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.

                                                         

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COLONIAL TIMES 2

COLONIAL TIMES 2:

I pieced the English paper pieced sections from Jan. 2013 to May 2016. It's pleasurable and there was no hurry. I alternated dark and light blues from my scrap bin. The strips of hexagons are appliqued to plain unbleached muslin.  

I hand appliqued the middle 5 strips and machine appliqued the 2 outside strips just to be creative. Here is the link to the discussion on the paper piecing.

Below is a photo of the finished top.  Made of cottons.  Size is 86" x 94".

I like the choice of fabrics and the look of this top.  It does look historical and might end up being a quilt to hand quilt at a demonstration.

ENGLISH PAPER PIECED GRANDMA'S FLOWER GARDEN (or a take along project made from scraps)

I have been gone to a family reunion over the long weekend.  I opted to not take my sewing machine and just take some small project that could be hand done while visiting.  Plus there are many interruptions so I wanted to be able to put down the project and pick it back up as time allowed.  I didn't get much done (sewing wise - had a great time visiting), but here are the "flowers" I did complete.

I pre-cut the fabric into manageable squares and used "re-purposed" paper (already printed on one side) for the stabilizer to sew the fabric too. All the cutting was done at home prior to the trip. I picked a spool of thread that I had on hand and just baste the fabric to the paper as the paper will come out once the "flower" is appliqued to a background block.

"Flower" from front - basted to paper and petals are whip stitched together

Flower block reverse

This is another way to use up the scraps I seem to collect  by just putting two pieces of fabric is a dark corner or box together.  I am pretty sure that my scraps multiply without any help from me :)  When I have enough flowers to make a quilt, I will applique the flowers down to a background fabric and then cut away the back enough so that I can get the paper out after pulling out the basting stitches.

These are easy to make and really good for a project that you just want to take along and do as time allows.  These are large petals (about 3" each) - I have seen them in everything from dime size to about 5" each. Find a pattern that works for your comfort and desired project size.

Fabric hexagons to baste fabric to for making petals.

I like to do English paper piecing - here is a link to a previous project:   https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2014/01/english-paper-piecing.html 

ENGLISH PAPER PIECING

ENGLISH PAPER PIECING: Here are a couple photos of a current project. This one is English paper pieced, so is very easy to pick up and put down - especially when traveling. I started this in Nov. 2013 and besides working on it here, it has also gone to Minnesota to work on as I sat in the hospital with my Mom. Her nurses and doctors were fascinated with it and that I could just work on it so easily without a sewing machine.

I have enough pieces to make 7 rows of the hexagons (4 are currently complete) and will put a coordinating print as the strip between the strips with the hexagons.I like working with hexagons, but did not want to do another flower garden quilt, so this was what I came up with.

Have fun and it is ok to come up with your own patterns and/or designs.  Just because no one else is coming up with a new solution to a quilt design problem doesn't mean you have to do what the other quilters do - explore, be creative and have fun.