Thursday, July 30, 2015

Early Indigo Stars, Next Sampler Block, Flowers & A Loon

Would you believe I only had two fabrics in my stash that I could use for last week's Early Indigo Stars?


 

The one on the left was a Cloth World bargain years ago at $2/yd; the one on the right is Windham's Shenandoah Valley.

 

 I bought this fabric to use as a border. . . 


. . . in a patriotic quilt. At the time the color seemed right but not the time period, lol!


This flower is actually upside down :)


Indigo prints with their large motifs are breathtaking. . . 


. . . when used as bedhangings. This photo was taken at The Jacobus Vanderveer House in Bedminster, NJ. 


I'm thinking about reproducing the quirky leaf block in the lower right corner for the NJ Sampler quilt I'm making. I keep a file of xeroxed leaves so maybe I'll find just the right ones to use as patterns.

 
The Phlox in our yard are so pretty!   


Hostas, too! They are everywhere--the perimeter of our backyard, along the garden fence, near the house, etc. 


We were in the Adirondacks last weekend and I finally got a decent picture of a Loon :) They dive and surface yards from where you first see them so it's always a challenge! It's like playing hide-and-seek, lol!



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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Plainfield 3, Design Wall & More Stars

It's been a busy week . . .


I finished the 3rd NJ sampler block. Reverse applique was the way to go for those circles. 


Three blocks done. 


I'm determined to get through two drawers of scraps. . .


. . . cutting 1-1/2" x 3" pieces and making 4-patches in the strip method shown on Repro Quilt Lover's blog here. Took a while to get into the rhythm but they sure go a lot faster than sewing individual squares. The finished blocks are 4".


I'm thinking about using this fabric for the alternate blocks but that could change at any moment :)


So here's everything on my design wall. I'm also cutting 2-1/2" squares for the tumblers at the top. Thanks to my friend Rachel for getting me started on this project :) 


Quercitron stars from last week.






 

Never heard of Quercitron? Me neither! You can read about it on Barbara B.'s blog here

Have a great week!




__________
Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer





Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Pillar Prints: Stars and Quilts

Oh, how I love Pillar Prints!  


My Pillar Print stars from last week. Starting with the top left and bottom right . . .



By Jinny Beyer for RJR Fashion Fabrics nearly 18 years ago. It came in two colorways--blue and pink.
 






  I put both on the back of the Variable Stars quilt here.



By Karen Jarrar for Marcus Brothers. My favorite! Beautifully detailed. 

 
It came in three colorways: cream, blue, and yellow with pink flowers. 


I used the blue version as the border on one of my quilts. Barb V. used the yellow in her beautiful quilt, Sumptuous Stars. Check it out on Barbara B's blog

 
After I made this star . . . 


 . . . I made another because I wasn't sure I liked the first one :)


Would you like to hear the story about this fabric? We were in Sweden for my son's wedding (1997) and took a side trip to Gothenberg where I spotted this fabric in a store window.  It was displayed as a "furniture throw." The storekeeper didn't have any in stock so climbed into the window and sold it to me. Made my day!  


I have no idea where it was manufactured but it certainly has a different look.


Here it is on the back of another repro. 


Did you notice the yellow w/red squiggles in that print? It was perfect for the windows/curtains in this house block :)


I finished High Peaks so-called for the high peaks in the Adirondacks. I had more fun choosing fabrics and quilting this little piece but it ended up being slightly skewed. I'm not used to working with such small pieces (1" hst) so it was a lesson learned. Check the size of your finished blocks and square them up before sewing them together :) I do that for all my quilts but why I didn't do it for this one is beyond me!

Have a wonderful day!




__________
Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer




Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Plainfield 3, High Peaks and Wood Block Print Stars

I managed to prep another block for my NJ Sampler quilt before the holiday weekend; quilted some on a doll quilt High Peaks while we were away; and sewed four stars today :) 


Block #3 for the Plainfield sampler quilt. A quarter was just the right size for the circles I'll do in reverse applique. Can you see them?


I drafted the 14" block on graph paper (click on the image for a better view). I use the freezer paper method to transfer the design onto fabric.  



This little quilt is from a Lori Smith pattern. I made it last year and have been quilting it for the past two weeks. I decided to call it High Peaks.


Wood Block Print stars from last week.


Windham's Lancaster Heritage by Patty Harants.


Three different prints from one small piece of striped fabric--the center, points (all except 2) and the background. 


An all-time favorite which also comes in a blue colorway. I put this version on the back of my Nine Patch Variation quilt here.


This fabric was in with a packet of shirting fat quarters I purchased from Hancock's. I think it passes as a good Wood Block Print, don't you?




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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer



Friday, July 3, 2015

Happy Birthday, America!

In the Spirit of '76: Bicentennial Souvenirs and Remembering a Soldier of the Revolution. 


The Bennington Flag. "76" is also the number of our house :)


The first quilt I ever designed was for the Bicentennial.


A shirt for my daughter. 

 

A pennant from a trip to Washington, DC. 


 A NJ license plate and ticket stubs from the American Freedom Train

 

All sorts of patriotic containers--milk, ice cream, tissues, cups, etc. A 1/2 gal. of milk was 77 cents.


Glasses, Log Cabin syrup, sugar and tea. 

 

Close-up.  


The Information Please Almanac and The Bicentennial Cookbook were favorites :)


Our local stationery store sold Presidential Lottery tickets for $1 ea. I collected them for the longest time. Each ticket had a stub you matched to a picture on a large card. You won if you completed a row.  


 More tix. 

 

My cousin used to sell Avon :)



Moses Ely
(1756-1838)
A Soldier of the Revolution 
Livingston, Essex, NJ


On October 12, 1832 Moses Ely was seventy-five years old when he gave a declaration to obtain pension benefits relating to his service in the Revolutionary War. He received $80.00 per year.

"That he was born in the that part of the Township of Newark now called Livingston on the 18th day of November 1756 that his age is now taken from his father's record. That he entered the service of the United States in the Revolutionary War under the following named officers and served as herein stated. That he performed one regular tour of service in the early part of the summer 1776 at which time he was a volunteer and belonged to a company commanded by Captain Elijah Squier and was marched from his native place to the Town of Newark and their joined the regiment commanded by Col. Philip Van Cortland and was marched from thence through the Town of Bergen and City of New York to Long Island and assisted in erecting forts and fortifications. That he performed one tour of monthly service under Captain Elijah Squier stationed at Elizabeth Town New Jersey at which time the battle took place on Long Island. That he performed two months service under Captain Elijah Squier commencing in the month of February 1777 and was stationed in the neighborhood of Quibbletown New Jersey The British lying in New Brunswick at the same time. That he performed monthly tours of duty and attended to alarms from the spring of 1777 to the spring of 1778 but cannot at this time recollect the names of the officers under whom he served. That in the spring of 1778 he enlisted in the wagon service for the term of one year—under Capt. Joseph Johnson and Major Gordon having the principal charge of the Commissary and Forage Department during the same time and served out the period of his enlistment and then reenlisted for the term of one year and served out the period of his enlistment during which he was generally employed in driving teams to and from Trenton, Morristown, Newburgh, Kings ferry and Dobbs ferry on the Hudson River and occasionally into the Eastern states transporting flour, meat, train camp equipage, and munitions of war for use of the Army . . . "



 

Moses married Rebecca Cook on January 3, 1782 at the home of her father Epaphras Cook. They had nine children between 1783 and 1805. 

After Moses's death on July 14, 1838, Rebecca received a widow's pension of $52.10 but in 1848 she gave a declaration to obtain the same rate "that her said husband enjoyed at the time of his death."   

 

Rebecca died in 1852. 

 

Their final resting place is the Ely Cemetery, Livingston, NJ.  


A picture of my dad, the drummer, taken July 4th 1919. He was 10 years old.  

Have a great 4th, everyone!



__________
Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer