At Last!

As some of you may know, I signed up for a special series this past year called The American Schoolgirl Club, six unpublished patterns of small quilts by Kathleen Tracy of Small Quilt Talk fame.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smallquilttalk/
and her blog The Sentimental Quilter  http://www.sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/

I have been trying to get a start on installment #3 for some months now, but other projects and commitments have been getting in the way.   Anyway a week ago I finally had the chance to turn my hand at this little quilt.

I used a fabric range by Jo Morton called 'Annandale'.  I really love the soft dusty pinks and greens,  I just couldn't let this delightful range go begging!   The pattern called for 4" x 4" hourglass units but I increased that to 5" x 5" to accommodate the size of the prints on the fabric which is a little larger than some other repro prints.   It also called for some applique blocks in the centre, I cheated a little and used a fusible product to accomplish this and then button-hole stitched around the edges using my Bernina.  

My little flowers are a bit wonky, I couldn't get them to sit like the pattern, but they are now what they are LOL!   One of the fabrics in this line had a wonderful wide strippy print which I thought would frame this quilt quite nicely.  

I'll probably machine quilt it, and I'm thinking it would make a nice table quilt!

Next week my little Quiltbee group will be getting together for the first time this New Year.   We have decided we want to make some smaller items for our sewing tools, so needle keeps and housewifes are on the sewing agenda.

I will be using a pattern from Kathy's "Remembering Adelia" book for my housewife and have selected some contemporary/novelty prints for this.   I may even make another in repros as well.

 I am waiting patiently for Kathy's fourth book to arrive,  "The Civil War Sewing Circle".    I noticed on Elaine's blog, she reviewed this latest publication,   www.faithfulquilter.blogspot.com/  that there are a few more little needle keep goodies awaiting discovery.   I really hope my copy arrives before the end of next week.  

Another member of SmallQuiltTalk, Gerda gave us a link to a very unusual pincushion from the Civil War.
I love little pincushions and have made quite a few but none of them have quite the same charm as this one.
http://www.marcusbrothers.com/makeit/projects/eight-pointed_civil_war_buckshot_pincushion/

Miss Mini had her first experience of being out in the yard today.   I know she was described as an inside cat, and that she will continue to be, but it was quite funny to see her walk on the grass.

She lifted each of her feet up really high as she walked,  like she was walking through soft sand.   She seemed not to know quite what to do!   I'll keep her a house cat, we have such an abundance of wildlife here, possums, bandicoots, lizards and birds,  I don't want to frighten them away - that's the beauty of living in a rural village because of the wildlife and of course the peace and quiet!!   Previous cats I've had have all be house cats and have never known the difference, they only go out in the yard when I go!

Looking forward to seeing what Barbara Brackman has in store for us this weekend!!!

Have a productive weekend everyone and thanks for visiting!

Merilyn