Wednesday, December 11, 2019

A Melange


 A few weeks ago I was chasing five deer away from my heirloom roses for the second evening in a row and I slipped in some mud, fell and ended up with a herniated disk and pinched nerve. The deer and rabbits have severely pruned my fruit trees, roses and hydrangeas, darn it.  I'm not sure which varmints have been eating my strawberry plants and hollyhocks.  I read that Irish Spring is supposed to keep deer at bay so my husband went and bought some and put it around in areas of the flower and veggie gardens and hung some in the dwarf peach trees. It must work because the next evening I saw them pause at the edge of the garden and proceeded no further to browse. They stood there for the longest time looking confused. I guess the stench of Irish Spring was too much for them since I haven't seen them since. Its also deer hunting season so they may  be hiding out. 

Needless to say I have not felt like doing much sewing with that pinched nerve and herniated disk but I did take the opportunity to browse through a lot of old quilting magazines. I pulled out any quilts I thought I would make and pitched the rest of the magazine.  Now that I'm all better, thank goodness, I've started a few of those quilts.   

Above is a quilt called String Fling from American Patchwork and Quilting August 2012 designed by Glenn Dragone.  I have been on a red, white, blue quilt kick lately so this appealed to me. I also thought it looked rather vintage and liked that I could use some strings.  I'm not following the pattern because I decided to make smaller blocks (8 inch instead of 9) to use the size of scraps I have to make those HSTs.   I've made all the HSTs I need and have sewn them into four patches and now just have to make the string blocks.  
 I've picked through my strings for red, cream and blue ones and ended up with a large flat rate box of them. 


 This one is from American Patchwork and Quilting April 2016 called Plus Postage. It is designed by Susan Ache.   I thought this one looked rather vintage to me too and I decided it would be a nice Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to make from my 1.5 inch scraps.  
Pattern calls for strip sets but I just cut 1.5 inch squares and sewed them together. 

 Speaking of Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects...I found this Dakota Farmer block designed by Bonnie Hunter in the November/December 2013 issue of Quiltmaker that I will add to my projects to use 2.5 inch scraps. Bonnie's version uses 2 inch scraps but I already have several RSC projects that use 2 inch scraps in the works that will roll over into next year. 
I'm also going to make Nine Patches from 2.5 inch scraps as a RSC project next year. 

One other RSC project I'll add to be made from 2.5 inch scraps is the six inch Hourglass block that happens to be this month's Block Lotto block. 

I made four blocks for the drawing.
 Speaking of Block Lotto...in October I won 22 six inch Maple Leaf blocks. 
 I came across two different table runner patterns in the magazines that use Maple Leaf blocks. The one on the right is probably the one I'll make but I will have to make one more block. While I'm making one more block I might just make five more and then make both table runners. Actually, I'm not sure what size blocks the two runners call for.  I guess I'll read up on that before I make any more blocks. For now both patterns are in a baggie with the blocks.  The pattern on the left called Autumn Breeze was designed by Darlene Zimmerman and appeared in American Patchwork and Quilting August 2012. The one on the right is called Pressed Leaves and was designed by Tonya Alexander. It appeared in McCall's Quilting September/October 2015. 


 I was given a layer cake...at least I think that is what it is. It's a package of about 40 or so 12 inch squares of fabric. I don't buy pre-cuts so I'm never quite sure how to use them effectively with little or no waste. This package of fabric has been around awhile so thought I should use it to make a nice donation quilt. I ran across this pattern in the February/March 2010 edition of McCall's Quilts called Celebrate the Day that uses a layer cake of 10 inch squares. It was designed by Bonnie and Brenda Bailey. I like the name so this pattern got my attention. It is now in the bag with those squares and I'll start on it soon. 
 I'm always looking for ways to use my 30s reproduction fabrics and this colorful pattern called Stash Dash really appealed to me. I've actually been trying to decide if I should use 30s reproductions or some fruit themed fabrics to make this. Maybe I'll make two quilts and use both. My quilt or quilts won't be square, though, so I will probably have a layout of 3 x 4 blocks.  This pattern  was from McCall's quilting May/June 2010 and was designed by Julia LaBaune and Tammy Silvers. 

Minnie's Hummingbird appeared in the July/August 2011 issue of Quiltmaker. It was made by Minnie Jacoby Schultz c. 1930.  I liked this pattern because it uses templates and is pieced. I've seen versions of this block that are paper pieced but don't really like paper piecing so this really appealed to me as another way to use 30s reproduction fabrics. I'm going to make a throw size not a large bed size. I have about three yards of Kona Yarrow I was thinking of using for the background but that is not enough. I may just piece the four parts of the block that use the 30s fabrics and save the curved background piecing that finishes up the blocks for later.  Then I can decide if I want to buy more Kona Yarrow or use some other color.  There is also an updated version of the quilt by Peg Spradin in the same article that uses four patches and then appliqued curved pieces to form the block. I still prefer the template with piecing version. 


And finally I pieced a couple of six inch Hearts for a woman who recently lost her husband.  Members of the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild shower members who lose a loved one with hearts in colors of their choosing.  Sue requested light yellow and turquoise on any color background. I really don't have that many "light" fabrics but I guess "light" is relative. 

11 comments:

gayle said...

Oh, dear. I had nearly completed my RSC2020 list of ideas, and now I'm going to have to start over... (Thanks?)
Glad you're feeling better. Darn deer.

mangozz said...

So sorry to hear of your back problems. I've never had a herniated disk before, but pinched nerves and muscle spasms are really painful. I'm glad to hear that you are feeling better now. I've always wanted to make a hummingbird quilt, as I love the way they look, but I was going to wait until I had an acrylic template, which would make it so much easier. Are you planning to finish anything in particular before the end of the year? By the way, it's nice to have you back!

Louise said...

Glad to hear things are starting to improve, at least enough for you to be thinking, planning and blogging. Lots of great patterns here! I hate the smell of Irish Spring, too, so you don't need to worry about me sneaking into your garden and stealing your fruit :)

Ann said...

I'm so sorry you were injured and hope you continue to improve. All the quilt ideas look lovely but the Hummingbird pattern appeals most to me. How nice to have enough of the yarrow fabric for the background.

MissPat said...

I sympathize completely with your deer and rabbit problem. I have bushes and shrubs that look like lollipop trees because the deer have totally browsed the lower parts. Good luck with the Irish Spring. That hasn't worked for me. Glad you are feeling better and getting back to the sewing routine.
Pat

Cathy said...

Oh my! So sorry to hear you were injured, but glad you’re feeling better now. With the Holidays approaching, that’s no time to be down. You’ve picked a lot of wonderful projects for the coming year. If I can’t narrow down my list, I may have that many too!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I'm glad you are feeling better. I have a sciatic issue caused by degeneration of the stuff between lower back disc so I know how much pain you have been suffering with. I have put off thinking of what to do in 2020 until after the holidays.
Merry Christmas
Carol

Pamela Arbour said...

Oh wow1 What an ordeal. I am glad you are feeling better and you really made good use of your time. I hope to go through my many stacks of magazines and books in the near future and I will probably toss the magazines if I don't think I will make anything from them. Oh wait, I can use them for foudation piecing! LOL

Julierose said...

So happy to hear that you are feeling better each day now...
I love looking through old mags--don't you think they had a better selection of patterns to make than the current ones--I find the ones on our news stands now very disappointing...anyhow, [just my opinion;)))] I like the ones you've chosen to make..especially that Plus Postage --you know how I L O V E squares to work with...hugs Julierose

Quiltdivajulie said...

Sorry to hear that you landed in the mud and hurt yourself - bad deer! Take care and it's great to see you planning new projects.

Nann said...

Oh, ouch! Hope you're healing. But you certainly made good use of the down time to plan so many projects.