This 'n That

This past week had me going every which way . . . 

I was determined to get this top done but I didn't have a piece of fabric large enough for the border so here's what I did: I extended the sashing strips by 3-1/2" and cut rectangles of another fall fabric to add in between. I think it's okay. Even made the backing so I'm off to Michaels to buy a package of Hobbs batting with a 50% off coupon :)

I haven't photographed gravestones in a while but this old graveyard at the Presbyterian Church in New Providence, NJ was calling out to me :)

I thought for sure all the gravestones would have been documented with photos uploaded to Find A Grave but I was wrong. It's not often I come across a double gravestone but here is one of a sister and brother who died in 1790 and 1791.

Yesterday I had a block of time to play with some hsts for a border on this hexie piece I've been working on. I had zig-zags in mind and wanted to see what the corners would look like. I'm making 2" hsts using Triangles on a Roll. Once I sew them together they will be a lot smaller and will fit "perfectly" lol! 

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Remembering my mother this Friday, Oct 27th:

A photo of my mother (r) Etta Bower Davis (1910-1964) and her sisters Midge (c) and Leila (l) taken at my high school graduation in 1961. It was around this time when she was making quilts or doing cross-stitch.

She made an entire series of applique pictures depicting family members. You can read more about them here. This one is of Aunt Midge and Uncle Warren in their home where they had a small pot-bellied stove and trivets hanging on the wall. Embroidered on the tray is "Midge Warr Apr 1944" the year they were married. 

But before Mom made quilts she was into cross-stitch. "The Pheasants" . . .

. . . and "Mother and Fawn" were made in the late 1950s. Both of these McCall's designs could be ordered from L. Bamberger & Co. in Newark, NJ. The complete kits cost $3.39 and $5.19 respectively. 

After my mother finished her pictures I decided I wanted to make the companion piece to the deer above called "Stag at Eve." Well, you can see I didn't get very far. Maybe it will be a good project to work on at the cabin. We'll see :)

Have a great week!




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Copyright 2017, Barbara Schaffer


 

#5 Done, QAL Done, Cross-Stitch

It was a productive week--sort of :)

#5 on my UFO list is now done. I started All That Madders last October and thought it would be a quick and easy finish.

I quilted the stars in straight lines and chevrons . . . 

. . . in the ditch along the inner striped border . . . 

. . . and double diamonds in the outer border. That's where I began to run into trouble. I hastily marked the diamonds thinking they fit almost perfectly just inside the printed border stripe and that I could make slight adjustments along the way if needed. I realized too late that each quilted diamond point left a little indentation which skewed the printed line. I tried to make it better by quilting along the inside of the line on both sides but that didn't solve the problem. Not a happy camper! 

The 3/8" binding also gave me problems. I should have done a single binding instead of a double but I didn't. And I realize now it was a big mistake to put another stripe on the back. You can see it lined up fine on the right but not on the left. In any case the quilt looks okay from the front--just don't turn it over!

On a happier note Palmateer Point is done! I machine quilted it on the diagonal and finished it with a 1/4" binding :)

The back. 

When I was cleaning out my sewing room a few weeks ago, I came across a sampler that I made 51 years ago! So after all these years I finally decided to have it framed. Michaels was having one of their custom framing specials so that's where I brought it :)

Have a great week!




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Copyright 2017, Barbara Schaffer


 

Hello Fall!

After a full day of soaking rain the glorious fall colors finally popped!

The view from our cabin.

What fun it was to see this hay bale lion welcoming visitors to Whiteface Mountain Ski Area.   

The trees along the AuSable River were spectacular. The river flows northward . . . 

. . .  past our dock . . . 

. . . to the Wilmington Bridge . . . 

. . . and on to Ausable Chasm where it eventually empties into Lake Champlain. 

A rainbow appeared while we were working at the Community Garden :)  

My little harvest :)

And it's that time of year to haul in the dock. My daughter and her husband use ropes and pulleys to raise it out of the water. What manpower! 

Have a great week!

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Copyright 2017, Barbara Schaffer

Palmateer Pt, Fall Blocks, Moon, and Quilts

Isn't this the sweetest?? Palmateer Point top is done :) What a fun little QAL with Lori! Check out her blog to see where she got the inspiration for this little piece and to see what others have made.
 

Thanks, Lori! I'm anxious to start quilting it!

I definitely got carried away making Disappearing Nine Patch blocks and have decided to stop at twelve. Now I'm playing with some sashing and border fabrics but haven't quite found the right mix. I'm trying to use what I have in my stash. This is Version1 but it seems kind of dark. 

And this is Version2. Not sure I'm liking this one either. Too blah. I think it should be brighter. So I'll continue to search . . . 

We drove up to the cabin yesterday and last night the moon was so bright it lit up the driveway and the trees.

I was hoping to take some fall foliage pictures today but there's not much color yet. Instead I'll show you a couple of fall-themed quilts that I made which you may or may not have seen before.

I made Autumn in the High Peaks for my brother's 75th birthday in 2012. I used all leafy fabrics along with some solids from the 60s that once belonged to our mother :)

 

After I made my brother's quilt I used all the leftover triangles in Falling Leaves. I loved working on this size quilt. It's 27" square, machine pieced, and hand quilted. 

If you have a minute hop on over to Barb V.'s blog. She posted some wonderful pics of her NJ-inspired quilt along with my New Beginnings quilt. Thanks, Barb!  

Have a great week!


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Copyright 2017, Barbara Schaffer

  
 

Going in Different Directions

I'd been working on the five extra hexies and appliqueing them to background fabric until I decided to clean out my sewing room and got side-tracked in all directions . . . 

 

I'm leaning toward this arrangement with a zig-zag border--maybe :) The center hexie still needs to be appliqued. 

 

Close-ups of the last two. 

As I was saying . . . I began to clean, I mean really clean, my sewing room. I emptied three shelves of novelty fabrics which I plan on giving to our guild for charity quilts. In their place I put wool fabrics that I've had in a storage bin forever. I finally washed them in the washing machine using Ivory dishwashing liquid and threw them in the dryer on the regular cycle. Now they are light and fluffy!

Initially I wanted to make a hooked rug but I've had this table runner in mind ever since I purchased the pattern at a thrift shop last year. I ordered Prairie Cloth on Etsy and hope to get started sometime soon! 

But as I was placing my order I noticed this wonderful cross-stitch pic of Abe and George. So I purchased the pattern and bought some DMC floss.

But I really needed to clean off my work table and had two guild projects that needed attention. First, I made a block (your choice) using the fabric that was provided by the Sunshine Committee. I added the yellow print. Super simple!

Then I made a Disappearing Nine Patch Block. I had picked up the instructions at our last meeting just out of curiosity. Every month guild members have an opportunity to try something new by participating in Block-of-the-Month. For every block you turn in you receive a raffle ticket. A winner is chosen during the meeting. Depending on how many people participate, there are usually enough blocks to make a quilt.  

This month's fabric selection was "Nod to Fall. Break out the reds, oranges and yellows for this Fall-inspired block." I have a lot of fall fabrics and was intending to make only one block but it was so easy I got carried away. 

The unfinished block is 13-1/2". I may keep on going :)

And I've got my pink hsts made for part 3 of Lori's Palmateer Point QAL here :) 

After three days of cleaning out and getting rid of stuff I actually added more projects! Does that ever happen to you??

BTW, those of you who thought the guy in the mural (last post) was Buddy Holly--it was a great guess! My son said it was James Dean so I stopped by the pizzeria today to ask. Sure enough it's James Dean! Thanks for playing along!

Have a great week!




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Copyright 2017, Barbara Schaffer
 

#1 Done! Giant Puffballs and Marilyn and ?

Morris Hexathon was #1 on my '17 in 2017' UFO list to quilt and it is now done! 

I started making it over a year ago when Barbara Brackman announced her Morris Hexathon quiltalong. The designs focused on English textile designer, William Morris. One hexie a week for 26-weeks was certainly doable--and fun!  

My pieced hexies ended up being 7" across instead of 8". I didn't discover this until I began cutting the 8" setting blocks and laying them out on my wall. So I had to make a new template and re-cut.

I had yards of both the floral and bird fabrics to play with so I fussy cut those. 

The entire quilt with the exception of a couple of hexies was hand-pieced. I quilted in the ditch on all the pieced blocks and around each hexie . . .

. . . and quilted three concentric hexies in the setting blocks and chevrons in the edge triangles. I used Quilters Dream Request batting.

The back.

A detail. 

I fussy cut the binding and fused the flower on the label. The finished quilt is 63-1/2" wide by 56" long. Yes, wider than it is long.

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On another note, it seems every year these Giant Puffball Mushrooms appear in our backyard. The pictures don't do them justice. They are the size of beach balls! 

 
Over the past few months I've been watching this mural materialize on the side of a building on one of the busy roads in town. It looks like the scaffolding is still up on the far right so assume it's not yet finished. But--who is the guy?? I feel like I should know who he is . . .  Do you?

Make sure you check out Barbara B's blog to see what she's donating to the AQSG auction next month :) 




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Copyright 2017, Barbara Schaffer