Summer

Grandchildren are definitely keeping me busy., They are also growing like weeds. We are enjoying many  summer activities, so blessed to be their Nana. This picture was taken just before a water balloon fight. 😊😊😊 and yes I was drenched by the end of it.

So I seem to be wondering what in the world I’m going to do with so many scraps, I have at least 25 pounds of scraps. I never used to save  scraps and now I have so many, hopefully I’ll come up with some really scrappy projects. I always love quilts with a lot of pieces, I guess I would have to decide whether I wanted to make it really scrappy and mix the Civil War fabrics with the novelties and others fabrics. I will let you know what I come up with. I could always get out my Accuquilt cutter and just start cutting strips and squares, that’s always a possibility. I am just wondering if that is an usual amount to have?So what  am I working on? 

Four patches, working with fabrics very unlike my Civil War fabrics I usually use. The finished quilt will have over 6200 pieces and I’m thankful all the four patches are complete and I just need to finish assembling the quilt. I really am tired of making four patches. Hoping to finish the quilt this week.

Slowly working on the anthology 4 x 5″ blocks along with the Moda block of the week. 

I never run out of projects to work on, so many things calling my name and if I would ever run out of projects, I always have a large stack of quilts that need binding.

Enjoy these beautiful summer days, another post soon. Happy quilting, 

Rosemary

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Found a treasure this week.

I don’t have too many antique quilts that I have purchased in my collection but I bought this beautiful quilt at an estate sale this week . It is in beautiful condition, I don’t think it has ever been washed. It’s a 1930s Nancy Page alphabet quilt. I have had the patterns from the 1930s newspapers for quite a long time thinking that I would make one some day and now I don’t have to.The quilters work is just beautiful, I could not get any information on the quilter not even her name, I think she made it and put it away in a drawer and never used it. 

I love the alphabet quilt because when Nancy Page designed the quilt in the 1930s she wanted it to only have 24 blocks, she didn’t want an uneven number of blocks. When she was putting the blocks together she talked it over with her group and they decided to only use the Y. She said let the Y stand for the word you and that can represent the person that you’re giving it to. As you will see on the quilt, the quilter follow the instructions exactly. Some quilters actually embroidered the letters X Y and Z on the last block and that is probably what I would’ve done or maybe I would have designed a special block for the letters X and Z. I think the quilt would be excellent for teaching children the alphabet so I don’t think I could have forgotten the important letters of X and Z. 

I love the old newspaper series of the 1930s and Nancy Page was definitely my favorite designer from that period. Have a great evening and happy quilting 

Rosemary

So many projects here to work on

Dear friends,

Sometimes when I come home from Shipshewana, I am just so inspired with so many different things. This time that was especially true, so many projects to start and so many that I am working on already. I thought I would share those with you this morning.  I’m definitely having fun working on the 4 x 5 anthology blocks, at first when I looked at the cover I thought the blocks were all easy , Some are and some aren’t which makes the project fun.  I’m doing the blocks in order as the quilt, otherwise it is so tempting for me to pick up the easy ones and finish those first. Working on simple four patches, definitely will be scrappy and king sized, have over 600 four patches to make. It’s always fun to have a simple project that you can just pull out and work on even if it’s for only five minutes between other things,I bought the birds of liberty and the coordinating fabric from Shipshewana, can’t wait to get started on that project, as you can see I have at least three embroidery projects in progress so I want to finish up a couple of those first. I love Di Ford fabric and there is a beautiful quilt in this book that I want to use it on, The quilt is called Sunnyside, it’s just there’s never enough time in the day to do all the projects I want to.Just finished cutting two  of the fancy fox twin size quilt,  definitely will be a fun project to work on and another one that is already there to piece anytime I want to.

Working on the Moda block of the week, this year it was the only one that I chose to do to avoid trying to accomplish so many things at once. I’m using lakeside gatherings and I just love the fabrics .Choosing fabrics also for the Emily Monroe quilt, it will be a long-term project but another one and I can’t wait to start.So I definitely have plenty of projects and I am so motivated.

I also am looking for this fabric, if anyone has it in their stash and would like to part with it, please let me know.And last but not least, I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day. My husband and I went up north for the weekend and return home to celebrate Mother’s Day and three birthdays. We tried to get eight of the nine grandchildren to standstill for two minutes for a picture, I would say almost impossible. 😀😀😀😀😀Enjoy your week, hope you find plenty of time to work on your projects. Happy quilting, Rosemary

Shipshewana spring smile box, second try

Sorry, I’m not sure why it came through like it did. Here is the link to click on.
http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e44557a4d5441334f44633d0d0a&blogview=true
The show and tell was just amazing, the smile box starts out with some photos of Shipshewana goes into our gathering at Elaine Jones Amish home with her beautiful quilts and then show and tell starts on slide 50. Enjoy.

Happy Quilting, Rosemary

Shipshewana smile box spring 2017

<table cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”0″ border=”0″ bgcolor=”#ffffff”><tr><td><a href=”http://www.smilebox.com/play/4e44557a4d5441334f44633d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_playback_link&partner=googlee&#8221; target=”_blank”><img width=”420″ height=”330″ alt=”Click to play this Smilebox slideshow” src=”http://www.smilebox.com/snap/4e44557a4d5441334f44633d0d0a.jpg&#8221; style=”border: medium none ;”/></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href=”http://www.smilebox.com?partner=googlee&campaign=blog_snapshot&#8221; target=”_blank”><img width=”420″ height=”46″ alt=”Create your own slideshow – Powered by Smilebox” src=”http://www.smilebox.com/globalImages/blogInstructions/blogLogoSmilebox.gif&#8221; style=”border: medium none ;”/></a></td></tr><tr><td align=”center”>This free digital slideshow customized with Smilebox</td></tr></table>
http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e44557a4d5441334f44633d0d0a&blogview=true
The show and tell was just amazing, the smile box starts out with some photos of Shipshewana goes into our gathering at Elaine Jones Amish home with her beautiful quilts and then show and tell starts on slide 50. Enjoy.

Happy  Quilting, Rosemary

So what did I buy the week I was in Shipshewana at the retreat.

I definitely came home with so many ideas from the retreat, I cannot wait to use some of my new fabrics. Posting smile box next. Wishing you all a great day today

More great shops near Shipshewana

One of my favorite shops near Shipshewana is called Caroline’s Cottage Cottons, such a charming shop with great service. Beautiful reproduction fabrics and you walk out of there with so many new ideas and if you spend a certain amount of money on  fabric, you will receive a beautiful crown .

Pumpkinvine is another shop that is located in Shipshewana, just a charming shop with plenty of ideas and beautiful fabrics.

Gohns is a  shop a couple of miles from Shipshewana located in Middleberry. The store  is where the Amish  go to buy  clothing or purchase fabric to make  clothing.

I don’t think there are too many fabrics that you cannot find in Shipshewana, Indiana or the surrounding area. Happy stitching,
Rosemary