it's hip to be square!

in-between my other sewing, I've still been working on my 16 patches, and they're slowly coming along. I still have lots of the blacks and greys to do (I used those 2 colors in place of the indigo)

there is something so endearing and addictive about these humble and simple little blocks- they are certainly one of my favorites!

with so many different fabrics and backgrounds to choose from, I could never decide which one is my favorite block of them all... and it's good that I don't' have to choose: I have almost 200 at last count! yikes!

I do plan to make 2 quilts from these 16 patches- one for my table at farmer's market (using all the veggie fabrics) and another for the dining room table for family holiday meals. these 16 patches finish at 10"; just a nice size.

 

 

here's a picture of the whole top of the Bethlehem Star that I pieced last week. it's 72" X 80", but it sure looks dwarfed in this picture! scroll down one post to see what else i've been up to while I was absent from the RSC link-ups. and be sure to click on over to angela's to see all the RSC goodness for this week!

 

PS: did you see that the colors for Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt came out this morning? I'm so excited- the color combinations are FANTASTIC this year! who's planning on quilting along? 

There's a lot to be said for the humble square!

even though I haven't joined Mr. Linky for a couple weeks, I've still been busy sewing. (very busy!) I just recently finished a Bethlehem Star quilt for a friend. my friend Leona loves to (hand) quilt, but hates to piece. she's been making a quilt for her children and grandchildren for many years now.

Iris is the last grandchild waiting for her quilt- and the wait is nearly over! Iris is 9 or so, and this is the pattern (and colors!) that she chose. it was a bit tricky keeping all those nearly identical reds separate, but everything went just fine. the quilt finished at 72X80- this picture was taken before I put on the borders.

all the colors in the quilt are Kona- some of the colors are blaze, deep red, red, lipstick, pepper and maize. once it's hand quilted, I know it will be even more stunning!

 

right now I'm taking a class at our LQS for a double wedding ring quilt. I've never made a DWR, and thought it's about time... (I've made some of the other difficult quilt patterns: apple core, Dresden plate and tumbling blocks...)

now that the growing season is over, I definitely have a bit more time for quilting and piecing, and have been squeezing it in around my other chores. I had 2 matching jelly rolls, and a nice neutral for the background, so I was all set.

 

this particular DWR technique is sewing 5 jelly roll strips together, and then cutting them into the arch piece, using the acrylic templates. I sorted  all my jelly roll trips, and got busy sewing. that was not too hard (or tedious) and I got all enthusiastic and inspired to make another DWR for my husband. I even picked out the fabrics that I thought I might like to use: I lovelovelove that cheddar yellow, and Dave's favorite color is blue. I thought the *tame* blue, and the *vivid* yellow would make a nice quilt that we could both love.

 

 

the second class was on Tuesday, and we started sewing the melons onto our arch pieces. still: not so bad, and definitely not too twiddly. I can manage this....(the quilter said confidently to herself....)

 

THEN: reality strikes in full force! it was time to sew the second arch onto the half-completed melon. ACK!!! that definitely is the definition of twiddly, and I hate working on twiddly things! SO: one circle down, and only 27 more to go! hopefully the third class will give some pointers on getting those arches onto the center pieces nicely- I just did the one, and it's not as nice as I would like...

 

BUT: I do plan on finishing this quilt- not dumping it into the UFO pile. my quilting friends would call this an exclusive quilt- and I'm definitely thinking the same!

It's time: let's get these quilts together!

after sewing and sewing all these squares together, I decided to start sewing some stuff together (even though technically, I'm a month early for that...) I wanted to see some progress, and not just piles of blocks...

these 16 patches are left over from last year- if i remember, i had just stalled on what to do with them.

last week i decided: why not potholders? my old ones were pretty grimy after using them in the summer kitchen when making applesauce, and what better way to use and enjoy my favorite fabrics than in the kitchen?

let's face it: i spend more time in the kitchen than in the sewing room most days, so i can still get my fabric fix! i cut into some of my all time favorite fabrics for the backings- and I'm so glad i did!

 

another RSC project i worked on this week was my 9 patch blocks.  after sewing and sewing all year long, i was very surprised to count that i had 189+ of the 9 patches! i knew i wanted to do something interesting, and non-traditional in the setting, so after playing around for awhile, i settled on the layout below.

 



 

 

i really like this layout- and there are so many blocks left over! i'll let the little girls lay out another quilt, and we'll give that to my friend for quilting and send it off to one of the MCC auctions.

 

thanks for stopping by- click on over to angela's to see what everyone else is working on. and if you have a minute, scroll down one more post, and tell me what you think of my red stars Christmas quilt- I'm looking for some input and advice!

Tell me true!

* we went away last weekend: to the beach in Wildwood, NJ. it was a relaxing time, and the weather was even co-operative! the girls were able to play in the water, and build sand castles. (when we went in March, the weather was 37degrees, and bitterly cold and windy. such is the life of a farmer...) I missed the linky, but I'd still love your opinion! *

I'm pretty sure nobody reads my blog except for the Saturday morning link ups with soscrappy for RSC15. (my MIL doesn't even read my blog anymore! how sad is that?!)

... but it's worth a shot anyway...

here is the *tentative* layout for my JustGottaMakeIt Red Christmas Stars. sorry for the crappy kindle picture- definitely not a strong selling point for the kindle...

 

I really wanted the stars to be off-set and random~ and no 2 stars are alike! the fabrics vary widely- from vegetables, geometrics, flowers and novelty prints. there are a few Christmas prints thrown in just for good measure. while I was laying out the quilt, I also wanted to avoid (as much as possible) lining up the sawtooth star points. except for the middle row, I managed to do that.

 

as you're looking at this picture, the right hand side of the picture is the top of the quilt, the left is the bottom. the partial star at the top will have prairie points in the binding to complete that star.

 

one of the things that really has me doubting is the lightest of the backgrounds- seen in the lower left of this picture. there are actually 4 different cream/gold prints, and 3 of them are nearly identical.

SO: tell me what you think: is the layout to weird? is the negative space odd? and I definitely need to replace those too light background rectangles, right?

give it to me straight- I can take it!

Everything is turning Brown!

after butchering all our (150+) meat chickens last week, I thought this week wouild be much less busy. ha! I could not have been more mistaken!

 

I did a *tiny* bit of canning and freezing this summer, but the huge bulk of my canning seems to have taken place this week: plum jelly- from our own plum tree (10 pints, plus some for gifts), 9 bushels of apples for sauce- (for 3 families) we got about 60 quarts, jalapeno jelly (14 pints, plus some for gifts) and green tomato relish (16 pints).

 

it was a week of chop, chop, chop. can, can, can. boil, boil, boil. phew! but now I'm almost done- just need to do the sauerkraut and stewed tomatoes.

 

I did have a chance to sew late Sunday afternoon and evening, and made some good progress:

I'm second guessing all my brown RSC15 blocks (are they too dull?) but am forging ahead anyway...

but: I love the sawtooth stars for the sampler! I'm WAAAAAAAY behind on the connecter blocks: as in have not even started them, but i'll get to them soon. ( I have the Kona white blocks cut; does that count?)

and here's Millie: my furry sewing room companion!

now go see what everybody else is doing with their browns!

just a little bit of a sneak peek...at my amazing powers of deduction...

this week I was able to get a couple nights in the sewing room. I decided to work on my zig-zag strips, and got the orange ones done. and since I'm extra perceptive these days (ha!) I decided to go ahead and do the brown ones while I was at it...

 

and here's another amazing idea of mine from this week: while the girls were working on their school at the school room table, and I was (very) attentively supervising them as they worked on math, science and language arts I also spritzed, pressed and cut the zig-zag squares. normally i'll drink coffee and surf facebook and/or instagram (follow me @ jlcap69), but I realized that I really could (and should) use my time better, and get some stuff done. I'll often have plans to go to the sewing room in the afternoon when my work is done (ha!) or in the evening if I'm not too tired. (ha! again).

 

so that was a win/win for us all. I have a very little pile of the D4P at the table to work on, and also the red and black zig-zags to get pressed and cut.

 

next week is super, extra busy with 2 days of butchering the meat birds, sewing circle at church, our last (regular) CSA pickup on Thursday, and a field trip to Genesee Country Village on Friday. then, the last Farmer's Market is on Saturday.

 

I'm whooped already!

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

I was hoping for a bit more sewing time this week, but that just didn't happen. but that's ok!

my orange is just about done, i think. (i haven't even been up in the sewing room all week, so I don't quite remember!) I have some other catch ups to do- like the green strips, and some pressing and cutting. I still have some 16 patches to do, and the dreaded D4P...

click on over to angela's to see what everyone else has gotten done this week!

 



just popping back in to share a couple things.... I have a RSC15 document that I print out every month. (does that mean something is wrong with me?!) I use it to keep track of the multiple RSC projects I'm working on, and it also helps keep me on track, and moving forward. Friday night I spent some time in the sewing room, and I made some more of my 4 patches for the D4P. (red, orange and black (indigo))

 

a while ago, someone asked me what quilt pattern/book the sunflower quilt in my cover banner was from. here's a photo of the book- I think it was published in 1948. the pattern is pretty sparse- it leaves a lot for the quilter to figure out! I made this quilt with 11 other friends. at the time I belonged to a very active quilt guild, and we had a "birthday club". each month, (usually our birthday month) we chose a block for the other women to make for us. this was my choice, and my only requests were to use scrappy yellows and brown- different for all 3 sunflowers in the blocks. I provided the green fabric for the leaves and stem. (and I actually traced a sunflower leaf for the applique pattern! )

 

 

funny how things come around again- I LOVE to grow sunflowers for our CSA families, and for farmer's market! we grow a pollenless variety, and it's always a happy morning when I go down to the gardens to harvest the sunflowers, and they're all smiling at me with their happy little faces! anyway.... the above is a picture of the sunflowers that I harvested one morning last week.

 

thanks for stopping by!

with just a little help from my furry friend...

fall is in the air, and the gardens are winding down, row by row. Dave has already started planting the cover crops, so I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel! which is great- I'm whooped! there are a few moments here and there for sewing-

-and I've been glad to get up in the sewing room for some relaxing time with my furry friend, Millie. funny how cats are around the quilts; those blocks were only on the floor for mere SECONDS and she was on them...

black is my indigo, and I don't have much orange, so I 'm hoping to get caught up pretty soon. I have all my sawtooth stars done, but no connecter blocks. my other RSC15 projects are limping along as well- I hate falling behind, so I've really tried to keep up as best I can.

go look at all the other pretty blocks!

summer is slipping away...

but more sewing time is just around the corner!

a new month, a new color...

RED is the color for July over at soscrappy and RSC15. I'm * mostly * caught up with all the colors, and although I have a lot of plans for red, I'll just piece steadily along, and see where I get! (July is a bit of a longer month, too, so maybe that will make a difference?)

 

I have lots of my red already cut into 3" squares, and the pile that's waiting to be cut is already pressed. I had a few minutes after Farmer's Market yesterday afternoon, so I disappeared upstairs for a couple hours.
 

this exciting pile of reds and sawtooth stars I started a few months ago. after making a couple sample blocks, I set it aside until Angela called the red month. this project was one of those ideas that popped into my head: ohmygosh,Ican'tevensleepuntilIpullfabricsandmakeacoupleofblocks. you know those kind of ideas/projects, right?

looking at that stack of reds makes me so happy! I think there are 30 different reds, some Christmas fabrics, and some "everyday" favorites. the background is cream, with gold dots. I don't have enough of the one fabric to do the background all the same, but I have 2 other fabrics that are very, very similar. i'll work through this stack, cutting my 3" squares, and a 5½" square for the center of the star, and then i'll be ready to piece a star or two as time allows.

 

who knows? maybe i'll have it done in time for Christmas!

 

(keep scrolling down to see ANOTHER project I started with my 3" squares!)

 

I'm such a crazy lady...