Civil War Sunday

First of all...Happy Mother's day to all you wonderful mothers out there.    I hope you all are having a fabulous day filled with love!

I can't believe how fast Sunday comes along and once again it's time to share another block from the Civil War Sampler Book by Barbara Brackman.   This one is called "Hovering Hawks".  The description is too long to post and I'd be surprised if anyone even read it.  LOL

Here are the first 5.   Now head on over and see what wonderful colors Karen has put together for hers.

Last week I was at Sew Many Quilts here in Bend and saw the next Block of the Month they are offering.   It's called "Freedom Rings" by Paula Barnes of Red Crinoline Quilts.  It's absolutely stunning and I'm trying really hard to keep from signing up for it.    The colors are so "me" and I'm really drawn to them but am focusing on working with what I currently have going.    If you'd like to sign up, give them a call. They would love to have you in the club.   It starts this month.

Also in the shop is a trunk show from Kathy Schmitz.   It's so fun seeing all her quilts in one place.

The embroidery on her quilts is so rich looking.  

At our embroidery group on Tuesday, Linda showed us her finished background for the Buttermilk Basin little monthly mats.   Check out her crazy stitches.   She's the queen of embroidery, that's for sure.  

Barb just finished a baby quilt for her niece.    The little chenille charm squares just make this quilt.  She got them off of ebay a few years ago but I did a search and you can still get them.   Hmmmm, I have a couple of baby quilts to make soon.

Some closeups.

Aren't they wonderful?

Have a great week everyone!   See you with the next installment.

Hugs, Anne

Civil war and a challenge

Wow, it's Sunday again and time for another block reveal.   This is block 4 from the Civil War Sampler book that I'm doing as a quilt-a-long with Karen.  The name of this blocks is "Catch me if you can".   Here's hoping that Karen is gonna give you the description.  :)

I belong to a group called Material Girls that meets every Monday.   Once a year a group challenge is put out for anyone who wants to participate. This year's theme was "Pinwheels". The only requirements for the challenge were that it had to have at least one traditional pinwheel (made from 4 half square triangles, and that it be quilted yourself.  

So, on with the show.  

#10 was mine.   I don't usually participate in the challenges because I don't want to quilt it myself, but this year I made a small quilt and just did some straight line quilting.  

After viewing them all, each person casts a vote for their favorite design and this year, Sue's Underground Railroad quilt won the top prize.   (Prizes were furnished by Anna from her de-cluttering)

This year, for the first time, there was an "unfinished" category.   These last 2 were in that category.  

These little blocks that Linda made were so tiny you wouldn't have believe it.  She won the "unfinished" category.  

As you can see, there's a lot of talent in the group.  


Next year's challege was decided and it's going to be Dresden Plates.   The only requirement for this one is that it has to have one full circle of a Dresden.   (and of course, quilt it yourself.  Bah humbug!)

See ya soon,
Hugs, Anne

Aunt Maggie's Patchwork Quilt

Last month Sandy (aka "Sandy no blog") and I were talking and she mentioned that she missed our quilt-a-longs from last year.  She said they kept her motivated knowing there was a deadline to get the blocks shown on my blog.   We started looking for a pattern and both mentioned that we wanted to use our Civil War stash as the basis for the quilt.    Mary R (a fellow Woolie) had recently finished this quilt and we both fell in love with it.  So....our decision was made!

The pattern is by Lori Smith.  

 We decided to do 4 blocks per month.  So here are Sandy's 4.

And these are my four.

And I think I messed up on the flying geese on the outsides of this next block.  I turned them around and also switched my colors.   But....would you have even noticed if I hadn't told you?   Probably not!
I shoulda kept quiet, huh?   :)

These are my 4 all together.  

These blocks are a bit more complicated than the Civil War sampler which is a good thing, since there are 50 blocks to make for the Sampler quilt but only 18 for this one.  Whew...dodged a bullet on that one.  

You're probably wondering what has happened to my wool obsession.  Never fear...I'm hand stitching away on the Christmas Quilt.  You know...the one that I prepped all in one fell swoop?  Anyway, I'm just finishing up block 9, so not much longer to go on that one.  

Hope you're enjoying your week and getting lots of sewing time.

Hugs, Anne

More Civil War

Today Karen and I are showing you another block of our Civil War Sampler.   These blocks are really fun and easy to make.   Karen mentioned last Sunday that she is doing the 12" block version.   I'm making mine into the 8" version.   Click on over to see what she's managed to do with hers.   I know I'm gonna like it more than mine. :)

This completed one belongs to Woolie Lori who brought hers to Woolie group to show me.   Such wonderful inspiration.    It always helps to see what the end result will look like.  

Speaking of Woolies... we are all still working on our Buttermilk Basin Wool & Needle Handwork BOM.   These are the March mats.   We missed our March get together so I needed to get caught up for ya.  

Here are the April mats.   It's so fun to see how everyone puts their own unique spin on them.   That's mine on the burlap board.   I just took it right off the wall for show and tell.  

And I just thought I'd show you my little munchkins who were in town last week for my birthday (actually, it was for their spring break, but I can say they came for me).   I can't believe how big they are getting.  Mason turns 4 in May and Emma will be SEVEN in Sept.   Where does the time go?   Yikes!

Sandy (no blog) and I are also doing another Civil War quilt-a-long and I'll be showing you those blocks this week.

Hugs, Anne

Civil War and a Village

Earlier this year, Karen and I were talking about doing a "challenge/quilt-a-long" together and it took us awhile to figure out what we wanted to work on.  We finally decided to use our Civil War fabric stashes and stitch on Barbara Brackman's Civil War Sampler blocks.

There are 50 blocks in the book but we aren't sure if we're going to do all 50.  We'll just play it by ear for the time being.   Our plan is to post our progress on Sundays....the keyword being "plan"!

The first blocks are quite easy but I can see some challenges as we get farther into the book.   I even noticed TEMPLATES, God forbid!  

I love scrappy Civil War quilts, so am excited to see how this all plays out.  Now head on over to Karen's blog and see her interpretation of the blocks.  

In other quilting news, last May I joined a Block of the Month thru my LQS, Sew Many Quilts. The project was The Quilted Village by The City Stitcher.   I've actually had the pattern for a few years ago but until they offered it as a BOM, the pattern just sat in the box with all the other patterns I have.   I figured the class would be the motivation I needed, so off I went to sign up!

So, here it is...one year later...FINISHED!   I actually kept up and it feels so good!

The pattern has directions for paper piecing and applique.   Most of the ladies that signed up did the paper piecing technique.   While I do enjoy paper piecing, I LOVE applique, so I was one of the few who chose that method.

There was quite a bit of embroidery on the blocks and the pattern called for an embroidered clock on the front of the Town Hall.    I wasn't too excited about embroidering those tiny numbers, so chose to just embroider the words, "town hall", after a suggestion from one of the ladies in class.  

Sturdy Brick House

 Apartment House

Cottage with Birdhouse

Three Story with Dormers

Fixer Upper

Row Houses

The Church

The Schoolhouse

Dutch Duplex

Petite House with Pickets

Saltbox

I can't wait to get to get it off to the quilter for her to work her magic.  

Now that it's finished, it's time to round up another applique UFO and get busy.   I'll share that with you soon.    

Till later,
Hugs, Anne