Pattern Testing, Lozagons and a Beautiful Pen

I continue to work on the pattern testing for Missie of Traditional Primitives. I'll share pictures when she gives me the okay! I you like English paper piecing and the Dear Jane quilt then you'll be interested in Missie's quilt pattern! It isn't a large quilt - I think it will finish at about 65" which is a nice manageable size!

Last night I stitched together a block for my Lozagons quilt. You can read about the original quilt here.  The turquoise you see will act as the background fabric. I've made hexagon rosettes and I'll stitch one rosette at each spot where there is a turquoise hexagon on the block.

The result will be that the block will appear to have spokes as you can see in the picture of the original quilt below.

That's one block down and thirty to go! You can see my box of "noodles" which are the hexagons stitched into rounds. They are waiting to be turned into larger pieces!

My brother turns wood on a lathe and has made some really lovely seam rippers which he sold at the Quilt Show. He made these for Mom and me for Christmas. The seam ripper part comes out and gets tucked inside the wood handle when not in use.

Well I love the woods me uses and so he me made me a lovely pen made of buckeye burl. A burl is a round growth on a tree. The grain is very different from the trunk and it is full of eyes and swirls.

Here's a close-up of the burl in the seam ripper above. Pretty, isn't it? You can see more pictures of his seam rippers here.

And here is the pen he made for me. I love the colour of the wood, creamy gold and slate grey!

There were some small voids in the burl so he filled them with turquoise inlay. It is a tiny little detail and the kind of thing that makes the pens a little extra special! I love my pen!

Tomorrow I'll share more pictures from the quilt show! Until then happy sewing.
Karen H

An old quilt revisited and some Soupcon blocks

Lori over at Humble Quilts is working a wool applique quilt. I recognized the pattern. Here are some of her lovely blocks!

I made this  very quilt top many years ago (maybe 15 years or more). When it was done I just folded it up and put it away. I don't think I was overly crazy about it and since that time my tastes have changed.I'm not so happy with half square triangle sashings or the border but I think I might still like many of the blocks. Here you can see I have a very thin gold border with some wonky triangles that were appliqued in various areas of the border. I like the block just fine but not the heavy border.

You can see more of the half square triangles bordering the pineapple. The pineapple block is okay.

This block I'm not too crazy about. I find it a little bland. It would need so revising if I were to save it.

I quite like the morning glories below. They would make a great center for a medallion quilt. I could embellish with a variety of insects and then just start adding borders.

Here you can see more of the inset triangles in the border and the sashing with half square triangles.

I don't mind this next block either and again it might make a good starting point for a medallion quilt but I would have to add some zip to the hearts which are a little on the snoresville side of quilt blocks!

So what's a girl to do? The little tool at the bottom of the picture above is a hint! I might just take the quilt apart and either sew them together with neutral sashings OR take them apart and make some medallion quilts. But not right now - I'll put that one on my "to do" list! One thing is for sure, the seam ripper that my brother made for me for Christmas would get a good workout! I had told him he should make these seam rippers and sell them and although he doesn't have an Etsy shop I don't see why he couldn't set one up and sell them! I think maybe he has been convinced because he went out and got the hardware needed to make a few more seam rippers. Next month at our Guild meeting we can bring in goods to swap or sell so maybe if he makes a few I'll take them in and see if there's any interest!

And now back to Soupcon QAL! There are a few more hexagon starts posted so I thought I would share them with you! This is Carrie's block. It reminds me of Dutch Delft pottery. It is so delicate. I wonder if she is going to do a monochromatic quilt. You can see the gorgeous fabric she started with here.

Clare had already made one block. She is now looking at fabric in an entirely new way and this lead to a second modified hexagon block! I love this one and I particularly love the fussy cut fabric in the center. I have this very same fabric and have been using it in my Love Entwined quilt.

Clare also tried out the block with a white center and she tells me that she likes this one better. What do you think? It can be hard to tell from a picture because blocks always look different in person but I think my preference is the orange center.  One of the FLICKR group members said that this block is smoldering and I agree!

Well that's it for me today! Until I post again, happy sewing!

Merry Crimbo, Happy Holidays and another sneak peak!

Papier mache Santas that I made almost 20 years ago

Happy holidays everyone! Life here is still not back to normal after the ice storm on Saturday night. My Mom is staying with us until her electricity is back on. We are having fun sewing, chatting and eating but I know she would rather be in her own home. Fingers crossed the power is back on by the weekend!

Today we had a lovely Christmas surprise. Mom and I were each given a seam ripper for Christmas. My brother made them for us!

You hold the gold tube at the end and pull. Out comes the seam ripper and you just slip the tube into the wooden handle.

He turned these on his lathe and used different burls. Look at the beautiful figuring and colouration on Mom's! The burl used for mine is very fine grain so it didn't photograph well but it is gorgeous and I love it!

Such a lovely, thoughtful gift that will be put to good use but hopefully not too much use. I mean after all, who wants to do a lot of reverse sewing? I would rather get it right the first time! I told my brother he should make seam rippers to sell; I'm sure that quilters would love them. I will cherish mine for sure!

Speaking of reverse sewing, I am working on my quilt along (QAL) quilt and pattern and have decided to do a little reverse sewing. Darn! At least I have the perfect new tool for that! The reverse sewing is just to make at adjustment to the size of a border so it isn't a catastrophe. Here is another of the fabrics I am using! It is great for fussy cutting. All I ever had was a fat quarter and I use it judiciously....sure wish I had more of it!

So this is what I've done with the fabric but it might be a little "dull"!

How about this? Any better? Maybe! Guess you'll just have to wait and see which version I go with and what I'm going to do with it!

Yesterday afternoon the sky was blue and the ice on the poor, beat-up willow looked like tinsel!

Today it is grey and big, fat fluffy flakes are falling. We have snow for Christmas! Now all we need is some electricity!

May all your days (and especially today) be merry and bright. Until I post again, happy sewing!