Laurie Aaron Hird – Louisa Enright's Blog

Turkey Tracks: The Completed “Farmer’s Wife” Project

Turkey Tracks: June 21, 2017

The Completed “Farmer’s Wife” Project

A group of us started Laurie Aaron Hird’s THE FARMER’S WIFE 1930 SAMPLER QUILT a little over a year ago.

We showed the completed quilts at our June Coastal Quilters (Maine) meeting.

Here they are–in the order in which they were shown, which was ad hoc.

Lynn Vermeulen used batiks–and devised the very successful and subtle setting of pale stripes.

Lovely quilting too.

This quilt is Paula Blanchard’s FIRST QUILT. She chose to do a selection of the foundation pieced blocks and set them in the “zig zag” setting with black. Gorgeous Paula!

Becca Babb-Brott’s choice of modern fabrics is a whole new learning curve for me. I love these fabrics. Becca used a pale grey fabric from Dear Stella Designs for her background. AND she was the instigator of this group project.

Becca had started an earlier version of Laurie Aaron Hird’s sampler quilts, so Becca put those blocks on the back of her quilt.

Linda Satkowski used the most interesting background fabric. I loved it at first sight! Her scrappy blocks are so much fun. Note how she uses the background fabric in some of her blocks so that the outer edges disappear.

Here’s the background fabric up close.

And Linda’s choice of a scrappy outer border delighted us.

Margaret Elaine Jinno wanted her quilt to have a coastal/water/blues feel. And it does. She has had some issues with her hand, and has since had an operation on it, but was able to get her top completed for our showing. Go Margaret Elaine! I could also say that M-E is the most proficient seamstress I know. She could knock out these blocks without turning a hair while I SWEATED over many of them.

You’ve seen my quilt, but here it is again. I added strips to the side to make the top wider and set extra blocks (not used in the zig zag setting) on each side. My background fabric is the teal version of Becca’s grey. This fabric comes in LOTS of colors, and I like them all.

THIS PROJECT IS DONE. (We’re now working on Tula Pink’s 100 city sampler blocks.)

Turkey Tracks: A Completed Quilt Project

Turkey Tracks: June 20, 2017

A Completed Quilt Project

Becca Babb Brott has worked for about two years on this HUGE Jen Kingwell quilt. Becca combined THREE of Kingwell’s patterns into this king-size quilt–which she then quilted on my long arm. One pattern is “Gypsy Wife,” but I don’t know the other two patterns.

There was drama with the long arm, of course. I was using needles that were too light, and one broke, throwing off the machine’s timing. It was way, way overdue for a check-up, so off it went to Sanborn Sewing Machine. Those folks are beyond terrific. The break occurred just before our Coastal Quilters’ retreat in Kennebunkport, so I was able to drop off the machine where the staff fixed it for me in a narrow window they had on Friday.

When you have to move a long-arm head, poles have to come down, which means a quilt has to be taken off said poles, etc. When we got everything back, we were able to painlessly put everything back together, and off Becca went, sewing away. Hmmm. After a few tension adjustments however…

Here are some other pics, made when she showed it to Coastal Quilters’ members.

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters’ May Retreat

Turkey Tracks: May 18, 2017

Coastal Quilters’ May Retreat…

…Mother’s Day weekend at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport, Maine.

We had SUCH A GOOD TIME!!

Tori Manzi started this quilt at Pink Castle’s Glampstitchalot last year and worked on it at our last retreat. She finished it at this retreat. (Pink Castle has a great web site, sells fabric, and organizes the amazing Glampstitchalot each year, where high profile quilt teachers come and work with attendees.) Each border of Tori’s quilt was designed and taught by a different teacher. How fun is that!!

Here’s part of the group early evening Saturday night. We came on Thursday night so by this picture we were all thoroughly punchy.

Margaret Elaine Jinno worked to put her Farmer’s Wife blocks together. We are all going to show our quilts at our June meeting:

Deb Hazell was on the J&E Riggin’s “Slow Sewing at Sea” cruise with Rhea Butler of Alewives Quilt Shop last September. Deb brought along Deb Torre (on the left) to our retreat. We loved having them with us.

Deb Torre worked on Sarah Fielke’s “Down the Rabbit Hole.” This kind of quilt lets a quilter learn a lot of new blocks and sewing methods. Here’ the left side in process. The blocks below are for a sampler Deb Hazell is making.

Here’s the right side in process, and the lower blocks are Deb Hazell’s sampler blocks.

By Sunday morning, Deb Torres had these blocks done. I am tree quilt crazy at the moment, so loved these blocks–made from organic cotton:

New to our group also was Betsy Maislen, who started this amazing quilt behind Karen Martin. Betsy had all the blocks done by the time Sunday rolled around. We are looking forward to seeing the finished quilt top, borders and all.

Penny Rogers Camm returned to us for her second retreat and started her third quilt. Look at her pretty fish blocks! (There were requests for this Joan Ford pattern. I made Joan’s version–you can see it here if you search for “fish quilts” and scroll down.)

Linda Satkowski and Karen Martin hard at work.

Penny and Vicki Fletcher at one of the cutting tables.

Lynn Vermeulen making a foundation piecing check.

Becca Babb-Brott and I brought our selvages. Becca started this spider web quilt using a Bonnie Hunter pattern (free on her web site, quiltville.com). Love the way the neutral circles are working in this quilt.

Jan Kelsey worked on a number of quilts which went up and down on the design walls. I was sewing myself and missed getting pictures until I slowed down to get this Christmas funky log cabin.

Mac Saulnier worked on three baby quilts. I love her colorful novelty fabrics. The designated children will be so happy to get these cheerful quilts.

Tori Manzi worked on several projects as well. Here are more. This quilt came out of an online block exchange. Check out Tori’s Instagram (Camden Maine Mom) to see more of her work.

And, blocks from a sampler challenge.

One of our quilters could not go with us, but she worked on this quilt while we were away:

I worked on this selvage project–a BIG star from Jen Baker, a free pattern which I loved at first sight.

I am going to put all the Tula Pink 100 city blocks in a separate post.

It was a good long weekend. We are so glad we added the extra day.

Turkey Tracks: February Quilty Update

Turkey Tracks: February 14, 2017

February Quilty Update

I love winter because I have lots of uninterrupted time to sew. Plus, I love snow.

I am ticking along with all the various projects and having fun seeing them come together.

Here’s Katja Marek’s EPP millifiore quilt in progress. I have almost finished a large section at the bottom left and will be adding it soon. It’s in shades of blue. And the addition of the blue will make the left edge complete.

Yes, this quilt is very funky, and I have no idea how it will look when it’s done, but… I am having fun.

You can see the piles of completed blocks of the Farmer’s Wife–each a column–above the millifiore.

That top was finished last night.

I liked the zig-zag setting, but it requires cutting four of the blocks in half on the short rows!!! I thought the quilt too long and skinny, so added two columns and used the five extra blocks I had on the upper left (2) and lower right (3).

I got a little OCD–ok, a lot OCD–about setting up blocks for one of Willyne Hammerstein’s quilts, “Valse Brilliante.” Hammerstein is Austrian, and her colors are very European. I’m doing my version in brights and neutrals, and each block will have some text fabric in it. I got a bundle of “pearl bracelet” fabrics that are bright and colorful, so I ironed them all, and I can’t bear to put them away again until I’ve finished. There are also some bright Japanese daisy prints I like–as you can see below. It actually takes a while to set up one of these blocks, but now that I’ve used up all the red wonderclips, I’ve slowed down. I try to sew EPP with matching thead as much as is possible.

I have these fabrics left to cut and glue:

Some of us here in Camden, Maine have formed the Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild, which is in addition to our venerable Coastal Quilters, which is a chapter in the Pine Tree Quilt Guild.

I am so drawn to the “modern” fabrics and the graphic nature of the modern quilts. And, there is a strand that is modern/traditional, or some such title. So, we are going to have even more quilty goodness.

We are going to do a “traveling” quilt and will turn in our initial pieces on March 2nd. I have made this piece as my offering and look forward to seeing how it comes back to me. I’m not thinking this piece will be a center medallion that gets developed. And I will go back in with pearl cotton when the quilt is layered to embellish such as the exclamation point at the end of the “Love.” The “blue moon” and the back side of the sliver moon were cut with one of those rotary circle cutters–which I learned from our workshop with Timna Tarr.

My alphabet was modeled on the one I found in Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland’s OUT OF THE BOX WITH EASY BLOCKS.

We had a major snowstorm starting Monday night and ending Tuesday night–a blizzard. There was a near complete “white out” and lots of high wind. I have about 2 feet of MORE snow on the ground now. As the storm abated, I made my way down the steep drive to my mailbox and retrieved the first Cotton+Steel fabric club package from Pink Castle fabrics. Isn’t it pretty?

I’m already thinking about making the next set of Tula Pink’s 100 City blocks. Some of us are doing 8 blocks a month. (You can see an earlier post on that challenge.)

I hope your winter is wonderful!

Enjoy it. Slow down. Hibernate. Spring with all of its energy will be here in due course.

Turkey Tracks: The Farmer’s Wife Projects Are Coming Together

December 15, 2016

The Farmer’s Wife Projects Are Coming Together

Lynn Vermeulen showed us her Farmer’s Wife blocks at a recent “Sit and Sew” meeting of the Coastal Quilters (Maine).

Lynn’s blocks are all batiks. She has set them on-point, but not off-set on point, so a square is formed. She has used two subtle batiks (pale yellow and pale green) to form these squares, which, in turn, are forming the delicate stripes. Go Lynn!

Remember I posted these pics at our recent retreat of Becca Babb-Brott randomly putting up her finished blocks to see what she has. Becca is laying the blocks out “on point,” but off-setting them, which will make a zig-zag pattern down the quilt. Since this trial, Becca has decided to lay out the blocks flat so that a square separates them.

My blocks are still in a notebook–which is protecting their bias edges. But, the day to finish them and to put them on my design wall is coming soon! My blocks are just “scrappy,” with an eclectic mix of fabrics.

Margaret Elaine Jinno’s blocks are wonderful! She is close to finishing as well. She is using all “water” colors, to honor that we live on the coast.

Linda Satkowski is “on time” as well. And, yes, her blocks are terrific. Linda’s blocks, like mine, are scrappy. She is using a patterned setting fabric. Can’t wait to see how she sets them.

Paul Blanchard is making a smaller quilt with her blocks. It is somewhat daunting to make all 99 blocks. I’ve seen one or two of Paula’s blocks and look forward to seeing more.

What is so fascinating is how very different everyone’s blocks are; yet, all the blocks are so, so pretty.

Can’t wait to see the quilts.

Turkey Tracks: August Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Turkey Tracks:

August Farmer’s Wife Blocks

There are 99 blocks in this project. A group of Coastal Quilters of Maine are doing eight a month. These blocks were designed by Laurie Aaron Bird in her THE FARMER’S WIFE 1930s SAMPLER QUILT project. We are foundation piecing these intricate blocks and are mostly on track. I’ve got posts for all that I have done is you want to see them.

No. 57, Margaret: The cat fabric and the non-polka dot fabric are Cotton + Steel.

No. 58, Martha: The bright green fabric is Japanese.

No 59, Mary: The green fabric is a new Cotton + Steel fabric from the Portugal collection. Just bought some of it in the mustard color.

No 60, Mary Gray: These fabrics are all Japanese.

No 61, May: The blue and cream fabrics are Japanese. The pink is Cotton + Steel. This block was challenging.

No. 62, Milly: The blue and cream/figured fabrics are Japanese. This block works better “on point.” And I think the white is not working so well. It’s hard to tell sometimes.

No. 63, Mollie: All Japanese Fabrics. This one was…HARD!

No 64, Monette: The orange fabric is Japanese, the others Cotton + Steel. I like the way these fabrics work together. Dear God, do you see all those TINY squares???

As Lynn Vermeulen said a while back, “the M’s go on forever”!!! I just printed out the last 10 of them–my goal for September.

No 75 is “Nan,” and I will have TWENTY TWO blocks to go.

Turkey Tracks: June Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Turkey Tracks: June 29, 2016

June Farmer’s Wife Blocks

I finished June’s 8 blocks just under the wire.

I’ve already printed out patterns for July’s 8 blocks.

Blocks 40 to 48:

Grandmother:

Granny:

Heather:

Hope:

Iris:

Jenny:

Jewel:

Joy:

Judy:

Turkey Tracks: May’s Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Turkey Tracks: May 31, 2016

May’s Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Those who read this blog may remember that I am part of a Coastal Quilters (Maine) group whose members are making eight blocks a month from the book THE FARMER’S WIFE 1930 SAMPLER QUILT buy Laurie Aaron Hird. AND that I’m going to set these blocks in this lovely teal fabric.

I’m down to the wire this month–so many wonderful quilt projects and not enough time–but here are my eight May blocks. This eight makes 40 of the 99–so not quite half way.

On to the June blocks!

Turkey Tracks: THE FARMER’S WIFE 1930s Sampler Quilt: April’s Blocks

Turkey Tracks: April

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: April’s Blocks

I’m still on track with this project.

Here are April’s completed blocks:

This one is a very, very dark navy blue.

Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters Monthly All-Day Sit and Sew

Turkey Tracks: April 18, 2016

Coastal Quilters’ Monthly All-Day Sit and Sew

My favorite day of the month may be the Coastal Quilters’ monthly all-day Sit and Sew.

We start at 9 a.m., and many of us bring our sewing machines. We sit and sew, but also we share, we talk, we laugh, we eat lunch, we make coffee and drink it. The day flies by every month.

Here’s Becca Babb Brott’s ongoing project–the big central English Paper Piecing medallion designed by Katja Marek for her millefiore project–which is her 2015 challenge. As I’ve been discussing in other blog posts, this information is under “projects” at the paperpiecing.com web site AND on Marek’s web site. Marek’s blocks are bigger than other millefiore project–so lend themselves to seeing bigger pieces of great fabric. Becca’s fabric choices are modern and…FUN! (Becca has an Etsy store online: SEW ME A SONG.)

Becca trades blocks and ideas online with other modern quilters, and during this Sit and Sew session, she brought them all along to try to figure out innovative and creative things to do with them.

I have been in love with house blocks for about 20 years now. Aren’t these funky, modern versions fun?

I especially like the one with squares along the right side. I like that star just below the house block as well.

Megan Bruns worked on her millefiori quilt, which has very tiny pieces for the most part. Here fussy cutting is the name of the game, and Megan does it so so well. Megan is working on “La Passacaglia Quilt” from Dutch quilt designer Willyne Hammerstein’s book MILLEFIORI QUILTS. (That’s my machine to the right of Megan, and I worked on Bonnie Hunter’s “Wild and Goosey” block with my scrap bag. You can see more of Megan’s project on Instagram.

Maggie Schwamb worked on quilting a GORGEOUS string quilt–which I need to see better as I’m now seeing a pieced border.

Linda Satkowski layered a lap-size quilt–using the new foam roller system a recent speaker taught us. Very ingenious. Then Linda worked on a low-volume hexie project that is going to be a table top for, I think, a bedroom chest of drawers.

Mary Bishop and Margaret Elaine worked on Foundation Paper Piecing blocks from Laurie Aaron Hird’s THE FARMER’S WIFE 1930 SAMPLER QUILT book. Mary was trying out the Foundation Piecing and thought it very slow. Margaret Elaine has at least 34 blocks completed (we are doing 8 a month) and every single one of them is so, so pretty. April’s blocks were intricate, slower to make as such, and often tedious. That’s how intricate Foundation Paper piecing goes though. You like it, tolerate it, or…don’t.

Jan Kelsey was working on prepping a backing fabric when I took this picture, but she had other projects with her as well.

Other people came and went during the day as well.

That Becca has gotten me hooked on the French and Brawn Italian sub sandwich–half for lunch/half for the next day–with potato chips!!! I start thinking about eating it again as soon as the Sit and Sew Day is over.

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