Road Trip To Bennington

I finally made the road trip to Bennington Vermont this week to see the original Jane Stickle Quilt. It is only on display for a month in Sept/Oct. My friend Annette went with me for the 7-8 hour drive, which took us nearly 12  hours. I drove the first 2 hours, until we crossed the border from Canada into the USA.
I took along a copy of the Dear Jane book so Annette could have some time to see pictures of the quilt we were driving so far to see. I was giving her some options in case she should ever decide to make the thing. Twenty minutes into our drive her answer was a definite 80% not, no way, never. I have to chuckle. Once I informed her that you do not make the whole thing at once but start with 1 simple block at a time, she did a complete turnaround and ordered the book and special rulers before we ever go to Niagara Falls an hour from my home. I guess people do that sort of thing with cell phones. I don't have one so don't.

We stopped first at Pinegrove Quilt Shop which is closing this fall and we needed to get some sale stuff. I only bought about 12 yards of fabric. These look like they will work for some fussy cutting and possible broderie perse.

And I did not go with the intention of getting the pattern for Mrs Billings, but it was on sale. AND it has no less than 15 specially made rulers! These will be handy for fussy cutting the above fabrics. I am going to England in Dec to visit one of my sisters and we were already planning to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum at my request. I have been to England at least 5 times and it is time to do some cultural stuff. I have since discovered that the original quilt that inspired Mrs Billings is there. At least that is what the pattern tells me. Just for the record, I asked about going before I bought the pattern. But now to find 5/8th inch hexie papers. A thousand of them. (As it turns out, the original is in a museum in York and I will be a long way from York this trip.)

So, we made it to Bennington, way up in the hills of south west Vermont, about an hour east of Albany. I have driven past Albany many times on our way to and from visiting my Sweet husband's brother and family. We arrived after 8 pm in the dark so did not get to enjoy the spectacular scenery with the changing colours of early autumn. But this is what greeted us after pulling into the Bennington Museum.

And here she is (in a quiet, reverent whisper). 

 No, Wait. We could talk. We just could not touch or take pictures using a flash. I sat there for about a half hour gazing upon her loveliness. And I had a brief de javu moment . . . like I've  seen her before . . . Of course I have . . .  On my design wall at home . . .  For a couple of years. I could have sat there all day, but was eventually dragged away since there was a whole busload coming in behind us . . .

 I did take lots of pictures. I did not notice that some of them were fuzzy until I got home and uploaded them. Sigh.

According to the info plaque, Mrs Stickle was an invalid who probably whiled away her time making all these common and unique blocks to alleviate boredom. In 1863, she entered it in the Bennington Count Fair and won a special award and $2.  

 My take-away from this experience is this:
If I had seen the original before I started making my own, I would have spent less time and stress trying to get all the blocks perfect and straight. The charm is in the completed quilt . . .  all of the blocks and triangles together. I had my nose into each individual block so close and so long, I did not take notice that it is a whole quilt. And I will now definitely be making the narrow scalloped border and the corner knobby things. I had always intended to do the binding in blue anyway.

 I did some  more stitching on BTCT #15 while we were there.

 After coming home, I put up some of the blocks to see it this vase would stand out or blend it. I think it will fit just fine.

So, about my friend Annette. I have known her casually for about 20 years. Actually, she is a dear friend of my daughter's. A few months ago she started coming to Quilt at the Farm and we have been making a quilt for her daughter who got married this past summer, so we have been spending a lot of time together. I introduced her to Hobby Lobby where she bought lots of yarn for crocheting and we each bought the rest of the bolt of some gorgeous Kona cotton.

 Annette is not one to slowly make her way into a new venture. She jumps right in with all she has. She is making GORF and now she will be starting her own Baby Jane in civil war reproduction fabrics. It will be easy. I have several hundred left over from my own that she will pick and choose from. Annette also is a travel agent. She was so impressed with our 2 day road trip that she is now planning a 3 day 2 night bus tour to Bennington for next fall to take others to see the original Jane Stickle Quilt for themselves. I just might go again.

Blessings,
Chris

BTCT Block # 15 Progress

I wanted the leaves on top of the bowl to show up so I used a limey green from the Primitive Gatherings collection that I am using with the French General reds on a Kona Snow background. Have I mentioned how much I am loving hand stitching on this fabric? The needle just glides through and my hands like it. 
I decided to bring in some of the purples that are in my grape block. I flipped over the yellow print for the leaves at the top. There will be more inside each flower and I will use the print side there. Again, I am cutting out several layers at a time and no longer marking the shape, just turning it under and stitching away. I have marked the stem lines with a blue frixion pen.  I thought about using a drop of glue, but there will be layers and I did not want to run into hard bits of glue.

BTCT # 15

I had already started most of the easy blocks for this quilt. This one took a bit of thinking to figure out the layout order. Since there are  no instructions with the patterns, I have to do that myself. I like doing this. It makes me think. Not academically. Logically. I like logic. I  like to reason things out. Its a left-brain function thing. Most creative types use right brain function. They are intuitive. They are not bound by the rules. They colour outside the lines. They are the ones who design new quilts. This quilt has me relaxing in how I approach preparing and laying out the flowers and leaves. It is not perfectly symmetrical or balanced. And I like that. I will work on it while babysitting little girls tonight.

Blessings,
Chris

Just Takes 2

Look what arrived in the mail today. I ordered it from Amazon.  I  never went to the exhibition and never heard of it until I discovered the Just Takes 2 quilt along that began Jan 2012 with Brenda Papadakis of dear jane and Gay Bomers of sentimental stitches. 
I had often wondered how one finds out about these quilt-a-longs and was pleased to discover it just 2 days before beginning. I was in the final semester of my masters and very busy, but wanted to join. So I did.

Gay and Brenda organized the Just Takes 2 QAL and chose patterns from the Infinite Variety collection. There were 100 blocks altogether of varying sizes. Several block patterns were released twice a month. I used them as my reward for completing the homework of the day and treated myself to an hour of bliss. We were given patterns like this.

And like this.

And these

But my favourite one was the feathered star. I did it on Feb 16, 2012. It took me just over 7 hours to paper piece it. I listened to the Minor Prophets and the entire New Testament on tape for school. You do that kind of thing in seminary.

But I got stuck on a the radiant star and the compass and I was working on my Dear Jane quilt so I did not complete it. Story of my life. Except that I did complete my masters that spring and I did complete the Dear Jane quilt 2 years later. So there is hope.

This is as far as I have gotten. I have about 12 blocks to do yet. Complex ones.  I did not have enough of one red fabric that I was willing to work with for a whole year, but I did have a half yard cut of about 130 different Jinny Beyer Pallet colours in my cupboard. I call it Serendipity. But I did use the one yellow three times. And I had bought the rest of the bolt of that lovely white. So I was ready to start.

Serendipity

I am going to Shipshewana in November to the Just Takes 2 Retreat. My sister Elizabeth is going with me. She has no idea what she is getting into.

Now to decide which of the JT2 projects I will be taking along to work on. I am considering taking all 140 buds and leaves for the Ben Biggs quilt to prepare. I still have not decided what colour to make them. And I might take along the 44 swags for that border. Those will all be green. I think.
I will probably take a few BTCT blocks for hand work. Brenda called me today and while we were talking she asked me to bring along my Dear Jane quilt but it is not yet quilted. I have no idea how I will do that yet.


Blessings,
Chris
 

God is Amazing

Some progress on Beyond the Cherry Trees block # 15. I worked so hard to get everything lined up on all sides and did a pretty good job. But what happened on the far right? Maybe there will be a leaf or a flower to cover it up. I am still wondering of this is too bold a print to add to the rest that I have. I will wait and see. 

BTCT # 15

 This block is finally complete. I realize now that there are a lot more circles in this quilt than just the cherries and grapes. 

BTCT # 24

I had the coolest experience at our local fall fair the other day. It was our Canadian National Guernsey show and we had a lot of work to do to get 17 cows and heifers ready and shown. I just watch most of the time now and run errands. We won the Junior Champion and the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion. This is always nice. But this is not the cool thing that happened.

I had a conversation with 2 women who were escorting 10 year old Angelina around the fair. Angelina is handicapped and was being wheeled around in a specially made stroller. At 10 years of age, she was tiny and showed many of the same characteristics of children born with Cornelia deLange Syndrome. This is the same condition that our daughter Denine was born with. This is the first time in the 42 years since we learned of this that I met up with another who has it. So, I came home and finally did the research. I had submitted my revised manuscript the week before. My editor has asked for more medical details for the book
Denine: One mother's journey with a profoundly handicapped child. 
I was curious to see what was in a particular old box sitting on top of a dresser in a storage room upstairs and found the original medical records. Some of them were letters sent to us and others were details I copied out of the files from our family doctor after I first wrote our story in 1986.

God is amazing.
Blessings,
Chris

Prepping Some Blocks for Slow Stitching

 I had another day home alone last Saturday and cannot for the life of me remember what I did all day. I recall that it rained. And then 2 of the little girl grand children came over for a sleep over. That was exciting and exhausting. I submitted the revised manuscript to my editor Friday and now await the next editing round.
Now I recall what I did all day. I completed the machine quilting in GORF blocks. But something is not right with the tension. It was good on the block I did a year ago but different since it was in for repairs for 3 months. I had to re-draw all the lines because they all disappeared with the humidity.
 

GORF Machine Quilt as You Go

 I am trying to do a bit of hand applique every day. Not much, but some. With the completion of all the blocks for the CCCQ, I ran out of prepped blocks, so I am prepping a whole bunch of them right now before I remember something more important that I should be doing.

 This is one of the Antique Wedding Sampler blocks. I chose this one since it had large leaves that were easy to prep. I will eventually find myself having to deal with a lot of tiny pieces but not right now. I signed up for the Block of the Month from Homestead Hearth and they have sent me 13 kits so far. The fabric in the background is the first print that was sent out for the broderie perse. The colours are beautiful and blend nicely with the different colours in the kits. However, the design does not lend itself well for cutting out a variety of interesting motifs to applique onto the blocks. There was a huge outcry in cyberspace and HH sent out a replacement fabric 

AWS block # 5

 I have been giving serious thought to using this fabric for the setting triangles instead of doing the broderie perse there. We shall see. I do not yet know what HH will send for the sashing strips.

 In the meantime, block #1 has the blue circles cut out but not yet stitched in place. I think I will try Karen Kaye Buckley's method since I have had her circles for years. I had to track down a can of spray starch. I had tried the method before with sizing and Best Press but it was not working for me. Need to figure it out and practice. 

AWS Block # 1

 I had cut out the leaves here for block 9, again, because they were large and easy, hoping for a serendipity effect. The fabric behind it is the replacement fabric, Mary Koval's Tree of Life. It is quite a bit brighter in colour. So far, the greens and oranges have not shown up in the kits. Not sure if they will,. I think I will  wait awhile before getting to the broderie perse. Actually, right now it scares me and I am afraid to make a mistake. Sounds kind of silly I know.  The design elements here are more varied and looks like lots of potential.

AWS Block # 9

 I have not done any work on BTCT since my trip to Australia. I had run out of prepared blocks so I prepped the vase for block # 15. I had been collecting Jinny Beyer border prints for a number of years in anticipation of making one the quilts in her book. Did I mention that I met her at the AQC in Australia? Forgetful me. I had my camera but did not remember to take it out and take some pictures of anything at the quilt show. This one has the correct reds in it and a tiny splash of orange. I had tried to do this block with a red stripy civil war print hoping to mimic the tattered and faded original, but it did not look right so I started again. I hope it is not too formal and intimidating for the rest of the block. If it is, I might have to simplify the flowers that will be layered into this.
 

BTCT Block # 15

 I cut out the vase out of freezer paper then ironed it onto the top of the fabric, then traced around it with a chalk pencil. Cut it out leaving a scant 1/4 inch all around. Hope I don't regret this. Usually I cut it out much bigger then trim away as I am stitching. But this time I wanted to make sure that the design is perfectly centered all around.

BTCT Block # 15

Ta-da! It was fun trying out different options.

BTCT Block # 15

It is the time of year for our National Guernsey Cattle Show which is held at the local fairgrounds just 2 miles up the road from our farm. My Sweet Farmer has been clipping cows for more than a week now in preparation. We will be taking about 18 or 20 animals. One had a baby last night so she will be staying home. She had her baby at the fairgrounds last year. I still have some planning for the display that we always do to promote our cows and farm.

Autumn blessings,
Chris

Home Alone

I am home alone today for the whole day all by myself with only me and no where that I am supposed to be but here. I checked messages and emails, had a long phone conversation with my daughter. Jonathan climbed up into his own high chair today to mom's total surprise and he also climbed up onto the top bunk in the spare room. He is 15 months old. The cats are no longer safe up there away from the little boy who just wants to love them.

I was supposed to be writing on Wed and managed to clear out and re-organize the book shelf behind the door in the quilt room. I still have writing to do, but I am home alone. Yesterday I drove an hour to judge canning at a fall fair. That's where my Sweet Husband is today. Showing cows. He has lots of help this time so I stayed home alone. Last night he was hosting a 4-H Crop club that he has been leading for 42 years, so I did the house cleaning all by myself after I came home from judging. The girl that came in to clean for the summer has gone back to school, so I have to do my own cleaning. It didn't kill me. But I was tired so stitched last night instead of writing.

I have Q@F tomorrow and my GORF girls will begin their machine applique, so I have to have the room ready for that. But I am home alone and no one here to remind me to do anything, so I decided to prep an AWS block.

I traced the pattern for Block # 9 onto freezer paper and decided to just fold the fabric in fours and iron on the leaf then cut it out. Lets go with the serendipity effect. Sounds simple. I like simple.

There will be no drawn on stitching line. I will just needle turn the edges as I go. So what are the chances of just folding the fabric over twice and cutting out 4 shapes at the same time and getting 3 of them almost identical and the fourth not?

Also, I thought it would be a good time to impulsively pre-wash some white background fabric for BTCT so I can cut out the 4 borders and 2 extra squares since I messed up a couple as well as the border fabric for CCCQ.

It was a good idea until . . .

 I took it out of the washing machine and found this . . .

It appears that living on a farm, in the country, using well water for 120 cows, in this incredible heat, with the well running dry several times a day trying to keep up with the demand . . .

. . . but it turned cooler and there is lots of water . . .

. . . but there is also lots of sand in the water. . .

So, I pulled out the white fabric and rinsed it out in the kitchen sink, which was clean since I did house work yesterday.  And this is what was left in the sink.

I get the hint. Don't clean house  Get back to the writing . . . even if I am home alone.


Blessings,
Chris

Life After CCCQ

 And here she is!!! Well, almost. I still want to attach a narrow border around the outside from the same fabric as the background before quilting. Somehow I ended up with more red blocks than green blocks.

Completed CCCQ Top

 I have this 72 inch by 18 inch ironing board thingy that I lay on top of my table. It makes it easier to lay out a quilt top to press. I so carefully pinned all the seams to go alternating directions and only missed one. Oh well.

The last CCCQ block was not yet cool after pressing, when my hands were itching to do some more applique. Well, maybe I was avoiding doing something that I should have been doing like completing the re-write on my book before submitting it back to the editor tomorrow.

This is block #1 of Di Ford's Antique Wedding Sample. I joined the block of the month group with homestead hearth last winter. Because I live outside the USA, I get 2 months of blocks (4 instead of 2) mailed out every other month. Not the best plan for continuity. I started the first block before I left for my trip to Australia back in April. My goodness! That was nearly 5 months ago.

 I have had very little experience with hand piecing. In the past, my hands did not like it, but this time it was okay. The patterns and directions given for these blocks are in Di Ford's book Primarily Patchwork. It is not for the faint of heart or a total newbie because there is so much here that I have to figure out for myself. 
 Like, where is the pattern for the center circle? There is none. I reversed appliqued the center and did not get it very round.

It looks less bad on point, which is how all the blocks will be when set together. I will have to remember this when I fussy cut some of the center motifs. There will be a center broderie perse applique there when I eventually decide which chintz fabric I will use. They sent 2 different ones neither of which matches so far.

Those brown star points stick out past the circle.

After I cut out all the pieces and had them half stitched together, I wondered if I could have cut that circle out as one whole piece, but was not going to start over. I got 2 out of 3 points stitched down pointy. Now to get the others done pointy.

 Appliqueing that down was tricky. I had to turn under the seam without catching the seam from the brown star point. I took this next picture with the light shining through it. Perhaps next time I should pay closer attention the pressing the seams to get them out of the way on both sides.

There is still lots more to do on this block. In the meantime, a couple of months ago, I had cut out the first motif for block # 5 because they were big and easy. One of those leaf tips is right on the selvage. Oops.

 Problem here is, there were 2 different pictures of this block in the book. One had the leaves all going in the same direction and the other had 2 reversed. Looks like I cut 2 reversed. They will be on point when set into the quilt.

 My oldest granddaughter Ava, who is nearly 8, was visiting and her daddy insisted that Gramma help her make some needle craft thing for the local fall fair coming in 2 weeks.

 So, we started to make a pillow case. Gramma cut, she pinned and sewed and we both pressed. Well, she pressed and I had my hand over hers on the iron since it was her first time and that thing is hot. She knows now. She touched it by accident. Ouch!

Blessings,
Gramma Chris