Monday, September 30, 2019

September Update

I figure I should try to slip in a quick post just under the wire before I miss another month! I haven't been working on anything all that exciting to post about - just  cranking away making little bitty blocks that will eventually become quilts.  Earlier in the month I decided I had better spend a little time on my Circa 1880 project as I need to coordinate a block exchange. I cut lots of strips, made a bunch of strip sets, and then cut them into piles of parts to assemble as scrappy as possible.



I made a pretty solid start on them over a couple of weeks.  I think I have around 100 done now.  Of course I need around 500 in total so I have a way to go.



I managed to keep up with the prep work for all of the blocks in each of the two colorways I am doing for the Primitive Gatherings Wool SBOW.  I've only managed to complete the stitching on one so far....



I fell in love with this mat when I was up at the PG shop. I used my GO! cutter to cut the neutral wool pennies (they sell the colored ones but not the neutrals in the shop). It was really fun to lay out.  I have all the small pennies on now and have stitched one.  Yep, just one.  Another project with a long way to go!



And then there is the pieced SBOW.  I absolutely love the quilt and enjoy making the blocks (3.5" square-in-a-square) but after the first 240 they are getting a little old.  Only 336 more to go on that one (ugh!). I shared this particular photo as proof that Bonnie Hunter's theory that if a fabric is still ugly "you just haven't cut it small enough".  Those little light triangles are pretty darn small and that pencil fabric is still ugly!  I'm not sure whose line that was - perhaps an old Laundry Basket Quilts print?  I have seen it show up in lots of blocks of the week/month over the past couple of years. I'm pretty sure that none of it sold!



September also meant Baltimore on the Prairie time. I took classes from Sandra Starley this year. One of the best parts of class was getting to see all of the antique quilts that the students had brought along.  This one is my friend Diane's, a flea market find from a few years ago. I love the pattern!  Not sure what it is - I haven't seen it before.



If memory serves correct, this one was purchased by one of the students at auction as a sort of consolation after losing out on the quilt she really wanted. She still wasn't over it even though it apparenly happened more than 10 years ago.  I think it is gorgeous!



I don't recall the story about this one, but I love the stars!



I'm off to the AQSG conference in Lincoln in a little over a week.  I am really looking forward to it and will try to do a better job of taking photos and keeping track of them. Shortly after that trip Irene Blanck is coming back to see us again.  Maybe I will get around to posting more than once in October!