Wednesday, June 3, 2015

A Wonderful Game

Today I eagerly got up early to read what would be the newest fabric discussion over at Barbara Brackman's blog. The Civil War Quilts' "Stars In A Time Warp" sew-along has become a wonderful game of Stump The Chump for me. As I learn much more about authentic Civil War fabrics, I find that the more I learn, the more I want to know about this genre.

Last week I was bested by Barbara Brackman's inclusion of Eccentric Prints. Eeek, I have none. There were frantic pleas made to my friends and help is supposed to be on the way, goody, goody, goody! Technical difficulties, please stand by...

I found one cheddar that had a small chicken wire motif and I used that for my eccentric print. It is a poor substitute for the lovely design examples that Brackman had displayed last week. Here is my pick, worked with a serpentine stripe.


For this week, the scavenger hunt continues as I scramble for much more do-able finds in the "Neat Stripe" variety. I'm planning to use some of my carefully hoarded yardage from Barbara Brackman's own "Metropolitan Fair" line.

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Tuesday was fun at The Sunshine Club over at the Alton, New Hampshire Senior Center. Sue was mumbling curses as she wrestled with her machine to get her needle threaded. It was a much needed Hersey's moment when she was done.


Very soon she was humming along again, chain piecing the last wedges into place on her Dresden Plate quilt.


Bev joined us and we were delighted to see her show us a UFO of a handquilting project that she had carefully stored away.


It is an enormous King sized quilt in three large sections and above you can just make out the big hand basting stitches. Gorgeous work, Bev, don't give up on it!


But Bev really wants to do a Tee shirt quilt for her grandson's high school graduation next year.


She has lots of shirts collected!


We worked on graph paper to play with some design decisions. Bev also did some cutting out of the Pellon stabilizer for the 12½" square blocks. It really felt like the project was underway and that the inertia was broken.


Just a little later, Carol, below left, joined us. Carol was helping Sue by clipping apart and neatly stacking the Dresden Plates.


Marjorie came in just as I was leaving, and although she is not pictured here, I was able to show her the cute 6" (when finished in the quilt) Twinkler Blocks that I've been making from scraps.


Here I am holding up a dark and a light Twinkler Block. Each one is made from 2½" scrap squares with a 1½" square sewn across the four flippy corners to form the star. This really is a cute variation of the Friendship Star, but this version was designed by Claudia Plett. Link to picture.


This morning, after I slurped down some delicious Chocolate Cappuchino flavored coffee by New England Coffees, I decided to do "Just One Thing." That meant that I stacked up all my Unwashed Civil War light background 2½" strips and bagged them for my swap. It sure did feel good to get them all sorted. Was I ever ready to sit down and rest, LOL!



Hope that you get to accomplish Just One Thing today, too!
Happy sewing!




3 comments:

Janet O. said...

Hi, Vic! We drove through Alton today and wondered where your senior center is located. We were on our way to Evergreen Country Primitives where we had a nice visit with Camille, and I spent more than I should have. But it is such a great little shop. I loved everything--including Camille! We are going to try to get to the Keepsake sale Friday morning. Do you know what time it starts, and when you will be there?

straythreads said...

You are always having so much fun with your group of quilters and you get so much done!!! love your civil war blocks

Wendy Caton Reed said...

I love your eccentric star! Since "eccentric" is my middle name I didn't have to look very far. Love the Twinkler star blocks as well.

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