My 2017 Quilts

Hello Everyone

Writing this blog post is like back in the day when we wrote snail mail letters back and forth with a friend - days before we had email.  The letters came every week at first.  Then they came every other week, and then eventually it ended up that those weekly letters turned into a form letter stuck in a Christmas card.  I think when you write less often, it is harder to figure out where to start.  That's where I'm at today.  I didn't plan to be gone for so long, but I've had two bouts of the flu since Thanksgiving.  Both times I ended up with an infection and an antibiotic.  I'm trying to take it easy and slow down......some.

Right before I got sick this last time after Christmas, I pulled everything that wasn't nailed down out of my sewing room which is the room that should be our guest room.  It is about 11' X 12'.   I put everything out into the entryway, great room, and on the table and that is where it stayed until recently when I began to feel better.  I was going to start with a blog post with those photos, but I lost my nerve.

So I decided to start with the quilts that I finished in 2017 instead.

This is my version of Brinton Hall.  The pattern was published in Quiltmania magazine No. 82. 

Here is a closer look at the center.  Instead of the applique' flowers in the pattern, I chose to do broderie perse flowers, and I added some embroidery flowers and leaves.  This center was so much fun that I was kind of sad when I had finished it.

This quilt is just something I made up.  I still love making string blocks.   Here is a link to the string block tutorial on my blog.  You can also find it in the tabs under my blog header.

This quilt was machine quilted by Paul WyCoff.  

This is my Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses quilt.  I finished these 16 blocks, sewed them into this small quilt, and machine quilted it on my home machine.  I still have more block kits prepped so who knows where they will end up.  You can find my tutorial here on how to fussy cut your Lucy Boston blocks so the outside round forms a square.  That link is also under my blog header.  

Here is a small part of my 2" six pointed diamond quilt.  When there is a sunny day, I'll take a photo of the entire quilt because I don't think I blogged about it since I finished it.  It was just finished this past year.  This was quilted by Paul Wycoff.

 Brinton Hall is one of my favorites because I love hexagons.  It is another pattern from Quiltmania magazine 107-108.  The original pattern called for a row or more of blocks around the hexagon center.  I believe they were star blocks.  I liked the quilt just as it is, and I liked the border with it.  This was quilted by Paul Wycoff.  

This is a quarter Dresden blade pillow I did with embroidery in the sashing.  I just made this up and plan to write a pattern with the pillow and the quilt in the next photo.  

The quilt is a Dresden Hourglass.  I really enjoy using the Easy Dresden ruler.  I hate to think of how many years I had that ruler sealed up in its package before I ever opened it and made my first Dresden.  Now it's hard to stop.  I quilted this one myself.  

This twisted bargello has been in my stack of UFOs for several years.  It was there mostly because I didn't know how to quilt it.  So one day I just basted it and started quilting.  I made this by reading through a pattern I bought years ago, looking at a pattern in a magazine, and I ended up just doing my own thing.  

I sew with a group downtown on Thursday mornings.  We try to do a group project of some sort each year.  Last year we did Gypsy Wife.  Everybody did the blocks they wanted and as many as they wanted.   Some people substituted other blocks for ones they didn't want to do.  I had a bag of half square triangles so I substituted those.   This is my version.  I machine quilted this one.

The pattern for this quilt is from Pacific Rim Quilt Company.   These two color quilts are a manageable size and are a lot of fun to hand applique'.  You just pick a color of thread that works and stitch.    The background is a creamy yellow fabric hand dyed by my friend, Val, from Canada.  I machine quilted this one. I like to echo quilt, and these flowers seemed like a good place to do that.  

Here is another quilt that was in the UFO pile for a lot of years.   I believe this is from a book by Gai Perry about 1995 called Impressionist Quilts.  This quilt is made of all squares that finish at 1".  These were all put on a design wall and sewn together individually.  I machine quilted this one.

This is Alletaire the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt from 2016.  It was machine quilted by Paul Wycoff.  This is a photo of the finished top.

I love the design he did in the border.  

Talkin' Turkey is another Bonnie Hunter pattern.  I did the top over a year ago.  It was started in a Bonnie Hunter class that I took over in Cincinnati with my friend Michele.  What a fun time we had!

Here it is quilted although you can't see a lot in this photo.



This quilt is in Edyta Sitar's book Friendship Strips and Scraps.  I like this quilt.  No, it didn't use up much of my stash at all.

This quilt is made from Anita Shackleford's Ohio Collection book and some blocks were taken from 

Album Quilts of Miami Valley.  There were four of us that worked on our own version of this quilt and shared ideas and blocks and motivated each other.  Karen, Cathy and Lori and I had fun doing this project and sharing our progress on our blogs.  Karen even drew several of the blocks and shared her original designs.   

Paul Wycoff quilted this with an all over Baptist Fan design which works well with these blocks.

This is my version of  Holly and Mistletoe from the Blackbird Design book When the Cold Wind Blows.  The original quilt had a couple of applique' blocks in the center and the vase of holly was off center.  I like symmetry, so I put the vase in the center and left out the other two blocks.  The original border is all appliqued', but I've had this red and green fabric in my stash just waiting for the right quilt so I used it for the border.  

Here's a closer look at the center.  It is all hand appliqued'.


Here's what's for dinner tonight.  Chili really hits the spot when you don't feel well or even if you do, and we've eaten a lot of it this winter.  My recipe makes enough that we can have leftovers for a night - sometimes two nights.  That leaves more time for sewing.    Here's the recipe:

Chili
3 pounds ground chuck
1 large yellow onion (or a large and a small one) finely chopped
1- 46 ounce can tomato juice
2 cans dark kidney beans
2 cans light kidney beans
1 - 8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 heaping tablespoons sugar
4 heaping tablespoons chili powder
salt and pepper

Brown ground chuck and finely chopped onion.  Drain fat.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until desired thickness.  Reduce heat and simmer to blend the flavors.


That's it for now.  I'll try not to stay so long next time.


I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.