Genealogy, Crochet and Some Quilting

I've been working on some genealogy lately. I've met a lot of people on line over the years that are researching the same lines that I am. Several of us are putting together a website and compiling our info into one place. Here is my contribution - the family Fracktur. Fracktur is a piece of Pennsylvania German folk art created sometime between 1740 and 1860. This one was probably created sometime around 1811 after the last child was born. I am the 6th generation, and since I have no brothers (or sisters), the Mason line is broken with me. So I really want to put my research into writing.

There is artwork inside on the left side of each page. The right side of the page has the name of each child on it as well as the birth date. All of the artwork and writing has been done by pencil of some sort. I'm also crocheting around the edge of fleece to make blankets to donate to Project Linus to distribute to children. This is easy TV work in the evenings.We have a 3" block exchange at our next Dear Jane retreat up in Shipshewana. I can't show photos right now because those little blocks are always a surprise when we have our exchange. More photos later.

Hope you find some time for stitching.

A Tisket a Tasket Block of the Month

I've finished appliqueing the January Block of the Month over at Bunny Hill Designs. These baskets are so cute and lots of fun to applique.

You all know how much we all love our gadgets. I ordered this rotary cutting blade from the Project Linus web site store. The "teeth" that stick out are really sharp. When you run this blade along the edge of a piece of fleece, it perforates holes in the fleece so that you can get a crochet hook through the hole and crochet a nice edging on it to make a blanket with a nice finished look. For right now this is my new favorite gadget!!!!!! This is my first finished fleece blanket with crocheted edging. I bought a couple more pieces of fleece today because I'm enjoying the crocheting in the evenings. Hope you are all taking some time to stitch a bit. Have a nice day.

Quilt Show Road Trip

Yesterday I drove down to Bloomington, Indiana, to the Indiana Hoosier Heritage Quilt Show. I met friends for lunch and dinner after the show. The weather was gorgeous yesterday, and the temperature was right around 70 - a perfect day for a drive. I have posted photos that I took at the show in my webshots (link over in my sidebar). I'm going to post a few photos here of ones that I really liked.

Looking at this quilt was like looking out of a window back in the late 60s. There is the hippy sitting by the tree with his Uncle Sam protest sign and the van all decorated up. This one actually made me laugh. It didn't win any ribbons but was a favorite of mine.

This quilt is a miniature. The circular quilting in the solid setting squares are the size of a nickle. That gives you an idea of how tiny those little nine patches are.

This quit won best of show. The applique was just gorgeous.

Vendors???? Ok. Yes, there were vendors. I was pretty well behaved. I bought these two charm packs of Moda's Fresh line and a honey bun of the same line.

And, the Aurifil thread booth always calls to me. We can all use thread, right????

In one corner of a booth there was a lady knitting this beautiful hand dyed yarn. The picture just doesn't do it justice.

More later on. Hope you are all out enjoying your weekend.

A Trip and Some Quilting

This is what I've been sewing on the past few days. I have the first three rows of my Dear Jane quilt put together. Now that I've started it I'm anxious to get it all put together. I've been working on these blocks for several years. This is supposed to be a trip around the world setting. Right now I don't see it, but I'll post another photo after I finish a few more rows.

This is the mystery quilt that one of our local quilt shops did last year. They pass out a clue every month starting in January and ending in June. I just put the border on last week. I need to add another border or maybe two in order for it to fit on the twin bed in the guest room.

We took a trip to Huntsville, AL, this past weekend to visit our daughter. We took a walk around the lake, and I saw these flowers in bloom in a little clump all by themselves. It was 60 degrees when we got there on Friday, and it snowed Sunday morning before we left.

There are always pansies in bloom in Huntsville even when it is winter here in the midwest. You probably think I'm easily amused, but those of you that live in the midwest know that we have lots and lots of days that are cloudy and the grass and trees are brown.

More in a few days. Thanks for reading. Have a nice day.

More Dear Jane Blocks

These three Dear Jane blocks are for a group project that several of us are working on. Here are the three that I signed up for. We are supposed to make the blocks look as close as possible to the ones from the original Dear Jane quilt. I couldn't find anything even close to the fabric for the first block (Rick's Volleyball Net), so I made my fabric.

And what was I thinking when I signed up for a block with both curved piecing and applique melons?

This one was paper pieced - my favorite method.

This corner goes in my Dear Jane.

I'm off to my sewing room for the afternoon. I hope you are all having a good day and finding some time to stitch.

Project Linus Quilt Tops

I've been under the weather for the past several days. I have pneumonia about this same time every winter, and this is the time. The good news is that I am on the mend.




Earlier last week I made a few tops to donate to the Project Linus Make A Blanket Day. I've hung onto the hand dyes in this top since I went to Paducah in 2001 so I figured it was time to cut into them. And, I love buying the Kaffe fabric but can never quite figure out what to do with it. I kind of like it with these hand dyes.
(46" X 60")




This one is a baby blanket 36" X 36" made from Moda's Gypsy Rose charm pack plus some older Moda prints.













This Project Linus quilt (46" X 60") is made from red lobster fabric from my friend, Susie, from Noblesville. I went to her house when I was making my Nearly Insane quilt to raid her green stash. And, somehow when I got home I mysteriously had this fat quarter of lobster fabric. I was able to make this whole quilt with just that one fat quarter of lobster fabric plus the red and black from my stash. And, as you can see, Mr. Kitty likes it.

Now to get some flannel for backing and get some machine quilting done on these. Until next time.
LuAnn

Where to begin?????

It's been awhile since I last posted. To make a long story short, I started tearing down some old wallpaper in one room and then another and another. In the middle of all this our refrigerator stopped working. Then before the new refrigerator arrived, the kitchen sink sprung a leak. So I've ended up with most of the wallpaper (mostly borders) torn down and all new appliances in the kitchen, and the kitchen sink is fixed complete with new faucet.

The wallpaper and wall washing isn't all finished yet because it snowed. We ended up with 12.5 inches.

OK. I didn't actually get out in the snow. The photos were taken through the windows.

The snow made me want to head for my sewing room. This is one of the Dear Jane corners made from Brenda Papadakis' newest line of fabric. You can purchase the fabric at http://www.dearjane.com/

Here are three triangles I made. After all, it snowed for a day and a half.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to keep my blog updated more often. We all see how well that went. More tomorrow.................