Barn Blocks

My sister Joyce did something I find to be pretty incredible. On Saturday she asked if I wanted to make a trip to Herington with her. I thought we were going to pick up something for Bill, but on the way she told me she had ordered herself a barn block. We discussed different patterns. I told her I would probably go with a Carpenter's Wheel. At that point she probably avoided telling me her choice.
When we got to our destination the husband of the lady who made the blocks invited us into the garage to pick them up.  I know that my eyes got as big as saucers.  I know that I shed more than one tear. And I know that I said in a very loud voice - that's my quilt.  And it was.

My sister chose my block design from the quilt I made mom.  It's also the quilt that Quiltmaker Magazine published on their blog as a block of the month.

The barn blocks were made by a lady named Julie Keithline. Didn't she do a fantastic job. I'm glad she added all of the other colors in the string pieced area.  It will make each of them more visible up on a wall.  Joyce let me have first pick.  I chose the block on the top left. I like the red and yellow.  Another thing that Julie Keithline did was use the original colors in the centers of the blocks.  She put so much detail in using different methods to make it really look like different fabrics.  Uunfortunately, she wasn't at home when we picked up the blocks. I would have loved to talk to her.  Her husband did say that she had been interviewed for a magazine and that these were the blocks she was working on at the time.  So I'll be on the lookout for them to be published somewhere.


Thank you sister. What a gift.


Julie

New rows for quilt guild. Yes, it is now May 1st and these blocks have been done for quite a while.  But I've been very busy for quite a while too.

Again, the top row is the original and the bottom row is mine.  I try to work with the original colors but in this picture it sure looks like I took mine from the applique row.  It all looks better together in person.

I've now got the row to make that is due at the May meeting.  I haven't even opened the bag and looked yet.  Better get that done before time gets away from me.

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy.  I still work for the same Association but we've sold the office and the main part of the business is moving to Wichita (after 85 years in Topeka). While my part, the bookkeeping, is staying in Topeka at a new location.  That has meant a lot of organizing, throwing out and packing.  And now the unpacking at my office.  I'm sharing an office with another company.  Which to me feels like I'm starting a new job.  For now it's uncomfortable at best.  But it will improve with time. What  I need right now are for the weekends to out number the workdays. And since that's not going to happen I just need to get over it and get to work.

Oh, happy day.

Julie



I have been doing some sewing.   For February at quilt guild I had my sisters row by row to work on.  Hers is the top row.  She is going for a Christmas theme.  Well, I would have thought that I had plenty of fabrics to go with her colors but mine ended up a little lighter or brighter.  My row is the bottom one with the house.  The house is a Lori Holt pattern and the leaves are Thimbleberries which is what the top rows blocks are.  The lady who did the squirrel row does an amazing job at paper piecing.  I'm really going to have to learn to do that some day.  I have actually made the birds and leaves before.  In 2011 I made a wall hanging for my mother using those two blocks.  Here's a link to my version.  Cardinal Wall Hanging

This is a new project that should have been done by April 1st (the day of the baby shower) and it wasn't.  It is a baby quilt for my great nephew Ivan.  Ivan will be here some time in May and I'm hoping to have this quilted by then.  In full disclosure - I tried to make the border with the 1/2 square triangles that the pattern called for.  It was a complete failure.  There was absolutely no way that border was going to fit. Now I have about 150 brown and tan 1/2 square triangles in my stash.  Oh, well.   I was going to put the babies name on the border but after being asked "what is it" I decided to label it as the hedgehog that it is.

This is the third Quiltmaker Patch Pals baby quilt I've made.  Here are links to my other two.
  Patch Monkey  and Patch Kitty

Happy Sewing

Julie

Grace's postcard is done and in the mail.  Too bad I don't have a picture to show.  Yep, I forgot to take one before I sent it.  I'll have to get one after she opens it.

On another note my version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery "En Provence" is a flimsy.

 I absolutely love the way it turned out .  The red, white , blue and black worked perfectly in this quilt .  And I can't leave out the gray.  Bonnie had dark pink where I have the light gray stars.
This is one I would really like to see done and on my bed.  Too bad, there are other tops that have to be done first. 


At quilt guild we are doing a row by row quilt .  In January those wanting to participate brought in a 36" long strip of what ever blocks made them happy.  It didn't matter what height the rows were just that they were 36" long. Every month we will pass to the next person on our list.  We won't see what was done to accompany our original blocks until the reveal in October or November.  Here is what I have to turn in tonight at guild.  The top row is what I was working with.  The second row is the one I made.  Both rows are 12" by 36" but the top row was bordered with black fabric which makes it look quite a bit smaller than the one I made.  I clearly marked the original section so the one who gets it next will work from it and not from mine since they look so much different.

In the barn block I decided to add a little humor.  There is a spider in the top window, a pig in the left and a chicken in the right.  That added a little black to the blocks to go with the original row.

I do wish that I had gone with a different color for the block on the left.  It should have been blue or just anything but pink.  In my opinion it blends too much with the red barn.  But since I am a procrastinator I didn't have enough time to make another one.  So it is what it is.  My block patterns came from a book by Lori Holt called Farm Girl Vintage.  I love that book!

Happy quilting.

Julie

These are all of the birthday postcards  I have made so far. The top two rows are for Grace who will be 9 on the 26th. The bottom row is for Allison who just turned four.  I appreciate that Victoria is saving them all.

With Grace I started with a theme of one candle , two, three ,  etc.  Hmmm wonder when I forgot about that  for Allison . That's our pretty Allison in the picture .

Julie 

It's birthday time again.  And that means time for a couple of postcards to be made. This one is for Allison.  She will be four on the 10th of February.  Four being the reason there are four fish on the card.

 

 

I use my the embroidery stitches on my Janome to write the text.  But I do like to fill out the address in my writing. A simple card, but one I'm sure she will appreciate when she's 40 and not 4.

 

 

On another note.  A couple of months ago I signed up for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway and was actually a winner this time.  This is the fabric bundle I was sent.  Fun fabrics, fun colors.  The fabric was given to me by Leanne at She Can Quilt.  I must have an orange theme going on this week.  There seems to be a lot of orange fabric in this post.  Orange is a good thing when it comes to fabric.

 

Hopefully, in my next post I'll have a postcard ready for Grace.  She'll be 9 on the 26th.  There's still loads of time to get one made.

Julie

A few weeks ago Lynn Wilder at Sew'n Wild Oaks asked people to help her name her latest quilt .  I was lucky enough to come up with the name Spoken For. And for coming up with the name Lynn sent me some of the fabrics she had left over from making the quilt.

There are a couple of very pretty reds and a few neutrals that have already made it into the blocks of my version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt .

Unfortunately, even though I find myself with a lot of extra time, I  haven't been able to do much sewing this week.
On Saturday New Years eve morning I woke up in excruciating sciatic pain with my left foot numb.  On Tuesday I had a doctor appointment, Wednesday an MRI and a different doctor, Friday back surgery .  Apparently when your lower leg and foot lose feeling things move along at a rapid pace.  Now I'm at a snails pace though .  No bending, and no lifting over 8 lbs for six weeks .  I have tried sitting at my sewing machine twice .  Each time I've made it about 10 minutes.  This morning I did finish sewing the last of the pieces I need for the mystery .  I'm hoping that this afternoon I'll feel like pressing them. It will take me some time to work back up to a marathon sewing day.
Luckily my kids and sisters are taking care of the things I can't do. You just have no idea how many times in a day you need to bend over to pick something up or work on laundry or the dishes .
This too shall pass .

Happy sewing ,

Julie

Political Red, White and Blue Quilt

Look at what is now hanging in my office .

"Voting Is" Quilt 

 

 

Close up of blocks and quilting.

 

 

I'm so happy to finally have this one finished.  And to actually get it done before the election.  Now I hope staring at it everyday will help me get motivated to vote.

There is no pattern for this quilt.  I just tried to use the extra blocks left over from other quilts and quilt tops I've made.  The solid star blocks are from one of my first quilts from about 15 years ago.  And a few of the blocks were made just for this quilt.  Okay, more than a few.  Those little red  3" churn dash blocks make me want to make a quilt just using them.  Or maybe come up with something for the churn dash and the 2" pinwheel blocks.  I see a great leader/ender project in my future.

This quilt started with the elephant and donkey blocks.  I found the patterns for them on the internet. If you would like to make them just Google political quilts and eventually you'll find them.  They are old Kansas City Star patterns.  I made a few changes to them including making the donkey larger so the two would be nearer the same size. Then I made the word borders and they are what determined the size of the quilt.  It had to be long enough for the word responsibility.  The patterns for the letters are from The Temecula Quilt Company pattern Little Letters.

Anyway, I love the way it turned out.  And apparently my boss does too.  I left to go to a bid letting and when I returned he said he hoped I didn't mind but he took pictures while I was gone.  He wants to post it on the AGC Facebook and twitter account.  Go for it.  I've already put it on my Facebook page.

Even with our election choices this time it is still our responsibility to vote.  To have a voice.  I may never admit to who I voted for, but I'll vote just the same.

Julie

 

Almost done.  Just a couple of short rows. And then the decision on what color of binding.

Julie 

Okay, time to slow down a minute.  Should have known when my quilt felt like it was dragging that there was a reason.

Oh, well.  That's what seam rippers are for.

Julie

Last night I had the opportunity to see Kaffe Fassett give a lecture on color.  He did a great job describing how the things he sees influence his choice of color.

I really couldn't say how long he spoke.  There wasn't a moment that I wanted to stop listening and look at the time.  Nothing at all what I expected.  Very entertaining.  We were sitting about 15' away from the stage. So close that there was no chance we were going to miss a thing.

There may have been a few, okay more than a few, people in the audience laugh or gasp when he shared his opinion of the colors of Thimbleberries. Let's just say it's not the highest.

He graciously signed all the books that were brought to him and continued to answer questions that were asked.

All in all I'd have to say it was a very good evening. The evening was made even better because I spent it with my daughter (a non-quilter, but an artist nonetheless) and my sister ( a proficient quilter).

Happy sewing,

Julie

I'm told that I need to update my blog.  I don't really understand why writing a new post has been so difficult for me but it has.  This is the first time I've logged in to my blog since March.  When the blog came up there was a comment that was awaiting moderation.  The comment was from September 3, 2015. The day before we took mom to the hospital and found out she'd had a stroke. I'm sure it hadn't automatically posted because there were so many typos in the comment.  Mom had written the comment and apparently she was already having stroke related issues. I went ahead and approved the comment. I wouldn't have deleted it for a million dollars.  But it just reinforces to me how much my world has changed in the last year.  Mom is doing well right now but has had numerous challenges to face. She, of course,  has her good days and bad days. After all she's 85 years old. One thing she doesn't do any more is quilt. Nor does she talk about quilting.  So that changed my quilting world too. However,  I am still sewing. So I'll move on to why I started this post.

This is such a horrible election year. But one thing I do feel strongly about is voting. Whether I want to vote or not. That prompted me to start a political quilt.

My picture is, as always, terrible but it gives a clue where I'm going with my design.  This started with the elephant and donkey.  Then I made the borders.  I've been trying to use up some of my orphan blocks like the bow ties and stars in the picture.  And now I'm making some blocks to fill it in.  This weekend I'm hoping to get the center put together.  If I don't get working on it the election will be over.  If that happens at least I'd have four more years to work on it.

Happy quilting.

Julie 

Happy Birthday Grace

My granddaughter Grace turned 8 on February 26th.  She is growing up and changing so fast.  It seems to go faster then it did with my own two kids.

Grace's "I Am" Quilt

I finally finished the pink quilt I started last January and gave it to Grace.  I spent a lot of time on this quilt.  Each row is made up of 4" blocks with a few spacers added in to make the rows come out even.  No, I didn't think to take a picture of the whole quilt.  But the pictures with Grace in them will always mean more to me anyway.

Reading the label.

Under Construction

It is so nice to have finished something that hopefully will bring her a lot of  joy.

Happy Friday!

Julie

Allison's Third Birthday

Our sweet little Allison turned three on the 10th. She had been given a doll like an American Girl doll for Christmas so it was time for her to get some doll clothes of her own.

I used several of the fabrics Allison and Grace had gifted me for Christmas which worked out great.

It bugs me that the patterns often have the closures
on the back.  I wish I had thought of that before I
finished making the blue shirt and dress.  I would
have made them a little different so that the Velcro
and snaps looked like they belonged on the front.
And to Allison they do belong on the front.  I
certainly won't tell her any different.

All dressed.

Birthday Postcard From Grandma

Happy birthday to Allison. Now on to Grace's birthday on the 26th. I better hurry up and get finished with her presents.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Gifts

For Christmas I made my daughter Jen and daughter-in-law Victoria casserole carriers and potholders.  By now I should be used to the dark pictures my camera takes but alas, I'm not.  It probably has more to do with the lighting in my house and not the camera.  Anyway, here are the gifts I made.

Victoria's casserole carrier with two potholders.

Lining fabric.

Jen's casserole carrier with two potholders

Lining fabric.

The potholders were made using patterns from Lori Holt's book Farm Girl Vintage.  I didn't use her potholder directions though.  They were too large for my liking.  Basically the same just not as wide of a border.  The carriers are a conglomeration of a couple of free patterns I found searching the web.   Both sets turned out great.  And I certainly had fun making them.  One of Jen's potholders was supposed to be a sheep but it required some hand stitching and by the time I did that it was no longer fit to be a gift.  Some day I'll learn.

Happy sewing,

Julie

There weren't many posts written on my blog last year.  So I'll try to do a little catch up while I seem to be on a roll.  This is three posts just this month.  Wowza.  Anyway, one of the things I never blogged about was being a winner.

The second week of December was another Sew Mama Sew give away week.  It's where bloggers write a post about whatever they want but in the post they offer to give something away (often fabric) if you'll follow their blog on one of the many different ways you can sign up to follow.  Or you might just have to answer a simple question.  It's a good way to get new people to visit your blog.  I participate as one who visits the blogs not the blogger.  That may be one of the reasons I still only have 30 followers (and some of them are duplicates) and not hundreds of followers that many bloggers have.  Anyway - in December I was one of the lucky winners and I never posted about it.

This is the fat 8th bundle I received from Jayne at Twiggy and Opal.

Very pretty fabrics and a zipper pouch too!

The different patterns of fabric.

I was quite surprised that is was such a large bundle of fabrics.  It was a generous prize/gift and I appreciate it.  Now comes the decision on what to do with it.  These fabrics are not necessarily in my usual group of fabrics.  However, I've been looking to do something a little more current and this may be a good reason to figure something out.  Thanks again Jayne.

Happy sewing,

Julie

Another busy weekend.  Saturday we had a birthday lunch at the "manor" with mom.  She is 85 years old now.  Most of the family attended. There was too much food as always.  Mom has said that she never gets Mexican food anymore.  So we had a Mexican food potluck.  She appreciated that.

Sunday I spent working on my mystery quilt.  I switched the yellow for teal and love the way it is turning out.

close up

I'm pretty sure this one will be yet another one I want to keep for myself.  I have quite a bit left to sew to get the blocks together.  And since it's laying on my living room floor I may have some motivation to get it done.  I haven't decided yet if I'll put any borders on it. 

Happy sewing,

Julie

A New Year

How did it already get to be January 6th.  The last few days have just flown by and I have so much to get done.  Isn't that the way it always goes.

The holidays around my house were very busy.  We always have one place or another to run off to.  I'm not sure I would change a thing about it though.  I sure wasn't wanting to change anything this time.  There was just too much upset in 2015 to want to throw something different into the Christmas holiday.  And a great Christmas it turned out to be.

My grandgirls Grace and Allison and DIL Victoria like to buy me fabric for my stash. Nothing wrong with that. This time Victoria took some pictures of the girls picking out the fabric.

 

Allison was working hard to get those bolts up on the table.  It appeared that Grace was being a terrific supervisor.  It's great fun to have them show me which fabrics they picked out.  And this year was even better since I got the pictures that show the story to go with the fabric.  Several of the fabrics made it into my mystery quilt.  I'll have pictures of it another day.

I had so much trouble trying to post these pictures that some of the people that read it via bloglovin might not get the whole post.  I had to keep correcting and updating it.  Oh, well.  I'm leaving it, as is.
Hoping for a productive rest of the week.

Happy sewing,

Juliw  (I even spelled my own name wrong and didn't even notice it. Yet another update.)  Julie

Clue #3 for the Bonnie Hunter mystery is in the done pile.  Okay, I do still need to cut the extra pieces she wanted us to cut.  Those include the black squares and neutral rectangles from clues 2 and 3.  I'll get them done.  I'm just waiting to see what the next clue is first.  If I have to cut from either the blacks or neutrals I'll just cut the extras at the same time.  And I've been busy making things that I really don't have time for.  Oh, that would be the mystery that I don't have time for.  The other things are Christmas presents.  And I'll post pictures of them later.

In the mean time here are pictures of clues #2 and #3.  I changed out the yellow fabrics for teals.  I ended up with quite a few of those after finding out my granddaughter Grace's favorite color had changed from pink to teal.

Clue #2

Clue #3

I love the way red and teal look together so I'm really looking forward to seeing if I made a good choice.  Some people around blog land have been posting pictures of how they think these pieces may fit together.  I just like to wait until Bonnie shows the actual layout.

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On December 3rd I posted about my sister-in-law Lisa that was diagnosed with cervical cancer in March of this year.  Unfortunately, Lisa lost her battle against the cancer yesterday, December 16th.  She leaves behind three daughters - ages 24, 12, and 10.  Please keep those three girls in your prayers. They have had to do an awful lot of growing up in the last several months. And will do a lot more growing up together in the years to come. Pray that the oldest has the strength and patience to see that her younger sisters grow up to each be a wonderful woman like their mother was.

Julie

Bonnie Hunter thank you for your yearly mystery quilts.  I really needed this one.   Once again, I'll go off in a slightly different color direction but for the first clue I'm using the constant gray and neutrals called for.

Clue #1

 Here is a picture of my constant gray.  And of a few of the neutrals I included.  I used more than 50 different neutrals.  It seems I've been amassing neutrals and didn't even know it.  Many of them came from the grab bags at Whittle's Fabrics.  It's hard for me not to get excited about getting 10 fat quarters of fabric for $12.00.  Also included are many of the neutrals that have gone into previous quilts. Now comes the long wait until the next clue comes out.  In the mean time, I'll keep working on all of the Christmas projects I've been putting off.

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On another note - it's been two months since I last posted.  I wish I could say that things are going well, but they are just going.  In my last post my mom was coming home from rehab after having a stroke.  Unfortunately she was only home for a couple of weeks. She ended up back in the hospital with symptoms of mini strokes and from there went to rehab and a long term care facility.  She did talk to me the other day about the facility being a nice one.  But that she hadn't wanted to be moved there.  Well, Mom, we didn't want that either.  Life sometimes takes some really crappy turns and this year has been full of them.  They included baby Billy passing away, my DIL's mother passed away, mom's stroke, finding out SIL has terminal cancer, financial issues, questioning my faith, and issues that I wouldn't share with anyone but my mom.  This year went to hell in a hand basket months ago.

 I would say that I'm ready for this year to end and get on to the new one.  But the new year will be full of life struggles too.  Mom is steadily going down hill and needs to have many prayers that she will regain some of her strength.  My lovely, sister-in-law Lisa was diagnosed with cervical cancer this year.  Hospice has been called in to help with her needs as her cancer progresses as she is no longer able to take chemo or radiation treatments.  I pray everyday for her and her three daughters.
So am I looking forward to the new year?  NO!!!  But I do know that each day is a gift.  Each day is a chance to make memories with people we love.

As for the morning glory quilt mom was making when she had her stroke.  Well, that's at my house now.  Wish me luck on quilting and binding it in a timely manner.

Julie