November Mini

It's not that I just squeezed in finishing my mini, it was a technical problem not being able to download my photos from my phone to my computer. Finally I emailed them to myself. Why didn't I think of that sooner??

I had these leftover large hsts and sewed them together randomly. As luck would have it I pulled out this old alphabet fabric and what do you know--it was the right scale and measurement to frame the hsts. So I laid them right on top and added selvage strips to make up the 1/2" difference all around.

After stitching everything on the front I cut out the back behind the hsts.

Here's a detail of the selvage strips on the left . . .

. . . and on the right.

Diagonal line quilting 1-1/4" apart . . . 

. . . and the back. Ta-da!

I see Wendy's posted her mini here. Isn't it the cutest??

Enjoy your week!

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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer

 

 

It's A Finish and Early Toile

The Cross Variation quilt that I started in July is done!

It went together quickly and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. It's 35" x 46".

Barbie quilted it for me in a leafy/floral design. It was just the right scale for this size quilt.

The dark blue print is from Barbara B's Alice's Scrapbag collection :)

I nearly forgot I had that wonderful stripe. It was perfect for the binding.

These are the fabrics I put on the back. I try and buy Mary Koval's fabrics when they are on sale at Hancock's online and the one on the top is Larisa c. 1870 by Windham Fabrics.

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Wanna see a gorgeous toile??

I finally got to see the quilt top that's been displayed folded on a chair in The Force Homestead which our local historical society maintains.

Check out this pink. 

 Love this dwelling.

Clouds and trees. 

 

And the edge triangle fabric :) Made my day!

Enjoy your week!




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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer

 

Deacon Blocks 5-8

The next four Deacon blocks are done. 

This time they are from the lower right corner. 

I had a good dark green fabric for this block so that's where I started.  

What a different palette--soft hues in pink, blue and brown. I copied / traced the pattern to my background fabric with a Frixion pen.

My first attempt at making this cross block but I wasn't happy with it. Too brown and too gray. So . . . 

. . . I made it again. I bought a fat quarter of this eccentric black fabric as a long shot that it would work. Then I had to find a light blue for the large triangles. After much searching on the internet I ended up going to Hobby Lobby and found a few blues that I could use including this white dot on blue even though it appears gray.

I'm much happier with this one :)

Block#8, of course, was a repeat of the one I made last month that was too small. I enlarged the pattern to 103% on my printer and that seemed to do the trick. The finished block will now be 9" not 8.75". The blue fabric is a Fabric Traditions from 2006.

Here they are in the order of the original (I apologize for the poor photo). That cross looks kind of dark but I'm not doing it again. The next set becomes available on Thursday and I can't wait to see which blocks Gay at Sentimental Stitches has chosen :)

Have a great week. Stay warm!




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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer


 

Back Up 2 Weeks

I wanted to share some photos of The Serenity Garden that I took a couple of weeks ago. The garden is located in the middle of nowhere about 1/2 hour from our cabin. My daughter and I had stopped on our way to buy Honeycrisp apples at a local orchard :) 

This garden is amazing. It's a place to reflect, paint a rock, leave food, or take what you need. 

 

It's near a pond with a swan decoy :)

There are beautiful plantings . . .

 

 

. . . stone pathways, terraced gardens, and gorgeous mums.

There's also a birdhouse . . . 

. . . and lots of stones where people can be creative and paint whatever they like.

 "Paint only on this wall. No spray paint. Thank u." 

I'm so glad we stopped. It's truly a special place :)

On another note . . . 

On a clear day you can see the skyline of NYC from the 9-11 memorial at one of our NJ county parks :)

This statue is dedicated to the Search & Rescue Dogs of 9/11/2001. 

The bees were certainly busy on this beautiful sunny day!

Thanks for stopping by! 




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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer




 

October Mini, Avocado Dye and Snow

Even though I'm not participating in Sentimental Stitches' Cheddarback quilt SAL I couldn't resist making one of the blocks for this month's mini.

It was similar to this Delectable Mountains Variation in my favorite book, Calico and Chintz.

My initial thought was to make a table runner but after making 4 individual blocks I decided to add a hst border and finish it for October's mini.

I ended up hand quilting it at the cabin. 

The backing is from the Henry Ford Archive for Windham Fabrics. Make sure you hop on over to Wendy's to see more October minis :)

On another note . . . 

Ever since I read an article in this magazine about using avocado pits to make a beautiful blush pink dye, I couldn't wait to give it a try.  

I started saving pits and kept them in the freezer until I was ready. Then I put them in a pot filled with water and let them simmer for 2 hours. 

I had an assortment of items I wanted to dye including fabric scraps, paper, shipping tags, trim, etc. 

I couldn't wait to see the finished product but was a little disappointed to see that the color wasn't as strong as I had hoped. It was a fun experiment though and I have no idea if I will ever do anything with these pieces :)

A few more autumn pics:

This is our driveway in full autumn glory. So beautiful!

Yep! That's snow on Whiteface Mountain!

Another view :)

Have a great week! I've got plenty of projects to work on, do you?

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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer

 

First 4 Blocks Deacon Quilt

I jumped right in as soon as I downloaded the first 4 blocks of the Ella Maria Deacon quilt that are being offered by Gay at Sentimental Stitches.

 Gay started in the upper left corner . . .

. . . and I started with block #2. I'm using Moda Bella Solid Off White for the background. That tan/beige is an oldie from the Oakland Museum. 

Then I made this red/green Chimney Sweep.

And onto block #4. So far so good!

I left the challenging #1 block for last. Chose my fabrics, appliqued the white arcs and hand-pieced the rest. I took a chance making this block even though my printed 1" guideline that Gay provided to gauge the size of the finished block was a hair shy of 1", I didn't think it would make that much of a difference. I learned my lesson! The block finished at 8-3/4" instead of 9". 

So this month I will have a chance to make another because the next set has the same block in a different color combination. I'll get it right the second time around, lol! 

Enjoy your week!




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Copyright 2019, Barbara Schaffer