December Mini

This month's mini is another Snowball re-make from Dawn's auction quilt. 

When I took the original apart I saved only the blocks that were in good condition and stitched together.  

It still fascinates me that many of the snowballs have seams. 

I don't know what type of fabric the dark green print is but it's not cotton. It feels like a rayon and even made it through a washing without falling apart.  

This is actually my 4th little snowball quilt and they are all quilted the same: 1/4" inside each snowball, around the little hourglasses, and straight line quilting along the inner and outer borders. Nothing fancy. This piece is 15-1/2" x 26." 

Be sure and visit Wendy's blog to see the 2022 monthly mini finale! Thank you Wendy for keeping us going for another year!  

Two weeks before Christmas Connie took us for a drive to see the Snow Geese on Lake Champlain. We were nearly in Canada! And just yesterday she posted this video of wildlife captured on trail cams at various properties owned by the Adirondack Land Trust. Very cool, don't you think? Love the moose! Guess what? She gave me a trail cam for Christmas and I can't wait to see what we'll discover in our yard :)  

One week later we got 20+" of heavy wet snow and lost power for a day. But this is nothing compared to what Buffalo NY is experiencing in the western part of the state. Our grandson goes to college there but safely made it home for the holidays :)  

See you next week with my year in review :)

 

Copyright 2022, Barbara Schaffer

Old World Santas

 Uh-oh! I was at the library holiday sale last week and came home with . . .

THIS QUILT!! Can you believe it?? The redwork is what really caught my eye. It is beautifully done. Not to mention the 3" stars and the machine cable quilting.

As soon as I got home I googled "old Santas" which eventually led me to the source--Old World Santas in Redwork by Marge Wooters, Indygo Junction, Inc., no date.

I was really curious to read the instructions for transferring the pattern onto fabric but all it said was to trace the design. 

The person who did the embroidery was an accomplished embroiderer. Perfection in every block.

Each Santa is outline quilted which you can see on the back.

There are 9 blocks total . . .

 

. . . set with 3" sashing and star cornerstones. 

I'll end with this one and wish you all the merriest of holidays this season!

See you on the 28th with my December mini.

 

Copyright 2022, Barbara Schaffer

Deacon Update ~ and Aprons!

I'm well into assembling all 85 blocks of the Deacon quilt but have a dilemma. 

This is the original 1842 quilt made for Ella Maria Deacon, Mount Holly, NJ, and currently in the Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection. The blocks were offered by Gay Bomers at Sentimental Stitches, 4 per month for 21 months.

The instructions called for 4 yds of striped fabric for the sashing to run on the diagonal with no seams. The stripe at the top was my first choice until I saw the 2nd one which more or less resembled the original. But in the end I stuck with the first.

It took hours to cut these 2" strips figuring the longest lengths first then the shorter ones. That way I could get two out of each long strip--one long, one short. The longest being 138", the shortest 12-1/2".

Not to mention the shorter strips that go between each block and measure 2" x 9-1/2". 

Next were the edge triangles. I had purchased two different fabrics to audition and went ahead and cut into my first choice. Then I realized the size was based on 9-1/2" unfinished blocks without taking into consideration the width of the long sashing. 

So . . . once I had that figured out I cut into my second choice fabric and that was much better. Here are the first 4 rows . . . 

I've got two more draped over the railing and ready to go. These are rows 5 & 6. Row 7 is the center point. 

All the other blocks are sorted and labeled by row. 

Here's my dilemma and I can't believe I'm saying this:

The finished quilt will be 107" x 107" and I'm having second thoughts about making such a large piece. It is definitely challenging to line up all those sashing strips. I could eliminate a row or two (yikes!) and put those blocks on the back. That would reduce the overall size to 90" x 90" which is still pretty big. Any thoughts?

On another note . . . 

I broke down and bought a few aprons.

A cute patchwork . . . 

A great border print . . . 

And one with a stitched-in towel.

These are my apron books. The bottom two are my favorites :)

Well, that's it for now. . .

 

Copyright 2022 Barbara Schaffer