Presenting....Holiday Chorus! I sewed all the blocks together today and added the borders. This quilt is bigger than I expected. It is about 68 inches square. It will hang in my living room behind the sofa. I hope there is enough room!
There are six birds in the panel, so I left out the robin. The robin does not look like the robins around here, so I did not include it. This quilt has the tufted titmouse which is so sweet and a relative of the chickadee. My gmail name is chickadee24, so I had to keep her. Also, the black capped chickadee is the State of Maine bird. Cardinals and nuthatches frequently come to my birdfeeder, so those were easy choices. So, it really came down to the wren and the robin. Wren teaches us to sing and use our voices, so that seemed appropriate for this quilt.
Next I will need to buy backing fabric and quilt batt. Any suggestions for "quilt as desired"? I will be using my home sewing machine. I don't want to hand quilt it, but may handquilt the ring around the birds.
After the rain we had this past summer, I suppose we have enough. However, we may get a deluge this weekend which will keep me inside and I intend to make up for lost time (AKA working full time at my new job) by sewing all weekend. I have all the blocks for Holiday Chorus done so I will be putting the top together.
In the meantime, take a look at the knitting I have been doing this past month.
I have one more white pair done,too. These are called Newfoundland Mitts and you can find the pattern here. Easy to knit, this is a slip stitch pattern. I used variegated yarn with long repeats of color. There is no gusset for the thumb, making them really easy to knit! I belong to a Yahoo group called CIC (children in common) which does charity knitting. We are having a mitten blitz and sending the mittens to the Cheyenne River Reservation the last week in September in time for cold weather.
DH and I went to the Common Ground Fair last Sunday. What a great fair and what a great day we had. DH was very patient while I looked at every skein of yarn(and there were plenty), had him pat some cashmere yarn, and he even chatted with some quilt ladies from the Scrap Baggers in the Folk Life tent. Good thing the fair was last week; it would be a washout this weekend.
I realize this entry is a bit thin on quilting, but I have one more thing to add. Last Monday night I went to a Back Road quilt meeting. It was their second meeting this fall, but my first. Almost all my Tacoma friends were there, so that was fun. The ladies from Cotton Weeds had a beautiful table and trunk show. I signed up for a Hawaiian applique workshop with Sarah Ann Smith for later next month. Sarah gave a talk at one of our area meetings a couple of years ago and I was amazed at the quantity and quality of her quilts. I also sat at the "former librarian" table with Bonnie and Tina. We were convulsed with laughter when Nena, one of our co-leaders, told us about trying to get some quilting and baking done while her husband wanted her to go run an errand with him. To end the evening one of the members showed some crazy quilts and demonstrated several embroidery stitches. All in all a wonderful program with some very fine women.
Have a great weekend, dear readers!
Did you forget Holiday Chorus? Or did you think I had? Well, I sort of did. I forgot that this BOM was on a credit card that was breached, so the number was canceled, therefore Cotton Weeds could not mail my August installment. We got that straightened out and I received two months at once last week. Lucky me!
Now that my DD is off at university I set up my Jem Gold in her room, which is downstairs and very handy! I shut the door so the cats don't play with the pincushion. They don't like that too much as they love to lounge on her bed all day.
I used my little Jem last week because I sent my Pfaff out to the repair shop. Thread kept fraying and breaking. I think something must be rubbing against the thread inside the machine, but nothing like that was found. It seems to sew fine now, but you know how these intermittent problems can be. Right when you are in the middle of a project, BAM!, it does not work. Take it to the shop, all is well. I will see how it works this weekend. I plan to give it a workout.
I am having some trouble with this block. Four of these diagonal blocks are put together to make the whole block. The block should measure 10 1/2 inches and most of mine are 10 and 1/4. I've been sewing scant 1/4 seams and coming closer to the right size.
Can you see the little half square triangle blocks? I made those from the waste that is cut off when making the diagonal pieces. I have lots of these little tiny squares now. Don't know if I will ever use them, but it is the sort of thing I just like to have tucked in a drawer. I have lots of little odds and ends like that. They don't have to be useful, they just look useful and are adorable for being so small. I like miniature things, don't you?
Just a quick note to remind my Maine quilting friends that the Pine Tree Quilter's Guild members' meeting is this Saturday. I knew it was coming up, but was surprised when I saw that it is this Saturday, September 6 starting at 9:30 a.m. at Jewett Hall in Augusta.
The guild has three members' meetings each year. We have a business meeting in the morning where those in the audience bring handwork and listen to various reports ranging from a long report on the Maine Quilts show to brief reports from the Area reps. It is all interesting and a good chance to see members from other chapters and catch up on their news, too. After lunch the guest speaker will be Jan Krueger from Wisconson. Jan will be giving a talk titled "I Love Log Cabins."
While looking at the guild website I saw information and photos of the winners and their quilts from the August show. In due time all the quilts will be up on the website, I'm sure.
J104 "Pennsylvania Palette" by Wendy Caton Reed received an Exceptional Merit ribbon and was selected Judge's Choice (Dianne S. Hire) and Merchants' Choice.
Take a look and see if your favorite quilt won a ribbon! Isn't it nice to see the quilt maker beside their quilt?
P.S. Don't forget your lunch and camera on Saturday!
Not much sewing happening on Quilt Island this past week. On Monday my daughter and I caught the bus to Boston and visited the New England Aquarium. Mint green sea anemones, a weedy sea dragon of unbelievable beauty, and a 75 year old turtle were a few of the highlights of that adventure.
On Wednesday the library ladies gave me an afternoon to remember for a long time. It was my last day as librarian at Bowdoinham Public Library. There were fragrant lilies, iced teas, chocolate goodies, and many dear friends. It was a wonderful good bye to a job I have loved.
On Thursday I spent a busy morning training the new librarian and then home for a quick lunch before taking my son shopping and running errands for back to college.
On Friday my daughter and I drove to Portland for her back to college shopping. Friday night we had my son's birthday dinner. I made him scalloped potatoes with potatoes from the garden. I checked to see how they were doing after 50 minutes only to find the oven wasn't turned on! Good grief. Well, somehow they turned out just fine. For dessert we had chocolate cake with mocha frosting, at his request. That was my mother's favorite cake, too. We also had coffee ice cream. Wow! Bill's folks joined us and so it was a happy occasion for all.
On Saturday (this is sounding like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, isn't it?) I sat around watching tv knowing I DID NOT HAVE TO GO TO WORK!!! Highly enjoyable. Later, after supper we packed two cars and headed for Orono. The kids are back at college and ready for a new year of classes and fun.
On Sunday I rested. Just kidding. On Sunday we drove to Flagstaff Lake, the Bigelow Mountain Preserve campground. Flagstaff Lake was made in 1950 when the town was dismantled and the area flooded for a hydroelectric dam. You can still see some remains of the town. There is an old paved road running through the campground that ends at the lake.
Presenting....Holiday Chorus! I sewed all the blocks together today and added the borders. This quilt is bigger than I expected. It is about 68 inches square. It will hang in my living room behind the sofa. I hope there is enough room!
