The Civil War Series Has Begun

I finally got the Underground Railroad & Pioneer Samplers up on the design wall to begin my long awaited series of Civil War fabric quilts.  I really need to get this particular project done because I would like to get a finish in for Myra's PHD Challenge which ends this month. 

Once again apologies for the poor picture; late day shot on a "needs to be upgraded" cell phone!

The plan has always been to put these back to back.  Up to now I thought I'd quilt them back to back but recently I realized it might be better to quilt them separately (backed with muslin) and then layer them back to back for the final binding and hanging sleeve.  Another debate is whether to hand quilt them or not -- we'll see if time permits (probably not).

If you are looking at these and wondering "how is she going to put them back to back - they don't have the same number of blocks?", know that I will be adding one text block to the UGRR set on the left explaining the symbolism of the blocks used and two two-block text boxes (or maybe one four block box) to the Pioneer set on the right explaining some of the history of the Pioneer movement.   The making of the blocks was covered in this series of posts.

But the title of this post is Civil War Series so that means there must be other things that are also going to be going on.  I have another Civil War fabric project I hope to get started using Marcus Bros. "Merrimack" fabric line from three (!) years ago (didn't realize this one's been "simmering" that long!).  There was a free pattern on their website at the time that used the fabrics to make circular pie wedge blocks but I am doing mine as dresden plates with both pointed and rounded blades.  Fortunately, this has no deadline so I can work on it when time permits.

I had also signed up this year for the Civil War Chronicles BOM that started in January so I am hoping to play catch up over the next two months and bring that one up to date.  Then finally with all the fabric leftovers from these three projects, I hope to use them to catch up with and follow along with Barbara Brackman's Civil War BOW project.

To make my immersion complete, I am also reading books and watching shows about the Civil War period.  I had downloaded Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to my e-reader a few months ago (when I thought I would start this project) but got diverted by another book so now am going back to finish it.  This week I also downloaded "The Red Badge of Courage" and hope to get "The Boy's War" from the library.  This week is also "Civil War Week" on the History Channel and I just watched their "Lee and Grant" documentary today and have the one on "Gettysburg" also on the DVR.   Also on the e-reader are two of Jennifer Chiavarini's fiction books that take place during this period:  "The Sugar Camp Quilt" and "The Union Quilters" (having already read "The Runaway Quilt" previously).

I am thinking that when this is done, perhaps a formal visit to Grant's Tomb here in New York City might be a fitting finale.  I have been to it before but only for the exterior views.  I will be interested to see if given the anniversary of the Civil War this year, if there are also interesting exhibits on display there.

Top Finished!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend and took the time to give thanks to and honor our troops past and present.

After a long(er than anticipated) and torturous journey, the Aunt Grace "Circle of Friends" BOM top is finished!

Note: the top is laid out on my bed sideways to get a better shot of it.

  Actually the only real torture was the fact that I constantly butted heads with my own finishing deadlines and expectations.  I actually enjoyed working on this one, especially the applique, something I see myself doing more of in the future.

One change I made to the pattern:  in the cornerstones of the pinwheel border, there are fussy cut square-in-a-square blocks that are supposed to use this fabric:

I was surprised that given the name of the project, this fabric only featured the little blond Gracies.  Years ago, I can remember there being an Aunt Grace line of prints that had a different little girl with different names on each print (and might have been called "Aunt Grace & Friends" -- does anyone else remember these fabrics?) .  Although I came late to the 30's repro party, at the time I was able to score the "Annie" fabric and it has been in my stash for years and now I finally get to use it.  I decided to take some of my fabric markers and make my "Circle of Friends" a little more diverse.  So here is how the girls are featured in my blocks:

I already have the backing fabric for this one (the white with yellow flowers print at the top right in the picture of the top) and have started to think about how I want to quilt it.  But I don't know how soon I'll get to that since I really need to start on my Civil War projects and try to get something done for Myra's PHD Challenge which finishes up this month.

I've searched the web and am surprised to find very few other people doing this BOM project (or at least posting about it) even though there a large number of online stores offering the program.  And it must not have sold well because I've also found at least two sites selling the complete kit at a fairly big discount. 

So now onto the Civil War!!

What's Going On?

Had hoped I would have gotten so much more done by now but I have been really getting distracted by....well everything! Trying to get the house in order, trying to return to normal routines, volunteering, sewing, surfing the web, whew!  So what's going on right now...

Once again, apologies for the picture quality -- still taking pictures with my (old) cell phone because I still haven't found my camera charger cord!

I am still plugging away at the Aunt Grace project.  The good news is that the last block (and a biggie), the center block is now done!  This one had to be appliqued and I decided to brush up on the hand applique I had learned at the end of last year.  The center Dresdens were stitched together and the tops were "back basted" by machine and then stitched by hand.  The border "stubby" Dresdens were prepped using the starch method which made them easy to then stitch. I was hoping to get the the top completed by weekend's end so that I could (finally) start on all the Civil War projects I have in the pipeline. I've cut out some of the finishing elements but it looks like this one will go into another week.  I'm not going to fight it any more, that's just the way it'll have to be.

Now for some housekeeping:

This just in!  

The new Sarah Fielke (formerly of Material Obsessions and now a solo author) book just arrived from the U.K. yesterday!  I saw this one on a blog tour and was intrigued by some of the quilts in it.  The book was released in Europe May 1 but won't be released in the U.S. until August.  It can be had now from this distributor with free world-wide shipping.  Note: Cutting and quilt measurements in the book are in metric AND imperial.


Sandy on a recent post on her "Quilting For The Rest of Us" blog and in her recent podcast asked everyone to update her on the quilty resolutions we made at the start of the year.  I had posted my goals there but have to admit almost mid way into the year I've not gotten far.  Here's my recap:

1. No UFOs for 2011.  So far not so good.  I signed up for Myra's PHD (Projects Half Done) Challenge but haven't gotten one thing done due to the move!  I had pledged six and still hope to try to get three done before the June deadline (and the Civil War pipeline should yield one of them). 
2. No new UFOs for 2011.  Considering that I am still pushing to get the Aunt Grace project done this might happen.  At this point it's my only new project started so, so far so good.
3. Empty existing (haven't started yet) project bins.  Having moved, this is now one bin and a couple of cabinets.  Haven't pulled anything out of either of them yet though.
4. Shop the stash, no new project purchases for 2011.  Crashed and burned shortly after moving.  The new place has yielded new ideas for projects and I couldn't resist investing in a few.  So shoot me.
5. Keep up to date on all BOMs.  Again, Aunt Grace contributes to this and if I can get started on the CW stuff there's a contribution to that (Civil War Chronicles) there too.  So I am sort of on track for this one.
6. Gain confidence on choosing stitch patterns for quilting.  So far I haven't quilted anything this year yet so the jury is still out on this.  

ATTENTION QUILTERS!!!!!

(and anyone who loves gorgeous quilts)

 

 
 The Bloggers Quilt Festival started Friday!  I can't wait to go look but it looks like I, once again, won't get to contribute.  But it's way more fun to look anyway.  You can get there by clicking the link above.  So go take a look!  Go, right now and have fun!!

Quilty Plans For The Merry Month of May

There's been a lot of work going on at the machine lately and I have a long list of things I want to try to get done in May.  This is my design wall as of today:

The picture is not great because it's from my cell phone (and I've got a really old phone).  I've been meaning to post this for awhile but I can't find my camera charger cord and the last time I turned it on, the camera battery was real low.

But back to the quilting.  So the big project getting the most attention right now is the one on the bottom right.  Those are my "Aunt Grace Circle of Friends BOM" blocks.  I started receiving the monthly packets back in October and had planned on starting them in January but then the move was announced.  I received the last of the packets in April and had planned to start work on them during the break of the last two weeks.  Instead, I  wound up starting them late in the second week with the hope of completing the blocks before May 1.  Didn't happen but there are only six block sets and the last month is the finishing kit (borders and cornerstone blocks).  The blocks have been pretty easy to do so I am powering through in the hopes of getting the top done by either the end of this week or next week at the latest with the layering and quilting schedule to be determined later.

To the left of those are the blocks from my "Striped Squares" project.  This is an old, old UFO that is on my PHD Challenge list.  I made a few more blocks recently and really feel I'd like to get this one done before the challenge ends in June plus I have a spot in our new home where I'd like to put the finished quilt.  Originally they were going to be straight set but up on the design wall they weren't sparking me (although I DO need to make more blocks).  Setting them on point energized it a bit for me so for now that's how they will display until I can take this further. 

At the top of the wall are my Blue & White "Many Paths" blocks.  Also slow progress on this one.  The third block (on the right) is the one most recently made.  This project was also on my PHD Challenge list but I've decided at this point I'll be happy if I just get all the blocks (there are 12) made up.  This was originally planned to be hung on a quilt rack that I had in the living room of our old apartment.  But I won't be using that rack here so this project is less urgent now.  I am also thinking about getting real creative with the layout of the top but don't have the mental focus for that right now. 

Speaking of the PHD Challenge, back in December (before I knew I'd be moving in a few months) I had committed to completing six projects.  Well the challenge ends in June so I know that won't happen!  I am still shooting for three and hoping that I'll finish at least one.  Once I'm finished with "Aunt Grace" I'll be adding two other projects to the wall:  I want to try to finish my "Quilt In A Day Underground Railroad/Pioneer Sampler" project and start the blocks for the "Civil War Chronicles" BOM I signed up for last fall and that began mailing in January.  In fact, the plan was for the real focus for May to be on all my CW fabric projects in honor of the war's anniversary.  The UGRR/Pioneer project is also on the PHD list so it would be great to get that done.  One of my other goals for 2011 was to finish all the BOMs I had by the end of the year and "Chronicles" would be the second of three that I now have on hand.  I also have one other CW "kit" that I'd like to make and I hope that I might do the history blocks Barbara Brackman is currently offering each week using the leftovers and scraps from all the other CW projects.  

As always probably too ambitious for my own good but I've got to lay it all out to know and remind myself where I am trying to go.  Let's hope I can keep quilting daily.  If I meet even half my goals I will be ahead of the game!

Just One Block Update

After my last post, I was making an entry in my quilt journal about the blocks I made for Moda's "Just One Star" campaign.  To fill in some information, I took another look at the information sheet and instructions I had printed out when I first looked at it. 

First of all, the finished quilts will be going to the Semper Fi Fund not the Quilts of Valor organization as I stated previously.  The Semper Fi Fund provides assitance to returning injured Marines and their families and according to the Moda information sheet, is a favored charity of the designers Minick & Simpson.  

The second thing I noted is that although the instructions for the block construction called for a "light tone-on tone background", the introduction for the cause specified that the backgrounds should be cream.  Ackkk!  I had made two stars with cream backgrounds but the rest were white, light blue and light yellow.  No biggie, I got up this morning and whipped out three more stars, one using a striped fabric that I hadn't used initially because I wasn't sure it would translate well in the star design.


The finished stars for mailing

As suspected, I didn't like the striped one (for this) so of the stars pictured, just the four in a row were signed and mailed off this afternoon to Texas.  Whew!  Glad I caught that and could still make the deadline.  On the plus side, the remaining stars could be the start of a Quilt of Valor top of my own (fingers crossed).

If you are a quick sew, there is still time to get one in the mail if you'd like to help too.

We Now Return You To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming.....

Well it took a whole lot longer than I'd planned but I've finally got back to my machine!  We moved into our new place at the end of February.  We've been here almost two months now but there are still many boxes filled with stuff still to be unpacked and furniture and fixtures still to buy or install.  It will be a while and fortunately there is no rush.

But my quilting space has been set up.  When we moved in it looked like this:

 

































Now it looks like this:

I am in the front part of our Dining room although my husband's take is that the rest of the family is just renting the Dining room from the quilt space!  I have a bit more space than the half bedroom I used before but I've definitely got to get back to my UFO pledge for this year -- I've got more stuff than I have space for (imagine that!) so the plan remains to prioritize working on things in house to pare down and make more room for everything.

But to do that, the first challenge is to get back in the groove which has also been harder than expected.  Even after I had set up my machine and got most of the basics unpacked, I just couldn't sit down and get started.  So I did what I always do in this situation:

I read my quilt books and journals as I unpacked and shelved them and my magazines as they were forwarded to the new address (and updated my mailing information in the process).

I went to the American Folk Art Museum's Red & White Joanna Rose quilt exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory.....

 

...and while there bought another book and finally joined the museum as I have wanted to for a few years.

I caught up on two months of blog reading (over a 1100 posts!) and began making a new list of all the projects I needed to catch up on, ideas for things I want to make for display in the house and all the new projects I have been enticed by from all the blog reading.


But what has finally gotten me back to the machine is a charity request.  It is an easy one, the Moda Fabrics call for "Just One Block" -- star blocks to be sent to be made into Quilt Of Valor quilts by the Moda staff.  This is a good one for me.  I've long wanted to do a QOV quilt and have a collection of Red, White & Blue fabrics but have never been able to get moving on it.  I figured this was an easy start since I only needed to make the blocks, someone else will make the quilts!

Of course when I went to the R/W/B stash I had plenty for the stars but realized that I was short on suitable tone-on-tone lights that they wanted for the backgrounds.  So I got to do that other tried and true Quilter's Block fix -- a trip to Hartsdale Fabrics, my LQS.  Even after that, I still dragged my feet a bit until I re-read the instructions and saw that the blocks needed to get to them by May 1st.

So I had to get it in gear and 'er done!  And they are:

Just have to add my name and state and mail them off!

 Now let's just hope I can keep up that momentum.  I'm still committed to getting something done for Myra's "PHD Challenge" which ends in June and would like to have something to post for Amy's upcoming "Bloggers Quilt Festival"  in three weeks. 

So to all celebrating, I wish you a Happy Passover, a Good Friday and Happy Easter!  Enjoy your weekend!!

First post of 2011 and the last for January!

Just wanted to get a quick post in before the month ends.  Already this year has not gone quite as expected.  When 2010 ended I was all set to focus on UFOs and signed up for Myra's PHD Challenge.  My biggest quilty goal for this year was to work on all my accumulated UFOs and complete them.  If I did decide to start any new projects, they too would have to be completed before year-end.  As I noted in my PHD goals post, the reason for this was that I expected we might have the opportunity to move sometime later this year and having read about the issues (aka weight) involved when other bloggers had to move fabric/project stashes, I realized that the less I needed to move the better.

Well, later this year has turned into the start of this year! We live in a co-op and have had an application in for three years for a transfer to a townhouse unit.  We found out last Fall that we had moved pretty high up on the list so assumed that it was just a matter of time before we'd be called about an available unit.  Instead of that happening by this summer or fall as we estimated, the call came the first week of January!!  We have since viewed the unit, submitted the financial paperwork for the transfer approval and have had our current unit inspected.  We were told we'd have the pre-closing information two weeks ago but January is rapidly ending and we are still waiting to get those numbers and schedule the closing and moving date. 

The old saying that "a watched pot never boils" applies here.  I have been on pins and needles waiting for the final arrangements to come through while simultaneously focusing (o.k., obsessing) over ideas for decorating (and watching A LOT of HGTV), shopping around for all the new furniture and appliances that we'll need to purchase for the move and gathering boxes for packing.  I have sewn a little here and there but the further along in the process we go, the more my mind is elsewhere.

One of my PHD projects was to complete the Blue & White "Many Paths" project I started a few years ago (pattern by Elisa Wilson of Backporch Designs).  Tea of the TeaQuilts blog has been working on it as a block-of-the-week since November of last year and my plan was to play catch up.  As you can see here, I've put together the parts for seven blocks:

And have assembled two more:

Right now I am one behind since I haven't yet made the block she posted for this past week and will be two behind when she posts the block for this week.  With no guarantee when the closing info will come in, I realize I need to stop watching the pot and get back to my regularly scheduled programming.  In addition, this past week I got an email that the cataloguing software came in at DS2's middle school library so I will be returning to daily volunteering this week as well. 

So forgive me for being out of contact and know that it might be awhile before I check in again.  Hopefully by then I'll either be reporting from the moving truck or in my new home!