Found

I felt like an archeologist when I was cleaning out some of my mothers stash a couple of weeks ago. I am sure archeologists have the same questions I did when they find something.  If you want to know what will happen to your UFOs and fabrics when you don't need them any more I can tell you.  I threw a lot away.  Lots of the fabrics were dated calico prints but I found some real treasures.

My mother loved what she called the Dutch Doll pattern.  She made myself and each one of her 3 granddaughters a quilt using this pattern.  I found squares she had completed but never made into a quilt.  I also found parts to make more Dutch Dolls.  When and/or if I have a granddaughter I can use these squares to make her a beautiful quilt that was started by her great grandmother. 

I found 96 triangles already cut from this print.  I am so-so about this print and there was not any more of it.


















I wanted to make something for my church's annual Spring Fling.  I thought why not use these triangles that are already cut.  I decided on the zig zag pattern.  The Modern Quilt Guild website is featuring Use what you have and that is what I did.

Now this I want you to see!  This is the first arrangement which is the traditional way of doing it.

I was looking at it on my design wall one day and thought why not do something else.  I flipped the orange section and look at this!!!























It makes the design so much more modern!  I used a dark navy with pindots for the border which I haven't done yet.  I really like the progression of the colors.  The red is the only color that is actually in the triangle fabric but I really like the way the yellow, orange and purple look with it.

I found this tool in my mothers stash.  Does anyone know what it is or how to use it

And believe it or not I found more triangles already cut and squares sewn together in my mothers stash.  I would love to know what she was thinking of when she cut these pieces.  She preferred to use templates to cut her pieces.  I found several cardboard templates.  It made me feel so close to mother looking through her fabric.

Paper piecing

It is a nasty day in ENC. Snow is predicted to the north and west of us.  We are on the snow rain line,  lots of cold rain.  A good day to stay in and sew!  I finished the placemats for my daughter in law.  I was really pleased with the way they turned out.

I was really taken by this quilt but I had never paper pieced.  I tried to piece it on my own.  I am not even going to show you that.  I went to YouTube.  Did you know you can find almost anything on YouTube!  I followed a couple of videos and this is my first two attempts at paper piecing.

 I need some good advice on paper piecing.  I honestly had a fit with it.  I think maybe I didn't cut my pieces big enough.  HELP!  I would love to make that quilt!

 I have always wanted to do a value quilt.  One where the blocks are arranged by color and value.  To be honest this looked better on the wall than in the picture.  This may have to wait until another time.
Somehow this is harder than I thought it would be.

















We took the grandkids to the circus.  Who enjoyed it more,  the adults or the kids?  A good time was had by all! 

I am working on finishing a couple of things.  First the quilt for my other daughter in law.  This is the scrappy nine patch.

This picture turned out so nice I decided to show it again. 

The back.

This is the quilt I made for my daughter in law's Relay for Life team.  They are going to sell chances on it.  I love the way this one turned out. 

The back.

I spent Friday cleaning out more of my mothers stash.  If you have ever wondered what will happen to all those projects you never finished stay tuned!

Creative Energy

My aunt and I got together for a quilting weekend this past weekend.  When I cleaned out my mothers house I found about 130 nine patches that she had made but never put together.  I wanted to share these with my aunt.  She inspired me to begin quilting.  I will never forget her showing my Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking! 

These are the blocks laid out on the bed.  This was ok but didn't really speak to us.

I tried a piece of Persian Blue as striping.  WOW!  It made such a difference.  I wish I knew more about how colors relate to each other. 

Mother used several pieces of plaid seersucker.  She has a bunch that were a red and blue plaid on a white background.  This is a close up of some of the squares.  I sewed them together in groups of 4 and set them on point.  

Now all I have to do is to finish sewing all these blocks together and come up with some cool border.   I was thinking maybe a spiky sawtooth but I am not sure.  Maybe I should do something with blocks.  I was thinking I would do something with solids.

This is the view from my aunts front porch.  This view might be the reason for all our creative energy,  so beautiful.  We had dinner with our husbands at night and a great brunch on Sunday.  It was close to a perfect weekend.

 The idea was for my aunt to have half the squares and both of us will have a quilt that mother started.  It is our way of honoring and remembering her.  My aunt is going to use the square in a square idea and bright colors. 

Darn!  I hope I don't like her quilt more than mine!!!

She is also working on a Grandmother's Garden quilt.  She likes to have some hand work and she is doing all of this by hand.  Her quilt group gave her some floral prints to use.   Very cool. 

It is unbelievable how inspiring and motivating it is to work with a talented quilter.  My aunt and I would love to do this every few months.  We both got so much done and feel so motivated.