Reproducing the Civil War--In a Quilt

Awhile back, my mom was sorting through some vintage and antique quilt blocks.  Some to keep, some for an auction and a few she gave to me.  Amongst the ones I received was a set of seven made of the same pattern and fabrics.  All had the same pink crossbar fabrics, but there were three or so different blues used ranging from navy to indigo.  They are all hand sewn and I do not know the exact age of them.

A simple but effective block.  I really liked the combination of the dark blue with the pink.  The pink is not too babyish, not too bright.  I thought wouldn't it be cool to be able to make a quilt that incorporated these seven vintage pieces.  Well, that started it--off I went to research fabrics that would fit the look I wanted.

To be honest, I hadn't even thought of the Civil War reproduction fabrics, but when looking for navy colored blues with white designs that were similar to the seven, that is exactly where I ended up.  It just so happens that the best pinks to fit the design were also from various Civil War reproduction fabrics.  Originally, I'd planned to go with a mix of blues and just one pink, but changed my mind to a mix of blues and a mix of salmon-toned pinks.  The use of the reproduction fabrics allows me to match the pink tones better and gives me the dark blue with white motifs in a large variety.  Mixing allows me to purchase some now and then others later with each paycheck without having to worry about finding the same designs months from now. 

These were my first selection of fabrics:

I still need another yard's worth of blues and about 1.5 yards of pinks, plus border (considering a sage green), backing and binding, but what a start, eh?!  I like the range here of blues--dark navy to indigo.  I'll be using these blocks for both my months in the Moody Blues Bee and the Sew Buzzy Bee.  That should put me on the road to a lovely queen sized quilt (which requires at least 72 blocks) and give my bee groups a quick and easy block.  The original vintage blocks will go on the back of the quilt.  I'll be posting an easy strip piecing tutorial this week.

Sun Rays Quilt Blocks

Another set of quilt blocks done and sent to their new home--I'm slowly but surely catching up!

These two are from a Twin Fibers tutorial and are called Sun Rays.  These ones were made for Jordan (bjsmurthwaite) over in our Bee Scrappy quilting group.  She requested a scrappy mix of blues, aqua, turquoise, green, and purple with a white center.

These blocks were pretty simple, although I think mine took longer because I kept checking my angle alignment on the borders as I went.  It's pretty easy to get the angle off or to not have the strips lined up so that they cover the entire way, but go slow and follow all the tutorial steps for the first one and the second will be twice as fast.

Fortunately, I have quite the stash of blue fabrics.  I made one with strips slanting right and one with strips slanting left as she plans on alternating them.  I think this quilt will be quite striking when finished.

The first one:

The second (the blue-greens seem to show more blue-ish here):

Overall, despite the time it takes to cut all the strips, align, sew, press and repeat for each strip on each border, I think this block is very attractive and would make a lovely pillow showcasing some applique or embroidery.  An entire quilt would be phenomenal, but definitely would take some dedication!

My New Mug

The principal at the local elementary school where I work gave all the staff an appreciation gift recently--a lovely handmade mug with our names on the back!  The mug was made by Mitch & Michelle Deaderick right here in Oregon.  The blue has a lovely undertone of cobalt and it is a perfect size and shape for holding.  Isn't the handle beautiful?  I just love the little thumb rest on it!

Pretty cool isn't it?  Somehow, yes, my cocoa does taste better in a handmade mug with my name on it.  (Guess I'll have something gorgeous to put on my mug rugs now.)

Drunken Love...

...quilt blocks that is!  (Really, what did you think I'd mean?!)  lol

Here's a couple of blocks for Scrap Happy member Amy (scruffycat1970) in purples and grays as requested.  She gave us a lovely inspiration gallery as a guide. 

The drunken love block is inspired by Denyse Schmidt's Drunk Love in a Log Cabin quilt.  Lots of possibilities with this style!

One Very Long Month

Wow, can I say that March (and the first bit of April) has been one long crazy month of sickness.  I started working a part time job back in October at the local schools.  It's nothing fancy, just a food service position--but, its fun and non-stressful as I get to help with food prep and serve breakfast to the kindergarten through third grade age group.  Plus, it gives me extra money for fabric and quilting bee postage--can't fault that, now can you?!  Well, since I started, I've been sick with one thing or another.  Apparently, this is fairly normal for your first year in a grade school.  The other staff and teachers can all tell you about their first year run of sickness.  So, I've suffered through my run of sinus infections, colds, bronchitis, mild eye infection and such despite constant hand sanitizing and such.  But really, it wasn't so bad--until March.

What started out as a few days of flu then became a cough with breathing problems (found out later that would be the pneumonia phase).  This then rotated into a very severe case of bronchitis and sinus infection--we're talking major amounts of green...yuck, and then came the severe sore throat with the cough that kept me up all night.  Just when I thought I had that mess licked, round two decided to kick in.  Oh joy.

After sitting for a few hours in urgency care (which was still faster than waiting two weeks for a regular doctor's appointment), I was given cough syrup, an inhaler, and some antibiotics and told I had walking pneumonia.  Well, the antibiotics made me throw up within 10 minutes, so the LNP gave me a different prescription, which btw conflicted heavily with the cough syrup--way to check, doc.  That one made me throw up within an hour.  Between the two, my poor stomach had, had enough.  Two and a half days of vomiting everything including water left me exhausted.  I didn't opt for a third round of antibiotics.  Good news is I am recovering and went back to work today.  Sure, I needed a nap afterwards, but I was well enough to go and the coughing is almost gone.

Why am I telling my woes of disease--because being this sick shows you things about your life and those around you.  Individuals from my various quilting groups stepped up to cover me in the bees I run.  In all my bees, members have been super understanding about me being behind.  And, when I was just too wiped out to finish my DQS quilt, another person made an angel quilt so that my partner would still get a beautiful quilt.  I was really disappointed when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to finish my quilt--and I hate failing a commitment like that--so it was a huge thing for me to say I just can't get it done.  Knowing that someone else stepped up for me was important.  These lovely ladies all helped without hesitation so that I could focus on getting better--and they are people I've never met in real life.  Some even sent get well cards!  People from work checked in to see how I was doing too.  And, of course, my family really took great care of me (even did my dishes for me when I was too sick for my turn) the whole time.  Funny thing is, there were a lot of people who've known me my whole life, or for many, many years, who didn't seem to notice when I stopped showing up or communicating for an entire month.  Being sick really shows you where your friends are at--and its good to know I have so very many wonderful friends.

Japan--Our Thoughts and Prayers are with You.

I hope you are keeping up on world events, particularly the news of Japan.  The tsunami/earthquake is generating a great deal of damage and loss of life.  I'm keeping the people of Japan in my thoughts and prayers and hope you do as well.  Here on the West Coast of the US, we're keeping an eye on the ocean, just in case, but it really hasn't amounted to much so far. 

After watching the devastation in Japan and knowing how bad things are there, well, my week of flu and bronchitits just doesn't seem like such an ordeal (and I was really, really sick too).  Hug your family and be grateful for your safety.  If you have an opportunity to reach out and help those in Japan, do.

DQS10

Well after lots of brainstorming, I've decided on a pattern and fabric for my secret swap partner.  I'll give you a peek:

Mmm...I just love Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  And so does my partner.

Okay, I admit, I didn't always.  The first few times I saw some of his fabric designs I thought they were kind of obnoxious.  But then my dad decided to give me some charm squares of the stuff.  I guess it just grew on me and now I really like the prints.  I plan on making myself a huge Kaffe quilt, but first I need to make a doll sized one for my partner.  If I stick with my design then I'll have at least 50 different Kaffe Fassett fabrics in it--that's a whole lot of Kaffe.  I'm still waiting for some to arrive in the mail, so I'll work on what I have as well as a few fun extras to include in the package in the between time.

Some of you may remember the tree quilt I did for DQS9--very simple fabrics but lots of work on the shape of the tree and the quilting.  Well, this time, I'm kind of going the other way with simpler blocks and quilting and lots of busy fabrics.  Stay tuned.