Salinda Rupp Quilt – Nearly Insane

The Jane Stickle quilt is the most challenging (to me anyway) quilt I’ve ever pieced. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I’m enjoying the foundation paper piecing. And since I’ve found Anina’s blog, That Quilt, the piecing has gone rather smoothly. I still have the triangles to piece but I’m hoping to complete the piecing of this quilt by the end of this year.

Even though my main focus for this year has been the Jane quilt, I’m still thinking about all the other quilts I want to make. I’ve been surprised by the number of quilters who complete their Jane, then start all over again with another one! Not me, I have too many quilts I want to make to start over on the same pattern again.

When my Jane is completed, I think it is the foundation paper piecing method I’ll miss. There is something I find satisfying in the process. I was thinking about other quilts that are foundation paper pieced and one of them is the Sallinda Rupp quilt, renamed Nearly Insane by Liz Lois.

These blocks are 6 inches finished so they are larger than Jane but they usually contain even more pieces. I was hoping I could find a blog that would help me with the piecing like the That Quilt site did with Jane, but all I could find was the Nearly Insane Fans blog. No one has posted there since October 14, 2014. They don’t give detailed instructions on how to piece the blocks, they just show pictures of their blocks.

So, the challenge is, can I figure out how to foundation paper piece these blocks on my own? Well, here is block 1. I’m fairly satisfied with the fabrics I’ve used, the two light blues in the center are similar, but I’m not dissatisfied enough to make another one. This block contains 37 pieces but went together fairly easily.

So, yes I am going to start a Nearly Insane Quilt in January 2016 using the blues and yellows I already have in my stash. My friend Elaine is going to piece along with me. It’s nice to have someone working on the same project at the same time so we can cheer each other on.

 

Medallion Quilt Top

One of the projects I wanted to complete this May, was borders for this Medallion quilt top designed by Edyta Sitar. I like her projects. The problem is most of them are for “throws” not bed quilts so I needed to make it larger. Nothing jumped out at me and said This is the border! I finally decided to attach  white fabric and quilt a design on it.

I had purchased a border print several years ago for the outside border. Unfortunately the colors of the border print didn’t blend nicely with the scrappy colors of the pieced blocks which was rather frustrating. I pulled out fabrics that I thought might work and I finally ended up using this reddish-maroon fabric. I’ve had it for a long time, in fact the selvage reads Joan Kessler – 1994 for Concord Fabrics.

The fabric is more attractive in real life than in the photo. Here is a link to a picture of the fabric.

I want to hand quilt this quilt and I’m hoping that happens in the fall.

Canning Season has Started

I cut all the rhubarb down and made rhubarb jam. I also googled rhubarb jam and found a recipe for rhubarb butter which is a similar  consistency to apple butter. I ended up with 12 pints of jam and butter.

After the evening milking, I had the Farmer do a taste test as to which recipe he liked the best. He chose the regular jam, probably because it was sweeter. He did say though, the rhubarb butter was more flavorful.

Both recipes will keep him happy, he loves his sweets.

Applique Quilt

During my month’s sabbatical from the Jane Stickel quilt, I’m trying to finish some projects and finally sewed the binding on this quilt.

Applique was always a skill I had wanted to acquire, but never did. The Maple Leaf Quilt guild gladly taught me several techniques for applique. I was hooked and ready to go.

I decided I would make an applique quilt for our daughter and this is what I came up with. The designs for the blocks came from many different sources. When the blocks were sewn together, the top formed a square and I don’t like square quilts. I looked through some of the patterns I brought home from my mother’s stash and found the simple flower design that is on the top border of the quilt. My applique had improved in the two years from the beginning of the quilt to the border applique. I can do more quality work now but this is where I was at in 2008.

I had always planned to hand quilt this project but that never happened. Late last fall I took the top to the Three Sisters  Fabric shop. Tammy Payette custom quilted her with beautiful feathers and returned her to me in January. I don’t think I could have hand quilted her this nice.

The details of the quilting show better if you click on the photo.

Linking up with Throw Back Thursday 10/1/2015.

 

Embroidered Crib Quilt

The embroidery has gone fast on this small project and is completed. I’ll work on the applique when I’m tired of quilting.

See those bunnies? I don’t like them and I’m going to applique hearts over them.

I worked in my garden last week. I’ve planted green beans, carrots and 1 row of early red potatoes. I’ll take a picture when everything is up.

An update on the fox. We watched the fox run around the pasture last week, then the heifers (who had been at the other end of the field) spotted him. They came running up to play but unfortunately the game they wanted to play was ‘Chase the Fox Around the Field’. He soon scooted under the fence and must have moved the kit(s) during the night because they are no longer under the porch.

They’re still around though, we’ve seen them several times playing in the cow pasture. There is one kit for sure. We hope they stay around, they are very interesting to watch.

Red Radiance is in the Hoop!

I’ve started the quilting on my embroidered Red Radiance wallhanging. I normally quilt with the old-fashioned sticks and stands, but I purchased this hoop stand at the Lang Store during the pajama sale at Lolly’s Fabrics. I think it has been a good investment and is perfect for small projects. Best of all, I can sit in my glider chair while I quilt!

The Fox

We often see various wildlife here on the farm. Over the years we have seen fox running through the hay fields searching for mice to snack on. This year we have a fox that we have seen many times in the heifer pasture on the south side of the house. I have decided that it has a den under our porch. I saw it running in the pasture last evening. He or she caught something and ran up to the house with it, scooted under the fence and under the porch it went.

Then he or she came back out and sat on the other side of the fence and just looked around.

I’ve never seen a fox this close before!!!