PRAIRIE WINDMILLS

Updated 04/29/2019: Prairie Windmills is done and I love it !!!  The blue is perfect to represent the Montana sky of my childhood and the quilt has been put on the bed for the first time. The quilting is close lines across the quilt to represent the constant wind. Here are the completed photos:

The back is 2 toile fabrics I can't bare to cut into little pieces

Close-up of the 2 toile fabrics.

I grew up in Montana, and those old wooden windmills are a big part of my memories. The wind blows constantly, and the clacking noise the windmills made was a comforting background noise. Also, how big and blue the sky was (and is), so I decided to try my hand at a windmill quilt. It's a pattern I have not made and thought it would be a great way to use up more scraps. The only purchased fabric was the blue background that looks so much like the big Montana sky of my childhood. I took this project to Maine to work on this year, and got all the bigger windmills pieced and sashed. After piecing 2 of the rows of smaller windmills, I ran out of the blue so I had to put on hold until returning home and getting more matching fabric. The windmill sizes are 4.5" square and 8.5" square, so I am using the smaller pieces of scraps that I have pulled out of my stash. Here's how the blocks and sashing look so far:

I completed the top on 2/10/2018. It is 100" x 106". I could not find a fabric of blowing wheat to use as a border - the closest thing I found was this blowing grass:

I really like the way the sky blue sets off the scrap windmills. Here it is hanging on the laundry line on 2/10/2018:

CHRISTMAS SCRAPS

I found this pattern in the book "Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery" by Barbara Brackman. I thought it looked simple and would use up some of the larger scraps in my stash.

 This was a project I took to Maine with me this year as a quilt top I wanted to complete. The blocks are 15" and I only did 12 of them - you know, only 12 so I could actually see if I liked the pattern and how it went together. I found out that the pattern is really easy to piece and the blocks go together easily. I've already cut more for a queen size quilt. Anyway, here is how the first 5 blocks look:

Once I got home from Maine, I added the 2 borders. I like how the black really makes the green and red Christmas fabrics "pop".

I sewed together all the green left-over bindings, so even the binding is ready to be sewn on once the top is machine quilted.

Update on July 30, 2019:

This quilt was machine quilted by RLM in 2018.  I finally got the binding on and a tag added to the back in 2019.

Toile backing

Here's another photo of this quilt hanging up outside.  The colors look so bright in natural light. Link to post on new blog: https://indianaquilter40.com/personal-quilt-show-road-trip/