July Mini

What fun! When I sent Wendy a block for her Covid Community Supper quilt, she sent me twelve 3-1/2" squares in return.

I alternated those squares with 4 patch blocks and added an orphaned windmill in the center. That green squiggly fabric seemed to be right for the border. The finished piece is 21" x 21".

I did cross-hatch machine quilting all over.

I found this fabulous piece of cheater cloth in Natalie's stash for a perfect finish! Thanks, Wendy, for all your inspiration! 

Both panels of my new scrap/strip quilt are together. I've since added strips to the top and bottom and am working on side borders next. 

Wildflowers, animals, and sunsets . . .  

 

 Wild Bergamot

Knapweed

Highland Cattle at a nearby farm.

This deer was munching on some vegetation right outside our front door :)

July 15th at 8:30 p.m. 

July 20th 8:48 p.m. 

Enjoy your week and make sure you visit Wendy's blog for links to more little quilts :) 

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Copyright 2020, Barbara Schaffer

 

Deacon Blocks 37-40

Happily moving forward with another set of Deacon blocks . . . 

. . . and jumping around the layout.
 

 

One pieced, one foundation-pieced, and 2 pieced and appliqued.  

Attributed to Charles Deacon / Evesham

I saved this one till last because all those points were intimidating. But I'm happy to report the block actually turned out to be the correct size!

Attributed to Martha H. Coles /1841

This block was foundation-pieced and the red fabric in the center once belonged to Natalie :) The more I do the smarter I get. E.g. after printing the instructions I measure each unit to make sure the crosswise width will finish at 9". In this case, I added the width of an hourglass + square + hourglass + square + hourglass and it was short. Almost always I have to enlarge the file to 103% on my printer which is what I did. 

Attributed to Amos Buzby Jr. / Rancocas NJ

It looks like I'll be making another one of these. I just spotted it above the red star in the bottom row. Not sure I'm happy with the way the center circle looks after trimming away 4 layers of fabric--base, large white circle, red circle, small white circle.

 Attributed to Charles Henry Deacon / Evesham

This star was pieced in pairs of diamonds then appliqued to the background.  

  

Another amazing sunset!

Have a great week!

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Copyright 2020, Barbara Schaffer 

Summer Stuff and New Quilt

The weather has been glorious this past week. Warm sunny days and cool nights--perfect for a good night's sleep :)

There have been some pretty amazing sunsets, too!  

This little squirrel is a regular evening visitor who scampers along the railing before leaping onto a branch of the apple tree.
 

He's not the least bit afraid and gives us a chance to watch him up close. So cute!

More wildflowers . . .

 Blackberry 

 Bladder Campion

 Deptford Pink

St. Johnswort

Black-eyed Susan

Purple-flowering Raspberry 

And a New Quilt!  

On a whim I started a new scrap quilt after I saw Interweave by Karen Griska on Etsy. I don't have many bright-colored fabrics but do have lots of repros and other misc pieces sitting around so I started cutting strips 2" and 2-1/2" wide by 20" long. After piecing and cutting and piecing and cutting this is what it looks  like.

I'm just now starting the second row of panels and because I don't have my design wall up yet here they are on the floor. I hope to make this a twin size quilt and may just add strips all around to bring it out to size. That's my current thought anyway :)

Hope you are having a fantastic summer!

See you next week with more Deacon Blocks. 

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Copyright 2020, Barbara Schaffer

 

June Mini

Use 'em up!

This month's mini was put together in no time at all. I have lots of pre-cut scraps in varying sizes so it was just a matter of picking and choosing. The finished quilt is 14-1/2" x 17-1/2".

It was so easy to take even large triangles, sew them together, and trim to 3-1/2" for the blocks (3" finished). And I always have 1-1/2" x 3" strips on hand that I could use for the border (1" x 2-1/2" finished).   

Nothing fancy on the back. Sometimes I go with a piece just because it's the right size :)

Then I hung it with two others in my sewing room to enjoy!    

Thanks, Wendy, for keeping us going! And while you're visiting make sure you check out her fabulous "Community Supper" Covid quilt :) 

On another note . . . 

I just finished quilting Dear Daughter so now I can move on to the binding. Yay! 

See you next week! 

__________

Copyright 2020, Barbara Schaffer   

 

I Always Wanted . . .

. . . to create a stairway wall gallery. But first . . . 

Welcome!

 

A little Adirondack decorating here and there like flannel shirts, a taxidermy fish, pics of the sportsmen in our family . . . 

.  . . and now the latest--a gallery! There's just something about a large group of paintings/pictures on a wall that appeals to me and all of these are landscapes.  
 

My maternal grandfather, Stan Bower (1888-1965), was the artist in the family. This photo was taken at his mother's summer place in Arkville, NY, a small town in the Catskill Mountains. Just last week after I enhanced the image I noticed that huge house in the background. Could that have been the family getaway? Hmmm . . .

This is one of the many paintings he did in the early 1920s while visiting his mom.
 

Mostly landscapes . . . 
 

. . . and lots of trees.
  

 

So it is no surprise that . . . 

 . . . his oil paintings (the dark ones) are the focus of my gallery :) I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I did the initial layout on our table trying to space things out. After I hung them all I filled in a few empty spaces at the bottom with paintings that were done by my paternal grandmother, Maud Davis :)

All in all it was a challenging but fun project considering the different sizes, framed, not framed, etc. but it all worked out.

I'll be back on Tuesday to post my June mini. See you then! 


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Copyright 2020, Barbara Schaffer  

 

1988 Revisit and Wildflowers

My interest in wildflowers is nothing new and searching for them is something my daughter and I enjoy doing together.

In 1988 I made a quilt featuring four blocks of my favorite wildflowers. This is Lady's Slipper--my all time fave. 

Aren't these beautiful? There's a patch along a trail not far from where we live. It's always a thrill to see them!

My Trillium block. 

Last month we saw a red one . . .  

. . . and 2 years ago a white Painted Trillium.

Hepatica is a sweet little flower but we missed seeing them this year. They are one of the earliest to bloom.

Rose Mallow is another showy flower that I found in NJ--not NY yet.

Here is the entire quilt which I named Whispering Woods after a retirement village advertisement that I saw in the local paper! How's that for creative-naming??

A few more recent pics: 

Buttercup

 Bluets 

 Cypress Spurge. . . a new one for us but now we see it everywhere. 

Foam Flower 

 Bloodroot

 

Columbine . . . such a pretty flower but there was a slight breeze on the trail so the photo is a little blurry. 

Orange Hawkweed along the roadside.

Last but not least I just love this book.

The illustrations are charming :)

That's all for now.

Enjoy your week!



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Copyright 2020, Barbara Schaffer