Simple Pleasures

Nothing like a bowl of homemade soup

and a good book.

~

If you are a fan of Piece O' Cake Designs, you're going to love Applique Outside the Lines. I have four other Piece O' Cake books, plus Aunt Millie's Garden. The Applique Sampler, Contemporary Classics in Plaids & Stripes, Quilts with a Spin and my most favourite, Amish-Inspired. I plan to start my first Piece O' Cake project in 2010, a pattern from Amish-Inspired.

I finished my November Country Calendar block. So cute! This little robin is searching the garden for something to eat. Don't forget to keep your bird feeders topped up for the winter.

POTC Early Autumn

Just five more POTC blocks to go! My sister named this one Early Autumn. When the leaves start to change colour and berries begin to appear. I'm very pleased with this block.

You may have seen, in the first issue of Quilter's Connection magazine a cute stitchery quilt pattern called, Tree Trimming Party, by Dougal Ann Walker of The Freckles Collection. This pattern is now on my To-Do list. I came across more patterns by Dougal Ann Walker, at my local quilt shop and just couldn't leave without It's a Cat's Life and Quiltmakers. Are they not just the cutest?

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

Circa 1890

Corean Liggitt 1872-1946

Isn't this quilt just beautiful? It was made by Corean Liggitt from Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania, in 1890. Made as a wedding gift, for a family member and all done by hand. The raw edges of each leaf was turned under and topstitched down, then she blanket stitched around the edges and stem stitched the veins. The center motif was recycled from a dress and then appliqued over intricate crocheted lacework. Cheddar yellow fabric was used for the background and the leaves were made from velvet, wool, silk, cotton and taffeta. The border was filled in with blanket stitched circles. The back of the quilt was made from men's handkerchiefs and a blanket was used as batting. All three layers were tied together with Perle cotton.

This beautiful Leaf Applique quilt was featured in the November 2008 issue of Quilters Newsletter magazine. Along with templates of the different leaves. Seventeen different leaves, to be exact, and a butterfly. Such a perfect quilt for me. Combining three things I love; hand applique, Autumn and stitchery. One day I shall make my own version of this beautiful quilt. Until that day, I will keep my eyes open for the perfect piece of cheddar yellow fabric.

POTC McIntosh

Two more completed Shades of Autumn POTC blocks

POTC Thanksgiving

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

Tiny Baskets

I finial tired of looking at my Tiny Baskets hanging on the design wall and got down to business. The blocks and baskets were made from a charm pack called Hopscotch. I was pretty sure I had some other Hopscotch yardage, in my stash. One piece was all I came up with, so I went with it. Don't be afraid! If you look at it long enough, it grows on you.

Also completed

A Tisket, A Tasket September Basket

I took advantage of the t-shirt weather days last week and cleaned up my Dad's garden for the winter. I prefer doing the big clean up in the Fall, rather then in the Spring. Now, I wait for the leaves to fall. I hope to get mine done this week. The lawn is growing much slower now and I think the last lawn cutting will be the first of November.

There is nothing like a sale! DMC embroidery floss for 28 cents a piece. Normally, I pay 49 cents. Before I headed out I printed off the DMC floss chart and highlighted which ones I had. They sure do have lots of different colours. I don't have them all yet, but I'm getting there. Just 128 to go!

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

The Pumpkin Patch

"October's the month

When the smallest breeze

Gives us a shower

Of autumn leaves.

Bonfires and pumpkins,

Leaves sailing down -

October is red

And golden and brown."

October Country Calendar

Last week flew right by and I never had the chance to wash and iron all my new fabric. I noticed my Quilters' Compost bucket was overflowing, so I worked on that. I also stitched the October Country Calendar block, prepared and pieced another Dear Jane block and prepared and started appliqueing the September A Tisket, A Tasket Basket. Then, I did a little more shopping! Off to the Creativ Festival, in Toronto and a side trip to Sew Sisters and Cock-A-Doodle Quilts. Would you like to see the goodies I came home with?

Some black and tan fabrics for Over the River and Through the Woods. More fabric is needed, but this is a good start.

Two pieces of Asian fabric, three 1930's and three pieces of Westminster Fabric.

And, last by not least, some more reproduction fabric. The bundle is Jo Morton's new line called, Toast II.

The green fabric show above (in the middle) is what I purchased in Pennsylvania to surround my POTC blocks. What you see placed around the green fabric is my finished blocks. The green fabric appears a little duller then it is, in the photo, but you can see it better on my previous post. It's in the shopping bag and also at the bottom of the pile of fabric. Each block would be outlined by a round of green fabric, and then separated with an accent colour. Any ideas for the accent colour? Or, maybe I should be considering something other then the green to surround my blocks? I have yet to look through my stash for possibilities. In the meantime, I still have eight more blocks to hand piece.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

Shopped Till We Dropped and More POTC's

Boy oh boy did we have fun shopping in Pennsylvania last week! I purchased 44 yards of fabric and a pair of scissors. The fabric is mostly reproduction, one Asian, some 1930's, Kaffe Fassett and a handful of allsorts. I also purchased 200 thread count muslin for Dorothy Bakers Sweet Nostalgia and some fabric from a line called, Kansas Winter to make a pattern my sister bought for me in California, called Ringing in the New. Oh, and background stitchery fabric for Over the River and Through the Woods, but was unable to find a nice blend of black and tans for the rest of the quilt. I'm thinking this is going to be a challenge.

Another challenge I face is finding red fabric for Aunt Millie's Flower Garden. I'm very picky when it comes to red and it has to be just the right shade. I didn't find anything in Pennsylvania and wonder if maybe I should consider another colour? But, I do love how it looks in red! I also purchased 5 yards of muslin to back stitchery blocks and I think I found a suitable fabric to go around my Shades of Autumn POTC blocks. It's the green fabric in my shopping bag. Photo above.

We also stopped at Boyds Bear Country to see the bears. Sadly, the museum was closed for renovations. It would have been fun to see the old bears. I didn't find any new bears to add to my collection. They seemed to all look the same, just with different outfits.

Isn't it interesting how quilt shops display fabric? Some shops group fabric strictly by colour. So, if you were looking for a specific collection (new line) of fabric, it would be scattered throughout the shop according to the colour of the bolt. Not so good if you like to purchase by collection. Other shops display by manufacturer. So for example, all Moda fabric would be grouped together. Not so good if you are looking for a specific colour, but good if you are looking for a collection by a specific manufacturer. And, some shops group by types of fabric. Like batiks, reproduction, 1930's and new fabric lines. In most cases, they also have a large collection of fabric grouped by colour. That would be the way I like it best.

All Hallows Eve - POTC Block 7

Indian Corn - POTC Block 8

Just eight more blocks to go for my Shades of Autumn POTC quilt. My fingers are crossed, that the green fabric I purchased in Pennsylvania will work well with my blocks. Still, I will first go through my stash and see what else I may find. Plus I need to select a fabric for the little squares.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

P.S. Thank you Teresa for the Blog De Oro award!

P.P.S. Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, so Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadian bloggers and followers!

Civil War Bride Block 9

Two blocks finished and eighteen to go! As you can see, I am not piecing them in order. Just selecting them by what catches my eye at the time. And, what caught my eye were the beautiful feathers on this bird. The pattern suggests sewing the eighteen feathers together, then appliqueing them on as one piece. I decided to applique each feather separately. I think it gives it more dimension. Isn't she beautiful! Her feet are pretty small, but I think, twice as large as the bird's feet I stitched on a Red Delicious block.

Suminagashi Japanese Maple

The long storm was followed by a north-west gale, and when it was over, the hills took on their first umber tints, the sky grew more densely blue, and the big white clouds lay against the hills like snow-banks. The first crisp maple-leaves began to spin across Miss Hatchard's lawn, and the Virginia creeper on the Memorial splashed the white porch with scarlet. It was a golden triumphant September. Day by day the flame of the Virginia creeper spread to the hillsides in wider waves of carmine and crimson, the larches glowed like the thin yellow halo about a fire, the maples blazed and smouldered, and the black hemlocks turned to indigo against the incandescence of the forest.

~ Edith Wharton's Summer

I hope to see some of what Edith Wharton described above, in the next couple of days. Early Monday morning, my sister and I are heading off on a road trip. It will take us seven hours to drive to Pennsylvania. This will be a second visit and yes, quilt related. My little black book is updated and in my purse. We plan to return to our favourite shops and visit a few new ones. To keep my hands busy, when not driving, I will work on basting about 400 hexagons for Karen's Flower Garden.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

September Resolutions

January is the time of year for resolutions, but I think September is the perfect time to revisit your goals. A time to reorganize, make decisions and get back on track. For me, this would not be possible without my little black book. It holds my list of needed supplies, for new or current projects. It also holds fabric swatches, lots of doodles and an inventory of all my quilting tools, patterns, threads, etc. I don't leave home without it!

Every year I resolve to be a little less the me I know and leave a little room for the me I could be.

I'm going to have to blame the Civil War Bride for my falling a month behind on my baskets. Anyway, here is my A Tisket A Tasket August Basket.

I had a little freezer paper scare. Three grocery stores before I found some. What's with that? I love freezer paper for applique and making my Dear Jane templates. I don't know what I would do without it. Two boxes came home with me, but I'm feeling a need to stock up.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

Apple Season

"The goldenrod is yellow

The corn is turning brown

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down."

~ Children's song

Basket of Apples POTC Block 6

Country Calendar September

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen