Civil War Tribute, Month 8

Again today, I was able to work in some sewing time, in between canning more green chili.  I had the next month's block for the Civil War Tribute Block 8 already cut out before traveling, so all I had to do was sit down and begin sewing.

Month 8 block is a 12" block, and the pattern calls for  4 of them to be made.  I managed to only get one done today.  Even though only one was made today, it still gets me in the sewing room for a while, and gets me my sewing "fix" for the little addiction I have when it comes to spending time in my sewing room!

Warmest...

Land of Lincoln Sampler Block 9

I returned home mid-afternoon, Saturday, took a day of rest, and then hit the ground running today.  You see, I visit my parents who are in New Mexico.  While I am there, I always purchase large amounts of frozen red and green chili, and then stuff it all in a seprate suitcase and bring it home.  This time was no exception.  I brought back 45 pounds of green chili, and 50 pounds of red chili.  So today, I had to begin putting it "up" (which means getting it canned), so we can use it over the next couple of years.

Today, I woke up and started the long day processing/canning the some of the green chili into a sauce with cubed pork.  Each batch (6 quarts or  12 pints) takes about 3 hours to process .  I did 4 batches today, and  the next two days I will be busy finishing up the remainder of chili.

I did this block this evening, while the final batch was cooking in the pressure cooker, I stitched up Block 9 of the UFO BOM, Land of Lincoln.  This block is called "Yankee Puzzle".  Fortuntally, I had the block cut out before leaving town, so I was able to just sit down at the machine and just start sewing.  This block is super easy, using just half square triangles, and flying geese units.  Placement of the units and the placement of the fabric, makes the block look like a pinwheel.

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More Antique Quilts

Yesterday, I spoke about the wonderful antique quilts found in the Oncologist's waiting room.  After we were called back to the patient rooms,  we were genuinely surprised again with more quilts.

This was hanging on the wall in the area where the patients get weighed.  It is all done is silk squares.  As we all know, silk from back then did not hold up well through the years.  This one was not exception.  There is more shredding of the material at the top blocks than the ones at the bottom of the quilt.  All in all, it is still a fabulous piece using silk for the material.

This just lovely log cabin quilt was hanging over a love seat in the second waiting room (one for patients getting chemo.  If you look real hard there are some bed runners draped over the chairs opposite side of the love seat also done in the log cabin blocks and the same materials.  I think it is a complete set for a double bed.

This is a close up of one of the blocks in the above quilt.

The final surprise came when we were seated in the patient room.  The fabric looks like it came from the 30's.  At least the green borders look to be from that time era.  I not sure what the pattern is for the blocks, but it wouldn't be too hard to reproduce, if one would want to try this quilt.

Tis is a close up of the block used in this quilt.  

All of these quilts were hand stitched and hand quilted, making them more meaningful.  And, I still think these quilts are at home in this office, bringing comfort to those having to come for treatment.

Warmest...

Nice Doctor's Waiting Room

While visiting my folks these last two weeks, I had an opportunity go on a visit with them to see a doctor.  Let me tell you it was such a pleasant surprise to see the decor in this waiting room.  There were old, antique quilts everywhere.

These are not the best picture, but I wanted to show how they were hanging on the walls in the waiting room.  As you can see the ceilings are very high with windows way up high letting in the perfect light.

Here are the close ups of both quilts respectively, and it looks like the first one is a friendship quilt, where individuals made a block and stitched their names in the center, then bordered it with half square triangle blocks.  

The second one, each block is embroidered with each of the states flower and the name of the state below the flowers.  And, it looks like each block is bordered by flying geese blocks.

 This nice, scalloped quilt didn't appear to be as old, but it was all hand stitched and hand quilted.  This was one of my favorites in the waiting room.

This quilt was also hand stitched and hand tied.  It consisted of different kind of wools.  The backing was just a plain white muslin.

This piece was odd to me, as the dresden plate block was padded and sewn on a strip of fabric.  

Here is one on the back of another waiting room sofa.  It was just a hodge lodge of pieces sewn together, with not particular pattern.

I asked the receptionist about the quilts in the waiting room and she told me that the doctor's family had collected them over the years, and decided to display them in the office so they could enjoy them daily and share them with the patients.

This is a Oncologist, a cancer doctor, so I think the quilts bring great comfort to those going through this painful and heartbreaking times.

More tomorrow...

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Hand Quilting

Remember when I said I would be doing some hand quilting on the UFO Project #2 wallhanging?  Well, I haven't been getting much done, in fact, none.  But during the SuperBowl, I did manage to go around once on the outside border.  I started out using dark blue thread, but it made the wallhanging look dirty.  So I switched to a red thread, actually it is a top-stitch thread by DMC.  I think it looks much better.  

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Up, Up, and Away

Yes, I am flying out this Saturday for a nice visit with my parents for the next two weeks.  I will be out of touch for the most part with posting anything on the blog.  I am taking some hand work, actually I am going to hand quilt my UFO Project #2 while I am visiting, so maybe you can get some glimpses of my progress during the next two weeks.

Click here to see all of the posts regarding this project, and here is a picture of the wallhanging I will be working on.

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FQS Mystery BOM #9

This is block 9 of the Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer BOM program for 2013.  This is the second house in this BOM, and I am liking each one so far.

At first I thought it was going to be only basket blocks, but then the blocks were just general in nature, and now we have been doing blocks that are houses.  It will be real interesting to see what the whole quilt will turn out to be, as this program every year never fails in coming out just perfect and beautiful.

If you would like to see the other blocks in this BOM, just click on the label at the end of this post "Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer BOM 2013", and it will bring up all the past posts and pictures in the series.

Warmest...