I finished December's little quilt well before the holidays after rummaging through my Christmas fabric bin.
Always searching for inspiration, I found this little antique quilt on Pinterest. Isn't it sweet?
First, I found this wonderful striped
fabric with little checkerboards running through it and trees along the
outer edges. Then I found another stripe--one with metallic thread in
the design--and used it for the vertical strips. I paired them with a
sweet little cardinal/floral print.
And this is my super simple December mini.
Here's the back. Thank you Wendy for another year of mini-making!
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On another note . . .
It was such a beautiful day last Saturday that my daughter and I drove to Lake Champlain to do some birding. I never realized the sand there is black!
We came across these little animal tracks as we walked along the shore.
No birds but lots of ducks and beautiful scenery!
Thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog this year and for leaving a comment--or two :)
Wishing you a new year filled with inspiration and quilting projects!
Happy 2020!
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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer
We had an ice storm yesterday and it was so beautiful outside this morning that I've decided to alternate some pics with red and green applique blocks for this holiday season.
Our holly tree encased in ice.
A block from A Christmas Card quilt that I made in 1981.
What a spectacular sight it was to see the sun shining through the glistening trees!
An unfinished Cockscomb block from many years ago. Some day . . .
A frozen bush, lol!
Another block from 1981.
More holly . . .
. . . and a block in My Best Applique quilt.
Here's North Country on the sofa . . .
. . . and a detail of one of the blocks.
But I'll end it here as I still have more shopping to do, do you??
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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer
It's been a fun yet challenging month of making the next four Deacon blocks. When I decided I was going to participate in this sew-along, I was convinced I'd be doing some of the more difficult blocks by hand because I'd be more precise. But now I find it's the perfect opportunity to try some new methods.
This month's blocks were on opposite ends of the quilt.
#9 was Flying Geese but I actually saved it until last to make because I wasn't sure what method I wanted to use. But I caved in and tried foundation piecing. This was definitely a challenge for me as I've only used this method once before on a small quilt years ago.
I did my share of ripping out and
replacing pieces that I sliced by mistake but it turned out exactly
9-1/2" square (unfinished size) so I was happy about that!
#10 was a broderie perse block as shown in the original quilt above. Check out the fabric.
I still had some of this beautiful reproduction by Kaye England called Matters of the Heart so there was no need to search any further :)
I tried Edyta Sitar's method of broderie perse as described in her book, Handfuls of Scraps. I cut out the motifs and added an 1/8" all around. I fused each piece to the background and finished it off with a close zig-zag stitch. It worked out fine.
This is my finished block.
#11 Applique Swirl (for lack of a better name) was originally made in 1842 by Rebecca of Philadelphia (don't you love the way she signed her name??). It's all one piece and I found those inner curves to be a bit of a challenge.
#12 Framed Star (?). I love the way this looks but feel I could have been a little more precise with my piecing. Oh, well!
I'm really looking forward to Saturday when the next set of blocks will be available!
Have a wonderful week!
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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer
