gladiquilts

Greetings dear readers! I’ve neglected my blog because it’s been a busy time of year, but am trying for a quick update before Christmas. First, I have managed to fit in some sewing here and there. The house quilt told me it wanted to be bigger and a rectangle. I looked at 36 houses set straight horizontally and vertically:

I decided I preferred the houses staggered with some space between and decided to go with 6 rows across and 7 down:

In the above photo I have 40 of the 42 houses needed complete! Next I need to decide what I’m going to use for sashing and how to best place the houses.

After I started making the houses, I remembered I had in my library a lovely book about houses in folk art:

It’s a beautiful book with sections about houses in embroidery, quilting, painting, rug hooking, etc. and lovely illustrations. In the quilt section they talk about pieced houses:

and applique houses:

And:

So inspirational and fun to peruse!

I’ve been hand appliquéing my hexie flowers to their backgrounds:

I need 98 blocks, have 75 made, and 44 appliqued to backgrounds- one by one, they get done!

I also am knitting another scrarf just like the cream one I finished a few months ago, only this one is a luscious teal color:

For decades Al and I have hosted a Christmas party/dinner with several couples who are close friends and with whom we love to play music. We are so blessed to be able to keep doing this! It’s a lot of prep but totally worth it! I’m sharing a few photos you might enjoy:

Skip’s famous mussels🙂:

I can’t believe I forgot to get a photo of Sarah’s incredible chocolate Yule Log dessert! Wonderful music before and after the meal:

The gals:

And the guys:

Me🙂with our tree:

So, here’s my crazy story! This past August I stepped on something small on the rug in my upstairs hallway just outside my sewing room that gave me a small cut on the bottom of my left great toe. I never could find what made the cut and I definitely couldn’t feel anything in there. I had some intermittent sharp pains for a while which I attributed to the cut. For a while, though, I had some brief episodes of discomfort on the other side of the toe, even after the cut healed. Then I was fine without any discomfort for a couple months until about 3 weeks ago I noticed tender lump – not anywhere close to where the cut had been. I made an appointment to see a podiatrist yesterday, thinking it might be a corn. Some of you may have guessed where this is going…. An x-ray shows I have a needle (or part of a needle) lodged in my toe! It actually migrated to the other side from where the cut had been! I am going to need surgery to have it removed 😧. I’ll keep you updated, but it’s not interfering with walking so it’s not an emergency. I will never go barefoot in this house again!😊

I’ll close with a wish for a beautiful holiday season for all my readers and a huge thank you to you all for reading! I sincerely wish for a world with much more good will, love, compassion, and tolerance and respect for differences in each other and far less cruelty and meanness and ill will. 🤞🤞🤞🤞

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! We had a lovely Thanksgiving, but, unfortunately, the grandkids brought a nasty virus with them and my husband and I have both been sick with respiratory infections for over a week🙁. In spite of that, I’ve still managed to accomplish some things. “Spirit of Japan #7: Treasure Trove is finished!

This quilt, the 7th in my “Spirit of Japan” series, featuring authentic Japanese fabrics, including taupes and indigos, was inspired by an exhibit of quilts by Tommie Nagano at the New England Quilt Museum that I saw in December 2022.

It is hand quilted because I wanted to keep it in the spirit of Nagano’s work which is all hand quilted. Although the top was done in late 2023, it had to wait its turn for hand quilting and I finally got started on it in March this year. Here are a couple photos of the back where the hand quilting is best seen:

I finished the last square last week and got the brown binding on this weekend:

I call it Treasure Trove because it consists of a “treasure trove” of hundreds of different

Sorry – glitch occurred while trying to write the above and the computer won’t let me go back so I have to start that sentence again: I call the quilt Treasure Trove because it consists of a “treasure trove “ of hundreds of different authentic Japanese fabrics that I collected over the years. It’s really a joy to look at the quilt and see all that wonderful variety!

The final size is about 58 inches by 68 inches, so a large “throw” size. Because of the hand quilting, it is soft and cuddly and I look forward to snuggling under it in my living room chair this winter.

I also finished my autumn cheddar half square triangle quilt top!

I enjoyed hand appliquéing and embellishing the border leaves:

This is a “crib quilt” or small wall quilt size. It now goes into the “to be quilted” pile and I suspect it may get sent out for machine quilting. I ‘d also like to come up with a better name for it. So, what am I hand quilting now that Treasure Trove is done? Remember “Winterberries”, the Jo Morton design?

I had it professionally basted and picked it up the day after finishing the hand quilting on Treasure Trove so was able to get started right away! The top was completed about a year ago.

I love that I’ll be working on a red and green quilt during the holidays!

I’m continuing to make house blocks and playing around with some setting possibilities. Here they are staggered rather than set in straight horizontal rows, with spaces for maybe some sashing.

As I make these houses, I find myself thinking about the concepts of houses, homes, neighborhoods, and communities and how they have evolved over the centuries and what it means to have houses and communities. Lots to dwell on in these divided times…

Here are more quilts from the Cocheco Show for you to enjoy! I like that our guild has members who make both traditional and modern quilts. This was an excellent modern style one:

Really nice composition and color use:

I loved the bold graphic nature of this one:

Excellent quilting:

This one was really bold in terms of color use:

This one exhibits great use of different blues with the simple economy block:

This appealed to me because I have long wanted to try making the lone star block and have thought starting with this smaller size would be the way to begin. Maybe this will inspire me to try a block in 2026:

This was our raffle quilt this year (which I did not win!):

It was fun to see the African fabrics in this one:

I still have a few more quilts to share, but I think that enough for today!
Earthly Delights are far more muted in color and perhaps more focused on shape, texture, and fine detail. All three of these leaf photos show them to be quite sculptural, with tiny closeup lines and textures; the browns and grays are lovely in the same way some of the authentic Japanese taupe fabrics are:

A different texture- each of these is no bigger than a fingernail:

A young buck!:

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! Family is about to descend here, arriving tomorrow and staying till Friday through Thanksgiving. It will likely be relatively chaotic, so I’m squeezing in a post now before that happens!😊. I’ve been busy, working on 4 quilt projects. See the end of my last post for the photo of the inspiration fabric for my “house” quilt. I scoured the internet and my book collection for just the right block and found this pattern:

in this book:

I tweaked the pattern, moving one of the chimneys a bit and making them taller. The house is made via FPP in 4 parts – easy! Houses are all red, blue, or brown, the colors dictated by the inspiration fabric.
I’m surprised at how quickly these are coming together! Pretty soon I’ll need to take some time to figure out an overall design. Very much enjoying choosing fabrics, cutting, and sewing!!

I’m using a variety of tan background fabrics and different cheddars for the windows/door.

I completed my 20 squircles for November and now there are 60!

Here are a few closeups of these luscious silk fabrics:

If you are on Instagram, you can go to #backtosquircle to see what folks are making. I’ve been adding embroidered veins to the leaves and stems for the berries on the autumn cheddar HST quilt and am 3/4 done!:

I started hand quilting Treasure Trove in March and I now have 116 of 120 blocks done – almost there!

Here are some more wonderful quilts from my guild’s show last month. First, a beautifully constructed and quilted blue and white by our quilt show chair:

I love this Halloween quilt!:

This is a wonderful rendition of The Quilt Show’s Block of the month for 2024:

This next one is very traditional and I love it!

Don’t forget you can click on any photos to enlarge and better see details if you want. I love the dramatic geometrical effect of the next one:

Still more quilts from the show to share in a future post!

EARTHLY DELIGHTS: Right after my last post, about 10 days ago, there was still some beautiful autumn color outside and just in the last week it has all disappeared. Here are some photos of the last glowing golds and reds:

Beautiful closeup of bittersweet:

Recently the first ice appeared on the pond:

Yesterday we awoke to the first dusting of snow on the ground:

The last of the milkweed pods:

I took a lovely walk along the Squamscott River in Exeter, NH over the weekend and enjoyed the beautiful cloud reflections:

Just this morning I found the pitcher plants in the bog, still thriving. Their ruffled tops and colors are so striking and each one is different:

Happy stitching and wishing everyone in the US a good Thanksgiving! It’s good to be grateful!!

Be kind, BE GRATEFUL, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! Today I’m sharing several more quilts from the Cocheco Guild show. Also, if you’re interested, there are many more photos and videos as well of the show on my guild’s (Cocheco Quilters Guild) Facebook page. Let’s start with the Best of Show:

The scalloped edge and the embroidery were lovely!

Great use of vintage linens!

This next one had a modern feel and was beautifully constructed:

Lovely quilting:

I was really excited to see another tiny nine patch quilt! Susan chose to replicate the cream colored alternate blocks and the same border as the original antique quilt that inspired the sewalong we both participated in and it came out great!! It won the “President’s Choice” award:

I think you’ll enjoy the humor of the quilter’s description of the next quilt!😊:

The next one, by my “bee mate” Susan, makes one smile as well:

Next is a beautiful traditional blue and white sampler quilt:

That border print is perfect!!:

My friend Jean make a wonderful hand embroidered hexagon piece, brimming with personal meaning and memories:

I could have spent much more time than I had looking at the individual blocks!

I loved the use of color and the curved piecing in this one:

A nice use of Kaffe fabrics in my favorite color, red, and I love the pairing with black and white:

I have more quilts from the show to share in future posts! What a talented and diverse membership we have!
Over the past week, the majority of leaves have fallen from our trees. Just before that happened, I had a nice walk along the Oyster River, which eventually flows into the Great Bay and the Atlantic Ocean a few miles away. I was able to capture some of the lovely late autumn scenery:

The late afternoon light was lovely:

Golden glow:

Spots of color remain here and there – I’ll take them anywhere I can find them!🙂:

As you all know, I love hand appliqué and quilting, but I also really enjoy machine piecing. I haven’t had a piecing project going since I finished my “scrappy meets thrift” economy block sewalong top a while ago and I’ve been missing it! I have had 3 yards of this fabric in my stash for 4-5 years:

I bought it because I thought it would make a great border for something. I love the madder and indigo along with the tan and cheddar colors. I knew it required reproduction style fabrics to go with it so I started pulling fabrics from my stash and looking at design ideas. I’ve been wanting to make a “house” quilt for a long time and here’s a peak at what I’ve got so far:

I’m not sure exactly where this is going, but I’m having a lot of fun making these blocks!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! One of the highlights of my year is my guild’s annual show and this year it, once again, lived up to expectations. We are 200 members strong (with a waiting list), energetic, and creative, and manage to put on a wonderful show every year thanks to all our great volunteers. I had 5 quilts in the show, 3 judged. I’m proud to say that “Maple Leaf Rag” won 4 ribbons! – Blue, Exceptional Merit, one of 3 Judge’s Choice ribbons, and one of 3 Viewer’s Choice ribbons!

Dutch Sunflowers scored a Blue ribbon and one of the Judge’s Choice ribbons:

“Remembering Rosemary” won a Blue ribbon:

The Tiny Nine Patch quilt was in the show (not judged – members were limited to only being able to have 3 quilts judged because of the time and cost of judging):

My recent small New York Beauty quilt hung in the special exhibit of quilts started in guild sponsored workshops:

One of my favorite features in our show is 3 “Meet the Quilter” exhibits where 3 members of the guild have a space to show their work and introduce themselves to show attendees. My friend Sally, who is in my bee, was one of the chosen participants this year. Her work tends to the modern and she loves to knit socks!

Marie had a lovely display; that elephant is a real attention getter!

I got a couple photos of the 3rd “meet the quilter”, Greta, but didn’t get a photo of her. The fox is amazing:

I also really enjoyed seeing her Bird quilt. She started out with patterns by Jo Avery, then she and family members created some of their own imaginary birds:

The birds are beautifully embellished:

Click on any of the photos to enlarge and see details! A highlight of the show was meeting up with and having lunch with Wendy Reed of Bath, ME and her guest, Linda Collin’s of Australia!!

Wendy, on the right, is on Instagram at #the constant quilter and is known for her potholder quilts, lovely hand quilting, and use of feedbacks. Linda is at #quiltsinthebarn on Instagram, makes and promotes traditional style quilts, and has a huge following in Australia. What fun and what a privilege!!!! One of my top favorite quilts in the show was this one:

Every detail of this wonderful quilt was beautifully done!

Mostly wool:

I loved this little caterpillar:

And the hummingbird and bird with nest:

Beautifully executed stitches throughout and then she designed and added the basket of tools:

Kudos to Carole for a stunning quilt – she deservedly won one of the Viewer’s Choice ribbons.

Our guild always has a great Penny Sale at the show, which raises quite a bit of money for the guild. We had 60 items this year and I won 2 of them! One was a huge basket full of everything quilters love – fabric, rulers, scissors, needles you name it!

This pack of fat eights that was in the basket looks fun!

My second win was this little sewing box:

Guild member, Deborah, took an old case and decorated it to create what you see in the above photos. What a great idea! At the show she gave a demo on how to make these, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to see it.

I have many, many more photos from the show (also a backlog of photos from the museum) to share in my next post, which I hope to do within the next week. Here are some Earthly Delights! The pitcher plants are still visible at the bog and have taken on a reddish fall glow:

The burning bush is at its best as other colors fade. Pinks:

And red:

Also red, especially with the sun shining on it, is our Japanese Maple:

Plenty of gold, though since this photo was taken about a week ago, these are mostly gone now:

I put my 4 “Christmas Cacti” outside all summer and after I brought them in a few weeks ago, the bloomed – more like “Halloween” Cacti😊:

I’ve been working on my “autumn cheddar” quilt – starting to embellish the leaves with red thread veins:

Judy Martin, a textile artist whose blog “Judy’s Journal” I keep up with, recently showed her piece, “Red Sky/Red Water. She said “The time that my hand quilted work requires gives me a quiet place where I can gain perspective on what is happening each day in this uncertain world. The slow touching of the cloth and thread gives me sustenance. Each piece I create is a message of care and hope. RED THREAD, A WORLDWIDE SYMBOL OF PROTECTION, IS USED IN NEARLY EVERY PIECE.”

I have A LOT of red thread and also use it in many of my pieces, including this one now:

Wishing you all soul nourishing creating and peaceful days!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I saw an amazing exhibit at the NEQM recently of the work of Salley Mavor. She does not make quilts, but her creations- she calls them bas-relief embroideries – include large amounts of beautiful stitching. The details are incredible!! I have photos and details of 5 of the pieces to share today – feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.

The first piece:

Another detail:

Yes, those are kazillions of French knots towards the bottom of that photo! The second one:

Detail:

Another detail:

The third piece:

Detail:

Another detail:

The fourth piece:

Detail:

The fifth piece:

Detail:

Detail:

The above was only a small portion of the exhibit, but enough to give you a good idea of what she does. I highly recommend, highly recommend that you try to see this exhibit if you live within driving distance of Lowell, MA! I have more to share from other exhibits currently at the museum in future posts, so I hope you keep reading!

Meanwhile, I moved ahead with my crib/wall quilt size Autumn Cheddar QST quilt. I made all the leaves using the prepared edge technique and all the berries using the gathered edge technique and they are all basted onto the border:

A bit closer:

In the above photos, the vines were already hand stitched down and since those were taken, I’ve hand appliqued half of the leaves and berries, so this is moving along quickly towards being a finished top!

I also have all 20 squircles done for October:

We finally got some beautiful foliage here last week and into the middle of this week. Here are some photos of the loveliness that I captured to share with you. I am lucky to live amongst all this beauty, but I wish it weren’t so fleeting!

Down by the pond:

Cheddar! – no wonder I’m inspired to sew with this color!:

Last, but not least:

We had a heavy rain 2 days ago that caused a lot of leaves to drop – the “peak” color is passed. Every year I need to relearn how to appreciate the subtle and muted beauty of late fall and winter here in the northeast. My guild’s annual quilt show is this weekend! We put on a great show, so if you are in the area, please come – Cocheco Quilter’s Guild (see our web site for details) – Rochester Community Center in Rochester, NH, 10 AM – 4PM Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the 26th. Hope to see you there!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I trimmed all the Whimsical Vases blocks, sewed them together, and now the top’s center is complete!

I had a grand time over the past 18 months choosing fabrics for each block.

Some fussy cutting was done and I especially enjoyed choosing fabrics for the animals.

The ox face was fussy cut and I like the fabric for the horse’s coat.

The plaid was a fun selection for the squirrel’s tail:

I’ll take a little break, now, from this project before tackling the borders! I’ve actually taken an autumn project out of hibernation because the season’s colors are calling to me. If you are a long time reader, you may (or may not 🙂) recall that 2 years ago, I sewed a bunch of small quarter square triangle blocks in cheddar, red, dark green, brown, and black reproduction style fabrics then put them away in a box until last fall when I finally sewed them together. I knew this crib/wall size quilt needed a border, but had other things I wanted to work on so put the project away for another year! At my guild’s recent yard sale, I found the fabric for the border! I had been thinking brown, but I really like this black!

It’s got a subtle gold vine and tiny dots in the background which I hope shows up in the next photo:

I am going to add red vines and cheddar leaves. This photo should give you an idea where I’m going:

Making leaves and vines like this is definitely my happy place! I am working on October’s squircles and have 16 of the 20 done. Here are a few:

A friend gave me some left over silk from a piece her son brought her from Thailand and she had made into a jacket:

Two more hexagons for that project:

Of course I have to post some fall foliage photos!! Because we are in a severe drought the foliage in general has been a lot more muted than usual. We are especially missing the brilliant reds and oranges that we get from the sugar maples. However, there is still lovely color here and there and I’m grateful for it. I love to see the brilliance of the colors when I can catch the sun shining through the leaves:

Another area that looked like an impressionist painting:

That same tree from further back:

The brilliance of individual leaves:

I walked on a nearby rail trail:

And I walked along the shore near where my daughter lives on the Massachusetts north shore:

On that walk I saw this wonderful weathervane:

Down by the pond the cattails are all puffed out:

A friend and I went to the Quilt Museum last week to see the new exhibits and they are spectacular!! I’ll be showing photos over my next several posts and here are 2 pieces to whet your appetite. One exhibit is A Walk in the Woods:

The thread painting on this piece is spectacular!!!:

This next piece was so beautifully done:

More from this exhibit and 2 other wonderful, but unusual, exhibits to come so stay tuned!

One last autumn foliage photo to end this post!

Wishing you all a beautiful season and wonderful stitching or creating, whatever your passion is!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I finished the last setting triangle for Whimsical Vases:

I did a little bit of fussy cutting just for fun:

After 18 months – started in March 2024 – the center blocks are all done!

It barely fits on my design wall! A little closer for the center:

The background is a bit lighter and brighter than the lighting on my wall shows. Next step is to trim all the blocks down to their correct finished size and sew them together. At the same time, I will start one of the side borders. Here’s the pattern to refresh your memory:

Still much work ahead, but finishing the center is a milestone! I have been trying to hand quilt at least one block a day for Treasure Trove and now have 94 of 120 blocks done – that’s 78%!

You can see the quilting much better on the back:

In the above photo you can see the contrast of the quilted area on the right and the unquilted area on the left. Here’s one area a bit closer:

I’ve been working ahead, getting some of my “Squircle” blocks for October prepped because I have a busy month coming up with my Guild’s annual show the weekend of October 25 and 26. I’m on the Quilt Show Committee and am pretty much tied up for a whole week with all the preparations, judging, show setup, etc. These squircles are basted to their backgrounds and ready for appliqué:

In the back of my mind, I’ve been thinking occasionally about what to do for holiday gift exchanges in my guild and my bee. Both encourage, but don’t require, something hand made. Don’t ask me how or why, but I suddenly realized that I might be able to use all those little strip sets I had left over from making my tiny 9 patch quilt:

With the idea of making a doll quilt, I was able to cut 2 inch squares from these strips and I alternated light ones and dark ones creating a woven effect. My rows of blocks (which finish at 1 1/2 inches) are 8 across and 10 down. I added a narrow cheddar border, then a wider blue border and the top finished at 17X20 inches:

Voila! I will layer it and probably quilt it with a combination of hand and machine stitches. I already have a second one of these in the works for the second holiday gift and enough blocks cut to make a third one for me!😊. So happy I found a way to use up all those leftover strip sets!!

EARTHLY DELIGHTS:

The bog:

Leaves on a rock in the Oyster River, lit by the sun:

Fascinating “black” trunk with golden leaves and stone wall in the background:

Trail through these woods:

More yellow and gold than red right now:

But red is coming:

I also had a coastal walk recently:

In Kittery, ME:

The Monarch’s were migrating and we saw quite a few!

Also saw this little guy!

On a meadow walk I saw the milkweed pods open with their fluff and seeds:

Astors and anemones are adding a little different color to the landscape:

Wishing you all the comfort and joy and solace of nature’s beauty! Happy stitching!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! And just like that it is all of a sudden fall! Cooler weather, bits of color popping up:

Crisp mornings, not having to worry about getting my walks in before 8AM or it will be too hot; sleeping under a quilt.

Dark when I get up, shorter days; sweaters and jackets coming out.

No worries about it being too hot in my sewing room! I spent several hours last weekend making and sewing on labels for the 5 quilts that will be in my guild’s show next month:

It takes time because I hand appliqué them in layers. 4 of them are now appliqued to their respective quilts so I am almost completely ready for the show! For “Remembering Rosemary” I want to have the photo below eventually transferred to fabric and then attached to the quilt. That’s me on the left, with Rosemary, probably about 20 years ago when I still had dark hair 😊.

I completed my 20 “squircle” blocks for September:

I’m definitely having fun with this and enjoying rediscovering my stash of silk fabrics. My silks were piled in no order whatsoever in 3 plastic bins and I knew that, for this project to progress more easily, I needed to organize by color, so I did!

It will be much easier now to select color combinations for future blocks. Here are a couple closeups of some of these lovely fabrics:

Another:

I made a few more hexagon flowers:

Here’s what I have:

The above is the final width, but I need more rows to create a rectangular quilt. Plus nearly all 5e hexies need to be hand appliquéd to their backgrounds, so this one will take some time. I finished the “pig” setting triangle for the Whimsical Vases project:

And now it’s on to the LAST piece before the center is complete and then it’s on to the borders!

Since completing the New York Beauty piece, I have returned to hand quilting Treasure Trove. There are 120 blocks and I think I have about 85 done – am aiming to finish before year’s end.

My quilt, “Time of Plenty” did not win the Viewer’s Choice competition at the museum. I’m not at all sad for myself, but I was hoping to win for my guild so they would have a show next year at the museum. The winner was clever and cute. I did not get a photo myself, but here it is from the museum’s newsletter:

Now for some more Earthly Delights! I love how the bog turns colors in the fall:

The path along the big, strewn with roots, is lovely to see, but must be navigated with care!

A friend and I walked a new path and I may have four a new “forest monument” to keep an eye on:

Pretty amazing to see a sizeable trunk impaled on another! More photos from different angles coming in the future. Another find was this “face” with eye, nose, and “cauliflower” ear:

There’s still som color around. Late blooming cone flowers; I love the red!

Sedum:

I’m enjoying this book, my book group’s current selection. Wonderful to read about someone who was full of love, courage, and hope in these dark times!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi

Greetings dear readers! I finished the hand quilting on “Bright Beauty” and bound it – my fifth finish of the year!

It is 27 inches square, started in a 2017 class with Linda Hahn teaching her techniques for making these blocks.

It will be in an exhibit of “Workshop Inspired Quilts” at my guild’s show next month. I used a lovely piece of fabric (Laundry Basket, I think) from my stash for the back:

When I finish hand quilting something, I’m always reminded of how soft and cuddly the quilt is, compared to a machine quilted one.
Since I finished something, I’m entitled to start something new, right?! One of my favorite blogs is Occasional Piece Quilts (opquilt.com). Elizabeth writes beautifully, makes lovely quilts, publishes quilt patterns, and occasionally leads sew-alongs. This month she and Lisa Johnson are starting a “Squircle Challenge” sew along and I’ve decided to participate! 20 small easy blocks per month for 9 months – that should be doable, right?😊. If you are interested in learning about squircles and think you might enjoy participating, please go to Elizabeth’s blog posts for 8/10 and 8/16 for information and the free pattern download. Squircles are crosses between circles and squares, i.e. squares with rounded corners. I actually made a mini quilt with squircles 4 years ago:

The background is lovely hand painted fabrics that were gifted to me and the squircles were cut from Asian fabrics. For the current challenge, I’m choosing to feature mostly silk fabrics that I have collected over the years and I’m choosing to appliqué by hand. Right now I’m just pairing 2 fabrics that look good together for each block and hope to figure out how to make it all look good together as I get further along the way. In the download is a pattern for a 4 inch squircle and one for a 3 1/2 inch one. I chose to further reduce it to 3 inches and sew these onto 4 1/2 inch squares that will finish at 4 inches. Here are some of my blocks:

Here’s what I have so far on my design wall:

I have September’s 20 blocks almost done already. My biggest challenge could be making sure all these different colors go together well and don’t appear too chaotic. Another fun quilting journey has begun!

I continue to leisurely make more hexagon flowers. Most recently I made some using Tilda fabrics and really like how they came out!

Here are some more quilts from the Summer Celebration exhibit at the NE Quilt Museum. This first one was a lovely applique with wonderful embroidery embellishments:

A closeup of French knots!

The piecing on this next quilt was pretty amazing, as was the fussy cutting required for the areas where the blocks join:

Here’s a page from the pattern in the magazine – quite the piecing challenge and she did it by hand!!

I loved the colors in this modern style quilt:

The quilting was excellent:

This one is a version of a recent BOM from The Quilt Show:

EARTHLY DELIGHTS: I frequently walk in the woods:

It’s peaceful and quiet and lovely. I tried a new trail recently and learned what a “kettle hole” is:

It’s a large hole in the ground left by a glacier which melted away ages ago. There was no way to get a good photo of it because it’s all filled in with trees, bushes, etc. Sometimes I get to walk along the Northern Atlantic shore:

Fun colors:

And sometimes I walk by fields:

Down by the bog, the plants are already turning their fall red color:

This is the best time to view the pitcher plants:

Pretty soon the weather will turn cold and they will start to either be covered by rain/snow or they will dry out and turn brown.

A mama and baby😊:

I’m ending this post with a book recommendation:

This is the story of how the life of a 9 year old boy’s life was saved by a heart transplant from a 9 year old girl who was tragically killed. Compelling!! I couldn’t put it down and finished it in 2 days!

The seasons are changing – enjoy!

Be kind, be grateful, and cherish each day, Gladi