Pennies and Holiday Spirit

I went to Barnes & Noble the other day intending to buy the latest issue of Quiltmania (which they didn't have) and came home with their Fall Issue of Simply Vintage instead.

The article on making a Penny Rug caught my eye because years ago (probably 20!) I started making wool pennies with the intention of embellishing simple hst wool blocks. 

Well, what do you know?? I had forgotten I made as many as I did back then when I was in my "wool phase." These pennies are 3" vs 2" as suggested in the project instructions so I only had to cut a few more to make this layout complete. I even had a piece of green wool for the background. Now all I have to do is start sewing them in place.

The instructions call for mattress ticking for the back but I think I'll use this chintz decorator fabric instead.  Wow! Instant project :)

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This past Sunday the Livingston Historical Society held its annual Christmas Tea at the Force Home which is one of Livingston's oldest homes built c. 1745. 

The small building behind the Force Home is the Cook House which was moved to its present location in 1964 to make way for the "new" Livingston Mall. Both the Cook House and the Force Home are on the State and National Registers of Historic Sites and Places.

Every year members of the Historical Society string popcorn and cranberries for the tree which you can see here in the front parlor. 

And this is the fireplace in that same room all decorated with fresh greens and lemons. 

More holiday decorations on the mantel in the dining room. How festive!

The original walk-in fireplace is in the main room of the house where hot mulled cider and Christmas goodies were spread out on a large table for all to enjoy.

There are a total of four fireplaces in the house including two in the upstairs bedrooms. 

This is actually my favorite room. I love this color blue and the calimanco spread on the bed. There's a chintz quilt top on the rocker in the corner that I'd like to take pictures of someday :)

A Double Irish Chain quilt was in a cradle in the museum room. It has quilted designs in the plain blocks but I couldn't make out what they were.

Finally, my Morris Hexies are on Barbara B's blog this week :) Hop on over to see more.  




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

Family Time and Globes

We had a really nice Thanksgiving weekend with our family but it was over way too soon.  

  
We arrived in the North Country on Wednesday and by Thanksgiving morning there was snow on the ground.  

 

I'm the official family photographer :) My daughter (far end of table) and I did the cooking with some help from my granddaughters. We served turkey and tofurky, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and cranberry chutney, roasted chestnuts, stuffed mushrooms, green beans topped with crunchy leek slivers, sweet potato pie and tossed salad with pomegranate seeds. Dessert was pumpkin pie and ice cream. Everything was delicious!

 

Saturday morning we watched our grandson play hockey at the Lake Placid Olympic Center. The game was held in the rink where the USA hockey team upset Russia in the 1980 Olympics. It's an impressive arena.

 

After the game we drove through town to see the globes which are part of a public art exhibition to raise awareness of climate change. There were a dozen globes each 5' tall and weighing 2,000 pounds. This one is called "Build a Rain Garden" by Lauri Burrier. "Do you have a rain barrel?"

Raise Future Environmentalists is the theme of "Terre Verte" by Amy Lowry. Teach your children well. Encourage outdoor exploration and teach respect for nature. "When was the last time you explored nature with your child?" 

 

My weekend wouldn't be complete if I didn't go to the Thrift Shop and I wasn't disappointed. I found this wool purse for $2. It's never been used and appears to be handmade. 

 

Here's the fabric on the inside. Does it look familiar? 

I'll have some quilty news next week :)




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

 

Journal Quilt & A Happy Thanksgiving!

In 2000 I decided to make a Journal Quilt and recorded my daily activities to celebrate the Millennium.

I combined each entry with a coordinating piece of fabric to tell my story. 

 

One of the highlights of the year was going to Sweden and spending time with our DIL's parents on a weekend train / boat excursion in Norway. 

 

 
We held Peto meetings at my house and closed on our cabin that summer.

I added a border of "news" events for each month--national, international and local in that order. 

 

This is the back.

 

Our family tradition is to have Thanksgiving at the cabin where I cook the turkey and most of the fixings. I make my grandmother's stuffing recipe which calls for a pound of butter. It's so-o-o good!

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

Two Minis, Tumblers, and Hexies

Do you ever jump from one project to another?? Ha! I bet that's a loaded question! Well, that's what last week was like for me.  

It all began when I decided to make another mini tumbler like this one that I made a few years ago. I copied the paper piecing strips . . .

. . . without realizing that my printer was set at 85% original size. So this piece turned out to be a bit smaller than I expected. I had plenty of 2" squares to play with and got back into the rhythm of paper piecing.

Then I decided to sew together these 5" tumblers which have been sitting in a drawer. They almost look giant! I have some ideas . . .

Back to another mini. The 1-1/2" hsts were staring at me and in no time at all I had another little top together. 

And quilted both on the machine. Here are the backs. Each one measures about 10" x 12".   

It took me a week of shuffling hexies around to come up with the final layout and this is it. Now it's time to take them off my wall.  I printed a photo on letter-size paper to use as a reference so I can start sewing them together :)

Have a great week! 




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

Moving Right Along . . .

The last two hexies for the Morris Hexathon are done!  All were pieced by hand, or in a few instances, by machine. I really enjoyed delving into my repro fabrics. Thanks, Barbara, for your weekly posts and for pushing my creativity!

Do you recognize the Ann Robinson shell fabric in #25 Sussex Cottage? It's an oldie from RJR and the Shelburne Museum.

In #26 Clouds I used Windham's Dargate fabrics and a blue from Barbara's Alice's Scrapbag :)

I actually made a few extras along the way. Here they all are up on my wall.

A while ago I drafted a layout based on the official set which you can see on Barbara's Pinterest page. The main difference is that my hexies are on point.  

I experimented back in June with bird and floral fabrics and will use them in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th rings and pieced hexies in the 2nd and 4th.

I couldn't wait to get the 2nd full ring of pieced hexies in place and to begin cutting the next. 

Now I have one big hexie but am undecided as to what fabrics to use in the corners. In any case I'm moving right along . . .  

Happy Quilting!




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer


 

Quilters Madder, Downy, and Pinterest

It's time to link up with all the other quilters who participated in Lori's Quilters Madder QAL. Be sure to check Humble Quilts blog on Friday to see all the little quilts. I really enjoyed this QAL and kept up with Lori's weekly instructions but discovered I had cut more pieces than I actually needed!

The criteria was madder, black and white or off-white shirtings, and one pink.  

And I do like that touch of pink!

I machine quilted it in triple lines and x's.

 

The back. 

 

The extra pieces were just enough for this mini. It's 14" x 14".

Quilted in 1" crosshatch over the entire piece. 

 

Together up on my wall :)

 

And look who made a home in our garage. A little Downy Woodpecker. That hole is nearly perfect!

Make sure you check out my Quilt Show Quilts board on Pinterest. I added lots more photographs from the Warwick show including this one: 

 

 

A Labor of Love by Francisca Rodriguez. She wrote "This quilt is made from my granddaughter's childhood dresses, each dress is an exact copy of the original. Quilted on my home machine."

 

Beautifully quilted and two well-deserved ribbons!


Enjoy your week everyone! 




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Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer