Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern

Recently, I received some photographs of Kaffe Fassett's exhibit "The Power of Pattern" at the Millesgarden Gallery in Stockholm that were taken by my DIL's mom. Thank you Anitha! What a treat to see these pieces that were made by talented quilters using the brightly-colored fabrics Kaffe is known for. Check out the YouTube video here

A familiar quilt to many of us Lollipop Trees by Kim McLean.




 

What fun!

On another note . . . 

I've put my fabric book together--here's a sneak peak--but still have work to do like add something to the blank plaid pages. Will show more detailed pics when I'm finished.

 

Found a package of brown and white little clothespins at the thrift shop and thought they were perfect but I'm not convinced they'll stay :) 

More to come . . . 



Copyright 2024 Barbara Schaffer

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

In Memory, Slow Stitch, Pin, Nature

I want to start off this post with a small quilt I made In Memory of Carol Younce who so graciously sent me a box of scraps two years ago. We never met but because of her generosity my creativity went into overdrive and I made five quilts!

At the start, I sorted and bagged all the scraps according to shape and size and decided there was no better way to honor Carol than to make a small quilt in her memory. So that's what I did :)


I love that little car in the upper left :) I had lots of neutrals and cut all squares 2.5" x 2.5". The two inner borders were Carol's fabrics but the outer green was a thrift shop purchase a while ago.
I did simple cross hatch machine quilting.

The back with more large strips and a label. The piece is 24" x 24". If you would like to see the other quilts I made from Carol's box of scraps you can see them here. All-in-all, I had a blast!

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Three more slow-stitch blocks are done and now there are 9.  

This wonderful cross-stitch dog was made by my good friend, Wilda, many years ago. She just turned 95 years young in January! This dog reminded me of our Belle, even though she wasn't a Cocker Spaniel :) But she loved going down to the river to sniff out frogs along the shoreline, thus, the fun fabric. 

A collage of nature--trees, a bird, a butterfly, a mammal (not sure what that is), a huge 'shroom and a snake.


The last block in this fabric book series is a flower garden. Wilda and Renee gave me a lovely floral kit for my December birthday and I spent many evenings immersed in embroidery.  

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Recently, I received this vintage floral pin as a gift and I immediately went to the thrift shop and purchased a pretty frame. Then I added some ribbons :)

Pretty deer in the driveway. She was watching me take this photo :)

Captured this Pileated Woodpecker from the bathroom window. It was very busy! BTW, the noise you hear is the dryer! 


Lastly, moon in the morning. FYI, this area has Eclipse Fever!

Thank you all for stopping by. There's no more snow and it appears spring is on its way. Yay!


Copyright 2024 Barbara Schaffer
 

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Slow Stitching Blocks and Needlecase

I'm calling them "slow stitching" blocks and I guess that's what they are but I still have a hard time grasping the concept. I am leaning toward making an accordian-style fabric book with an Adirondack theme. We'll see how that goes . . .  

Here are the next three:


A collage based on our woodsy driveway with glimpses of blue sky peeking through the trees. There are lots of deer and squirrels. 

Four different fabrics along with a single cut-out duck :) I do a small basting stitch along all raw edges then big stitch on top using embroidery floss. I embellished the duck's wing tips to give them some dimension. 


This is what the back looks like. 

Two years ago, I had good intentions of making cross-stitch pillow cases with north country designs. It's no surprise I nixed that idea after completing one deer but what better way than to use it as one of my new blocks. I added a butterfly to remind me of the Bambi Golden Book which I so loved :)

I also spent some time making a little needlebook by hand that I found on Ann Wood Handmade here.  




It was definitely a fun project even though it took longer than I anticipated but isn't that what slow stitching is all about--"slow" but "quick" to finish?? Would love to hear about any slow stitching that you've done :)


I'll leave you with this--"The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." I'll tell you more about it soon :)


Copyright 2024 Barbara Schaffer

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

What's New??

I'm off in a million directions but mainly trying to do some slow stitching which I never anticipated to be so hard! 

I know, I know--I make it too complicated! What started out as a simple scene turned into a collage of cut-outs from my collection of Adirondack-north woods fabrics. Each block is 6" x 8" and a glue stick was used to 'lightly' anchor the pieces. 


Here's the back with my slow stitching.
After all my years of quilting, it was really difficult to concentrate on large stitches.


Block 2 I'm calling BIG FISH. It was a cut-out from an old piece of flannel that I had purchased at Newberry's variety store at least 50 years ago! 


Yay! You get the idea.


SNOW includes bits and pieces from 6 different fabrics stitched with embroidery floss and silver metallic thread from the thrift shop. 

I've already made 5 more but I will show them to you as they are finished.


It's been a really grey winter but the sun finally came out the other day and it felt so good! 

More to come soon . . . 


Copyright 2024 Barbara Schaffer

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Crazy 43-46, Swedish samples

 I'm making progress with Call Me Crazy blocks--only 8 more to go. 

Block 43. All the papers are still on the back so the top row doesn't lay flat. Looks kind of weird but that's the way it is for now.


Block 44. Boy, did I have a problem with those windmill points! 

Block 45.  I like it when there's an easy one thrown in!


Block 46. Now these points were perfect! Must have been a good day :)


The group of four :)


My daughter-in-law gave me a bagful of vintage textiles along with these linen decorator samples which I sewed into a small mat. 


I had this leftover scrap from our Sweden trip years ago and put it on the back. I did straight line quilting from this side because it was easier to mark. The binding fabric was from the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. 

Here are some of the other items that were in the bag:

A lovely hand-stenciled piece. The wheels are turning with this one!


 Beautiful embroidery!


 Looks like this was a kit--you can still see the blue lines. 


Cute fabric! There were also two lovely hand-worked handkerchiefs, two curtain panels of elephant-themed fabric, white vintage pillowcases with trim and linen towels. Wow! I'm having so much fun!


My granddaughter made this pillow for me for Christmas. Her first time sewing anything! She even made buttonholes by hand to close the bottom opening. I'm so impressed!

I started a new project--what else is new??? Have you ever done any slow stitching? I'm into it :)

It's a little chilly here this morning--only 6 degrees--but nothing like what it is in the midwest. 

That's all for now . . .  


Copyright 2024, Barbara Schaffer

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Quick Recap of 2023

It was an interesting quilt-making year. I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked due to Lyme Disease which knocked out most of summer and September but here goes . . . 


Twin-size Framed Tumblers surprised me when I put it on the bed. It looked like two separate quilts--a topper on another one! The good thing is I used up a lot of strips and star blocks that never worked anywhere else.

I made Snowballs for Caroline, Dawn's daughter, when she sent me her mom's reproduction fabrics. The snowballs were from Dawn's antique quilt that I purchased at Dana's auction. You can read more here and here.  

I finally finished Barbara Brackman's Ladies' Aid NY Sampler. It was a fun one to make. I quilted folk art motifs in the blocks rather than an all-over design. 

Selvages I & II. Two quick minis made of selvage strips sent to me by Nancy M. in MI. 

Then there were triangles in Carol Y's scraps that I assembled to make Penguin Party. I must admit there is great satisfaction working on smaller quilts :)


Red Geese was the result of my intention to sew together strips of paper-pieced flying geese but--I gave up after making only two 12-inchers. Nothing more!


I didn't even show you this one. Two years ago I bought some fabric coordinates at my longarm quilter's garage sale and I finally did something with them. I added a leftover star from Stars in a Time Warp and fused a white flower in the center.  

The back. The piece is 24" x 24." It was really fun working with these fabrics!

Don't worry, I still have a list of UFOs that I will be working on this year.  

I'll leave you with this sunrise photo taken with my new iphone :)


 That's all for now . . .  


Copyright 2024 Barbara Schaffer