Sister's Choice Quilts

Busy Week, Busy Time of Year

Ok, so I am pretty sure this is the cutest mug rug I've ever made. I used an apple block pattern from one of Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage books. How adorable is the apple core block? This is teacher appreciation week and we wanted to give Miss Kelly a little token of our affection.

Eva is in a play this weekend. The Enchanted Bookshop. She has two roles, "the Lady in Red" and "Little Red Riding Hood". We were asked to bake cookies to be sold at intermission and to display them in a way that relates to our kid's part. We filled a big basket with Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (pretty perfect recipe if I say so myself) along with a propped-up picture book of Little Red Riding Hood. I think it makes a  nice display. We made 100 cookies and placed them in 50 cello bags. If they sell for $2 a pop, that will be a $100 donation for the school.

Goodness, have we been busy. Lots of trips to her charter school over the past two weeks. It is about a 25-minute drive, so it's a major back and forth. She had state testing last week, every day, and rehearsals for the play every day this week. I won't be sorry to see the end of this school year!

I am taking a break from seeing my dad this weekend. My sisters are covering for me. We will attend Eva's play on Friday and Saturday and with any luck do absolutely nothing on Sunday.  Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. I feel as if I don't have to do anything on this holiday because my mom and mother-in-law are no longer with us. Book of the Month Club did something kind of nice, I thought. They have had a very active ad campaign promoting that a subscription to their service would make a nice Mother's Day gift. They were sensitive enough to realize that not everyone has a mom anymore and that this could be a tough holiday for some. They told the folks on their email list that if they didn't want to receive these ad emails for Mother's Day to click a button in the email and they would not see any of them. I thought it was thoughtful.

Happy Friday, and enjoy the weekend!

Giveaway Winner of Lori Holt's Book "Farm Girl Vintage"

I am excited to share that Gail S. is the winner of the Lori Holt book "Farm Girl Vintage".  The random number generator thing was used, and her comment was the number that came up.  I hope she will enjoy the book, as I highly recommend it for the variety of patterns and remarkably clear instructions.

I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday afternoons making more blocks for the Piecing the Past project, and most of the ones shown above were from Lori's book.  All of them came together precisely and accurately with little fuss and bother.

As a matter of fact, her book was so good that I went ahead and ordered her "It's So Emma Vintage Christmas Quilt Book".  If you follow on Instagram or on Lori's blog, there has been a  Bee Patriotic sew along this summer that Lori has done featuring the patterns in that book that would be appropriate for a quilt with that theme.

I highly recommend that you check out her blog "A Bee in My Bonnet".  She has just featured instructions (you do need the Christmas book for the pattern) to make one of the nicest Patriotic table runners I have seen.  Go check it out.  I'll wait...

RIght?  Raid your stash of red, blue and cream fabrics.  There is still time before the 4th to make it!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  

Book Giveaway and Piecing the Past Update

In my recent sort out of the sewing room, I discovered that I had purchased this book twice.  It is "Farm Girl Vintage" by Lori Holt.  The book is full of great quilt block patterns, in sizes 6" or 12".  I love it when books provide a size option.  There are some cute novelty block patterns such as a barn and a teapot, a bunch of cherries, and an adorable tractor, and much more.  However, there are quite a few interesting classic quilt blocks as well, some of which I had not seen anywhere before.  So many of these quilt blocks could be combined to make adorable table toppers for various seasons throughout the year.

The instructions for making each of the blocks in the book are laid out in a very clear and readable way, as you can see above.  Great visuals ensure you will get your blocks together with few issues.  And a quilting book with a spiral binding is worth its weight in gold!  I love how it easily lies so nice and flat.

If you think you would like a chance to win the book, please comment below.  Have you made any Lori Holt designs before?  Tell us about your experience.  

Here is my block made from the pattern above.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out because I am going to use it in my Piecing the Past quilt project.  I think Piecing the Past and I are going to have to go in different directions at this point.  I have really liked the block patterns Piecing the Past has been providing each week for this sew-along.  However, as you may recall, I decided to reduce the block size from 9" down to 6".  The first twenty-four or so blocks they came out with I could reference in other books I had, or could easily figure out the math on how to reduce it down. The last six blocks are so have had such unusual sized units that I couldn't wrap my head around how to reduce them down to a 6" size.

See what I mean?  I just can't.  Do any of you math wiz folks out there have any rule of thumb tips on how to reduce a 9" block down to 6"?  I can do it if the block has a grid of three or six, but when they get all creative on me, my lack of math skills rears its ugly head.  My cop-out solution has been to replace the tricky blocks with others sourced elsewhere.

Thanks for checking in, and be sure to leave a comment if you are interested in my little giveaway of the Lori Holt Book "Farm Girl Vintage".  I'll announce the winner on Friday.

Coming Together in Fellowship

 Thanks for bearing with me while I took a short break.  Last week was a rough one for many of us and my outlook on life was not the best.  A few days finding joy in small close things has helped me tremendously. 

Something that occurred in my neighborhood this weekend has made me so happy.  What you see in the photo above is a Truck Concert.  A local musician named Grover Anderson performed songs from his most recent album for friends in our small community.  Folks brought their own chairs out and sat in their driveways while he sang from the back of his truck.  It was unbelievably lovely to come together and see other people after such a long time of staying at home.  I assure you that proper social distancing was observed.

I am still feeling the warm glow that experiencing fellowship, kindness, and friendship gives.

Year of the Sew Along

2020 is turning into The Year of the Sew Along for me.  In our current lockdown situation, so many designers, quilt shops, and groups are hosting the most fun sew alongs.  If we are stuck in the house, surrounded by our fabric stashes, why not make the most of it!  I have an all-time high of five, yes FIVE sew alongs going right now (technically one is a UFO, but it WAS a sew along lol), and I am loving it.  I will share the details of them with you this week.

Let me tell you about the one pictured above.  Since we are under orders to "shelter in place" in our homes, working on some cute little house blocks seems just about perfect.  I first heard about it on Instagram #modavillage.   There is a Miss Rosie pattern called Village that features an entire neighborhood of these adorable blocks.  I happened to have the pattern, but it is FREE for downloading on the Sew Lux website.  Lots of people are posting on the Instagram site and it is so much fun to see what they are doing.  There are also helpful tips--for instance, some of the houses have little chimneys which look tricky to construct, and I noticed some kind soul had done a tutorial.

You can use charm packs or scraps to make the blocks, and I am telling you, they are absolutely addicting.  Wouldn't this be a remarkable memento of the time we were all stuck at home but found a way to connect with other quilters?

I had a box of American Jane (Sandy Klop) scraps which got me started.  I wanted the happiest, most cheerful fabric I could get my hands on and this fit the bill.  If you have leftovers from Bonnie and Camille, Fig Tree or any of your favorite designers, they will work perfectly for this quilt.  Or just use any random scraps.  Whatever you choose, it seems to work.  Thelma (Cupcakes 'n' Daisies) made one with scraps from every quilt she made in 2016.

How are you all getting along?  Every day seems to bring more bad news, doesn't it?  We will get through this eventually.  In the meantime, I will try to post positive thoughts each weekday.  If you are alone, feel free to email me or comment on my blog.  I will be happy to answer you and be at least one person you interacted with in a day!

 

Perfect "Thanks for Having Me" Gift

Eva has been invited to a sleepover on the occasion of one of her friend's birthday.  The mom requested "no gifts", but you know how that goes.  You feel as though you need to mark the occasion with something.  I thought it would be fun, and not "too much" to give a little pencil case.  It is the start of the school year after all, and you can't just show up at an event without a hostess gift, right?  So I made one of Terri Atkinson's little zipper pouches.  

The pattern I used is Teri Atkinson's "Cash and Carry" pattern.  I have made this many times and it is just perfect for an eyeglasses case.  For a pencil case, I recommend making it one or two inches longer to be able to actually accommodate pencils.  I wasn't really thinking, just assumed pencils would fit in it, but I was wrong.

Here is what I was able to fit in the bag as a fun "Start of School, Thanks for Having Me" token gift.  A Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizer, a Lip Smacker lip balm, and six mechanical pencils in a fun kid-friendly design.  The mechanical pencils were way shorter than regular pencils and were perfect for this slightly too short pencil case.

So Happy Birthday Zoey, and best of luck for a fabulous year in Fourth Grade!!

Advent of Kindness

In the words of a new favorite person of mine:  "Take care of yourself, take care of others, be kind.  Kindness is free, give it to everyone". 

This new favorite is Christopher Allen, a fellow you can get to know on YouTube.

He is a super sweet guy who has a YouTube channel devoted to style, decorating, diy crafts, health, planning, and yes, kindness.  He lives somewhere back East with his partner Steven, and as well as working full time, he creates interesting content on his YouTube channel.  Evidently, as a kid he was bullied and spent some miserable years in public school.  As a result, instead of becoming bitter or angry, he has channelled his efforts into being the kindest person he can be.  You will not hear a negative word out of this man's mouth.  He is relentlessly cheerful, up beat and positive.

He is quite a nut for celebrating Christmas, and his decorating tips are wonderful.  I learned everything there is to know from him about how to use ribbon to decorate your Christmas tree.  Instead of having a tree that resembles a sad and rather berserk May Pole, my tree now is decorator worthy.  He is very enthusiastic about Advent calendars and must have six of them that he and Steven enjoy opening every day.  It is very fun to see what is out there, even if you don't spend the money on them yourself.

Anyway, back to kindness.  Christopher has created a list he calls The Advent of Kindness.  Every day in December up to Christmas, he has an act of kindness he suggests we do for ourselves or others.  Click here for the link to his calendar.  If you are interested, you can print it out and give it a go.  Some of the actions are very simple, such as "Hold a door open for someone"  or "Let someone go ahead of you in line".  Others involve a bit more effort, such as today's prompt "Donate some books to the library".  At the very least, his list has ideas of small things we can do to make the day a bit more of a joy for others.

All of us need and deserve kindness.  You never know what is going on in the life of someone else.  Sometimes the smallest gesture can make the biggest difference.

Let's Do This

I hope my American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We all have many things for which to be grateful, and as I sat with my family over the long weekend, I did some reflecting.  Yes, we are very blessed: in our families, our quilting activities, the roofs over our heads.  However, we have some quilting sisters who have not had the greatest past couple of weeks.  

Many of you have probably heard of the devastating fire, called the Butte County Camp Fire, which completely destroyed the town of Paradise, California.  It is wiped off the map.  Nothing left.  No homes, no stores, no churches.  Who knows if they can even rebuild at this point.  85 people killed, over 200 still missing.  It has officially been labeled the deadliest wildfire in California history.

Paradise was a community largely made up of retirees, who moved there thinking the bucolic setting was the final destination for their senior years.  Paradise is (was) located near the town of Chico in Northern California.  The Paradise Ridge Quilt Guild had around 100 members, mostly ladies over the age of 60.  Of those 100 women, 98 of them lost their homes, their sewing machines, their projects past and present, and their quilts.

How can we help?  Honey Run Quilt Shop in Chico, CA and Annie's Star Quilt Guild of Chico are organizing a drive to collect hand work projects for these displaced women in their quilt guild.  The idea is, since they have lost everything, that it could be a good idea to get them working on some hand projects.  Appliqué, embroidery, wool work, knitting, crochet, making hexagons.  Can you imagine what a comfort it would be to at least have something to do with your hands to distract you just a bit from your incomprehensible loss?

I went through my stash and was surprised at how many (largely abandoned or not even begun) hand projects I have.  In about 15 minutes of rummaging through my stash, I found wool for wool projects

yarn and knitting needles

lots of embroidery supplies

applique supplies

Will you help?  I have been in touch with Ronda Menshing at Honey Run, and they are so in hope they can do something that will make a difference, no matter how small.  These women will be so grateful for anything, as I know we would be if in their situation.  The address to send any type of materials that could work for hand projects is:

Honey Run Quilters

Attention Ronda - Camp Fire

2418 Cohasset Road

Chico, CA 95926

 

If you have any questions or want to do more, you can call the shop at:  530-342-5464.

 

Alternatively, if you would like to help the Camp Fire victims, but would prefer to direct your aid to a different organization, here is a link to other agencies that are providing assistance to the victims.

 

Really Ozzie?

Really Ozzie?  What is it with dogs wanting to lie down on anything you place on the floor to take a closer look at?  As you can see, I am well on the way to having my red and white quilt finished and off my design wall.  As I type this, I have the top all put together and just have one final outer border to put on.  Next post will be my reveal.  I cannot tell you how glad I am to get this quilt into the "finished" category.  I have been seriously stalled out with it for months.  It will be a marvelous addition to my holiday quilts line up.

Thanks to all of you who participated in my little pattern giveaway.  The three winners are Laura Valdez, Sharon Amburn and Molly Hinchcliffe.  Please let me know your addresses ladies, and the packets of patterns will be on their way to you!  I am so glad to send them on to places where they have a chance of being used and enjoyed.

Back in the Saddle and a Give Away

 

Hello friends, hope you all had a great weekend and are getting used to Daylight Savings Time.  As I write this, it is only 3:00 in the afternoon and I am thinking I should turn on the lights inside.  It always takes me awhile to get used to the time change.  Ozzie, not so much.  Light is light to him, and he knows when we all need to rise and shine. He was peering into my sleeping face at 5:00 this morning wondering when I was going to get up.

I am back in my sewing room, and would like to celebrate that by having a little give away.  I was searching for a pattern over the weekend, and since all 9000 of my quilt patterns were strewn around the room, I thought I might go through them and cull out the ones I know I will never make.  As you can see by the photo, there are quite a few.  As a matter of fact, there will be three winners to this giveaway, as I think I can fill three padded envelopes with patterns. 

There will be no rhyme or reason to what is in each pack.  As Eva says, "You get what you get, so don't throw a fit".  If you win, you might pass them on to your guild or other organization who might have a use for them.  Keep some, give some away. Don't get me wrong, there is some good stuff in the mix, it just isn't a cohesive mix.  There are some more intermediate level patterns, but most are suitable for a beginner quilter.

Leave a comment to this post telling me what you might do with the patterns should you win them.  I’ll announce the winners tomorrow.

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