Hang on to your hat.
Hang on to your hope.
Wind the clock.
Tomorrow is another day.
-- E. B. White --
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Saturday, December 31, 2016
Reading List 2016
JANUARY
1. Winter: A Spiritual Biography of the Season Gary Schmidt
2. Civil War Legacies Carol Hopkins
3. Quilts from the Civil War Barbara Brackman
4. Buttery Shelf Almanac Mary Mason Campbell
5. Facts and Fabrications Barbara Brackman
FEBRUARY
6. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard
7. Underground Railroad Sampler Eleanor Burns
8. Just Treats, No Tricks Betsy Chutchain
MARCH
9. The Springs of Joy Tasha Tudor
10. American Doll Quilts Kathleen Tracy
11. Civil War Legacies II Carol Hopkins
12. American Quilts Jennifer Regan
APRIL
13. Ho for California! Jean Ray Laury
14. Civil War Legacies III Carol Hopkins
15. Remembering the Past Julie Hendricksen
16. Little Women Louisa May Alcott
MAY
17. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown
18. Farmhouses Marie Proeller Hueston
19. American View Raymond Waites
JUNE
20. Liberated Medallion Quilts Gwen Marston
21. Aunt Jane's Album Eliza Calvert Hall
22. Star Quilts Mary Elizabeth Johnson
23. Cold Mountain Charles Frazier
24. Kitchen Gardens Mary Mason Campbell
JULY
25. Country Gardens Nina Williams
26. Lincoln Gore Vidal
27. First Lady of the Confederacy Joan E. Cashin
AUGUST
28. Farmhouses Marie Proeller Hueston
29. Vintage Stitching Treasury Suzanne McNeill
30. American View Raymond Waites
31. Seasons at Seven Gates Farm Mary Seehafer Sears
32. Country Harvest Linda Burgess + Rosamond Richardson
SEPTEMBER
33. Prairie Tales Melissa Gilbert
34. Apples Christopher Idone
35. Italian Cooking in the Grand Tradition Jo Bettoja
36. Quilting Designs from the Past Jenny Carr Kinney
37. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly Jennifer Fleischner
38. The Grandmother of Time Zsusanna E. Budapest
39. Circle Round Starhawk
40. Italian Immigrant Cooking Elodia Rigante
41. A Few of My Favorite Antique Quilts Christiane Meunier
OCTOBER
42. Through the Kitchen Window Arlene Voski Avakian
43. History Repeated Betsy Chutchain
44. Celebrating Home Seasons of Cannon Falls
45. Recipes From An Italian Farmhouse Valentina Harris
46. Remember Me Linda Ott Lipsett
NOVEMBER
47. Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season Gary Schmidt + Susan Feltch
48. Quilt Designs from the Thirties Sara Nephews
49. Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic Steven Schnur
50. The Linen Queen Patricia Falvey
51. Christmas Peter Spier
DECEMBER
52. 19th Century Patchwork Divas' Treasury of Quilts Betsy Chutchian
53. A Quilt for Christmas Sandra Dallas
54. A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
55. Cucina di Calabria Mary Amabile Palmer
56. Ruby Red Dots Sheri Howard
57. The Winter Solstice John Matthews
58. Cultural Fusion Quilts Sujata Shah
59. Celebrating Italy Carol Field
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Friday, December 30, 2016
2016 To-Do List
2016 To Do
UFOs
3. 30s Steps - top done
6. Wintergreen applique - all blocks appliqued
7. History BOM - top done
8. Wonderful Life prim - to be quilted
9. Rainbow Birds - need more blocks
New
1800s - Westering Women Brackman - top done
1800s - History Repeated Blindman’s Fancy - I made one sample block
1800s - Sunny Lanes have 16 blocks @ 12”
30s - Applesauce
30s - July Fourth 30s
RSC - Crackers
RSC - Mini Bows
Appl - Vintage Dresdens 18 blocks @ 15” on celadon - blocks being appliqued
Appl - Ruby Red Dots – Dec
Appl - Juniper and Mistletoe - Dec
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Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Westering Women
Hooray -- we made it!
Barbara Brackman has taken us on
a year-long journey from
Independence Missouri to Oregon and California via
This final month of the series, she discussed the 'rain shadow' created by the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which caused desert hardships for the travelers nearing their destinations on the west coast.
Although we are much farther south in the state than the Humboldt Sink she was describing, we are at precisely the same geographic location in our local mountains -- the San Bernardinos and San Gabriels are the weather barrier between the Los Angeles coastal plain and the Mojave Desert behind us. We live at the very top of that mountain barrier, at 7000'! It's desert from below us here all the way across Nevada, Utah, and Arizona back to the Rockies.
This month's block is Road to California
An easy block, which I quickly added to the already-sashed-and-waiting earlier ones. I used Barbara's "official" set for assembly. The striped border fabric was a *very vintage* scrap, used down to the last few shreds, not even enough to do mitered corners. I'm planning to quilt this one next week.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series -- the historical information and the sewing challenges
were both just my style!
I'm looking forward to Barbara's next series
which will begin the last Wednesday in January.
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Monday, December 26, 2016
En Provence #5
Caught up today with my 2/3 units for
We were delighted to get 18" of new snow this weekend -- it's ski season here in Big Bear!
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Saturday, December 24, 2016
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
My Neighborhood
Okey-dokey, piecing complete. Now I'll 'think about' embellishments, etc. -- which means this will probably turn into a UFO :)
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Monday, December 19, 2016
En Provence
Snowy and cold outside this morning.
The latest En Provence clue from Bonnie was easy: a repeat of Week #2 but using different colors. I'm still doing approximately 2/3 of the units for a smaller quilt. I may need to make a few more of each unit at the end to round out the right number for entire blocks and rows.
My "tulip fields" colorway :)
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Saturday, December 17, 2016
Another Oak Tree
Apparently these blocks are a pretty low priority for me. I'd planned to do three a month, and so far it's been just one a month. This is definitely a long-term project! But I do very much like the blocks and intend to finish this **someday**
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Monday, December 12, 2016
A little behind ...
I got a late start on this week's Step 3 for En Provence --
I was having too much fun with Lorenzo!
Anyway, I have many more 4ps to go yet, but at least I can see the colors happening.
Here's my fabric palette for the quilt,
and these photos are my color inspirations:
tulip fields instead of Bonnie's lavender fields :)
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Sunday, December 11, 2016
Friday, December 9, 2016
My Neighborhood again
I worked my way through another "Be My Neighbor" block this afternoon. I haven't touched this project since last month, and I was feeling guilty about it -- don't want it to turn into a UFO. I'm waaaay off pattern here, both within this block, and with overall block placement. I think one more building and several trees and this row will be done. It was my original plan to have this quilt finished for this winter, but it's going more slowly than I'd planned ...
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Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Yankee Diary
Today Barbara Brackman shared the introduction and fabric requirements for Yankee Diary, her upcoming 2017 block of the month series, set to begin the last Wednesday in January.
It will be a sampler quilt inspired by the diary of a young girl who lived in New York in the mid-1800s. Both piecing and applique will be included, and the blocks will be variable in size and placement. In general, it will feature a somewhat 'patriotic' theme. I'm looking forward to it!
Meanwhile, I've come to an **unsatisfactory** conclusion with my Morris Hexathon blocks. Those hexies really whipped my butt! I gave up on making the blocks halfway through the series. My assembled and quilted results are no better.
Sigh. You win some, you lose some ...
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Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Monday, December 5, 2016
En Provence Step 2
Moving right along with
Again I made 2/3 of the called-for number of units, because I'm planning on a smaller quilt. These triangle sections were made using a Tri-Recs ruler set I already had, although Bonnie offers several options for cutting and piecing. The instructions use magenta as the constant fabric color, but I'm going my own way here with aqua.
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Sunday, December 4, 2016
Donation quilts
A couple of I-Spy quilts completed this weekend, and ready to be delivered-- my last donation quilts of the year. These will be going to our local domestic violence safe-house.
I-Spy quilts are not a favorite of mine, but these were a set of blocks given to me to finish.
I-Spy quilts are not a favorite of mine, but these were a set of blocks given to me to finish.
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Saturday, December 3, 2016
Friday, December 2, 2016
A December lap quilt
I worked on a quick little seasonal gift yesterday.
I started with charms from a swap.
Chain piecing makes fast work of it!
I used the charms 'as-is' at 5"
so these blocks are a bit larger than 12"
Hoping to get through block assembly
and borders today.
All done and ready to go -- Ho-ho-ho!
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Thursday, December 1, 2016
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