The Treehouse

June Stitching - overdue update!

June has flown by in a flurry of cricket, netball, bowling and various other activities. The sunshine has finally arrived and we've spent this weekend enjoying the garden and bbqing. It was a little quiet on the stitching front in June but I did manage to squeeze in plenty of work on Vignette - part one is now finished and part two is halfway complete. I think this may be a long term project as I can't seem to keep up with the pace...that has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of projects that are on the go of course :grin: 

I've finally managed to complete the blocks for the Pennsylvania Dutch quilt - here are the final two...

This is block number 7, called Field Furrows and below is block number 12 which is called Journey's End.

I like both of them - now to sew it all together and catch up on some Civil War blocks.

I have managed to stay on track with the Henrietta Whiskers block of the month - here is June's block and then a picture of the first two rows sewn together.

I'm really enjoying stitching this quilt, it's an absolute pleasure.

I also stitched the first block of the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Block of the Month which is called Sweetpea. I wasn't going to join this BOM as I really have enough going on but...it's made with Fig Tree Strawberry Fields fabrics and Joanna of Fig Tree is my favourite fabric designer of all. 

While in the garden this weekend I spent some time with my current cross stitch project which is Once Upon a Time...an Owl and I accomplished quite a lot. I just have a few leaves, the rest of the owl and the moon to stitch and then this will be ready for framing.

No photos of the last two projects or Vignette just yet as my little gadget for transferring from camera to computer has gone on strike! Hopefully my in house expert will be able to persuade it to co-operate when he gets in tonight :)

I spotted a QAL for the Farmer's Wife quilt early on in the month and was sorely tempted to join in. So tempted that I dug out some favourite Fig Tree fabrics and put them to one side ready to get going. I did promise myself that I wouldn't begin until the PD blocks were completed and as they're now all done I can get started with a little farming!

Back on Track

well, almost! I've still the book reviews to write. I wanted to get last week's Civil War block made before the next one is posted so I sat down this morning and made 

Birds in the Air

I enjoyed myself so much that I made a Pennsylvania Dutch block...

The Road Home

and that one went so quickly that I thought I could fit another one in and I did...

At A Crossroads

Only two of these left to make now and then the borders to put on - I feel as though I could head towards a finish of it this month perhaps...maybe!

Last night I completed the first part of the brickwork on the Library as well - I want to get the first part of the words done and the first few leaves and then I can take a break from it...I've some secret stitching to do :)

Pioneer Wife

A little more progress on the Pennsylvania Dutch quilt this morning. This one has been sitting on my table for a couple of weeks ready to stitch but got moved down the queue while I was working on the birthday cushion and the cross stitch...and also because I wasn't keen on all those stretchy triangles for the middle square in squares. Turned out they weren't too bad to stitch after all and this block has come out at the right size :smile:

Only 5 blocks left to make now - the next one is Down the Well and doesn't look too tricky, I must have skipped ahead at some point. I'm rather behind with Barbara Brackman's Civil War quilt but hopefully I'll catch up at some point, I have a couple of difficult ones and two easier ones to make and then I'll be up to date - think I'll start off with the easier ones and put off the tricky ones for a little while longer, lol!

Pennsylvania Dutch Homestead Cabin

6 blocks made, 6 left to go! I wasn't looking forward to this one but it turned out to be quite straightforward :D It's also the right size and perfectly square!

The blue fabric with the little red flower on it is my favourite so far. I did the machine stitching of the binding on Tail Feathers yesterday - I've saved the hand sewing for tomorrow's crop. Just need to have a go at this week's Civil War block, hopefully I'll have a bit of time for that tonight.

January Friday Night Sew In

I almost managed to get everything done that I wanted to last night. I already had the pieces cut out for my next Pennsylvania Dutch block and the pieces cut out for the first Aunt Grace.

This is the result of the sewing for the first month of Aunt Grace Circle of Friends - I didn't do all of that last night! I cut out all of the pieces a couple of weeks ago and was immediately intimidated by the main block so...I pieced together the pinwheels. Poor Aunt Grace has been sitting on my desk since then awaiting further attention. I decided last night was the night and that the big block would get pieced together. It actually went much smoother than I expected, I was getting tired near the end though and managed to sew the last row on upside down...bit of seam ripper action followed! It's 10.5" squar unfinished and the name of it is Flower Pots. This is the first time I've made something with 1930's fabrics - I absolutely love them, I'm even quite fond of the yellow one!

Here's the Pennsylvania Dutch block that I made. It's block 5 of the quilt but I have made things out of order! I think it's called Cartwheels - more lovely pinwheels. The making of the this went really smoothly, these blocks really are a dream to make.

My last project is absent. I intended to sew on the borders of the Birdie block but there was a disaster in the cutting department. I was tired and being talked to and I think my brain had gone upstairs and left my body behind. Suffice to say that I will be re-stitching the Birdie block! 

Pennsylvania Dutch and Civil War

I was tidying yesterday and came across a partially cut out block for the Pennsylvania Dutch quilt. In the spirit of tidying up loose ends it seemed rude not to finish it off.

These blocks finish at 12" and they go together so quickly it's embarrassing that I don't have more of them completed. Now there is quite a large amount of leftover fabric from these blocks and I had been wondering what to use to make Barbara Brackman's Civil War blocks. I like the warm colours of Maison de Garance but what I have of that is already spoken for so it would mean going off to buy some more. No time for going shopping at the moment and I really wanted to get the first block made before the second is available otherwise. The solution was immediately at hand so I set to and cut out more of the Minick and Simpson and before long I'd completed the first Civil War block.

These blocks finish at 8" and I'll need to buy some fabric for sashing and a border but other than that I think I'll be able to mainly use the leftover Pennsylvania Dutch fabric. Not sure what colour to use for the sashing, perhaps that will become clear when I've made a few more blocks - I'd like to add the sashing as I go along really.

Christmas in July

The last two weekends have seen me working on the Christmas Story quilt designed by Jenny of Elefantz. This weekend I completed the stitching on the Angel and Mary blocks and started and finished the Gifts block, I also started and almost finished the Manger block...this is my current favourite, it's so sweet.

 

 

I also completed this month's Pennsylvania Dutch block - I love it...again! John is wondering whether I can make it big enough to fit on our bed, he loves the fabrics and all of the blocks so far...it's intended for one of the children!

 

If there were not so many other lovely quilts that I want to make I could easily see myself making this quilt again, it's a dream to stitch.

Today is yet another grey, overcast, drizzly wet day - I think summer has abandoned us! I'm planning on growing some flowers for my garden as soon as the Manger is complete :)