Top Dun

All sewn up. And after balancing on the top of the step ladder and holding on to the ridges in the attic ceiling with one hand and stretching my other one out as far as it could go, I got one picture that actually got the whole thing in and is straight. This is not a big quilt either.

..and some closeups of some of my favorite blocks and geese. (These were easier). Actually.. I could not really pick a favorite. I fell in love with each and every piece of this vintage stuff.. (you can click them bigger). There were only a few triangles that I did not use.. most of them solids that were very thin and not really acceptable. So I replaced them with some from my own vintage stash.. keeping the same colors.

love this little apple with the bird..

Hope I didn't show any twice. Next I will need to find a backing and figure out how would be best to quilt it. Any and all suggestions are welcome. I'm going to be doing it by hand. I really love hearing what everyone thinks! And I had so many good ideas about the flying geese. Thanks!

I guess now I better go get some dishes and laundry done. But those Christmas Cottages are very tempting....

Sewing Geese

Finally sewing on the flying geese borders. Tomorrow I can lay out my houses on the floor upstairs, but I had to get this picked up first. It is the floor in my boys' old room.. the only place that seems to say nice and clean all the time because no one is living in it. Sort of my "inspiration floor". Cannot wait to show you this all sewn up.. I am really happy with it. :-)
p.s. all my treasures are still folded here in piles waiting to be admired. One thing at a time.

A Paper Goose Solution

I don't know why this surprised me, but when I posted a request for help figuring out an easy way to put these flying geese together, I had no idea someone would actually give me a solution that I could carry out and be happy with. This is embarrassing to admit, but I have never done paper piecing before. In fact, the whole process intimidated me for some reason. I don't know why, but I just couldn't make it "click". So when some of you started saying that I should do this for the flying geese border.. I thought.."Oh no. How am I going to say I don't know how?"

Well yesterday morning my dear friend Ulla, from Finland, wrote out a very good explanation for me in email at almost the exact same time Stephanie, my friend right here in Ohio, sent me a url for a template for flying geese. I spent just a few minutes trying to wrap my brain around it, and this time for some reason, with the pictures and the written words, it totally clicked!

We had a lot of running around to do yesterday, and a function we had to attend last night so I couldn't really try it until today. But I printed out 20 of the template on some scrap paper. And today I tried it. It is going to work! Yippee!

So a HUGE thank you to everyone who gave me the wonderful suggestions and the lovely comments. And thank you all for visiting.

Have a lovely day...

Pinwheels and Geese

Ta-da. Here are the pinwheels sewn together. I've been working on them most of the weekend.

I debated on sashing in-between each block.. many of you suggested it. But I also liked the look of them all together close. And since I was able to make just enough contrasting dark and light pinwheels..(you don't think I planned that.. do you?).. I decided to go with them this way. I added one more row to my original 42 blocks because it didn't seem proportionate. So now it measures small.. like a lap quilt if I leave it just like this. However...

I had quite a few triangles left from the original blocks that I picked apart that simple did not go together at all to make pinwheels. So from the beginning I had in mind to make a flying geese border...This will make it measure approximately 42"x60".
I am really excited to see how this turns out. But I'm not looking forward really to making the geese. I can't line them up and sew them in any kind of fast and speedy way since they are already cut. I am going to have to cut all the little white triangles and sew them on. Unless someone has a better way. Please let me know if you do! But something to note.. these triangles left over are even worse as far as size and shape than the ones I've already sewn.. and those were pretty bad. They are going to take a lot of fiddling to get them to line up straight. But I think I can do it.

Now you need to go over and look at Terri's new livingroom carpet. :-)

And oh.. one more thing.. this was my Cotoneaster and Seargent Crab bush in the back yard today. I was pleasantly surprised to see them so colorful in the late afternoon sun...

Pinwheels

Here are the pinwheels I have put together as of now. All of the triangles have been picked apart and matched up. I know it sounds like a lot of work.. but really, this was more fun than anything. I guess because I just enjoy playing with the old pieces of fabrics so much. Each print and solid is very special. Some of the whites are from the original blocks, but there wasn't nearly enough so I added some from my own vintage stash.

Look at these little purple shamrocks...



Large floral prints from the 40's and lovely old solids..
...bubblegum pinks, Easter egg purples, buttercup yellows, jadite and chartruse greens,


some funky 60's prints...



OOOPS! This is what happens when not paying attention. I meant to put these different fabrics together, however, the blades are going totally the wrong way and the whites are in the wrong place on the pink block.

Hang on and let me go fix that. Much better.

I'll try and show more as I go along.

Hope you are having a creative Tuesday.

In a Shoebox

This is what I do when I have to put something aside for a while. Grab the nearest shoebox and put everything inside. Good thing I have a daughter who loves shoes.. there is never a shortage of cute boxes.
So this evening.. since all my cottage blocks are finished and I'm just waiting for them to come back to me.. my doll orders are finished until next month.. and I haven't yet figured out what I'm going to make everyone for Christmas.. I think I'll take out the contents of this box and play. (in case you're wondering why there is always this dirty-looking yellow piece of fabric underneath everything.. this is my tabletop ironing board cover. I think it needs a bath.)
These are my triangles that I've been picking apart and putting back together into pinwheels. If you are just tuning in.. back in August I picked these up at a quilt auction along with a bunch of other vintage fabrics and quilt blocks. I had no idea what was in the bag, but I could not pass it up for a dollar.

The fabrics were so wonderful.. all stuff from before the 1970's. But the way they were put together... hmmmm.

I really did try and lay them out in some sort of fashion, but they were so terribly sewn together, and none of them were the same size. Plus several of the bocks were picked apart. So I decided to continue.. picking them all apart and putting them back together as pinwheels.

As soon as I get a few more done, when it's light out, I'll let you see how it's coming. Haven't decided yet how I'm going to put them together.

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I also want to say thanks for all the fun and lovely comments about my dolls and their. I know I haven't gotten back to everyone yet.. but I think I'll make rounds in the morning. Hope you all have a lovely evening. Bundle up.. it's getting chilly out there..

A Delightful Package & UnWonky Triangles

I really should be working on other things, but these little triangles have been so calling to me since I started on them. If you have just joined, I got these in a bag along with some other vintage quilt blocks at a sale in August. They were sewn into blocks that I think were supposed to be pinwheels, but they were so crooked on account of the triangles being all different sizes, and no real pattern as far as fabric prints, it was hard to tell what they were supposed to look like. Many of the blocks were already partially taken apart, so I just kept right on going. I finally got them all picked apart, and now I am sorting them and figuring out what to do.
My goal is to keep as many of the original triangles as possible.. but make them work together.. Un-Wonkily. I matched up enough big and small, print and solid, to make 42 double pinwheel blocks.

And by adding some white of my own, and a few more triangles cut from my own vintage solids, I think I'll be able to come up with a small quilt with pinwheels in the middle, and flying geese along the borders. Two pinwheels got put together last evening. They are about 6 1/4" square, so finished they will be 5 3/4".

The rest of them will make flying geese to go around the edges..
These are the solids from my stash that I'm going to add to make some of the pinwheels...

And I really can't believe how nice other people are, and how lucky I am to meet them. I came across a new blog "I Love Retro Things" through Vintage Thursday Things that I started doing a few weeks ago, so of course I signed it because we like to comment on blogs, right? Didn't even realize she was giving something away and that by signing I had entered the drawing. But that was the case, and I won! This is the package that came in the mail yesterday. How could I open it and tear the butterflies..??

I live in the US, and this came all the way from New Zealand.. so this is a very special treat. And pretty stuff!
A candle, some tea in a pretty card, Cadbury Milk Chocolate to have with it!..yum! a hand polished sea shell, a silk tissue cover to take along in my purse.. (I will USE this!), and a journal! I am so delighted with everything. Thank you so much Amy!

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You would think that after writing over 100 posts, I would be getting speedier at this, but I'm not. It simply takes me forever to gather my thoughts, take pictures, remember everything I want to say and show, and then write it all here. Does anyone else have trouble with this? Probably not. I am just slow. Some blogs I read are SO good.. funny and witty and full of things to think about. I do think about things all day long, and tell myself.. "Oh.. I will say that in my next blog, that is so funny".. or "..meaningful." But then I get here and most of it is all gone. And by the time I'm done writing nothing, my day is gone too. Oh well.. I guess I won't worry about it, and leave the wit to others. :-)




Ulla is a sweet one. Not that I really "collect" badges.. but I thought this was so sweet of her to notice I didn't have this one yet, and sent it to me.

I like that it says "Must See".. not must read. VERY appropriate.. and true. Thank you Ulla! :-D There aren't any rules to this one, so I am going to pass it along to these folks... because they truly are good reads IMO...
Musings From My Soul
A Simple Quilter
Lit and Laundry (a MUST READ)
and Freda's Hive