A Quilt Finish

 I want to shout it from the rooftops that I have completed a quilt!!!

This is the first WIPS-B-GONE finish.

Disappearing 9-Patch in 30s Repro fabrics

The backing is a novelty print from Joanns purchased 

many years ago.

And I finally get to show off a quilt roll.

The baby shower is on the patio in half an hour. Guess I need to get it wrapped. 

Blessings,

Chris

November 2021 OMG Completion

 An old friend called up early in October to invite us to his wedding. The next day my Sweet Farmer announced he was going to sell all the cows. My 90 Day Writing Goal was to have a first draft of my newest book by Dec 1. The pressure was on. I decided to choose one of the ufos from the endless project boxes that was nearest completion and make it my November OMG. This is Biblical Blocks by Rosemary Makhan that I started in 2005. The book writing was put on hold and Nov 11 the cattle were sold.

I had taken a class years ago the first time I made this pattern but I loaned the book and all the instructions to a friend who has moved 2-3 times since. Good thing that the first thing we did was cut out and label all the borders and setting triangles. 

But I still had to figure out how to put them together.This was a bit of a challenge. But I had a picture of the finished quilt so had a reference point. I only had to redo one. 

My machine was a bit sluggish so I thought I should check inside. Good plan. I cannot believe how much lint had collected in here. 

As a rule, I sew with bare feet. I want to be able to feel what is going on and have better control. But, what are the chances of dropping the scissors inches from my foot? 

I took me 2 days to make up the 6 remaining blocks. I had fussy cut many of the others, but chose to do foundation piecing for these. Another 2 days to assemble all the blocks and borders.

I had been helping my Sweetie with preparations for the cow sale so he rewarded me with his time and removed the foundation papers. He has decided that quilting will not be his new retirement hobby.

 I mitered both the Rose of Sharon applique borders and the fancy dancy Jinny Beyer border print. This technique is not for the faint of heart. Matching up all those stripes and designs. I sent the thing out to be longarm quilted. She had it back in 2 days.

The last thing to do was trim and sew on the binding. I chose to use a mottled blue fabric from the collection because I had enough and it matched perfectly. This is where the pain in my right hand really started screaming for relief. It took me the whole day to do a 2 hour job. So in all, it took 7 days to finish this quilt. 

 

Our friend told me that when he was living with us, he often noticed me working on quilts and asked what it would take to get one of them. Get married I told him apparently. Well, he remembered and now he has his own quilt.

You'd of thought we knew the bedroom colours before choosing this quilt. But I chose one from the archives of ufos nearest to completion. 

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: midweek-makers 

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rombolttobeauty.

Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop 2021

 Welcome to my stop on the Dust Off  Quilt Book Blog Hop. The first quilt book I ever bought was the Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting by Marguerite Ickis. It was first published in 1948 and my copy in 1959. As a voracious reader, I had to be reading something.  I devoured the book. As a young bride moving into this 1842 farmhouse nearly 50 years ago, I discovered a few tattered old quilts. They are long gone, but the memories remain. A Radiant Star, Triple Irish Chain, Double Nine Patch as well as an assortment of child quilts.  

In the book are patterns for many old favorite blocks. I had never heard of any of them. But I was young and willing to learn. I liked that there were themes of blocks. I especially liked the Rose of Sharon blocks. But they were all different sizes. I had no idea how to make them all the same size. There were Bible-themed blocks. I thought that would be a great place to begin so I started dreaming of making my first sampler quilt.

The patterns were wonderfully descriptive.

The instructions were clear with detailed instructions. 

 

I could hardly wait to get started. 

However, in 1974 when I bought this book, I was just beginning the nightmare journey with a profoundly handicapped child - the seizures, the fevers, another pregnancy, sleepless nights, depression -  You can read the whole story in my book 

Denine: One mother's journey with a profoundly handicapped child. 

 

Years later I found this pattern by Rosemary Makhan called Biblical Blocks. I loved it so much, I started a couple more. I will complete them someday. 

And this pattern also by Rosemary, who bought her copy of the book at the same time. 

Rose Sampler Supreme. 

The swag border and sashing were simplified.

I want to thank Bea at beaquilter for inviting me to be part of this blog hop. I already have a book picked out for next year.  

Blessings,

Chris

linking with: wendysquiltsandmore.

ninamariesayre. rebeccagracequilting

link-party-patchwork-quilts

2019 Completions

I completed 2 quilts in 2019. Yup. Two. Quilting and Binding. This Almost Irish Chain was started way back in 2004. I took all the partially sewn units to Shipshewana with me back in April. My daughter called up one day and announced they had bought a king-sized bed. So I immediately thought of this quilt since it finishes at 106 inches. The biggest quilt I ever made It took only 8 phone calls to find someone who could long arm quilt it right away instead of putting me on a 4-month waitlist. And, she lives about 5 miles from here! This is the photo she sent me.

She used an edge to edge design called Vortex. I love it! It takes a simple pattern and makes it special.

And of course, Dear Daughter that I made for my mother in laws 90th birthday. It finishes at about 70 inches square. It is all hand appliqued and I machine quilted this one myself.

I wonder how many I will complete in 2020.
Blessings,
Chris
needleandthreadnetwork.

Throwback Thursday

This is a quilt I made for my daughter when she was about 8. The center is a very faded Care Bear Cousins panel. That pink poly-cotton will never fade or shrink. It is tied. She used this one for years as a take-along and on the couch. One of her cats persisted in sucking on one of the ties. Silly cat.

When she was about 13 I found a quilt shop that was selling out and I bought some fabric for half price. She chose the colours. We were told that if we turned some of the fabrics over, we would get yet another colour. Who knew. I cut out all those squares and hand-pieced them. It is also tied and has a flannel backing. Many of the squares are falling apart and I have patched it.





Blessings,
Chris

Throwback Thursday Quilts made before blogging

I started blogging Sept 4, 2013. It took me a while to figure out what I was doing and how to do it. It took me longer to figure out how to stop being a no-reply blogger so I could interact with my readers. After a while, I found some linky parties and started dialogues with many quilters around the world. What a wonderful journey that has been. One of them is Sandra at  mmmquilts who hosts Throwback Thursday Quilts made before blogging.

This is one of my earlier quilts that I actually completed and gifted. One girl that was working for us milking cows and doing a hundred other things, was going off to college so we decided to make her a quilt. So, for her birthday in May, I gave her a bag of fabrics and a picture of a Wagon Wheel quilt I saw in a magazine. Earlier, I had asked her what her favourite colour was. She paused, lowered her head, a bit bashful, for her, and said burnt orange. No problem. I had some yardage and a whole wack of orange and golds and browns.

It took me a few months and many stitches removed and redone. I had machine quilted it in that (in my opinion) horrible monofilament thread that kept stretching and breaking and nesting. On the back is a panel with folded hands and the Lord's Prayer.  It is all half-square triangles and squares.
She dragged it back and forth to college and home every weekend for 2 years.

Blessings,
Chris
tgiff.  frombolttobeauty.

2019 Quilters Meet and Greet

Hi. My name is Chris, and I Quilt at the Farm.  Actually, I do pretty much everything at the farm since I live on a dairy farm. I have been blogging about my life on the farm and family, travel and quilting since Sept 4, 2013, so tomorrow is my bloggerversary. I have been invited to take part in victoriana quilt designs  2019-online-quilters-meet-greet..

What can I say? I quilt. A lot. Almost every day. I love reproduction quilts and applique. Especially needle-turn hand applique because that is where I am in my happy place. I do machine applique also if I want to complete something fast. And write. I have published a book called Denine: One mother's journey with a profoundly handicapped child. You can read more about it on my website here.  I am in the process of writing 2 more books. I will be taking part in a virtual writing retreat this weekend after I judge canning at a local fair.

These are a few of the quilts I have been working on in the past few years. Most of them are quilted by machine. Some are patiently awaiting their turn. 

GORF 1 - Go Real Fast

Chester County Criswell Quilt
needle turn hand applique

GORF 2 - Go Real Fast

Simple Simon 

$10 Sampler 

Crazy Patch

Original Later Cake 

1857 Album Quilt
needle turn hand applique

Dear Daughter
needle turn hand applique

Double Irish Chain

Civil War Dear Jane

Beyond the Cherry Trees.
needle turn hand applique

Besides quilting and writing, I travel. You can read about some of my mission adventures here and here and here. I often take along some hand applique blocks because I can get a lot of work done one stitch at a time.

There is a grand prize draw. For more information check out this link victorianaquiltdesigns.

Blessings, 

Chris
needleandthreadnetwork.

Completed Quilts So Far in 2017

I was busy earlier this winter and spring completing five quilts that I took to Poland with me to give to my cousins as gifts. I made the right choice for colours. They were completely surprised and delightfully pleased.

This first one was made about 20 years ago but I misplaced the fabric for the backing and finally found it, pieced it together and sandwiched the quilt a few  years ago. I simply quilted curves diagonally starting with the corners. Robert and Krystyna love it.

This was one of the $10 quilts I had made blocks for several years ago. I bought a variety of blue and brown civil war reproduction fabrics in anticipation of completing. Ella loved it.

I had a different plan for this cousin, but my Sweet Farmer, in his great wisdom, said to quilt this one for Beata instead. I love this quilt. I used a variety of solid fabrics for crazy patch blocks and machine embroidered as many different designs as I could using variegated threads. I used the walking foot to straight stitch around the borders and sashing. Then, I made ties using some black perle cotton I found in one of the stuff drawers. The backing is a wide tan flannelette.

I have shown many pictures of this one since I started it in Shipshewana last November. Upon receiving it, Anya commented that she loved that it was a modern quilt. I had to chuckle since it is based on an antique quilt owned by Linda Collins. I started it at a workshop in Shipshewana. I believe there are 3248 pieces in this quilt. But who is counting?

Now this is the first quilt I thought about making when I had the idea more than a year ago to take quilts for my cousin  in Poland. This modern quilt was going to be perfect for a house that was decorated in basic black and white with zebra curtains and a touch of red. It is perfect - on their bed. Andrje and Ewa redid the living room with blues and yellows.

Here I used a variegated black and white thread and did large curves though each of the intersections. I like how the variegations look. I used a wide flannel backing.

 I think I deserve to start a brand new quilt. But I don't have time till May. Sigh.

Blessings,
Chris

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