A weekend of vitamin Q

On Friday nine women packed our sewing machines, fabrics and notions, ongoing projects and patterns for new ones, and went for a weekend stay at Lapp-Elisa's in Lennartsfors in Sweden.

I think we all were in need of some vitamin Q. Lots of sewing was done, all of us working dilligently on our projects. Friday night I finished my last block for my Christmas quilt (and forgot to take a close-up picture, but it's the one on the top left corner), and yesterday I worked on the setting for the blocks.

I managed to get all the sashing stitched, the center of the top together and add the inner border before it got too late Saturday night

And before breakfast this morning the outer border was attached. Just as the blocks in this quilt is from a Jennifer Chiaverini pattern, the setting is found in her pattern book Traditions from Elm Creek Quilts, however my borders are a bit narrower. 

A few pictures of the sewing room with some of Elisabeth's colourful quilts and quilt tops, as well as all our stash spread around. the tables

We have already started planning our next get-togeher here - the date is set and we have started thinking of what to do.

Of course I spent some money, but I haven't unpacked my bags yet, so that will have to be shared in a later post.

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

LUS BOW: Beacon Lights

I didn't get around to making last week's LUS BOW, but I probably won't make all 120 blocks this time around, and have plenty of time to decide if I'll play catch-up on that block, or if I'll just skip it. For now I have enjoyed making this week's BOW: A-7 Beacon Lights:

Not really sure what's going on, but I feel these LUS blocks came together so much smoother when I did the brown/pink/gold version. Might be the background fabrics I used - the white-on-white is fairly stiff, so it might have helped stabilize the pieces better than the fabrics I'm using now - which is bits and pieces from a layer cake and scraps of beige left over from my Dear Jane adventure... This is the block I made for my brown/pink/gold LUS:

Happy Sunday!
Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Christmas Greetings: the Christmas Eve block

Haven't really had time or energy to sew much since last weekend, but this morning I managed to get the Christmas Eve block for my Christmas sampler together. Not all the points match perfectly, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

However I'm wondering how well the yellow points will show once the block is sewn into the quilt... Oh, well, this is the colour combination I felt like ;-)

The block is sewn on freezer paper, which is not my favorite technique, but with all the bias edges on the pieces in this block I figured it was my best bet without having to have to do lots of frog-stitching.

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Christmas Greetings revisited

Early 2011 I joined a BOM with a yahoo group making quilts from Jennifer Chiaverini's pattern books. The pattern for this BOM was Christmas Greetings from Elm Creek Manor:

I stitched diligently the first few months and made it through six blocks before I completely lost focus. I did try, cutting pieces for blocks ready to stitch, but they lust lay there in their little plastic baggies until our sewing getaway at Lapp-Elisa's in April. After which my tally was 8 blocks.

I still have to make the remaining four blocks (perhaps I'll substitute a couple) as I have decided on a setting for these blocks that's on a 3x4 blocks grid. The setting is also from a Jennifer Chiaverini pattern but it's not the elaborate setting of the original Christmas Greetings quilt. Hopefully I can get this project finished by Christmas as the fabric I ordered for the setting and border arrived last week:

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Loyal Union Sampler - Favorite Blocks

I have changed the header for my blog - now including a section of my LUS quilt. And calling this post "favorite blocks" is a bit risky as I know taste it is a very subjective theme. But when doing a sampler there are blocks that speak more to the maker than others. It might be the over-all look of the block, it might be the fabric combination for that particular block, it might be overcoming the challenge of difficult piecing. Here's a selection of some of my favorites from the LUS:

A-2 Abigail's Swing - was a challenge getting the block looking symetrical, the seams kept pulling and it looked very crooked for a while, but I'm very happy with how it turned out: 

A-2 A house Divided - something just so pretty with the simplicity of this block and I would love to use this block in a two-block quilt someday: 

A-4 Anneke's Choice - just love the illusion of curves in this block:

B-4 Castle Wall - this was a tricky block to do, but I'm thrilled with the result. The Castle wall block is an important block in the Elm Creek Quilt novels, starting with the memorial quilt that is made for Sylvia after her husband is killed in WW2, and it's a block that has fascinated me since I first read about it in "The Quilter's Apprentice":

B-6 Charlie Stokey's Star is a block designed for this quilt - Charlie is a character in the novel and there is a passage in "The Union Quilters" describing the star made by his loved one. This is one of the blocks I keep dreaming of making a whole quilt with the one block repeat:

E-2 Granny's Favorite actually looks a bit simpler than it was to piece (I get confused with over sized pieces that needs to be trimmed after the block is sewn), but I love the simple look of it, the four patch more or less floating against a two-colour background. Another great pattern for a one block repeat quilt: 

K-1 Vermont  came together so smoothly, which I never would have guessed looking at the 36 strange looking triangles that are in this block: 

K-8 Wisconsin is just glowing, isn't it? ;-)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Loyal Union Sampler - Choice of borders

In the description of the sampler quilt in the novel "The Union Quilters" Jennifer Chiaverini paints a picture of an appliqué border with a floral swag. Those who know me and/or have read my blog for a while will know applique isn't my strong point. So when it came time to figure out what kind of border I would do for my LUS it was either a one fabric border or a pieced border.

Remember these pictures from March 2011?

The birds in the air block plays a prominent role in the novels set in the 1800s; stories of slaves escaping to the north. So in honor of Joanna's Birds in the air quilt from "The Runaway Quilt" I chose a border pieced together of 6" Birds in the air blocks.

The smaller triangles are made up of the scraps from all of the fabrics I used in the blocks while the larger ones are all made with the Apple Orchard dark-fabric from The WInding Ways Quilt collection

Still thinking of one day making a Birds in the Air quilt with this layout:

The border blocks are the only sneak-peeks of the LUS I gave on my blog while making the quilt, but I don't think anyone - except Annelies, my quilting buddy who was working on her own version of the quilt - had any idea what the blocks were going to be used for.

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Loyal Union Sampler and Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

Elin posted a question on my previous post about the Loyal Union Sampler wondering if there were some of the same blocks in this sampler as there are in Jennifer Chiaverini's last big sampler quilt, the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler.

With the pattern for 140 blocks in one book and 121 blocks in the other you might think there are some doubles, but no there aren't any of the same blocks. The theme for the two quilts are very different. The SBS being a wedding quilt with blocks symbolizing love, marriage, everyday life and friendship. The love and friendship you also find in the LUS, but the dominant theme is the American Civil war.

However there are blocks that look similar at first glance, and there are some blocks that have the same construction but the colour placement makes them different.

In the SBS there is a classic two colour Ohio Star (M-5):

In the LUS there's a three colour block that is a combination of the star and a cross making the Happy Home (E-4):

There are also variations of this star with different piecing in the corners than the simple squares in the two above. One example SBS B-7: Swamp patch

The pieces for the LUS block Oregon (H-6)...:

...is made up of the same pieces as the LUS block Nevada (G-11), however the corner units of the block are turned the opposite  direction:

In the SBS the Sister's Choice block (C-4) has the same over all look as the Oregon block, but the constructuon is different:

You will also find there are examples of blocks within the same quilt where the piecing is the same and the colour placement is what makes the difference:

LUS Kansas Star (F-5)

LUS Chambersburgh (B-5):

SBS Boy's Nonsense (D-10):

SBS Gentleman's Fancy (K-6):

 There are also some blocks that are very similar in construction and can look rather similar, but still there are a bit of a difference:

LUS New York State (H3):

SBS Key West Beauty (M-10): 

LUS Indiana (F-1):

LUS Gettysburg (D-10):

And, as it should be (in my opinion), several variations of a sawtooth star:

LUS Abel's favorite (A-1):

LUS Diamond Star (C-8):

LUS Missouri Star (G-10):

LUS Pinwheel star  (H-10):

LUS Union Star ((J-11):

LUS Spurs (I-10) has the look of a sawtooth star, but is constructed differently:

SBS Sarah's Choice (H-3):

SBS  Sawtooth Star (J-1):

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Author's Album Blocks

Hard to believe it's been way over a week since my last post - main reason: I haven't sewn a stitch in ages, and those pictures I talked about in my previous post I still haven't sorted through. But I thought I'd share some signature blocks I worked on this summer, and who are now traveling around the world:



These are blocks for a swap with the SBS-and-other-Elm-Creek-Quilts yahoo group from a pattern in Jennifer Chiaverini's pattern book More Elm Creek Quilts.. They were very fiddly to get to the right size, and some of them are a hair off, but I hope the girls won't have any trouble sewing the block they receive into their quilts. The stipulation was 8" blocks made using Kona Cotton Cream and a Civil War reproduction of choice. I used a fabric from Windham's Gettysburg Civil War VIII line.



Debbie, who is the swap hostess, kindly shared a picture of the blocks she received from all who participated before she sent them out. Since the blocks are still en-route between the US and Norway, I have "borrowed" her pic to share. Looks great doesn't it? This will be a very pretty quilt! Can hardly wait for my block package to arrive :-)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida