Sister's Choice Quilts

And Then There Were Four

 

 

We have always been known as the five Shyne girls.  Our mother once called us her "Five Graces".  Forever a close family, we often said to each other "who needs friends when we have sisters?"  We formed a tight knit little group, and shared many experiences and adventures.  We got together regularly, laying down traditions that caused our children to grow up loving each other in our example.  We were a family, living under a blessed cloud, who sometimes felt as if we had it all.  Maybe we did, for a while.

My youngest sister Trish died Sunday.

Only 53, her life cut short in the most unfair of ways.  She will never see her children marry, never hold a grandchild in her arms, never share another recipe, read another book, or smell the jasmine on a warm summer evening.  She was wickedly funny, generous to a fault, an avid reader, ardent shoe lover, and so domestic, she preferred to stay home in the bosom of her family above all else.  She lost her 21 year old daughter Camille to cancer a year and a half ago, and was diagnosed with cancer herself this past January.  To say she got a raw deal is a gross understatement.

The hole that her loss creates in our hearts is big enough to let hurricane strength winds blow through.  I am reeling in grief and denial, but need to remind myself that this is far from being my story.  Daughter, mother, wife, sister, cousin, niece, aunt, daughter in law, sister in law, friend.  She was many things to many people and her absence is incomprehensible.   

I am told that although the burden of grief is a heavy one, it grows lighter over time.  I hope that is true, because it feels pretty crushing right now.   I want to hold her hand just once more, kiss her cheek just once more, laugh at one more silly joke, share one more secret, tell her I love her, look in her eyes 

just      one      more    time

 

Stars in a Time Warp Blocks Done

 

Last weekend (it seems like a lifetime ago) I finished my star blocks for the Barbara Brackman Stars in a Time Warp Sew Along.  I have my blocks all laid out, but have not yet had a chance to sew them together.

Just to let you know, so you all don't worry,  I may not be blogging real regularly in the next little while.  

Someone very close to me is very very ill and I am a bit preoccupied.  Bear with me.

Bow Ties, an End

I won't say I finished my Bow Tie quilt.  A more precise statement would be that I ended it.  Those three inch finished blocks were fun to make, but my goodness, there were so many of them.  324  of them in my quilt.  And I was done.  The finished quilt is about 66 inches square, and will be a great lap quilt.  This winter, when the rain is pelting down and the temperatures are low, this will be the quilt to grab when reading, watching tv or just taking a nap.

I got the idea for this quilt from a sew along that Primitive Gatherings Southern California is doing.  They are doing two inch finished blocks (or is it one inch?), but I knew I could never muster the courage to tackle that size.  I sized up to 3 finished and really did enjoy making the blocks.  There are a lot of ways to lay out the blocks, and I chose the fairly simple "Barn Raising" pattern. 

If you make a Bow Tie quilt, you know you are going to have a great stash buster quilt on your hands.  I used all charm squares for my quilt.  I had a wonderful collection of charm squares that I bought from Primitive Gatherings at the Road to California show, and some that were given to me by a friend.  Now that the quilt is done, I can see that I need to replenish the browns and the blues in my stash, as they were pretty much used up in this project.  Someday in my future there will be another Civil War charm square quilt.  

The border fabric I used was in my stash.  It was a Thimbleberries print that had clovers in dark green burgundy and gold.  It is a great print and it seemed to work just fine as the border for this quilt, really picking up the golds in particular.

What ever happened to Thimbleberries? Years ago, I did enjoy purchasing some of their fabric, but never joined the cult like following they enjoyed back in the day.  Were you a Thimbleberries fan?  Do you miss them?  They had so many people who worshipped them.  I have a lot of their books, which have many patterns that are suitable for beginning quilters.  Too simplistic?  What do you think led to the demise of their company?  Did Lynette Jensen just need to retire or had the representative style of the company just seen its day?

Zen Chic

Zen Chic

I want to focus today on a designer who I am really enjoying.  Brigitte Heitland designs for Moda under the name of Zen Chic.  Her designs are modern, gorgeous pure colors, and I think, unique from what other designers are doing right now.  She incorporates symbols such as punctuation marks, numerals, text and architectural elements in her fabric designs.

A year or so ago I purchased the line called Comma, and have used it in a couple of projects.  The blacks and grays and creams are fantastic basics and that saturated orange, lime green and bright lemon yellow are awesome.  I had an idea that I might want to do a Log Cabin quilt using the rest of my Comma stash, as well as a new Zen Chic collection called Reel Time.

I ordered a layer cake and a honey bun of Reel time, but couldn't stop with that.

One of the previous collections by Zen Chic is called Figures.  Had to have that.  Just look at that robin's egg blue, will you? How gorgeous is that?

Please go to the Moda website:  www.unitednotions.com and click on "downloads" at the bottom of the screen.  Type in Zen Chic for your search and you can see up close the amazing past collections Brigitte has designed, as well as her black and cream groups called Modern Background Ink and Modern Background Paper which are expected out in August and September of this year.  If you enjoy using more modern fabrics in your quilting, these two collections are an absolute must.  

If you aren't familiar with Zen Chic, do check this German designer out.  I think her work is gorgeous.  And the patterns that come out in conjunction with her fabric collections are pretty amazing too.

Jersey Girl/Honky Tonk

Time to put the red white and blue away and get out the sunflowers and summery colors.  This pretty Schnibbles pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. fits the bill.  It is called Jersey Girl and I made it with a fabric collection called Honky Tonk, which somehow seems fitting.  The beautiful custom quilting on it is by Mary Flynn of Quilt Hollow.

As I write this, I have Beer Can Chicken roasting in the oven and things feel nice and summery around the house.  I bought a nice big cantaloupe at the market this morning and cut it up for dinner as well.  I snitched a couple of pieces and it tastes like----nothing.  Nothing at all.  How can that be?  It is just so wrong.  I remember when I was a little girl, Grandma Agnes would buy farm stand local melons and they were so sweet we would have them for dessert with a scoop of ice cream.  If I close my eyes I can smell them.  Where did all the good melons go?

OK, I'm Done

Well, almost done.  One more nine unit Bow Tie block and that is it for me.  324 three inch finished Bow Tie blocks.  1944 pieces total.  I can't take it anymore.  I don't know how these gals who are making a king size quilt with two inch finished Bow Tie Blocks have it in them.  Seriously?  I see Bow Tie blocks when I close my eyes.  Enough already.

In an ideal world, I think I would like this to be one more round of blocks bigger.  252 more  Bow Tie blocks.  That would be a really nice sized quilt.  But nope, I don't have the stamina.  I will add a narrow containment border and a brown and red Civil War print fabric I have in my stash for an outer border.  It will be a good lap size quilt that I can toss over the arm of the sofa or the back of a chair.  

Time to move on to a new project.  I can't decide if I want to take a break from Civil War fabrics for awhile, or start putting together the Barbara Brackman Stars in a Time Warp blocks.   That one coordinates perfectly with this Bow Tie quilt, so they do kind of want to be finished around the same time.  You know I will keep you posted.

Oh!  I bought my new German made Rowenta steam iron.  And I left it at my sister's house three hours away.  We were having a graduation party for my two nieces and now I suppose one of them is going to think I left it there as one of their graduation gifts.  Keep your fingers crossed that I will be able to straighten this all out.

My Next Iron

No, this isn't it.  But, seriously, thank you all so much for weighing in with your recommendations, comments and experiences.  That was so valuable to me.  My gosh, what a wealth of information.

My experience is that I am hard on irons.  I have had cheap ones and I have had good German made Rowentas.  None of them lasts more than two or three years for me because I treat them badly.  I leave them on, I always use as much heat and steam as they can put out, and I have been known to knock them onto the floor.  Heaven knows when Ozzie was younger, he put several irons to death by pulling them onto the floor and chewing through their cords.  I am not kidding. (Check out this old post from 2007).

The cheap ones last as long for me as do the more expensive Rowentas.  But here's the thing.  I like using the heavier weight Rowentas with their 400 steam holes more than I like using the lighter weight cheaper brands.  When the Rowentas go, they go pretty quickly.  They start to spit a bit when you first turn them on and then move on to full fledged peeing all over the ironing board.  They leak like nobody's business.  A big mess, and a bigger pain in the fanny.  I can accept that as long as I know I will get a good two plus years of service out of them before they are reduced to their particular form of geriatric demise.

I am so curious about the new Rowenta steam stations, but I just can't bring myself to pay the $225 for one.  I need to wait and see if they actually last longer than two or three years before I spring for one of them.

Of all the comments, I liked Robyn's suggestion (as it suits my modus operandi)  and think I will follow what she did.  She bought her German made Rowenta Focus at Kohl's when she had a 30% off coupon and a couple of $10 Kohl's Cash coupons.  So, for now I will use my cheap iron and wait for a good sale at Kohl's.  

Thanks again for all the comments.  I hope you all enjoyed reading them as much as I did!

Another One Bites the Dust

My last Rowenta from Germany has finally bitten the dust.  It lasted a good while, for me, anyway, and I tend to be brutal on my steam irons.  I believe I have had this one going on three years.  The thing I liked about the Rowenta Pro Master was that it has 400 holes and is heavy (a thicker stainless steel sole plate than other more plastic models).  It is about $100 to replace it.

I loved my Rowenta Pro Master, except that I could never see the water level through the grey plastic and was always over filling it.  There is a Rowenta model called Focus for $89--have any of you tried that one? 

I have been curious about the Rowenta Pro Precision Steam Station, but it retails at around $265.  Then there is the Oliso iron that stands up on its little feet so you don't have to set it upright.  They are around $170.

 So, here's the thing.  I am not wild about spending a ton of money on an iron right now.  It is kind of like having to buy new tires for the car or put a new roof on the house.  It makes a big difference, but is not a fun way to spend money.  I could be talked into it though.

Tell me what you think.  Shall I spring for a big ticket iron, just replace my Rowenta Pro Master, or go with a cheaper more disposable iron?  What do you all like?

Reel Time

Between having very welcome houseguests, spending time with Eva, working the entire 4th of July weekend, and having my annual physical and lab tests, no sewing has been getting done.  Hence the infrequent blog posts.  I have had time to do a bit of shopping online however, and these pre cuts of Reel Time by Zen Chic arrived in the mailbox.

I have been seeing some very pretty Log Cabin quilt blocks on Instagram and was thinking these black, grey, orange, and green prints could be nice.  I have some additional Zen Chic fabrics in my stash that I can add in as well:  Figures and Comma.

I have worked a bit on my Bow Tie blocks, but now that project is going slowly.  What I need are about three full days to work non stop on that project to get it finished.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.  I was so pooped after working all day that I found myself dozing on the couch.  About nine o'clock I heard a commotion outside, and my husband and I looked out the front door to see what was up.  Turned out that some neighbors had spent a bundle of money on fireworks and were putting on a show out on the cul de sac.  We poured ourselves a glass of wine and sat on the front porch and watched their money go up in flames.  Very entertaining.

 

Latest Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots Kit

The latest Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots Club kit arrived last week.  I am woefully behind in the Second season of kit offerings, but will definitely get to making them.  This one is such a nice design and  the fabrics are perfect for my home.

I have made perhaps five or six of the kits so far in the program.  This latest kit was the twelfth I have received over the year.  The program was divided into two series of six kits each.  The first six kits were all made from the same collection of fabrics, Vintage Farmhouse, as I recall.  The second six kits were made from another collection, Heritage Hollow.  The third series of six, Simple Whatnots 3, will be made with her Gathering Baskets group.

The patterns have all been super cute, some with appliqué variations if one is so inclined.  The small size of each project makes it very do-able and pretty speedy to complete.  The fabrics are with few exceptions, quite pretty in a primitive/country style.  My only complaint, and it is a fairly minor one, is that I do get tired of working with the same group of fabrics for six projects in a row.  There are many pieces in each collection however, and the pattern designs/colors are very scrappy, so the end results are all extremely harmonious, should one use all the quilts in one's home.  Alternatively, keep some of the little quilts for yourself and give some away to lucky friends or family.

I give this subscription kit club a thumbs up and think I will continue with Series 3, even though I have some big time catching up to do with making the projects.