Wednesday, January 20, 2016

All's Quiet and the End of an Era

There has not been much going on around here except some quiet slow stitching.  One of the things I have been working on is the Oak Leaf and Reel blocks that I started right before Christmas. 
There will be four Oak Leaf and Reel blocks in this wallhanging.  Here are the two blocks that are currently done on my small design board.  Ignore that other quilt behind them... we can talk about that another time. :-)  

I decided I wanted to frame each block with a sawtooth border.  So I was playing with some half-square triangles, otherwise known as HST. :-)  These were leftover from another quilt.
On Sunday I sat down at my sewing machine and reintroduced myself.  It had been a least a month since I had turned on my machine. 
I cut a stack of cream blocks and a stack of red blocks and got to work.
I like using Star Singles by Spinning Star Designs to make my HST.
Pin
Sew. Repeat.
Then you just cut them apart and remove the papers.  Easy!!
It felt good to get back to the sewing machine.
I moved onto my next applique block basting down my pieces.  I am enjoying working with just one color.  It is a nice change.
Lastly, I made my final trip to Aardvark quilt shop.  As I had mentioned in a previous post, Sally and her husband have decided to retire and close the shop.  It's sad to see a quilt shop close, but I certainly understand, they have been in business since 1987.  This is their last week.
Fabric was down to $3 or $4 a yard.  Most everything else was 75% off.
I picked up two books, a Christmas quilt book and a Jo Morton book.  Also some needles and applique pins - can always use those! 
I asked Sally if she was selling the big glass jars that she had on her cutting tables.  It is the one thing that I always remember being in her shop - filled with a variety of candy for her customers - mostly chocolate!
She graciously gave me the glass canister.  I will use it in my studio for spools of thread or something.  And I will think of her every time I use it....

Happy Stitching!

Deb



8 comments:

  1. Great little tut....but I kept looking at everything else on your design walls...we are so much a like!! I'm sentimental like that too...and would cherish the jar as well. Can't wait to see it filled with your spools of thread. :)PS Gotta love Jo MOrton!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your red oak leave! They are so classic and classy. Nice that you had time to do some machine stitching. It feels good after a long break. How sweet to enjoy the candy jar and memories from your local shop. Spools or candy, both would be good.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh lucky you for scoring the glass canister - I have been looking out for one in the second had shops around the place, I have some very, very old reels of cotton and linen threads from early last century and they would look good stashed in one on my sewing table. Not forgetting your beautiful Oak Leaf and Reels blocks, they are stunning.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is sad when a quilt shop has to close it's doors. Glad you got the glass jar for remembrance sake. I follow you on bloglovin, but I think I will add you with friend connect.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your oak leaf and reel blocks are beautiful. I haven't seen that particular paper piecing before.
    You must be in NJ - I'm teaching there in Jan and Feb. Are you a GSQ?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would love to know more about your Oak Leaves and Reel quilt blocks. I like yours more than others.Did you design them yourself? Or is it a pattern that I could find? Just lovely,really.Oh! Is it a Barb Vedder design? I just love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I have done smaller Oak and Reel blocks before. I actually did a search on Pinterest for designs I liked. While I really can't say this is my design since it is such an old pattern, I decided on a design. I actually had a copy of the block in my patterns from Laundry Basket Quilts. I enlarged the pattern for a 16" block. Then decided to add the hst. We will see where it goes from here!

      Delete
  7. That was so sweet of her to gift you the big jar and it looks fabulous with all of your perle cottons in it.

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to comment - I would love to hear your thoughts! I will try my best to reply however, if you are a No Reply Blogger I will not be able to comment. If you would like, please include your email address so I can reply. Thanks! Look forward to hearing from you!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...