down a little to find the article. I also found out that you can microchip your quilt. If I ever enter a quilt in a show or mail one, I know now to put my name and address on the quilt. It is even suggested that you sew it inside the quilt sandwiched between the batting and backing before adding the binding. Great tips. 

It's been hot here but starting to cool off a little. 

Sometimes all you need is a little pool, a water gun and a wet t shirt to rule the world!

Have a happy day and if you don't quilt I urge you to start! If you have any quilty questions just leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer it.

Holly

Pantry...Smantry...

 Last week I spent two days cleaning out the pantry. I couldn't believe the amount of expired stuff. We have only been in this house 8 years and I am embarrassed to admit that I found stuff that had an expiration date to use before year 2000. Granted it was only two Hamburger Help** boxes, but still.....that's pretty gross. Those two boxes have lived in three different houses, in three different pantries, in three different states. Huh?? Double yuck!! One of them even included meat in the mix. EWWWW.... Don't get me wrong, I have cleaned out the pantry at least twice a year and organized it, but never really payed attention to expiration dates. If it tastes stale, duh, throw it out. But you better believe that I am going to check dates several times a year from now on. The horrors....thank goodness we have never, never had any bug issues.  Well....here's the pantry before checking dates and organizing:

Above: What a mess! The little red bag thing to the left of the picture is for holding plastic grocery sacks.

Above: What I dug out of the bottom of the pantry.

Above: Whew....much better. It still looks messy, that's why I keep the doors shut. Eventually, soon, hopefully, I am getting a bigger pantry. Behind the back wall of the pantry is another room, a mother in law suite. I would like to extend the pantry three feet into that room. This expansion would allow me to store those bulky appliances & stuff that gets used, but looks ugly on the counter. Ex: ice cream churn, blender, big mixing bowls, waffle iron, bread machine, toaster, apple peeler-corer, etc. Yes, I do have a bigger broom, that one is D#2's broom. It does come in quite handy, though.

Above: I baked some wonderful bread the other day. It smelled so good and baked up really pretty. It was delicious. D#2 was awed by my electric knife. After I cut the first piece of bread, she begged me to cut more bread with my cool "Chain saw for cutting bread" knife. This knife is about 20 years old. Dear Hubby and I received it as a wedding gift. I love it! The cutting board was a Christmas gift from one of DH's coworkers. He made them in his home workshop. I love gifts like this. I believe we have had it for about 12 years.

I have been working on this quilt. It is called "Paper Dolls" and it is adorable. I had stopped working on it around the beginning of November last year to concentrate on Christmas gifts. The quilt is from Lori Holt of Bee In My Bonnet. She creates the most adorable stuff. I have finished the "Sophie ties on her apron" block. It is the 2nd block on the bottom left corner. The one with the broom.

Quilting, applique and embroidery are all used in this quilt. Don't you just love the details. I still need to put the ric rac on the apron and then this block is finished.

Above: Here is the next block that I have started: "Kassidy bakes cookies". If you can zoom in closer you will see the back rounded part of the mixer (black fabric) is still in the tack down phase. I am using the needle turn method for appliqueing. Of all the appliqueing methods that I have used, this is my favorite.

Above: Needle turn applique. Don't you just love the cord. It is ric rac!

Above: Here is what the pattern sheet looks like. Lori's instructions are awesome! She explains everything. The only thing she doesn't do is tell you which fabrics she used. But that is a good thing. Customize it and don't copy. Use what you have on hand and don't buy more.

Above: Once you cut out the fabric pieces, these are basically the only tools you will need to applique. The bottle with the blue top is baste glue. I have never used this stuff before and now that I have, I love it. It does just what it's name suggests. It bastes the fabric down. Just put a tiny drop of glue on your base fabric and then place the piece to be appliqued on top of the glue. No pins or baste stitching necessary. Now just applique until  your hearts content! or your fingers become numb. Your choice!

Above: The hardest thing for me, was choosing the background fabrics. I didn't want them too busy, but not too plain either. So I compromised. Some are plain and some have subtle backgrounds. Appliqueing is so much fun. If you want to try it, start small. This quilt is suppose to be a block of the month quilt, but since my local quilt store is not offering it, I am doing it at home by myself. I can do one block a month, maybe even two. We'll see.......

Anyway have a great day and happy appliqueing,

Holly

Autumn Fever

I love applique quilts. Last year I started the free applique quilt pattern from Bunny Hill Designs. It is so adorable. I only have one more block to finish (I believe there were 12 blocks). About 1 1/2 wks ago I started "Grandmother's Apron". It is a very adorable quilt all hand appliqued using the needle turn method. I had not tried that type of applique yet. A few years ago I used the fusible applique method and then you would stitch down the edges with a sewing machine stitch. I really didn't like the feel of this (was too stiff) or the look (you could tell it was a cheater method when you look close). With the Bunny H pattern I used the "paint on liquid starch then iron" method. I really didn't like the look of this. The applique looked too flat. I guess it was all that starch and ironing. The needle turn method is so much prettier and not as time consuming as painting the starch. It is not hard at all! I was so surprised. I thought it would be very difficult especially with the sharp corners.  

Above: Isn't this just adorable? This is a Bee in My Bonnet pattern. When I finish it I am going to hang it in my stair well and hang old kitchen utensils around it. I may even add a shelf and put some vintage kitchen stuff up there. I will show you a photo when it is finished and hung.

Above: I love the embroidery part of this quilt. It says " I remember grandma's" and the word "apron" is appliqued on the bottom (see first picture).

Above: My Hoosier. The old mixer is my grandmothers (and I just love it!!). The sifter is one I picked up at an antique mall for $6. I had been looking at them for years and didn't want to pay the normal price tag of $10-$20, so I patiently waited. The red and white pot holder is one that D#1 made when she was little, maybe 7 yrs old. It just oozes kitchy. The pastry blender and wooden butter mold/press are two more things that I purchased at the antique mall.

Above: Fall leaves on antique pie safe. See the tiny quilt. It is from the Prairie Women's Sewing Circle club that I joined last year. This is the only one I made. I have, I believe, 9 more to make :) I plan on using my new/old Featherweight to sew them. See the plant in bottom left corner? Son won it during an FFA (Future Farmers of America) party. They were giving away door prizes and he won the plant. Go figure, can't imagine why they would have plants as door prizes for a bunch of high school boys. 2 liters of Mountain Dew or NOS (energy drink) would have been more up their alley. But I was tickled when he brought it home to me and said in his teenagery almost manly voice "Look what I won for you, mom." I loved it and told him that was the best door prize ever and he just kind of looked at me, not sure whether to agree (because I am is mom, therefore I am always right) or laugh (because his mom was so giddy over a dumb plant). 

Above: Buffet with Dept 56 Fall houses. This is in the Living Room to the right of the fireplace. Little Pip managed to get in the picture. She follows me everywhere and I usually crop her out or get her to move if she is in the line of fire.

Above: The mantel. Photos of family members, President Lincoln and Custer. I love vintage photos!

Above: This is the display on the other pie safe. The garland I found at Hobby L, it is lighted. Vintage bowls and vintage butter molds. The two vintage mason jars with zinc tops are from mom.

Above: My scarecrow. This year I wanted a cute authentic looking scarecrow. It is always so much trouble to fill his pants and shirt with straw or newspaper. I had Dear Hubby and Teenage Son built me a wooden "T" form for him. He has such a sweet face that the crows aren't scared of him.

Today it is very cool and Fallish feeling. It's wonderful!

So...have a great weekend and go make something crafty!!!!

Holly