Turkey Tracks: Purple, Purple, Purple

Turkey Tracks: May 11, 2015

Purple, Purple, Purple

These fabrics have been bundled up to make a quilt for some years now. (I have been inspired by making the “At The Lake” quilt which has been hanging around for a few years too–like 12 years.)

I recently went back through these bundles and broke some of them up and put those fabrics back into the working stash.

Life moves on, tastes move on, quilting moves on, I am moving on with the flow.

Purple is not my first choice for a quilt usually. I seem to be more drawn to blues, greens, and warm colors–reds and the like.

Look at all these purples and magentas!

The strip also has some blue and some limey green…

Here’s what’s happening on the design wall:

Wild, huh?

I think this fabric will be the backing:

And maybe I’ll use the strip again in a border???

Turkey Tracks: “Scrappy Streak” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: April 20, 2015

“Scrappy Streak” Quilt

It occurs to me that I never put finished pics of this quilt up on the blog–though I finished it back in the winter–and am enjoying using it so much.

I apologize for the rug, but it would take two extra people to hold this quilt up for viewing…

I love the graphic nature of this very simple quilt–and it was made with the leftover (now small) pieces of the 2 1/2-inch strips that I used to make the big log cabin and the Bonnie Hunter “scrappy trip” pattern (free on her blog) this past winter. I am loving having these quilts downstairs. They are so colorful and welcoming and so much better than the old dog blanket that used to protect the couch. (The dogs do bring in a lot of mud, especially in mud season.)

I got the backing on sale at, I think, Marge Hallowell’s Mainely Sewing in Nobleboro. And I quilted with my clam shell groovy boards. (This traditional quilt pattern does not fare well with pantographs–at least not in my hands.)

The red border fabric is from a piece I’ve had for over 12 or more years. Ideas about quilts change over the years, and I no longer wanted to make the quilt for which this fabric had been purchased. So… It’s brilliant in this quilt.

Here’s a final view of the graphic nature of this quilt:

Quilts like these three quilts all made from my 2 1/2-inch fabric strips remind me over and over of other quilts I have made. Invariably, seeing a fabric from another quilt makes me smile.

This quilt is No 113 and was finished probably in February.

Turkey Tracks: Mid-March Project Update

Turkey Tracks: March 21, 2015

Mid-March Project Update

Ironically, today is the first day of spring.

And it is warmer, but it’s also snowing outside.

Though it’s wet and dreary, my heart has been warmed by Kathleen Nixon’s visit for my birthday.

She was to have come yesterday, but the storm grounded flights, so she arrived bright and cheerful at noon today. We had a sushi lunch at Mr. Wat’s, a coffee at Zoots, and will have what will be a wonderful dinner at the Hartstone Inn (thanks to Gina Caceci). Tomorrow we’re going to a special showing of the uncut version of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA at The Strand in Rockland, Maine (where we’ll have some POPCORN). Afterwards, we’ll have an early dinner at Mirandas in Rockland–a favorite place for both of us. I have to let her go on Monday, but will take her down to Portland and will do some errands on the way home.

I have been working on the big quilt this past week. It just needs one more border:

Which is almost done:

This is a VERY BIG quilt…

Here are some close-ups:

AND this one, which shows how much of my focus fabric I’ve been able to use:

It’s interesting and inspired by Kaffe Fasset’s low-contrast style of quilting. AND by the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine’s low contrast “quilt along” of last year.

This year their challenge is to work with four patches–and the above quilt actually uses a lot of four patches. BUT, I am much more intrigued by the four-patches on point that Bonnie Hunter is making for her part in the magazine’s challenge. So, these patches have become my current leader/ender project.

I have no idea how Bonnie is going to set hers, and I’m hoping she will do a “reveal” on April 3rd, the end of the challenge. If not, I’ll open my EQ7 quilting design program and get to work.

Here’s a close-up.

I have 20 blocks done now, but truthfully, I could just disappear from the world and sew these fun blocks until I drop.

Remember that I have a whole box of two-inch squares that need using…

Maybe I’ll do a marathon session and sew these into light/dark four patches…

Meanwhile, the chickens are out every day now and hang out at my quilting room windows where they try to talk to me:

Barb Melchiskey challenged our group to complete one UFO for our May challenge meeting. I have a handful of planned quilt projects all folded up together. This one is at least nine years old:

And it’s pretty fabric that I still like:

It wants to be a quilt for a male person…

And I have one in mind…

So, I will start it when the big blue quilt is…quilted.

Happy spring everyone!

Turkey Tracks/Quilting: It’s Snowing! Again!

Turkey Tracks/Quilting: February 25, 2015

It’s Snowing! Again!

And, for now, it has stopped, after about five hours or so…

Here’s the view from my kitchen doors and through the windows of the lots and lots of snow we have–higher than my window, higher than my height:

Through the open door–you can get some perspective on all that white by looking at in relation to the top of the door the snow shovel, which is more than two feet off the ground:

The paths leading off the deck–I can’t see the hot tub anymore. The stakes on the hill (you can see their tops) are five feet plus tall.

Meanwhile, I’ve been quilting, quilting. It’s always fun to pull a quilt off the long arm and see how the quilting is working over the whole quilt for the first time:

For this very traditional quilt, I used a traditional clam shell quilting pattern done with groovy boards:

The soft green blends with the backing, which is not shown here.

These three scrappy quilts I’ve made recently are brightening up the downstairs sitting room so much.

I’m sewing down the binding on the streak of lightening quilt at night now–but am so drawn to the hand sewing project with the octagons. Those scraps are on the yellow table. And here’s what it’s looking like now. I put in some side triangles last night:

I think I’ll applique this piece when it’s done–to a set of borders–so this will be the center. But, who knows?

I think I’d like the octagons better if they were SMALLER. But, you know I love small pieces for the most part in a quilt…

Turkey Tracks: Blizzard 2 of 2015

Turkey Tracks: February 13, 2015

Blizzard 2 of 2015

The other night on the local news I heard that Portland, Maine, has had 6 feet and 1 inch of snow–that total has climbed as it snowed more on Wednesday and Thursday.

Here in Camden, which is just under two hours further north, we’ve sometimes had more snow (much more) and sometimes a bit less. So, it’s pretty safe to say we’ve had at least 6 feet of snow this past winter–and most of it landed in the last three weeks.

We’re all braced for the blizzard that will start tomorrow afternoon late. Predictions are for up to 24 or so inches of light, blowing snow. None of us has a clue about where we’ll put another two feet of snow.

I’ve had a go-round with the electricity in the chicken coop, but that’s solved now. I have TWO lines going out there from different outside outlets. The water heater is working again. Our temps tonight are dropping to -14 degrees. That’s NOT wind chill. Or, that’s the prediction anyway. So getting electricity back to the chicken coop was really important.

I have two more longarm passes on the Bonnie Hunter 2014 Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion. So, I will be binding that quilt later today. It’s always so much fun to unwind a finished quilt and to see the whole of the quilting in it.

I finished two knitted wool hats last night–made to go with wool scarves I made last year. I went a little crazy with buttons.

I put pics of this cowl (infinity scarf) up last year.

And:

There is a good match with the hat yarn in the lighter yarn in the scarf–it just isn’t showing in this picture.

Here’s the quilt-in-progress on the design wall–a streak of lightening pattern. This fabric is the leftover from the other two scrappy quilts I recently made from my 2 1/2 strip bin. I was left with some shorter pieces, so I cut 2 1/2by 4 1/2-inch rectangles.

I’ll use an inner border that’s about an 1 1/2 inches and put on a wider border of some sort–yet to be determined. This quilt will look very traditional when I’m finished. Simple and useful. This quilt will join its sisters in the downstairs tv/sitting room–replacing sturdy but ugly couch dog blankets. So far, so good in terms of looks and wear.

I wondered why the suet feeders were disappearing so fast. Then I saw this guy yesterday:

It’s the best picture I could get in a series. The Pileated Woodpeckers are HUGE and very jittery and scary. He’s been around off and on all winter, but today he treated me to quite a show. At one point he sat in the middle of the flat green feeder and just rocked himself back and forth. As long as I didn’t move a muscle, he stayed around.

Stephen Pennoyer has been working on more pour over coffee stands. Here’s the most recent picture he sent me:

I see a two-hole in this picture…

OK, bring on the blizzard. I’m ready.

Turkey Tracks: “Scrappy Scraps” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: January 31, 2015

Scrappy Scraps Quilt

Here is the second quilt in the scrappy series I have been making for my downstairs tv/sitting room–all made from the 2 1/2-inch bin of strips.

This quilt is based on Bonnie Hunter’s method in her “Scrappy Trip Around the World,” a free pattern on her quiltville.com web site and blog.

I had so much fun making this quilt! What a treat to experience!

Basically, one sews together six strips of fabric about 17 inches long, joins them into a tube, and then cuts them into 2 1/2-inch little tubes. Where you open the first tube determines the order of the block that develops as you open tubes and sew together the new strips. If you want a dark, definitive block to run up the middle (which really helps define the diamonds that form), you must include a dark strip in the mix of six AND begin opening the little tubes at that point, so that dark block is on the bottom. Bonnie has great pics on her blog of these steps.

Thanks to Megan Bruns and Matt who dropped in late yesterday with a warm latte and for a visit–for holding up the quilt. Megan showed me several projects she was working on–and I’m now kicking myself that I did not take pictures.

I am now wondering what would happen if one made this quilt all in one color family–like blue, or red, or green…using dark and light strips…

Here’s where the quilt is going to live–to prevent the dogs from marring the couch AND for folks to use for warmth and comfort.

Here’s a close-up:

I got the backing on sale at Alewives quilt shop in Damariscotta Mills, Maine, and you can see that it works well in this room.

Here are a few close-ups:

I quilted with a spring green thread–which also worked well with the backing. And, used the Acadia pantograph as I thought it’s swirls would work well with all these squares.

I actually think the 2 1/2-inch strips, which finish to 2-inch squares, work well in this quilt. I think I’d prefer 2-inch strips for the log cabin though…

My eye just loves smaller bits of fabric I guess…

Turkey Tracks: “Ain’t This Fun?” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: October 19, 2014

“Ain’t This Fun?” Quilt Finished

It’s such a nice feeling to finish binding a quilt, fold it up, and call it done.

I finished “Ain’t This Fun?” this past week.

You may remember that I used the string blocks that I made last March in Williamsburg/Norfolk with my Virginia quilting buddies–using selvage edges and leftover strips of fabric that were too big to throw and too small for a 1 1/2-inch strip. After a week of quilting many hours, I had about 100 blocks.

What to do next?

Bonnie Hunter’s “Tulip Fields” quilt in her book STRING FLING provided an idea for setting the blocks and for the border.

Here’s what this quilt looks like on a queen bed–so you can see the size.

Here’s the backing–which is a spring green, not really a yellow:

And here’s a close up of the blocks–the quilting is a “spring” green–using a pantograph called “Denise’s Spirals.”

I made this quilt for the Coastal Quilters’ auction in November.

It’s a lively, very fun quilt, and I had a lot of fun making it.

Turkey Tracks: Acadia Quilt

Turkey Tracks: May 12, 2014

Acadia Quilt

“Acadia” started as a leader/ender project–pioneered by Bonnie Hunter who now has TWO books of her own leader/ender projects. (Basically, you keep a pile of blocks near your machine while working on another quilt, and when you need to cut the thread on the primary quilt, you run through a “leader/ender” block instead.)

AND, I ve long had a yearning to make a red and green quilt.

This quilt is BIG, heavy, warm, and I absolutely love the way it came out. It’s built on the “Contrary Wife” quilt block, but I split some of the larger blocks into four-patches.

(My rug is out to be cleaned–hence the dark pad on the floor.)

I love the way the secondary pattern developed in this quilt–forming not only a trellis, of course, but squares inside the light squared an inside the trellis center with dark and light centers:

Here’s a corner and the inner and outer borders:

The back was really fun because I did not have enough of the wild green Kaffe Fasset floral I used on the back, so I used more of the bright red remnants I had and every orphan block I could find that would work in this quilt:

Here’s the backing turned to the front, and you can see the bright green binding:

I used a Kelly green thread and a pantograph entitled “Arcadia” from Urban Elementz. It has nice gentle curves and just the right amount of coverage for this quilt.

But this quilt is “Acadia”–no “r” added–after the famous national park just north of Camden, Maine.

Turkey Tracks: Rainy Day!

Turkey Tracks: May 20, 2013

Rainy Day!

Finally, a rainy day!

My apologies for not posting sooner, but I have been OUTSIDE for days in this glorious spring, putting the garden back into order.

I’ve been in a planting frenzy, actually, and have really needed this rainy day. With the generous and kind help of David Hannan, many tasks have been completed: putting up the chicken fence and the vegetable garden fence, bringing out all the outdoor furniture from the top of the garage, putting away the boarding walk, rebuilding the rock wall on the drive where the snow plow folks couldn’t see where the rocks were, bringing out all of the container pots (I think there are at least 25) and filling them with dirt and planting them, mulching, mowing, weeding, pruning, edging, seeding, and planting a now-shady bed with shade plants and, in the sunny part, an herb garden that I hope will be more permanent.

Electrician David Dodge came and fixed the back outdoor plug and installed a new plug at the front door–which will make mowing with an electric mower and a LONG cord much easier. And once he showed me how to take out the prong-plug expensive halogen bulbs in an under-the-counter kitchen light, I got new bulbs and replaced them. I’m afraid I had to touch the bulbs though–the oils from your fingers can make them blow–but they were too tiny and slippery to grip and get into the two out of four right holes. Anyway, right now, it’s working.

I’ll take pictures soon. Meanwhile, here’s how the green scrappy quilt is coming along. I’ve been quilting in the late afternoon through the early evening, and that’s been so relaxing. This quilt is a green copy of Bonnie Hunter’s “Blue Ridge Beauty,” in her book LEADERS AND ENDERS. I’m calling my version “Camden Hills Beauty,” and right now, the trees on the Camden Hills are so fluffy and are so many greens that I know this quilt is well-named. The block is a traditional Jacob’s Ladder block, but I love Bonnie’s method of combining color with neutrals. I used light greens, but Bonnie uses true “neutrals” in her quilts and just mixes them all up. I LOVE this quilt!

Here’s a close-up of some of the blocks. You can see I’ve mixed in some color–bits of pink and orange. I like the way they are working in the quilt.

I started sewing together rows in the last few days–and realized I need 14 rows, not 12!!! So, it’s back to piecing more blocks. But that’s ok as I’m really enjoying this project. AND, my green stash is diminishing, diminishing–which is a lovely feeling of usefulness.

At night, in front of the tv, I’ve been appliqueing the “Green Turtles” quilt turtles for new granddaughter Cyanna. I am on the eighth turtle–of nine. So as soon as I get the Camden Hills quilt off the design wall, up will go the Green Turtles. You can see some of the blocks on the left side of the first picture.

The 14 rows will mean the quilt will have the DARK line predominant, which is better visually I think.

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