Andy and Lynn

At Cafe Brauer for the Lincoln Park Community Shelter benefit.
The house quilt brought $900!

eventually, part two

A good reason to keep a blog is I can search back to just when I made something.
This top was put together in 2008 from blocks made long before that.
I finished the binding this morning.

eventually

In doing the quilt sort and stacking, I ran across several "all but..." quilts--missing bindings, labels, final stitching of sleeves.
On several, I left the corner bindings unsewn so that I could get the label in. So, this has been my spring project. I have been working on about 7 labels.
I am using a package of solids from my mother's stash to make the labels. Made from squares anywhere from 6 1/2 to 8 inches, folded in half on the diagonal. This way there is only one straight applique edge. The other two sides are incorporated into the binding.
Note, I have not written anything on the labels, but they are there.
Another project for another day.

advice from 1908--no sewing while pregnant

Days of the treadle.

spools--top completed

672 spools.
At least 100 of them made with scraps from my mother's stash.
There are a couple of duplicates, but most fabrics used only once.
Set 24 by 28. I made them into blocks of 4, with one of each four made with pink fabric.
I used Kona Cotton Rich Red for the constant.
No borders. I love it!
Made with 3 inch finished blocks, as part of a year long challenge by Bonnie Hunter.

tip #26 putting the blocks backwards on the design wall

Sometimes I am really persnickety about not twisting seam allowances.
Not very often--I am usually quite laissez faire about it, to the point of calling the flipped seams "twisted sisters".
But, on the occasion it does matter to me, I put my blocks up backwards on my design wall. This way I can watch the seam allowances and make sure I am putting the sections together in a way that keeps the seams from twisting.

As this picture shows, the spools are all getting put together!

quilting circle

The quilt is nearly completed.
Sewn by members of St Pauls United Church of Christ and made with fabrics donated by the congregation. (We smile when we get to blocks made with fabric from the boxer shorts of one member!)
It will be donated to the Lincoln Park Community Shelter auction.
We used the Happy Scrappy Houses pattern of Bonnie Hunter.

stacking quilts

Stacked about 50 quilts into Eve's former wardrobe. (I need a second or third wardrobe to fit the rest.)

The kids are in a minimalist mindset and asked what to do with all these quilts. (In a not too kind way.)

I told them to take what they wish, let my sisters choose, and my neighbors, then hand them out to whoever shows up at my funeral.
They said they might have to give four or five to each person...

dad and alex and a pig, 1982

making a liturgical piece

Beth asked me to chronicle how I go about making a liturgical piece.
I've made many stoles for ministers over the years.
I am ready to retire from this, but had one last request from my dear friend and pastor, Avena.

The name Avena comes from the Latin for oats, and I thought it fitting, in making her piece for the liturgical color of white, to incorporate the color of oats. And, since this will be often worn during Easter time, I wanted to include that most wonderful color green of early oat fields.

Avena had a quilt top made by her grandmother. Avena's mother cut squares of Avena's childhood and teenaged clothing she made for her, and the grandmother (also named Avena), who was well into dementia, pieced a very puckered and unquiltable top.
I cut off about 18 inches of it to use for a lining of the vestment. I will quilt up the remainder for a keepsake for the family.

To stabilize the patchwork, I quilted it to a cotton batt (not using a backing) using a serpentine stitch. I let the puckers turn into tucks wherever they wished.

I chose Michael Miller's Fairy Frost in white for the bulk of the stole, and selected several shades of yellow and the wonderful green for the detail.

Using my rotary cutter, I free cut curves in pieces of the fabrics, turn them under, and press. I move the curves around, having them play with each other, until I am satisfied with what is going on. I work on both sides at once, trying to keep the design flowing and harmonious.
Then, they are appliqued with a topstitch, using a walking foot.
I add free style quilting lines then bind it.

 

 

Avena showing the lining of the stole; the lining was made from a quilt top pieced by her grandmother.

The Reverend Avena Ward, associate pastor, St Pauls United Church of Christ, Chicago.

tarrale--Italian Easter Cookies

This is a recipe from Andy's family, the Cervasio and Sorace families. They immigrated from Calabria.
Andy said his mother and his grandmother made these cookies every Easter.

1 1/4 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Mix. When creamed, add 6 eggs, two at a time.

Sift together and add:
5 1/4 cups white flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix, then turn onto counter and knead for a bit.
Mound then cover with a damp towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

Pull off a piece the size of a small egg. Roll into a rope between your palms, then place on parchment lined baking sheet, coiling the dough.
Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from sheet and let cool on rack.

When cool, ice with powdered sugar mixed with either lemon juice or water with a drop of vanilla.
I like to ice twice to give a thicker coat, and sprinkle with a bit of lemon zest if doing the lemon, or with nonpareils if using the vanilla icing.

This makes about 50 cookies, or 40 if Andy keeps sneaking the dough.

I love these portraits--taken in New York during the Mad Men days of the 1960s

Andy's grandmother, Catherine Sorace Cervasio. Born in New York City. Worked as a bookkeeper. Our Eve Catherine is named for her, as were Andy's mother and sister.

Andy's grandfather, Andrew Cervasio. Born in Italy, emigrated to New York at age seven. Served in WWI as a coal tender on troop ships. Attended the University of Michigan for engineering and became a construction estimater. Andy is named for his grandfather.

twenty-nine years

zig zag

 
 Finished my zig zag top.
No borders.
Set it 9 by 9, so 81 blocks.
Each block measures 9 inches square, made with 3 inch finished half square triangles.
It is made from two different blocks.
I made one of each, then used them as my lay-out guides to make the rest of the blocks.
45 block A
36 block B
each row is of one type of block, flipped over as you go across the row.
I have seen many of these on blogs and had to made one with my shirt parts.
I love it!  Off to the quilter.

Leroy and Henrietta--school photographs, 1930's and 1940's

spools, lots of spools

I am starting to put them together.

up on the roof--from the 67th floor of the Willis Tower

Looking southwest

Looking northeast

Looking south


We had a party for Andy's work this week at the former Sears Tower. We weren't exactly on the roof, but saw lots of them from where we were!

liturgical stole--white--Epiphany!

Finally some pictures of the stole in action on Epiphany!
The Rev. Matt Fitzgerald of St Pauls United Church of Christ, Chicago.

Christmas with the Scholten cousins--1962

These is the Scholten cousins but we are at my Dykstra grandparents as they had the big house on our farm, and there were way too many Scholtens to fit in our little house. (This photograph has about half of kids that were there that night.)

Beth is the one sobbing in this picture--Janna holding her. I'm the blonde second from the right, with my finger on my mouth. I was 4 1/2 years old. I remember this night--very cold. And Janna got that great pink mixer. Mom made the pajama bag cat my cousin Elaine is holding.

The chair on the left is now in my living room!

Helen, Lynn, Elaine, Kirsten, Beth, Janna, Gretchen, Dwight

visiting my quilts (oh, and my mother and sisters)

A wonderful activity when visiting my mother and my sisters is I also get to visit my quilts! Top--from one of the first issues of American Patchwork & Quilting, along with Bear the Pug. Middle--Carolina Crossroads from Bonnie Hunter. I left this one with my mother with three sides left to bind. Fortunately, she enjoys handwork. Bottom--Irish chain, along with one of my Grandma Dykstra's lamps.