We are in Wisconsin. Today we sang at the Kenosha Public Museum for the Southport Quilters. They had their annual show and it was lovely. They also hosted an afternoon concert for us which drew over 100 people!
Our audience with part of the quilt show hanging overhead.
It was a great show, and beautifully displayed.
The really exciting part was that afterwards we had dinner with Lynn, who is one of our Block of the Monthers – the first group. That means that April 1st will be her last installment from me.
SHE BROUGHT HER BLOCKS WITH HER TO DINNER!
How wonderful to see them – she’s doing a really scrappy look, but it has lots of yellow. It will be a very sunny and fun quilt. Here we are with some of her blocks.
You go, Lynn! Can’t wait to see it finished!
Anyone else going to be near us for a show? We’ll be in Paducah doing a free concert on the front lawn of the American Quilt Museum on the Thursday. Perhaps we’ll see you there? (Please bring your blocks so we can do a photo op!)
Thanks for coming along, Lynn, and thanks for bringing your blocks.
(I love that word – penultimate. It sounds way more important than it means: second-last!)
I am thrilled to tell you that I have completed writing all the patterns for this quilt! There are two more months to go on the first group, and you’ll be happy to know that I haven’t saved all the hard ones for the end. BUT this month, for perfection, we will be resorting to hand work. So relax, turn on the latest episode of “Downton Abbey” and pour yourself a nice drink to sip on as you contentedly stitch these two blocks.
Bleeding Heart is English Paper Piecing, with all those elongated hexagons. If you were to do this by machine, it would be ALL Y-SEAMS! It’s much easier by hand.
The Rope
The second block is called “Bleeding Heart”, and I figured the curved piecing would be much more accurately done as applique. So that’s what I did.
Bleeding Heart
Watch for these two patterns in your inbox in a few days.
We sang “Star and Plume” today in Littleton Colorado for the Colorado Quilting Council. I told them about the Block of the Month and that you were all making it. The next time they see us, I’ll have my “48 Shades of Grey” version finished and hanging beside the original quilt. I can’t wait to see them together!
We are so close to finishing this Block of the Month, can’t you almost taste it? I’m busily writing up the last few patterns and will be putting the quilt together before our final wrap-up in April. I have NOT left the hardest blocks to the end (well, maybe just one or two)!
I have re-drafted Farmer’s Daughter (top row, last column) to avoid all inset seams. It makes up using HSTs instead, and I wish I’d thought about doing that when I made the original quilt – it’s much simpler!
She was a New York Beauty with a Farmer’s Daughter’s life.
The second one is also pretty simple:
No more the Old Maid’s Ramble for our Sunbonnet Sue!
Old Maid’s Ramble is nothing but HSTs! It’s on the bottom row, 3rd column.
Watch for these in your inbox at the end of the month.
Here’s the second block for August. It didn’t go that straightforwardly! I had to unpick the outer triangles and then square up the centre/mitred part to 7inches and then it worked splendidly- thank goodness!
Now I’ve got to get down to some serious quilting on Grandson no:1’s birthday “Star Wars” quilt. 2 weeks to get it done.
Greetings and best wishes of the season to you and your families. This will be my last blog here for 2014, and I must say it’s been a very busy year! John and I are happily home, awaiting the arrival of our family for Christmas. I hope you’ll be surrounded by love this season, in this (for us) darkest time of the year. Last year at this time we were in Australia, enjoying the long days and warm nights – very warm, especially when we got to Melbourne for the Australian Open!
On January 1st I’ll be sending the next two blocks. The good news for the first group is that we are so nearly finished. The BOM will be completed for you in April. That means there are only 7 more blocks to go!
You’ll thank me for changing the Flying Darts block from paper piecing and inset seams to easy-peasy HSTs. Flying Darts should be called Flying DRATS, if you make it like I did for the original quilt! But with a few extra lines, VOILA – a simple block.
Flying Darts
The other block this month is the Title of the whole shebang: Star and Plume! It’s an easy block when you fuse the applique pieces. I’m all about easy these days……
Star and Plume
Look for these blocks in your inbox on January 1st (or even the night before!).
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Years Eve, everyone, or whatever else you might celebrate this time of year. I write this on the longest night – the Winter Solstice. It’s all brighter from here on in!
See you next year!
cathy
For those of you who are in the first group making this quilt, December sees us at MONTH 20! That means there’s only 4 more months after this before YOU’RE FINISHED THE QUILT! How exciting is that?
This month we have one easy-peasy block with nothing but HSTs (half-square triangles). This is so you can get it done amid the craziness of the Christmas season.
Streak of Lightning
After that, there’s a more challenging block, but you have all the skills you need for it already.
The Courtyard
There’s a bit of paper piecing, a few inset seams, and some hand applique. I love the last bit of this block – appliqueing the big circle in the centre, to hide all those nasty inner seams!
Watch for these patterns in your Inbox next week!
Daleah has just sent me a bunch of blocks she’s made – she’s almost all caught up! I’ve posted the pics (with her permission) below. I’m liking the way they’re working together. I like it that she’s taken pictures of the layout with the blocks in order. It will help her choose fabrics for the remaining blocks.
I know that she is not the only one who has already started thinking about sashing. The fabric she’s chosen works for me so far. She’s still thinking about cornerstones (like I have in the original quilt, but is not required).
As for me, I chose the sashing almost at the end of the process. I trusted that I could find the right fabric when I got there. If you want to look at sashing now, go right ahead. I’m going to talk about it in the final month, along with possible quilting designs, and finishing techniques, so there’s no rush at all.
Here are Daleah’s blocks:
Top Half
Bottom Half
Young Man’s Fancy
This is the alternative to the dart-board-esque Wheel of Fortune
New York Beauty
Lotus Flower
Jackknife
I Do!
Drunkard’s Path
Devil’s Claws
Cross Roads
Crazy Patch – her second one.
Broad Axe
Sunbonnet Sue – going to the altar in lace and ribbons!
Beg and Borrow – nice choice of fabric!
Altar Steps
Thanks for letting me post these and show everyone, Daleah!
We stopped last night at Bearly Square Quilt Shop in Havre Montana on our drive east. It was the opening night of their new location, and lots of people were invited to the event. It was glorious to sing for everyone!
The shop has just tripled its size, and I was really impressed with the layout. They had moved everything in the store between Friday night and Monday night – and were totally exhausted, I think, but still welcomed us beautifully.
One of our Star and Plumers was the first in the door at opening – it was thanks to Mary that we were able to do a show for them, and it was great to meet her. She has been a fan for a very long time, but has never been able to attend a show, so it was extra special for me. Here we are, in front of my quilt.
In front of the original Star and Plume quilt!
It was great to finally meet you, Mary – good luck with those blocks!
I’m sending the next patterns right away.
Huge congratulations to Heather, who posted her up to date TWO Star and Plume quilts – you’re a star, Heather!
October 1st (how can it be October already?) will feature two foundation pieced blocks.
The Lotus Flower looks a lot more difficult than it is. I had to remember how I pieced it, because it’s somewhat counter-intuitive. But if you do it in the order that I’ve written it in the pattern, it will work for you. I think of this block as an elegant one, so I used plain fabrics to show off the flower.
Lotus Flower
Beg and Borrow is a surprise. Although there’s nothing but straight lines in the piece, from a distance it looks like there are gentle waves, much like a whole quilt of Storm at Sea looks like. I fell in love with this block, and am (currently stalled) in the process of making a queen sized quilt from it. It does need to be paper foundation pieced because the middle bars are at an odd angle.
Beg and Borrow
Look for these patterns in your inbox on the first of the month. Happy quilting!
>Hi all you quilters out there.
It has been over a year since I posted and now that I am happily caught up, I am writing to brag just a bit!
I did really well for the first year, getting my blocks done pretty much on time and enjoying the process. Then April hit with Easter( I am a minister in the United Church of Canada) and May hit with a cruise vacation( I got to one quilt shop in Bar Harbor, ME) and hard as I might try to get caught up through June and July, other things got in the way and more blocks just kept coming and then in August, vacation time and a car dying/new car buying kept me busy and away from the quilting.
However, late August and early September have found me spending a great deal of time in my sewing room and I am happy to tell you all, (mostly because I am so relieved) that I have caught up and finished all my blocks but for one Drunkard’s path which is sitting in the TV room to be finished, as I decide to piece that one by hand!
I am also really happy to have gotten the two sets of blocks off my design wall, because nothing else could go on it. So here are the pictures I took the other day before taking them down.
I have decided that I will sash my 30’s reproduction in white. I think it will make it a little crisper and allow each block to shine on its own. I am not sure about the Civil War version yet. I have a great grey blue fabric left over from another CW quilt, but will have to try it out.
I want to pass on a tip for those of you who might be making a multi-coloured version as well. I made a chart last week of all my colours listing them down the side and across the top. then I ticked each colour combo where the colours colided on the chart. By doing this I was able to quickly see what I am still missing for blocks and I made a list. Then when I set out to pick fabrics for my last block I just referred to my list and picked fabrics in that combination; it was so much easier. I think things are looking quite balanced and will be even more so as I work down my list. The real bonus was that I could actually take down my blocks and put them in a box out of the way and I will make the upcoming blocks in the combinations I am missing.
I hope the rest of you are keeping up and if not that my catch up will inspire you!
Happy stitching, Heather
Carin
charcakes
cwhardy7
daleah
Janet
Jan Chis
kaykee49
kwltlvr
lornamay15715
marygoodman11
mayflower1962
ninepatchquilter
plpowell44
singingquilter
vickimurphy
Star and Plume Block of the Month 