Whew!

 

Playing Catch-up!

 After I found the quilt patterns and fabric cut for BH ( Bonnie Hunter) quilt, I set to work to tackle one. 

This one is 2018!  Good Fortune from her China trip!

Since I’m behind doing these blocks, I’ll use BH 18 as leader-Enders. 

Block 4-5 are to be Christmas fabrics and Block 15 is using my hand dyed fabrics—here we go—trying to play catch up!!

One down!  I wasn’t too sure my choice of color placement would work—looks ok to me though

Sew With Me is my Christmas quilt—

Another Christmas block

One of 25 blocks used in BH’s 2018 mystery quilt 

Block #2 is here —excited to

Combine them for the quilt top! 

In the garden

 Yes, in the garden—grandmother’s flower garden—a lovely quilt technique loved by many!  My hands have tried these hexagons on several occasions.  It is definitely a long term, slow process but well worth while if completed.  once again, my interest was peaked while watching PBS Masterpiece show, Miss Austin.  A brief glance of one bed laid a beautiful Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt.  Is it possible this pattern dated to 1700? 

Research?  Definitely!  

"The "Grandmother's Flower Garden" quilt, featuring a floral motif made of hexagons, has a history dating back to the late 18th century in England, where the hexagon template and English paper piecing technique were popular. It gained further recognition in America in the 1930s, particularly during the Great Depression, when it became a symbol of frugal creativity and cheer."

Here is an example of Grandmother's flower garden from this website.  I would assume those who were producing Miss Austen series would want to be correct in their clothing and furnishings throughout the 1800's house.  

There are several sites that bring you to various ways to create your own Flower Garden and then you can call it "your name" flower garden.  I know my grandmother Never made a 
Grandmother's Flower Garden; in fact, she didn't even quilt!!

Here’s a guide to assist you on planting your flower garden!

Love this block—good way to build a quilt!

I'm loving these little bursts of flowers that I'm sewing together--maybe, some day these groups of flowers will become a full fledge garden to spread on my bed.

Grow your own garden--check out this site. or this one

History is still alive with our handwork!  sew on!

Studio Clear out!

 It's amazing what you find when you clean up the studio. There are fabric pieces everywhere--after all I'm in the process cutting sections for three different challenges, which I use as leader- ender  

• Lisa Bongean has a slow sewing project -- tiny little half squares that measure 1.5"  but not for me, I made them 3". 
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  Good use of scraps

So, when I clean off my cutting table I see a clear plastic box--well, what do we have here?  Out of sight, out of mind is the saying for not paying attention to the things around you.  Open the box to find

Not One

Not Two

but THREE Bonnie Hunter mysteries begun--all packaged up, some elements already cut and sewn together.  

Now, the goal is to work up these three projects before fall rolls around and another BH mystery will be revealed.

I say, I should clean my studio more often!!

Better Get To It

 Back to the loom please!  Can’t keep leaving the loom as a “catch” all!!  I know it’s convenient to just throw Stuff on the bench or the warp.  Gee whiz, after awhile you forget about it!  So determined to sit my fanny down to throw the shuttle.  Besides, I have bobbins of hand spun cotton ready to be warped for hand towels. 

Green cotton, brown cotton; singles on cone ready to ply with singles on bobbin

Few colored cottons intermingled with white, brown, red cotton—these will be a great warp but, first that red warp needs to be finished. Get to it Girl!!  

Pep talk over—here we go………..put on a book, plug in the ear pods and weave!!

What book are we listening to?  

Historical but fiction

Warp is perfect—no missing heddles, no crossed threads—ready to get moving on this warp

Thinking of blue weft—NOT!  Love the red crossing the warp!  Red it will be!!

Tape? For knitting?

The other day I came across an article on stash tape photo—heart be still!! I remembered there are boxes of tape in my fiber closet!  Whoa!  Why didn’t I think about using this stuff before!  After all, it is well aged!

This was bought several years ago during a sale at our local yarn shop.  Why was it bought?  Because it was on sale!!  Some reason, huh?  

Couple different colors and sizes were included.

Good brand and Japanese?!! How could this bargain be passed up?  And several boxes—wow!!  

Not quite 100% silk—how could this be used?  After viewing websites using tapes—I jumped right in.  No reason to let these boxes languish on the fiber closet any longer—out if the closet they came!

On the needles, a hat! 

 

May Brings Flowers!

 Here comes May!  April just flew by!!  April is our happenin’ month—birthdays, Easter, walk for CDH, short trip north for a funeral, and oh, how could we forget about Taxes!!!

Maybe, this month might be quieter, more restful.   Alas,  a good reason to sew for charity is one of my favorite!  Make A Wish Foundation.  This year’s Fat Quarter Shoppe quilt pattern.  Make a donation! Receive the pattern and Sew!! Create a beautiful quilt. 

Today is the day for step one release! 

Another stitch along is to make hearts!  Slow stitching to create a beautiful quilt.  

I’ve received my heart templates, ready to go!

This is a finished pieced quilt—now, that’s slow stitching for sure. 

I use my hearts for greeting cards.  On plain colorful card stock, you add your personal message. 

Z. Zero

 

The concept of zero as a number has roots in ancient mathematics, with Brahmagupta, a 7th-century Indian mathematician, being credited with developing methods for using zero in calculations. 












I’ve got zero!  

Victory!!!

I’m a Victor in finishing these blocks!  

Can’t believe I bit off more than I can chew (as the saying goes)!  Trying to keep up with five different ones each month!

This one is going to beat once it’s completed!  

Am using my hand dyed fabrics for this BOM

This one isn’t my favorite but I’ll keep on with it—each block is 15” square.  Nice size when finished. 

Yay!  Victory for this one for sure—years in the making!  And finally finished!!

 

SSSSSSS—Struggling!

 I am struggling with this 

It looks a mess!  And that’s one reason I am struggling with this pattern, 2025 Shetland mystery scarf designed by Toni L Lorenz

This pattern can be found on Ravelry

Why am I struggling, you ask.  Because this is a different construction in my book— you knit a base section one month and you add to it each month by adding a side section—sounds confusing,  but, supposedly, the scarf will take on a diagonal feature. 

All well and good, yes! I’ m struggling reading the chart, trying to keep last month’s stitches on its own set of needles.  Yes, I know I could place those stitches on a lifeline—that’s too much trouble—so we soldier on. 

I’m using bits of my handspun in hopes when and if I finish, the scarf will take on festive look.  In the meantime, struggle has become my middle name! 

Q=Quietly Quilting

 Quietly my needle and thread 

Are working slowly!  To lock together these hexagons

And some day, there will be a quilt of hexagons—enough to cover a bed maybe

On happily, the quiet quilting goes along! 

Log Cabins

 Today’s letter is L

There are Log Cabins—

and then there ARE log cabins!  I mean the log cabins that are built with fabric. 

Easier to build than a wooden log cabin!  

As I was working on my slow stitching project

I pulled out the scrap bin (using nothing but scraps for this) 

I found several strips of fabric, pulled them while looking for wider pieces to cut the hexagons. 

I can’t just throw away those long strips—heck, no!  There is something that can be done with them. 

After sorting into light and dark, I decided to make log cabin blocks—oh, some strips are wider, some thinner, I’m okay with that.  It’s just an experiment!

So strip by strip was added to build a log cabin block!  Just squared it up, keep building and soon there will be a completed quilt top. And bonus—less in the scrap bin! 

G is for Glass

 Reading now!  One of my favorite authors!  She features women in historical content

A family of glass makers through several centuries; located on the island of Murano, outside the city of Venice.  I’m always regretting that we did not visit the glass makers when we traveled Italy.  

In my head, as I read this book, I can picture the scene. 

Although, we didn’t visit the “mother” of glass in Murano, we did visit the sister location in Caracas, Venezuela and found this lovely platter to display wooden fruit pieces that were collected over a period of time. 

Glass is fascinating!  Take sand and heat to create glass!