Mel's Heirloom Quilt Top Finished!

Months ago my cousin Melodie in Florida sent me a quilt top that had been handed down on her maternal ancestor side. It was in very worn condition. These ancestors were homesteaders in Canada. Many of the fabrics in the quilt top are pre-1900 and some I think are civil war shirtings. They are quite faded and thread bare. Originally, the top had been hand pieced and then tied with yarn. When I received it, the quilt had been deconstructed and had some pretty good sized holes where the yarn had been pulled through, and the outer most blocks were torn and tattered.
I cut off the most tattered pieces and squared up four of the blocks to make a pillow top and Appliqued a Canadian Maple leaf in the center.

The rest of the blocks I straightened up as best I could, backed then with knit iron on interfacing, and added a narrow woven plaid border(from my stash, I think it looks very much in the time period), and bound in that period brownish-red also from my stash. Then I tied it as gently and as sparsely as I could. It is filled with a medium loft poly batt, to take up some of the distortion of the blocks. I did not wash it, the top appeared to have been laundered and hence some of the abrasion to the fabrics. I will leave it up to her, if she wishes to gently launder it, when she gets it. Her idea was to be able to display the quilt on an heirloom rocker, so it will never see the use it had in its previous lifetime.

I am quite pleased with the results considering the fragile condition when it arrived in my hands. I think she will be pleased.

Now on to the rest of the hankies to be made into quilt-lets, for distribution to the grandcildren and great- grandchildren. More about those later.

Here is the first one...I am so pleased how this worked out.

Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt Instructions

Here is a link to instructions I made for friends to make a Disappearing Nine Patch.

http://mauvicem.googlepages.com/CorelDis9patchinstr.pdf

The size of the patches can be any size but 4" and 5" patches seem to work best, smaller the second cut makes everything VERY small, with lots of seams to match. If you cut larger patches, you lose the design, but this could be a way to use fussy cut fabrics. Of course that means tinkering with the initial layout unless you don't mind chickens standing on their heads.

Here is the scrappy one I made with sashing between the blocks, I love the nine patches that form at the intersections of the sashing and the blocks.

I love this perky blue and yellow version with the red sashing! It has a Provencal feeling.

And here is the pretty one Lynn G. made for her sister. Love the green sashing.

And this one that Mary Ann made that started the Disppearing nine Patch rush with our group.

And Apollonias made for the granddaughter who loves purple. She used 5 1/2" patches to start with, what she had on hand.

Flowering Crab Apple tree

Could not miss a photo of the neighboring tree in full bloom today even though we have a cool drizzle falling at 6 A.M.! (I am sure the Sheriff's police parked across the street is wondering what I am out there doing.) Glorious is the word that leaps to mind. We are expecting some severe weather today so I wanted a picture of this beauty before the wind blew all the delicate flowers away. Several years ago when a new owner took over he talked about cutting it down for more parking! I not so patiently explained to him how long it took to grow a tree like this. Well, maybe I threatened him.....but anyway I like to think I saved this tree. Isn't she a beauty? Her blossoms only last a short time but when she is in full bloom ....WOW!
Now that the sun is fully up and illuminating everything I am going outside for another picture.

Orange Cream Cheese Spread

Here is that wonderful cream cheese spread that MaryJean made for the tea party.......

"Orange Cheese Spread Recipe
#A88iia
This is wonderful as a dip for fresh fruit and excellent on poppy seed
muffins or buns. You can also use it on dessert breads or to make a
sandwich.
bySherrybeth
20 min ) 10 min prep 2 cups

2(8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (You can use more orange juice concentrate for this)
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1. Combine cream cheese and sugar and blend well.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix until creamy.
3. Refrigerate until serving.
©2007 Recipezaar. All Rigtits Reserved. http:Wwww:recipezaai-.com

I made 1/2 of this recipe,,used a TB of Lemon juice also"

It certainly was a taste treat especially spread on the scones that Lynn made!

Chemo "Scarf"

Yesterday I posted a response on Stashbusters for a chemo scarf, here in central WI we call it a "Cathy Cap", there were so many readers interested in this pattern, I have decided to post it here on my blog.
Here are the instructions.....
http://mauvicem.googlepages.com/cathycap.pdf,
here is the diagram, even though the handwriting is hard to read you do need the diagram to make the pattern.....
http://mauvicem.googlepages.com/cathycap.jpg
Hope I can get one of these made and post the pictures as a tutorial pretty soon...

Cream substitution find

While contemplating making the scones of yesterday , of course, I don't have cream on hand or half and half so I thought I should look up a substitution and found this great website....
http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html
Thought some of you might need this at some time or another....

Sweet Cream Scones

Here is the recipe from Lynn for the Chickadee's (now defunct Minneapolis Restaurant) Sweet Cream Scones

2 c. flour

1 Tbsp.Baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter

________________________

1 egg

1/3 c. cream

1/3 c. milk

1/3 c. currants

________

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in bowl. Cut butter into small pieces. Cut butter into flour mixture until resembles coarse crumbs. Add currants, set aside.

________________

In a small bowl beat egg, add cream, and milk. Stir egg mixture into flour, until just blended. turn out onto a floured board, pat to 3/4" thickness, sprinkle with flour, this is a soft dough. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place on a greased sheet pan, about 1" apart.

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot or reheat in microwave for a few seconds or in oven at 250 for a few minutes, these freeze well too.

Makes 12 scones depending on size.

NOTE: Using this method the scone centers should be soft and the outside a bit crisp.

MARCC Donation Wallhanging

Here is the wallhanging that Round Barn Quilters is donating to the MARCC Garden Walk this year. It is made from blocks that were entered in our block challenge last year. I think it may have been too challenging since we only had three entered. I think they are all winners.

The baskets are filled with yoyos and dimensional leaves. I finished quilting and binding it today. It even has it's label and sleeve attached! The bottom block was made by Ardith, the center block by Donna H. and the third was made by a lady who participates in our yearly block challenge.

High Tea for May

Priscilla hard at work laying out the presents and setting the table.

Here are our hostesses for the High Tea! Thanks Priscilla and Lisa!

These are the first pictures of the May Tea Party/birthday celebration for Sew-n-Tell.....Happy birthday to Carol and Mae! It turned out to be a Mother's Day celebration, too. Everyone wore hats! The table decorations from Lisa were spectacular as usual, she always does a fine job, and Prisilla had presents for everyone also. There were cute little table runners and table cloths, marigolds for everyone as a place setting, many different teapots ( each of us brought our tea cup).

The menu was quite proper, there were scones, cream puffs, and three different tea breads, cream cheese and a lovely lemon spread. I made a sandwich loaf (remember back in the '60's when they were popular at showers?) which was a great hit with everyone. Several different types of tea, even decaf for me, I seem to be the only decaf person in the group of 22 people who attended. Everything was yummy and so much fun.

There are more pictures to follow, so check back.

Mauvice cutting the "soon to be famous"sandwich loaf.

Here is a detail of the table setting, isn't it cute? Marigolds for everyone, and presents too!

Logan's Birthday Cake

Today 's project was certainly fun, a birthday cake for neighbor's child, Logan. The idea came from the April 2008 issue of Family Fun Magazine.....Check it out! How cute is this.....It really was fun because I didn't have to bake the cake....this little beauty starts with a purchased pound cake, and the bucket and digger are Twinkies! Chocolate Mini doughnuts make the wheels, and crushed oreos, the "dirt". Mom was pleased, now I can hardly wait until I hear how the birthday boy liked it. Don't you just love to do fun projects like this especially for the little ones.

Country Charm Goes to Town!

"Country Charm" is the official name of Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Marshfield 2007 Raffle Quilt.

I am so excited that it is published as the January Quilt in the 2009 AQS Calendar! This was a collabrative effort by many members. The Ohio Star blocks came from a cache of blocks the guild members made when I offered a challenge. My challenge was then to come up with a unique setting for the blocks, and here it is. The applique was done by Donna H. and Lisa B. Assembly and sewing the top by Hazel S., Lynn G, Faye E. and Mauvice (that's me). It was won last year by one of the Guild's members. Designed using EQ5.