Life on Quilt Island

Hello from Quilt Island, my friends. From my little corner in Maine where the coronavirus is beginning to make an impact on all of our lives,it seems that every day the number of cases increases. Being a retired homebody, life has not altered too much for me as I continue to stay at home. My husband and daughter continue to go to work so the routine is much the same. Which is not to say that life will ever be the same, will it? 

I strongly object to the constant use of the large virus image that is used in every newscast about the pandemic. I would prefer to see that symbol with a big X or the "no" symbol on top of the image. I believe that would send a message to all of us that there is hope rather than helplessness. This is a time when all of us in our communities will pull together and help one another.

Okay, so let's look at what I've been doing in my sewing room!

 My Easter Hen is a very old UFO that I have put aside a couple of times. The last time was just before Easter one year and when I had trouble with the basket, I put it aside and another Easter slipped by. I've been finishing up a lot of my other UFOs and recently it occurred to me to finish this one up so I pulled it out of the pile. The only thing left to do was attach the borders and do the quilting! I was rather surprised with how much was done! I will post a picture of the finished wall hanging soon. The pattern was offered on The Quilt Show back in 2010. (hangs her head in shame)

I bought these nine patch blocks at an auction one of my quilt groups held a few years ago. The blocks came from an online swap one member had participated in, so these blocks have been around for many years. The names of participants and their addresses were attached to the blocks. It was fun for me to see where they came from, many from California, Arizona, Colorado, even Hawaii. A long way from Maine, that's for sure. The blocks were meant to be used for an Irish Chain quilt. All the blocks are green and white and there are many shamrocks and other St. Patrick's Day themed fabrics. I added my own prints for the alternate blocks. This is a small quilt for a child and will be donated to a charity. I have quite a few more blocks and have made another quilt similar to this one. Not finished with quilting yet. Oh, and I worked on this on St. Patrick's Day, so it will be a lucky quilt, for sure!

Barbara Brackman has two BOMs going this year. I am participating in the all applique Civil War Quilt that she is calling Cassandra's Circle. My quilt will be all pink and green. Above is one of the eight 18-inch blocks. This one is the Mulberry Wreath. Below is the 36-inch center called Washington's Plume.

Here is another UFO that has been languishing for many years. It feels so good to finish a UFO, doesn't it? I feel quite virtuous.

This quilt started when I made the red toile star blocks in the center. I made the center stars and had no idea what to do with next. Eventually I added the green border and from there it grew. I machine quilt most of my quilts on my domestic machine. I saw Cindy Seitz-Krug on The Quilt Show where she showed quilting on a grid. I thought that looked easy (it is but it takes practice!) I mostly do free motion meandering and loop-di-dos but I thought I could try the grid system on this quilt. I wasn't too thrilled with the quilt and I really wasn't too thrilled with my quilting when I was working on it, but by the time I put it on my bed, I thought it was quite nice. I hope you agree. I always wash my quilts when I finish them and I think that covers up a lot of imperfections. 

Stay safe, stay happy, and keep on stitchin'. Aren't you glad you have a stash?