July Mini and Journal

I still had small pieces left from last month's mini so here is the same color scheme for July: black, gray, and yellow.

The piece is quilted in white thread and I never gave much thought as to how it would look on the black squares. Maybe I should have done the quilting on the prints not the solids. Oh, well!

I needed a pure white and black print for the border and found this in Natalie's stash. It was perfect! 

Ta-da! Those are 1" squares, 1/2" inner border and 2" outer border. The finished piece is 16" x 16". 

The backing is an oldie but goodie :) Please remember to stop by Wendy's blog the last day of the month to see what she's made. And send her good wishes, too!

Now onto something new . . . 

And this is only a tease :)

I was watching this You Tube video on how to make a Junk Journal out of envelopes . . .

And then I found all these little envelopes at the thrift shop for 50-cents!

I loved the photos of my mother when she was little . . . 

And my granddaughter was named (middle name) after her great-grandmother. Do you know where this is going??

Here's the first page and I'll show you more next week :)

 

Copyright 2022 Barbara Schaffer

Auction Quilt #2

AS IS. That was the condition of the 2nd quilt I purchased at auction. The bad thing is that it had lots of holes and a cedar chest odor . . .

. . . the good thing is that Dawn had sewn a label on the back: "Snowball was filthy quilt with paisley backing whole cloth quilt inside. Bought 2004, Woodridge, NJ, Dawn Hayes, Montclair, NJ." I don't know what the whole cloth quilt looked like because what I bought was a shell--a hand-pieced top and backing with nothing in between. 

This is the wonderful paisley backing that was pieced lengthwise.

For whatever reason, the top had lots of snowballs that had been removed leaving holes everywhere. Repairs? Damage?

Some sections were still in tact but what to do with this well-worn piece?? After much contemplation I decided it was of no use to me in this condition so I cut it apart in sections eliminating the bad ones and keeping the good. And I knew I wasn't going to piece them back together again.

Yep! I decided to wash the good pieces. The fabrics were a mixture of cottons, cretonnes, and lots of blends--some even looked like silk--so I knew I was taking a gamble. The quilt was really dirty and so was the water! 

For the most part all turned out well. Here is one section washed and dried.

And here are the others drying out on the deck. There are sections that are 2 blocks x 2 blocks, rectangles that are 1 block x 2 blocks, single blocks, 3 x 3's and 2 x 4's and I can't wait to bring new life to these pieces :) Stay tuned . . .

 

The deer have eaten all of my hostas and lilies but I have two hanging baskets of petunias that make me happy.

Last Wednesday was another banner day at the thrift shop. I got 8 yds of fabric for $8--and most were prints from the New England Quilt Museum :) I wish I knew who was donating all this fabric! She has great taste!

Well, that's all for now. 

Enjoy the week!

Copyright 2022, Barbara Schaffer 

Auction Quilt #1

Two weeks ago I attended Dana Auctions and followed along with the quilts that were being auctioned from Dawn's collection. Rachel and I connected for nearly the entire auction and chatted for 4 hours--what fun!

I purchased a "lot" of 3 antique quilts/tops including this Log Cabin. I'll tell you about the other two another time.

This turn-of-the-century top . . .

. . . is completely hand pieced to a muslin foundation. 

There are some wonderful shirting fabrics along with madders, dark greens, pinks, browns and a little red. 

This is the entire piece. Not sure if I will finish this top or not but notice the two extra blocks on the upper left . . . 

. . . I've removed them and will make a monthly mini at some point :)

On another note . . . 

Connie and I went for a hike where she works and were amazed at the size of these large green-leaf plants. They were huge! So had to find out what they were and ended up ordering some seeds on Etsy. 

This month's Farmhouse flowers. Love those lilies!

We had grilled watermelon steaks as part of our July 4th cookout. Yum! 

See you again, soon!

 

 

Copyright 2022 Barbara Schaffer