Friendship Star Finish

 

It's a finish!

Friendship Star

60 x 72

I made a variety of Friendship Star quilts back in 2022 for my granddaughter's friends after she passed away unexpectedly from "probable cardiac arrhythmia" (per autopsy). Most of the scraps I used to make this quilt are left over from making those 2022 quilts. 

I quilted it with swirls of black. 

The back and binding are the same fabric I used in the alternate blocks with the orange batik in the quilt top. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alicia Quilts

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For the last several days our internet has been up and down and when it has been up it has been slower than molasses. They have been installing fiber optic out here in the country the last several months but we weren't scheduled to be hooked up for awhile. Since we were experiencing problems they came today to hook us up and, wow, what a difference that made! High speed internet!

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Finished a book! Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. A Russian woman lives through the siege of Leningrad and a concentration camp. She loses her family. Fast forward to the future. She marries and has two daughters who know nothing of her past until one day... I learned a lot about the siege of Leningrad.

***

Oh joy! I received a box from Ann today full of a lot of comfort quilt backings! 

***

John decided he wanted to try growing saffron crocus. It blooms in autumn. It is not reliably hardy here in zone 5b so he is growing in pots we will bring in for the winter. 

Here is the saffron he has harvested so far. I am going to have to look up some recipes because I have never used saffron. 

A Friendship Star Top

 

It's a top! 

Friendship Star

60 x 72

It kept blowing in the wind so it was difficult to get a good photo. 

I finished all of the 12 inch Friendship Star blocks in March of 2023 and put them in my SAR (Some Assembly Required) bin of complete block sets. 

Now it can be moved to the TBQ (To Be Quilted) pile. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alicia Quilts

Month End Miscellany

Month End Miscellany

Quilting

Last month when I was putting together a flimsy I came across a few 12 inch Friendship Star blocks plus some cut pieces, a few HSTs and fabrics to finish blocks for a Friendship Star quilt similar to some of the ones I made for my granddaughter Kayla's friends last year after she passed away. 

The Friendship Star was started for my other granddaughter Isabelle but I gave her a different quilt instead - the Pickle Dish wedding quilt I had stored away in the hope chest for Kayla. 

Well, anyway, I decided to finish up the 30 blocks for a quilt as leader /enders this month even though it did not fit my '30s theme. 

Now the blocks will go into the SAR (Some Assembly Required) box to be assembled another day.

And, yes, there are some marijuana leaves on that black fabric. I bought the fabric online last year and did not notice the leaves at that time. I guess I will have to be choosey about the recipient when I give the quilt away.  

Actually I live in Iowa in the country and once in awhile I've seen a wild marijuana plant pop up out of nowhere. I guess it's called ditch weed; however, it is probably hemp. During WWII hemp was grown in Iowa. "Hemp for Victory" was an urgent appeal. We needed rope for naval towlines, webbing for parachutes, thread for shoes.    

I don't just see ditch weed pop up from time to time - I also see lots of wildflowers appear out of nowhere too like American Bellflower, Daisy Fleabane, Blue Aster, Yarrow and Goldenrod. (Those I let stay in the gardens here and there). 

Gardening

So far the only thing blooming outside is the crocus and they have survived several snowfalls. 

Species crocus have naturalized in the lawn and larger crocus appear along the pathway here and there in the cottage garden. 

I'm thinking this year I'm  going to make a scrapbook of BLOOMS.   I have a lot of old scrapbooking supplies as well as empty scrapbooks. I have several years worth of old seed and plant catalogs and old seed packets. I have pictures of my garden flowers. I'm thinking it would be fun to catalog all the flowers I grow.

Last year instead of planting onions from sets we planted onion plants we purchased online from a farm that specializes in onions.  We were pleased with the results and ordered from them again this year. And they have arrived already! Hopefully within the next week the weather will cooperate so I can get them all planted. My hubby has outpatient surgery again on April 3 for esophageal dilation (fourth surgery since Nov. 9) so I don't think he will feel much like helping. 

We found the Patterson onions to be large and good keepers. I still have some of last years crop and I think those will last me until this year's crop is ready to harvest.   Some of these will be planted closer together and harvested as green onions. 

I eat at least one raw onion almost every day. You might want to read up on the health benefits of onion! We also eat a lot of them cooked. 

I also have my seed potatoes. According to folklore potatoes yield better crops if planted on Good Friday. You know, I actually try to do that if I'm able and Good Friday is close enough to the last frost date. Not sure what will happen this year.

Winter Sowing

I winter sow a lot of seeds and have been doing it for years. If you don't know about winter sowing there is a public Facebook group about it.   I've been sowing a few different kinds of seeds every week or so since January. The first seeds I sow are usually wildflowers that need 30-60 days of cold stratification.  This month I sowed:

March 1 -- Sweet Peas - Beaujolais, Grandiflora Mix, Flora Norton, Miss Willmott, King's High Scent.

 

March 2 -- Butterhead lettuce - May Queen, Sanguine Ameliore, Gustav's Salad; Romaine - Forellenschluss; Forget Me Not and Charter's Double and Creme de Cassis Hollyhock. 

March 15 - Band of Nobles Lupine, Calendula Mix and Calendula Flashback

March 29 - Snapdragons - Tall Deluxe, Black Prince, Chantilly; Calendula Butterfly Mix and Touch of Red Buff; Borage, Shasta Daisy, China Aster.

Books Read This Month

I like to read a lot of historical novels especially those based on true stories. I like stories set in Ireland during the famine, the depression era in the U.S. and WWII.  I like to read stories about survival, bravery, courage and human kindness.  I often ask myself if I could be so brave, courageous or kind with my own survival in question. I wonder how my ancestors survived.  And every once in awhile I like a good old fashioned mystery, legal thriller or psychological thriller. 

1. The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew - novel set in 1954 in the segregated South. 

2. The Wife Who Risked Everything by Ellie Midwood - WWII historical fiction based on the true story of the Rosenstrasse protest. 

3. Growing Wild In The Shade by Jean Grainger - Book 2 of the Irish Garda Mags Munroe Mystery series.

4. Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeny.   - I'm surprised I read all the way to the end of this mystery thriller. I did learn something new I had never heard of before - prosopagnosia. 

5. The Girl on the Platform by Elie Midwood - WWII historical fiction based on the true story of Libertas and Harro Schulze-Boysen.

6. The Orphans of Amsterdam by Elle VanRijn - WWII historical fiction based on the true story of Betty Oudkerk and others who saved children from the Nazis. 

7. The Girl Who Escaped Auschwitz by Ellie Midwood - WWII historical fiction based on the true story of Mala Zimetbaum. 

8. The Little Orphan Girl by Sandy Taylor - historical fiction set in Ireland 1901, the story of a girl who leaves the Irish workhouse at the age of 6 and grows up.

And sew on...

Looking forward to April where the theme in my little sewing space will be Strings, Crumbs and Orphans.

 

Friendship Star Comfort Quilts

I've finished five Friendship Star comfort quilts for my recently deceased granddaughter Kayla's friends.

Each finishes at 60 x 72 and each consists of thirty 12 inch Friendship Star blocks. 

I made three quilts in a Friendship Star Variation because that is how many I figured I could make with a black solid I had on hand. I guess I estimated correctly because after I finished 90 blocks for these three quilts I had about a 3 inch wonky piece left over. 

I also used up most of my yellow chunks of fabric making blocks for three quilts.

I also used up a little pile of rainbow colored fabrics I had set aside for a donation quilt. Then I used up most of my multicolor peace sign fabrics I've had for ages. And I found a few other rainbow-ish looking fabrics and scraps to use. 

Then I made two Friendship Star quilts alternating dark and colorful backgrounds.  I had ordered a couple of bolts of fabric that took forever to get here and I originally intended to make Friendship Stars in just two fabrics (black with rainbow print and orange confetti looking batik) reversed in alternate blocks. 

While I was waiting for the bolts to arrive I continued on with my rainbow fabrics and used it for the background and a piece of black with rainbow polka dots for the Stars. I had that black with polka dots set aside as a donation quilt backing. 

Well, then my bolts of fabric arrived and gosh...I knew it had peace signs on it but I didn't remember that it had what looked like a marijuana leaf on it in rainbow colors. I guess I can play the old lady card and pretend I thought it was a beautiful autumn leaf.  Or I can put a disclaimer with the quilt that says just because the fabric has a marijuana leaf on it doesn't mean that this grandma condones the use of it. 

Well, anyway, I went ahead and used it as the background and the orange batik for the Stars in alternate blocks. Out of rainbow fabrics I used a few batik fabrics I had for the dark star backgrounds in the second quilt of this variety. 

I have a partial set of blocks made for the sixth and final Friendship Stars quilt but I wanted to get these five quilts out to her friends as soon as possible. The sixth quilt is for my other granddaughter Isabelle who is five weeks older than Kayla and Kayla's best friend. I'm thinking I will not only give Isabelle a Friendship Star quilt but finish Kayla's high school graduation quilt for her too.  I had just dug out Kayla's graduation quilt UFO to work on in December. Isabelle's graduation quilt has been in the hope chest for quite some time but I never got around to finishing Kayla's. 

I used a third bolt of fabric I ordered for the backings. I had enough for four quilts and I used the orange batik as a backing for the fifth quilt and for the binding on all of the quilts. I quilted all of them on my DSM with spirals in a variegated thread called Sunset. 

Labeled.

And I made a few pocket hugs to go with the quilts. I've made some of these in the past and also have called them pocket prayer quilts. 

 

And Then There Were 90 Friendship Stars

 

90 Friendship Star Blocks for Plan B

I don't listen to music or watch TV while sewing. I like the silence. The hum of the sewing machine, rhythm of the needle and colors and patterns of fabric passing by are both mesmerizing and soothing and clears the mind. Sometimes, however; a few of the marbles rolling around in the brain bump together and spark a thought which sparks another and before I know it a lyrical essay has been written in my mind. 

I was thinking of how I made all of these blocks and I still have not received the fabric I actually ordered to make these blocks- 2 fabrics so blocks in all these quilts for my granddaughter's grieving friends would be all the same and I wouldn't have to think about which fabrics to use from my stash. I have blocks for three out of five quilts made and my fabric order still has not arrived. I was thinking about how it is so easy to expect instant gratification and to throw patience out the door. 

I started making my own clothes back in high school. I attended Catholic school before that and wore a uniform so didn't have any school clothes. It cost too much money to go to Catholic High School so I had to go to public high school. I was the oldest of five and we lived with our Dad who didn't really think we needed many clothes - maybe a nice dress or two for Sunday Mass. 

Back then, before big box stores, it was cheaper to make clothes than to buy them. My paternal grandmother who lived at a distance taught me to sew. The first piece of clothing I made was an aqua broadcloth V-neck jumper with lining and zipper. I don't know how many times I had to model the darned thing that summer after sixth grade. Every time a friend or relative came over to visit grandma bragged about my jumper and that led to me modeling it. For years afterwards I was known to grandma's friends and my older relatives I didn't see very often as "the one who sews". 

 I grew up before credit cards and the internet. I babysat for a number of families from the ages of 13-16. Most of that money went into a passbook savings account - saving for a car or college or a few Christmas presents for my siblings. I had a job working a soda fountain in the summer and weekends when I was 15 and later when I was 16 I worked evenings, holidays and weekends and summers at the pie counter of a busy cafeteria.  I took my paycheck straight to the bank and put most of it right into the savings account. I had to take my passbook with me - a little blue book in a plastic folder - and the teller would hand write in the passbook the amount to added (or subtracted) from my total. I learned to count my money once it was in hand to make sure it totaled the amount subtracted from my passbook.  One paycheck was not usually enough to buy myself any fabric to make a dress or skirt (at that time girls wore dresses or skirts at least knee length to public high school, not pants, believe it or not) so I had to save up for my fabric. I usually bought fabric at the J.C. Penney store. (I later bought my record albums there too). I especially remember the brown plaid wool I bought to make a drindl skirt with buttons down the front. I was so proud of the way I matched the plaid in the seams and of the buttonholes I made for the first time. I used repurposed buttons. And I also saved up to buy some brown yarn to knit a sweater to match. That was the first and last piece of clothing I knit. I found crochet to be a lot easier. 

So now I've kind of come full circle. With retirement I don't have much money for fabric and I sometimes have to wait for it when I do buy it. In the meantime I can make do and have not come to expect instant gratification. My fabric will be here when it will be here. 

 

A Finish: Homespun Fun!

 Homespun Fun

54 x 78

Machine quilted and tied

 Most of the Friendship Stars made of homespun fabrics and muslin were swapped long ago.  When Bonnie Hunter was running her mystery this year I decided to make the units she gave in the clues to advance some of my UFOs forward and skip the mystery.    Around the same time the Stashbuster Yahoo group was talking about an Irish Chain Challenge to bust stash.   And so that's how I decided to make the nine patch units and add them to the Friendship Stars in an Irish Chain layout. 

I quilted it on the diagonal in the muslin areas which left the star and nine patch homespuns  without quilting. That was okay for the nine patch blocks but left a little less quilting in the star blocks so I tied them in the center with perle #8. 

This will be a donation quilt for a guy when the time is right. Seems like a lot of male family and friends were hit by prostate cancers and such last year so I'll be glad to have one handy for giving although I hope I don't have a need to give it away under such circumstances. 

And now that I see this picture up close it looks like I might wash it again. The Color Catcher came out just a little gray and dingy looking with no color. I thought the muslin looked a little dingy but I chalked that up to using a gray backing and it possibly showing through to the front.  But now that I see the photo it looks like there might be a little bit of bleeding like around the green/blue star.  I hope it's just an optical illusion. It's difficult to wash quilts by hand around here now that I have the wringer washer.  (Actually, if you asked any of the men in my life if they saw anything wrong with the quilt they wouldn't even notice a little bleeding or dingy muslin. They would think something was wrong if it wasn't long enough to cover them properly while in a reclining position.) 

This was my goal # 7

for 

2018 Finish-Along

and

18 in 2018

Today I'm linking up to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 

It's a Flimsy - Homespun Fun!

Homespun Fun

It's a flimsy!

54 x 78

Baby it's cold outside!!  I'm not going out there. I don't have anywhere to take good photos of a big quilt top except outside hanging on a clothesline so you only get to see a snippet of the whole top for now. 

The six inch Friendship Stars in homespuns and muslin were blocks from a really, really old swap. I recently dug this UFO out of storage and made some nine patches in homespuns and muslin for an alternate block.  Rather than make a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt I made some of the units she gave as clues to move my UFOs forward.  And that's why I made all these nine patches. 

One of the many reasons I don't get quilts completed is because I am out of batting or I need to piece together some batting. Another reason is because I don't have a back ready.  This year I'm going to try to get a back ready at the same time I finish a top.   So, here is the backing - a plaid thrift store sheet that is just the right size.  I think I have a little bit of batting left on a roll.  I might even get this pin basted this week.  

I even know what I'm going to do with the leftover homespun fabrics that have been around here for years.  By year end I hope they are all used up and my sewing room has one less box of fabrics. 

This will make a nice donation quilt for a guy if my husband doesn't take it to replace the one in his recliner that he thinks is getting worn out.  But it's a little short for his long legs. 

Some Assembly Required

Some assembly required...

...now that I've finished making the 27 Friendship Stars of homespuns and muslin I needed to add to the pile of 38 swapped stars.    But maybe I should iron these first. 

Homespun Fun

I really like the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilts. I've made a few of them but haven't made any the last couple of years. I thought this year I might join in but the more I thought about it the more I decided not to. I love the color scheme this year but don't have enough of those colors in my stash and I'm not good at changing colors unless I know what the final quilt looks like. I don't want to buy more fabric until I use a LOT of what I have.  I also don't need another UFO to add to my list.   So...  I do know that the Bonnie Hunter mysteries involve making a lot of individual units. I told myself I'd make the units she calls for in  each clue but make them for one of my UFOs in order to move a UFO forward. 

Clue 1 called for 50 nine patches.   I made 60.  Her clue called for 3 inch nine patches but I made six inch.   I used homespuns and muslin.  That navy on top is fabric left over from curtains I made for my youngest son's room when he was in high school and he's 33 years old now so that fabric has been around quite awhile. 

Long ago I participated in a Friendship Star swap. Stars are made of homespun fabrics with a muslin background.  I have thirty eight stars so will have to make a few more.  I'll use the fabric scraps left over from making the variety of nine patches. 

I will combine the nine patches and stars and move this UFO forward. 

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Gwennie Inspired Medallion - Stars

I was only able to find time to add the stars border to one of my Gwennie Medallions this month. 

That brings the size to 54 x 63

I dug into my 1.5 inch scraps and made some little 3 inch Friendship Stars...

...and alternated them with some little 3 inch rails.  I kind of wanted to keep something that looked like weaving plus repeat some of the colors in the basket blocks. 

I know what I'm going to do for the star border on my other Gwennie...just need to get it done.

Looking forward to the next theme!  Which I now see is "something fishy". Hmmmm....

To see what everyone else has been working on:

Gwennie Inspired Medallions