What's Been Going On...

Life has been so incredibly busy, but we forced ourselves to slow down, bail out on certain events, and I took a few vacation days from my (paid) job ... so that has meant some time to catch up on some sewing.  Ahhh... quilting therapy!!!

In my last post I had added a photo with a "sneak peek" of what I was working on...

Voila!!

The Floating Stars with a Twist quilt top all done!

I have done a few Mystery Quilts with Heather Spence, and she hasn't disappointed yet!  All her quilt designs have been amazing!  Pattern proceeds go toward cancer patients.

For the Spring 2013 Mystery Quilt, I have selected 3 fabrics from Riley Blake's "Pieces of Hope" line.  

Here's some info from the Riley Blake website:

More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes or pediatric AIDS combined. Autism affects 1 in 110 children and 1 in 70 boys–a 600 percent increase in prevalence over the past two decades.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors.
Riley Blake Designs is excited to team up with Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism.
Autism Speaks also stresses the importance of recognizing the early signs of autism and seeking early intervention services.  The most important thing you can do as a parent or caregiver is to learn the early signs of autism.  Early intervention can make a lifetime of difference.
Pieces of Hope was inspired by a child with autism, whose family are employees of Riley Blake Designs.  Autism Speaks and Riley Blake Designs thank you for your support, which provides hope for all those affected by autism.
To help increase autism awareness and fund more research to help find a cure, Riley Blake Designs will donate a significant portion to Autism Speaks from the sales of this exciting new fabric collection, Pieces of Hope.

I think this will be a fun quilt indeed!

 A long time ago, I downloaded a Mystery Stars quilt top design from Blue Patch Quilts 'n Things in the U.K.
I am finally getting a move on this quilt...

Friendship Star - 9"

Friendship Plaits
3.5" x 15.5"

Ohio Star - 9"

Friendship Star - 9"

Ohio Star - 9"

Block 9 - 12"

Tippecanoe Blocks - 6.5" each

Block No. 8 - 18.5"

Clay's Choice - 12"

Starry Path - 12.5"

Garden Patch - 21"
My favourite block of the bunch thus far

Local quilt shop Traditional Pastimes Freebie 15 has provided new learning perspectives this time round... lots of Y-seams... and I initially did not enjoy them, but I'm getting better at it... certainly not perfect, but that is what an iron is for... and hopefully my mishaps will never be noticed once the quilt is completed!  :)

This year's Freebie blocks are VINTAGE PLATES.

March 2013 Vintage Plate: "Old Sandwich"

Old sandwich is a pattern that was made by Heisey from 1931-1956.  Primarily this pattern was made in pinks, yellows, greens and crystal.  Heisey formulated plans for his own glass company in the 1890s.  He chose Newark, Ohio for many reasons - natural gas was abundant and the cost of labour was low.  Construction on the factory began in 1895 and was completed in April 1896.  The factory had three furnaces and employed about 700 people.  In 1900 a trademark was designed by Heisey's son and became the famous H within a diamond which was registered in 1901.  The Heisey company advertised its glassware in magazines and their product was sold worldwide.  E. Wilson Heisey popularized coloured glass in 1922 but by the time he died in 1942 coloured glass had all but disappeared from the market.

March 2013 Freebie Vintage Plate Block - 16.5"

The first 6 Vintage Plates blocks

Vintage Plate - April 2013 - "Canary Glass"

Yellow depression glass or canary as it was also referred to is a less common colour.  The Sharon or cabbage rose pattern was found in yellow.  This particular pattern has well defined sprays of cabbage roses, stems and leaves of Sharon, cabbage rose, Mayfair and rosemary all used rose motifs...looking at these together one can see that the rosemary pattern is a hybrid of the other two motifs rather than a unique pattern.  Mayfair had scalloped edges and to see who would win the war of the roses, the Sharon pattern became the most popular and continued in production until 1939; golden glow was the most plentiful colour followed by rose glow and springtime green.  During the depression the Quaker Oats Company along with other food companies put pieces of glassware in their boxes of product as an incentive to purchase.  Movie theaters and other business would hand out glassware just for coming in the door.

April 2013 Freebie Vintage Plate Block - 16.5"

Way back (last autumn) I started the companion blocks for the Freebie 15 blocks.  The companions were 2 of the same block but 8.5" square instead of the 16.5" Freebie block.  Somehow the final plan will be to have a massive quilt... but I quit the companion blocks once I tried piecing the following block... it had all sorts of crazy Y-seams.  Now that I have had some experience with the bigger blocks and Y-seams, I decided to tackle this block.  It is totally NOT straight nor perfect, but it doesn't matter.  I think I'll simply make a little table runner with this block.  

Vintage Plate Companion #2 - Hobnail

 Fenton Hobnail glass dating from the 1930s is decorated with a pattern of bumps.  The term being hobnail comes from the nails with thick heads that were used to secure and protect boot soles.  Early hobnail had a certain look with a wooden lid or stopper.  At this time, the manufacturers mark was found under the lid.

Vintage Plate Companion #2 - 8"

Works now in progress:

• Spring 2013 Mystery Quilt
• Finish Blue Patch Star Quilt Top
• Start/Catch up on Plenty of Fish Quilt Along (I wanted to finish the Blue Patch Star Quilt first so I can use leftover pinks and purples in the POF quilt along)
• finish binding on 2 quilts
• find backing for Floating Stars Quilt 
  
  

Saturday WIP

Here's a sneak peek at my latest quilting WIP (work in progress)...

Believe it or not, it will involve stars!  I'm looking forward to this quilt!
Most of the fabric is Moxie by Andover Fabrics.

Thanks to Heather Spence for the pattern! :)

Quilt Blocks

It seems as though I have not had a lot of time to get at the quilts, but I did forage ahead and get some sewing done.  It certainly is therapy to get behind the sewing machine and piece some more quilt top pieces together.

Last year's "Freebie 15" from the local quilt store was a "Sand and Sea Glass" theme.  I finally sewed the hour glass units together.  I think the pattern called for about 250 but I ended up with 238 hourglass units... 7 rows of 32 blocks & some extras.

Next, I did some quilt top calculations so I could purchase some more fabric and finish off the quilt top.

That is now on the To-Do List.

Yesterday I picked up this year's "Freebie 15" for the Vintage Plates series.  It is a nice easy block so I finished it off this morning.  

I only wish that they had given me more fabric for the centre so I could have cut the tree on-point, but I still like this pattern and the colours. 

Fire King Turquoise

Fire King Turquoise was produced from 1940-1970.  The Fire King line of dishes was made for daily use by Anchor Hawkings.  This was one of the first oven-proof dishes made; it was considered heat resistant.  The turquoise Fire King mug is the easiest to find as most of them have the Fire King marking.  The mug was in production until 1979.

Block measures 16 1/4" x 16 1/4"

Next items on the To-Do Lists:

• finish binding on blue/beige Fall 2012 Mystery Quilt
• sew on binding then hand-sew back of binding on Scrappy Star Quilt
• take apart one section of New Year's Day Mystery Quilt, straighten, re-sew sections onto quilt
• Take photos of finished quilts: Fat Quarters Quilt & Fall 2012 Mystery Quilt
• Finish Sand & Sea Glass Quilt top, buy batting, sew backing
• Finish one small crib quilt (already pinned together)
• Sew more Heart shaped quilt blocks using leftover Sand & Sea Glass fabrics (I have about a dozen so far)
• And... as always... try to utilize scraps

And then there are the digital photo albums & I'm about 4 years behind in those.  

Sigh.

So much to do, so little time.  

Belated Happy New Year 2013

Just before Christmas I had a few days in which I was really wanting to get some sewing done, so I sewed a few grey/pink/purple quilt blocks together.  I actually did 6 blocks but for some reason I only took pix of 2 of the blocks.  The blocks are different sizes ranging from 8" square to 24" square, and together will form a lovely large square quilt.  I am excited to one day finish this quilt, especially since some of the stars are so lovely.

I signed up for Heather Spence's "New Year's Day Mystery Quilt Along".

We were visiting family in Saskatchewan at the time so I got to my instructions a few days later. 

Here's the "Odds and Ends" by Moda Fabrics Jelly Roll that I ordered for this quilt.

Here is part of the NYDMQA quilt top.

At this current time, I do have the quilt finished but I will take a photo once it is quilted b/c that will really do the quilt top justice.  Initially I wasn't too sure about this quilt colours, but I now LOVE the finished quilt top!  Y'all just have to wait for the big reveal!

Chelsey, one of the participants for Heather Spence's Spring 2013 Mystery Quilt Along made a request to all participants of this quilt along: sew "Cotton Reel" blocks in specific colours & mail them in, and Chelsey will set them in a large queen size quilt.  The Spring 2013 MQ proceeds go toward little Wyatt who is battling cancer in Washington state.  Chelsey is generously going to donate this large queen size quilt to Wyatt's parents, and Wyatt will be the recipient of Chelsey's Spring quilt.  

Here is December's "Freebie 15" which is the Vintage Plates BOM done through my local quilt shop.

"Hazel Atlas"

The Hazel-Atlas glass company was a large producer of machine molded glass containers.  The company was founded in 1902 in Washington Pennsylvania.  H.A. Glass started by making glass inserts that fit inside zinc lid closures for bottles, eventually they produced much of the depression glass.  The colonial-block style was a simple kitchenware set of items complimentary to dishes.  This collection did not have a plate... and if you find a black piece you are lucky indeed as they are rare.

January 2013 Vintage Plates "Freebie 15" Block of the Month

Veronique Egg Trays

The Indiana Glass Company made egg relish or Veronique Egg Trays from golden amber, amber, and the carnival glass from the 1970s through the 1990s.  The Indians Glass Company has a very elusive past... it started in 1896 when George Brady and James Beatty formed the Beatty-Brand Glass company.  By the early 1900s they merged nineteen different glass companies into National Glass, which by 1904 became the Indiane Glass Company.  In 1907 the Indiana Glass Company was sold to a group of men after National Glass failed.  It was then officially purchased and incorporated in 1907.  The company still operates today.

Part of the instructions read "this block will test your inset [Y-]seam skills, so don't get frustated."

Don't get frustrated????????

Argh!  

This quilt block definitely test my patience & skills!!

Not one of my inset seams is perfect, but the iron has a way of flattening all sorts of quilting sins... and hopefully the finished quilted quilt will hide even more!  Just do not look too closely!  :)

(These vintage plates blocks measure 16" x 16" each.)

And finally... here's a sneak peek at the next 2 quilts of mine that are done... just awaiting binding to be finished.  I have one more finished quilt-minus-the-binding at home, but I'l buy the binding the next time I'm at my local quilt shop as they have better colours and fabrics than the chain fabric store.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Falalala... it's Christmas time... and along with that is the busy time of year... yet I am determined to make things as relaxing as possible!  That being said, I'm still procrastinating on Christmas cards (to do or not to do...!).  

This is probably my last post for the year, but that's ok.

Like I just wrote... I want to relax!

I finished up some new and some old projects:

My 1st ever Christmas stocking!  This is a lovely quilt-as-you-go pattern and it sure was fun to do!

Front of the stocking

Back of the stocking

My son thought it was fun to wear.

I made a few of these easy paper ornaments for the tree... and with leftover paper, I made some paper Christmas tree links.

November's Freebie 15 block - "Transferware".
16" x 16"
(Quilt block colours look quite blah in this photo, oops, but they really are lovely.)

November's Freebie block is called "Transferware"  

Transferware is a ceramic where historical scenes and delicate patterns, such as florals are transferred onto fine china, making it affordable for middle-class families.  Transfer printing involves etching a design onto a copper plate, inking the plate then transferring the design onto tissue paper; this is then applied to the ceramic and fired with a glaze.  The result is the wonderful dishes we call transferware.

Here's a print-out of the November Freebie 15 Companion.
There are to be two 8.5" x 8.5" squares like this; the fabric is black & white.
I love this year's Freebie's but so far I am not too crazy about the companions' colours: the colours seem so dark compared to the Freebies.
That being said, I think I have fired myself from doing any more Freebie companions for the year!!
Seriously, this is the worst pattern to follow - ever!
The centre piece is actually cut out like a stop sign, but the instructions for lining everything up just exasperate me!!!!!

I finally also tackled some UFOs (Unfinished Objects/Projects) which are awaiting quilting (to be done next year).

Remember this pukey quilt top???  Well, it is NO MORE - Yeah!!

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Quilt top #1 (hacked)

I added a pink-with-white-polka-dots fabric for sashing.

A lady at the quilt store helped me select a border sashing, but when it came down to putting it all together, the border was just bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.

So... a simple brown border came into being.

Layer Cake Quilt Along - Quilt top #2 (done)

Scrappy Stars Quilt

I had finished 11 of these 9"x9" stars about a year ago as a BOM, but then the local quilt store closed and I had to make up my own 12th star block.

And then it sat and sat and sat... until now.

I love the finished quilt top.

I can hardly wait until this one is quilted!!

Scrappy Stars Quilt Top

Catching up...

Well, I thought with September would come plenty of time to finally catch up on my unfinished projects... but it has taken me an additional 2+ months to finally feel like I got somewhere in my sewing/quilting world!  

Funny how life simply gets so busy!

Remember this quilt?

This was my Spring 2012 Mystery Quilt.

I raffled it off for cancer, and we received $710 in donations that went toward the Canadian Cancer Society.  The winner of the quilt was Ellis V. of Lethbridge.

Congratulations, Ellis!

For the group of ladies from church that make quilts for people with cancer, I made this bag.  

The quilt top has the same design hearts on it, and I used leftover quilt fabrics to make this bag.

The bag is used to store the finished quilt.

Approximate size: 18" x 20"

I can't remember where I came across these wonky designs, but this brown quilt top is my version of someone else's quilt.  I just used some scrap fabrics.  (The colours on this pic are terrible: the colours are actually browns and some green/yellows.)

33" x 41"

 I finally finished up the last 2 blocks for Traditional Pastimes' Freebie 15 series.

"Seaweed" - September 2012
12" x 12"

"Sea Shells" - September 2012
12" x 12"

Traditional Pastimes came out with FUN COLOURS for the next year's Freebie 15 ~ YAY!!
This year we will be doing up Vintage Plates... what a fun idea... but I'm not sure how I'll display dinner plates on a bed.  (haha)  The finished quilt will be 92" square!

October's Freebie 15 Companion:

"Abbey" Vintage Plate

This romantic ruined abbey pattern first saw the light of day in the 1800s as Abbey Wreath and was made by Adams.  At the Adams bankruptcy sale in 1861 George Jones bought the printing plates for the design, but it was not until 1901 that his sons re-launched their "new" Abbey pattern.  It became hugely popular and remained in production until 1940, with many people first coming across it in the mid 1930s when the breakfast cereal Shredded Wheat offered free dishes and discounts across a range of breakfast and teaware in Abbey." 

8" x 8"

I only made one small dinner plate, but I "broke" my second dish... I started cutting the fabrics wrong, so this is what I ended up with.  

I will have to figure out how to use this "plate"... but I'll probably make a new plate.

8" x 8"

October's Freebie 15: this lovely bright, fun-coloured plate:

"Aynsley England" Vintage Plate

The pottery firm of Aynsley and Sons opened in Stoke-on-Trent in 1775.  Over the centuries, the Aynsley firm perfected the art of making English bone china, and it continues to be recognized for the high production qualities.  Even though the company has introduced many modern designs, many of the early traditional patterns including "Orchard Gold" and "Cottage Garden" continue to be produced today, and are exported to stores in over 80 countries.

16" x 16"

A crib quilt made of extra fabrics.

37" x 42"

Back of the crib quilt.

 Every Friday for the past 6 Fridays, I have been participating in Heather Spence's Fall 2012 Mystery Quilt.   This is my second quilt along with Heather, and it has been fun.
The pattern proceeds benefit someone living with cancer.

Fall 2012 Mystery Quilt
61" x 61"

 And FINALLY... the 24 2011-2012 Freebie 15 & Companion quilt blocks... all sewn together.
I have to add some sashing & about 200+ hourglass units around the edges, but at least the quilt blocks are sewn together.
I wish I would have done sashing between the blocks, but there is no way I'll be pulling this quilt apart!
All in all, I'm happy with it.  I has been a great learning experience, even though I didn't always enjoy the minute sewing/quilting required for some of these blocks, but I did it!
I'll post pix when I finally finish the quilt top!

Top measures 69" x 69" at this point... and still not done!

Summer Catch-Up

What a busy summer it has been! 

The weather has been very beautiful, despite a few hail storms, one of which damaged the siding on our garage, but at least the mosquitoes have been minimal this year!

We have had lots of company this month, but I did manage (between company visiting) to get some sewing done.

I caught up on my "Freebie 15" blocks...

July's Freebie 15 block: "Tidal Pool"

July's Freebie 15 Companion block: "Starfish"

August Freebie 15 block: "Whirlpool"

August Freebie 15 Companion block: "Seagulls"
I just cannot seem to follow these instructions... usually, I LOVE flying geese blocks, but the instructions for this quilt along's flying geese are just hopeless for me!!  Argh!

I sewed some little gifts:
Placemat to Go for a co-worker's little girl.

Just add some chalk & it's ready to go!

Rolled up for on-the-go.

A mini "quilt" which measured ~10"x10".