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

ten years!

August marks 10 years of blogging for me here at klein meisje quilts. Above is a picture of me at about age 8 with my Grandpa Scholten, who called each of his 12 granddaughters klein meisje because it was easier than remembering our names.

I enjoy having this record of my quilting life, with a bit of our family life and family history and a little cooking and my work life.

Thank you for reading!

churn dash, top completed

It is set 8 by 10 blocks, measuring 72 by 90 inches.
80 blocks, 9 inches finished.
It was so much fun again using the wild prints from my stash and many from my neighbor.
The solids were also in my stash including quite a few from my mother's fabrics.

Early in my nursing career I cared for a man with Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease. The first neurologic indication of his disease was his uncharacteristic repainting his garage a different bright color for every board. He bewilderingly asked me what was so wrong about doing that and I explained it wasn't the act of painting it that way, it was that this was a sudden change in how he was expressing himself.
I told Andy that with my recent change of making very bright quilts, he may want to keep an eye on me for a prion disease.

new (to me) fabric

I am making solid churn dashes on wild backgrounds--the same theme that I used for the Ships quilt.

My neighbor Sharon called me over to share some quilting weight fabric scraps given to her by a home decorator friend. The fabrics were nothing I would have chosen to buy and were just what I wanted to help my own wild fabrics look even better!

Thinking of no sashings, no borders, just blocks. I have about 22 completed blocks and solids cut for another 50. Thinking of setting them 8 by 9 right now, but that may change.


Blocks finish 9 inches.
I use the Easy Angle ruler for the triangles, so all pieces are cut from 3 1/2 inch strips. The rectangles are cut 2 by 3 1/2 and the center square is 3 1/2 inches.

Thank you, Sharon! I may come over for more!

seeing stars sew-a-long

I am participating in Turning Twenty's block of the month "Seeing Stars".
Sign ups are now closed, but you can purchase the block instructions on their website.
http://www.turningtwenty.com/store.php?cat=80

The blocks are made at 6 inches and 12 inches. I am using 30's repros and repeating the fabrics within the block It is interesting how the scale of the fabric plays out in the different sizes.

I was going to use different yellows for the backgrounds, but am falling in love with this very soft yellow--now to try to figure out what it is so I can get more as I have only a bit left.

calico rose--top completed

Here is my completed top from Deanna's Calico Rose sew-a-long on her Wedding Dress Blue blog.
Thanks Deanna!

https://weddingdressblue.wordpress.com/calico-rose-quiltalong/

It was so much fun to make! Having my pre-cut squares shoe box(es) ready to go made quick work of her delightful pattern. I still had some 3 1/2 inch short lengths out from my Ships quilt that I hadn't gotten around to cut down (sometimes my procrastination pays off) that went towards the star points.
I used flying geese for the star points. For the background I used the same Moda blue that I had used for the rail fence streak of lightning.

Deanna offered three size options. I decided to make it as long as the large and as wide as the medium, so set it 5 by 7 blocks. I love her lacy border, but chose to do a postage stamp one pieced with 16 patch blocks mimicking the size of the centers of the stars and celebrating more of my precut squares.

Still a box and a third of 2 inch squares remaining. How wonderful to be ready for the next 2 inch square adventure that comes my way!

My less than cooperative quilt holders and my neighbors' decision to plant a tree interfering with my prime quilt photography spot (me standing on their lawn) are causing issues with my pictures. I will try to do better once it is quilted.

wedding quilt--process

My niece Emilee asked me to plan a signature quilt for her wedding to her Andy last September. (We have three Andy's in the family now, so each is referred to by the woman he belongs to.)

I decided to use Bonnie Hunter's Bricks and Stepping Stones pattern.

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/bricks-stepping-stones.html

I cut out 3 1/2 by 6 1/2 rectangles from a variety of paler lavenders and periwinkles and sat at a table at the wedding helping people ink their sentiments. 

It was a clash of cultures. Her northwest Iowa family and friends tended to write blessings and prayers. Some of his central Iowa family and friends were inclined to include sly references to what would happen in the bed this quilt would end up covering.

Yesterday I decided it was time to get this put together before it became a millstone. There were about 58 signed patches. I am making the quilt with 144, so they can get additional signatures added once it is done--her parents and sisters didn't get to the table, and I assured them I'd have plenty blank ones for them.

(I did play the aunt card and threw away one block that was very vulgar. Yeah, I'm that aunt...)

Most of the blocks will need to be gone over with the ink to darken them. I'll do that with my sister when it is finished.

I bought an Accuquilt Studio Cutter this spring and have the strip dies. I used the 2 inch strips for making the four patches. I tore off 13 inches from the purple and the floral batiks, used the die to get twenty 13" strips, sewed them, then ran through the cutter again to get 120 2-patches to sew into 60 4-patches. I did this 3 times, so I have 180 4-patches to work with.

It was an efficient process and a good way to get to know the cutter better. I've used it on a few other projects this summer and am seeing its potential.

I hope to have this off to the quilter before Faculty Week starts mid August. My summer of sewing is drawing to a close.

another sew-a-long! Calico Rose

I thought I had one shoe box of 2 inch squares--then this weekend found another that was pretty close to being full.
In a quest to find a project to use some up, I came across Deanna's Calico Rose sew-a-long on her Wedding Dress Blue blog.

https://weddingdressblue.wordpress.com/calico-rose-quiltalong/

The sew-a-long started in March, so I will have to fit in lots of machine time in to be ready for the August show and tell. But, with all the squares at the ready, I think I can make it!

And, I am enjoying my birthday flowers--Eve told them to make it wild and yellow.

 

birthday!

I remember this cake! It was beautiful, mom!
It looks like 3 candles, so 54 years ago.

 We celebrated at a new restaurant--the Dutch and Indonesian influenced De Quay on Lincoln Avenue. Stroopwafels for dessert!

My small group gives fabric based on the birthday member's theme choice. This year I requested "man made objects".
What a delightful assortment!
typewriters
windows
trains
sphygmomanometers and stethoscopes
license plates
purses and shoes
bicycles

rail fence in streak of lightning set, top completed

It is huge! About 84 by 102 inches.
The unit (finishing 6 inches) is a rail fence, with two rails made from 2 1/2 inch cut squares and the third with a solid 2 1/2 by 6 1/2 inch cut strip. I used a Moda Blue.
I put 4 of these units into a 12 inch block. If you go to my earlier post you will see my pressing plan.
You may notice the odd floating units along one edge. I could have figured out how to make that edge flow, but decided the simplest solution was the lazy way, and let them float.

And, it used up 1/4th of my 2 1/2 inch squares! Just one and a half shoe boxes left of them. I am trying to pull together my sewing room, so I fear they both will be full again soon. I need a new 2 1/2 inch square project...

paint box--top completed

I saw this idea on Aunt Marti's blog from a kit called "Bit 'o Color" from Nala's shop.
http://www.52quilts.com/2015/01/on-design-wall.html
http://nalasquiltshoppe.webs.com/

I drafted my own using 2 inch cut strips. I had all the color centers already in my solid scraps bin.
The black and whites are cut two pieces 2 by 5 inches and two pieces 2 inches.
A hint in cutting the black and whites, as I used fabrics in different lengths.
Cut one 5 inch strip and one 2 inch strip from the fabric. Then cut 2 inch pieces from each, and you will have pairs of each to make the blocks. When I tried cutting them from just 2 inch strips I was always loosing count of how many of each size I was cutting.

By flipping the blocks there are only corner seams to match. I included both white and black and cream and black.

It looks like the watercolor paint boxes from my grade school days. They would be all dirty when we opened them. We would run the boxes under water, washing off the mixtures, and the little squares of clear color would be revealed.
The solids have the illusion of hovering over the quilt.

...and all ships at sea--top completed

This quilt was made from the tutorial on Claire Witherspoon's blog Cspoonquilt. She wrote it inspired by a vintage quilt posted by Barbara Brackman. You can follow the ships label below to my previous posts showing the process of making this quilt. The block is 10 inches finished and the top measures 70 by 80.

One thing I found in putting the quilt together, I first was forcing the pressing method to ensure no twisted seams. I discovered the top would go together easier and lay flatter by allowing those "twisted sisters" to happen. By letting the seams decide how to lay by the end of putting it together it was easier. (I did not go back and resew those I forced.)

Thanks, Claire and Barbara for your inspiration.

Here is the tutorial:
http://cspoonquilt.blogspot.com/2015/06/june-bom-accurate-piecing-continuing.html#comment-form
Here is the quilt on Barbara's blog.
http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2015/03/symbolism-in-abolition-quilt.html

It was so much fun pairing big loud prints and solids. I have several favorites but especially like the hot pink ship on the pistachio ground with big brown dots. I purchased that fabric at Mood in New York and the cutter smiled when he saw I chose that fabric.

rail fence streak of lightning--process

My 2 1/2 inch square shoebox has become two shoeboxes and I have been looking for a project to use them. I saw a picture of a quilt using squares in a rail fence block in a straight set--I decided to try to set them on point.

Sew the squares into 3 piece units, press to one side.
Then, sew two units together BUT, in two different ways.
Set 1 sew with the seam allowance toward the needle.
Set 2 sew with seam allowance away from the needle.
Keep these sets separate, and sew a solid 6 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch piece on to each set.
Set 1 press all seams to the solid fabric.
Set 2 press all seams away from fabric.

I keep one block of each by the machine to keep this sewing and pressing plan in front of me as I make more blocks.
Sew two of the same set together. Pictured has set 1 on top and set 2 on the bottom
Then, using one section from each set, put together into one large block.
All this sorting allows for the seams to nest. Eventually  in putting the top together there will be some twisting ones, but I can live with that.  If you wish, you can make all the rail fence blocks the same and just deal with more twisted seams.

I am keeping some sets unsewn into blocks so they will be available to fill in on the edges once I decide how I am going to do that.

 This is using up a lot of squares!