1930s Reproduction Fabric Quilt

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Barb

I found this pattern online (and it was free!) and adjusted it so that I could use Jenny Doan’s method for making half-square triangles. What fun! It went together quickly and easily because the blocks were trimmed down to the same size before piecing.

This quilt is a double-sized quilt, probably the largest quilt I have handled or could ever handle on my supermachine. It required a lot of rolling and re-rolling to position it correctly. To keep things simple, I stitched rows of arcs along the squares and triangles:

Note that they are not perfect! Unlike the Amish, I don’t need to add a flaw to my quilt; I do it automatically and regularly. But I have learned that when it comes to quilts, finished is better than perfect.

I love the pattern the arcs make on the back:

Note the border, where I quilted in a loose meandering design with random loops. Very simple, but fast, which is good because speed was of the essence given my deadline.

I used Aurifil thread for all the piecing and quilting (I’ve really become addicted to that stuff!). The backing is made of premium 108″ muslin from JoAnn Fabrics, probably the nicest cloth they sell there these days. The batting is also from JoAnn; it’s Pellon’s Nature’s Touch 100% cotton batting. I’ve been using it a lot lately after reading good reviews of it in several places online.

I did have a panicked moment (ok, a panicked few hours) while making this quilt under deadline with another quilt waiting. When I switched presser feet so that I could put the binding on this quilt, the screw that holds the presser foot on broke in half, while I was screwing it on by hand! I couldn’t believe it. My husband went to our local Ace Hardware and found some similar screws, but none worked. I called several Wisconsin Brother dealers but none had the screw. I was freaking out.

DH came to the rescue. He found a dealer in Illinois that I called, and they said they thought it was likely they had the screw. So we rushed down there before they closed for the day, and sure enough, they had it. What a relief! I bought four so I’d have backups in the future. That was my husband’s idea, BTW. Guess he didn’t want to see me freak out again 🙂

Happy 2016!

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Barb

I spent much of the last part of 2015 working on two quilts that were Christmas gifts (photos to come). I managed to finish them in time but I must have been crazy to put myself under such a deadline. There were several interruptions, including emergency surgery on one of my kids (she’s OK now, thank God), the purchase of a car and a broken part on my sewing machine.

The Christmas season was full of surprises, the best of them being the announcement by our daughter and son-in-law that they’re expecting their first child this summer. We are very excited about this wonderful news! This will be our third grandchild; we were blessed to spend some time over the holidays with our first two bright and gorgeous grandchildren, and they are a delight 🙂 We Skype with them every week and love it, but there’s nothing like being there in person.

The holidays gave me an opportunity to reconnect with some old friends, which is always nice. Some were also homeschooling parents, so we have much to talk about. I continue to find it interesting that some of their kids are doing very well as adults while others continue to find their way. I mean this in terms of their faith lives, not their work or personal lives, as all seem gainfully employed and/or busy raising their own children. These things are also true of my own children. It appears to me that homeschooling creates wonderful family lives and good educational experiences, but cannot create an adult who handles everything perfectly, no matter what the speakers at homeschool conventions may tell you! That said, it’s a privilege to watch our adult children navigate the world with all of its joys and challenges.

In 2016, I hope to update Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers with additional projects and information. We also have a couple of eBooks in the pipeline at Cardamom that will hopefully be published this year. And of course, there will be more quilts….and a new baby to love!

Wishing you a blessed 2016,
Barb

Baby Quilt

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Barb

Our neighbors were recently blessed with a gorgeous baby boy, and the good news sent me to my sewing machine. I used fabric from my stash along with some blue Kona cotton to make this quilt for baby Bentley.

I decided to just do cross-hatch quilting (evenly spaced diagonal lines in two directions) on this quilt ,and it only took me about an hour using my supermachine. It actually took longer to bind it, which I did by hand while watching Downton Abbey.

A Birthday Quilt

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Barb

Recently my eldest daughter celebrated her birthday. I thought the day should be marked with a quilt, specifically one using fabric by her favorite designer, Lotta Jansdotter.

I bought a jelly roll of Jansdotter’s fabric line, Follie, with the intention of making a Jelly Roll Race quilt (they’re so much fun). But then I found another pattern online that I liked better. The quilt top went together quickly because jelly rolls are so easy to work with.

Free-motion quilting the quilt was a little daunting. I couldn’t think of how to quilt it, and I didn’t want it to look like my usual quilts with lots of curves and flowers. After taking some time to think about it, I realized that merely echoing the designs in the fabric would make the back echo the front. I enjoyed just following the lines instead of having to think about the designs I was quilting.

I’m happy that my daughter seemed pleased with her quilt. I really enjoyed making it for her!

Make Your Own Applesauce

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Barb

One of the best things about fall where I live is that apples are in season. The grocery store’s produce department has apples everywhere, and local orchards are offering the best apples you can find. But my favorite apples are clearance apples:

That’s right, I like ’em cheap and aging, because that means I get to make applesauce. (Save your perfect apples for eating out of hand.) Let’s start by putting a few cups of water, a splash of lemon juice, a dash of salt and a cinnamon stick in a good-sized pot on the stove:

Turn the heat on low, and while it warms up, you can get started with the apples.

Back in the day, I put my kids to work helping me peel, slice and chop apples. This was the price they had to pay for enjoying fresh applesauce, not to mention homemade apple pie if I was feeling really energetic.

Now that my kids are grown, I’ve found a new, quieter helper:

This is an apple peeler/corer. I love this thing: it works so fast! I’m sure my kids wish I’d had one when they were younger, but all that apple-peeling was character-building, right? Anyways, if you don’t have one of these, start peeling and slicing until you wind up with some of these:

Start throwing them in the pot and stirring them in so the lemon juice can keep your slices from turning brown. Add water as needed to keep an inch or so of liquid in the bottom of the pan.

Check with a fork to see if your apples are soft yet. Once they are, you can easily mash them with a potato masher and then give them a good stir. (Be sure to take out the cinnamon stick first.)