Small Things

A few little finishes before I go on a 4-day quilting retreat.

"Study in Pink" is done.  It will hang in the bathroom with our beloved pink toilet from the 1960's.

I made this pillow for a special little girl's birthday and sent it off.

The kitties come from a pillow case my grandmother made when I was a little girl.

And I planted pots of red geraniums with chartreuse sweet potato vines.  I love this combination.  

It reminds me of a quilt I'm about to work on with the same color combo.

'Tis the season for quilting retreats.  I hope you've got one too, even if it's a one-person retreat at home!

Tennessee Lightnin' Strikes!

I've been working on this slowly over the last few weeks.  Lots of fun.  It'll have a border eventually.  

It includes fabrics from several friends.  45" x 63"

The weather finally warmed up enough for Malti's annual haircut.

  I think she likes it!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Fun with Gwen!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of spending the day with Gwen Marston in her class on small quilts!

Here's what I made the first part of the day.  I'm calling it "Study in Pink," 16.5" x 14".  It's my first small quilt.  It was so fun and easy.  I can't wait to make more!

Here's Gwen with my little quilt before I put the borders on.  

She is really a gem.  I've taken several classes from her, and will definitely take more.  I never tire of her generous spirit and great sense of humor.  I love hearing what she says about learning from old quilts.

Here she is at the beginning of the class, showing us some of the 450 small quilts she's made.

Can you guess who's wearing those cowgirl boots?

Do you have Gwen's fabulous new book yet?  You can order it directly from her, complete with signature.

The second half of the day I started this one, a rendition of my favorite quilt in the book.  

Tennessee Lightnin'

When I was in Tennessee with Mary, Bonnie and Tina, we all got a few items at the Cleveland Goodwill.  We split them up 4 ways and each went home with a bag.  

This is the start of what I'm making with the pieces.

It's inspired by this African American quilt made by an unknown maker in the 1930's.  

It was found near Huntsville, Alabama.

It's shown in one of my all-time favorite books.  Scott Hefley features his very inspiring collection of African American quilts in this book called Bold Improvisation. 

I made a similar quilt last spring with a combination of fabrics from other friends.  

I love the challenge of making a quilt from a wacky bunch of fabrics!  

Southern Comfort

It was a charmed and delightful trip to Alabama and Tennessee!  We laughed and laughed, made new "sisters," ate well, walked and sewed until we dropped.  

Victoria, Mary, Bonnie and Kim have posted lots of great photos of the workshop with 

China and Mary Ann Pettway of Gee's Bend, Alabama.  So I'll post other parts of the trip. 

This is the path between our sleeping cabin and the sewing/dining room.

Rocking chairs on porches seem to represent the South.  These were on our back porch.

Bonnie, Tina and I stayed an extra day with Mary in Tennessee.  We went to a couple of antique shops and found some amazing old quilts!  Tina came home with this top.

And this quilt.

I bought this Rocky Road to Kansas top.

And this top.

And this quilt, all made of silky fabrics.  

I worked with some of my old baby clothes that were sewn by my grandmother.  China Pettway helped a lot.  I came home with one rendition, but decided I didn't like it.  So I picked out the blocks and started over.  Here's last night's version.  I'm still not pleased, but will keep going until I like it!  

Alabama or Bust!

Greetings from the kitchen table--my temporary sewing and computer space!  We've got some serious down-sizing going on at our house.  Soon I'll have a room for sewing.

Next week I'll be in Alabama to sew with some dear friends and some Gee's Bend quilt makers.  I've prepared hand work for the journey.

In my cleaning-out-of-all-things-unused, I came across some of my baby clothes.  I'm going to take them to Alabama and make a quilt.  My grandmother, an excellent seamstress made these.  I may shed some tears while cutting them up.  But I decided it's better to put them into a quilt that I can see every day, than to have them sit in the cedar chest for another 50 years.

I actually have a faint memory of this pillow case and a photo of me sleeping on it!

Do they call this a "romper?"  I must have had a few.  There are photos of me in other ones.

How about that skirt in the back?  I wonder if this is where I got my love of red and green plaids.

I suppose this is a nightgown.  Looks like a choking hazard to me.

Red gingham and rickrack!  What could be better?

Little bitty buttons

I can't imagine doing all this handwork, and then letting a toddler run around in this!

Ta-da!

I'd been wanting to make this quilt for a long time.  I thought it might take all winter, and it did!  Hence the name, "Spring Equinox."   87" x 87"

The inspiration came from this 1930's string quilt in Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts Book.  

Sarah Fielke made a similar quilt in the book, Material Obsession Two, by she and Kathy Doughty.  I started off by using the instructions in the book, which are great.  But I decided to try making it without foundation piecing.  

Wanda suggested I make the webs with strips, and I tried it.  I found I could get two and a half webs from two sets of four strips.  Half webs go on the edges.  The kaleidoscope ruler was key.  

To get pinwheels in the middles, I sewed the pinwheel fabrics on after the strips were cut.

And cut them again. 

I made the connecting pieces 15 minutes play style and cut them with a template.  I had to figure out a  template size that would fit with the pie shape pieces.  First I tested it with muslin.

Here are the pieces for one block. 

First you sew them into triangles...

Then squares, using lots of pins...

Then rows.  10 rows x 10 blocks each = 100 blocks = 1 queen size quilt!

Any ideas on quilting it?