Heather’s Quilt

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Sewfrench

Quilts and their history ~ An ongoing series.

At the time I made this High School graduation quilt for my oldest niece, Heather, I was still pretty new to this whole quilting thing.  It was 1994.

I *thought* I created this pattern and maybe I did.  But there are an awful many similar ones out there.  It appears to often be called Ocean Waves, but most are a bit different. They usually have four rows of half square triangles, around the center blocks, where this one has only two.  Often the center block is done in one block, as opposed to the two colors and four triangles.

After doing a lot of searching, on the web, I did come up with this blogger who has a rather large collection of Ocean Waves quilts and there is one, the blue and white one at the top, that is very similar, so who knows.  If there is another name for this particular version, I’d love to know what it is.

Heather was really in to yellow when she was heading off to college and her mother requested that if we wanted to get her things to help decorate her first dorm room that to get it in sunflowers.  You remember the 90’s, right?  Sunflowers were everywhere. Heather soon possessed the largest collection of sunflower decor I have ever seen.  I am just glad I didn’t fall for *that* trend, LOL!  Yellow and white is a classic and totally unrelated to the 90’s fad decor….

This was an early quilt done with white as opposed to my usual natural/unbleached muslin.  All these years later, it’s still a toss-up over which I prefer….

I believe this is a twin size and it is definitely hand quilted.  It has its corners cut off to follow the angles of the on point blocks. It’s quilted with straight lines through the centers of the blocks and around the borders, about 1″ apart, if I recall correctly, and I believe outlining of the smaller triangles, 1/4″ in.  I haven’t seen this quilt in forever.  I suspect it may be up there at the top of the *loved to death* quilts list.

It looks as if Grandma Sue was possibly still doing my embroidery.  And it looks like I wasn’t really into photography.  Pretty sure if I had had a digital camera, then, that bottom corner of the bed would have been remade.  And that’s definitely not my wallpaper.

Revisiting this quilt and the web, looking at other variations, of similar quilts, makes me consider doing another one of these.  It’s so traditional but with a fresh cheerfulness about it.

I do know that stash-busting, scrappy quilts will always be one of my favorites.   Making quilts for those who love, use and appreciate them, makes it all the better.

Posted in 1994 completes, fabric, Photography, Quilt stories, Quilts and their History, Sewing | Tagged | 3 Comments

I may have felt hounded but now it’s done.

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Sewfrench

Same story, different week….

Here we are again.

I have yet another road trip under my belt but *this* time I have a finish.

Finally.

My Houndstooth quilt bound, in continuous bias binding, hand quilted and hand bound.
48″ x 58″


Kona Cotton Solids in Bone, Chocolate and Curry.

The bummer is I had it finished in the first hour and had 15 more hours of riding with no quilting to do.  Even though there are another 4 stacked and waiting….  You would think I would always have something waiting at the back door, but this one caught me off guard and I had nothing ready.  I just wasn’t prepared for this trip…

It wasn’t often that so many of us kids were able to get together, but most of us did, just one month ago. I feel blessed for that.

As many of you heard, my Dad passed away unexpectedly last week. He was a a Father to many and friend to even more. He was a hard worker who was always willing to lend a hand.  He will be sorely missed by the 6 of us kids, 5 additional children and the 39 grand and great-grandchildren.

Thanks so much for all your thoughts, prayers, flowers, cards and calls.  We appreciate it.

Posted in 2011 completes, fabric, Family, Quilting, WIP | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

My ever changing view

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Sewfrench

It’s settling in and looking like it belongs.

It’s nice to see the maples are changing colors.  A nice bonus over all the evergreens we had before.

You can still see the line between the new lawn and the old lawn.  You can still see where the heavy equipment damage has not quite filled back in, yet, but it’s coming.

Looks as if most of the befores were snow photos.  Though the big bushy trees did make for beautiful snow pictures, they also blocked our view.  We can now more clearly see the fox and the deer.  And the moles.  Must do something about the moles on our beautiful new lawn….

The view below my kitchen window before…

The three bushes in the back would grow to the gutters by late July.  It was hard to keep this corner cut back enough.  It was either a jungle or cut to the ground, hardly an in between to enjoy.

And the after…  So young and fresh.

What a difference, in person, anyway.  It shows just how over grown a landscape can get in just 5 years, even with regular pruning, this is what it looked like not long ago, hopeful these new varieties won’t take over so quickly.  It took lots of heavy equipment to get that jungle out of there.

Pretty sure I’ve always despised this creeping hunk of dead thing…

It looks so much better with the new stone and plantings.  These are wee little grasses, similar to a monkey grass, but not.  I forgot what they are.  I need an updated plan from the Landscapers, they altered their original plan, a bit…

Out my studio window…

And after…  You can’t really tell, but all the half dead ground cover has been replaced with Pachysandra, a better variety for this location.  And our leaves have started falling!

And the front before…

Circa 2007, before we swapped the bark for stone.  Look how little everything was!

And now after the latest freshener…  Look how that tree has grown!

Tree huggers, don’t stress.  We removed 12 trees and then planted 21 super healthy ones.   We also added lots of other greenery.

And provided jobs for several individuals for a couple of weeks.  Which gets my head spinning, in circles, as in The Exorcist, thinking that the Obama Jobs Bill wants me to send more money to Washington so that *they* can hire my landscapers????  Not sure that I believe the Feds (no matter who they are) can provide more jobs to *my* local economy, better than me.  But we won’t go there….

We couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out.

And to think it just started with Peter wanting to play on his lawn mower….

Posted in Landscape | Tagged | 4 Comments

How I make a basic Marinara

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Sewfrench

Get your skillet smoking hot and add a twirl of olive oil.

Sprinkle in some cayenne pepper flakes, cook just until your eyes start to burn or if you remembered to turn on the vent fan until the air is spicy.

Add one good-sized shallot, chopped.  After a minute of two add in a nice sized chopped garlic clove.

Saute up until all is wilted and golden, but not burned.  Deglaze with a nice splash of white wine.

You can smell it now, can’t you??

Now dump in a pint of canned tomatoes and a hearty dollop of your frozen pesto.  I hate that I am already starting to use the tomatoes I have canned *this* year, but you know, if that’s all you got, you just go with it!

Marinara recipeCook up until it starts to get a bit dryer.  Then toss in a couple of handfuls of cherry/ grape/ tommy toe, whatever you call them at your house, tomatoes that you have quartered.

Taste for seasoning.

Enjoy over the seemingly abundance of this years spaghetti squash, or pasta, if you must, use as a pizza sauce or whatever your little heart desires.  You know it’s good and good for you!

If there is any left is awesome on garlic toast, the day after!

Enjoy!

Cheers!

Posted in Cooking, Eating, Gardening, Health, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

What are you reading this week?

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Sewfrench

I

this book.

A historical fiction book that really makes you appreciate what your ancestors might have went through, to live, and possibly die, among strangers, in a new land.  You would never know this was Pamela Schoenewaldt’s début novel.  Beautifully developed and written with such clarity that you have no choice but to believe that this is what it must have been like for so many.
Let me know if you read it or have read it.  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Posted in Books, Reading | 4 Comments

Double Wedding Ring

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Sewfrench

Quilts and their history ~ An ongoing series.

A project that has been on my to-do list for years and years and years is to document the quilts I have made, all in one place.  So this past week I started scanning photos in and over time I hope to get all the quilts and their stories put up.  Maybe something will strike your fancy and inspire you to be creative, in whatever method you choose!

This is my bedroom.  This is my bed.  This is what most people see.

But this is what I sleep under every night.

Sewfrench

One of my earliest *real* quilts. I made for myself.  And I still use it.  Every day.

It wasn’t something I could give away. Way back when, Amanda drew my name for a Christmas gift.  She had just turned 3 (1991) at the time and this was a Person Present drawing gift.  This was the first year that I was included in the French Family tradition. We all drew names around Thanksgiving and since Amanda was the youngest of the young, and couldn’t read, I had to help to make sure she didn’t draw her own name, a common occurrence even when you have so many in the drawing.   This is all super secret, no one knows who drew whom, and everyone is trying to drop wrong leads and take guesses causing the kids to possibly accidentally tell who they had.  Well, after many do~overs Amanda drew me and I thought it was hysterical, since I was her *helper*, so I was not about to call another re~do, especially when finally every one else was a go.  It was much too trivial an issue for all that commotion….

So come Monday morning, when the dad goes to work and the siblings head off to school, Amanda and I marched ourselves down to the local quilt store, Katie’s Stitch and Stuff, downtown little old Lake Odessa. We quickly proceeded to pick out fabric for a double wedding ring quilt.  Katie gift wrapped it up for us, so I could spend the next month convincing Amanda I didn’t have a clue who she drew or what she bought!

The Christmas pictures don’t do it justice.  I laughed until I cried when I opened my surprise, from Amanda, and then everyone knew I bought my gift!  Okay, maybe you had to be there, but Person Presents are always a big, secret deal in this family.  A lot of thought and just a little money goes into them.  I scored big!  And 18 years, after completion, I am still reaping the benefits of having a daughter who loves fabrics as much as I.

I do have to say dusty rose was a hot color, back then, and I had no clue about what and how colors would ebb and flow over time….  Not that I wouldn’t pick these colors, now. But yeah, I guess, not…  When the lights are off, it still makes for some mighty fine sleeping.  No matter the color!
Dense Hand Quilting visible

An oversized queen size (shown on a King bed) with 2808 pieces and all hand quilted. One of my heaviest quilts and one my most heavily quilted.  Most rows are less than 1/4″ apart.  I didn’t know if I was coming or going.  But the back does show off some intense hand quilting!

This was back before I knew how or that I *could* embroider my own quilts. Grandma Sue dated many of my early ones.  Eventually, I did get the hang of it.

Double, continuous bias binding with all the nooks and crannies bound around.  No need to cut the points off, like many do.

I was young, brave and fearless!  Looking back, on it, I can’t *believe* I did such a complicated, making the curves lay flat, kind of quilt, so early on in my quilting career.

*That* is why I sleep under it every night.

To remind myself that I can do anything.  You just have to play stupid and do it…..

It still makes me smile.  Thanks again, Amanda ; )

Posted in 1993 completes, fabric, Family, Quilt stories, Quilting, Quilts and their History, Sewing | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

WIP Wednesday #10

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Sewfrench

Just back from another road trip and it looks like I might have made big progress on the hand quilting, of this quilt.

With just under 2000 miles, over the last 2 weeks, we had an incredibly good time and I’m now up to 90% finished on my Houndstooth quilt.  That’s the thing about hand quilting.  It’s a take everywhere kind of project.  Besides doesn’t everyone need a lap quilt on a road trip?  It might as well be a WIP, don’t you think?  I need to catch up on a few recorded shows and I’ll be done in no time.  Surely I can have a finish next week!

I’ve also been working on documenting my quilt finishes from over the years.  Stay tuned to see the evolution of my style, LOL!

p.s. Be sure and click the WIP button above and see what everyone else has been working on!  Talented people doing lots of great work!

Posted in Quilting, Travel, Uncategorized, WIP | 10 Comments

Friday Favorites

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Sewfrench

First up?  Shout Color Catcher.

Ever had a guy in your life be forced to wear pink socks or undies?  Ever think your whites aren’t as white as they should be?  Ever leave a ticket stub in the pocket of your white pants?  Well, okay, it might not help such a saturation of color….  Prevention is the key and it all starts with the emptying of the pockets.

This is something I don’t want to live without.

Grandma taught me to add a cup of table salt to the washer for the first washing, in cold water, of anything that might fade.  It would help set the color.  She also said if that didn’t work you could try adding glugs of white vinegar.  Yeah, they makes things really soft and fresh smelling, but it doesn’t really do much for setting the dye.

This is what we needed all along.  It doesn’t set the dye but it is a dye magnet.  There is more than one brand of this product. Both that I have used have worked beautifully.  This just happens to be the one I have on hand, at the moment.  The *Coupon Queen* daughter got this box for a steal of a deal. She keeps me stocked on many awesome items.

This stuff catches all the excess dye in your washer.  I’m not talking only new clothes.  NO, no, no, not just new blue jeans, with all the back to school clothes. I’m talking things that you never knew were losing dye.  See that purpley blue sheet towards the back.  That came out of a load that was almost all white clothes, definitely lights.  Nothing even medium colored in it.  There were a few new whites in the load that I didn’t want discolored, so I tossed one in.  And just *see* how much dye it caught??  It blows my mind.  I love these things.

The used one beneath it came out clean, apparently no issues in that load.

As a quilter, I prefer not to prewash because I think you get a better, antiqued, crinkly, cotton shrinkage look if you do your first wash after your project is complete.  To me, that’s what hand quilting is all about.  That soft, crinkly cotton that reminds you of holiday slumber parties, at Grandma’s, with all the cousins….  sleeping on cots, pallets and the pull out sofas, under a quilt Grandma made.  Ahhh….

In my 30+ years of quilting, I have only once been burned with my no prewash theory.  It was a red that faded to all adjoining blocks.  That quilt has a lot more hand work than any other and the owner hasn’t a clue!  All the leftovers of that one, single red were quickly tossed and burned, not to be confused and used again.

Now, I use these washer sheets on all freshly made quilts, before they are ever gifted and often include them with the quilts, especially if they have fabrics in them than I may worry about.  Reds are always a panic attack in the making…. Not many fabric are an issue any more, but still.  Redos are not cool…

And don’t ask me who’s quilt it was.  I’ll never tell…..

Posted in fabric, Favorite Things, Quilting | Tagged , | Leave a comment

In one of my past lives..

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Sewfrench

I am sure I was a pioneer.  I may have even lived in a little house on the prairie.

Oh, how I had a special connection to that book, as a child.  They could do and make anything and were always having adventures!

I was a big time library user growing up.  Books were a big part of my life.  Reading could take me anywhere, anytime and I could revisit those times and places whenever I liked.  I couldn’t tell you how many times I read this book.

And little did I know I married another old fan.

An old fan, that came with his very own collection of Little House books.

Our children grew up reading these very same books.  They just didn’t have to go to the library to get the next one in the series.

Though I’d love to have a garden big enough to feed us year round, like they did on the prairie, I’m not sure I would want to put in all the work that it involves.  I know that they didn’t have a choice, if they were going to eat, but I have to say, I feel very fortunate to have farmer’s markets so close by, to cover the quantities we need.

This was the first year in forever that we put up corn.  I’m so glad I found the time.  And the sweetest farmer, at the market, shared with me how she does it.  She also helped me carry my corn to the truck.  Good people.

And can you ever can too many tomatoes???

I love knowing what goes into not only my jars, but what goes into the fruits and veggies that go into those jars.  This farmer has over 6000 tomato plants.  6000!  Can you imagine?  Can you imagine what that smells like to walk through row upon row of tomatoes, brushing up against them?  That aroma that only tomatoes put out??
I think I need to figure out something to barter with….
She buys NO fresh fruits or veggies during the off seasons.  Everything she needs is canned, frozen, in cold storage or they do without.  She also has three freezers full of chicken, pork and beef.  Amazingly self sufficient, she is.

So for me, this time of year, in particular, I’ll support the local, hard working farmer instead of the major grocery chains and enjoy the jiggling sound of Ball bracelets and the pings of a good seal.

And the best part of canning tomatoes is not having to call dibs on the leftover juice!! There is plenty to share.
Seeing all our hard work, lined up in pretty little rows, makes my heart sing.

I really do think I was a pioneer in a past life…..

Posted in Books, Cooking, Eating, Favorite Things, Gardening, Reading | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

WIP Wednesday #9

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Sewfrench

Really?  I’ve only done this *9* times???  It seems like so many more…  I think it just makes you realize what you are and aren’t getting finished….

Anyway……

If you want to see what everyone, *in the know* is working on, click on the link below.

As for me and my house…

It’s a disaster.  I have WAY too many WIPs going on.  I don’t like this feeling of not getting anything completed.

At all.

I did complete several unphotographed smalls items.  Got some charity items made and donated.  Got a couple of small gifty items, made, and in the mail, but big items, completed?

Nada.

My  Kaffe Fassett take on the Jane Austen quilt is still spread on the floor I walk on everyday.  It’s making me crazy.  Especially since it was to be something I worked on when I had no other machine work to do.  NO.  It’s way to tempting and I just keep walking on it and adding a few pieces here and there and then walking over/on it some more.  It will be well-worn by the time it’s basted up for quilting.  I have collected his fabrics for quite a while and was saving them, for what? I did not know.  But this pattern, struck me as being so right, what with the bright white and the brightness of his pinks and reds. I’m not sure how large this will become, but for now, it is leaning towards a large throw, but there is nothing to say it can’t grow for years, if it ages that well, anyway….

I got the back pieced for my version of Moda‘s Sunkissed Squares.

It is now pin basted, ready for the hand quilting.  Got the bias binding made for this 45″ square blankie, too.  The lighting was weird, today….  Believe it or not, it is a beautiful bright white.

Also got the back of a mystery quilt finished to get it all pin basted together and ready for quilting, too.

Also started working on getting my book titles and fonts together for my Stack of Books quilt.  All the family contributed names and I have way more than I want to embroider….

Now I just need to work on learning to embroidery things other that my initials……

And no more than 5  threads put into this one.  That is how I track how much I’ve hand quilted.  The number of thread lengths.  5 in a week is not worth counting.

And certainly not worth the time to count up the percentage of finished….

But it does look like an excuse for another road trip, to me….

Don’t you think????

Posted in Crafting, fabric, Quilting, WIP | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments