jack and jill--a quilt for Beth

Jack and Jill. Measures 60 " by 78".

Made with rectangles cut 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches (finish at 2 by 4). I ran out of the teal and decided to keep going with the strong yellow. I debated what was the top of the quilt and the yellow kept saying it belonged on the bottom.
Backed with a delightful toys fabric given to me by a quilting friend--when I showed her how I used it she said she could not for the life of her figure out why she gave it away.

I usually don't like cute quilting patterns, but this tumbling boys and girls continuous line one seemed made for this set. Quilted in red.

For my sister Beth with whom I spent many times rolling down the hay and straw bales in the haymow.

rick rack--a quilt for Henrietta

Made with 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches cut (2 by 4 finished) rectangles. The construction left one side with more of the solid--I could have trimmed it to match the other, but I like this little quirk.

On the back I used a wonderful Jane Sassaman fabric from her first line for Free Spirit.

Mom had boxes full of trims in her sewing supplies--when we were little, Wrights had an offer on their labels for children to send in for bits and pieces of trims. Mom would do that with us and we had fun sorting them out into styles and colors. Mom would also order the Penny Packet of mixed seeds for us from the Gurney's seed catalog and give us a place in the garden to plant and see what would come up. She knew what each seed was and advised us how to plant them.

Mom celebrates her 86th birthday this week--Happy Birthday, Mom!

chickens--a quilt for Janna

Made from the 12 inch chicken block found in Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet book.

The back has actual chicken feed sacks, saved by my mother. I had to work around the holes left by the chain stitched closing. There are a few stains here and there, but that adds to the story!

Janna was my egg gathering partner. We were both terrified of the chickens. She would hit the outside of the nest boxes with a stick to shoo out the chickens so I could get to the eggs. I thought she was so brave!

My mother's sister recently moved to a nursing home and many of her photographs came to Mom who found this one of her mother, my Grandma Ella Scholten, with her chickens.

Merry Christmas 2015!

retreat

My mother and sisters and I spent a few days early this week at a parks department cabin in central Iowa. We ate Dutch food, had a business meeting, and sewed bindings onto quilts.
What a lovely time together.

tip # 30--spray in the waste basket

I make my labels by cutting a square, folding in in half, and placing the triangle on a lower corner of a quilt just before doing the machine work of binding. I give the prepared triangle a spritz of basting spray to help it stay in place before the machine work on the edges and the hand work across the hypotenuse. I still use a couple of pins, but the spray stabilizes the label.
I put the label in the waste basket to contain the over-spray.

I used to cut a triangle and fold over an edge but found too often the backing fabric would show through too much and there would be an odd place where the fold would block the show-through. The double layer of the label made with a folded square prevents this.

Size of label squares are anywhere from 3 1/2 inches to 8 inches depending on the size of the quilt and how much I want to write.

bindings!

I spent yesterday and today making bindings and doing the machine work for finishing 5 quilts, simplifying the task a bit by using the same Kona Rich Red fabric for 4 of the quilts. I've usually used prints for bindings, but have been drawn to solids lately. LOTS of handwork to do. My sisters and mother and I plan to gather at a cabin for a few days early Christmas week. I told them to bring their thimbles! (They don't know it yet, but each will go home with a quilt.)

cute enough

16 1/2 by 20 inches. Machine quilted.

Temecula Quilt Company's We Wish You a Mini Christmas sew-a-long was a fun diversion during end of semester grading. I posted my grades Saturday and finished the final blocks and put it together Sunday.

As I said in an earlier post, while Temecula's 2 1/4 inch blocks were cute, 3 inches was cute enough, so I redrafted each to that size.
I adapted one of their settings, cutting the sashing strips 1 3/4 inches, finishing 1 1/4 inches and the cut the borders 3 inches.

I used some of my late neighbor Lorraine's Smithsonian Rising Sun collection quilt fabric for the sashing and borders. It was a bit sun streaked from being on her shelves so I cut around those areas.

http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/2015/12/we-wish-you-mini-christmas-finishing.html

joy--third Sunday of advent

18 inches square. Made from cut 2 inch (finished 1 1/2 inches) squares of batik fabrics, quilted in a grid.

Last week I brokered a connection between one friend with a new daughter-in-law and a desire to have a hand-knit Christmas stocking to match the rest of her family's stockings, and a friend who is a master knitter who agreed to the task.
The first friend asked me why the second would do this, and I said, "She is a farm girl from South Dakota. She heard of a need and took care of it."

In gratitude to my knitting friend, I finished up this little quilt for her, made with leftovers from my niece's wedding quilt. Quite appropriately it is in the color of advent, purple, and today's third Sunday color of pink for joy.

It gives me joy to have these two friends who don't know each other. The first welcoming in the stranger to her family, the second sharing her gifts with a stranger. A lesson here.

mini sew-a-long

I am working on Temecula Quilt Company's sew-a-long We Wish You a Mini Christmas. Their blocks finish 2 1/4". 
I'm drafting mine up to finish 3" because while 2 1/4" is cute, 3" is cute enough. 

tip # 29--be an aunt

Of all my roles in life, one that brings much joy is being an aunt.
One way I've been celebrating this is by buying the weddings shoes for my nieces. It is a rather unobtrusive way to involve myself in the wedding planning, and it gives them room in their budget for something else.
I tell them to pick what they love, and I'll pick up the check.

Alexandra

Emilee

embellishments

I was to the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston today to see the exhibit Native Haute Couture. It will hang until January 2016.
What a lovely exhibit. It has early clothing, those influenced by European trade. and some contemporary fashions too.

My favorite was the early to mid 20th century wool woman's dress embellished with elk teeth.

The child's dress has imitation conch shells as decoration.

chickens

I am having fun making some chicken blocks from Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage. I see I got the wing upside down on this one and will fix.

shower!

We had a shower for my niece in Connecticut. A lovely affair for my lovely niece.

visiting my quilts

A wonderful week in Iowa visiting my mother and my sister. And my quilts.

bridal shower preparations

I will be hosting a shower for Andy's niece next weekend. I knitted colorful dishcloths for her and made some for favors. My neighbor found the label on Pinterest for me!

visiting my quilts

Eve is making quite a collection from my piles. Her apartment is is a wonderful 1880s two-flat here in Chicago.

a humble sew-a-long: Cascadia

Lori at Humble Quilts had a sew-a-long last November with her delightful take on an antique quilt she named Cascadia.
I sewed-a-long and mine did not turn out quite as perfectly as I had hoped. While quilting I kept trying to have the pieces fit exactly and they wouldn't.
A wise commenter  encouraged me to let the humble quilt be humble. I decided I wanted it flat and square more than I wanted it perfect, so I requilted it, squared it up chopping the edges and here is my humble result.
Another participant said hers looked like Indian corn--I like that reference for this little quilt!

I love it.

Quirky fabrics from my mother's and my stashes, backing of fall theme fabric with bittersweet and birds.
Thanks, Lori!
17 1/2 by 16 3/4 inches
http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/2014/11/cascadia-finale-and-reveal.html

country roads sew-a-long with Humble Quilts

Lori held another great sew-a-long and I jumped it.
I have my 30's repros out for another sew-a-long and used them.
It measures 21 1/4 inches square. The blocks finish 5 inches.

Thanks, Lori!

http://humblequilts.blogspot.com/search/label/Country%20Roads%20quiltalong

the extent of my creativity

It is another busy semester and I've discovered that when I do have time to sew, my creativity is nowhere to be found. So, bindings and knitted dishcloths it is until the class load eases up in November.

lavender from the garden

harvest!

Seth and I  have a garden this year!

block party! chili cook-off winner!

It is once again block party! Our block's 58th anniversary party--one of the first and longest running block parties in Chicago. It is Andy and my 29th.
The theme this year was County Fair. As usual, I hang several of my quilts on our porch railings.

 We collected ketchup and toilet paper for the neighborhood food pantry.

  I won the chili making contest! We also had a pie baking contest.

 Dunk tank, bouncy house, pony rides.

Just a day enjoying our neighbors. The band and dancing in the streets starts at dusk.

Lynn's Award winning Chili!

(all amounts are estimates)

3-4 lbs ground beef--browned and drained (collect, discard fat, return liquids to meat)

To the pot of browned meat, add the spices and stir until the meat is evenly mixed with the spices.

Spices: (vary amounts by your taste  preferences)

1 tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground red pepper

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Rinse and drain three-four 15 oz cans of beans.

I use a variety, including black Beans, light red kidney, and dark red kidney

In a large crock pot, place

1-2 chopped onions

2/3rd of the meat

the beans

the rest of the meat

Pour over top:

One 29 oz can petite dice tomatoes

One 8 oz can of  tomato sauce

1-2 small cans of diced mild green peppers

I rinse out these cans, adding the water to the crock pot to bring liquid level to 1 inch from top.

Put above ingredients into large crock pot. Cover and cook for 4-5 hours on low.

About 1/2 hour before serving, add:

1 cup of frozen corn

about 1/2 cup of dried polenta mixed with about 1 cup of water (if no polenta, use corn meal)

Cover and cook for 1/2 hour, stirring twice

Serve sprinkled with grated cheddar or jack cheese