Skulks Of Foxes In The Holes In The Barn Doors

It's a finish!

Hole in the Barn Door

40 x 60

The 12 inch Hole In The Barn Door Blocks all have fox fabrics in the center. I just looked up the collective noun for fox and found several --skulk, leash, earth, troop and lead. 

There are several variations of the Hole in the Barn Door block. I used the one at Quilter's Cache.

I used the same red fabric for the "barns" and different green fabrics for the backgrounds. I finished the top back in October 2024. 

I've been accumulating red fabrics and critter fabrics so I can make a series of Hole In The Barn Door comfort quilts for kids. 

I quilted it on my sewing machine with diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines. 

The backing.

The binding is scrappy greens. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

Finished a book! - The Orphan List by Ann Bennett. It is WWII historical fiction based on the Lebensborn Nazi eugenics program.  

"The Lebensborn program was created by the SS in late 1935 in order to promote the growth of Germany’s healthy "Aryan" population. The term Lebensborn itself means “Fount of Life.” The program was designed to be the wellspring of future generations descended from those whom Nazi authorities deemed “racially valuable.” It originally focused on encouraging SS men to have large families and discouraging unmarried, pregnant "Aryan" women from seeking illegal abortions."- The Holocaust Encyclopedia

The Orphan List focuses on the original part program that encouraged unwed women who met "Aryan" criteria to give up their children for adoption to a good Aryan family. In return they were cared for during the pregnancy and birth in a maternity center. It also focuses on unwed "Aryan" women who willingly met at a Lebensborn center and had sex with SS in order to get pregnant and give up their children for the good of the Reich.  

I've started reading the second book in the series, The Stolen Sisters, that focuses on a later part of the program - The "Germanization" of kidnapped foreign children who met "Aryan" criteria. 

 

Does A Fox Really Smell It's Own Hole First?

It's a top!

Fox Holes

40 x 60

Actually, it is Foxes in Holes in the Barn Doors. 

I had a few different fox fabrics so used them as centers for Hole in the Barn Door blocks. There are many variations on blocks by that name. I used the one found at Quilter's Cache. 

Someone gave me that red fabric with black swirls on it and I immediately thought it looked like barn siding so that's what I used for the "barns".   I have lots of small green chunks of fabric so those became the block backgrounds. I then added a two inch (finished) sashing between columns to bring it up to the size requested for kid's quilts. 

And so now I think I will be making a series of different Hole in the Barn Door quilts in order to use some large print animals. 

And sew on...

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Oct 12 - Finished a book! - Lilac Ink by Jean Grainger.  Jean Grainger is an Irish author who has written several different series of Irish historical fiction books. I've read several but not all of the series. (I had to look up the plural of series. It is series.) Lilac Ink is the first book in a new series and I'm ready for the second book. I like reading books that take place in Ireland since my paternal ancestors were all Irish.

Oct 13 - I made a big pot of vegetable soup. It was delicious - full of homegrown vegetables - tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peas, green beans, lima beans, carrots, cabbage...

Oct. 14 - BOGO perennials! I picked up 22 perennials deeply discounted. I knew there was going to be frost Tues. and Wed. so waited until today (10/16) to plant them. I think (hope) they will be able to get their roots established before we have several hard freezes in a row. A few plants went into the native wildflower garden. A few went into a shady area. A few went into the cottage garden. 

Oct. 15 - Some roses are still in bloom! Since I've found Bobbex and used it as directed the deer seem to stay away! 

Two More Finishes -- Churn Dash Variations

Churn Dash Variations

Hole in the Barn Door and Crow's Nest

We had some nicer weather this morning - no fog, wind or precipitation like we've had the past few days- so I decided it would be a good time to venture out and take pics of a couple of finishes. Both were UFOs and both are donation quilts for kids. 

Hole in the Barn Door

40 x 60

This has a little more white than I usually use in kid's quilts but every once in awhile that's okay I think. The "barns" are all blue snowflake fabrics and through the hole in the barn door there's snowman and a couple of snow scenes with kids.  Some of the fabrics are kind of sparkly and most of the white on white fabrics (WOWs) are snowflakes or sparkles or big polka dots, er, I mean snowballs. I think there may be some small snowballs too.  

I quilted it on my DSM with swirls of snowy white thread. 

And I had just enough of a dark blue chunk of fabric for the binding. 

Instructions for a Hole in the Barn Door 12 inch quilt block can be found at Quilter's Cache.

The back.

Crow's Nest

40.5 x 54

I made this top last summer when I was trying to think of different ways to use a bunch of brown scraps. Now this quilt is a littler darker than what I usually make for kids but I did try to brighten those browns up a bit with some yellow scraps. 

This one was also quilted on my DSM with swirls but in a khaki colored thread. The binding is scrappy golds and browns I found in my leftover bindings bin. 

The instructions for different sizes of Crow's Nest blocks can be found at Generations Quilt Patterns. Mine finish at 13.5 inches. 

The back is pieced. Don't be fooled by that cheater quilt fabric. That's not part of my piecing! 

And sew it goes...

 

It's A Flimsy! Hole in the Barn Door

Hole In The Barn Door

40 x 60

It's a top!

Blue is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. At the beginning of the month I dug into my blue scraps and found a junior jelly roll (20 - 2.5 inch lengths) of icy blues someone had given me.  I decided to dig into my winter/Christmas fabrics and scraps to add more strips to that junior jelly roll. Most of the fabrics I chose were blues with snowflakes.  With those I made a really cool top. 

After that I decided that those chunks of blue with snowflakes were too small to put back into the winter/Christmas fabric box.  I figured I should just add them to my box of blue scraps instead. Or making something with them. But what?  And then the Stasbusters group  came up with the idea to have a Churn Dash Challenge in memory of a group member who has passed away. Churn Dash was her favorite block.   So....how about Churn Dash blocks.   But which Churn Dash pattern? How big of a quilt can I make?  Then I remembered seeing some snowmen fabrics along with the snowflakes in the Christmas/winter box. So, I found enough snowmen on white backgrounds and a few other scraps with winter scenes someone gave me. So...

I found a few white on white (WOW) fabrics with circles (snowballs), snowflakes, etc. 

So...It's snowing. There's lots of blue barns out there. And I see snowmen and snow scenes through the Hole(s) in the Barn Door(s). 

I made 12 inch (finished) blocks - 6.5 inch centers, 3.5 inch HSTs and 2 x 6.5 inch sides. 

This is usually more white than I use in a donation quilt for kids but so it goes. Kids play in dirty snow too.  I usually make kid's quilts 40 x 60 so I made 15 blocks. Columns of 5 blocks made my 60 inch length. I added two 2.5 inch strips between columns to get to my 40 inch width. I didn't have any WOW left for the strips but I did have a gray and white kind of sparkly fabric that looked kind of like hoarfrost ( a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc) so that was used for the strips. Voila! 

Hole in the Barn Door

And sew it goes...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

There's a Hole in the Barn Door

Hole in the Barn Door

It's a new top!

40 x 60

I wanted to use up some old florals and quilter's calicoes and try to make a cute quilt for kids.  

I used some of those old florals for the backgrounds of some ten inch Hole in the Barn Door blocks. I used some red scraps for the "barn" and some small animal prints appeared in the hole in the barn door. 

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

 

Two Little Finishes

Two baby quilts finished! 

36 x 36

For Jack's Basket - one of this years Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge sponsored charities. 

 The first consists of 12 inch Sawtooth Stars.  I've had that fabric with tops in the stash for awhile and had just enough for those blocks.  

 The blue and the green alternating backgrounds pick up the blue and the green in the light checks in the top fabric. 

The backing is the same Kona Spring green. (I have a lot of that on hand because I like to use it with 30s repro fabrics. It's similar to the green grandma used in her quilts. And that's the only reason I actually know that it's Kona Spring. I don't usually remember fabric designers or manufacturers.) 

I pieced the batting using wide zig zag stitch.

I quilted it in light green thread with spirals  - appropriate for tops, don't you think? 

Binding is that same Kona Spring. 

 The second one is a Hole in the Barn Door. 

I originally went looking for some farm animals for the holes in the barn doors but came across a Peppa and Friends remnant first. So Peppa and Friends ended up in the barns.  I had just a few pieces leftover from that remnant so I guess it was meant for this baby quilt. 

The backing is a light gray with white jungle animals baby fabric I've had for a while.  The binding was a light gray solid -- part of it from the leftover binding bin and the other cut from a scrap in the scrap chunk crate. Batting was pieced for this one too and I quilted it with serpentine stitch. 

These were goals #19 and #20

for

Q2 Finish-Along

Owls in the Barn Door Finished!

Owls in the Barn Door

48 x 60

I used lots of bits and pieces of owl themed scraps I had left over from other quilts. I quilted it on my DSM with straight lines in red, blue and yellow thread.  I got rid of a lot of miscellaneous spools of thread as well as bobbins.  The back and binding are all a red solid just like the barn doors.  

This is a donation quilt for Camp Hobe - a camp for kids with cancer and their siblings. 

It's a Hands2Help quilt - an event sponsored by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

It used up some owl scraps:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

It was my goal #7

for Q2  2017 Finish-A-Long

And this is my April OMG (One Monthly Goal)

with Elm Street Quilts.

Owls in the Barn Door

Owls in the Barn Door

48 x 60

It's just a top right now.

I thought it would be clever to shoot the Owls in the Barn Door next to an actual barn door but didn't notice the hunk of crap that blew into the raspberry brambles in front of the barn door.  So, I am not as clever or artsy- fartsy as I thought I was.  

Anyway...after completed this will go to Camp Hobe, one of this year's Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge Charities.   Camp Hobe is a summer camp for kids undergoing cancer treatment and their siblings. 

12 inch Hole in the Barn Door Quilt blocks with owls in the barn door. 

Now to go piece some batting and find a backing...

Sew Some Love at Kat & Cat Quilts

I hope to finish this up asap so making it my 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) for April  at Elm Street Quilts

There's a Hole in the Barn Door

48x60

Hole in the Barn Door

I used up some 6.5 inch squares I've accumulated over the years from various I Spy swaps. 

Quilted with spirals on my plain Jane DSM.

It will go to Wrap-a-Smile  which provides quilts for kids quilts for kids undergoing cleft lip/cleft palate surgery. 

Unfortunately I forgot to put Color Catchers in the laundry when I washed the quilt and some of the reds ran on to the back.  I have read some places that they can be re-washed with Color Catchers after it has run and sometimes the reds will come out.   I will have to see.

Linking up today to Confessions of a Fabric Addict...Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?    You may want to see what everyone else is Whooping about this week and Sarah is having a Giveaway. You won't know what it's all about if you don't visit her blog!