On a Roll

When I sat down to stitch on Sunday I thought that I had 42 border stars that I needed to separate with sashing strips but as I sewed I realized that it was only 30, so things came together faster than I had expected, which was nice.

Since I was on a roll (and the Official Cookie Tester was golfing) I quickly moved the dining room table out of the way so that I could lay things out and plan the borders. The glare from the windows is washing things out a bit, but you get the idea.

The hardwood strips that you see on either side of the quilt are where the last two sashing strips still need to be inserted.

Once I got things laid out I stacked blocks up and made a few hastily scribbled notes so that I would remember what went where. My roll continued and now I have all four borders together - man, I wish all of my quilts came together this quickly! So, two more strips of sashing and four borders to attach and this one will be a wrap....M

Shooting for the Stars

I've spent the last few evenings sitting in this armchair with my feet up sewing more strips together for Danuta's Garden. They are all together now so it's time to look at how the stars for the border will be laid out.

Actually, what I should have said is, 'all six of the block strips with the exception of the two sashing strips that go along the outer edges'.

I've been distracted by table toppers so it's been a while since this one was picked up, but it's always so relaxing to move away from the machine to my hand stitching.

I want a change from sewing long seams so I'm turning my attention to the star border. They are separated with a strip of plain sashing so I'm going to start sewing a sashing strip to each star block to make the final layout go a little faster, an idea I picked up from Jane.

It's hot and muggy today so working with smaller pieces will be a little cooler than having the entire quilt top on my lap as I stitch. If memory seves me correctly, there are 42 stars so that will keep me busy for a while....M

One. Two. Three. Four...

Until today, it's been a cool and rainy Canada Day weekend which has been a little disappointing for getting out and about to the festivities, but it's been great weather for hand stitching.

I'm sewing the rows for Danuta's Garden and have three together and the fourth on the way.

Things go quite quickly when you are sewing longer seams than always cutting threads for the tiny one and two-inch seams, and I'm loving how the tiny blocks in the sashing look against the nine patches.

With any luck at all I'll get through rows four and five  of six today. Regardless, it is a beautiful day and will be a nice finish to our long weekend.

There were lots of fresh cherries in the house so I thought I'd whip up a little sweet with them - you know, something red and white for Canada Day. Lucy Waverman's rustic Cherry Crostada with Cream Cheese Crust seemed like a good bet.

I was a tad short on the lime that I needed to mix in with the fruit and I think I gave the dough one too many spins in the food processor because it was a little tougher than I would have liked, but the Official Cookie Tester was more than happy with it, so I guess it turned out okay.

Ina Garten's crostada is still my favourite but it's early for both peaches and plums so this was a good second choice. If you like cherries, give it a try.

Happy belated Canada Day everyone!....M

And The Band Plays On

Remember last post I was busy doing a happy dance for being so close to finishing my sashing pieces for Danuta's Garden? Well, the dancing continues in earnest these days because all are now finished.

The short ones needed a press and trim.

And then it was time to start laying it all out. I opted for the carpet instead of the design wall because it was hard to gauge the colours down in the sewing room, which meant rolling around on my hands a knees for a bit, but it came together fairly quickly. I'm so happy with how it's looking - much softer than I was expecting, which is great (it's still not great lighting, but you get the idea).

So now my rows are all organized and ready to go. With any luck at all, this should be a quilt top by the end of the summer. Happy dance, indeed!...M

Danuta's Garden Sew Along

Over the last little while I've been asked by a few people if I would do a sew along for Danuta's Garden. Now I have to admit that I'm a total rookie when it comes to sew alongs - I've never participated in one let alone hosted one, primarily because I don't know what they are. But last week, thanks to Paulette, I discovered that Kaaren at The Painted Quilt was going to host one so I skulked over to her blog to see exactly what that might entail.

Kaaren provided a PDF of detailed instructions for how to sew a beautiful checkerboard quilt and then illustrated the steps with photos (I am soooo tempted...). She has also given rough fabric requirements. Mystery solved! So, here's my version of Danuta's Garden (aka The Civil War Quilt) given that the pattern is no longer available for purchase. There are no assembly illustrations but the blocks are very straightforward so hopefully the photos suffice and all of the essential details are covered.

Because I created the pattern from a photo and because I am making a scrappy version, the background fabric is the one that you will need the most of - I'm thinking maybe 4 metres. For the Four Patches, Nine Patches and Ohio Star blocks pull together a good mix of fat quarters - I'd say between 20 to 30. For the Four Patches I also raided my stash and scraps so there would be lots of variety.

I've mentioned before that, with the exception of the background, I started with the leftovers from the first version that I made with mom over 15 years ago and then added to that, focusing on floral prints, but you can choose whatever suits. My friend Linda is making hers in a gorgeous collection of soft blues, yellows and pinks.

Linda's sister Jane made her second version using Kaffe Fasset prints and called it Summer Frolic. I'll see if I can get a pic of the first one that she made - it's done in a green palette and equally beautiful.

For some reason when we made the first version we didn't go with a basic 3.5" block for the Nine  Patches - my blocks are 3 1/8" so the Nine Patches and Ohio Stars are 8 3/8" unfinished. Feel free to use whatever size works for you but be prepared then to figure out the math for the pieces needed for the sashing strips. Also, I am using Ohio Star blocks for my corners instead of four different blocks as shown in the original pattern.

There are five basic blocks/pieces:
42 Nine Patches
- cut 9 squares 3 1/8" x 3 1/8", five in one colour and four in another; 378 3 1/8" squares in total

30 Ohio Stars
- cut four squares 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" from the background fabric for and corners of each block
- cut one square 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" from your second print
- for the star points, cut four 2 7/8" squares from your second print and cut them again on the diagonal to create eight triangles; make four       3 1/8" Hourglass units

30 Solid Sashing Strips for between the stars (8 3/8" x 3" unfinished)

347 Four Patches made from 1 3/8" squares (cut 1,388 squares 1 3/8" x 1 3/8")
Use the Four Patches to assemble two different lengths of sashing:
- 48 short sashing strips made from three Four Patches and four corner triangles, and
- 7 long sashing strips made from 29 Four Patches and four corner triangles

402 Setting and Corner triangles
- cut 2 7/8" squares from the background fabric and cut those on the diagonal; the corners are slightly larger than need be but will give you room to trim


So that's it. I'm not at the point yet where I am assembling blocks and sashing, but as I get there I'll gladly share pics for you. Also, because I am sewing this by hand I have a scant ¼” seam allowance so if you are sewing this on a machine you may want to do a set of test blocks to make sure that the sashing strips align with the blocks.

Hopefully this is clear enough but let me know if you have any questions. I'd also love to see yours if you decide to make one....M

Here Comes the Sun

Easter weekend is off to a lovely, very welcome, sunny start so before digging in to start my baking for the weekend I sat with coffee in hand and stitched a few 9-patch blocks for Danuta's Garden. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Cheery colours and quick progress - what's not to love?

This is the second day in a row where we are enjoying the first truly mild days of Spring and it's nice to see the blanket of white continuing to disappear. No tulips or crocuses for us this year but we'll take sunshine and settle for the blossoms in the quilt pieces.

Now to find my apron.....M

(Design) Wallflowers

In addition to working on the sashing for Danuta's Garden I've got a few of the 9-patch and star blocks together and up on the design wall. I'm not convinced that the contrast is strong enough on the bottom 9-patch but I'll wait to see what it looks like with other blocks added to the mix.

I have to say that I've gotten used to stitching relatively small pieces all the time so the pieces for the blocks feel large (they are about 3" square), so I suspect that once the sashing is together the rest of it should go fairly quickly - famous last words.

It's always good to see the layout through the lens of a camera because you see things that aren't readily apparent to you just looking at it face on. For example, I'm surprised by how much blue is in this section of sashing; I'll need to work a mixing up the palette a little more....M

Back in the Garden

Seeing Jane's progress on Danuta's Garden a couple of weekends ago had me picking up mine after a few months of just watching it sit in the basket. I've spent a lot of time at the machine lately so hand sewing the tiny four-patches for the sashing was a lovely, relaxing change.

There are stars all around the border so I've begun working on a few of those as well. I gave Mr. Meerkat (Gustav to his friends) a break and used my little angel to hold a few pins for me.

It's magnetized and has a second magnet so that you can sandwich a garment between the two, so I attach it to my sleeve cuff and I'm good to go. So much faster than having to reach for the pincushion all the time and again, minimal chance of me impaling myself on tiny sharp objects - bonus!....M

Happy Spring!

Spring arrived yesterday, delivering a beautiful sunny, clear day, as if on cue, but you wouldn't know it today with a light snow falling. Ah well, it's to be expected this time of the year. Regardless, I thought it would be nice to usher in the promise of warmer weather with a little parade of Jane's Danuta's Garden blocks.

She's got all of the star blocks finished and has begun sewing a strip of the 3-block sashing to them, and they are beauties.

The large florals go so beautifully with the swirling yellow print. Can you say Martha Negley? Her prints just make me go weak-kneed.

So hard to pick a favourite.

She's coordinating the colours in the sashing with the colours in the stars for a little bit of a different feel.

The stars border the 9-patch blocks that make up the quilt's centre. It's a beauty, and a great reminder of the coming warmer weather. It was also incentive for me to find my little bits and pieces and resurrect my version, but I've got a loooong way to go before I sew this much done on it....M

The Back Story

A few of you have asked for more details about the Danuta's Garden quilt that Jane, Linda and I are all now working on, so I thought I'd share a bit of the back story on it.

Mom and I made this quilt for a friend of Anne's in the late 90s. I had found it in an ad in a quilting magazine so we drafted it and put it together. The original pattern was shown in very traditional, muted tones - lots of browns and creams and a bit of pink - but we made with a wide variety of florals and a yellow print for the block and sashing backgrounds.

I didn't pay much attention to the quilt name but still have the dog eared clipping.

The other day I happened to turn it over. Imagine my surprise when I realized that it is a Civil War pattern (who knew??!).

Designed by Patchwork On Stonleigh, it came out after Judie Rothermel released her first Civil War fabric collection, and apparently was very popular - it sounds like she sold tons of patterns and did lots of workshops on it; it doesn't appear to be available any longer. Surprisingly, I haven't been able to find other images of it online, with the exception of this one at Julia's Place. 

It's amazing how different it looks in brighter fabrics.

We're using 3" blocks for the 9-patches (actually, I think that mine are just a tad smaller) and everything flows from there. We also continue the Ohio Star blocks into the corners rather than the 4 different blocks in the original design.

Now that I have a little string of sashing together it will be fun to compare it to Linda and Jane's....M