Decking the halls

I haven't done too much Christmas decorating, as we'll be visiting relatives. Why decorate an empty house? I found this banner at a thrift store a few years back, and I love the retro look! God Jul, I believe, is Swedish and/or Norwegian for Good Yule, or Good Christmas. Since I'm 25% Swedish, I somehow can relate to it. Isn't the cat just too cute??! Below is the bottom half of the banner.

The photo below are some aprons that I've collected over the years, mostly from thrift stores. When Christmas is over, I'll put up some different aprons. The middle one, which isn't specifically Christmas, has feedsack and 1930's/1940's fabrics, and even some older fabrics in the waistband. Maybe I'll replicate it someday....it is just made up of squares and bound with rick-rack.

Shopping thrift stores for these types of things has a few advantages: First of all, there are real bargains. In addition, you can find some really unique things. You won't find Scandinavian banners or vintage aprons at Walmart! These kinds of things have real character. Third, trolling Thrift Stores is cheap entertainment, at least for me. You just never know what you'll find. It's downright addicting!

Louise

Carolina Christmas taking shape

This is step #5 from Bonnie Hunter's mystery, Carolina Christmas. http://quiltville.com/carolinachristmas5.shtml

The top photo is the block Fox and Geese, and the bottom one is Poinsettia Star. I'd prefer more contrast with the Fox and Geese blocks, but I'll wait and see how Bonnie put them all together. If mine looks too "muddy" because of inadequate contrast, I may consider making two smaller quilts, perhaps adding sashing to create more definition.

I do like the vintage and snuggly feel of the colors, however.

Louise

Carolina Christmas, part #3

I've been working on part #3 of Bonnie's Caroline Christmas. There are lots and lots of units like these, and I can't wait to finish them all so I can look at part #4! I originally planned to use a medium blue for the center part, but there just wasn't enough contrast between that blue and the red, so I found some light blue shirts. I like these much better! I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

While looking in my bins for the right shirts, I realized I have more than enough shirts for now! I'm still going to look for black (or dark indigo) shirts and orange shirts, however. I saw a photo of an antique quilt using this combination and it was very striking! I'm thinking of a future Halloween quilt, with an antique feel!

Louise

Carolina Christmas, step #1 and #2

I've been working on Bonnie's Carolina Christmas. I'm using light neutrals where Bonnie is using gold and I got brave (or impulsive), and decided on using red as my background. I love the look of antique quilts that have a red background, and that's my inspiration. Once I got going, I didn't see much contrast between the red and the green, but as the smaller units turned into bigger units, the look of the subtle contrast grew on me. I'm really curious how this will turn out! I'm using green for Bonnie's green, and blue for Bonnie's red. The photo shows step #1 and the finished product of step #2.

Well, more sewing to do to get ready for step #3!

Louise

Carolina Christmas

Bonnie Hunter is starting her new mystery, Carolina Christmas, tomorrow. Do I really need to start a new project? Of course not. But, Bonnie's mysteries are fun and I want to participate.

I've challenged myself to use only recycled clothing for this project, except for the batting. For several months now, I've been picking up 100% cotton clothing from thrift stores really cheap, mostly from their clearance sales or from bag sales. I now have a few bins full of clothes, so I really need to do something to pare down my supply!

Below are my choices...red, blue, green and a light neutral. My cat approves, too! I don't know how I'll position each color yet. I'm so tired right now after hours cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but tomorrow my only plans are to start on this quilt.

I'm looking forward to giving myself a mini-retreat and getting some sewing done. Does anyone else feel guilty and selfish if they sew all day? I do sometimes and don't know why. I think if I got more UFOs done I'd feel better about starting a new project. Heck, I'm just going to have fun tomorrow playing with fabric!

Louise

Dressing up

I haven't posted anything for almost a month....where oh where does time go?! I have two projects I'm working on, and they both have deadlines.

The first is a Halloween costume. It's been several years (or a few decades!) since I've dressed up for Halloween, and it's been fun making this costume.


I'm making the apron and the hat from this "pioneer" pattern (circa 1989), which I found at a thrift store. The fabric (shown behind the pattern) was from Joanns. It's a reproduction fabric that I had in my stash, but is a bit too thin for quilts. It must've been really inexpensive because I bought several yards of it, which I need for this pattern! I'm making the apron and the hat from that fabric, and I found a black dress at a thrift store to wear under it. I'll be adding a ruffle on the hem of the dress to lengthen it (cut from a pair of thrift store pants) and I'll be embellishing the dress with lace from a thrift store blouse. Can you tell that I'm no stranger to thrift stores? It's fun to try to be creative (and cheap!), and it will be a unique costume, unlike what the chain stores are selling. I'm glad I'm enjoying sewing this, because I've put several hours into it, and it's still not done!

I love anything old, so I think I'll really like this costume, providing it all comes together as planned! You never can tell with garments, though.....that is one of the reasons why I quit sewing my own clothes. I don't like to "tailor" things to get them to fit right.

In the spirit of Halloween, here is an old photo of my Grandma, from about 1920, all dressed up in a clown costume looking very sweet. I would love to know the story behind this photo!


I'd love to see other old "costume" photos if anyone has any.







My other project is for our upcoming Quilt Show, but I really can explain it better when I have a photo of the finished product. I'm almost done with that one.




Louise

Sewing all day

I spent most of today sewing. I sandwiched 3 quilts and sewed a pieced backing for a 4th one. It feels so good to make progress. I need to make time for these short sewing "retreats" more often.

One of the ones I sandwiched was the string quilt pictured above. I used up some thin, lower-quality muslin to foundation piece them. These blocks were fun to make, but looking at my still-overflowing string bin, I don't think I used up any of the strings! I'd also like to make a military string quilt using blue centers.

The quilt below was made around 1900. It has a hole all the way through it a few inches wide, and other area in need of repair, which was probably why it was so inexpensive. It should be easy to fix. I have a small assortment of antique scraps that I can use. I intend to applique a small square on the back the same red as the backing, nestle a little cotton batting on it, applique a small piece on the front to match the fabric, then put a few quilting stitches on it to pull it all together. If I'm careful, it should blend in just fine.

I just love these 1900 fabrics, and antique quilts really inspire me. This one has a lot of black mourning print fabric. The pattern is not simple, but it's possible. It's full of diamonds and set-in seams, so might be easier to hand piece than machine piece.

I have a few other older quilts I'll share from time to time. I keep them in my "cat free" guest room. My cats have the run of the rest of the house!

Louise