December Little Quilt and Poinsettias

I know I'm a little early posting my December Little Quilt but the next two weeks will be rather busy :)

Early one morning (very early!) I started making this little quilt. Lo and behold! After it was done I noticed the red strip on the right was a good 1/4" narrower than the others. How did this happen?? I have no idea, lol!

In any case, I've always loved this St. Nicholas toile.

The back. Even my label looks skewed :)

Thanks, Wendy! I've really enjoyed this monthly little quilt journey and hope to continue in the new year. Maybe you'll consider joining in on the fun, too? It's a great way to try a new technique or to dig into your scrap bins and be creative.

Want to see some glorious colors???

My husband and I went to see all the poinsettias in the greenhouses located in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Chatham, NJ. There were so many different varieties . . .

. . . each one more beautiful than the next . . .

 . . . in rows and rows of breathtaking displays!

We bought one with speckles of white. It's so pretty!

Wishing you all a beautiful holiday season. See you next year unless I pop in between now and then :)




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Copyright 2018, Barbara Schaffer

 

Antebellum #11, Beach House, and Pillow

This post has a house theme :) 

Antebellum #11 Ever Widening Circle was made with our house in mind. 

Here's the original inking. 

Our house was built c. 1730 but is referred to as the Phebe Beach House. Phebe Burnet (1767-1852) was the spouse of Aaron Beach (1765-1826) who was a grandson of a landholder in Livingston. He enlisted in the NJ Militia in 1793 and was chosen an Overseer of the Highway that same year. He was also a signer of the 1811 petition to establish the Township of Livingston. 

Aaron and Phebe had 7 children between 1788 and 1807. Their son Marcus was an escort of the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824 when they retraced George Washington's route through parts of NJ. Aaron Beach died in 1826 and Phebe continued to live in the house until her death in 1852.

This picture was taken in the 1940s. It's the front of the house. See the porch?

Years ago we enclosed that porch by knocking down a wall and adding lots of windows. It's a wonderful room for plants :)

A couple months ago Rachel gave me this cute kit which she picked up on the freebie table at another guild she belongs to. Thanks, Rachel! After I finished the embroidery I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a pillow or a little quilt.

But the decision was made for me when this freebie pillow from a veteran's organization came in the mail yesterday. It was just the right size!

And now my pillow is done :)

Have a great week!




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Copyright 2018, Barbara Schaffer

 

November Little Quilt--and Snow!

I guess you could say I went back to childhood basics this month :)

Once again my inspiration came from Merikay Waldvogel's book Childhood Treasures.  

I had purchased the print fabric at our guild's Drop 'n Shop in June and it just so happens I had the right color stripe to go with it. The squares are 2-1/2" but I did 5 rows instead of 6 as shown in the original. 

Easy hand quilting.  

But I just needed to take it a step further :) I've had this little doll bed that was destined to either be donated or sold but in an instant I changed my mind, lol! I made a mattress and a pillow . . . 

. . . and added the little quilt :) Ta-da!

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On another note . . . 

It's a winter wonderland in the north country and still snowing :)

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Copyright 2018, Barbara Schaffer

 

Antebellum 10, Katharina Magnah, DD and Strips

It feels so good to be on a roll! Here's what I've been working on: Antebellum #10 Carolina Lily, three more Dear Daughter appliques, and lots of strip scrap blocks :)

I must admit I was a little doubtful that all the seams would fall into place when making this block especially when it came time to sew the two halves together--but they did! It was almost like magic. Thank you, Barbara B. :)

The original inking that I copied.

I dedicated this block to my maternal 2nd gr-grandmother, Katharina Magnah, spouse of last month's Johan Strubbe. She had 10 children between 1843 and 1864 in Harpenfeld, Germany. Eight emigrated to the U.S. where I was able to follow them in the census records and newspapers as they all lived in NYC.

Three--Heinrich Friederich Strubbe (1847-1889), Caspar H. Strubbe (1843-1902), and Ernst Heinrich August Strubbe (1864-1932)--are buried in the Strubbe family plot in Hoboken Cemetery, Hoboken, NJ, along with their brother (my gr-grandfather) William.

I love appliqueing these little Dear Daughter blocks. The original of this one was made by Veisiah Titsworth, Piscataway, NJ 1852. . .

. . . this one by Rachel Dunham, Plainfield, NJ 1852. . .

. . . and this was signed by Catherine R. Dunham and Abraham Dunham May 1852.  What a fun quirky block!

Some of these scraps are really old so it's like working with a new-found treasure! So easy and fun!   

Turkey Red and Prussian Blue :) Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!





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Copyright 2018, Barbara Schaffer

It's A Finish!

Scrappy Squares is done--well, all except for the label :)

This was #10 on my 2018 UFO List :) I used lots of scraps for the center portion, added a border of leftover stars from Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp SAL and framed it all with a repro feather border.

The center is made up of 9-patch blocks containing 2-1/2" squares, 1" x 2-1/2" logs and 1" squares. My inspiration came from Edyta Sitar's book, Little Handfuls of Scraps.

 

That striped fabric in between the stars is like following a trail around the quilt.   

Isn't that feather fabric wonderful? It's Windham Fabrics and the State Museum of Pennsylvania's Wm. Penn's Vision c. 1820 #25494.

I used a small Baptist Fan stencil for the border. 

The quilting shows up better from the back. 
   

 

I'll sew the label on after I wash the quilt next week.

Do you keep track of your projects from start to finish? I do. Here are the stats for Scrappy Squares: 

Started 4/19/17
Top done 6/23/17
Basted for quilting exactly 1 year later 6/23/18 
Started quilting 6/26/18
Quilting done and binding on 10/24/18 
A total of 69 quilting hours

The finished size is 56" x 56."
Check it off the list :)

Hope you're having a great week!



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Copyright 2018, Barbara Schaffer

Celebrating 300 Years

A couple of weeks ago friends and I went on a tour of the Whippany Burying Yard in Whippany, NJ, in celebration of its founding in 1718. It's a small cemetery--a little over 2 acres--containing about 300 markers from the early 18th to the 20th century. 

It is listed on both the State and National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest cemetery in northwest NJ. There are 11 Revolutionary War veterans interred there as well as 9 Civil War veterans.

A laminated map at the entrance indicates where all the graves are located. 

 

Of special interest is the grave of Abraham Kitchel who d. 1741. He was an early settler of Whippany and one of the 6 original judges of Morris County in 1739. He is also a 9th generation ancestor of Barbara Bush. 

It was schoolmaster John Richards who donated the lands for the burying yard and the first to be buried there in 1718. It is the oldest gravestone in the cemetery and was preserved in a granite monument by his descendants in 1914. 

One of my all time favorite gravestones is this one of John Bigelow, a skilled wood worker. The carving of the winged cherub is the most intricate and ornate in the burying yard. The gravestone was refurbished in 2002.

Joseph Tuttle was a blacksmith and a Colonel in the Morris County Militia in the French and Indian War. His grave is in the only horizontal vault above ground.

It was recently restored.

An interesting support frame protects the gravestone of Mary Sheldron who died in 1827 at age 53.

 

It was the first time I'd ever seen an American Beautyberry bush. Love that magenta!

Happy Quilting!




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Copyright 2018, Barbara Schaffer