Marie Henry

After Christmas I worked on some pieced blocks to go with the applique blocks I made last winter. From the top: Windblown Square, Duck and Ducklings, Carrie Nation,This and That, and Cake Stand. These blocks were so fun to piece. If you remember, I made the applique blocks bigger than the book calls for. The book has 6-inch blocks and I am making 8-inch blocks. Still small enough to be dainty, but big enough for my applique skills.

However! I did not think about having to enlarge the pieced blocks, too. It was not difficult to draft blocks that are based on four patch, but the five block Duck and Ducklings took some thinking. Alex Anderson explained how to do this on a recent Quilt Show. Between her instructions and some others I finally figured it out. The light went on, so to speak. I will try to explain in the next post.

These blocks are on point in the finished quilt. The book I am using is Marie Henry's Teach Yourself Blocks from the Past.

TREE

"Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven."
Rabindranath Tagore

I have been pondering this quote from a travel calendar since I read it in October. The idea of trees speaking to the Universe is one I have considered for some time. All plants and animals do this continually; they simply are one with all that is. We humans are so busy doing most of the time, if not all our lives, that we forget this natural connection.

I used Misty Fuse in this project. All the fabrics except for the sky are batiks. The quilting thread in the sky is a blue and green Mettler variegated; the water quilting is done with a blue variegated thread. Love that variegated thread for the depth and interest it imparts. Oh, the tree is done with brown variegated, too. The piece is 15 x 20 inches. I made a facing for this quilt rather than a bound edge.

Merry Christmas!

Summer in the hallway

No quilting today. We got sent home from work at noon because of the snowstorm so I wallpapered the hallway. Strawberries and vines=Summer in the Hallway!


My brother has been doing some work for us. He sheetrocked two walls and put in a new threshold for the front door. Last weekend I painted the ceiling and painted all the trim and doors. I went to Tate's in Bath on Saturday morning (with a stop at Halcyon for sock yarn and Mariner's Compass for three spools of thread) and bought wallpaper. They have $8 rolls of paper, just my budget!


I started tearing apart the hall many years ago and I have the pictures to prove it. My son was only a toddler and he helped. Now he is off at college and I finished it up today! Well, let's ignore the floor for now. Hubby made supper including a pudding pie. Now I am going to collapse!