July Mini, Mural, Flowers, Sunset

This month's mini started with 7 strips which . . .

 . . . were leftover from another project I'd been working on.

So why not cut those strips in half . . . 

. . . then in half again and add some squiggles.

Ta-da!

Simple vertical line quilting was all it needed. So quick and easy!

Wendy will be posting her mini in a couple days so be sure to stop by :)

How is this for a cool building? It's in Saranac Lake, NY, on the other side of Lake Placid. The mural depicts the head of Medusa as seen on the Sicilian flag but includes the black and white speckled wings of a loon from the Adirondacks :)

The flowers on our front porch are thriving but every few days I rotate the hanging basket to take advantage of the sun. 

Close-up of Viper's Bugloss wildflower. Love the colors, don't you?

I literally have hundreds of photos of this view from our deck but when the sun's reflection on the river caught my eye I simply couldn't resist--again!

Can you believe it's the end of July already??

 

Copyright 2021, Barbara Schaffer 

Celebrating!

Missed Christmas 2020? Missed birthdays? Missed graduation? We celebrated all of these a couple weeks ago when our family got together for a fun weekend.

 

My daughter and I put out a few Christmas decorations on the deck and strung lights between the doors and around the railing.  

Christmas morning breakfast included homemade waffles, fruit salad, bagels and cream cheese, and an egg/sausage/bread/milk/cheese casserole that I've been making every year since at least 1985! 

This spring, my oldest granddaughter asked if she could have one of my quilts and fell in love with Flying Geese--a quilt I made for my in-laws in 1977. Interesting how 70s things are back in style :) But she also wanted to make sure her siblings weren't left out and asked, "Grandma, can they also choose a quilt?" 

My grandson liked Broken Dishes. 

And my other granddaughter chose Gypsy Wife aka The Gypsies Are in Town. I just love the fact they were all interested in my quilts :)

After opening presents, we went to Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid . . . 

. . . where the kids went on the new Cliffside Coaster which is next to the old 1932 and 1980 Olympic Bobsled Track. Then we all came back to the house for a late lunch/early dinner of Adirondack Gourmet sandwiches and salad that I ordered from a shop in Lake Placid. No cooking this Christmas Day! Yay!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend!  

See you next week with my monthly mini.

 

 

Copyright 2021, Barbara Schaffer
 

Ladies' Aid Sampler Blocks

Last fall I mentioned that I would be making some blocks for Barbara B's NY Ladies' Aid Sampler BOM and thought you'd like to see the first four. Barbara publishes a block on the 4th Wednesday of every month on her Civil War Quilts blog so I'll give you the links for March-June. Maybe you'll be inspired by all her research and the history that she provides to bring the war efforts to life.

Now that I live in NY this was the perfect opportunity to work on a NY-style quilt. This is Block #1: New York Tulip. I cut my background squares 13" but will trim the appliqued blocks to finish at 12". I'm trying to stay true to the originals Barbara has chosen from various NY sampler quilts. Here is the link to March's post. 

I've always been a fan of cows. What's not to love about them?? Would you believe I once had a license plate that started with the letters C-O-W? Really, I did:) So it was no surprise that I loved working on Block #2: Prize Cows. I knew right away I'd use that particular print from my stash just so I could position one of the those circles as the cow's eye. Did you know farm animals were popular motifs on NY sampler quilts? Read more about them here.   

Block #3: Floral Cockade was based on fashionable cockades that were made to show support during the war. I used the red print from Barbara's new Ladies' Legacy fabric line by Moda. It was perfect for this 1860's time period. Want to learn more about cockades and see some images? Here is the link to Barbara's blog post. 

Ladies Aid Album #4: Thoroughbred Horse appeared on Barbara's blog just last week. As soon as I saw this block it reminded me of all the hours I spent drawing horses when I was little. I also wanted to replicate the original block and found a palomino-colored fabric that once belonged to my mother when she was making quilts in the 1950s-60s. 

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading Barbara's blog posts with more inspirational blocks made by model-makers Barbara, Becky Brown, Denniele Bohannon, and Bettina Havig :)

But before you go, take a minute to visit Cecile's blog and scroll down to see her already-quilted Ladies' Aid blocks with a quick tutorial on how to quilt-as-you-go. Beautifully done, Cecile!    

 

Copyright 2021, Barbara Schaffer