Rudolph & Co.

Here is the finished quilt top for the reindeer blocks I showed you yesterday. The pattern is called "Rudolph & Co." and is a Jan Patek pattern. The pattern is on the cover of the book but I worked from a pattern that was on the cover of a Quiltmania magazine last year.
To finish the top, I had to applique one more nose and do all of the eyes. Then sash the blocks and add the borders. The fabric came from stash. I am trying to figure out if I bought the Kansas Trouble floral that is the final border on the quilt or if my friend Jeanne gave it to me. It is a big hunk of fabric and will also be the backing. I can't remember purchasing the fabric and if I did what it was for. I just know it was folded nicely on a shelf in the sewing room.

The antlers on the quilt are traced from a child's hand. I used what came with the pattern but you could easily trace the hands of any young child to kind of personalize the quilt.

This was a finish for the Charming Girls Quilt Club. You can click on the logo on the left side of my blog to find out more.

ANTIQUE PICKLE DISH QUILT

I was looking for my little flag quilt this morning so I could put a photograph of it in my blog in honor of our Independence Day celebration on July 4th. It is hiding from me somewhere. Instead I took a picture of this antique red, white & blue Pickle Dish quilt. The pattern is sometimes called Indian Wedding Ring. I was going to ask a quilt appraiser to do an appraisal for me several years ago but she was overwhelmed with quilts at the retreat I went to. I opted to have another quilt done when she said she could only do one that night. The only quick info she gave me on this was that it was probably from 1900 to 1910 and the pieces were smaller than she was used to seeing in this design. The quilt is in good condition. It has the same off-white fabric from the front as backing. It is nicely hand quilted. I am going to offer this quilt for sale for the same price I paid for it about 15 years ago and that is $400.00. If you are interested, please let me know. I have been slowly letting my antique quilts go since we down sized in house size. I just can't keep every quilt I would like to.
I have finally finished the machine stitching on the Circuit Rider blocks. Here are pictures of what I finished since my last post.
There are two more rose blocks just like the one below. Since they are duplicates, I have left two out of the line up. There were five of these in the original quilt. I opted to do the four for the four corners and selected another block to use within the quilt.




Had to do some hand embroidery on the Bible block. It is the only pieced block in the quilt. It is a combination of piecing and applique.
Now to lay all the blocks out and decide what is going where and sew it together. I will post a photo after I get it together. I am going with no border like the original. The raw edge applique method is certainly faster than hand applique but the machine stitching can be slow going on blocks with lots of curves. I am glad to get that part done.

I went to the local quilt shop today to purchase fabric for two more of the quilts using the painted blocks my husband's grandmother has made many years ago. I hope to get one put together very quickly. That is what I will be working on this weekend. I couldn't get the same exact fabrics that I used on the previous two but got something similar.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend if you are celebrating Independence Day! Come back for another visit soon.

Karen

MORE CIRCUIT RIDER BLOCKS

This past Saturday was the monthly gathering of the Sew 'n Sews. Kenyan was our hostess. There were only four of us but we had a good time. I took photos of two quilts Kenyan finished but accidently deleted them off the camera. Darn! She has made two quilts for relatives that are going off to college and they are good ones.

Sometimes we have a project to work on when we get together. This time Kenyan showed us how to make these little mats. Mine is not finished but the top is done. She was making two very cute ones and of course those photos were deleted also. It is nice to put a focus fabric in the center part. She was using some really cute bathing beauty fabrics for the center of hers.

I purchased a new book called "Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses" by Linda Franz. You can purchase it here. Cathi has been working on blocks for this quilt for a while and has gotten me interested in the project. Be sure to pay her a visit to see the beautiful blocks she has been hand piecing. I am resisting the urge to drop everything and make some blocks right away.
I have been spending a lot of time stitching on blocks for the "Circuit Rider" quilt. Below are the newest blocks I have completed. The first three are blocks I have substituted for various reasons. The cardinal block I created myself. I found a line drawing of a cardinal and simplified it for applique. The branch & leaves came from a Jo Morton pattern. I added extra leaves and the circle surrounding .
The next two blocks came from the Electric Quilt computer program.











Gwendie has been working on the Circuit Rider quilt also and has just completed her top. It is definitely worth a visit to her blog to see it.

I have been tagged by two bloggers. One is from Deb. at A Quilting Journey. The other is from Danielle at "Want to Bee Quilting". Pay them a visit if they aren't on your regular journeys through Blogland. I am supposed to tell ten things about myself that you might not know. I have done the seven thingamajig before a couple times, so I may repeat myself.

1. My mother lived with us the last ten years of her life. My husband was living in a house with four generations of women. Myself, my mother, our daughter, and grand-daughter. He survived with flying colors.

2. I started quilting in 1990.

3. I am originally from Ohio.

4. I have a sister who sews really well.

5. I used to make Barbie doll clothes. Many, many of them. My daughter did not much care for dolls but the neighbor girls sure liked playing with the dolls and clothes. I made them for cousins, nieces, neighbors, and people I didn't know all over the country.

6. I love strawberries.

7. My first quilt class that I took was for a Mariner's Compass taught by Cindy Blackberg. She also taught me how to design quilts.

8. We have been friends with a couple for about 45 years and vacation together at least twice a year and some times more often than that.

9. I buy more quilt patterns and quilt books than I will ever be able to make in my life time. Don't we all do that?

10. I have a collection of chicken items but I don't want to add to it any more. I have way too many and have packed away many of them. I like fried chicken. My favorite stylefried chicken is from Barberton, Ohio.

That's all for today. I will be spending a good part of the day stitching on the remaining Circuit Rider blocks. I am over my deadline for finishing the machine stitching and need to get a hustle on it.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Karen