Monday, January 31, 2011

Charm Doll Quilt


I finished this little charm quilt yesterday. It's 15x18 inches and made up of 1 1/2 inch blocks. I think every print is different. What fun!

Liebster Blog Award

Carolyn from Lee Prairie Designs honored me with the Liebster Blog Award and I accept! Whoo-hoo! Thanks so much Carolyn!

The purpose of the Liebster Blog Award is to bring recognition and exposure to small blogs who have less than 300 followers. Upon acceptance of this award, the blogger then agree to chose three other small blogs that he/she would recommend to others.

I had to think long and hard to chose these three blogs and here they are:

Little Welsh Quilts by Mary Jenkins is such a fun read. And since I am Welsh (well, by marriage anyway), I love having the opportunity to see a bit of Wales by reading this blog!

Lining Up My Stitches is another great read! Juliann and I are kindred spirits as we both love quilting AND knitting. How great is that!

Another blog I always enjoy reading is WonkyWorld. It was from this blog that I found out about the doll quilt exhibit that will be held in Tillamook and I'm finding out so much about quilts in my home state. Thanks, Willy Wonky!

Seventh Giveway!





And here is the last one. The Quilt Digest is a wonderful book of essays. They include one on the Log Cabin Quilt by Sandi Fox, Surviving without Selling Out by Michael James, and Collecting Quilt Data: History from Statistics by Jonathan Holstein. There are also great photos of quilts (no patterns) for inspiration.

Rules are simple:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Winner will be chosen on Monday, February 7.

Good luck!

Sixth Giveaway!




This giveway is for a book of 30 stitchery patterns by Kindred Spirits.

Rules are simple:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Winner will be chosen on Monday, February 7.

Good luck!

Fifth Giveaway!




Aunt Luci's Bits and Pieces is a Blackbird Designs book by Barb Adams and Alma Allen. It includes quilt patterns, a hooked rug pattern, and pillowshams, and a cross-stitch pattern.

Rules are simple:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Winner will be chosen on Monday, February 7.

Good luck!

Fourth Giveaway!


The fourth giveaway is for two patterns. The first is Sampler I by Gerry Kimmel of Red Wagon. It was published in 1988 and is for a quilt 40x60. The second is Strippy Stars by Jo Morton for a quilt 43x 57.

Rules are simple:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Winner will be chosen on Monday, February 7.

Good luck!

Monday, January 24, 2011

And the Winners Are.....

I chose the winners the low-tech way-- I had my husband pick the numbers!

Giveaway #1 -- I have two copies to give away and they will go to Jan and Lisa!
Giveaway #2 -- Kathie!
Giveaway #3 -- AKnativewoman!

Congratulations winners! Please email me your mailing address ASAP so I can get these out to you.

And if you didn't win, check again later this week as I will be having another giveaway.

Thank you all for entering and leaving comments.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Scrap Quilt


It's not a doll quilt, but I can see making one with this pattern using smaller blocks. These blocks are 6.5 inches square and use many kinds of fabrics, including seersucker. I had totally forgotten about this quilt which I bought at a garage sale about 20 years ago. Does anyone know the name of the pattern?

Friday, January 21, 2011

Sewing Machine


Now that my quilt room is finally clean and organized, I can display some of my favorite things again. This little beauty was a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law many years ago.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Small Wonders Catalog Received!

My Small Wonders catalog arrived today and I am thrilled! It's beautifully done and the quilts! Wow! And in case you can't get to the exhibit next month but want to support the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center that is putting on the exhibit, please note that on the last page it states:

Proceeds from the sale of this catalog will benefit the Layla House, a child care facility in Ethiopia operated by Adoption Advocates International, and the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook.

I really like the idea of making doll quilts as tributes to people one admires. I can think of many I would include.

Crib and Doll Quilts

I came across this post on the Quilt History blog entitled "More Crib and Doll Quilts" and wanted to share it. I loved the doll quilt titled Purple Square and can see a series of these with different colors. I also liked the Log Cabin which very effectively used striped fabrics. Take a peek!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Little Quilt Top Scraps

While looking through great-aunt Clara's scrapbag, I came across these two little remnants. I doubt they were intended as doll quilts. Great-aunt Clara and her husband didn't have any children and she had only one nephew (my father-in-law). I think these may have been intended to be larger quilts, but were never finished.


This one is 20" square. The blocks are 1 1/2" inches.


This one is 20"x24". The nine patches are 3" square.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Comments

My blog is set that I have to approve all comments before they are published to avoid spam. I do want to make certain, however, that no one is left out of the giveaways. I will make certain to check and post all comments before I chose the winners.

Third Giveaway!


I have two extra copies of Quiltmania, Issue #58 so there will be two winners!

Rules are simple:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Winner will be chosen on Monday, January 24th

Good luck!

Here is some of what's inside!







Second Giveaway!


This complete, uncut pattern for a 45" x 45" quilt is a Laurene Sinema design. The blocks are 8" square. The description says it is "a small reproduction of an appliqued summer coverlet stitched by Marie Waring circa 1860-1870 in Bellmore, Long Island. Border designs by Laurene Sinema, 1997."

Rules are simple:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Winner will be chosen on Monday, January 24th

Good luck!

First Giveaway!


Projects include quilts, wall hangings and pillows.

Rules are simple:
1) Leave a comment on this post.
2) Make sure I have a way to contact you.
3. Winner will be chosen on Monday, January 24th

Good luck!

Here's some photographs of the patterns included.


Fun Find!


Among the treasures I found while cleaning and organizing my sewing/quilt room, was this videotape. I don't know how many years it's been since I last viewed it. Fun!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Catalog for Doll Quilt Show Available

I've just found out that the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center Catalog for next month's show, "Doll Quilts by Andrea Balosky" is now available online through Blurb. The catalog has 120 pages, includes photos of over 100 doll quilts, and is in full color. The website at Blurb has a preview showing the first 15 pages.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Giveaway Coming Soon!

As I've been cleaning my quilt/yarn room, I've discovered duplicates. What a surprise, ahh? I bet that's happened to some of you as well!

Among them:

** Quiltmania Magazine #58 (two duplicates--I must have loved that issue!)
** Aunt Luci's Bits and Pieces by Blackbird Designs
** Folk Art Garden Sampler by Laurene Sinema Designs
** Homegrown Stitcheries by Kindred Spirits
** The Quilt Digest (the first one)
** Wednesday's Best by Cheri Saffiote

I'm not interested in selling them and thought it would be fun to give them away. I will put up posts with photographs so that you can choose which one(s) you'd like. Of course, you can sign up for all of them if you wish! I'm not going to make it complicated. Just leave me a comment on that post and you're in!

I anticipate I will start this next week so stay tuned!

P.S. I really should clean out my sewing room more often than every ten years. *sigh*

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Road Trip!

Miala Leong, June, 2002, 13" x 15 1/2"

Well, I'm hoping anyway. We'll see.

Quilt artist Andrea Balosky produced over 100 doll quilts between 1999 and 2003 and there will be an exhibit of some of them within reasonable driving distance of where I live!

Here are the details:

Latimer Quilt and Textile Center Tillamook, Oregon
Small Wonders: Doll Quilts by Andrea Balosky
Feb. 6— Mar. 6, 2011

Walt Whitman, July, 2002, 15" x 17 1/2"

Alvin, 2001

Saturday, January 8, 2011

More Finds!

I found a couple of books I hadn't seen in a while. This one is actually my replacement copy for the one I bought almost 30 years ago which I wore out.


The quilts which were my favorites then are still my favorites.






And this is also the second copy of another book.

Somewhere I have the hard-bound copy with the Cherry Wreath quilt on the cover, but it disappeared when we moved ten years ago so I bought a new one. It may very well be lost in the boxes of stuff that's being stored in my husband's shop, but I'm not going there. Do you remember the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when they're moving the Ark to the Smithsonian storage warehouse and there are boxes and boxes of stuff everywhere? That's what that part of his shop looks like. Thankfully, it's a very large shop or he wouldn't be able to get any work done. And oh, yes, that reminded me that somewhere he has his great-aunt Clara's cedar chest which needs a new top. We've had that for more than 25 years and I still don't have it to use. I'd ask him to start on it now as he retired last month but right now he's refinishing all my kitchen cabinet doors and I don't want to distract him. This book has a chapter about doll quilts. Here are some of my favorites.



And finally, I found a small ball of lime green wool that was crying to be knit into toddler socks so that's what I did. These will be going in the box for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

(I take photos of all the socks I knit on quilts I've made. See this blog, Only Socks, if you want to see more.)

What am I Doing?

Well, what I'm not doing is cleaning my sewing room. At least, not very quickly. I'm just like a little kid whose mother has told her to clean her room. I keep finding toys I haven't seen in a while and start playing with them instead!

I came across this tiny GFG.
I placed a quarter on it so you can see the size. It is paper pieced. I have no idea what I planned to do with it. I still don't know. I made it more than 20 years ago when my four sons were small. What possessed me at the time is beyond me.

And here's a funny from my husband.
DH: I'm thinking of making a tractor quilt. It wouldn't be hard.
Me: Why wouldn't it be hard?
DH: All I'd have to do is stitch six or eight doll quilts together!

Friday, January 7, 2011

An Older Doll Quilt Top

I know I made this top because I have the photo. But where it is, exactly, I'm not sure. I really, really need to finish cleaning up my sewing room.



And now I've realized that it isn't even a top. They're just the blocks I've placed next to each other to show what it would look like after it was sewn together.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Where I Find Inspiration

I find it just about everywhere it seems. It's in what I see as I'm driving (trees bare of leaves with a few golden apples still hanging on), in photos of architectural details , by looking at antique quilts on sites such as The Quilt Index,on Ebay by searching for vintage or antique doll quilts and on other sites that sell old doll quilts.

What inspires you?

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Perfectionist

I am not one. And that's a good thing because the quilts I love the best are the ones where the quilt maker isn't one either. She's substituted different fabrics because she didn't have enough, the blocks are a little off kilter, the seams don't match exactly, the quilting is uneven, the colors aren't what one might expect. She has made the quilt hers and that, to me, is what makes the quilter an artist. Oh, I love those perfectly pieced, exquisitely quilted quilts that take your breath away too. I admire the quilters who make them. But they're not my favorites.

I think this is what attracted me to doll quilts. Well, that and they're small and there's a great satisfaction in finishing one when completing a full sized quilt might take months or years. Doll quilts were made for children or by children. They're not supposed to be perfect. They're supposed to be fun! They're supposed to make you smile. That's my goal. And that's me. I know not everyone agrees and that's fine too.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Organizing My Sewing Room

I use the smallest bedroom in the house as my sewing room. It's turned into a storage room because I have too much stuff. Quilting and knitting supplies are scattered everywhere: a huge bookcase in the bedroom and a smaller one in the guest bedroom stuffed with quilt and knitting books, boxes of magazines dating back to the mid 70's in my husband's shop, bins of fabrics and yarn in the garage, a cedar chest full of finished quilts, a cradle of unquilted tops, and much more. Much, much more.

John offered me the use of his great-grandfather's tool chest to put some of my things in. I'd thought first to use it store quilt tops, but was afraid they might get snagged or stained. Then I thought about yarn, but same worries. Most of my quilt kits, however, are packaged. And those that aren't can be.

Some background about this tool chest. It's over 100 years and was used by my husband's great-grandfather, Niels Rasmussen. He was a master carpenter and moved to the United States from Denmark at the turn of the century. This was not his master carpenter tool chest, but a rougher one he used every day.

Oh, Lord. I've found 32 quilt kits and 2 hooked rug kits and I've just scratched the surface. I think I'm going to be doing some selling on Ebay this year.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

My Next Doll Quilt

When I saw these little hourglass blocks in So Many Quilts, So Little Time! (how true! how true!) I fell in love.

I was surprised when I read that the blog's author, Cheryl, had gotten her inspiration from a quilt, Welcome Wagon, in Kim Diehl's book, Simple Graces. Wait! I have that book! I went hunting for it. Yes, I did have it. Here's a photo:



And a close up photo of the quilt:



I love Cheryl's smaller version and I want to make one too! Cheryl opted for 1 1/2 inch blocks, but that's a bit too small for me. I'll be using 2" blocks. I'm going to look for fabrics in my stash now!

Pinwheel Doll Quilt--My First Quilt for 2011!

The Pinwheel Doll Quilt: Top is Completed!


Here is the completed top.

This is what I'm going to use for the backing.

The Pinwheel Doll Quilt

The woman who designed and made the pinwheel doll quilt I'm basing my first quilt of 2011 on commented on my post and offered to send me the measurements. I suddenly realized that I have her blog, Quilting with the Past, listed in the sidebar, but because she doesn't use the "favorites" feature I forget to look at it.

I found this post on her blog. In it she talks about Quiltmania #70 and her quilts! Then I found this!

Here's a close up of the entire doll quilt.

Well, mine is different. I guessed correctly that it had six blocks, but mine is not as scrappy and I like the scrappier look more. It looked like she'd used squares in place of some of the pinwheel blocks when I looked at the photo in the magazine, but she hadn't. I think I was fooled into thinking that because her fabrics have larger prints, an idea I really like! I think my quilt is smaller. My blocks are 3" and the sashing blocks are 3/4" which will make for a very small doll quilt. I can see more of these pinwheel doll quilts in my future. Yes! A series!

I've almost finished sewing the top. Because it is so small I am hand piecing it. I will post a photo of the top once I've finished it.

A Comment

My husband retired recently which means he's home all day and I guess, hadn't realized how much time I spent working on quilts. He's been watching me make doll quilt after doll quilt the past few weeks and yesterday commented "I didn't know dolls got cold." Silly man! Of course, they do! Anyone could tell you that!

My Goals for 2011

I posted my list of practical resolutions in another of my blogs, All the Rest of My Life. This is number five:

Complete 2 doll quilts a month and 4 full size quilts this year.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

What I'm Working On

I was looking at one of my back issues of Quiltmania , in particular this issue:



See that little pinwheel quilt on the headboard?



Here's a closer look.



That's the doll quilt I'm making as my first one of 2011!

Old Quilt Patterns

Taryn asked to see some photographs of my husband's great Aunt Clara's quilt patterns. I found the box and my husband kindly got it down for me from the high shelf it was on. I'm thankful he's not a football game watcher or it might still be up there!

Here's some of what was in the box.