More Hummingbirds

 

I am making a Hummingbird quilt inspired by one made by Minnie Jacobs Schultz c. 1930. See a previous blog post for details.  I started making blocks in 2023. At the beginning of this month I had 21 blocks made with a goal of 63. 

I am glad to say that this month I have made my goal as far as Hummingbirds and now I have started appliquing them to the yellow background squares. 

I now have 31 blocks finished. 

And I have 32 more to go. 

And sew on...

***

Out of the blue and for no particular reason I received a nice card from Mary L in Ohio. I don't know her but evidently she knows me. What a pleasant surprise. It made my day. 

Another surprise came a few days ago from Kathy who sent me some of her beautiful orphan blocks.

I have finished two books in a series by Robert Bailey - Legacy of Lies and The Wrong Side. They were legal thrillers that weren't all that thrilling. 

Vintage Inspired

It's a top!

64 x 80

Looks like I started this top in 2022.

When I got it out of the project box this month I only had three rows made. This month I made 17 more rows. 

I used 4.5 inch squares of old shirts and floral 2.5 inch squares for the corners. 

I was inspired by this vintage quilt. I don't remember source of the photo. 

And now I have emptied that project box and added one to the TBQ (to be quilted) pile. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! At Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

There is something strange going on at the neighbor's house across the road. Looks like the skeletons are heading this way. Yikes!

It's A Top! Crossroads

 

Crossroads

It's a top!

42 x  63

I have been making blocks from 3.5 and 4.5 inch width scraps as one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects. All have brown sashings with red centers.

I decided to count up blocks to see how many comfort quilts I can make. 

This is a child sized top. I gathered scraps to make a few more blocks for a larger quilt with 63 blocks. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

Soul Searching In The Rose Garden

 

It's a finish!

Soul Searching in the Rose Garden

84 x 84

Hand quilted

I finished the top back in 2022. I used red and white rose themed prints.

The inspiration came from the book Making Quilts by Kathy Doughty. Her Soul Searching quilt is 84 inches wide and 72 inches long. I added 3 rows at the top and bottom so I could have a little wider quilt. 

I big stitch hand quilted it with red and white threads - perle #12.

The back is a gently used sheet from the thrift store with roses.

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alicia Quilts

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Hummingbird or Periwinkle or Arkansas Snowflake

 

I have made more Hummingbirds. They will eventually be appliqued to yellow backgrounds. This block is also known as Periwinkle or Arkansas Snowflake. 

I'm using the Periwinkle Block Made Easy tutorial from Susie's Scraps  except I'm using 3.5 inch squares and 9 inch background squares to make my blocks.   

I started making these blocks in 2023. My goal is 63 blocks. 

Minnie's Hummingbird appeared in the July/August 2011 issue of Quiltmaker. It was made by Minnie Jacoby Schultz c. 1930.

I was inspired by Minnie's quilt. I tried making blocks using the method in the magazine but didn't enjoy that process or result. 

And sew on...

Loose Ends: QSTs

 

I ironed and trimmed a few QSTs!!

I use a variety of things as leader/enders. I toss them in boxes for ironing and trimming but never seem to get a lot of ironing done. I figured since the theme in my sewing room this month is " loose ends" I would try to empty a couple of those boxes of leader/enders. 

Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs)-

 also called Hourglass

Most are around 2 inches. A lot of them are wonky. Some are from binding joins. Some are floppy corner cutoffs or waste triangles. I iron and twirl seams and cut off dog ears but don't trim them up to any size.

After ironing and trimming they go into a box with others. 

I have a medium flat rate priority box almost full of them. 

I have been making them since 2021. 

Competition Quilt. about 1895. hand pieced cotton, silk, linen; hand quilted; machine stitched backing. Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Guido Goldman. 2008.406.

(Picture from Denver Art Museum)

I just love love love to infinity this quilt and decided I would make something similar but use my wonky QSTs instead of HSTs. As I mentioned, I'm not squaring up my QSTs. I will just make "made fabric" out of them for the borders and not worry so much about points matching up. Then i will trim the  "made fabric" border. My version of the vintage quilt is definitely NOT going to be a competition quilt like the original. 

I have had the center block made for my quilt for quite awhile. 

And sew on...

Little Old Italian Blocks

 

Old Italian Blocks

3 inch 

I now have 333 blocks toward my goal of 540. 

I started making these in 2023. 

The Old Italian blocks are a "cut and shuffle" type block- stack up 6 squares (I'm using 5 inch), make a few cuts, shuffle around the pieces and then sew together. I used a tutorial found at My Joyful Journey that includes instructions for X blocks in other sizes as well as the 3 inch. 

I now have gathered together several sets of six 5 inch squares and hope to make my goal soon. 

And sew on...