Quilting – Page 11 – Thimbleanna

The Children are Hot

46 Comments / June 28, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Quilting

Hot enough for ya? I know you ladies down under are jealous of our Hotter than Hades temps here in the midwest USA. 105F (40.5C) is probably just a cake walk for you guys, but dang — it’s Hot! In our ~25 years of living here, I don’t remember a temp this high. Close, but not 105. I feel a case of the vapors coming on!

Blogging must go on though, so, I’ve braved the heat and taken a few pics of the Children. The quilt top is finally put together. I stayed in the shade — thus the mottled light and the green grass.

The big stars are 8″ blocks and the little stars measure about 3″ wide. I debated whether to put a border on the quilt — you don’t see a lot of borders being used with more modern quilts these days. But, my first love in this fabric collection is that little hopscotch print and I really wanted bigger pieces of it — thus, the border.

This quilt top is baby quilt size — roughly 49″ x 58″. Don’t be getting any ideas about babies around here though, the only baby around to enjoy this quilt is BabyDoll.

She’s wearing her muslin slip to beat the heat. (She’s also wearing her muslin slip ’cause I can’t remember where her clothes are — Bad Mommy!)

I’ve decided not to quilt this top now. The quilting will depend upon the intended recipient, and for now, that is unknown. So, Children at Play will be the inaugural quilt top in the baby quilt top stash. I’m sorry, it had to happen. I love this fabric so much and I just had to play.

(BabyDoll is comparing the size of her hand to the little star — in case you were wondering. ;-) )
Ok, off to fan myself and get BabyDoll out of the heat!
XOXO,
Anna

Quack Quack

23 Comments / May 7, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Around the House, Quilting

Hidy Ho Neighbor! Thanks for all the May Basket love — you guys are the sweetest. Did you have a good weekend? It was beautiful here in ThimbleannaLand. And pretty busy — that’s what happens in the spring — lots of yardwork to do.

So, no real quilting to speak of. I’ve been hankering (yes Barb, that’s my inner Ellie Mae speaking LOL) to start a new quilt project. Something that will be portable and fun. But I can’t seem to make a decision. I finally decided this might not be a great time to decide — maybe I should wait and see if something strikes me at market. So, I dug out the old yoyos and figured out how many I’ll need to make a quilt. I’ve made about 750 so far and I’ll need about 810. Not too bad — I should be able to whip those out in no time — I just need to sneak into the dungeon and cut up some fabric.

I also managed to bake a batch of cookies for BigDaddy. This weeks choice was a recipe I found on Pinterest. They’re Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies. They’re sort of crunchy and dry like the original Biscoff cookies, but with oatmeal in them. They’re perfect with a cup of tea. Or Diet Pepsi. ;-D

And finally, our ducks are still hanging around this year. I love it when they show up every year ’cause I know spring has truly arrived. They’re usually only here for a week or two, but it’s been 5 or 6 weeks this time. About three weeks ago, we found a nest with broken eggs tucked up under the ugly tree. I think they’d been nesting in there and something got the eggs. Nasty Critters. I was really sad, ’cause we’ve never known them to nest here — they sort of hang out and then leave. So I’m wondering if they’re confused by our long spring or lost nest or something. Three days ago the hen was wandering around quacking like she’d lost the drake. Then, the last two days, he’s been wandering around quack quacking like he’s lost her. It’s kind of sad. I’m hoping there’s a nest somewhere and they really know where the other one is and they’re playing decoy.

So, now that I’ve psychoanalyzed the ducks, it’s back to work. Have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Anna

Birds in the Air

35 Comments / April 22, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Quilting

Poor, poor little neglected blog. It’s been so boring here lately that there hasn’t been much point in blogging. Not that nothing has been happening — it’s been very busy, but there just hasn’t been much blog-worthy to report. Lots of cleaning, errand running, cleaning, visiting, cleaning — with all that cleaning, why doesn’t it look much cleaner around here? That drives me crazy — you work and work and work and things still look much like they did. At least there’s a big pile of garbage in the garage to show for the efforts. Too bad the pile isn’t bigger.

One little bit of excitement happened this weekend when MeMum and I put one of her antique quilt tops on the basting frame. I’d forgotten how much work it is to baste a quilt. We could just quilt it on this frame, but she has another quilting frame that tilts, which makes the quilting a little easier on the back.

We basted for a few hours today and there’s still a bit more to do. There was a little debate over whether we should quilt it at all, but in the end, we decided it might help protect the quilt. This is a very old, hand-pieced top. Some of the seams aren’t even 1/4″ wide, which makes them pretty fragile.

It’s been a fun basting job and I’m really looking forward to the quilting. I love looking at all the different fabrics. There are several pieces that were cobbled together — I always think that’s a fun thing to see in an older quilt.

And there are two or three tiny holes. We’ll be doing a little research in how to best handle their repair as we do the quilting. I’m looking forward to working on this quilt — I hope we finish it in this lifetime. Our basting has been so slow, I’m beginning to worry a bit!

Alas, another weekend gone. They always whiz by. ;-( Have a good week!

XOXO,
Anna

Friendship Stars

56 Comments / March 13, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Chat, Quilting

Happy Pi Day tomorrow! Are you baking any pies to celebrate? We always bring pies in to work. I’ve WAY overcooked my pecan pie (in my defense, the timer went wacko in the middle of the baking, so I had no idea how long it cooked.) And I’m making my first Banoffee Pie. All the recipes on the internet just use a can of Dulce Le Leche for the toffee part, but I found a recipe in my Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey cookbook that adds sugar and butter and vanilla to the condensed milk. And more is better, right? Here’s the toffee layer cooling — bananas and whipped cream to be added tomorrow. (Oh, Gah! That’s like one big jumbo piece of caramel. I’m going to be in Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey HEAVEN!)

Anyway, on to the Friendship Stars. Do you remember way back when Gwen Marston and Joe Cunningham used to write a column for Ladies Circle Patchwork and Quilting? Here they are in the picture that always led the column.

And see the quilt they’re quilting? When we went to Beaver Island, I saw that quilt and decided I wanted to make one. (I think it’s in one of their books, but I’ll be darned if I can find it.) I decided to get the girls in my quilt group to help me, so when it was my month to do blocks, I gave them all some fabric and they made the stars for me. That was somewhere around 1992. I put the stars all together and got started on the applique borders and then it got lost in the middle of rearing the boys.

But WooHoo! Now they’re FINALLY done. It’s embarrasing that it took 20 years, but whatever. And man, do those colors scream the 90’s or what? Those red and green borders match the wallpaper that we just tore out of the kitchen LOL.

I’m not crazy about the big plain blocks in the corners, but I didn’t have any more of the background color. And the very last border is an add-on. This quilt was originally sized to fit a king-sized bed, but now, matresses are being made deeper, so I felt it needed some extra fabric. I’d love to quilt this quilt, but it’s just too darn big. It weighs in at roughly 96″ x 108″, so I’ll happily let someone else do the quilting.

Those colors aren’t my favorites anymore, but I do love those borders. And I figure in 30 or 40 years, those colors won’t matter anyway.

It’s DONE! Yippey Skippey It’s DONE! It’s a good thing Pi Day is tomorrow, ’cause I’m going to celebrate!
XOXO,
Anna

Gwen Marston

30 Comments / March 4, 2012 June 22, 2013 / Quilting

****Warning: Picture Heavy Post!****

Hello there! I hope you’re busy having a good weekend. I’ve been trying to get a little cleaning done around here. Mail, e-mail, and camera photo cards are the bane of my existence — I just can’t seem to keep on top of them. Anyway, in cleaning out my camera photo cards, I discovered some pictures of a Gwen Marston lecture that I went to last fall and never blogged about.

Gwen spoke at the local quilt guild in November. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it as she was speaking at 7:00 p.m. on the day I came home from fall quilt market. My plane touched down at 5:30, I popped in for a quick visit at MeMum and BigDaddy’s, and made it to the guild meeting just in time. The ever so sweet Jenny (and hahaha — I just clicked over to Jenny’s blog to set up this link and she’s posted a beautiful new quilt and mentioned Gwen too — funny!) was there saving me a seat. I’ll chit chat here and there while I show you the photos from Gwen’s presentation.

I was a big fan of Gwen’s in the 90’s. (Man, that sounds so long ago. The roaring 90’s LOL.) In 1990, MeMum, MyDadLovesMeBestSister, Aunt Annie and I all went to one of Gwen’s quilt retreats on Beaver Island. We had a fantastic time.

It was really fun to see Gwen again. And I’m sure she remembered me. (Haha. Not!) Her style has changed a lot over the years, although her message is still the same.

She’s much more modern and brightly colored now. But she’s always had a very free style. If points don’t match? So What. Quilting should make you happy.

When we went to the quilt retreat, we were all asked to bring a bag of scraps. We all mixed them up and put them into brown paper bags.

Then, we had to randomly pull fabrics out of our bags and make a quilt. Those quilts were all BUTT-Ugly, but it was a fun exercise.

(Oooh, look! That’s Jenny! She was the honorable quilt holder. She’s playing hide and seek with Gwen in the above picture!)

It was interesting to me to see how Gwen has migrated to all solids now. I don’t remember that being the case in her early years.

I think Gwen quilts all of her quilts herself. She’s an amazing and prolific quilter.

Gwen also had a collection of mini quilts.

This one caused deep pondering by Jenny ;-D.

And, in some cases, she had mini quilt replicas of her larger quilts.

After Gwen’s presentation, they had a show and tell from the workshops that she held during the day. I thought these little baskets were super cute and I wouldn’t mind making some of those myself.

They also had a show and tell from all of the members. And I have to say…THIS quilt below was my favorite quilt from the night. Even over Gwen’s quilts (I’m a traditional girl and ooooh, baby , I love a nice simple patchy patch quilt.) I’m very lucky to know the artist — It’s Jenny! I LOVE that deep teal used to set off all of her prints.

So, that’s it for Gwen’s workshop. If you get a chance to hear her speak, you should definitely go. She’s one of the “greats” of quilting and she’s going to retire in the next year or two, so there’s not much time left.

Ooooh, and before I go … have you noticed that the March block for the Aurifil Block of the Month is up? It’s by Victoria of Bumble Beans and I LOVE it! Isn’t it adorable? So perfect for March.

If you’re playing along with the block of the month, don’t forget to add your pictures to the flickr group. There are great prizes every month!

XOXO,
Anna