Been splitting my time between Delaford and Once Upon a Christmas Time, enjoying doing both.
On the Delaford I have made progress on the Bird and Flower border blocks. I keep these on my design wall as I just love looking at them.
Well, another new project. Over Christmas I wished I had Christmas theme quilt I could hang up during the holidays. I usually just hang up a redwork embroidery that is not really Christmas-y but looks nice with my holiday decorations. I do have one Christmas quilt, but have several places I like to change out the quilts for season in my house. And lo and behold, Gail Pan came out with her 2024 block of the month and it is Once Upon a Christmas, and was exactly what I was looking for. This one is only 6 months and will give time to complete the project for Christmas. Each block contains applique and embroidery and machine piecing - Love it!
Here is my first block:
I recently took a workshop at SewEndipitous taught by Diane Quirk for the Kira Quilt. This is a quilt designed by GE Designs
I love the pattern, but I saw sunshines rather than the colorful blocks used in the picture. So I chose to do my in Yellow and White with a Sunflower border. This is my EQ version of the quilt.
Sometimes I just have to step away from handwork and do some machine sewing. I recently purchased the Carol Doak book 60 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Star which includes patterns for 10 National Parks. This is a nice break for me, and I plan to do a star every month.
Below is my picture of the Denali National Park Star. This national park is located in Alaska and I decided to use the Alaskan flag colors to make the star. The park covers 6,000,000 acres of wild lands and has North America's highest peak at 20, 310 feet.
I have two grand children interested in working as park rangers, so hoping one of them does end up with that career and I can give them this quilt.
This morning I was able to sew on the border of Octagonal EPP pieces. This has been so much fun picking out the fabrics and riotous colors, but hopefully they will all blend together in the final quilt. Next up is a border of flowers and birds. I actually purchased this quilt pattern because I loved the center applique that I am getting ready to start. I think this is one of Katrina Hadjimichael's prettiest patterns.
I actually made this quilt in 2002, but not sure I ever posted a picture of it on my blog. This was a block exchange I did with some friends in Texas where we swapped Red and White 9 patches. I did all the embroidery myself just picking a wide variety of patterns. The nutcracker was done by my dear friend Donna Kassan, who is an avid collector of Nutcrackers.
This morning I took the last hand quilting stitch on my Dear Jane quilt. Its a bitter sweet moment when you take that last stitch, as Jane and I have spent a lot of quiet contemplative hours together in the early hours of the day when all is quiet. An empty hoop.....
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| Full Circle and back at the corner block I started with....the last stitch. This quilt was one of the most difficult I have hand quilting, just because there are so many pieces in each pieced block. Some of the small 4 1/2" blocks had 40 - 50 pieces! This particular corner has 78 pieces Pushing and pulling a needle through all the layers of fabric and batting can even be painful and draw blood. Using a thimble in stab quilting just never worked of me. My "friend" became the little demitasse spoon that I covered in masking tape and used to push the needle down to the back and then from the underside, push it back to the top. Nothing fancy, but oh so greatly appreciated.  And now she waits until I get the time to put a binding on her raw edges. A scalloped edge can be a challenge when the scallops are this small, but then every step of this quilt was a challenge.  |
Tonight I finished the last blocks and now I am ready to start putting the top together. Here are the three blocks from Part 6 and a picture of the how I have laid out the blocks. Tess was here to help me get it just right (in our eyes) and I sure did appreciate her input.
Today I completed Part 5 of the Owl and Hare Hollow quilt. Just one more part - Part 6. This one has three blocks - two embroidered and one applique. But is also the part where we add the border and finish the quilt top. Woohoo....almost there.
Though I would share a link for a free .pdf download of the pattern I am using for the border triangles. This pattern was drafted by Steve Baker, Sewendipitous Quilt Shop, and he is offering a FREE pdf download of the pattern.
Today I started quilting on the triangle border for the Dear Jane quilt. I rough sketched the design for my un-pieced triangles, and I do mean rough sketched. I ask a good friend, Steve Baker of Sewendipitous, to try to redraw it for me and make it look better. He does beautiful graphic designs, and he did and I am so happy that he did.
Here is a corner block and a triangle block I completed today.
Thought I would post some of the 4 1/2: block I have hand quilted. I have only 22 more to go and then I can start on the borders. It actually fun deciding how to quilt each block although it is hard on the fingers. I have to masking tape my fingers, one on left hand that pulls the thread and one on the right hand that pushes the needle back up - Stab quilting. I can't really wear a thimble on the bottom hand, but I do wear a little leather thimble on the top hand finger that pushes the needle through.
Finished up Part 4 of the Owl and Hare Hollow quilt last night. Two more Parts to go - 14 more blocks.
I completed this part of the Block of the Month "Owl and Hare Hollow that is being published in the Homespun Magazine. I actually completed it last week, and just did not get around to posting. The following are the pictures of my Block 3 blocks.
