Civil War is finally finished!

At the beginning of the year my sweet husband asked it my Civil War Sampler Quilt would be finished any time soon.  He thought that he would love to have a writing desk positioned in that location.  While you may think that was a lot to ask, he had actually been very patient.  I had slowly been hand quilting that quilt for years!  I began to make a real effort to finish it up.  It became my project during BYU basketball games.  And soon the end was in sight!

Then it was done and removed from my mother's quilting frame where it had languished for five years.  In 2011 Barbara Brackman began an online sew along of Civil War blocks.  Each week she would release another pattern as well as some Civil War History in remembrance of the beginning of the Civil War 150 years previously.  I came to the party a bit late but by the end of the year had completed all 52 blocks plus a few more so that my layout could be 6 blocks by 9 blocks.  I sewed it together with sashing and borders and made a big decision.  I felt it needed to be hand quilted in keeping with how it would have been done 150 years ago.  I learned that hand quilting is a long process even with a lovely hard wood frame.

So a husband's gentle request brought an ending of a Civil War Remembrance project that took longer than the Civil War.  I used left over backing fabric for the binding.

Those are 8 1/2 inch blocks, each one different.  I fussy cute all of the star corner posts.  I love its patriotic vitality.

The creamy paisley background hides many of my stitches, but that is a good thing!

Special thanks to my sister, Lynette, who quilted with me during BYU football season.

This project was a challenge for me.  It taught me the importance of an accurate 1/4 inch seam as I lost point after point.  I found myself buying a new Bernina 750 which helped greatly with my accuracy after finishing this quilt top.  This project gave me the courage to try harder things.

Two quilts and a view

We just returned from Utah where the hubby taught two seminars and visited with many, many clients. What did I do? Why I gazed intermittently at this beautiful view out of the windows of the townhouse while I worked on two quilts and visited with many family members.

The Civil War quilt is now on my mom's frame. I have stored it in Utah for almost 9 years always planning to have a quilt on that I could stitch while in Provo. Finally my dream has come true.

This is the hard wood frame that my mother purchased when she retired. She had 9 hand pieced quilt tops that had been given to her by her mother. Her goal was to hand quilt them all which she accomplished. Before I left I had the quilting done through the first row of blocks and sashing.

Shortly after I was married, I fell in love with a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt featured in Better Homes and Garden. I already had received one of Grandmother Rhoda's Double Wedding Ring quilts as a wedding gift. Greedy person that I am, I asked Grandma if she would make me a Flower Garden quilt if I purchased the material. She said "yes" and I did. I had the hand pieced quilt top in no time at all and my mother helped me quilt it on the old rickety quilt frames we used before she bought the above frame. You know, the ones with 4 soft pine boards and stands with a slot to hold the boards held together with c-clamps. And then came time to bind it. I was over whelmed and then discovered I was pregnant with #2. Time slipped away as I mothered.

Flash forward 35 years and picture a quilted top with untrimmed backing and batting sitting in linen closet after linen closet as we moved and grew as a family. I still couldn't decide what to do about the binding. Then I decided that it needed to be Nathan's. I looked at post after DIY post. Finally I came across something so simple and 1930's that I felt was just right. So I also took this quilt to Utah where I trimmed the back and batt even with the top.

Then I turned each edge in 1/4 inch and hand stitched them together reinforcing at the "v's." Each little hexagon will get a turn.

It is going to take a while to go all the way around but I am now one fourth of the way there. It has been a pleasure to work on this quilt. Every time I turn an edge, there are my grandmother's pencil marks where she had traced and then cut with scissors every one of those hexagons for me.

I saw this quote on another blog and it so aptly expresses how I have felt this week.

“A quilt is an object of peculiar intimacy. By virtue of the way it is created, every inch of the fabric is touched. Each scrap absorbs the quilter’s scent and the invisible oils of her skin, the smell of her household and, thanks to the constant pinning and stitching, her blood in the tiniest of quantities. And tears, though she might be loath to admit it.”

- from “The Goodbye Quilt” by Susan Wiggs

Border is on!

I finally finished sewing on the border of my Civil War quilt. Next step, the hand quilting.

My final solution for the border was to find another fabric that coordinated for a stop border. I then took all the left over fat quarters and cut out 2 1/2 inch squares which were sewn together randomly for the 4 inch outer border. I really like how it all came together.

Because there were left over squares and border strips, Julianna has a new doll quilt. I love my Julianna!

My quilt retreat for one

I packed up my sewing machine and took it with me to Utah this month. It was time to put together my Civil War Quilt blocks. I set up in the master bedroom and went to work.

It turned out to be pretty big. (Yes, I am standing on a ladder to take this picture :) I laid it out on the king sized bed to figure out how to assemble the blocks. There were 53 block patterns shared online each Saturday morning of 2011. My quilt is 7 x 8 blocks for 56 total. You will see that I made 3 more of block 2, North Star, using different fabrics. They are placed immediately before each corner block as one moves clockwise around the edge.

I really like the red with darker figured red material for the sashing. When I first bought the fat quarter sets of fabric for this quilt, one group included a large red star motif. It was hard to use in many of the blocks, but worked well for the sashing corner blocks. I fussy cut the stars so that the points are facing the same direction throughout the quilt.

Once I had it all together, I did not like the fabric that I had earlier purchased for the border. It just didn't feel like it belonged. Eric's family had presented me with a gift certificate to Quilt Etc. for Christmas, so I was off to shop. I was able to find a fabric for a stop border that I liked better as well as a stripped fabric for the binding that coordinates though from a different fabric line. My gift certificate also covered my purchase of the quilt backing. The shop also had a Civil War inspired quilt on the wall with a scrappy outside border made of squares. I really like the way it looked, so I am currently working on a scrappy 2 inch squares x 2 wide border made from all the left overs from the fat quarters I purchased for the quilt. I have learned that randomness is harder than it looks!

It will be easier to sew on the borders with my sewing machine now back at home in my sewing table for added support. I plan to take the finished quilt top back to Utah next trip and setting it up for hand quilting in the quilt frame that used to be my mother's.

Civil War Quilt Blocks finished, almost

47 Dixie Tea

The weekly posting of Civil War Quilt blocks during 2011 ended on the 53rd Saturday, the last day of 2011. With the holidays, I got behind, so while Glen watched bowl games on Monday I worked on my blocks. When I look at my tin box full of blocks, it makes me very happy.

The above block represents the creativity which people had to use during the Civil War to find a substitute drink for tea.

48 West Virginia

Once again I wrestled with "Y" seams on this block in honor of West Virginia.

49 Yankee Puzzle

Yankee Puzzle looks complicated but was really one of the easier blocks. Look closely and you will see 4 small blocks just the same and turned for effect.

50 Grapes of Wrath

I broke down and bought a fat quarter on sale which was on the purple side just for this block. How can one have grapes without purple?

51 New York

I loved using my tiny flower stripe in this flag block.

52 Christmas Star

I just finished this more complicated block yesterday. I had skipped it until I had more time. I had looked on the flicker group and liked how some had made it look like a wreath in the center. I think in a redo I would move the paisley corners to the outside. I think the blue would have made the wreath stand out more, but there will be no redo.

53 Union Shield

The last block was simple and bold. The suggested layout is to have 7 X 8 blocks. That would make 56 and Barbara Brackman suggested making 4 of this block for the corners. I considered this, but instead have decided to make three more different versions of block 2, North Star, instead.

That is why I am almost finished. I also decided to applique a "Seven Sisters" block now that I am comfortable with hand applique. I have finished 6 stars, just 1 to go!

Beginning a new year and endings

It is a quiet New Year's Day. Once again, it is the sabbath and we have enjoyed a wonderful 3 hours of church meetings. Now we're at home, just Glen and I, and I've been thinking and pondering in my very quiet house.

It was such a blessing to have so many family members come through our home during the month of December. I can hardly get my heart around the loveliness of being able to hug so many of the ones I love most. Now that same heart is feeling a bit sad, might I say, even lonely.

The big guy, Nate, moved his little family to Utah this past week. Shortly after this picture was taken I found myself in tears in front of the house as I watched him drive away on Wednesday morning. I know I'll see him often, but there won't be all the little impromptu visits from Nate, Nichelle, and Oscar that I've become accustomed to the last two years. Better stop, the tears are back!

Why is Raymond wearing that sling around his neck? Tuesday night he broke his right arm from just a little fall in the hall while rounding the corner quickly. It is the same bone he broke last summer falling off a trampoline in California. Luckily, the emergency room doctor here quickly fixed him right up until he could get back to his orthopedic doctor in California.

He and his family pulled out on Thursday evening. They opted for a night drive.

Their hope was that the boys would be asleep by the time they hit the 202 freeway. Their almost two week visit was a joy. These little boys make me so happy with the funny things they say and do.

My beautiful sister, Lynette, left this morning for Kansas. I love hanging out with her so much. We did our own little quilt shop hop yesterday and then dined and shopped at Ikea (have you seen their red checked area rugs?)

Her son, Gary, and my other sister, Jolene, and her son, Ric, joined Lynette on the drive from Albuquerque to here on Wednesday. It was so good to see them all. It felt so good to have all my sisters in town. Earlier in the month we enjoyed a long weekend visit with my son, Ryan, and his wife, Emilia. So you see, Glen and I really haven't been home alone for a month!

Speaking of endings and beginnings, the Civil War Quilts block of the week ended on Saturday. I still have the December blocks to make and three more to make the 56 total needed for a 7 X 8 block quilt top. I had my fabric out auditioning combinations for the final blocks last night.

Saturday I found the border fabric for the outside edge at Zoe's Quilt Trunk at their end of the year inventory reduction sale. I plan to sash the blocks in red with fussy cut red stars blocks at the corners. I can't wait to begin to finally put it all together.

We ended the Arizona year with autumn.

The deciduous trees are losing their leaves. The other trees are hoping that there are no hard freezes in their future.

Our seasons are so mixed up. The arbor roses are blooming and the flower beds are beautiful. In just a month, those front yard deciduous trees will have new buds. That's how it's done in low desert Arizona. This week will be our "Indian Summer." High temperatures will be in the high 70's and low 80's. Happy New Year!

5 more Civil War blocks

42 H is for Hospital
While in Utah, I picked up a few more fat quarters. One of those was the blue Barbara Brackman designed fabric which forms the "H." I thought it important that I include some fabric designed by the author of Civil War Quilts in my quilt blocks. I tried to pick a fabric which would go well with those that I was already using.

(This block really is square. This is how it looks when the camera is not right on :)

43 Right Hand of Friendship
I liked the way the corners looked with stripped fabric on the diagonal. The sample block used stripped fabric this way and I followed suit.

44 Union
I have been using some other fabrics by Barbara Brackman for Marcus Brothers. The large floral in the center as well as the fine figured fabric on the outside edge are part of her Lewis and Clark fabric line from 2003. I thought that the Lewis and Clark fabric went well with the reproduction fabric.

45 Port and Starboard
I liked how the center block was different than the rest on the sample block, so did the same.

46 Apple Tree
One of my new fat quarters was the fabric with the red berries or maybe they are apples. I decided to call them apples. I haven't used any greens in any of my blocks, so I decided to use the foliage parts of the Lewis and Clark large floral fabric. I have used that fabric for most of the blocks which have a center floral motif and my fat quarter is full of holes from the fussy cutting. I was delighted to find enough fabric pieces to cut these four blocks. The brown fabric used for the trunk was also part of my new purchases.

I'm starting to think about of how can put the blocks together into a quilt. Barbara Brackman's blog recently included a post showing what others are doing. Just 7 more Saturdays in 2011, thus 7 more blocks to go!

Appliqued Civil War Quilt Blocks

40 Order Number Eleven

Imagine my surprise when I opened Civil War Quilts on a Saturday morning and found that the block for that week was the first applique block that I did in my class last August. That class taught the back basting applique method. I was no longer feeling incompetent as I tackled Block #40. I had already practiced. Here is how I did this block.

Here is the pattern which I received from Jeana Kimball in her class. Fortunately is was just the right size. I cut the background fabric for my block adding a generous 1/2 inches. Once the applique was finished, the excess would be trimmed off. I folded the block in half each direction hand pressing a fold so that I could center the pattern. I then traced the pattern on the wrong side of the block.

Starting with the fabric which would be on the bottom of the finished applique design, I placed a large square of the fabric on the right side of the block base with the right side facing out. (Wrong side to right side of base block.) I then basted through both fabrics ignoring the lines for the second fabric which would be the top fabric.

After the basting is completed, the excess fabric is trimmed away leaving a scant 1/4 inch.

Next find a fairly straight section of basting and clip to the basting line to begin the needle turn of the fabric clipping about every third stitch of basting as you go, pulling out the basting thread, and clipping the fabric as needed at the curves. Turn at the basting line and then attach the top fabric to the base fabric using the applique stitch.

You will find that your stitching line will match almost exactly the traced line. Now take a large swatch of the second fabric and baste it to the base fabric as before.

The front will look like this.

After the basting is complete, trim this design as before - a scant 1/4 inch from the basting thread.

Note that the red fabric design is all one piece as will be the top blue design. Work carefully to keep the point.

The front side will look like this.

And the back will have the colored thread stitches sitting right on top of the initial tracing lines. EASY!

I was so excited that I decided to applique Block 41 as well.

41 Red, White, and Blue Quilt

The directions called for piecing the star and there were lots of "Y" seams. At this point, I thought the applique would be easier. I might try hand piecing this block later.

(LaNell, thank you for the star background fabric. I just had to use it for this block!)

This week, the second pattern and fabric for "Aunt Grace's Garden Party" quilt arrived. Have I told you how happy the fabric for this quilt makes me? I saw the flower baskets with the appliqued handle and it reminded me of Block 13 of Civil War Quilts.

13 Little Blue Basket

My block now has a little blue handle. I may also have to revisit Block 3, Seven Sisters and applique those 7 stars after all.