Lots of progress!

I have been working on the quilt along with Lori, of Humble quilt.  My blocks are in progress, so they are rumpled and not pressed yet, but I am loving them anyway!    I have been making them my own...and was particularly fond of making the Liberty block my own.  I was privileged to travel and see the actual Liberty bell.  I was amazed to find that it was actually forged in 1752...24 years before America started the Revolutionary War, and won our freedom.  That is vision, you know?  People didn't live long back then...so some patriots that were alive then, were not when the war started, or ended.  The first bell cracked upon the first ringing, according to my research, and was recast.  The bell developed a fatal split, and I have embroidered that in place.  On the bell was written, 

 

"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."  I included part of that inscription on my block.  This is actually a bible verse, from Leviticus 25:10.  

Still lots of applique to go, but here is where I am so far, this week.


Quote of the day!


"You are remembered for the rules you break!"


So maybe we all need to be a rebel once in a while, like those rebels of long ago, who at long odds, won our freedom!


Have a super day,




Julie

Dearest Boy update!!

Here is my rendition of the applique quilt, "Dearest Boy."  This block was fun to hand applique, but I had a little incident at the end.  I took my block, when finished, in triumph that I was done,  to the laundry room, where my ironing board is set up, to give it a good pressing.  So then?  I had two similar bottles side by side; one was spray starch, and one was Spray and wash stain remover.  You guessed it!  I sprayed it with Spray and Wash...hahahaha!!!  So, I gently agitated it under warm water, let the block dry flat, and THEN I pressed it with the spray starch!!  So....my block is definitely stain free...

CANNOT BELIEVE I DID THAT!!!

This block was poignant for me, because I grew up on a farm. We had a small orchard, and one tree was Bartlett pears.  MY FAVORITE ever!  We made pear butter and pear preserves and ate pears and just loved that tree!!  That home grown fruit was so much sweeter than anything I have ever found in a store...and it was a time with my mom and family that I cherish.

Hey guess what?  More friends are joining the group, sewing this quilt!  

Karen:  Log Cabin Quilter

Cathy:  Big Lake Quilter
Julie:  Juliekquilts (me)
Carole: Wheels on the Warrandyte bus
Doreen:  Aunt Reen's Place


It is super fun to sew in a group...and I bet NONE of these expert quilters has ever sprayed her block with Spray and Wash, LOL!!  I am looking forward to sharing sewing with all of you.





This is the whole quilt. We have a whole row done!!  So I will try to get it all sewn together today.  I am off from the hospital, and doing laundry, and catching up.




Blogging!  Thank you, everyone, who took a moment to comment on my last post.  What a wonderful thing to hear from all of you!  Some of you are anonymous, or "no reply", but I cherish all of you.  Stay tuned...we are going to have fun this summer...or winter for my dear friend Lyn in Australia!



************************Nurse's Notes*****************************

It has been a humdinger of a busy time at the hospital.  People are really, really sick...code blue sick (heart or breathing has stopped).  We put them into hypothermia protocol (cool them to 90F to stop brain swelling and slow metabolic function for 24 hours.)  I am please to tell you that my guy, who had a heart attack, is waking up and doing great!


I had a patient also, that was under police custody.  He was very nice, in his shackles, and actually had bypass surgery!!  I found out that he was in prison for beating his wife to death.  Oh my gosh!!  I was so grateful for the police there!!!  He got the exact same care as everyone else, but that was in our minds.


I love being a nurse, and for the personal connections we make and sustain...some patients have been in and out for years, and instead of cool impersonal care, we give big hugs and "how are yous??!!"

*************************************************************



Have a super day, each of you!

Quote of the day:  "The secret to success is to get started."


So I am getting going!




Julie

  

Another row! some applique, and some thoughts about blogging

 I am prepping this quilt block for Linda Brannock's Flower quilt.  Lots of stitching left to do...but this is the process, so I am showing what I am doing as I am going along.

I got all the little sailboats done and the row sewn and attached.  Some learning things for me are these:

1.  Carefully measure each row, to make sure it is the same...I started with 60 1/2 inches, and one row was 61 1/2 inches!!  I took tiny little sliver, bigger seams...so it measures the same.

2.  Be sure and borrow a long tape measure from the big tool box...it works great!  LOL!!



*****************Blogging**********************************


As I am sure that you have noticed, blog participation and comments are down, I think universally, maybe because in part of summertime busyness.   Some people have gone to Instagram, and some to facebook.  And yet?  I think blogging is the best way to really talk about the process and enjoy the interactions with like minded quilters.  So...I would like to encourage you to maybe do a couple of things!!

1.  Get out there and find five new, or new to you, quilt blogs and add them to your blog roll!!!

2.  Make a few moments each day to comment on five or more blog posts.  It is the interaction that makes it such fun!!  I plan to do this early, since I get up very early for work, anyway.




This is an interesting read  about blogging, courtesy of our friend Florence!

http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.com/2018/07/thoughts-about-blogs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FyBVT+%28Flossie+Teacakes+-+Crafting+Blog%29



Any thoughts??


Have a super day!!


Julie

Row by row quilt

So I finished the pinwheel row, and I am working on the hearts row.  This is my favorite, as some of you may have guessed!!  Nine more hearts to go, then on to the next row, which I am not sure what is yet, LOL!!  This is pretty fun patchwork, itty-bitty,  and I have kind of made a game of it...sew for fifteen minutes, then jump up and do things on my housecleaning to-do list for fifteen minutes, then sew, and so on!!  SEW ON!  Hahaha!

Have a wonderful night, each of you, or day...whichever it is in your part of our world.

Julie K

Little things!!

 So this is the next row on the bitty blocks row quilt.  1 inch x 2 inch finished flying geese.  I am a little bit in love with them!!  Yippee!!!  Fun and fast to make...

 And this is the next row; pinwheel variation block.  I sometimes use paper plates to cut my pieces onto and carry to the sewing machine; it keeps me a little bit organized.

I just cried at this package!  My friend Nancy knit me not one, but two pairs of socks!  HAND knit!!  I love them...thank you so much, Nancy.  My feet are an unusual size, so it is hard to find socks that fit them, unless I go into the kids section...

Nancy quilts for quilts of Valor, and has to her credit over 100 quilts, I think, for them.  Please see her blog HERE.  And...she knits!!  LOL!!


www.wyomingbreezes.blogspot.com

THANK YOU!




Julie

Progress!!

 I spent some time on the road recently, and hand quilted half of this quilt.  Also...I bound it.  I apparently really scandalized one quilter by binding it first...Giggle!  I explained that I sandwich it carefully, pinning a lot, then stabilize the outside with quilting, then add the binding.  It really helps keep the sandwich edges from raveling while getting tossed about it the car, on my lap, or transferred to the back seat, etc.  Try it once!!  It works, for it's purpose!

 This quilt is on my list to finish this year.  These are my bitty blocks, from a quilt along a few years ago.  I am making progress...these rows are all sewn together now, and I have two more rows cut out.  Super fun!!

And tada!!  I finished the applique on my Dearest Boy block, A-5.  I love those cherries!!!  Delicious...and I have some real cherries in my fridge, to eat tomorrow, for the fourth!




Have a super day, each of you!!


Julie

Thank goodness!!

 Here is my month six, for the "Sweet Land of Liberty" quilt along, with Lori, by Cheri Payne.   I changed the block with the tree, and put a heart in the middle instead, so I can embroider my anniversary date and information about this quilt.

 Here is where I am so far.  That empty space troubles me, on the left...I still have not decided what to put in there.  It will come to me!!


Please see Lori's quilt HERE, and also take a peek at all the quilts in progress!  They are all so  gorgeous!!

I think these jeans are so funny...I have just worn them out, crawling around weeding in the garden and working outside!!  I saw a pair of "pre-torn" jeans for $198.00 bucks the other day, in the mall...so I think I have them beat, LOL!!!  Can you imagine paying that...maybe I am behind the times!!  What do you think??



THANK GOODNESS for a day off work!




**********************Nurse's notes***************************


I have had a patient for the last 8 months, in the hospital. Code blue on arrival, he has made it through more horrific complications and illnesses than any other human I know.  It is exhausting to care for him, and witness his journey, yet invigorating to be a part of his healing and recovery.  I just love him and his darling wife and daughters.  I love being a nurse!!

***********************************************************





Julie

Running out of time this month!!

 I am working on the album quilt, "Dearest Boy"  You can find the pattern here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/593121045/dearest-boy-pattern-book


Above is my pieced block number 4, and we decided to do two blocks for this time.  Unfortunately, I worked 8 days and traveled 7 days of the allotted time, so I don't have my applique Cherry block done, quite yet.  Hopefully Sunday I can be off and finish it up, and I will post it when I do!!  That is just the way it is...very busy at the hospital, and working lots of over time.

Here is where I am.    Cherries have a cherished memory in my heart, for my mother and I used to go and pick cherries on a plateau called Antelope Hill, in Colorado.  The cherries there have a unique taste...amazing sweet and lovely, and big!  I loved going there for apples, peaches and other fruits of the seasons.




Please see Karen's blog, at:


http://karen-logcabinquilter.blogspot.com/



And Cathy's blog at:


http://wwwbiglakequilter.blogspot.com/

 They are both working on the same quilt, and it is great fun to sew along with them!!!





Have a super day, each of you!!!  Hoping for a day off soon, here.


Julie

just a little sewing

 Just playing with these blocks!!  Lori at Humble quilts made a quilt like this, and she said I could borrow her idea...this has been a couple (few) years back, LOL!!!  I was just laying out what I have and seeing where to go next.  Super fun!!

 Here is the block.  Hers use a different size strip, and frankly, I like hers better...but I will play with these until I finally decide on what to do.

 So if you have cut off corners from making star blocks, sometimes you just have to sew them together and see what you get!!  Maybe you, like me, have a ton of saved triangles..so this is an idea!

I made a blue berry pie...it is delicious!!!




Have a great day!



Julie

Maybe a fix?????

Quilting Babcia, who blogs HERE:

https://amityquilter.blogspot.com/2018/06/blogger-comments-home-grown-fix.html#comment-form


says that Gayle from Mango Feet may have a bit of a fix for our comment problem!!!  I tried it and it works, maybe???  Please see it is really does and comment below!!   Please click on her link and maybe we have a solution!!!!


I will be so very happy if it works!!  You, my quilting blog friends, are all very important and precious to my heart...I miss not being able to respond to you all very easily!!!




Hugs from Julie

Dearest boy block three

Here is my block number three for the sampler quilt, "Dearest Boy.    I had a great time appliquing this one, but mine does not look quite like the original!  I love the negative space start that was created with the applique pieces.  I really cannot wait to see Cathy's and Karen's renditions of this block!!!!!


You can get the entire pattern HERE.


https://www.etsy.com/listing/593121045/dearest-boy-pattern-book

Please see Cathy's blog, and Karen's blog, to see what they did for this block.


Have a great day!

Julie

String quilting: the brights!

 I have sewn, and sewn, and sewn!!  I am setting my string blocks together like this; thirty blocks in all.  The little string blocks are 4 inches finished, with 3/4 inch sashing, and the little nine patches have 3/4 inch finished pieces in them too. So, this is on my list for the year, and it feels great to make some progress on something on that list!

Talk about bright!  Lol!!!  I think I have all of these pieces and parts made, so now just for the fun of piecing the strings!!  I am using tiny pieces in this quilt, and that is fun to use them up!!

 Well, what can I say...I had an opportunity to go to the quilt shop and here is what I came away with.  I am addicted, I guess...but it is so much fun!!

A very dear friend sent me these, and it sure brightened up my life so much, at a much needed point. Thank you, Loris!!!!  I love them...do you see that the top pink is really...wait for it....a plaid???


Hee!!!


Have a super day, each of you!!


Julie

Monday tidbits!!

 I recently won a little quilt from a quilt show!!!  I think this is just so pretty...the lady's applique is perfect, not a stitch in site...and look at her circles!!  wow!!!  All the proceeds go to our scholarship funds, so I was glad to donate.  Even her stripes match on the border!!

 Chantal, I am doing all kinds of things with your blue plaid piece you sent...this is just one tiny heart quilt.  Love those plaids!!

 And here is a rather crude, (but loved anyway) cast off little piece, in a scrap bag...so I made a coaster out of it.

 I have to highly recommend this book!!  I got it recently at Joann's...and it has a ton of blocks, all in different sizes.  Very clear and accurate instructions, in color for each block.  I smell a sampler quilt coming on!!

One of my goals was to make a string quilt this year, so I made this block, as an experiment.  Strings are just super fun!!



**************************Nurse's Notes**************************


We have a patient in the hospital, who has been in and out for 7 months now.   He was a full cardiac arrest, and we resuscitated him, put him on hypothermia protocol, and here we are, months later. He is the most darling man I think I have ever met.  Just set back, after set back, and he remains calm, steadfast and happy.  Including multiple amputations!!  and surgery after surgery.  He was an all American football player, and that core of strength has served him well.  Most patients would have given up a long, long time ago, but he is just a rock...I love to go into their room!


I asked him and his wife if I could share a bit of their story, and they said sure!



***********************************************************


I hope each of you has a magnificent Monday!!!



Julie

Just 1/2 a day today...

 Update on the basket quilt...here is where I am.  Just scraps, here, and lots more to go.

 These are four inch, finished.  I make a few anytime I run across the box with all the pieces and parts ready to go!

So teach me, pretty please?!  How do I get my circles perfectly round??




Just half a day at work today...a co-worker needed the morning off, so I worked.  Then out for lunch, then some house keeping, then playing in the fabric!!!




Have a super day!

Julie

Sweet Land of liberty progress

 I have been working on Lori of Humble Quilt's, and Cheri Payne's quilt along; Sweet Land of Liberty.   I changed one of the blocks, and took away the applique tree and added a heart, for the churn dash variation block.  So now I have an extra tree, LOL!!!

Whoops!  Those hearts are for another project...what you may ask?  Well I don't know yet, LOL!!!  And so it goes!!

Happy Monday to all!!



Julie

A little rainbow sewing

 Here is the flock, so far...each month, I have been sewing with a different color, but somehow I repeated pink this last month.  This is my progress so far...I am just going to keep sewing scraps of fabric into birds until I have enough to make a quilt!

 Here are my pink feathered friends for this month!!

 The same thing happened for this project...more pink blocks.

 I don't mind...I love pink the very best!!!

This little fellow is still my favorite bird...he would be just a sparrow out in the fields, but I just love him...maybe because he is plaid!!


I am linking to Angela...check out the rainbow quilts going on!!


http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/2018/06/scraphappy-saturday.html




About comments...I read every one and cherish them, and how is everyone else solving this problem?  Any word on when blogger might fix the problem of comments not connecting to my email?


Have a super day!



Julie

Sweet Land of Liberty link up!!

 Here is what I came up with for month five, for my Sweet land of liberty sampler quilt.  This is a quilt along, freestyle, by Lori of Humble quilts.  That means that most of us don't have a pattern, LOL!   Please see below for all the amazing quilts being worked  on!!  I made hearts, instead of the dollies in the original quilt.  Going with my heart, there...hehehe!  Really, since I am a open heart recovery nurse, you just KNEW some hearts would creep into this quilt, didn't you?

https://humblequilts.blogspot.com/2018/05/month-5-sweet-land-of-liberty-linky.html

 Now for the not up to date part, at least not yet...see that big blankness over on the left side?  There is supposed to be a lovely Lady Liberty applique there.  But, you see, I have not the talent to draw her correctly, so instead of fussing around with her any more, I just left it blank until I can make something that fits in there properly.  ONWARD!  That is my story and I am sticking to it, LOL!  Maybe it will be her, and maybe something else that goes there...

This quilt is my favorite, favorite color...next to pink, maybe.  Anyway, I love this color!  I sorted out all these strings and anything that might possibly go with it, and made this quilt top a couple of years ago.  I recently got it sandwiched and the outside quilted, so I could bind it!!  Yes, I do things out of order sometimes....and it is perfectly OK.  The reason I did this is so I could take it on road trips with me, to hand quilt, and not have it frazzled on the edges.






Have a super day, everyone!!



Julie

Dearest Boy; Goosey Goosey!!

Good morning, everyone!!!  This baby is my block for the  album style quilt, "Dearest Boy".  I added some little flowers on the edge of the star, and embroidered the bow outline, but did not add the embroidered wing yet.  I love her! She has lots of attitude, and speaking of that, have you ever had an encounter with a goose?

My sister is much older than I, and she was living on a farm with her husband, that had a pasture with a brook through the middle.  She kept geese there, gray geese, much like this one.  As children, we loved to play in the brook, but were terrified of the geese in the pasture!!  They would chase and chase us, and if they could, they would pinch you with the sassy yellow beak!  Youch! Later I found out that they had nests in the long grass by the brook, bubbling through the pasture.  No wonder they were touchy about three little girls playing about!! 

I love this darling above, though, and she seems to be a little more like a duck...so cute!!




Please see Cathy's blog here, and see her goose!!


https://wwwbiglakequilter.blogspot.com/2018/05/dearest-boy-block-1b.html


Please see Karen's blog here, and see her goose, too!!!

https://karen-logcabinquilter.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-goose-and-medallion-center.html?showComment=1527684590696#c6556350146573843751

Pattern information:  I pasted this from Karen's blog, so you would know how to find the pattern, if interested.

Karen says:


"The pattern designer, Jean Cerbone,  is again able to sell the pattern set for "Dearest Boy".  It is available through Etsy here.  The price is $36.00 which, compared to some album style quilt patterns, is very reasonable."


Thank you, Karen for that information!! It is nice to know that the pattern is available again.







Have a great day, each of you!!


Julie

Happy Memorial Day! Lots of antique quilts!

 This quilt top was given to me by my sister, and she attributed it to my mom.  It is not mom's, but maybe my grandmother's.  It is 1930's vintage, happy and fun!!

 Each butterfly is blanket stitched down with embroidery floss, two strands.  There is an embroidery flower that the butterflies are attracted to, in the middle of each block.

 This quilt top is so, so fragile.  The fabrics are gossamer thin, and the seams are coming loose in places.  It is all hand pieced.

 Each corner looks like this.  Torn almost evenly off, like maybe it happened at one time.  I will not be able to finish this one up, because it would not withstand any handling at all,  but I will ALWAYS admire the fragile beauty and joy that was very evidently put into each stitch!!

 Happy Memorial Day!  This butterfly is for Memorial Day...don't you think?  It is perfect!!  I salute all those fallen soldiers who have given so much to me, including my very life and freedom.  Thank you!!

 This next quilt is the oldest one in my collection.  Betsy Chutchian, a well known quilt historian and author, took a look at this one, and she thinks it is probably from 1860.

 The workmanship in this quilt is the very best I have ever seen.  All pieced and quilted by hand, it is quilted about 16 stitches per inch.

 I cannot show the tiny stitches as I would like, but it is truly amazing.  Some of the reds are shattered, due to the unstable dyes, with heavy metals in them, as I understand the fabrics were made with in those days.   It is a treasure, and was given to me by my Brother in law, coming from his family.

 This is a double wedding ring that I bought, I think for a paltry 20 bucks or so.  It has done it job admirably!!!  Very worn out, it has served and kept many a body warm and comforted.  I honor the unknown maker.

All the edges are like this...see where it was pulled on?  That is why I like those pull borders, even on the simple quilts I make today.






Happy Memorial Day!!  I will be commenting back on your blogs to thank you for commenting on mine, until blogger fixes this problem of the comments not coming to our e-mails...hopefully this is temporary.




Have a super day!!!




Julie