"New Beginnings" Finished!

Last week I brought my newly finished quilt to the cabin so I could wash it. Would you believe the new washing machine I bought last year has no delicate cycle? Never noticed it until I went to use that cycle and it wasn't there. Living in an old house has its challenges like having to find a washer that would fit through the laundry room doorway. There was only ONE and much to my surprise and disappointment it didn't have a delicate cycle. Sigh.

So I washed the quilt at the cabin and laid it on the floor to dry. But it was taking too long and we were expecting company so I put it in the dryer on the lowest delicate cycle for 7 minutes at a time until it was dry. I used Quilters Dream Request batting. 

 

The color catchers did their job!

 

I named the quilt New Beginnings and was anxious to take some pics as my husband gave me a new camera for Christmas :)

A close-up of the center.  

A detail of the inner border with pinwheel corner block. 

 

 The center is quilted in an orange peel design . . . 

. . . the inner border in cross-hatch . . . 

. . . and the grapevine border in diamonds.

I fussy cut the binding.  

The fabrics I put on the back.

And the label :)

Thank you for visiting my blog this year and leaving such wonderful comments. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

 

So Cute!

Sunday evening we had a wonderful holiday get-together with our good friends, Renee, and her mom, Wilda. We always try and share cooking responsibilities which makes it easy for all of us. And we come up with some pretty good menus, too!

Little did I know Renee had made a basketful of these adorable snowmen to give to her co-workers and wanted me to choose some for the stockings I fill for our grandkids and their cousins.    

I just couldn't stop smiling :)

Thank you, Renee! They are the cutest! 

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a New Year filled with lots of creativity--and, of course, new projects :)

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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

 

It's A Finish! and WW10

I finished the quilt I started in Barb V's Hex-Vex workshop in 2015! I'm calling it "Hexie Heaven." 

I used a dark red fabric with a very fine black stripe as the binding. I love the way those Tumbling Blocks pop! 
 

There are lots of favorite fabrics in this quilt. The red/white "I Pledge Allegiance" is one, the brown and pink toile is another. The golfer fabric in the star was a freebie at a guild meeting. I don't golf but the scale and size were right, lol!

See the yellow/red Ely & Walker calico? When we bought our house in 1971 that fabric was a kitchen curtain left by the previous owner. The red/yellow Provincial stripe was a gift from fellow-blogger Vivian when we were making stars for Barbara B's Stars In A Time Warp QAL. 

The dress form fabric reminds me of all the sewing I did as the family seamstress so many years ago.

 

And the blue star with little doggies around the edges was made by my dear friend Rachel :)

This is the fabric I put on the back. Thank you, Susan! Barbie Vanderfleet-Martin did the quilting for me in a very pretty floral/leafy pattern which you can see when you click on the photo. 

I'm a little behind making my Westering Women blocks but did manage to finish #10 Rocky Mountain Chain. I followed the color combination Becky Brown did for Barbara B's blog. Thanks, Becky!

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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer


 
 

Pennies and Holiday Spirit

I went to Barnes & Noble the other day intending to buy the latest issue of Quiltmania (which they didn't have) and came home with their Fall Issue of Simply Vintage instead.

The article on making a Penny Rug caught my eye because years ago (probably 20!) I started making wool pennies with the intention of embellishing simple hst wool blocks. 

Well, what do you know?? I had forgotten I made as many as I did back then when I was in my "wool phase." These pennies are 3" vs 2" as suggested in the project instructions so I only had to cut a few more to make this layout complete. I even had a piece of green wool for the background. Now all I have to do is start sewing them in place.

The instructions call for mattress ticking for the back but I think I'll use this chintz decorator fabric instead.  Wow! Instant project :)

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This past Sunday the Livingston Historical Society held its annual Christmas Tea at the Force Home which is one of Livingston's oldest homes built c. 1745. 

The small building behind the Force Home is the Cook House which was moved to its present location in 1964 to make way for the "new" Livingston Mall. Both the Cook House and the Force Home are on the State and National Registers of Historic Sites and Places.

Every year members of the Historical Society string popcorn and cranberries for the tree which you can see here in the front parlor. 

And this is the fireplace in that same room all decorated with fresh greens and lemons. 

More holiday decorations on the mantel in the dining room. How festive!

The original walk-in fireplace is in the main room of the house where hot mulled cider and Christmas goodies were spread out on a large table for all to enjoy.

There are a total of four fireplaces in the house including two in the upstairs bedrooms. 

This is actually my favorite room. I love this color blue and the calimanco spread on the bed. There's a chintz quilt top on the rocker in the corner that I'd like to take pictures of someday :)

A Double Irish Chain quilt was in a cradle in the museum room. It has quilted designs in the plain blocks but I couldn't make out what they were.

Finally, my Morris Hexies are on Barbara B's blog this week :) Hop on over to see more.  




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

Family Time and Globes

We had a really nice Thanksgiving weekend with our family but it was over way too soon.  

  
We arrived in the North Country on Wednesday and by Thanksgiving morning there was snow on the ground.  

 

I'm the official family photographer :) My daughter (far end of table) and I did the cooking with some help from my granddaughters. We served turkey and tofurky, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and cranberry chutney, roasted chestnuts, stuffed mushrooms, green beans topped with crunchy leek slivers, sweet potato pie and tossed salad with pomegranate seeds. Dessert was pumpkin pie and ice cream. Everything was delicious!

 

Saturday morning we watched our grandson play hockey at the Lake Placid Olympic Center. The game was held in the rink where the USA hockey team upset Russia in the 1980 Olympics. It's an impressive arena.

 

After the game we drove through town to see the globes which are part of a public art exhibition to raise awareness of climate change. There were a dozen globes each 5' tall and weighing 2,000 pounds. This one is called "Build a Rain Garden" by Lauri Burrier. "Do you have a rain barrel?"

Raise Future Environmentalists is the theme of "Terre Verte" by Amy Lowry. Teach your children well. Encourage outdoor exploration and teach respect for nature. "When was the last time you explored nature with your child?" 

 

My weekend wouldn't be complete if I didn't go to the Thrift Shop and I wasn't disappointed. I found this wool purse for $2. It's never been used and appears to be handmade. 

 

Here's the fabric on the inside. Does it look familiar? 

I'll have some quilty news next week :)




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

 

Journal Quilt & A Happy Thanksgiving!

In 2000 I decided to make a Journal Quilt and recorded my daily activities to celebrate the Millennium.

I combined each entry with a coordinating piece of fabric to tell my story. 

 

One of the highlights of the year was going to Sweden and spending time with our DIL's parents on a weekend train / boat excursion in Norway. 

 

 
We held Peto meetings at my house and closed on our cabin that summer.

I added a border of "news" events for each month--national, international and local in that order. 

 

This is the back.

 

Our family tradition is to have Thanksgiving at the cabin where I cook the turkey and most of the fixings. I make my grandmother's stuffing recipe which calls for a pound of butter. It's so-o-o good!

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

Two Minis, Tumblers, and Hexies

Do you ever jump from one project to another?? Ha! I bet that's a loaded question! Well, that's what last week was like for me.  

It all began when I decided to make another mini tumbler like this one that I made a few years ago. I copied the paper piecing strips . . .

. . . without realizing that my printer was set at 85% original size. So this piece turned out to be a bit smaller than I expected. I had plenty of 2" squares to play with and got back into the rhythm of paper piecing.

Then I decided to sew together these 5" tumblers which have been sitting in a drawer. They almost look giant! I have some ideas . . .

Back to another mini. The 1-1/2" hsts were staring at me and in no time at all I had another little top together. 

And quilted both on the machine. Here are the backs. Each one measures about 10" x 12".   

It took me a week of shuffling hexies around to come up with the final layout and this is it. Now it's time to take them off my wall.  I printed a photo on letter-size paper to use as a reference so I can start sewing them together :)

Have a great week! 




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer