The Pineapple Block

I began this, my fifth block from the Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt at Christmas, but what with all those "fingers" I put it away for another day.

Well, that day came a couple of weeks ago, when I was home with a very heavy cold. I had no stitching prepped except for this block, so I decided to tackle it and you know? I enjoyed the challenge so much, that I had finished stitching it within a couple of days. I decided that I wasn't going to be beaten by tiny selvedges between each of the "fingers", that I was in control and not the fabric. The block has been hanging on what purports to be my design wall now for about a week, but I haven't been home to take a picture of it in daylight - on the whole I am very pleased with the block, although I could do better with the ironing!

I have three more blocks prepped and ready to go as I have four very long journeys coming up this week, more about which I will say next weekend.

Have a good week!

Coming up for air...

It has been some weeks since I last posted, but until last weekend I had been unable to put needle into fabric due to my workload. But... all the marking is now done - well, until April 7th anyway and now I am catching up with the housework, gardening, stitching and just life in general!

Even Hamish was wondering whether he would ever get fed? Hey, remember me...?

And at times pointedly reminded me that he did still exist by jumping onto my work table and then sat and stared at me until he got his way. He knows he is not allowed on the tables etc, so he also knew that this was one of the quickest ways of attracting my attention, which he certainly knows how to do!

Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt

I finished another block earlier this morning. This one I struggled with, not necessarily with the techniques required (although I do need to practise my reverse applique!), but with the colour combinations, especially the flower spray, which went through several re-incarnations, and the two side flowers which I have done in the purple fabrics which I will also be using in the centre block on the grape vine. This block is central and just above the centre block so hopefully the purple will blend in.

I completed the centre flower first by stitching all the layers together in the hand i.e. off the background, and so this, along with the material for the vase, formed the foundation for the entire block. I became a little worried that the centre flower would come to dominate the block, but I think with the red flowers on the vase material, plus the strong colours above and on each side, I think it all blends in well together.

Since looking at this photograph, I note that some of my curves are not as smooth as I would like, which I suspect was not helped by the fact that I had initially stitched it to the wrong side of my background fabric, so I will revisit it and tidy them up at a later date, but for now it is as good as done! I have three more blocks prepared and ready to stitch, so hopefully it will not be too long before my next blog.

Have a good week!

On go slow... and the American Folk Art Museum exhibit

Okay, things have slowed down a little over the past week as regards my Beyond The Cherry Tree album quilt and I am late getting my weekly blog entry up. I have been working on prepping some more blocks and I decided to go for some more complex ones, but somehow the fabric auditions are just not coming together and I am struggleling! I hope to get the problems resolved by this weekend, otherwise I will just have to put these particular blocks away and have a look another day.

This month's block is now up and it's a simple one, so maybe I will concentrate on that one , so at least I will feel I have achieved something over the past fortnight. I am also back into marking mode, so once the pile is out of the way maybe I will see a solution to my fabric audition problems

American Folk Art Museum



Yes... it's yours truly!

There has been some talk recently on one of the lists I belong to with a group of members meeting up to see the year long quilt exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City and it had me reminiscing. I was very lucky to visit the exhibit last November when a good friend of mine and I visited. I am glad she came because for all my experience of cities I became quite disorientated in New York... I would still be wandering the streets trying to find the museum, if it wasn't for her and yet it was only a 10 minute stroll away from our hotel, if that!

We spent the whole day viewing quilts that I had only seen in books and thought I would never see "in the flesh". One of the best things was that we were allowed to take photographs! I have hundreds of them!! So I am giving a little flavour of the exhibition below.

Hewson centre Quilt approx 1790 - 1810

Oh how I would love to reproduce this quilt one day. I love everything about it and of course it has my favourite block - the Ohio Star. The centre is broderie perse using fabrics designed by John Hewson. The red floral border I think finishes it, so will have to keep my eyes open!

The Dunn Album Quilt - 1852

Made by the sewing group of the Fulton Street United Methodist Episcopal Church of Elizabeth Port, New Jersey. It is so reminiscent of the Maltaville Quilt, which I talked about in a previous posting.

Embellished Applique Quilt 1825 - 1845

Now this is a fun quilt! I have never seen a pcture of it before, but I love its folksiness. It is made of wool, silk cotton etc and is highly embellished with embroidery and beads. It is thought to have come from New York.

The Bird of Paradise Quilt 1858 - 1863

Another folk art quilt, but this time mainly in cotton with some wool and silk and again embroidery embellishments. It is thought to have come from the Albany area of New York state. I have the pattern for this quilt produced by Corliss Searcy of Threadbear in Australia. Its on my one day to do quilt list!

Whig Rose Quilt 1857/58

Probably made by Abigail Hill of Indiana. I love red and green quilts, but I doubt I will ever make a quilt quite like this as I think I would find it boring to make, four blocks of the same design, but there again it would be a challenge just because of that alone.

The Reiter Family Quilt 1848 - 1850

Made from wool and cotton this Baltimore style album quilt features a great deal in many books on the style... and now I have been able to see it in all of its glory. It reminds a little of the Rachel Meyer style of quilts which are in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Sunflower and trailing vine 1783- 1830

Attributed to Catherine Lowrence Newton from North Carolina or Georgia, this quilt had just been added to the museum's collection. It was laying on a slightly inclined board so was difficult to take a picture of it. According to the gift, the quilt was set together with Caroline's wedding dress. I love the muted colours - the stories it must be able to tell as it stayed in the same family for generations before it was gifted to the museum last year.

There are so many more photographs I could show you, including the Stars exhibit in the museum's satellite gallery on Columbus Square which I would dearly love to revisit - that exhibition is up until September. The exhibit at the main site is open until mid-April when it will change to show yet more quilts from the collection round until next November.

Have a good week!

Kia ora tatou - Happy Waitangi Day!

Inside the meeting house on the Waitangi Marae

Today is Waitangi Day, New Zealand's national day and holiday, named after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6th February, 1840. The treaty was signed between the British Crown (Queen Victoria) and a number of Maori rangatira (chiefs) from the North Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand).

I lived for 5 years in New Zealand and worked closely with the Maori. I thoroughly enjoyed my time learning about their culture, their language and their arts and crafts. I sit here at my desk looking at a kauri bowl, my kete (a maori basket) and a kiwi.

I lived in Rotorua where I looked after a number people's summer houses or batch whilst they were either trying to sell them or needed someone to keep an eye on their property outside the holiday season. Many of the owners lived in either Auckland or Australia. The view above is from the garden of one those houses looking out across Lake Okareka - happy times!

Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt

Block 3 is finished! I quite enjoyed this block and am especially pleased with the fabric I used for the pot. This block was already prepped and ready to go, hence the reason why it only took me a week (that, plus no marking!). But, I need to prepare some more blocks, so it could be 2 - 3 weeks before I finish the next one.

Sundial Quilt

I finally finished another set of 4 blocks - this time the Scallop Shell. I wonder why the original quilter chose this design, did she live by the coast? For me, the Scallop Shell has a special significance, since it is the emblem that was chosen by the pilgrims as they travelled the medieval (1290's) Pilgrims Way from Winchester to the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

I have a long association with the Pilgrims Way, as I have at various points in my life lived and worked along the Way, and today it passes right outside my front door. In the summer we see a steady stream of walkers and cyclists walking through the village as they walk the Pilgrim's Way.

I finish this entry with a photograph of 90 Mile Beach, which is right up in the very north of New Zealand. The beach is long and nearer 50 miles in length, but it is part of Highway 1 so drivers have to observe the rules of the road! I took this whilst on a coach trip up to Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of mainland New Zealand. It is one of my most favourite photographs. I have added a Maori proverb which I think is very apt especially for quilters.

A "finishing" weekend...

Yesterday morning I finally finished another pile of marking (well, until mid-February anyway), and I celebrated by tidying and dusting the sitting room and then I sat down for the afternoon to work on block 2 of the Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt which, I finally finished just after midnight.

I am quite pleased with this block, although I am not sure about the thickness of the embroidered stems. I used a single strand of one of the variegated silk threads I bought last weekend. I am wondering whether I should have used a double strand, but there again, the original only has a single. I will "live" with the block and see how I feel a little later.

I have already begun block 3 and, whilst I would like to say I will get it done, by next weekend, I do not want to jinx it, just in case another pile of marking shows up!

I have joined the international group blog doing the Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt. There is much inspiration on the blog, with some wonderful colourways. I especially like the blocks that use a very "fresh" looking green, and I am looking forward to joining in on some of the discussions about the quilt itself. I am sure the blog will help me to maintain my motivation through talking with like-minded quilters.

Sharon, the "blog mother" has asked me to post some more photographs from the quilt. I have to say I am a little uncomfortable about this as I do not have Gay's permission, but here are two more pictures - the centre blocks (below) and of a block that has yet to be published (above), but I included it because it shows those devillish "fingers" on the pineapple block!

The centre block of the quilt (see above) is interesting in that the grapes are in the brown/purple one would expect, but then the centre vine is done in a light (sky) blue fabric as are the grape tendrils which have been embroidered with chain stitch. The same fabric appears in other blocks, such as the decoration on the fruit urn below the centre block.

This same plain blue fabric, which seems more "modern" than the remainder of the quilt, also appears in many Baltimore Album quilts such as the Captain Russell quilt (above) in the Baltimore Museum of Art's collection, where, amongst other things forms the blue bows in the centre of the quilt. So, based on this evidence, the colour of the blue is contemporary to the quilt.

Sadly, the very centre of the block has deteriorated, one wonders whether it held a verse and the inks used have oxidised and destroyed the background fabric? or, is it just wear and tear from being folded from the centre?

We will never know, but as I stitch these blocks, I am sure more thoughts will come to mind.

Have a good week!

A little bit of shopping and yet more temptation!

Another week over and I am afraid to say I still have not been able to complete my second block of the Beyond the Cherry Trees album quilt, although I did get the second stem and four centres stitched on last night, so there is light at the end of the tunnel!

I decided to give myself a day off yesterday from the marking and went... shopping! Regional 2 of the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles were holding a day in Sevenoaks, so I decided to go along, not to the presentations or workshops, they were out of my interest field but to see what the traders had. It was a very small selection to choose from, but look what I found...

The purples and blues will be used for the grapes in the centre of the Beyond the Cherry Trees album quilt and I will add a dark brown that I have been saving for the project. I think it will all go well together although for me the batiks and Fossil Fern fabrics are a bit of a shock to the system! The threads will be used for stems and the tendrils on the centre grape block and I just bought the red thread for... just in case it's needed. If not, I will add it to my collection of embroidery threads.

More temptation...

Do you remember at the beginning of the year I wrote a list of all my projects currently underway? I have so many more projects that I want to do sitting in drawers and project boxes and now there are three more to add to them - Barbara Brackman's Civil War BOM in remembrance of the sesquicentennial year of the US Civil War, Rosemary Young's Detroit News Applique Flower Garden series and now Margaret Mews' Maltaville 1847 Quilt BOM.

Made for Mary Hill by the ladies of the Presbyterian Church at Maltaville, New York 1847.

I saw the Maltaville Quilt on a trip to Washington DC in November, 2008. It was on display in a glass cabinet on the ground floor of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I wasn't in a particularly good mood that day - another story, but this quilt lifted my spirits considerably and the securty guards were very obliging as I took photograph, after photograph. Unfortunately, though from whatever angle I tried I still got the reflection from the lighting and the vertical line is from the glass panels, so I do not have the best of photographs :-(

Each block is signed by a member of the Presbyterian Church of Maltaville, New York and some have a verse. The block above was signed by Almira E Ohnstrad. The brown fabric in the tulip centre has unfortunately oxidised, but the rest of the quilt is in a very good state.

Oh dear, these blocks are really quite simple and I have so many of the fabrics already in my collection, so they wouldn't take me that long to applique each month... surely?

A frustrating week, the Sundial Quilt and a recipe

Not a lot of stitching has got done this week :-(

Work, work, work... mark, mark, mark

I had hoped to have finished my second block from the Beyond the Cherry Trees Album quilt, but it still lacks a few centre circles and a stem. Hopefully, over the coming week, I will finish it ready for next weekend's blog entry.

I did however finish two more blocks for my Sundial Quilt whilst on my daily commute too and from work. This is a big project and one that I have been looking forward to for 42 years, ever since my father gave me my very first patchwork book - he would never know what he had unleashed! The book, Patchwork by Averil Colby has many black and white photographs of old quilts, but two always drew my attention, The Isle of Wight Quilt and the Sundial Quilt and they were really what inspired me to start piecing and applique. It is not exactly a book for teaching yourself quilting, but it got me started and it kept me quiet for many hours in my teens trying to fathom out how "to do it"!

The Sundial Quilt is a real tour de force and luckily I was able to closely study the quilt during the exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London back last year. The quilt has been in the V & A collection since the late 1930's and nothing is known of its provenance. The more I study the quilt and draw the blocks though, the more I begin to wonder about the original maker. I am sure it must be a little like how Brenda Papadakis was feeling as she drew the blocks in preparation for the Dear Jane quilt and all the questions she wanted to ask Jane Stickle about her life and her quilt, her thoughts, her aspirations and her dreams...

Above are a set of 4 blocks for the Sundial Quilt, I have quite a few more sets done and will show these off in later postings.

When marking takes over, my diet tends "to go to pot". Working late and eating healthily does not go well together so that I end up with either a bowl of cereal or toast and marmalade, a boiled egg or a sandwich/toastie for dinner. I know things are getting desperate when all I can be bothered to do is take a can of baked beans, lever off the lid, grab a spoon and then eat the beans directly from the can - and yes, they are cold! But I love it!

So today I resolved that I really must eat some fresh veggies and between the marking I made myself a large pot of one of my favourite soups - Parsnip and Apple soup. It comes from a recipe from the Cranks recipe book. I am not a vegetarian, but I loved Cranks restaurants back in the 1970's and 80's. Sadly, they are not around any longer, but I have all their recipe books and periodically I will have a Cranks week which always includes my absolute favourite, Homity Pie.

So, here is my recipe for Parsnip and Apple Soup, it makes up a quantity for 4 people.

1oz butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 parsnips (3 if they are small), peeled and chopped

2 apples, chopped

1 pint of vegetable stock

2 tblsp of fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp of dried herbs

1 pint of milk

seasoning to taste

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the apple and veggies and cook the onion until soft.

2. Add the vegetable stock and herbs to the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Take the pan off the heat and let the contents cool before blending.

4. Slowly add the milk as you blend - I like the soup to have some texture so you may not need quite as much milk.

5. Reheat the soup to serve, adding seasoning to taste - et, bon appetit!

Now, back to the marking... have a good week!