Give Me Liberty

July has been a hot, busy month

and it was nice to work 

on a small quilt to

commemorate the  signing of 

Declaration of Independence 

of the United States, July 4, 1776.

"Give Me Liberty"

30" x 36"

This July mini started out as

vintage x-stitch piece picked up by a 

friend at a

"jaunting for junk" sale in Nebraska

a couple of years ago.

I'm thinking it was a piece completed 

during the bicentennial, July, 1976.

I'm sure many of us did something similar.

My friend, Liz, thought I would like to

create something with it because of my

family patriots who served during the Revolutionary War.

She was right.

It took a few months to come up with a plan

and then to do the math to make the pieces fit.

But it didn't take long for my head to hurt because

the numbers were not good quilt making numbers.

I decided to go ahead and make hst's and see

what happened.  The surprise was that by some

miracle it worked out.  It sure didn't on paper.

The next pieced border needed 

a couple of coping strips to make 

it fit. 

In this case, the measurements looked good on paper,

but when it came to adding the 

3" sawtooth star borders they was too short.

Adding some narrow background pieces on both ends

solved the problem. 

Who wouldn't  know that I didn't plan 

it that way.

So much for paper and pencil!

I had to look far and wide for

an outer border that wasn't too plain

or too busy.

 I finally found 

an older French General print that 

was the perfect one.

I pulled all the colors that were

in the original stitchery 

and use them to create the quilt.

Along with another French General piece and a very old

 Barbarar Brackman civil war fabric, 

complete with cannons and flags,

I put together a backing.

Most of the quilting was simple

but the outer borders called for something more elegant,

like feathers.

I really enjoy quilting

 organic freestyle feathers.

It gave the quilt the finishing touch.

It's a sweet quilt to be included in 

my July collection of

red, white and blue and is

a special way to remember

that so many have given their best just for me.

Be sure to check out the links of other fabulous

monthly minis

on Wendy's blog, The Constant Quilter.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Hand Stitching through the Heat

The hot summer weather that

we've been experiencing 

has left me feeling drained

and lethargic. 

Maybe it's a combination

  of the heat, 

the continuing quarantine,

isolation,

and boredom.

I suppose the list could go on, 

but I've tried not to dwell on 

too much of the negative.

But still,

it does eventually catch up with you.

Running Man and I spent a couple

of days camping 

 with our daughter's family.

The 3 grand kids kept us very entertained,

but then that wisp of normalcy was gone.

I have used the past week

to focus on enjoying hand stitching

a variety of projects.

Stacey West at Buttermilk Basin had a 

free sew along a while ago called 'Stars and Stripes'.

I decided to order the kit that included the wool

pattern and fabrics because

I wanted to support her business and thank her 

for sharing so much of her 

talent online for free. 

I found 

whip stitching around wool,

even with the heat,

was totally relaxing and 

mind soothing.

 

 

I usually have to change a few things

that comes with the kit,

but that's a quilter's choice.

I did use my machine to add the flange binding 

Love the quickness of that!

Thanks again, Stacey, for

your talent and willingness to share 

with so many.

****

I've also taken the time to

make another block for Stars Upon Stars.

"Ogeechee"

made by Aline Loulin

Houston, 2018

Once the block is sewn together it's 

all fingers crossed

to see if all those

 tiny diamonds will lay flat

or if the center point looks decent.

Will you have a volcano in the middle?

or a deep whirlpool?

All of the blocks for this quilt 

have been sewn by hand

and have been pressed carefully.

Whew!

Looking pretty good!

Block #12

There's more hand stitching on the

agenda for this week.  

The weather is still 

unseasonably hot for this area.

Hopefully, I'll catch a

cool breeze 

and keep stitching along.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

June's Mini Quilt

What a busy month.

It seems to have 

 flown by.

Like many of you

I have attempted and continue

to complete several unfinished projects.

My June mini is an applique and 

pieced pattern started in November,2019

as a QAL with Sharon Keightley.

The Secret Garden

July, 2020

22"  x  34"

I was using the pattern from

Sharon's book 

Autumn Bouquet.

It was a wonderful pattern to

use up little bits of leftover fabrics.

All those sweet scraps

were sewn into wonderful

shoofly blocks.

It also was a good project to 

machine applique the leaves 

as well as, layers of circles 

that created flowers.

The stems and flowers

flowed gently out of the 4 corner vases

for the outer border.

My purple salvia 

is a good backdrop 

for this scrappy garden design.

As well as, the purple penstemon flowers

and sulfur yellow buckwheat

I actually had to run out and quickly take

these photos as it looked like

it was going to start hailing any second.

If that happened, the flowers would 

be completely trampled and been

reduced to 

a colorful flower mush.

It happens here a lot, but

fortunately, this time 

it turned out just to be

rain, which we always need.

The month of June may have faded away,

but this little secret garden quilt 

will be a reminder of one of 

summer's happy month.

Need some wonderful inspiration?

Check out the Wendy's blog, The Constant Quilter,

for links to the other

Monthly Mini Makers.

You'll be glad you did!

Until Next Time-

Kyle