OMG finish for September

My OMG for this month was to piece the t-shirt quilt.  I finished it just in time!  I had to order more sashing fabric. It arrived on Wednesday.  This afternoon (Thursday) provided sewing time.  This is a big quilt -- 82 x 86.
I have 4 yards of  yellow/gray/black floral but that won't be enough for the back. I'm auditioning possibilities of other prints to go with the floral.

I s'pose that I can go ahead and declare that quilting this will be my OMG for October!

Here's the linkup at Heidi's blog:

OMG September



   

Weekly update: pinwheels and asters

My favorite part of our lakefront is Camp Logan, the middle unit of Illinois Beach State Park .  Yesterday there were whitecaps on the lake.  On my trail walk I saw a frog in the grass. The asters are beautiful.

I won the giveaway in Cynthia's Orphan Adoption. Isn't this FQ bundle cheery?

I ran out of sashing fabric for the t-shirt quilt (see previous post).  I needed two strips for the top and bottom border.  Two local quilt shops did not have that specific print so I ordered more online.
While I wait for that I went back to the scrappy pinwheels.  

What I thought I'd do was make a skinny dark inner border and use the cream-on-cream fabric for the outer border.  However, I cut the setting triangles much larger than I needed. I didn't have enough of the COC for borders.  I could have no border, but I'd like the quilt to be a bit larger. (The flimsy is about 46 x 66.)

 I went to two visitations and a funeral last week for a 28-year-old woman (daughter of friends) and two friends' husbands (aged 68 and 80).  Sorrow and memories of lives well-lived.

Monday linkups:
Oh Scrap
Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Design Wall Monday

Orphan winners! and OMG progress

My Orphan Adoption was instructive.  What I learned was that people don't follow the instructions! I stated than in order to qualify to win the entrant needed to state which of the two sets of blocks she (or he) wanted and to provide her email address.  More than one person said "either set" and more than one person was a "no-reply" blogger.

However, other entrants did follow the instructions.  I used a random number generator to choose the winners.

Karen won the New York Beauty blocks.  Her blog is  Tu-Na Quilts .

Cathy in California won the Barn Dance blocks.

Congratulations to both Karen and Cathy -- and thanks to everyone who entered!



* * * * * * * *
I wrote that I needed to get going on my September OMG project:  Karleigh's t-shirt quilt.  Eva M was the high bidder for the t-shirt quilt I offer at the Rotary golf outing silent auction. Her granddaughter Karleigh brought the t-shirts over on Labor Day weekend.  I finally got to cutting and fusing and assembling.  Here's the result thus far.

Vintage quilt inheritance

 Linda B hosted P.E.O. on Monday.  It was the first business meeting of the year and it was great to see everyone again! We live from one end of Lake County to the other (Linda B and I are at diagonal corners) and we're busy with families, jobs, church activities, and travels.

Linda's parents-in-law, Ruth and Dick, passed away earlier this year so her summer included helping to allocate the household goods.  She and her husband inherited five quilts.  Linda W (also a quilter) and I were delighted to see them.

 One was made from old clothing (early 20th century) [no photo] and two were made from 1930's fabrics. Here is one:

Linda B and Linda W with Grandpa Geist's quilt

 Two quilts took our breath away.

This log cabin has no batting. The fabric appears to be lightweight wool.  You can see a tag pinned to the lower left corner. It says, "Quilt from Grandpa Geist."  (That was Ruth's grandfather.  Ruth was born in Pennsylvania.)










Ruth's father was pastor of the Edison Park Evangelical & Reformed Church, later Edison Park United Church of Christ,  (The church closed this year: see this story).  Linda thinks that members of that congregation made this wonderful quilt.  The names are written in calligraphy, all by the same person.  The "wheels" were drawn in pencil, the names were inked in, and then the green outline embroidery was added.

Linda W and I urged Linda B to have these two quilts appraised and to label them with as much as she knows about them.  She said that she will!

Weekly Update: Winter Stars and what sneaked in

Winter Stars is now a flimsy. It's 64 x 64 and used 5 yds.  This will be raffled to benefit AAUW projects.

(A tip o' the hat to you who provided advice for the border print. Thanks!) 
















Look what sneaked up on the design wall.  I've been making 2-1/2" HSTs as leaders-and-enders. Some of them became pinwheels, and lo and behold, another quilt is in process.


What I need to get going on is the t-shirt quilt that's my September OMG. The sashing and border fabric I ordered from Fabrics.com came in mid-week. No excuses, but with evening meetings M W Th I will have limited sewing time.






See what other quiltmakers are working on at these linkups:
Patchwork Times
Cooking Up Quilts
Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
Love Laugh Quilt

Weekly update: last days of summer and the Harvest Moon

More than 600 people turned out for the third Community of Character Walk on Thursday evening. I walked (it was about a mile) and helped staff the Rotary booth.  

I made time this week for a beach walk.  I truly love living adjacent to Lake Michigan.

Gulls' night out 

I went back to the beach Friday evening to see the Harvest Moon rise.  Clouds obscured the "pop" over the horizon but it wasn't long before the moon was visible.

Harvest Moon over the water

It's adoption time!

When Cynthia at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework announced the 2016 Orphan Adoption Event I knew I'd be on board.

I reviewed the contents of the box o' blocks -- that's my name for the box of orphan blocks and "units" (four-patches, HSTs, and other pieces left over from projects).  I have chosen two sets of blocks for adoption.

If you would like a chance to win, leave a message in the comments by Wednesday, September 21.  State your preference.  If you write "either," you are not eligible. I will use a random number generator to choose the winners.  (I will pay postage (U.S. addresses only).  I need your email address to notify you. If you do not provide your email address then you are not eligible.)

SET 1:   Barn Dance blocks. These were a guild mystery several years ago.  Blocks are 13.5" unfinished.

SET 2:  New York Beauty blocks. These were prototypes for a quilt I made earlier this year. Blocks are 8.5" unfinished.

Weekly update: RSC and a new project

The red block in the upper left is the "claret" block for September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I love the way this year's blocks look together!  These are 12.5" unf.  and each print is used just once. I will make the one-block-per-month and eight extras for a 20-block quilt (4 x 5 setting).  I may change my mind . . .

I got the t-shirts cut out for my September OMG. I shopped for sashing/border fabric at the quilt show. I found a FQ of a gray/white/yellow/black print that would be just right but all the vendor had was that FQ. The one I bought had the designer info on the selvedge and I ordered more at Fabrics.com.

Here's the project on my design wall this evening.  I make a quilt that's raffled at the AAUW holiday luncheon.  Previous versions have been red/green/white. This year it's winter night-themed. The star centers are actually a subtle snowflake-and-light blue on white. I got the idea from a project in the Keepsake Catalog. (Their kit has batiks. I'm using a variety of non-batik dark blues.)  The large stars are 8" and the small stars are 4". The finished quilt will be 62" x 62."

I'm linking up with other quilters here:
Rainbow Scrap Challenge
Oh Scrap
Main Crush Monday
 Design Wall Monday
 Monday Making

Wisconsin Quilt Expo 2016 (inspiration plus retail therapy)

The Wisconsin Quilt Expo , produced by Nancy Zieman/Nancy's Notions and Wisconsin Public Television, has become a major regional show.  Madison is an easy drive from home, but this time I joined a bus tour sponsored by Buttons and Bolts, a local-ish quilt shop, on Friday.



Bucky Badger and the UW pep band opened the show in fine style.

I set off on my own in the show hall.

My quilt "Stars in Her Crown" was on exhibit. It's the first time I've had a quilt in a juried show.
I met up with friends.











 Karen is the listmom for the Block Swappers group. She's also on the Baseball Swap and Stashbusters email lists. She's also a Quilts of Valor coordinator for Wisconsin.














Anna is one of the Magpies. She lives in a small town at the other end of Chicagoland. We need to travel out of state to see one another.  We're raising a toast to another Magpie whose birthday was that day.
.
Dorothy is an AAUW friend. She had a quilt on exhibit, too.





Here are some of the many wonderful quilts.  Traditional, contemporary, modern.  Small, medium, large.


This is three-dimensional.

"Nano-strips" (about 1/16" each)

And the retail therapy? Yes, I indulged!

The five black/white packages are panels with drawings of lighthouses -- Lake Superior, Apostle Islands, Lake Michigan.  We've been to many of them.  (I think these may become placemats.)  The panels are produced for Orchard's Edge, the quilt shop in Bayfield, WI. (I shopped there earlier this summer.)

I am shopping for yellow and gray prints for the t-shirt quilt I wrote about last week. Here's the start.

 And these are "just because" -- in this case, just because they were a good price for quality fabric.

I did not spend $50 at Nancy's Notions so I didn't get this tote bag -- but I think the sentiment is great!