Monthly Archives: May 2012

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Gardening Rewards

front yard

One of the rewards of gardening is seeing other people appreciate your work.  My garden in the front yard attracts some attention each summer.  I see cars that drive down the street slow down and spend a few seconds looking, and people who walk the dog down the street make a much slower trek past the house.  Over the weekend someone stopped by to ask if it would be ok to take pictures.  I am always happy to say yes and give a little tour.  I think the plants grow better when they are admired.  Here is another batch of pictures (click pictures to enlarge) and enjoy the tour…the plants enjoy it.

Happy Gardening

Tim

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Trying to be disciplined

I am trying to be a bit more disciplined with my quilting.  After I finished the fan quilt I was all set to start a new one…but then I looked at my pile of unfinished work and thought I should finish at least one before I start yet another.  Here is the choice (I picked this one because it wont take long to finish).

If you are a regular visitor you may remember this one.  The antique top was not in the best shape (see the sun fading along the fold lines) but I love it regardless.

The quilting pattern is not a simple one but the majority of the hard work is done.

all the center is done.  I need to finish up the pieced blocks at the edges.  I am quilting them with fairly simple outlining.

Here is a look at the back

and a closer look

I think I can finish this one up in a few weeks and then start the next one.

Just in case you have not seen enough garden pictures here are some more

the back yard viewed from the upstairs window

The weather has been cloudy and off and on rain and should go to 90+ today so I don’t think I will be doing any work outside…so no reason not to get a lot of work done on that quilt!Happy QuiltingTim

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Another finish!

I finished hand quilting the Japanese Fan Quilt today!!

It just came out of the dryer so it is still a bit wrinkled

The quilt was made from vintage fan blocks.  See the post here.  I hand pieced the top together and finished that on March 28 and started hand quilting on March 31.

here is the back

The top was 82″ square before I did the hand quilting.  I measured it again after quilting and binding and it measured at 80 inches square and again after washing and it is now 79 inches square.  The quilting itself does “shrink” the quilt as the fabric is drawn into the batting.

Please do not call the quilt police on me but I washed it in Hot water with a lot of Oxyclean and dried it in the dryer.  The fabric came out nice and bright and stain free, and nothing scary happened at all.  Sometimes I think was assume that vintage fabric is a lot more delicate than it really is.

I did the binding by bringing the backing forward to the front.

At 79″ square it is not the perfect size for a bed, but not bad.

and I think it is just as pretty from the back

and here are a few close-ups.

And here is what I used:

Warm and Natural batting

wide muslin backing (Robert Kaufman)

Roxanne #10 between needles

750 yards of Americana Fjord blue quilting thread

and a 14″ quilting hoop.

I still need to embroider my name on it (I was so excited to get it washed and done that I forgot to do that first).

My stack of eBay vintage blocks is now a finished quilt. I hope the original maker would approve.

now back to some other WIP quilts…and maybe start yet another?

Happy Quilting

Tim

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Garden update again

The garden is looking great!  Here is a little slide show (click pictures to enlarge)

Happy Gardening

Tim

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Garden update

rose, william shakespere

The garden is continuing to grow and look different each day as new flowers begin to bloom.  The forecast is for lots of sun and high temps for the next few days so it should be blooming even more by the Holiday weekend. (click pictures to enlarge)

I will have the finished fan quilt to show in the next few days….I am so close to being done!

Happy Gardening

Tim

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Antique Red Fabric…. 4 patch ufo

I love antique red fabric!  I love antique quilts that have red…I love to imagine what the red looked like when it was new.  Some antique red fades away to tan.  Here is an old top that had the fading problem.  The make used 2 different reds….clearly one had better dye than the other

At one time that tan was as red as the rest.

Same story on this one.  I bet it was a beauty when all the tan was red!

Some reds stay nice and bright!

These tops are all waiting for me to do something with them, but I got another one Yesterday!  It is an 4 patch UFO and I guess it to be from about 1890…and the red is great!!

A good bit of the work is done, some joining of pieces is needed, and there is a pile of 4 patches waiting to be added.

There are some interesting fabrics in this one

and the best part is all the “extra” red fabric!

there are 2 fabrics that are similar but different.

I have not measured for yardage but there is a lot

The fabrics are in great shape, it must have been stored well.

I cant wait to get it all put together…..I might add the red yardage as a border…or I might hoard it forever  and be afraid to use it.

Happy Quilting

Tim

 

 

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Thank You!

I reached a milestone today.  I have been blogging since March of 2011.  That first month my blog got 157 views. I honestly didn’t know if anyone would be interested in my little quilting hobby.  A little more than a year has gone by and today I passed the 50,000 views mark.

Thank you all for following my blog.  It has been such a joy to share my quilting addiction and my garden.

So what does 50,000 look like?

Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland
the world’s largest year-round Christmas store, claims to have 50,00 different Christmas trims for sale
 
50,00 snow geese
 
50,00 protestors
50,00 dollars
 
50,00 views
Thanks!!
And now for the quilt update…..
 
getting close to finishing!..here is the back
 
Teddy wanted to be in a picture
 
we are both looking forward to the next 50,000
 
Happy Quilting
Tim
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A little Gardening

The weather has been so warm the last 2 days.  Upper 80′s is high for Lansing Michigan in May!   I spent some time in the garden planting annuals, weeding and watering, so not much quilting got done.  I took a few minutes to take some pictures.  I love to compare the garden from week to week and see how fast if grows!

So here is the slide show for the week.  as always click the pictures to enlarge.

Happy Gardening!

Tim

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Seeing Stars

I am getting close to finishing the Fan Quit so my mind keeps going to the next quilt.  I decided that it will be the giant star.

I love that it has so much room for hand quilting!

I am working on ideas for what to quilt in those big white setting squares and the wide border. I will post about that as soon as I get the top marked.

I purchased an extra wide piece of dark blue fabric for the backing and wool batting.  Currently the wool batting is hanging out to relax.

It is hanging on the wall in front of a quilt so that is what you see showing through in the picture.  when Hobbs wool batting comes out of the package it is so bunched up and wrinkled that it can drive you crazy, so this time I decided to let the wrinkles hand out for several days before I use it.

I have always loved star quilts so here are a few others that are in line to be quilted some day (click pictures to enlarge)

I think I have my work cut out for me!

I better get busy

Happy quilting

Tim

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Ruby McKim Colonial History Quit Top

Another new quilt top arrived this week.

Originally offered by Ruby Short McKim
Published in 1930

“The Sunday Plain Dealer has arranged to give its readers a service that will make special appeal to the boys and girls as well as to their mothers and grandmothers, and we’re pretty sure that father and the baby too, will like the finished result.

“This is the Colonial History Quilt, designed especially for a boy’s bed, but girls who love stories of heroes may make it for themselves. If grandmother decides to make it for that lad, it will become an heirloom, a thing of joy and beauty to be used and treasured for years.”

see the McKim Studios website for information on the patterns .

Karen Alexander At Quilt History Reports wrote a fabulous article about Ruby McKim, see it here. It is so great to know a bit of the history of quilts, and Karen’s research is so interesting and complete…thanks Karen. 

The patterns ran in newspapers throughout the country and this series had 24 blocks.  My quilt top has only 21.  Perhaps the maker missed a few weeks of newspapers?

The individual blocks are expertly embroidered (click to enlarge)

you can see from the back how small the stitches are

The blue sashing and red corner stones add a lot to the overall appeal

here is one from the Quilt Index

I am making progress on the vintage Japanese Fan quilt

20 blocks to go!

Saturday I did a presentation of some of my quits and blocks and tops for a very enthusiastic group of Red Hat Ladies at the University Lutheran Church. We had a great brunch followed by lots of Quilt talk. The ladies also brought their personal quilt treasures to share…I wish I had brought my camera!  Ann was kind enough to share these photos with me.

Thanks for inviting me!  I had a great time

Happy Quilting

Tim