TODAY'S NEWS........

Hello readers,

I just wanted to let you know that I am slowly going to be moving to a different platform that will fit my current needs better.

My plan is simply to rewrite and improve some of the posts - which will move to my new blog site.  I will also be adding new content based on questions or comments I get from other quilters. Other posts I will leave here as is. Enjoy the photos and content.

Feel free to contact me directly with questions, to show off your finished quilts, or other quilt related comments at Indianaquilter40@gmail.com

I love to quilt - and we are talking any of the steps from buying the fabric through the last stitch in the binding or tag. I have had this blog for many years simply as a way to keep a basic journal of what I am doing or have done in quilts and quilt related activities.

I am hoping to write better posts on the new site and be a better mentor and encouragement to the quilters out there who are looking for new ideas, helpful tips, and just "you can do it" attitude.  Quilters are great people who share and help each other.

My new address is: www.indianaquilter40.com

Come visit soon.

STRIP QUILT TOP (or how to make a really fast quilt top)

STRIP QUILT TOP (or how to make a really fast quilt top)

I am back from vacation and looked ahead at the calendar for October - well shucks, I need a smaller quilt top to do a hand quilting demo the very first Saturday of October.  Now what??  I guess this is one reason I have so much fabric stored.......

Anyway, I went thru all the interesting fabrics or fabric panels to see if anything I had on hand would work for a historical demonstration (1820ish) and found a border print that if left intact would work as a strip quilt.

After ironing the fabric, I trimmed off enough to make a section that was 42" wide x 54" long.

I found a solid blue cotton that matches the blue that is in the paisley strips and cut enough 1.5" strips of it to make a narrow inside border all the way around.

The outside border is a dark red (with a very small white print) that makes a nice frame for the top.  I cut 4" strips of this fabric and added to the top.

 I ironed it and the top is now 50" x 60". Now to baste and hand quilt.

**For more info on this quilt, go here on my new blog**

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RETURNED FROM TRIP AND READY TO GO AGAIN

In my previous blog post, I was leaving for two weeks to see family and go to Maine for a quilt retreat.  Had a great time - it was hard to return to the traffic and noise of real life.  I did not get nearly as much quilting done as I hoped and planned for - I guess I just needed to stop and really relax.  Read a couple books just for fun (gasp !!) and walked a lot in the beautiful nature I was surrounded with.

I was planning on doing mostly applique during this time - it's easy to stop and start, and picking up where I left off allowed me time to walk, visit, and look at the scenery. I even did some more of a counted cross stitch project I started last year while in Maine. I work hard for 50 weeks a year to have these two precious weeks a year to totally relax and do only what I enjoy (phone and internet connection was not reliable so even technology was put away).

I can't decide if I want leaves or not.....

So, combining 3 sections of small tumblers and 2 sections of flowers with solid-colored borders between - still a work in progress. 

It has been years since I heard loons, but they were a constant on this lake.  Wonderful, eerie call that they make just made the time at the lake even better.

This trip was a good reminder to take some real time off - from work, stress, technology, day to day life, and really just relax.  I woke rested and ready to take on each day - not because I had to, but because I wanted to.  I am not a movie/TV watcher normally, but as a group we watched "chick flicks" each evening (usually something with Sandra Bullock) and it felt so good just to laugh and joke. Wow didn't even feel guilty for not doing anything while just sitting there...

So, here is a few photos of the scenery around the cabin deep in the Maine woods. It was rustic, fun, and stress free.

Early evening - the loons are calling, but too far away to get a good photo

Mid-day view from the picnic table

Beautiful fall color

On the outhouse door - there was a tin can inside for $$

This photo might inspire me to try a landscape quilt

For more info on this quilt, go here on my new blog.

**

OFF TO A QUILT RETREAT

Happy Fall

View from Haystack Mountain in northern Maine 9/1998

Peace and calm in northern Maine - 9/1998

It is September again and it is time to endure flying (I remember when it was fun to fly...) so I can see family in Lancaster, PA for a few days before heading up to northern rural Maine for the annual quilt retreat. We decided to rent a cabin deep in the woods on a lake this year instead of meeting at SB's home.  

We have been sewing together for over 20 years and started back when Loring AFB was still up and active - about half of the group are local ladies and the other half of us were Air Force wives. We did all kinds of sewing projects together and have just continued the tradition once a year when we can all get together.

However, the internet connection is very undependable there so I may not be posting anything until I return in two weeks.  In the meantime, I will take lots of photos and hopefully even get one or two of the four projects I am taking along completed - wow, wouldn't that be something...

The three projects I am taking are:

1. English paper piecing hexagons in two sizes to work on "flowers" to applique to "vines" for part of a scrap quilt.  I have the background fabric cut, and the vines already sewn down so just need to add the flowers. There is more info in this post on my new blog.

The bigger size hexies - scraps being put to beautiful use.

2. Pumpkin Spice - this wall hanging needs the pumpkins appliqued down and something done about an outside border and it will be ready to quilt.

3. A strip quilt trying to use up the leftovers from several log cabin quilts.  This one is more an idea at this point so I guess we will see how it works out. For more info, go here on my new blog.

In the meantime, please read older posts you haven't gotten to yet, and just have a great time quilting.  The time will fly by fast, and I will be back to show off the projects and give some basic directions before you know it.

Another place for quilting ideas is my Pinterest account.

                                                         

**

PUMPKIN SPICE

I love fall - the brilliant leaf colors, the blue sky, the farmers working in the fields harvesting crops, the lower temps that I find much more comfortable, putting the garden to bed for the year, cozy wood fires in the cool evenings, kicking through the dry fallen leaves...

Source:   https://www.pexels.com

Fall/Autumn is really the season I decorate for.  I put out fall themed quilts, pumpkins, corn stalks, artificial leaves and ceramic small pumpkins, candles in crocks, and photos of barns in the fall.  What can I say except that fall is my favorite season.

I saw this pattern in the magazine Primitive Quilts and Projects - Fall 2013 and just had to make it.

Primitive Quilts & Projects Magazine - Fall 2013 - Page 52-55

However, I tend to start with a pattern and then go off in my own direction based on what materials I have, my mood at the time, and what I want to do with the finished project.

In this case, I wanted something longer and a few inches wider to fill a particular quilt hanger in my dining room. These are the sizes I cut:

• 3" squares for the nine patch blocks
• 7.5" alternate blocks
• 6" border
• Purchased .5" green bias tape (I machine sewed mine down - I'm in a hurry to get hand appliqueing the pumpkins) 

Please remember that I use my sewing machine foot as my sewing line guide and it is just a bit bigger than a quarter inch, so I would encourage you to make a nine patch block and measure it before you cut out the size I did for alternate blocks.

My top went together quick and I am now ready to do the hand applique of the pumpkins.  I will probably add an outside border but at this point I don't know what fabric or size.

Before the border

After the adding the border - 32" x 46"

There is more info on this quilt here on my new blog.

**

SMILES FOR TODAY

For the quilters out there who just need a smile today:

Source: all found on Pinterest today

HOW DID I START QUILTING?? IT'S BEEN A JOURNEY.

So the question comes up frequently when I am talking quilting with someone else - "how did you start quilting ?" Sometimes I think other people assume I was born knowing how to quilt.  Let me tell you - that is a big NO.  Learning how to quilt has been fun and I sure am glad I decided to learn. 

Please let me encourage those of you who are reading this post and thinking that there is no way "I can learn this" and please believe me when I say that you can.  My advice is simply to determine that you will make a quilt, and believe in yourself - you can make a quilt from start to finish and have something wonderful to show for all those hours.

So you are a beginner??  Don't get discouraged by all those gorgeous quilts you see at quilt shows or the local quilt guild. Every one of those quilters has a first (or more) quilt that they are hiding away somewhere because it is not "perfect". The only way you will get started on the journey to doing quilting is to start.

I personally would start with something small or at least simple because the process and finishing it will encourage you on to the next project. See if another quilter has scraps you can have for a first project, or if your budget will do it - buy a few quarter yard pieced of good quality cotton.  Borrow books from the library or buy a quilting magazine that has a simple pattern you can do.

Please understand that I grew up around quilts that were made by other family members, but my mom did not sew - period - for any reason.  During my childhood, she owned two different sewing machines and used neither.  She viewed sewing as something people did who were too poor to buy needed clothes or do repairs on said clothes.  My grandma sewed constantly (which explains why the sewing machine was in a corner of the kitchen always ready to use). Grandma taught me to sew on buttons, mend socks, and do basic hemming.

I basically taught myself how to piece a quilt top from watching my grandma sew.  I learned how to hand quilt from going to quilting bees and watching and practicing.  The nice thing about sloppy stitches in hand quilting is that they are easy to take out and fix or try again.

My first quilt was 4" squares and most of the fabric was aprons or shirts I bought at yard sales.  Rotary cutters where not around yet, so I cut 4" cardboard squares from cereal boxes to use for my pattern and cut every single one of them with scissors one by one.  I discovered that the cardboard pattern wore out quick and for accuracy I had to use a new pattern after just a few squares. I arranged the scraps with some solid blue and solid red so that it formed "stripes". I used mom's old Singer to sew the blocks together and my seams were certainly not exact quarter inch.

First quilt on bed

The "batting" was an old blanket, and grandma gave me a big piece of pink printed flannel for the backing.  Once the top was done, I tied the quilt sandwich together with white yarn.  Um...now how to complete the edge?? I did not want my grandma to do the binding, but I really did not understand her directions for doing it.  So, I lied to her, told her it was complete and used it for many years unbound and the edge ragged...Let's face it - 15-year-olds are not the smartest of creatures on the earth.

But the huge thing for a very shy country girl who was an outcast at school because of my "smart" grades was that I figured out how to do this and it was on my bed and being used!! I determined to make another and better one. So, the journey began...

You are a beginner, the only way to get started is to take the first steps in quilting.  Unless you are willing to buy all the quilts in your home, you are going to have to decide to learn the quilt making process.  You have got this - set a daily goal (decide on a pattern, get fabric, cut fabric, iron, etc) and go for it.  Will you make mistakes - yes and yes......Learn from them and move on.  This is fabric, not brain surgery - no one is going to die if something isn't done just right.




Suggestion: Use good quality supplies.  You will be much happier and satisfied with the process and end result if your supplies and tools are good quality.