Quilt Plan and the Turn of the Century Home

I've been working on the plans for Sweet Teen's Opportunity Quilt.

 Here is the plan for the quilt.  I decided that due to it's size, I wanted the simpler blocks  in the corners so the quilt will show itself off better on a bed.

 I'm still figuring yardages for cutting since I want to strip piece it and EQ7 can't really provide me exactly the information that I need. This quilt was inspired by a 1903 triple Irish Chain made in the Oklahoma Panhandle that by the mid-1980's was living in East Tennessee.  I made a rather close copy of that blue and white quilt, but I no longer have the quilt.  I'll look for a photo of the original or of my quilt and scan it so that I can share it at some point while I'm making Sweet Teen's quilt.

These are the main fabrics.  The one in the Lower left barely shows, but it has many colors in it, is much more intense than the background fabric, and will show up in the quilt. I think one of the challenges of making quilts is that complicated fabrics don't usually show up well in photos.

I've also been very busy painting in preparation for the likelihood that I'll be back to work on Friday (after I see the rehab doctor on Thursday).

I repainted the fireplace surround in the livingroom and changed the display to seven of the pitchers I've collected over the years.  The one on the left is the oldest--from the days when my grandparents lived in a house without indoor plumbing.

 When we first bought this house, we used the fireplace all the time, and I didn't understand that the reason we were getting smoke in the house was that our chimney just isn't tall enough.  Now we never use it.  It's pretty, but it's just not worth the work and the mess. In any case, the mantle and the surround direly needed painting.

 This is why I'm questioning "The Turn of the Century."  When I was a child I always loved visiting homes that were much like they had been at the turn 19th to the 20th century.  I'm sure almost anyone would say I have just too much in my house, but since I'm not trying to sell it right now, and since my house is definitely my haven, I love being able to see things I treasure.  These boxes are full of yarn and needlework.  The lovely spider plant is one my assistant gave me a start of when she moved last January or February.  Clearly, it loves living in my haven too!

In any case, we may have passed the next turn of the century, but I still have a seventeen year old turn of the century house.

I rearranged another wall in my living room--putting up more plates that need a new home now that my buffet has a "hutch". Two of these plates have been in my family for at least three generations, one is fairly new, and the others were gathered from thrift stores, antique stores, friends, and a flea market over the course of many years.

Although my computer shows the wall color as somewhat lavender, it's actually a pale orchid.  Because the living room is on the north side of the house, blue would have been too cool a color (although I did use blue and yellow in the kitchen).  The orchid shade looks cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

 I really was a Victorian when I rearranged the piano and the wall above it. I will be putting more doilies along the edge of the shelf when they are dry.  I just love the little things I've collected.
The plate on the wall to the right is a commemorative plate from my hometown's centennial in 1954. (My daughter loves that it has a picture of my high school--apparently built from a plan used by many different communities.   Some people bought enough of these plates for a table service.  My mother had a few, but this is the only one I have.

 I love the antique candy dish my cousin Joy gave me a few years ago, and the inkwell is one that has been in my family for many years.  I have no idea what happened to the lid.  It had been a while since I polished the tray it sits in--but it's no long blue and black with tarnish!

 The rose plate at the rear is very old, but I found it cast aside at a thrift store.  The silver birds are a salt and pepper set my mother received as a wedding gift (the salt has corroded the head and neck of one).  The little blue iridescent bird is dated 1990 and was a gift from my Aunt Louise.

This little harp playing angel was part of a set my mother purchased decades ago, but it's the only one left, the others having been seriously chipped and broken over the years.

See?  Lots of little treasures that I still treasure (and which make my daughter crazy).

 And here's the freshly painted "hutch" that is actually an Ethan Allen Nutmeg book case from the 1950's  I bought it because I've been looking for about 15 years for a hutch that matched my buffet.  The irony:  you can't even see the lines at the top that match the bottom and top of the buffet.

I'm going to link to Esther Liu's WIPs on Wednesday and Freshly Pieced, as well as Connie's Freemotion By the River  and will hope that none of my visitors mind seeing the redecorating endeavors.

Updating to add a link to Vintage Thingee Thursday over at Suzanne's blog.


Happy Quiltmaking.....

EQ Christmas Freebie

Since I'm not accomplishing much in dora's quiltland, I'm passing this link on to you: a table runner or wallhanging that's free to EQ7 users at this link: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/2010/10/08/electric-quilt-7-freebie/

If you're not an EQ7 user, I hope you still enjoy just looking at this pretty creation.  (It's been available for a couple of months, but since I'm not keeping up with much except miles and miles of driving, I thought you might enjoy this.--Earlier this week there was a fatal accident that kept I-40 closed for hours; yes, that included my morning commute.  Traffic was redirected to old Route 66, where it clipped along at 5 mph then 2 mph and then stood still.  Since the roads were dry, I was able to turn around and take a substantial detour over a winding mountain road--so I'm guessing my 70 mile a.m. commute became 100 miles, but at least I got there.  Some co-workers said they'd have turned around and gone home.  Since my work ethic wouldn't allow me to do that, I just found a way to get there anyway.)

Stay warm and dry, friends.  And may you have time for some fun holiday creativity of some sort--as long as it's pretty and fun!

EQ7 - On its way!

Yippee!  Just got a notice that EQ7 is on its way!  I'm really, really hoping they sent it via USPS and that it will be here soon.  However, I've also heard they're sending them via UPS--meaning shipment could take a very long time!

Okay, back to dreaming more quilts!

Here's Judy's Soda Pop Dreams--so named because the colors reminded me of all those bottled fruit-flavored soda pops--from back in the days when we had no idea what was in them.  Finished it over a week ago but didn't get it posted.

That's because I was busy with something I used to do a lot more of: home deco sewing.

I finally forced myself to make covers for the ottomans that I bought a couple of years ago, at least!  The hope was that they would provide some extra seating when needed in my tiny cottage and with a tray on top could also serve as a coffee table.  The tray wasn't where I thought I'd put it, but it will be on the ottomans soon.

Uh-oh, now you want to see the quilt on the wall, don't you?  Okay.

 I need to take a better photo that shows its true colors.  This was from a class that I took with my quilt guild in AZ 15 years ago--and I still love the colors.

Happy quilting as you wait for EQ7!