Monthly Archives: June 2015

Darn It!

by Dawn Posted on June 29, 2015

See that foot? It’s the darning/free motion quilting foot for my Janome sewing machine. I’ve had this sewing machine for 10 years and have used it quite a bit for free motion quilting but today I did something with it that I’ve never done before: I used it for darning.

Decades ago I bought this vintage dresser scarf at an estate sale in Portland:

It’s the kind of find that quickens the heart of any lover of vintage linens. (Of course it didn’t have a hole in it at the time.) It measures 17″ x 64″ and, in addition to the inset initials, features beautifully crocheted edging all around and this lovely design on both ends:

I’ve used it on a side table in my dining room ever since I brought it home. (My initials, by the way, are DW. I don’t think I even know anyone with the initials AH.)

Over time the scarf developed a pinhole, which eventually turned into a hole the size of a pencil eraser:

Something definitely needed to be done. After practicing my darning skills on a scrap of fabric (up and down, back and forth, in a crosshatch pattern), I was ready to work on the real thing:

I put a scrap of tissue paper underneath the runner before stitching to help stabilize the cloth. This is what it looked like from the back:

The tissue paper peeled away easily, just as you’d expect.

Now freshly laundered and ironed, the scarf is back in its proper spot in the dining room:

Flush with success, I proceeded to mend holes in another vintage linen, a round jacquard tablecloth 84″ in diameter that I got for $10 at a garage sale in my neighborhood some years ago. It was badly yellowed with age but otherwise seemed to be in good condition. It washed up beautifully, and I have used it many times over the years on the round patio table on our back deck. Like the dresser scarf and other well loved linens in my collection, the cloth had developed holes over time from extensive use and repeated launderings.

Here’s a before and after shot of one of the holes:

The tablecloth is so big I drew lines around the holes so I could locate them more easily when the bulk of the tablecloth was under and around my sewing machine. (Those colored lines were made with a Frixion pen; the lines disappear with the touch of hot iron.) I also stitched over some pinholes before they had a chance to turn into larger holes.

I think I’m on a roll. Need anything mended?

(Kidding!)

Posted in home dec, update | 10 Comments

What a Deal!

by Dawn Posted on June 24, 2015

At the meeting of the Metropolitan Patchwork Society last night, I bought $5 worth of raffle tickets. The MPS raises money for speaker fees by raffling off donated fabrics, bundling them in pleasing combinations according to color or theme, sometimes adding a book or pattern to sweeten the deal. It’s a terrific way to raise money, destash, or take home a prize, depending on whether you’re the guild, the fabric donor, or the lucky recipient. I’d say that’s a win-win-win.

Last night about a dozen bundles of fabric were being raffled. I was particularly taken with this one:

2015-6, fabric bundle — A Beautiful Bundle

Reader, you know what’s coming: I won it!

The largest piece was this lush hydrangea and berries print designed by Holly Holderman for Lakehouse Fabrics:

2015-6, fabric bundle 2 — Bountiful Blossoms and Berries

When I got home and measured this piece, I discovered it was 4¼ yards long. What a bonanza! The other three pieces were considerably smaller, but I still wound up with over seven yards of beautiful fabric. For five dollars. Wow.

When this fabric line came out a few years ago, I bought a piece of it in the pink colorway and eventually made this quilt from my 4-Patch Wonder pattern:

framboise august 2012 — Framboise, 69″ x 84″ (2012)

This quilt, named Framboise, is one of my favorites. (You can read about the making of it in this post.) Here’s a shot of Framboise with the beautiful McKenzie River in central Oregon as a backdrop:

Framboise, 66" x 80", August 2012 — Framboise au Naturel

Framboise is currently on the bed in the guest room so I get a glimpse of it every time I walk by the room.

What will I make with my new blue hydrangea fabric? I haven’t a clue. I’m just happy that it’s now in my stash along with the other three pieces in the bundle.

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, faux-kaleido quilts, update | 4 Comments

Reach for the Stars, Revisited

by Dawn Posted on June 22, 2015

Thanks to modern technology, I made virtual friends last year with several quiltmakers who, like me, were enchanted with Terri Krysan’s star sampler quilt, Reach for the Stars, and decided to make their own versions. Directions for the quilt were released in serial form by Quilter’s Newsletter beginning with the Oct./Nov. 2013 issue. As each issue was released, our little band of quiltmakers would share our progress and cheer each other on.

Last fall I began corresponding with Fawn S. of New York, who was working on two versions of Reach for the Stars — one as a birthday gift for her mother and one for herself. Several of the quilters in Fawn’s group, the Honey Bees, were also making RFTS. Now Fawn has sent me photos of quilts and quilt tops made by her and her quilting colleagues Rose, Linda, Nancy, and Janet. I am so happy to share those photos with you.

First up, the quilt Fawn made for her mother:

This quilt, featuring fussy-cut cardinals, was made with deep reds, tans, and browns. Here’s the center medallion . . .

. . . and here’s a close-up of one of those fussy-cut cardinals:

Fawn quilted this herself on her mid-arm. Beautiful!

Rose’s finished quilt is a handsome combination of blues, greens, and tans, very dramatic against a white background:

Love the batiks. And did you notice the accent pillow?

Linda’s focus fabric is a lovely floral on a soft blue background. Her palette of greens, pinks, and creams, combined with that floral focus fabric, yielded this romantic result:

The version of RFTS that Fawn is making for herself is made with teals, tans, and browns:

It features a different bird print than the one she used on her mother’s quilt.

Nancy’s version also features birds. Her color palette includes deep reds, tans, and blues:

Can’t wait to see both of those quilts with the borders added.

Although this next photo is not in sharp focus, you can still appreciate the gorgeous combination of fabrics in Janet’s quilt top:

Rusts, corals, tans, and greens on a cream background — so striking. And the batik print in her checkerboard border sets off the inner fabrics beautifully.

Thank you, Honey Bees of Honeyville, NY, for sharing your beautiful quilts with me! I hope seeing them inspires others who are also reaching for the stars to keep working on their own versions.

Posted in Reach for the Stars sampler quilt, update | 4 Comments

Twinship

by Dawn Posted on June 15, 2015

Twinship — the perfect kinship! I’ve just returned from a 10-day trip to Atlanta to visit my twin sister. Diane was supposed to join me for part of my recent trip to Paris but had to bow out at the last minute when one of her family members became seriously ill. Happily, the family member is well on the road to recovery. The only thing Diane and I could think of to assuage our mutual disappointment was for me to make a visit to her home, so just days after my return from Paris I was back on an airplane winging my way from Oregon to Georgia.

We had a lovely time! I usually wind up with a home dec project when I visit Diane but this time my trusty old Elna, which I took to Atlanta a few years ago so I could sew there, stayed put. We did get in a bit of antiquing, though. My visit happened to coincide with the Scott Antique Mall, open just one weekend a month in Atlanta, so off we went.

I wasn’t planning to buy anything but . . . you know how that goes. Minutes after walking through the entrance at Scott’s I spied a collection of vintage buttons. If I had found just this one thing, I would have been delighted:

This little 2″ x 3″ card will go up on the bulletin board in my sewing room.

I also found these green glass buttons dating back to the 1940s:

How do I know how old they are? The back of the card is marked “Germany – U.S. – Zone,” indicating they were made between 1945-1950.

And look at these fun clock buttons:

I have no idea how old they are or even what I will use them for. Hmmm, let me see. . . . What if I were making a mini quilt with buildings on it, and what if one of the buildings were a clock tower? Wouldn’t one of these buttons make a fun clock? Something to think about.

Toward the end of the day I spotted this charming ironstone lidded jar:

What is it? A large sugar bowl? A biscuit jar? It measures about 7½” tall and 7″ wide. The maker is John Maddock & Sons, one of the many potteries located in Burslem, Staffordshire, England. Here’s a look at the bottom of the jar:

I haven’t found information on this specific mark but judging from other maker’s marks from this pottery that I read about on line, my jar may have been made between 1870, when the mark changed from “Maddock and Son” to “Maddock and Sons,” and 1896, when “Ltd” was added to the mark. The pottery continued to produce until the 1960s, though, so perhaps my jar is not as old. It doesn’t really matter; I bought it because I loved it, not because of its age.

I thought it would be perfect on the narrow table opposite the clawfoot tub in the master bath but it turned out to be a little too small in scale. Now it’s in the guest bathroom where it does double duty as a Pretty Little Thing and as a holder of cotton balls:

Diane found a couple of Pretty Little Things, too. For some time she has been looking for a slotted spoon small enough to scoop fruit from a can or olives from a jar. She finally found what she has been looking for:

A pleasing combination of form and function. As Diane would say, “Elegantly simple and simply elegant!”

She also found the perfect container to corral the various and sundry remotes for the TV, the DVD player, the sound system, and who knows what else. It’s a round paper maché box covered with vintage wallpaper:

Scott find round remote holder in place
The colors match her living room scheme and go well with the reversible table runner I made her a few months ago:

(That narrow quilted table runner was made to cover the “seam” created when Diane put two chests back to back to create a larger surface area between the two chairs in her living room. You can see the reverse of the table runner and read about the making of it in this post.)

Diane’s final find of the day was made from a recycled Reader’s Digest Condensed book:

The vendor had laser cut old volumes into letters of the alphabet. In this case, E is for Edward, Diane’s 6-year-old grandson (named after his grandfather, Diane’s husband Ed). Young Edward is a frequent overnight guest at his grandparents’ home, so much so that he has his own room. Here the letter E is displayed with another of his grandmother’s marvelous antique store finds, a vintage appliquéd wall hanging:

Can you tell we had fun at the antique mall? The entire visit was fun. Now I’m back home and eagerly anticipating getting back to my quilting projects. My sewing machine is not used to being idle.

Posted in family, update | 6 Comments

We’ll Always Have Paris (Part 2)

by Dawn Posted on June 4, 2015

Continuing to relive my recent Paris trip, here are some photos, in no particular order, starting with this one of Notre Dame on a cool and drizzly day in early May:

(That’s moi in the foreground, in the polka-dot raincoat.)

Inside Le Grand Colbert, the restaurant featured in the 2003 Diane Keaton film Something’s Gotta Give:

A niche in the wall at Place St. Germain des Pres:

The giant stained glass dome inside the Galeries Lafayette department store:

A perfect Parisian rose, rivaling those in my hometown Portland OR, known as the City of Roses:

A theater lover’s delight: seeing Juliette Binoche in an English language production of Antigone:

Street scene snapped while riding on a city bus:

One of the most iconic images of Paris:

Inside E. Dehillerin, the famous cook’s supply store frequented by the likes of Julia Child and the Barefoot Contessa:

A delicious grocery store discovery:

Best enjoyed with a cup of coffee served in a French mug:

Strolling along the Seine admiring the chestnut trees for which Paris is justly famous:

(Here you have to imagine Ella Fitzgerald singing “April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom, holiday tables under the trees . . .” And yes, I took that photo in April.)