Inspiration

Inspiration come from everywhere. I'm searching through my quilt books right now to find blocks that scale to 8" to make a new sampler quilt. It started out as a block a week project.

One of the members of Quiltville Chat mentioned the Civil War Quilts blog by Barbara Brackman which is showcasing a block a week for a year to make a sampler quilt. I was interested and decided to participate. But you know me - impatient! One block a week? Not fast enough!

Also this week's block was applique, and I really wanted a pieced sampler. So, I started looking through all my books for a substitute block. I found many, many possibilities. And I started sewing.

I have 22 blocks so far.

Yeah, I know - obsessive much?

But aren't they cute?


An 8 inch block is perfect - large enough not to make you crazy piecing it but small enough to complete quickly. And you can include a lot of 8" blocks in a sampler quilt. One of the best sources for these blocks - surprise! - is the book "The Civil War Diary Quilt" by Rosemary Youngs. I'm so glad I had it. It has a bunch of block designs but no patterns so you have to draft them yourself. Not a problem for me, but I was really expecting patterns and cutting directions, or a CD with the book containing the templates like in "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt". This book just tells you to trace templates from the drawings. How chintzy.

Orange Crush!

Here's the center all assembled and waiting for borders, which I will be starting this afternoon. I changed up the Bonnie Hunter design a little, so stay tuned.

Postscript: Yeah, I see it. I got a square turned sideways. But I fixed it.

P.P.S.: Rats, there's another one. I'll fix it too.

Dog coat

Here's the recipient of the dog coat I made last month:Although she doesn't look too thrilled in the photo, she's actually quite happy wearing coats.

I don't know if you can see in the photo, but she has blue eyes. "People eyes", I call them. It's kind of spooky to look her in the face. She's my brother's dog and he adores her (and she, him). They go everywhere together. She's part Shiba Inu, and hardheaded, but very sweet.

Bring on the brights!

Maybe it's because of the dumb gloomy weather we've been having. Maybe it's post-holiday letdown. Maybe it's because of the amount of brown in the last few quilts I made. Whatever reason, I've been craving brights in my quilting life. Well, as bright as I can manage, which might not be other people's definition of bright.

Anyway, I started casting around for a project after I finished the last Quiltville mystery and found myself looking at the old mystery quilts on that website. I had made Double Delight, and while I loved it I wasn't in the mood to make it again. Old Tobacco Road was a lot more browns - nope. Carolina Crossroads was interesting, but - then, there it was! Orange Crush!

The perfect solution to the winter blahs. I started scrabbling through my stash and found the perfect orange fabrics. Then I had a decision to make. Go with the black and red for the star points that Bonnie Hunter used or break out on my own?

I wasn't too crazy about the red and the black seemed a bit contrast-y. I loved the blue centers to the orange blocks and wanted to add more (complementary colors, don't you know). So the star points became chocolate with blue. Here are a few blocks: I just love it.

I can't let my brother ever see this quilt when it's done. He likes orange. And now I do too.

Quiltville mystery done!

I'm the one to blame for making it so big, but really - I could barely spread it out in the sewing room to photograph. I've owned houses with ROOMS smaller than this quilt. But I truly like how it's turned out after I tweaked the design.

AGAIN???!!!

You remember us - the sunny South? Well, maybe not so much. . .

Well, the first thing you notice is it's BIG. . .

. . .and this layout doesn't even include the borders. It's sort of a wall-to-wall quilt. Finally got all the blocks made. Now to assemble the rows tomorrow. It's doubtful that I'll have it put together before the next clue on Friday.