Fleece Blanket Time

It's been awhile since I have made a fleece blanket for Project Linus, but the last few evenings have been chilly enough that I wanted a warm project to work on.  Not only does a fleece blanket keep you warm while you are working on it, but it also warms your heart once it has been passed on to a child in need.

You can find full instructions for making fleece blankets like this one at www.skipstitch.com/instructions.

'Tis The Season

Christmas is less than three months away, so you know what that means...it's that time of year when we are all crafting furiously, but we don't dare share too much about our projects for fear of spoiling the surprise.  Showing bits and pieces of projects without explanation makes pretty uninteresting blog posts, but I'm hoping that keeping a few secrets will make the holiday a little more special for a few people on my Christmas list.

Moving Forward

I made it around the detour and I'm moving forward with the Detour Around The Yellow Brick Road quilt.  I'm pleased with the finished top, even if it isn't exactly the pattern that I started out to make.  Now to see if I can quilt it without any detours!

Silent Sunday

Detour Around The Yellow Brick Road

I can't remember how many times over the years I had teachers ask me if I read all of the directions before beginning an assignment.  Apparently not much has changed since my school days.  I started a quilt using the Yellow Brick Road pattern and somewhere along the way I missed the part in the instructions that said, "Leftover strips will be used later".  Translated that means, "Don't sub-cut all of the strips just yet", but I didn't figure that out until after I (yep, you guessed it) cut all of the strip sets.  Thankfully, I was able to design enough blocks from the pieces that I had leftover to finish the quilt.  No, it's not really a Yellow Brick Road quilt now, but I think my Detour Around The Yellow Brick Road is just as nice!
And for those who are wondering if I have learned my lesson about reading directions...probably not.     

Flowers Inside And Out

Last week a few of my quilty friends and I traveled to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY to see a display of quilted wall hangings made by Alice Hunt and to tour the gardens at the Cornell Plantation.  There were beautiful flowers everywhere...inside and out!  If you are anywhere near Ithaca before the end of October, I highly recommend that you take the time to visit the Nevin Welcome Center and see "A Tribute to Flora", you won't be disappointed!

Texture Quilts

The Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild begins it's new year at the September meeting with a whole new slate of officers.  For the next two years I'll will be the Outreach Chairperson and will be heading up all of the guild's charity projects.  I'm excited about this new position and I have several new ideas for how our guild can help people in our community through quilting.
Our first project will be making Texture Quilts.  Not only are these quilts needed by our local nursing homes for patients with dementia or those who are vision impaired, but they will be great stash busters for guild members!  Any fabric with texture or bold patterns can be used in these quilts.  Corduroy, fleece, terrycloth, sateen, seersucker, brocade, lace, flannel, chenille...as long as it can be washed and dried it can be used in these quilts! I made this Texture Quilt as a sample and I was surprised to find that I had so many fabrics that aren't found in quilt shops in my stash!  I think with the help of the guild that we will come up with some very interesting quilts for our local nursing homes!

Silent Sunday

Tumbling Blocks

Tumbling Blocks is my Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt for September.  I don't often say this about my work, but I am proud of this little quilt!  I've been trying to figure out what it is about this quilt that makes it so special to me and I think it's the fact that it is so different from the quilts that I usually make.  I don't think I will ever consider myself an art quilter, but making quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative has given me an opportunity to let my inner artist loose and expand my quilting horizons.  The small scale of the Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts is the perfect venue for trying a new style or technique too!  Why not let your inner artist loose on a Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt and see what happens?

Done!

The forecast lows for the end of the week are for the mid 30's, so I guess I timed the finish of Miss One's shrug just about right!

Chinese Block, Broken Dishes Or ???

About a year ago my cousin, Cheryl, was looking for some information about the quilt pattern in this photo.  We did a little research together and found that it was similar to a Chinese Block or Broken Dishes, but there was a slight variation in the center from the examples that we found.  Cheryl played around with drafting templates for the pattern and even made a few blocks, but the project had been set aside until last week when she saw a post on Barbara Brackman's blog entitled Block Mystery.  The post was devoted to the mysterious Chinese Block and the lack of information available about this beautiful quilt block.  Barbara's post did answer a few of our questions and she noted that there are several variations of the block, but we have yet to find a block like the one that Cheryl's great grandmother made.  Did she draft this variation herself?  It's possible.  Needless to say, this new information has renewed our interest in her Great Grandma Ely's quilt!  I used the block pattern that Barbara provided in her post as a starting point and then drafted a center to match Great Grandma Ely's quilt...I think it's a pretty good match and the best part is that there are no templates involved!  I don't think it will be long before Cheryl and I both have our own reproductions of her great grandmother's quilt.

Silent Sunday

September 2011 Flood

There is no question that we have had a lot of rain here in Pennsylvania over the past couple of days!  There is record flooding going on all around us, but thankfully any flooding in our immediate area hasn't been anything worse than some wet basements and a few creeks that overflowed  their banks.  Our basement has a few inches of water in it, but that is something that we expect when it rains hard for any length of time, so we don't keep anything in the basement that might be damaged by water.  Wellsboro was fortunate compared to many of our neighbors.  Sayre, Athens, Muncy, Hughesville, Montoursville and so many other nearby towns all have large areas that are now completely underwater.  The devastation is heartbreaking!

September 2011 Flood Photo Gallery - WNEP

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, melted butter, peanut butter, egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt just until blended. Spread batter into a greased 9 x 9 pan and top with chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.

Labor Day

Happy Labor Day..."Now bear down on those machines!"

Silent Sunday

Straight Forward

I just have a lot of straight forward straight line sewing to report this week with a couple of very uninteresting photos to accompany the story.  First on the list were new curtain panels and ties that my daughter-in-law had asked me to make for their bedroom.  After the curtains were finished, I moved on to making flat sheets for the lil' cowboy's new "big boy" bed.  He has lots of fitted sheets, but needed a few extra top sheets, so I cut down a large flat sheet to make two toddler bed size sheets.  Like I said, all very straight forward projects with lots of straight line sewing, but I know these curtains and sheets will make some of my favorite people very happy.