Wascally Wabbits

I seem to have 

an abundance of rabbits in my yard.

 Every time my little granddaughter

comes over,

we immediately begin to search for 

the Hoppies that live at Nana's house.

Sometimes we're lucky and see one,

but most of the time we don't.

We have very sneaky bunnies.

I thought of the two of us

on our wabbit walks

while I stitched

this delightful prim wool table mat.

"Wabbits"

2014

21" x 28"

****

This is a pattern designed by 

Lynda Hall and her granddaughters

and was in the 2012 Spring edition of 

Primitive Quilts and Projects.

****

I had cut the pieces awhile ago

 

dipping into my wool stash.

The large background piece 

was a wool skirt

 seams and all.

I lighted  up the piece

 using springtime colors.

I used a simple primitive whip stitch

around the shapes,

  either with wool embroidery thread

or perel cotton.

Now that it's spring,

those wascally wabbits might be multiplying.

I'm sure 

on our next wabbit walk

we'll be finding

Hoppies around every corner.

Until Next Time-

Marching On

With the days of March
marching on forever,
I needed to take advantage of this seemingly
long month.

I was feeling a bit guilty,
 like we all tend to do on occasion,
having my long list of WIP's, so
 I pulled out a quilt top
that was so close to being done.

In July

I had started these nine patches
using two packets of charm squares,
Posy by Aneela Hoey
and Cuzco by Kate Spain.

I had even sewn the blocks together,
alternating with a solid white square.

Why did I stop?

Actually a couple of reasons:

I was moving and needed to stop sewing

and pack things up.

(a completely valid reason)

But the other reason was that
 I needed to find fabric for a border,

And I wasn't in the mood to go look.

Well, I've moved

and can cross that off the list of excuses.

So, what was left?

Go fabric shopping!

This is such a simple pattern and it

really gives the feeling of a vintage quilt.

Only the colored spaces are filled in

with some fun modern fabrics,

moving it forward in time.

These simple designs

come alive once they are quilted.

I plan to embellish with 

some rick rack 

( I love that stuff)

and do a gentle swagged border after

the quilting has been completed.

Okay,

I'm closer to being finished,

 no more excuses,

or at least not right away!

Until Next Time-

Spring Will Come

 How do you turn this...

and this 

into springtime?

 By playing a mental game

of imagining these colors and

fields of tulips

and then sewing

Fields of Tulips
50" x 64"

2014

these rows of

spring time colors.

I stitched on the binding Saturday 

as the snow continued to fall.

It may not be tulip weather here yet,

but my rows of colors are done.

I started this simple springtime mood enhancer

a few weeks ago, HERE, using 

strips of fabrics rather than triangles.

The backing fabric
was no gray winter day either,

This is a great print by Riley Blake
called Sidewalks by October Afternoon.
It definitely made me feel happy.

This fast and easy quilt was the 

perfect positive image 

I needed to push the winter doldrums away.
 I'm starting to feel like spring isn't too far off.

Until Next Time-

Christmas Crowns

 March brought us new snow

and the endless freezing temperatures.

But there's always a bright side.

Christmas Crowns

2014

57" x 57"

I brought March in like a lion

with another quilt finished.

The pattern is

from Di Ford's book

Primarily Quilts...

19th Century Inspirations

published by Quiltmania.

Her original inspiration is from 

Henrietta Smith Glover,

of Huntington Connecticut,

c. 1840-1865

I used bright poison greens and

vibrant turkey red repros along with

a few golds.

The fabrics didn't have busy patterns

so the graphic design of the quilt could be the star.

I opted to have it machine quilted and 

went with an overall pattern 

that loosely resembled swirling feathers.

I thought it added another element

to balance and soften, just a little,

the sharp angular lines of the blocks.

With a complicated quilt finished,

I feel the need to do something

simple and quick.

 My machine is humming already.

 Until Next Time-

Has It Been A Year Since I Started?

 It has been a year,

not a year of constant work,

but a year from start to finish.

It was last February 

while I was staying in Denver,

helping to take care of my little grandson and granddaughter,

that I began this

wool/flannel project

designed by

Primitive Gatherings.

There was lots of prep work:

fusing, cutting

and more fusing ,

along with  some help at the ironing board.

("Hey, Nana, I think it works better like this.")

But the blocks got done.

Well, not done completely.

There was lots of button hole stitching to do.

 I even had help with that.

Then all the borders were appliqued,

 half square triangles made,

and the top was finally pieced together.

Last week I got out my Perle cotton

and started big stitching.

Big stitching doesn't take too long

It is big stitches, after all.

So here it is all done,

quilted

 and bound.

Not bad for a calendar year,

even with help.

 Until Next Time-

I'm Glad I Waited

Later is better than never.

Right?

Having something take place even though 

a lot of time has passed

is better than never having it happen at all.

Recently I reacquainted

 myself with  a lovely pile of fabrics

that were put

together

15+ years  ago.

And, the fact, 

that I actually still wanted to use

those fabric in a project

can only be described as

astounding,

amazing,

astonishing,

and

it's about time!!! 

As you can see it's a line from

Sandy Gervais from 

about 15 years ago.

I fell in love with the soft pastel colors

and whimsical flower prints.

I had originally chosen a pattern

and prewashed the fabrics,

but it never went further than that.

Why?

 I don't exactly know.

But sometimes

it's a good thing.

Because I have found that I think is

the perfect project for this

huge stack of fabric.

This year on the Quilt Show

with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims,

Janet Stone has designed a 

delightful quilt

 A - Z with Ewe and Me!

After completing the January

set of directions,

I definitely know

it was the right choice.

The fused alphabet letters

are all different styles and

are embellished with a 

the double button hole stitch.

I decided to use a Metler 

#30 embroidery weight thread

to add some texture to the letter shapes.

And to use a few different colors

 to add some variety and 

to pull all the pastels together.

Granted this BOM will take

a year to piece, but at this point

what's another 12 months!

Until Next Time-

Hello, Queen Victoria

 For a long time

I've had several of 

Quiltmania's books vying 

for my attention.

Life is always pulling at us one way

or the other.

Like all of us, I

have lots of obligations, commitments and

unfinished projects that 

require and tug for my attention.

But for just a moment

I needed to take a quilt making vacation

and enjoy the freedom of 

exploring something new.

I love Di Ford's book

Primarily Quilts... 19th Century Inspirations.

She used the book

Quilts and Quiltmakers,

Covering Connecticut

 as inspiration to create

 Queen Victoria's Crown

 Di Ford

Queen Victoria's Crown

Henrietta Smith Glover

1840-1865

Now it's my turn to interpret

this great design.

The funny thing is that I actually

had the stripe fabric Di used

in the block only in a lighter version.

It's a Marsha McCloskey Staples 

by Clothworks.

 I had bought a lot of it for 

some reason and now was the time to use it.

And look, I had to actually use scissors 

to cut it accurately

 because there was no wiggle room

between the rows.

With a marked template,

 

 I was able to cut each rectangle piece

with the fabric design always in the same position.

The process was slow, but 

that was the only way to get the affect I wanted.

Slow is not a bad word.

It can be a style, a mood,

a way of enjoying what you're doing,

taking time to explore different and new possibilities.

We tend to think of the word slow only in

negative terms.

I had been gifted with a nice packet of

red and green reproduction fabrics

and wanted to use those as the jumping off point

for this scrappy quilt.

I cut the pieces and

sewed a gazzilion

half square triangles.

I did all 25 blocks at the same time because

I was still using the Angler

on my machine.

  It seemed the most efficient method,

I did sew one test block.

 I like where this is heading.

 Until Next Time-