Authentic

I'm really fortunate to have several of my grandmother's quilts, and, most importantly, her sewing machine. When I was young, maybe 10 or so, long before I started sewing, she would always tell me that it would be mine some day. Every summer, when we'd visit her on the farm, my brother and I would spend many happy hours with the treadle, trying to make it go as fast as it can. (Okay, maybe not hours, but definitely minutes!)

The modern table runner is made with Authentic by Sweetwater. The setting represents two generations of quilters: my grandmother, an authentic modern quilter for her time, and me, an authentic modern quilter of my time.. And the dog biscuits? Just for fun. (Animal loving also skipped a generation ~ and I like the way they look in the apothecary jar!)

Remember a few years ago

When Liberty of London hit Target? And everything sold out in about an hour? Yeah, I totally missed out.

So I was super excited to find this at my Good Will store!

It makes me happy just looking at it. Definitely going in my sewing room. Now, what to put in it....

It has been brought to my attention

That I haven't blogged in, like, forever.

This is true.

I shall not bore you with excuses, nor with a long catch up post.

This is what I'm working on now:

SWOON!!!

I've wanted to make this quilt forever. Pulled the fabric for it months and months ago. Changed my mind on the fabric 2 months ago, and finally made my first block. If you haven't made a Swoon yet, let me tell you, these blocks are ginormous! 24" square each. Good thing is, you only need 9 to make the quilt.

I'm making mine with some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms, and the center is Moda cross weave. The first block went together really easily. I changed up some of the cutting in the pattern to make it easier (larger hsts, then trimmed them, eliminated one seam to make better use of large scale prints.) It seems like I haven't had to do any precision sewing in a long time. It felt good. My points are perfect (well, not quilt show perfect, but perfect enough.) I hope to have this done to give to Katie for a Christmas present. My plan is to make at least 2 more blocks this weekend. Those who have made this say they can get a block done in under two hours. I'm not quite up to that speed, but sewing fast has never been a goal of mine. See you Sunday afternoon with some progress.

Quilty Note Cards

I'm always on the lookout for cute quilt-related things on line. I found these little note cards (turned into needle books!) today.

You can find them here at Wild Olive. Mollie has so much great stuff on her blog. Take a few minutes (or a lot longer if you're like me!) and look around. Aren't these the perfect thing to tuck into a swap package or share at a guild meeting. Which reminds me, I have a swap package to get together and a Baltimore MQG meeting to plan. Later!

The Quilting Part of Quilting

Flickr is all abuzz lately about Angela Walter's new book Free-Motion Quilting and with good reason! The book is pretty and more important, practical. 

The quilting part of quilting is my least favorite part. By the time I get to the quilting, I'm usually so over the quilt, that I really don't want to work on it anymore ~ which must count for the 4 quilt tops stacked nicely in my sewing room. And then there's the dilemma of how to quilt it. I need ideas (kind of like when it's 5 o'clock and I have nothing planned for dinner.) Angela's book gives lots of ideas, and shows exactly how to achieve her look.

I've played with a few of her designs. I'm not quite ready to show them off yet. It's all about the practice! In this post on the Sew Mama Sew! blog, Angela shares about her journey as a quilter, and even shows examples of her earlier work. It gives me hope!

Another book on quilting:

This one, by Joanie Zeier Poole, takes a more traditional approach, using templates, stencils and different types of marking tools. I think in my heart, I'm more of a free motion gal, but this is a great book for your library, giving a solid basics for this step of the process. Even some cute projects in the last chapter.

Two new books on quilting. Now to actually do it!

How do you feel about quilting? Love it? Hate it? Are you a machine quilter, hand quilter or cash quilter (you know, send it out to the long arm-er, lol!) Any great tips to share? I want to hear 'em!

Sewing with Vintage Sheets

I did some catching up with Bee Vintage this week. Since I was late with July, I decided to be proactive and knock out August as well. Whenever I sew with my sheets, I always take over the sewing room and make a royal mess. As I was working with them this time, I decided to tame the beast a little. I went through a bunch of scraps, and cut them into layer cake sizes and for those that were too small, charm sizes. The rest I tossed. I'm still deciding what to do with larger pieces. Whole sheets, I either save for quilt backings, or sell in my Etsy shop. Others that may have a rip or stain, I'm thinking of cutting into yard size pieces, just to make them more manageable. We'll see.

Here are this (and last) month's blocks:

Pam asked for Garden Fence

Linda wanted Wonky Stars

Liz wanted Bow Ties

And finally, Emily asked for a Dresden

In the last round of Bee Vintage, I also asked for Dresdens. I found all the blocks I had received, and realized I only needed one more block to make a top. Then I found my Ziploc of Dresden making supplies and found I had most of the blades already made ~ enough for Emily's block and one more for me. So, one for Emily, one for me. At this point, I couldn't put this quilt away again, so I plugged away and now have this top!

My latest stack of tops needing to be quilted stands at four, with another 2 in the works. Sigh. Might be time to visit my friend Maria. 

Zakka Style Bread Basket

Sunday morning seems to be my Zakka time! This week's quilt a long project was the bread basket. Again, at first I was going to skip, but after I saw how cute everyone's were, I had to make one. My friend Nina's birthday is tomorrow. She's my bread baking and jam making friend. So tomorrow mornng this, along with some blueberry lemon scones and lemon curd, is heading her way.

White linen, some Meadowsweet strawberries and DS Quilts dots, lined with a favorite vintage sheet fabric.