Trinity Quilt Club Retreat

Had our quilt retreat this past weekend.  What a great group of women!!!...and they know what i'm talk'n about!  They presented to me a card, with many many personal thank you's for, i don't know...having fun?

Thank you everyone, sincerely.  Really, i'm just having fun and enjoying our time together and laughter!

(oh and by the way, the card was stuffed full of cash...)  What a nice Thank You gift.  :)

My friend Cindy brought this antique star quilt to show the group.  She just picked it up at 

 Clayson Farms 

in Washington a couple weeks ago.

 

You are the Lucky one now Cindy!

Carol brought her Civil War Block of the Month quilt to the retreat quilt. She finished up the final borders.

I just LoVe!! this quilt!

I worked on my Farmer's Wife quilt and paper pieced block #65 Peaceful Hours.

Not sure why this photo is sideways...arrgggh.  but this is how those paper pieces went together

...and the finished block

added sashing, cornerstones and setting triangles to the first few rows...

Still have about 11 blocks yet to finish before laying out the rest of the quilt top, deciding on block placement. 

Port Townsend, Washington

This past weekend i spent time with two of my dear friends who i've known for gosh, 25 years at least.  We all worked together once upon a time.

Here we are...so many giggles

Port Townsend is so beautiful

 street fair

The beautiful brick building on the left was owned by my husband's great grandfather in the mid 1800's.

Wish he had left it to us!!  It is magnificent!

 The name N. D. Hill is engraved at the top of the building. The Hill family settled in Port Townsend and are my husband's paternal grandmother's side of the family.  click here to read a bit of history....

Here is Susan's quilt finished up this week.... love it!

..,and of course, more Farmer's Wife blocks.  Preparing for my Quilt Retreat tomorrow.

Block #8  Bouquet

 Block #37  Flower Pot

 Block #97  Waste Not

 Block #104  Wild Geese

 Tuesday night...out with friends to see............

"...My My...!!

If you have not read this book...or seen the movie...it's great!  went with my friends over the weekend and taking my husband tonight!

Farmer's Wife Sampler Blocks

Couple more Farmer's Wife blocks done this weekend.

Block #78  Shooting Star

Paper pieced plus one template

Block #110  Wood Lily

Paper pieced plus 4 half square triangles

Slapped up on my design wall...can't wait to start sashing between the blocks

My Vintage Quilts

The other day i was poking around

 Robin & Wren ,

had my arms full of this and that; little treasures i thought i needed, until i stumbled upon this.   No problem...I put away my 'little treasures' and purchased this instead.  It's a full size quilt, all hand pieced, hand quilted and in very good condition. Not to mention my favorite color!!  It is made up of nine patch and snowball blocks set on point. 

 It was a $50 find.  LuCkY mE!!!

(Eat your heart out...

 Marcia, Diane, Kelly, Cindy & Vicki!)

 Great in my dining room against the dark blue walls.

This quilt was given to me by my good friend Marylou who thought i would like it....duh!!!  Love it!  Actually there are two quilts exactly the same and i'm considering sewing them together to make a rather large queen size quilt for my bed.

All the baskets run the length of the quilt on their sides.  interesting,...i wonder what the quilt maker was thinking when she put these blocks together.  Using just one of the quilts would also make a wonderful table cloth in my dining room.

 This next quilt was given to me years ago by a friend of my husband who was selling her home and getting rid of 'stuff'....can you believe that?  This quilt was made by her grandmother who entered it in the State Fair back in the day when she made it. Story goes... she won a ribbon.  It is a bit much bubble gum pink for me....but really???  Just give it away??  Dawn knew i would treasure it and that was important to her.  It is in excellent condition, all hand pieced and quilted with french knots inside each flower.  

Again...LuCkY mE!!

I picked this quilt up from a local antique store a couple years ago.  It is probably crib size, maybe a bit larger...great condition.  So soft and beautiful....a $15 find.

Dare i say it? LuCkY mE!!

Now this old thing.....loved it for the red background and the basket blocks.  The hand piecing is not great, it is set on-point and definitely not square. But, folded up on this tattered old ladder...is perfect!

So, those are my treasures...

Today...A glimpse of August. 

Mmmmmm

Corn and Beans #22

This is The Farmer's Wife Block #22.

I will refer to the fabric colors in the book.

Begin with 2 yellow and 2 cream 1-7/8" squares, right sides together, create 4 half square triangles

Add a half square triangle to a cream 1-1/2"x 2-1/2" rectangle...do this 4 times.  

Stitch 2 of these units together for 2 sets. 

 Clip the seam...and press so half the seam is pressed up and the other half is pressed down.  (click on photo for closer look)  

 Using a 45* angle, draw a diagonal line as shown below, passing through the intersection by lining the 45* line with the edge of the unit. 

Flip the unit around and mark the other side. With rights sides together...use a green 2-1/2"x 3-1/2" rectangle for one unit and a cream 2-1/2"x 3-1/2" rectangle for the second unit. 

Stitch each unit on the drawn lines, then cut apart using a 1/4" seam allowance 

You will have 4 of these. 

This is called the Triple Triangle Method

Next create 'No Waste' Flying Geese.  

Using a 3-1/4" green square, place two 1-7/8" cream squares like this shown below. Draw a diagonal line and stitch a 1/4" on either side of the drawn line.

Cut apart

Press triangles up and stitch another 1-7/8" cream square, marking a diagonal line and stitching a 1/4" on either side. Cut apart and 4 Flying Geese will appear! 

The side triangles are created by cutting four yellow 1-7/8" squares cut on the diagonal for a total of 8 triangles. Add these to both side of your Flying Geese units. 

Below shows how the block units are pieced together

(different than what is shown in the book)

Triangle corners are added last, finger pressing to establish the middle and pin through the intersection of the bottom pieced fabric. Triangle corners are created using two cream 2-7/8" squares cut on the diagonal for a total of 4 triangles. 

There you have it!  Corn and Beans!!

Last week I started working on my unfinished

 'Cowgirl Quilt' (see my sidebar tutorial) from a year ago...and to my surprise, a couple days later Brigitte had made mention on her blog about 'Cowgirl'.  

As you can see, i have pieced together my

 red 'cowpies' 

 and my blue 'cowpies'

I find the easiest for me is to piece the quarters together with the seams facing down.  I don't need to pin and the seams match up. 

 and of course...chain piecing makes the job go by quickly.  I have all my red and blue cowpies pieced and will post the finished quilt top soon. 

Today I finished Carol's baby quilt.  

Nice work Carol!

(click on the photo for a closer look)

 Yesterday in the mail, i finally received my Primitive Quilt magazine.  I was beginning to worry if i would get mine since it seemed that everyone except Cathi of Shakerwood Quilts and myself had received theirs.  Cathi...has your's come yet???