Surrounded by Quilts

I was out in Missouri just before Easter for a funeral and a few days of visiting with my sister. The guest bed mattress is a little firm for my taste, but I was snuggly warm under a quilt made nearly 50 years ago by my grandmother, Mae Prost.

It's a Sunbonnet Baby, with applique dresses and bonnets and embroidery 'trim.'  My grandmother made a few of these, plus Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Boy quilts.  But my all-time favorite quilt that she made was the "Trip Around the World."

She made two of these...this one started with red in the center and worked its way through the rainbow to end with purple (she would say 'violet') at the border.  The other started with purple in the center and ended with red around the edge.  As a little girl, I was fascinated with the print fabrics she selected in each color family, and how small the squares were.  My cousin has this one; the other went to my Uncle Jay, who had it buried with him.

My mother loved to make clothing and didn't take up quilting until later in her sewing life.  This tiny quilted wall hanging decorated her seashore-themed bathroom.

  
She made a shower curtain with sailboats and lighthouses on it, too.  I have it hanging on the wall of my sewing room.

When my mom died, she left two partially finished quilts...one was called Cream and Sugar, and was a block of the month project made of cream and cafe-au-lait colored fabrics.  I added borders to it, had it quilted and gave it to my nephew Chris, her oldest grandson.  She had made quilts for all of the granddaughters and had told me that she ought to start on quilts for the boys.  She didn't live long enough to make 10 (the number of grandsons she had), but at least this one got finished!

The second unfinished quilt was another block of the month project using 1930's inspired fabrics.  She really had trouble with this particular block.

She was working on it while recuperating from a heart attack and I guess the medicine made her a bit loopy.  She struggled with the quarter-square triangle blocks and cut them too small.  Luckily, the quilt shop had more of the fabric, so I made a run to pick it up and helped her with the math.

After she died, my niece Melissa saw the blocks and really liked them.  She asked me if she could have them so she and her mom could complete the quilt.  I sketched out a 'modern' layout for the 12 blocks.

I don't know how much work Melissa did on the quilt, but my sister got it finished and sent to the long-arm quilter.  I was hoping to finish the binding for it while I was in Missouri, but we couldn't find the piece of fabric she had set aside for the binding.  She'll get to it eventually!  

My sister loves to make baby quilts.  Many of her friends and acquaintances have been the beneficiary of her enormous stash of fabrics.  While I was visiting, I worked on the binding for this bright quilt, made of jelly roll strips and charm squares.  (For those of you who don't know, jelly roll strips are pre-cut pieces of fabric 2 1/2" wide by 42" long.  Charm squares are precut 5 1/2" squares.)

She had already finished another baby quilt (or wall hanging, I couldn't be sure) that I just loved!

It is made up of 'jars' of aquatic life -- fish, turtles, alligators, frogs and octopi (or octopusses, if you prefer Greek over Latin).  Isn't it adorable?!

I bought a kit and fabrics to make a similar quilt, but instead of sea life, my 'jars' will be filled with different kinds of candy and snacks -- jelly beans, peanuts, licorice, and candy corn are just a few of the fabrics in the kit.  My sister's quilt has me motivated to find my kit and get it started!

There's one more quilt I'd like to share today...this one was made by my mother's friends to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the American Sewing Guild.  When the ASG started in 1978, my mother was among the first in the St. Louis area to join.  During the ASG's silver anniversay year, her neighborhood group made a quilt for her, each person designing her own block.  My sister, Carol, made the block in the center -- the black sewing machine bordered in red.

Her friends gave my mother this gift to acknowledge her years of service to ASG and her friendship to more than one generation of sewers.

It's funny how my mom, sister and I have 'fallen' into quilting, while my grandmother was known as a quilter.  It's another artistic endeavor using the skills we learned as we began sewing clothing.

My daughter has a friend who is expecting her first child this fall...I think she'll be coming out to my house soon, to dig through my stash and design a special gift for a sweet new baby.  And so the tradition gets passed along...

R-TV Revisited -- Making an iMovie

Most of my friends don't know that I have a Bachelors of Science in Radio-Television from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale.  I started my professional life as a radio newscaster before jumping to public/media relations.  I do admit I miss those news-gathering days.

I joined the American Sewing Guild many years ago -- it is a national organization that promotes sewing as an art and life skill.  But really, it is a group of (mostly) women who meet on a local level to share the common bond of sewing.  We welcome beginners and experienced sewers, and have a lot of fun at monthly meetings and chapter events.  One of my favorite activities is Sewing Camp, five days of uninterrupted sewing, held each year in May by the Philadelphia Chapter.  It's like a sleep-over party for adults!

All packed up for Sewing Camp!

This year, the national organization is sponsoring a contest, asking individuals or groups to submit videos on the theme of "What ASG Means to Me."  Given my background, I couldn't resist.

Me, with my fourth cousins!

For the last few years, I have been collecting and sorting through family genealogical papers and photos.  My grandmother didn't throw anything away, so I have a pretty good stack of letters, some dating back to 1870, newspaper articles and photographs.  I also have some first-person accounts about various relatives. Then, a woman approached my sister after church one Sunday, introduced herself and said "I think we may be related."  Sure enough, she was!  I met her and two of her cousins for dinner, and they were kind enough to bring along what family genealogy and photos they had to share with me.

When I starting thinking about producing a video, I decided to take a unique approach and write a story about how sewing has been passed down from generation to generation of women in my family. I drafted a script and began pulling together photos to tell the story, but didn't know how I would make it into a video.  (I should tell you that I'm not much of a techie.)

My young friend, Niyi, was happy to help.  He downloaded iMovie onto my iphone, and gave me a quick lesson on how to drop in photos, add music and record my voice.  Under his direction, I learned the basics of putting photos to text, and then played around with iMovie until I had something I was pleased with.    

 Here is the finished product:

I can't believe how easy it was to use iMovie.  Yes, there were some limitations.  For instance, I wanted to start with a black screen and fade up to my first video clip, but couldn't figure out how to do that or if it was possible with iMovie.  And I wanted the music to begin with the first photo, but could get that to work either, so it's under the entire video.  Minor things that I don't think affected the overall video.  Maybe if I play around some more, I'll figure those things out.

Now that I know what I'm doing, I hope to use it again!  I see tutorials in my future!

And here's a request...if you are so inclined, would you please share this video with someone you think would enjoy it?  This is a competition, after all, and the video with the most views by June 15, 2015, will win a prize for the video and for their ASG Chapter.  Thanks in advance for your help!

They Don't Make 'Em Like This Anymore

Every year in May, the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Sewing Guild holds a "Sewing Camp" -- five days and four nights to sew anything you desire, visit with sewing friends and share tips and techniques for creating great garments, accessories and quilts.  This was the 10th year we've held camp, and for nine years, we've spent our time on the campus of Eastern University, in Radnor, PA.  The conference staff sets up a large room as our sewing space, we sleep in the dorms and eat in the cafeteria.

Every year, we marvel at the beautiful campus as we walk to the cafeteria, which is located in what is now called Walton Hall.  But that building was once a 'great house,' a Main Line mansion built as a home for the family of Charles S. Walton, a leather manufacturer of considerable means.

A view of Walton Hall, Eastern University

Ceiling detail, Library, Walton Hall

My fascination with these great, old estate homes overwhelms me when I stroll into the building.  They simply don't make mansions -- or any building -- like this anymore. Designed by Philadelphia architect David Knickerbacker Boyd, the 40 room mansion was built in the northern Italian villa style in 1914 on the property then called Walmarthon.

Fireplace Mantel Detail, Library

Charles Walton  died just two years after the home was built.  His family resided there for a while, and the property changed hands a few times before being purchased by Eastern University in 1952.

His son, Charles S. Walton, Jr., also a successful businessman, became chairman of the board of the University in the early '50's.  He brought in architect William Henry Lee to convert the estate's many buildings into usable space for a college campus while maintaining some of the original integrity of the structures.

Ornate fireplaces, marble floors and staircases, stained glass, and my favorite decor, the tiny human figures that decorate the corners of the library reading room, are found throughout the building.

I only hope  that the historic nature and fine craftsmanship of the space is not lost on the young college students that use the buildings on a daily basis.

I also hope that the University continues to find the money to maintain the integrity of the buildings and the entire property, and doesn't allow Walton Hall and the other historic buildings to fall into disrepair.  

If you have the chance to go there some nice day, a visit to Eastern University's campus is worth your time. Try to imagine life in the early 1920's as you stroll through the campus...swimming or ice-skating on the lake, horse-back riding around the estate, or breakfast in the Observatory.     

Walton Hall, once the great mansion of a Main Line estate.

Ahh...Dirt Under My Fingernails, and the Garden Is Planted Once Again.

The past few weeks have been busy with a number of things, not the least of which was planting my kitchen garden.  We're trying a few new things this years, and I wanted to share them with you.

First, we moved the location of the garden.  In years past, it was near the house, with a full Southern exposure.  But, after replacing the French drain in our basement, we decided to move the garden away from the foundation and plant grass there instead for water control.  So my D.H. (dear husband) picked a sunny spot near the garage for the kitchen garden.

Using 6" by 6" posts that were once a retaining wall for the driveway, he built two raised beds, three feet across by 8 feet long, with a little path between the two gardens.  This will allow me to pull weeds and harvest vegetables from both sides, making maintenance a bit easier.  One cubic yard of mushroom soil (once used by the local mushroom farms) filled both beds.  

For the first time, I'm trying 'straw bale gardening.'  Basically, you buy a bale of straw (not hay, which still has plant seeds in it and is used for animal food) and condition it for 12 days or so, then plant directly into the bale.  The conditioning process starts decomposition within the straw bale, which provides nutrients to the vegetable plants.  By the end of the growing season in the fall, the straw will be nearly composted, at which time it gets spread across the soil to fertilize the garden bed.  Here's a link for a site that explains the conditioning process:  http://www.daddydoctrines.com/2013/05/09/straw-bale-gardening-part-2-conditioning/.  This is a great way to use the straw bales you buy in the fall for Halloween decorating.

The garden center where I bought the straw bale had a wide selection of vegetable plants, so several went into my cart.  For the straw bale, I decided on broccoli -- a variety that can take the heat, and matures in about 60 days.  I added a little soil to each hole in the bale and dropped in a plant.

I planted four broccoli plants in the straw bale...they are a little closer than they should be...we'll see how they do!

I love home-grown tomatoes!  Nothing beats the fresh taste right off the vine.  I've also discovered that squirrels love them too, so we're still working on a method to keep the critters off the tomato plants.  In the meantime, I have three varieties growing next to my trellis -- Beefsteak, for one-slice coverage on sandwiches; Roma, to whip up home-made bruschetta; and Juliet, a mass-producing grape tomato.  Grape tomatoes are so easy to grow, and once they start turning red, they keep going until hard frost at the end of September or early October.  And the squirrels pretty much leave them alone.

The Juliet tomato already has some blossoms!

One Jalepeno and one yellow bell pepper found their way into the other bed, along with three rows of radishes and four rows of Blue Lake green beans.  I planted one hill of four cucumber seeds, and they all germinated, so I should be good for cukes by July.  When planting seeds, I follow the "Square Foot Gardening" concept (http://squarefootgardening.org/), whereby you space out your seeds to their optimum growing space when you plant them.  This eliminates the need to 'thin' the rows (and waste the plants), and allows you to grow quite a bit of food in a small plot.

From this angle, the peppers are in the front, followed by radishes, green bean plants, and the cucumber mound on the back left, under the green cage.  Another broccoli plant is tucked in the back right corner.

The contraption made of plastic PVC pipe and chicken wire is designed to keep out the bunnies, squirrels and my dogs.  Another plus -- in the spring and fall, it can be covered with plastic and used as a greenhouse.
It was designed by my brother, who lives on 30 acres in Missouri and has to protect his garden from deer, too.
 
We made one more investment for the new garden...a rain barrel.  I bought mine for about $80
at http://www.rainbarrelsandmore.com/ .  It was easy to divert the downspout from the garage roof into the barrel, which came with the spigot installed.  I use the rainwater to give the garden a good soaking.  One drawback with this method is that the hose is gravity-fed...there is not much water pressure, so I have to fill up a watering can and water by 'hand', not by hose.  Since the gardens are small, it don't take much time or more than three watering cans full to give the plants a drink.  You can buy specially-designed soaker hoses and rain barrel pumps, but I'm going to stick with this for a while.  

This barrel was used for imported olive oil, then recycled into a rain barrel.    

Basil, cilantro, oregano and mint in large planters round out my kitchen garden.  I'm looking forward to July to begin my harvest!  I'll post again later in the summer, especially the straw bale, to show you how things came out!

Get Off the Interstate...Small Town America is Waiting for You!

I live on the East Coast, very near the 7th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the country. Yes, that's Philadelphia.  And while I've come to enjoy living there, I miss the open spaces and small towns of the Midwest.

I'll admit it -- I'm a Missouri girl.  What does that mean?  It means that I appreciate a freshly-plowed farm, the clack-clack-clack of a freight train rolling down the tracks, and the quirky small towns found on the back roads that don't have names or numbers, but letters to identify them.

Today I drove to one such small town on a quest to find my maternal great-great grandfather's grave.  Eli Reno was buried on his farm, just south of Chester, Illinois, a stone's throw from the Mississippi River.  It's about two hours south of St. Louis.  Some distant relative that I still haven't been able to place in the family tree found his grave site, as well as those of a daughter, son-in-law and grandson, back in the 1970's.  She gave me a few clues to follow in a letter sent to my mother back then.  About four years ago, a Randolph County, Illinois, historian helped me locate the farm my great-great grandfather owned.  She had been to the burial place and found the other headstones, but didn't find Eli's.  She surmised that it had fallen over and become buried in soil or under the native grasses.  She suggested that I return in the winter or early spring, before the fields were planted and the grasses started to grow, and that I bring along some tools to find it.

I packed my car with a hoe, gloves, a cold drink, my notebook and a camera.  I headed down the interstate, but soon got off on Highway 61, then onto Highway H toward Perry County, Missouri.  I drove over the two-lane Chester bridge on Highway 51 into town and stopped at the Visitor's Center. I was greeted by this:

 
For those of you in your 50's, you'll recognize Popeye, a cartoon character that first appeared in 1929 in the "Thimble Theater" comic strip.  Popeye, the strong, hardworking sailorman, soon became the 'star' of the strip.

Popeye, and all of his cartoon friends, were created by Elzie Crisler Segar, born in Chester in 1894, just a year after my grandmother.  They probably went to the same one-room schoolhouse as children.  Elzie took a mail order cartoon course, then moved to Chicago before breaking into the comics.  It's said that he based some of his characters on people he knew from Chester.

The city has embraced his legacy, and is erecting statues of his beloved characters all over the town.

Olive Oyl, Swee' Pea and Eugene, near the Randolph County Courthouse

The Annual Popeye Picnic is held on the weekend following Labor Day every year (www.popeyepicnic.com).  The three-day event is filled with attractions and entertainment for all ages.  A new Popeye Character Trail statue has been unveiled annually since 2006.

Wimpy's statue is near the Popeye Museum.

This is why I love the back roads of our country -- you'll never know what interesting things you find in the small little towns where people settled 150 years ago. It's fun to drive through downtown areas and see how life used to be.  It's interesting to visit local historical homes or museums, or talk to the people who to genealogical research, who are familiar with your family surname and can tell you stories about the town and its people.

Back to my quest.  I found the Reno homestead, which is still being farmed some 150 years later. However, the tree stump that was my landmark in the field was gone.  And after trudging around in the field for nearly two hours, I concluded that the headstones were also missing.  This is unusual, because most farmers are respectful of family burial plots and will plow around them.  I have the telephone number of the owner of the property -- his neighbor was kind enough to call him and ask for permission for me to hike around, and the owner thought the gravestones were still in the field. I'm hoping to talk to him soon and see if he can find them or at least talk to the man who is farming the land and see what happened to them.  At first, I was a little distressed, but then realized that the Catholic tradition of placing ashes on the forehead at the beginning of Lent has some relevance here:  remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.

And, after further reflection, my ancestry quest won't end because I couldn't locate a headstone.  The bigger question that has still gone unanswered is who were Eli Reno's parents?  It may be one that I never answer.

And while I'm a Missouri girl, my maternal ancestors were from Illinois (by way of Ireland), and now I have a real connection with this little town off the beaten path.  (And I'll have spinach salad in tribute to its native son!)

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

I'm back in my home state of Missouri this week for a visit with my dad and my sister's family.  My dear brother-in-law is a bit obsessive about decorating for the holidays, and took full advantage of the warm weather last weekend to hang his outdoor lights.  He also managed to set up the 'small' (that would be 8 feet tall) Christmas tree).  So, when I arrived last Saturday, I was greeted by this:

This is their 'Travel' Christmas tree.  It's covered with ornaments that my sister and her husband have purchased on trips they've taken over the years, plus a few that friends have brought them from far flung places.  My brother-in-law enjoys unwrapping each ornament and reminiscing about the trip when it was bought.  

Some of the ornaments are really fun, but I did notice a lot of moose on the tree!

It's actually a pretty neat idea, if you travel a lot.  My family tree has a few ornaments that we've picked up when we're away from home, but not this many!

So, even with this beautifully decorated tree up, my brother-in-law kept talking about the 'Cowboy' Christmas tree, until finally I said, "Oh, come on!  Let's put up that tree too."  It didn't take a lot of arm twisting for him to run to the basement to fetch the other decorations.  (We first had to move the Travel tree into their living room, 'because the cowboy decorations need more space.')

I helped unwrap the ornaments, but the decorating part was all his.  

In addition to the tree, several Cowboy Santas decorate the fireplace mantel

My sister and I contributed our sewing skills to the Cowboy Snowman Christmas tree skirt.  I think there are more cowboy ornaments than there are travel decorations!
  

The tree includes chili pepper lights, rope and faux barb wire 'garland.'

I could be guessing here, but I think the Cowboy Christmas tree is an off-shoot of the Travel tree.  My niece and nephews took many trips to the American West with their dad (thus the moose on the other tree), and probably started picking up ornaments like these, which evolved into a set of decorations in their own right. So where ever they see them, they buy Cowboy Christmas items.  Too bad they only put it up every-other year, except this one!  

The barb wire garland is pretty realistic.

I've already been warned that I will be pressed into service when the 'big' (that would be 12 feet tall) tree goes up on Saturday.  I'm anxious to get home and get my house decorated!

Waltzing with Bears

When my children were little, we liked to sing and dance to "Waltzing with Bears," a funny little song by Seamus Kennedy.  He tells the tale about 'Old Uncle Walter' who slips out at night and goes dancing with 'raggy bears, shaggy bears, baggy bears, too.'  If you haven't heard it before, you can listen here:  http://www.musictory.com/music/Seamus+Kennedy/Waltzing+With+Bears

I spent last Saturday doing my own waltz with bears.

A teddy bear made by my friend Martha.

Vitas, a hospice located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, has asked members of my American Sewing Guild chapter to help with a special sewing project:  when a person in hospice care has died, the family can request that teddy bears be made from their loved one's clothing as a keepsake.  I've volunteered for this sewing service project a few times, and a group of us got together to sew over the weekend.

These teddies aren't hard to make.  We use a McCall's Crafts pattern by Carol's Zoo.  It has only two pattern pieces!

From cutting to sewing to stuffing, it takes no more than an hour and a half to complete a bear. We purchase  child-safe eyes and noses from Home Sew, a sewing and crafts supply company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (http://www.homesew.com).

Pinning the front to the back of the bear.

On this particular day, there were eight of us working on bears.  My hospice family wanted five bears, and provided two pairs of lounge pants and a shirt from which to make them.  We had enough fabric to cut out two small and three medium bears.








We got a good head start, but I did end of bringing them home to finish stuffing.

It's a simple project, and I'm happy that I can bring a little peace and comfort to someone who has lost a loved one.

ASG members hard at work at their machines.

I had an Uncle Walter when I was growing up...he died in 1978.  He was a professional photographer and I'm lucky to have some of his photos and a keepsake ring to remind me of him.

Hope you like raggy bears, shaggy bears and baggy bears, too!

P.S.  I've been working on about five things at once...my dress for my son's upcoming wedding, a gift for him and his future wife, a t-shirt quilt for a client, developing classes for the Bead Garden, and in the midst of all of this, my d.h. and I decided to totally re-do our bedroom!  Watch for future posts on these and other projects!

I planted my tomatoes today -- oh yes, I did!

While the weather has been unsettled in other parts of the country, the last several days have been just BEAUTIFUL in and around Philadelphia!  Daytime temps are in the mid- to upper-60's, with lots of sunshine.  I've also been watching the overnight low temperatures, and I believe we're past the last chance for frost in this area.  So...I decided to plant my tomatoes today!

Yes, I'm a week early (Mother's Day is usually when gardeners in this area get digging), but there were two reasons I needed to get them into the soil:  

1)  the plants I ordered were delivered last week, and a few of the leaves were starting to turn yellow; and
2)  the earlier I plant, the earlier I harvest!

I read about grafted tomato plants and found them through the  Burpee Catalog Company.   (http://www.burpeehomegardens.com) .  They take a sturdy tomato plant that is disease resistant and graft an heirloom tomato onto the stem.  The upper part of the plant -- the leaves and fruit -- are heirloom varieties, which taste delicious.  For my husband, I bought a Mortgage Lifter Heirloom, which produces huge, 16 to 24 ounce tomatoes -- the kind where one slice covers a piece of bread.  I also bought a Rutgers and a Yellow Pear tomato, which is a small, cherry-like variety.  

A few years ago, I discovered the book "The Square Foot Garden" by Mel Bartholomew.  He has a new edition out, which is available on Amazon.



The idea is to subdivide your garden (mine is about 7' by 10') into one square foot plots, and plant your seeds or plants according to how much space each needs to grow.  Instead of planting a row of radishes for instance, and thinning them once they have sprouted, I make little holes, four inches apart, and plant just one seed in each hole.  When I harvest them later in the spring, I can re-plant radishes, or plant another vegetable in that one square foot plot. Mel is also a proponent of setting up a sturdy trellis for plants that grow up, like tomatoes.

Years ago, when we moved into this house, I found an old iron clothing rack behind the garage.  My d.h. rigged it up with wire fencing, and I use it in the garden as a trellis for the tomato plants.  As the tomatoes grow, I tie them up to the trellis with strips of plastic bags or fabric.

Following Mel's guidelines, I plant the tomatoes about 2 feet apart.  The red half-circles are something my husband found a few years ago...they are for slow watering.  You fill the plastic dish with water, and it seeps out through a few holes in the bottom of the dish.

In the background, you may be able to see my garlic plants...I planted them last fall, and they should be ready to harvest around July 1st.  I'm hoping to put in some green beans, radishes and at least one variety of basil in the next few weeks.

With any luck, I'll have fresh, home-grown tomatoes by the Fourth of July!

Happy planting!
 

While I was working, Lance decided a nap in the sun was in order!

An 'Irish' Quilt for Charity

I haven't done much sewing lately, but I cleared my work room of everything else and began an Irish fabric quilt on Easter Sunday.  I'm sewing with a heavy heart, for I'm making this quilt to donate to a charity auction being held for a young man in my neighborhood who was recently diagnosed with ALS.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.  The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons eventually leads to a patient's death. The ability to control muscle movement is lost, and patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.  People with ALS live about three to five years after diagnosis.

Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939.  He retired from baseball at age 36 because of the symptoms of ALS, and died two years later.  This illness has become known as 'Lou Gerhig's Disease' because of the attention brought to it through his life and death.  Many major league baseball teams, including the Philadelphia Phillies, hold fundraisers annually to help with the research that will someday lead to better treatment or a cure. This year the Phillies Phestival is scheduled for May 16.  Tickets go on sale April 12.  Read more about it on the Community page at http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com .

The book "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom tells the touching story about a student who, 16 years after graduation, reaches out to his professor who is dying of ALS.  If you haven't read it yet, check it out of the library and take the time.  For more information about this disease, try www.alsa.org.

Back to sewing...I saw this quilt block pattern on Pinterest.  It was designed by Megan Bohr.  It's called "Chevron and On" -- search for it here:  http://www.heyquilty.com/articles

A 'Chevron and On' block made in Irish print fabrics

The first thing I did was sketch out the design.  I decided to 'super-size' the blocks and make them 12" finished size.  

A quick layout of the baby quilt

By super-sizing the blocks, I would save time and money -- I needed only 16 fabrics, plus white, and the larger design would sew up quickly.  The fundraiser was only 12 days away, so this project needed to be fast.

Now, I have been making Irish-themed baby quilts for some time...my nieces ask for them when they are pregnant.  Every time I see a Irish-themed print, or even a green print or solid, I buy anywhere from 1/2 yard to 2 yards.  As a result, I have accumulated quite a stash of shamrock and Irish-print fabrics.  I didn't realize just how many fabrics I had collected until I began selecting prints for this quilt.  (I know, it's an addiction!)

My stash of 52 Irish print fabrics...that doesn't include the solid green or green prints!

After picking out light, medium and dark fabrics (and small, medium and large prints), I was ready to begin cutting.  

The pattern incorporates half-square triangles, so I cut one square of each print fabric 6 7/8", and another square 6 1/2".

Print fabrics cut into two different size squares

Half of the white fabric was cut into 6 7/8" by 42" strips.  From that, I cut 16 6 7/8" squares.  The remaining fabric was cut first into strips 6 1/2" x 42", then into 16 6 1/2" squares.

A rotary cutter and ruler makes the job go faster!

The 6 7/8" squares allow me to make 2  6 1/2" half-square triangle blocks quickly.  Here's how.   Layer the two 6 7/8" squares on top of one another (one print and one solid), right sides together. Draw a line across the diagonal of the square.  This is the cutting line.

Draw a cutting line on the diagonal, seen here in purple.

Now draw a line on either side of the cutting line, 1/4" away.  These are the stitching lines.

The stitching lines are drawn in blue.

Take the blocks to your machine and stitch along the stitching lines.  Cut the block along the cutting line, and open up the blocks.

With a quick snip, you'll have two 6 1/2" squares!

Press the blocks, with the seam allowances to the 'dark' side of each block.  Now you have two complete half-square triangle blocks.        

Viola!

I referred to my sketch frequently when I began to sew the blocks together.  To make it a bit easier, I sewed a half-square triangle block to the print first, then the other half-square triangle block to the white, pressing each seam allowance as I went.  Then I pinned the two pieces together and stitched them up.  The 16 blocks went together quickly.

The fun part of making a quilt like this is laying out the blocks.  I wanted to be sure I didn't put a dark fabric next to another dark fabric, and likewise, I wanted the spread out the large scale prints.  Once I had the layout down, I stacked up the rows and went back to the sewing machine to complete the quilt top.

I tried to mix up dark and light fabrics, large and small prints.

I gave the top a good pressing, and then layered the 'quilt sandwich.'  I had a 2 1/2 yard piece of green print in my stash that worked for the backing, although I did have to piece it together to make it large enough.  I laid the backing on my cutting table, wrong side up.  Then I topped it with a piece of batting.  I prefer "Warm and Natural" brand batting...it's not very thick, but it holds up well to repeated washing.  Then, I placed the quilt top over the batting, and smoothed out all of the wrinkles, and made sure that the backing and batting were large enough to cover the back of the quilt.  I use large safety pins to hold the quilt sandwich together for machine quilting, so the fabrics don't shift during the sewing process.  Some quilters hand-baste their tops together, but I find, for a small project, safety pins work great.

I try to use three or four pins on each square within the block.

For this quilt, I decided to simply stitch around each blocks, using a method called "stitch in the ditch."  Basically, that means the stitching should be made in the 'well' of the seam where the patches meet.  It takes a little practice to do this, and it really helps if you have a even-feed foot for your sewing machine.

After the quilting was finished, I clipped all the loose threads, and started with my binding.  I usually like to make bias binding, but I didn't have enough fabric for that, so I used strips cut on the straight grain of the fabric.  I did have to piece together several strips to make a binding long enough to go around the circumference of the quilt.  I sewed the strips together on a diagonal...that keeps the binding from getting bulky when it is sewn to the edges of the quilt.

This is easy to do -- just lay two strips at a right angle to each other, and draw a diagonal line from one corner to the other.  Stitch along the line, and trim off the excess.

I use a double-fold (also called French) binding.  To calculate the width to cut my strip, I use the following formula:  (2 x  finished binding width + seam allowance) x 2.  So, for a 3/8" wide binding, I made the strip 2" wide [(3/8" x 2) + 1/4" = 1" x 2 = 2" wide].  And you thought you'd never need math as an adult!

After cutting the strips, stitching them up and pressing them open, I folded the strip in half lengthwise and pressed it again. Now it was ready to stitch onto the quilt.

Starting and ending the binding was always a bit difficult for me, as I couldn't get it to lay smooth without a lot of bulk.  Then I discovered a method by Becky Herdle.

First, start at the end of the binding, open the strip, fold the end on the diagonal and press.  Trim a 1/4" away from the diagonal fold.  Starting on one side of the quilt, pin the first 3 to 4 inches of binding to the quilt with the fold open, keeping the raw edge of the binding and the quilt even.  Sew through one binding thickness for 3 to 4 inches, backstitch and clip the threads.

Lift the presser  foot and fold the binding into the doubled position.  Continue to sew the binding around the quilt.  After you have sewn around the whole quilt and return to the starting point, lower the needle into the first stitch.

Lay the binding over the single thickness sewn at the start and tuck the end into the pocket formed.  Cut off excess length.  Continue stitching through all thicknesses until you reach the second 'starting' point.

The beauty of this method is that the ends are hidden, and there is no bulk where you started and finished stitching the binding.

I also miter the corners of the quilt binding.  Most basic quilting books can teach you how to do this...here's what I do.  As I approach a corner, I stop (with the needle down in the fabric) and place a pin perpendicular to the stitching, exactly the distance of the seam allowance, from the side of the quilt.  This tells me where to stop stitching.

I continue stitching until the reach the pin, backstitch, and cut the thread.  Then I flip the binding up so it is perpendicular to the binding that I just stitched down, creating a diagonal fold from the corner to the center of the quilt.

Then I fold the binding back down on itself.  The fold should be even with the edge of the quilt on one side and the binding should align with the raw edge of the quilt on the other.  Start stitching down the side, beginning the width of your seam allowance from the top edge and from the side edge of the quilt (in this case, a quarter inch from the two sides of the corner).  You can place a pin exactly where to begin.  Having done this on several quilts, I can do it by 'feel' now and the pin is simply holding the binding so it doesn't move when I sew.
  

Make sure to use the same seam allowance width.  Continue on, and repeat the the next corner. (You may want to practice this before you try it on a quilt.  Just cut an 8" square and about 2 feet of binding, and play around until you get the hang of it.)  Press the binding well, pulling it away from the quilt so the seam is nice and flat, and fold the binding to the back of the quilt.  The corners will miter perfectly.

Now it's time for the needle and thread work.  I always blind stitch the binding to the quilt on the back side.  Some people prefer to pin the binding in place on the back of the quilt, but I find that pins get in the way.  Sometimes I use clips, other times I just hold it in place as I sew.  This baby quilt took about 3 hours of hand stitching, which I did while watching television with my d.h.

I was happy to deliver the quilt a couple of days early...I hope that someone will fall in love with it and make a hefty donation our friends coping with ALS.

Irish Chevron and On Quilt by Renee Devine

 P.S.  There's one more thing I'd like the non-quilters who read my blog to know...what it costs to make a 48" square baby quilt like this.  High quality quilting fabrics now cost $10.99 a yard.  There are 16 different fabrics that make up the blocks; a quarter of a yard of each would run $44.  Then, there are about 2 yards each of white and green fabric (for the back and binding), plus a piece of Warm and Natural batting for the middle of the quilt sandwich: add another $56.  So, before I spend even an hour of my time, the value of this quilt is $100.  The moral of the story is this:  if someone gives you the gift of a hand-made quilt, it is very special!  We do this because we love you!  And, if you ever consider buying a hand-made quilt, don't be surprised by the price and don't try to bargain with the artist.  It's worth every penny!