Big Football Game Mystery/Baby Quilt

A friend's link to a mystery quilt on (dare I use the trade-marked name?) Super Bowl Sunday grabbed my attention. It was supposed to be a table-topper. I decided to make it bigger so it could be a baby quilt and I chose to make it in red, blue and yellow. Red and Blue for the Kansas University parents. Yellow added because red and blue and yellow look really great together! Using just three fabrics is NOT in my comfort zone! Why use three when you have thirty? But I did!

I pieced the mystery on Sunday. If you take off your glasses and squint to blur your vision, can you see the football? The football should be easier to spot - can you see my mistake?


Not a big deal, certainly not worth the frog-stitching fixing the mistake would require!


I like baby quilts to be about 60 x 45". To make the table-topper bigger, piece a few more blocks, presto-chango - baby quilt! Not quite that easy, as the football in the center made that territory un-touchable! So my extra blocks were added to the top and bottom. Presto-chango - baby quilt!


Cute top, quilting to be done at a later time!

Vintage DellaJane...

One part of my sewing life is "new". I dye and sell DellaJane Hand Dyed fabric. I make quilts, mostly non-traditional. But I've always loved old things. Antique furniture. Old houses. Postcards and photos. And I especially love old sewing things. Vintage fabric! Quilts! And sewing patterns! I buy and sell and collect them. I'll be sharing pictures and stories about my vintage treasures on this blog. Please come back to visit and see what wonderful "new" finds I'm writing about.

The treasure I am sharing today came to me a couple weeks ago, when a friend gave me a large plastic tub of patterns from her mother-in-law's estate. She knew I liked "old patterns". Wow!

They are mostly mail order patterns, ordered from Grit, The Omaha World-Herald, Capper's Weekly, Hoard's Dairyman and the Sioux City Journal. Patterns from Kate Marchbanks, Anne Cabot, Vogart, Aunt Martha, Aunt Ellen, Carol Curtis, and more!

I can't wait to catalog them, scan the pattern covers and share them here. Do I start with the Spring 1952 issue of Vogart or the Work Basket from 1948? Maybe the Grandmothers Art Needlework catalog dated Fall, 1954. The undated items will require a little detective work. Is that postmark readable? You'll see more details of the items in the picture, along with other patterns from my collection. See you soon!

DellaJane DyeCloth!

I dye fabric in my kitchen. To protect counter tops and cabinets, I cover *everything* with PFD (Prepared For Dyeing) fabric. The fabrics absorbs the inevitable drips and spills, and at the end of a dyeing day, are allowed to dry, then set aside for the next dyeing session. Fabrics are used repeatedly, accumulating an assortment of colors. The first photo shows a layering of color in DyeCloth 11-10B created over at least 5 dyeing sessions. When a fabric has enough color, it gets a soda ash bath and becomes a DellaJane DyeCloth.



I love the warm colors seen in a different part of DyeCloth 11-10B. Although all my fabric is for sale on DellaJane Hand Dyes , this piece may go into an applique project of my own!




Typically, I add leftover dye to the fabric to eliminate white space and blend the spots and drops and drips. DyeCloth 11-10A is just 35" long and, as it typical of smaller pieces, tends to get dropped into the dye bath sooner than larger pieces. Because they have less "random dye", they often have the typical look of hand dyes (lots of texture, lines and color veining). This piece has a wonderful green/yellow-green background, which does not photograph well!






I cut fabric to lengths between 2 and 3 yards when I plan to use it as a DyeCloth. Some of these pieces were cut to protect tables at workshops, so they are closer to 3 years long. These larger pieces are used for a long time. When I finally add left-over dye, the result can be wonderful serendipitous texture, such as the stripes in DyeCloth 11-10D. This piece, which is 98" long, has a large variety of color and texture over the length.








Not all DyeCloths are created equal! If I don't like the colors or look of a piece, it will get overdyed. This piece will definitely go back into the dyeing rotation. I'm not happy with the light areas - they are sort of blah grey - so another dye bath should help!




And there is always the piece which doesn't photograph well. DyeCloth 11-10C is mostly soft colors, fading and blending together.



Special offer for blog readers! Buy any of these DyeCloths and let me know you read my blog in "Note To Seller" at checkout. I'll refund 20% of your purchase price!

Black AND White? Black OR White?

When I decided to make a baby quilt for my brother's first grandchild, I knew I would use bright colors with black and white fabrics in a Nickel Quilt design. I chose to use TWO bright fabrics because I didn't have enough of either!

I paired one bright fabric with assorted black prints for the half-square triangle blocks and the other with white with black fabrics for the 4-patch blocks. Didn't like it! The bright colors didn't pop, the black and the white fabrics didn't work together. It looked like a jumble...




Plan B: I chose some black and white fabrics and made more 4-patch blocks. I didn't like the black and white either (no photos), so I made MORE 4-patch blocks using using black with white fabrics. Yes!! Much better!

Piecing is fast, even with the false starts and fabric/color changes. The backing is a cozy blue flannel and I quilted it using a fun panto which combines points and lines with curves and swirls. I used a bright blue thread which seems like an odd choice, but really looks great on both the black fabrics and the bright colors.


The finished quilt - the colors are subdued in this photo. Imagine them very bright! Like in the next picture!










I prefer dark binding as a "frame", so the binding is black with a bright red piping.

I hope Caleb likes it!

Ohio State Quilts - Go Buckeyes!

My Mom makes quilts. Since she is a avid Ohio State fan, many of them are OSU/Buckeye quilts. In between customer quilts, I quilt them for her at her special family rate! This is her latest. It got polite applause at Show & Tell at my quilt guild meeting in Nebraska! Those Husker fans are always loyal to their own team!

The quilting is a free-hand pattern - I love filling the space!




And in the inner black border, I quilted words from the second verse of Buckeye Battle Cry, one of The Ohio State University Fight Songs. (Across The Field is the other).


FYI, my favorite teams are the Arizona State Sun Devils, the Buckeyes and whoever is playing the University of Arizona!

Quilt Dundee

The last full weekend in July is reserved for Quilt Nebraska. It's a sort of religious holiday for Nebraska quilters, a time to take classes, renew old friendships, eat chocolate, make new friends, shop, talk and laugh. I went to my first Quilt Nebraska in 1998 (read a little about that trip here). This year, I had to cancel at the last minute. I decided to have my own private quilting time at home. To accomplish this, my family was to act as if I weren't there for two days. I would quilt, ignoring the kitchen, the telephone, laundry, chauffeur duties.....

Friend and fellow quilter Barb Rennard told her husband what I was doing. When he realized it was QNE weekend and that Barb wasn't going, Stephen said she should have "Quilt Dundee". No sooner said than done! Naomi and Deena sprung into action. Plans were formulated. Calls were made. Saturday morning, seven quilters showed up at Barb's house in Dundee for the First Quilt Dundee.

Julie, Claudia, Alice, Barb D, Barb R, Judy S, Judy M and Deb posed for a picture in front of a wonderful Quilt Dundee sign.

We had a blast! Door Prizes! Booby Prizes! Chocolate! A banquet featuring Zio's pizza and Graeter's Ice Cream! No workshops here - we all had projects: cutting fabric to start a new project, assembling blocks into a top, schlep bags, kumihimo and applique. My project was Caitlin's t-shirt quilt. It will be a two-sided quilt, so I can include as many shirts as possible. After one day of sewing at home and a day and a half at Quilt Dundee, Side One is complete!


I got a good start on Side Two, but I need another Quilt Dundee!

This Is Going To Be A Long Season

Opening Day, 2010. St. Louis 11, Cincinnati 6. This is going to be a long season.

I did everything right. I wore my Reds jersey. My Cincy flag flew, as it does every day that the Reds play on tv (not very often), and every day they are in first place (not very often). This is going to be a long season.

Ok, so it is Cincinnati tradition for Adam Harang to start on Opening Day. Please! In this case, tradition sucks! The guy went 6-14 last year and struggled in spring training. (In his defense, he didn't have any run support in 2009). Is he really the best the Reds have to throw out there? Was there anyone on the Reds roster who was better in spring training? Maybe Bronson Arroyo deserved the start. At least he had a winning record in 2009 (15-13). Call up Chapman! This is going to be a long season.

Bullpen meltdown: Cards score 7 runs off Cincinnati relievers. Ugly. I love the name Yadier Molina. I wish he played for the Reds so I could walk around saying "Yeah!! Yadier went 2 for 4! Yadier hit a home run yesterday!" Instead, I have to say "Yadier hit a Grand Slam in the NINTH inning". :( This is going to be a long season.

ESPN broadcasters Brent Musburger and Rick Sutcliffe called the Reds the NL Central Dark Horse. From Merriam-Webster: dark horse: an entrant in a contest that is judged unlikely to succeed. This is going to be a long season.

Why does ANYONE pitch to Albert Pujols? Two home runs on Opening Day. First inning, two down, you pitch to the guy. 7th inning, one on. Dusty Baker, I love you, but please! Why didn't you give Lincoln the four finger salute - IBB! This is going to be a long season.

Reds vs Cards on Wednesday. Johnny Cueto. 2009: 11-11, ERA 4.41. At least the Reds don't play the Cardinals every day, or This. Would. Be. A. Long. Season.

Bright spot: The Reds did have some offense, hitting two home runs, a third stolen when Colby Rasmus reached over the center field fence to catch what would have been Scott Rolen's 2nd home run of the game. I am Forever Optimistic. But it is going to be a long season.