Falling Leaves Quilt Pattern, Part 2

 

Happy Halloween!

Today I'm finishing up the Falling Leaves patterns in case you like to applique and love autumn!

Block 9: Black Walnut

Block 10: Box Elder

Block 11: Maple

Block 12: Black Birch

Block 13: Sassafras

Block 14:  White Elm

Block 15:  Mountain Ash

Block 16:  Tupelo

Block 17:  Oak

Block 18:  Witch Hazel

Have a safe and happy day!

Falling Leaves Quilt Pattern, Part 1

 

Happy Monday!

Today I'm featuring part 1 of the Nancy Page quilt series, Falling Leaves.  Designed by Florence La Ganke, all kinds of trees were featured in this pattern that was published in newspapers in the mid 1930s.

The interesting thing about this pattern is there are no appliqued or pieced borders.  It was encouraged that the maker use a strip along the sides and top and bottom.  An alternate background block is between each appliqued block.  At the time, the block was cut to 8.5 inches to make an 8 inch block.  I still think this is an interesting set up for the time. 

The marketing was also interesting, perhaps reflective of the lost/foreclosed farms so indicative of the Depression and Dust Bowl era:

"...Think how nice it would be for a person who was brought up on a farm and had moved to the city where there were no trees, on the city streets.  Wouldn't it be a comfort to look at this quilt and see leaves of the yellow locust or the hickory or the sweet gum?  It would compensate for the barren city streets."

Block 1: Redbud

Block 2: Yellow Locust

Block 3: Sweet Gum

Block 4: Tulip Tree

Block 5: Hickory

Block 6: Papaw

Block 7: Cottonwood

Block 8: Wild Cherry

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: October 27, 2023

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Today we have some wonderful images from friends!

Mary in Maine sent these:

This is an American Chestnut tree that Mary planted in 2000.  Behind it is a maple tree.  Such gorgeous colors!  She also shared this view of Turtle Head.  The photo was taken from Islesboro Maine in Searsport.  Wow!  What a great photo!  Thank you Mary!

***

Libby shared a photo of her Halloween cactus!  😀

Thank you Libby!

***

Robin sent these wonderful photos as well!  

Talk about a wonderful fall photo!  Robin sent this to show the beautiful marigolds that shine so brightly!

Robin also sent this photo of Turkey Tail fungus (or mushroom) that has developed on an oak tree stump.  She commented it looks like flowers and it does!

Lovely dahlias that Robin's husband grows! Wowsa!

Nice tablerunner too!

Thank you Mary, Libby, and Robin!  

These were a nice treat today!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

New and Old Quilt Styles

 

Happy Thursday!

I couldn't resist the above meme, but also it could be applied to people trying to fold a fitted sheet!  😀

So the swelling is receding in my hand and I'm so happy!  I've a ways to go and still can't sew (or tie a shoe, etc.) but I can type and that is a like physical therapy for my fingers.  The doctor ended up doing my thumb and two other fingers.  I'm just glad to get it done at this point.

Today I'm writing about a booklet I have from 1968.  The first thing I realized when I read this book was how much the quilt patterns resemble quilts one could purchase at Sears back then.  I've always wondered if there was a stigma at that time for using homemade quilts.  

On Wednesday, I reviewed the book again and thought how so many of these patterns resemble "new" patterns being used by quiltmakers.  You can tell me your thoughts.

Of course, hexagons or mosaic quilts have endured for centuries.  It was obviously a popular motif in the 1960s as well:

Diamonds and elongated patterns are now really popular.  I don't think I ever saw a quilt from that era using these patterns but they are sure popular now!

Jordan fabrics offers a variation of this pattern on their website here.

Bonnie at Quiltville's Quips and Snips calls the her rendition of this pattern, "Lozenges",  and you can find here pattern here.

What do you think of these patterns?  

Tomorrow is Flower Friday and we would love to see how autumn is looking in your neck of the woods!  Mary has already emailed me 2 photos and I'd love to see yours!  Email photos to allentownquilter@gmail.com

Have a safe and happy day!

Weekend Updates

 

Hello and how are you doing?  Did you have a nice weekend?

I had an okay weekend.  I finished a lot of things before today's surgery.  One of the projects I actually finished last week, a wall hanging for my husband's favorite hockey team, the Flyers:

Hubby said, "that is so cute!"   Coming from my husband, it is high praise.  I thought the colors were perfect for the Halloween season.  Hubby countered, "It's the Flyers!  Good for any time of year."

I finished the Winterbound quilt top.  It's okay.  It's still pretty small but it's done and someone will want it.  The pattern is actually supposed to have the Vs going this direction.

And I finished the last Christmas quilt of the season:

This one is for Jeff's family because they are dog lovers and there are lots of dogs on this one:

Today is my hand surgery and I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again.  I'm going to assume I'll be too swollen for a day or two.  If life were normal, I would have written a bunch of posts in advance but it's been super busy.  I'll be back when I can be back!

Have a wonderful week!

Flower Friday: October 20, 2023

Happy Flower Friday!

Wendy sent a photo from Seacoast, New Hampshire.  She said, "I just noticed  a tiny mystery pansy in a planter so it seems like a joke I had to show you! 😂 I don’t know where it came from because I haven’t planted any pansies!"

My turtlehead plant is still blooming!

Also a little anemone just appeared in a bed and is now blooming:

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!

Making Variations

 

It's been a pretty busy week!  I hope your sewing is going well.  Last week I talked about some mistakes I had made in sewing.  This weekend I'm determined to make lemonade out of those mistakes.

I'm making variations...literally!

The first project was to figure out what to do with the star blocks (two finished, lots of parts assembled) that I talked about last week.  Over the weekend, I found a layout that I liked better.

Old layout:

I decided I like the peach framing the bird centerpiece better and here's the new layout.

This weekend I'll be trimming 110 of the hourglass blocks so that they conform with the other pieces.  The one thing I'm sure of is that I won't be able to rotary cut for a while so I want to get that done.

Then there was the batik quilt top.  

Sure it is smaller than I would have liked but instead of taking it apart, I decided to look for an autumn like batik to border the piece.  I found this at my local quilt shop:

The color is a little deeper than the photo but you get the idea.  I will work on that this weekend as well.

Happily, one more Christmas quilt top is now quilted and I can pick that up today and put a machine binding on it before the surgery. 

I worked in the garden all day yesterday and now it's time to take a break for the winter.  I won't be able to do anything more and I don't want my husband to work out there.  Somehow, gardening chores end up with hubby thinking of some hairbrained scheme and chopping trees and bushes (or worse) and then...abandoning the project.  He's a great guy, I just don't want him to mess up the garden.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

If you have anything to share for Flower Friday, please email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com!

Have a safe and happy day!

Remi's Doll Bed

 

Happy Wednesday!

I've been busy and haven't written and will be on and off with the blog the next few weeks.  Monday is the hand surgery and I'm getting life in order before that, helping my brother, caring for my mom, and other family members.  It's been a lot.  I also got my covid and flu shot at the same time and slept for an entire day afterwards.  But life is okay.  

I have gotten a little sewing in here and there.  Two weeks ago, I went to my mom's in the morning as usual and she was laying on the couch.  "I feel terrible.  I must be sick again."  

Throughout the craziness of the last few months, my sweet niece who lives outside of D.C. has been cheering us up by texting photos of Baby Remi (now 16 months old!).  I can't download photos from my phone but there was one sweet photo of Remi with the doll we bought her.  She was trying to feed dolly with her sippy cup.  Such a cutie pie!  I reminded my mother of that as she lay on the couch and told her, "I just passed a yard sale and they had doll beds out."

"What?"  My mother became alert, "where was this?  How much was the doll bed?  What did it look like?"

"I don't know how much it was, I didn't stop.  It was in between our two homes."

"We need to go check that out,"  Mother sat up and put on her shoes.

"You just told me you were sick!"

"I can be sick and go shopping."

Shopping has a healing power on my mother.

So went to the yard sale and picked up a cute plastic doll bed that even has a storage drawer under the crib for dolly's things.

I washed and sterilized it and sewed an ensemble for the bed.

I can't wait for Remi to come up and again and see her reaction to the bed!

I hope you are finding something pleasant to do during these autumn days.  This project was mine!

Have a safe and happy day!