Something I Always Wanted...

This past week end, I was very excited to go to one of my favorite fun places -- Lisa's General Store (previously Lisa's Indoor Flea Market) located in Greenville, PA.  Over the years, I have found lots of different treasures, particularly quilt-related treasures -- antique and vintage quilt blocks, fabric, a blue and white double Irish Chain quilt from circa 1920 for an unbelievable price (I won't tell you because you would be so jealous!), vintage sewing boxes, etc.  Of course, there's always non-quilting stuff like books, clothing, food, and just about everything you could imagine and some things  you probably couldn't imagine.

Anyway, on Sunday, I finally found something that I have wanted for a long time and was able to bring it home!  YAY!

  

A vintage Martha Washington Sewing Cabinet!

It's not perfect and needs some TLC, but it is charming and very functional.  The two front drawers give lots of space for notions and thread -- there are even floating trays in the drawers for small stuff.  On each side on the top there is a hinged lid! When lifted up they reveal a good-sized cubby for stashing projects, materials, or snacks -- maybe chocolate.....

Of course, I did some looking online to see if I could find anything out about this particular type of stand, and was happy to find lots of photos and information.  

1). Apparently, Martha Washington did have a work table, but it looked nothing like this.  Using Martha Washington's name was an advertising ploy.

2). This type of sewing table was based on Federal style tables and became popular during the Depression years as an inexpensive piece of factory-made furniture.  You could buy one in the Sears and Roebuck catalog!

That being said, I discovered that my stand is somewhat unusual, which makes me think it was of a higher quality.  It only has 2 drawers where most of the ones I saw had 3 drawers.  It has really nice detailed metal drawer pulls instead of knobs.  AND it is on a pedestal instead of wooden legs -- and the feet of the pedestal have metal tips with disks underneath to protect the floor.

Of course, my table wouldn't be worth much to anyone but me because it has a broken foot that was 

glued.

Here are some other quilty things I found at Lisa's.  Please enjoy...... 

Returning After a LONG Hiatus........And a Quilt Story

Greetings,

First I want to apologize for dropping out of the blog world for the last 7 months.  I won't go into the boring details, but suffice it to say that due to many complications from my gallbladder surgery last year, I had to let a lot of things slide this year, blogging being one of those things.

Have you ever wondered where the quilts go that you've gifted, donated, or sold over the years? 

I have.  Just last week a very interesting thing happened that I'd like to share with you.  I had a message from someone I did not know on Facebook Messenger.  Of course, I am always cautious when getting messages from an unknown person, but this one seemed harmless enough.  It said something like:

"Have you ever heard of Little Quilts in the Valley in Meadville, PA?  Quilts and runners made in 2005......is that you?"

What an odd message!  So I decided to reply.  Yes, that was me.  Before I became "The Orphan Quilter" with the publication of my first book, Orphan Block Quilts in 2010, I often wrote "Little Quilts of the Valley" on my quilt labels.  As a side note, I must admit to not always adding labels to my quilts, but this experience will ensure that I always do add a label to each and every quilt that I make from this point forward.  Maybe it will convince you of the importance of labeling your quilts, too.

 Here's the cover of my book.  

Stop by my website if you're interested in getting your own copy.

The mystery messenger quickly replied to my message and we started a conversation.  It turns out that the messenger's daughter, Savannah, found one of my table runners in a thrift shop in Boone, North Carolina!  Savannah, being a quilter like her mom, rescued the runner and gave it a home.

Here is the table runner I made back in 2005!  I remember this one.  I think I made 2 of these runners, giving one as a gift and selling the other one, I think (or else donating it to charity).  I wonder which one this quilt is.

Here's a close up of the back, showing my label!  Notice the wiggly "straight" machine quilting lines -- I used the "quilt as you go" method for this one.  I know that I only made a few of those type of projects before I abandoned the method in favor of my usual free motion quilting.

I wonder what happened to the runner from 2005 when I made it until when it was adopted by Savannah.  Oh, if only quilts could talk........

Special thanks to LG and Savannah for reaching out on Facebook and sending me the photos.  Sew glad my humble runner found its way to you.

Anyone out there have a similar quilt story to share?

Scrap Stash Management

I am finally sitting down and writing my first blog for 2018.  It's funny how fast time flies.  Do you have this problem too?  Sometimes I wish the merry go round of life would slow down so that I could get off once in a while, even if it's only to take a deep breath and look around.

I had good intentions the beginning of January to get my quilting studio cleaned and ready for a new year of creating quilts and other fabulous items.  My cutting table was an absolute horror -- in order to cut anything, I had to remove piles of quilts, fabrics, and who knows what else was hiding there.  With all of the medical issues that I had in the second half of 2017, my quilting took on a PRIORITY ONLY status, which did not include putting things away unless I absolutely had to.  So, I ended up with one big giant mess.

The first thing that I did was to clean off my cutting surface.  I had a lot of fat quarters, yardage, and scraps to sort.  I folded and put the yardage and fat quarters away in their proper homes.   Now I can cut without moving a bunch of stuff. Time to move on to the pile of scraps.  Or should I say the first pile of scraps.

Everyone has their own system for dealing with the leftovers from their quilt projects.  What's yours?

 Mine has so many levels and if I can think of any way to make it more difficult or complex, you know that's the way that I would do it of course.  LOL!

Okay, here's what I do:

1)  If any scrap is less than 2 1/2" square, then it goes right into the trash.

2) As I sew, I toss strips and small pieces larger than 2 1/2" into a basket to be cut into usable pieces later.

3)  Large pieces sometimes get folded and placed by color in my fabric museum drawers.  Yes, I do indeed have a fabric museum now, don't you?

4)  If I'm working with a specific collection, I put everything together into a gallon-sized bag, box, or basket so that I can find them when I want to make another project with that collection (at least that's the general idea -- whether I can find the bag, box, or basket later is usually by chance in my studio).


 Once my basket of scraps gets full enough, then it's time to cut them up into usable pieces.  Since I do a lot of designing arund stand precuts, I tend to cut my scraps into the following:

Fat Quarters

10" squares

5" squares

2 1/2" squares

2 1/2" strips that are the width of the fabric 

Here is what my pile of scraps looked like after I cut it up.

 

Nice, huh?  Now I can add these to my overflowing stash of scrap precuts.  Then they will be ready when I want to put together something scrappy.  Hmm.  Maybe I'll pull out a copy of I Love Precut Quilts! and make some scrappy versions of the quilts.

Speaking of my book, I Love Precut Quilts!, did you know that Amazon has been selling copies at a deep discount?  If you haven't gotten your own copy yet, now's a great time.  Here's the link to find my book (paperback and ebook) on Amazon:  Buy I Love Precut Quilts!

If you already have a copy of my book and you liked it, maybe you'll leave me a positive review on Amazon, too. 

Did you make anything from my book?  Email photos to me -- I'd love to share them with my blog readers.

On the 12th Day of Christmas...............

On the 12th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee....................

PEACE

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines peace as:

 1.  A state of tranquility or quiet, such as freedom from civil disturbance.

2.  A state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom.

3.  Harmony in personal relations.

We need peace in our lives, communities, and in our world.  

Pray for peace.  Find peace.  Live in peace.

Let There Be Peace on Earth and Let It Begin With Me.

I chose the block Peace and Plenty for my Peace quilt along with a low contrast  blue and grey color scheme. This quilt is quiet and even feels peaceful.

My challenge to you is...............find peace and hold on.

On the 10th Day of Christmas...............

On the 10th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee........

JOY

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines joy as:

1.  The emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires:  delight;  the expression or exhibition of such emotion:  gaiety.

2.  A state of happiness or felicity:  bliss; a source or cause of delight.

Sometimes it's too easy to rush through our everyday lives and forget to find little moments of joy.  Like a ladybug on your shoulder.  Or a beautiful sunrise.  Maybe it's simply holding someone's hand or sharing a warm hug.  Whatever it is, we need to seek out and find more moments of joy because without joy, our lives would be very bleak indeed.

What brings you joy? 

For my Joy quilt, I found this delightful quilt block design in Electric Quilt.  It's called Joy Bells.  Isn't it cute?  I decided to put in on point and was pleased with the secondary design that happened.

My challenge to you is.............stop and find joy in a single moment.

On the 9th Day of Christmas...................

On the 9th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee........

PRIDE

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines pride as:

1.  The quality or state of being proud:  such as inordinate self-esteem or conceit; a reasonable or justifiable self-respect; delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship.

2.  Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment.

3.  Ostentatious display.

4.  A source of pride:  the best in a group or class

5.  A company of lions.

6.  A showy or impressive group. 

Whew!  As I typed out this definition, I seriously considered not using Pride for my 12 Days of Christmas posts.  Then I took a deep breath and stuck with my original plan.

People should be proud (I'm not talking about being rude or callous or boastful).  We should be proud of ourselves and our accomplishments as well as the accomplishments of others.  We should take pride in the work that we do, giving our best, even if we fall a little short.

Have you ever heard this quote by Les Brown:  "Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars?"

For my Pride quilt, I chose the Grandmother's Pride block.  I really liked how it was reminiscent of a fan, but had some very unique shapes to it.  I also chose reproduction fabrics to give the quilt a more vintage vibe.

 

My challenge to you is.........take pride in all that you do and encourage others to take pride in all that they do.

 

On the 8th Day of Christmas........

On the 8th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee...........

LAUGHTER

 The Merriam-Webster Diction defines laughter as a sound of or as if of laughing.  (Sadly, not a very helpful definition.)

It's very important to have laughter in your life.  Every day.  I bet you've heard the saying "Laughter is the best medicine?"  That saying really is true.  Laughter can alleviate stress and anxiety and it even burns calories. Did you know that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile?  

Here's to laughter!

For my Laughter quilt, I chose a fun block called Scrap Happy.  Just looking at it makes me smile.  It reminds me of a beach ball, which can brings lot of happy thoughts of fun and sun.  As you can see by the quilt, by altering color placement within the blocks, or turning the blocks, you can get a lot of different effects.

 

My challenge to you is..............to laugh every day. 

On the 7th Day of Christmas........

On the 7th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee.......

CREATIVITY

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines creativity as the ability to create and the quality of being creative.

So, what makes you creative?

For me, creativity is a family trait.  My mom painted, did wood crafts, made candles, sewed, cross-stitched, and so many other things.  My dad is an auto mechanic by trade, but any person who can take a vehicle apart and put it back together has a large dose of creativity and has the ability to think outside the box.  My sister explored lots of different creative outlets over the years, including crocheting and knitting.  Me, I am a quilter.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't surrounded by creativity and encouraged to explore my own creative interests.

Whenever I think about creativity, I am reminded of my dear cousin who tells me over and over that she is not a creative person.  Yet she is a beautiful dancer and her writing is lyrical and thought-provoking.  Or a friend from college who insisted she wasn't creative, yet whenever we played a comparison game back and forth through email (for example, how  a dead fish and a lawyer similar), her comparisons were not only hilarious but unique, demonstrating her creative thinking.

 There are so many different ways to be creative, find yours.

I chose a Twister Log Cabin block for my Creativity quilt design.  I am particularly fond of Log Cabin quilt blocks because of the amazing variety that can be achieved.  Log Cabin designs never bore me. 

.

My challenge to you is..............find your creative voice.

On the 6th Day of Christmas.......

On the 6th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee........

FAITH

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines faith as:

1.  Allegiance to duty or a person:  loyalty;  fidelity to one's promise; sincerity of intentions.

2.  A belief and trust in and loyalty to God; belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion; a firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust.

3.  Something that is believed especially with strong conviction; a system of religious beliefs.

  

As you can tell by the variety of definitions above, faith means something different to each and every one of us.  Faith, to me, means believing in something that is bigger than just myself.  But on the other hand, we have to have faith in ourselves, too.

What does Faith mean to you?

For my Faith quilt, I chose a very pretty block reminiscent of a stained glass window.  The block is very fittingly called Church Window.  Then I framed the blocks with a unique border.

 

My challenge to you is.............to find faith for yourself or help someone else to find faith.

On the 5th Day of Christmas.......

On the 5th Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee.....

FRIENDSHIP

The Merriam-Webster Diction defines friendship as:

1.  The state of being friends.

2.  The quality or state of being friendly:  friendliness.

Thinking about friendship made me remember the poem by John Donne that begins "No Man is an Island."  How true that is.  People need friends.  Whether it's a furry companion, a human companion, or one that has feathers or scales -- people are not meant to be solitary creatures.  Sure, it's nice to have time alone to reflect and think but spending time with friends feeds our soul.

Here is John Donne's poem:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 

If you have a friend, you are not alone.
 
My Friendship quilt features a traditional friendship quilt block called Chimney Sweep.   I set the blocks on point for a different look.  The center of each block includes a large area for signatures or comments.

 

My challenge to you is.............to reconnect with a friend you have not seen or talked to for a long time.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas..........

On the 3rd Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee............

KINDNESS

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines kindness as:

1.  The quality or state of being kind.

2.  A kind deed or favor.

We all need to mindfully practice kindness towards others.  Too often, when we are not focusing on kindness, we may come off as unkind or uncaring towards others.  So let's practice kindness and make it a new habit.  Not only do we need to practice kindness towards others,  we need to remember to practice kindness to ourselves.

Do you remember the Golden Rule we all learned as children?

"Do unto others as you would have done to you."

Isn't it really all about kindness?


For my Kindness quilt, I chose 2 simple blocks -- a Friendship Star and a Ninepatch.  Paired together, there is a wonderful secondary effect which makes this quilt look more complex, even though it's very simple.

My challenge to you......................be kind to yourself and to others.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas.......

On the 2nd Day of Christmas, I give to thee......

HOPE

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines hope as:

1.  The desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment; expectation of fulfillment or success

2.  Someone or something on which hopes are centered.

3.  Something desired or hoped for.

The holiday season is a time for hope, isn't it?  Hope for the future.  Hope for your community.  Hope for the planet.  For children, it might be hope for a special toy.  For adults, it might be hope that the family will be together at the holidays just one more time.  For those struggling, it might be hope for one more day or even hope for a roof over your head and a hot meal. 

This is the season of hope.

For my Hope quilt, I chose the Bright Hopes block.  I chose pastel fabrics in pink, lavender, blue, and yellow with a white on white for the center squares and border.

Bright Hopes Block

Notice the secondary design that happens with the limited fabric selection and turning every other block.

My challenge to you........find hope in yourself and share it with someone else.

On the 1st Day of Christmas.......

On the 1st Day of Christmas, I Give to Thee....

CHARITY

 

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines charity as:

1.  Generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering; aid given to those in need; an institution engaged in relief of the poor; public provision for the relief of the needy.

2.  Benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity.

3.  A gift for public benevolent purposes.

4.  Lenient judgment of others.

What does charity mean to you?

For me, charity means supporting my community and helping others.  

There are a lot of different ways to be charitable.  We can share our time by volunteering.  We can share our resources by making monetary donations or donations of goods and services.  The most wonderful thing about being charitable is that there isn't just one way to do it and you can do charitable deeds all year long.

FREE QUILT PATTERN

For my quilt design for Charity, I chose the humble four patch.  I am including the instructions to make this quilt because it would make up fast and you could donate the finished quilt to your favorite charity.

This quilt will finish at 72" x 72".

Here's how to make this simple quilt:

You will need 72 print 5" squares and 72 background 5" squares.  (This is a wonderful quilt project to use up a lot of different fabrics, just divide them into dark fabrics for the print squares and light fabrics for the background squares.  You can also use multiple charm packs if you want or make it a two color quilt as I did here.)

Make 36 Four Patch blocks.

Cut 60 sashing strips 2 1/2" x 9 1/2" and 25 sashing squares 2 1/2" x 2 1/2".

Sew 6 blocks together with 5 sashing strips in between the blocks.  Please note how I turned the blocks so that there will be a secondary design when everything is sewn together.  Make 6 rows.

Sew  6 sashing strips end to end with 5 sashing squares.  Make 5 rows.

Sew rows together, alternating block rows with sashing rows.

Measure your quilt top and cut borders 4 1/2" wide.

 

Finish your quilt by layering it with batting and backing.  Quilt or tie the layers together.  Attach a binding.  Donate to your favorite charity.

My challenge to you........do at least one charitable thing before Christmas.

12 Days of Christmas

 'Tis the Season....

Last year I had a lot of fun designing quilts inspired by favorite Christmas songs.

I've been thinking of what to do this year to celebrate the season on my blog and I think I've come up with a new idea for this year.

Who doesn't love the song "The 12 Days of Christmas"?

That song inspired me to come up with 12 different characteristics of the season (instead of turtledoves, maids a-milking, and golden rings).

Faith

Hope

Love

Charity

Kindness

Peace

Joy

Courage

Pride

Friendship

Laughter

Creativity

 For each of these 12 characteristics, I'm going to create a new quilt design.  Yay!

Beginning December 14th, I hope you'll come along with me on the 12 Days of Christmas.

It's a ROAD RALLY! 100 Quilt Block Tour November 2017

Hi!  Sew glad you stopped by. 

I hope the traffic wasn't too bad.

Come on in and make yourself comfortable.

A cup of tea, perhaps?

I'm very excited to be part of Quiltmaker Magazine's 100 Quilt Blocks Volume 16 Road Rally Blog Tour.  My block, Tortoise Love, is Block #1540.

********************

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  My name is Tricia Maloney and I'm a quilt designer, author, and teacher.  I've written three books and my designs have been published in many of your favorite quilt magazines.  I also teach at my local quilt shops here in lovely northwestern Pennsylvania and design/make quilts for fabric companies on occasion.

 One of my latest fun adventures is designing Rose Cards for Villa Rosa Designs.  Here are my first two designs.

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I had a lot of fun coming up with my Tortoise Love quilt block.  You'll have to keep reading to find out about my inspiration for this cute block.  I love that it is a multi-technique block featuring 4 pieced Drunkard's Path blocks and a little bit of applique for the head and tail.

I decided to play a little bit with my Tortoise Love block to see what I could come up with using my Electric Quilt 7 software.  (Did you know that EQ8 is out now?  I just found that out.)

Here's a fun throw quilt I'm calling "Tossed Tortoise."

Isn't this fun?  Can't you see yourself making this cutie for your favorite tortoise (or turtle) lover?  You could make the tortoises all the same fabric or even lots of different fabrics. The squares in the chain could all be different fabrics, too. This would be a great scrap-buster quilt.

I thought about playing around with a table runner design, but I wasn't sure that I would want tortoises on the table at dinner time.  LOL! 

So instead, I went totally crazy and came up with the following design, "Rainbow Tortoises."

What do you think of this one?  I'm not quite sure I love the rainbow tortoises concept, but I do like the movement that's created by the tortoises holding hands (or paws? or feet?).

But if you're not a tortoise lover, you might like this version instead:

Cool, huh?  Interesting shapes that connect add a lot of interest to this version of the design.  Here it is as a big bed quilt:

Isn't this version interesting?  By limiting the fabric choices, you get a bold unique repeating design.

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Okay, now let me tell you about the inspiration for this fun and versatile quilt block.

Meet Carl.

Isn't he just too cute for words????  Carl is a 2 year old African Sulcata tortoise.  When my niece, Morgan, adopted him, he was about the size of a toy car.  He's really grown.  Of course, he loves to eat.  Strawberries are one of his favorite treats.

He'll grow to be gigantic and will outlive Morgan, so she will have to make plans for his distant future.  But in the meantime, Carl loves to go on family vacations, walks, and meet new friends.

There's nothing better than a tortoise and his girl!

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NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

The Prizes:

1. One lucky winner will win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Quilt Blocks volume 16.  YAY!

        2.  Another winner will receive my first 2 Rose Card patterns and a mystery surprise.  WOW!

        3.  The final winner will win a copy of my new pattern, Basket Weave. SUPER DUPER!

And who knows?  I might add a few other prizes if I get lots of encouragement!!!!

 Here's how it works:

 You have up to 3 chances to win.  Lucky you!

1.  Leave a comment on this blog and tell me what you would name your pet tortoise if you had one.

2.  Become a blog follower and leave a comment on this blog telling me you that you're a blog follower.

3. Follow me on Instagram @tricia.maloney and leave a comment on this blog telling me you're an Instagram follower.

Ready!  Set!  GO!

You have from Monday, November 13th until Saturday, November 18th to participate. 

 Winners will be selected randomly on Sunday, November 19th.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS 

SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!