Patchwork of the Crosses

Time for another block!  This is a fabulous block made almost totally from one great stripe fabric.

These are the two fabrics I used.  The stripe is from the "Cotton Club" collection by Red Crinoline. There are so many design options with this stripe it will be difficult to decide which is your favorite.

For my block, I cut across the strip horizontally instead of the more obvious vertical cuts.  I like the way the horizontal cutting created a lacy white circle in the center.

Cut the four center honeycombs using the usual fussy cutting techniques.  Cutting the corner units can be a little tricky because you need to make sure you have exactly the right amount of the white lace to complete the circle.  Here's a technique I found posted on Pinterest by fussy cutting expert Lisa Eagan from Australia.  It may help you with cutting this block.

As you can see, Lisa marks her template papers to help with the placement of the papers on the fabric.  I've also found that marking the acrylic template with a grease pencil will help with placement when cutting the fabric.
Have fun with this week's block and send us pictures of the blocks you create at littlequilts@mindspring.com

Click here to go to the beginning of this Blog Along.  It started on April 3, 2014, and posts every Thursday.

Check out our Pinterest board to see the great blocks being created by fellow Lucy Boston addicts.

Go to our website if you need to reorder honeycomb or square papers or glue refills.

Sweet Home Marietta Shop Hop

It's time to start hopping!  Sweet Home Marietta Shop Hop starts tomorrow with a haunting tour of Little Quilts, Red Hen and Tiny Stitches.  Stop by all three shops to collect the steps for the Shop Hop quilt, "Starlight in the Pumpkin Patch".  Here's a sneak preview of our version which is 44" x 44" and just as cute as it can be!

If you don't want to make the whole quilt, you might like our table runner version.  It's 20" x 44" and requires only three pieced blocks and some simple user-friendly borders.

So, hop on over to Little Quilts for the first installment of the pattern.  We'll also have kits available for our version of the quilt.

Remember!  We will open at 9am and stay open until 6pm so you'll have plenty of time to shop!

Sweet Home Marietta Shop Hop, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sept. 11, 12, 13,  9am - 6pm.

Classic Baltimore Album Quilt Show and Tell

Sherry brought her quilt top she made from the Baltimore Garden Quilt book. She and Sandy are on their way to the Baltimore on the Prairie workshop in Nebraska next week. They are allowing a week to travel and visit quilt shops along the way....a week for the workshop....then another week to revel home to Florida. What a fun trip!

 

Big Quilting Weekend

Ready, Set, Go!  The big quilting week-end we've all been waiting for is almost here.  Get your itineraries out, program your GPS and hit the road for fun this week-end, Thursday - Saturday, September 11 - 13.

First stop is Marietta and the Sweet Home Marietta "Halloween Treats!" Shop Hop.

Spellbinding quilts and projects from three great quilt shops - Little Quilts, Red Hen, and Tiny Stitches.  Free patterns, demos, and prizes for a hauntingly good time.  At each shop, pick up a section of a  pattern for a great fall wall hanging, "Starlight in the Pumpkin Patch" - stop at all three shops to get the complete pattern!  The shops have extended hours, 9:30am - 6pm, during the Shop Hop so plan to come early and stay late for this spooktacular event!

• Stop at each shop to pick up a Goodie Bag - I don't want to give away any secrets, but our bag will include our part of the "Starlight in the Pumpkin Patch" directions, a kit for making an easy pumpkin pin, and a special coupon.
• Pick up a Passport at the first shop you visit.  Get it stamped at all three shops and be eligible to enter the drawing to win great prizes.
• Fill out an entry at each shop and be eligible to win even more prizes! 

 While you're in Marietta, swing by the Cobb Galleria Centre for the  "Quilting Live!" Quilt Show and Expo.  Lots of beautiful quilts in the show and a wide variety of classes and vendors make this a popular show.

Finally, don't forget the first-ever AQS Quilt Show in Chattanooga.  Over 500 quilts in the show, lots of classes with world-class teachers, and a huge vending area - a show you won't want to miss!  

So, put on your most comfortable shoes and hit the road running for a great quilting week-end!  All three events are on the same three days, Thursday - Saturday, September 11 - 13.  Don't miss any of them!

Quilt will give you butterflies...

Fran made this dimensional butterfly quilt for her granddaughter who loves butterflies. She's planning to hand quilt it as she had for her other 4 grandchildren. A fun quilt!

 

Lucky Baby...

Karen brought this darling quilt in to select borders and backing for her friend's expected grandchild. She found these machine embroidery designs on etsy and did them on her Bernina embroidery machine with dissolving interfacing. It looks like she did it by hand! A beautiful job!

Patchwork of the Crosses

I took a little break from stitching to read the second book in the Green Knowe series of children’s books written by Lucy Boston.  

The book, “The Chimneys of Green Knowe” was written in 1958. 

 It was published the same year in the U.S., but the title was changed to “The Treasure of Green Knowe”.  I'm not sure why the title was changed unless the publisher thought a treasure hunt sounded more exciting than an adventure climbing through the chimney, but both are major parts of the story.

The story within a story writing style remains the same as the first book.  The story begins with Tolly returning to Green Knowe for the Easter holidays.  As Mrs. Oldknow, Tolly’s grandmother, mends a patchwork quilt, she continues telling Tolly stories about the previous inhabitants of the house.  This time, her stories are about Susan Oldknow, a blind girl who lived at the Manor during the English Regency, and the close bond of friendship that developed between Susan and a young black page, Jacob, brought back from the West Indies by Susan’s father, Captain Oldknowe.  You won’t believe all the adventures Susan and Jacob set out on, and the plot thickens when the family jewels go missing.  Could the unscrupulous butler, Caxton, have stolen them? Or, maybe Susan’s rogue brother took them to pay off a gambling debt? 

Tolly spent his whole Easter break determined to find the missing jewels hoping to help his grandmother out of the financial difficulties she was experiencing due to the expensive upkeep of the old Manor house. 

Treasure hunts, ghosts, fire, secret tunnels - it's all there!  But don't even think I’m going to share the ending - you’ll have to read the book to find out what really happened to the jewels and to see if Tolly finds them!   It’s a great story filled with fun and adventure.  You won’t want to put it down!

Snuggle Bunny

Pat brought this darling pillow made for her granddaughter. She made it years ago and now has to make 3 more as her granddaughter's friends who now want one too. She came in today to get 'bunny' fabrics! A sweet pillow. Very vintage design and still popular.

Show and Tell is so Swell...

Show and Tell Quilts From Second Saturday Sampler Event

 

Madelyn makes and gives so many quilts away we’re glad she finally made one for herself.  

 

She used all the leftovers from her quilt to make a second one. We love two-fers – no fabric left to go back to the stash! 

  Janice made a cute baby quilt with three dimensional pinwheels.

 

Loretta made a quick and easy table runner with her 60 degree ruler. It turned out so good and was so easy to make… 

  she made a second one!

 

 



How do you spell...FABULOUS!!?

Amanda made this quilt for precious baby Gemma. Gemma is actually sleeping on the back of the quilt – the front is a double pinwheel pattern. Pattern for the letters is from the book “Spell it with Fabric!” which uses jellyroll strips to make any letter of the alphabet. 

Patchwork of the Crosses

Block 10

Love the intricate center of this block!

The fabrics used in this block have all been used in previous blocks, so dig back into your left-overs and see what you can come up with!  These are the fabrics I used:

Carolyn, one of our customers (and a fellow Patchwork of the Crosses addict!), brought in her almost finished quilt top.  She's been using fabrics from her own stash and has been working diligently on her blocks to make this throw-size quilt with only twelve blocks.  Even with just a few blocks this is a spectacular quilt!

One of the things I really love about English Paper Piecing is its portability.  With only a small sewing kit, I'm able to take my blocks along with me and sew in places where I'd never be able to sew with a sewing machine.  I'm going on a road trip over Labor Day week-end and I'm really looking forward to getting lots of stitching done in the car and at the lake.  I don't think I'll be as far along as Carolyn when I get back, but I hope to have a fair chunk of my quilt completed.  I'll post a picture of my progress when I get back.

Hope you all have a happy, safe Labor Day week-end!

Check out our Pinterest board here to see the beautiful blocks being designed by our customeres!

Click here to go to the beginning of the Patchwork of the Crosses Blog Along.

Click here to go to our website if you need to order more paper piecing supplies.

Comment below to let us know how you're progressing with your blocks!

Big quilting week-end!

Mark your calendars, gather your friends, pack your bags and plan a quilting road trip for Thursday - Saturday, September 11 - 13, because there are three BIG quilting events happening all on the same week-end in our area!

For a hauntingly fun Shop Hop, visit Marietta for a tour of three great quilt shops.  This year's theme is Halloween Treats!, and Little Quilts, Red Hen, and Tiny Stitches will all be featuring "spellbinding" quilts and projects for your fall inspiration.  Free patterns will be available at all the shops as well as many fun demos.  Visit all three shops and be entered to win one of these exceptional prizes:

• 1st Place Prize is a Silhouette Cameo Cutter
• 2nd Place Prize is a $50 Gift Certificate from each shop
• 3rd Place Prize is 20 fat quarters at each shop

During the Shop Hop, all three shops will have extended hours, 9:30am-6pm, so come early and stay late for this spooktacular event!

While you're in Marietta, drive over to the Cobb Galleria Centre for the "Quilting Live!" quilt show and expo featuring many beautiful quilts along with quilting classes, demonstrations, and vendors. Click here to get more information on this great show.

Final stop of your quilting week-end needs to be the new AQS Quilt Show in Chattanooga!  You won't want to miss this show of over 500 quilts including the incredible AQS contest quilts. Lots of workshops with world-class instructors, lectures and a huge vending area will round out the week-end.  Click here for more information on beautiful Chattanooga and its first-ever AQS show.

It's going to be an action-packed three days, so wear your most comfortable shoes and prepare for an exciting quilting week-end. The dates for all three events are the same - three BIG events in three days! Mark your calendars for Thursday - Saturday, September 11 - 13.

Blast from the Past - Twelve Days of Christmas Block of the Month

One of our customers visiting us from Arizona shared a picture of her friend Cathy with a beautiful Twelve Days of Christmas quilt. Several years ago, our store manager, Wanda Hizer, designed the blocks for the “Twelve Days of Christmas” quilt and it was a very popular Appliqué Block of the Month for our shop. Cathy participated in the Block of the Month, but chose to reduce the size of the blocks slightly and then added her own lovely machine embroidered border to the quilt she made.  

Patchwork of the Crosses

Today we'll work on the last units to be stitched – the corner connector units.  These are fun and easy to make and quick to sew.  Begin by fussy cutting four squares for the center of the units.  The squares are small so look through your fabric scraps from earlier months to see if there's anything you can use like I did on this block.  Remember the pink fabric from Blocks 5 and 6?

Or, look through your stash for something totally different. Small prints or stripes work especially well.

Here are a few of the blocks I made.

Next surround the center unit with eight square sashing units.  I found it worked best to sew the sashing squares together into units of two and then adding those units to the center square.  This allowed me to add the units to all four sides with one continuous thread.

Don't forget to remove the papers from the center squares when you finish stitching the corner unit.  As soon as you've stitched on all four sides, the papers no longer serve a  purpose and removing them will make the units more flexible for stitching into the quilt

You are now ready to insert the unit into the quilt top.

Isn't it exciting to see the quilt finally coming together? From now on, it's just a matter of staying on top of things and getting the blocks made each month!

Just a reminder - did you remember to pick up your August fabric pack?

For those of you new to Patchwork of the Crosses:  Click here to go to the beginning of the Patchwork of the Crosses Blog Along which started in April and posts every Thursday.

Click here to go to the website to order additional square papers for the sashing and/or corner units or to order glue refills.

Don't forget to send pictures of your finished blocks to us at littlequilts@mindspring.com.   All the pictures we receive are posted on our Pinterest board for everybody to “ooh” and “ahh” over!  

Tula Pink fans..check it out

Dawn took the Super Simple One Step Quilt class and finished this cute quilt featuring Tula Pink fabric. The class teaches a technique for quilting as you go – piece the strips and quilt the quilt all in one easy step! Dawn was thrilled to have a quilt finished in such a short time!

Wednesdays Workshops...get out of the house!!

Quilting with friends is just so much more fun than quilting alone as evidenced by our classroom which is a flurry of activity every Wednesday when we host Wednesday Workshops. For a minimal fee, participants can come and sew for a few hours or the whole day! Everyone brings their own project and a staff person is on hand to answer questions or guide through any tough spots. A great way to find some uninterrupted sewing time!

 

Can't believe this quilt came from four patches. Bet you can't make just one..

Our Rug Braiding teacher Anne recently had her sister and a friend visit. They are both weavers… and were taken with the Disappearing Four Patch Block, in the way that it resembled weaving.  Her sister’s friend purchased a charm pack of batiks and started making four patches. She couldn’t believe how quick they went together…she kept making more until she had enough for a throw size quilt. The picture is a little blurry but you can see more samples on our website under 'free patterns'.  Caution – it can become addicting…but could be a great stash buster!

 

Patchwork of the Crosses

Block 9

I love this block!  When working with paisleys, you never know how the center design is going to turn out, but it's always great!  Play with your magic mirror to see what different looks you can come up with.

These are the fabrics I used for this block:

Many of you will recognize this fabric from the "Pheasant Run" collection designed by Little Quilts.   The vibrancy of the colors makes this an eye-catching block.

If you'd like to order a magic mirror, click here.

If you'd like to go to the beginning of this Blog Along, click here.

Check out our Pinterest board here to see pictures of the blocks our customers have been sending us.  If you have pictures you'd like to share, email them ATTN: Muriel at our email address: littlequilts@mindspring.com    

                

Patchwork of the Crosses

Lucy Boston was not only a proficient quilter and popular author, she was a master gardener.  When she first bought the Manor in 1939, the land in front of the house was a field.  Designing the gardens was one of her first major undertakings upon moving into the house.  Bordered by a moat on three sides and the River Great Ouse on the other, the garden is about four acres with a fifth deliberately left wild as a haven for wildlife. 

Lucy began her gardens by planting over 200 trees and shrubs beside the towpath along the River Great Ouse.  In the 1940’s, in addition to the gramophone recitals for the RAF that required so much of her time, she managed to plant eight yew bushes on either side of the house which later became topiary shaped into crowns, orbs, and the dove of peace to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. 

In the early 1950’s, twelve more yew bushes were planted which eventually were shaped into chess pieces.  These now stand in squares of purple-leaved ajuga and grey-leaved stachys to represent the squares of the chess board. 

After the war, Lucy concentrated on her first loves – old roses, irises, and herbaceous perennials.  The garden, today, is home to over 200 old roses and award winning irises.

In her garden, Lucy enjoyed working with nature, rather than battling to overcome it. She writes in the notes at the end of A Stranger at Green Knowe: ‘My approach to gardening is to find out how the garden would like to be – what wants to grow where. My chief pleasure in it is the interplay of sun and shadow among trees and on the face of the house.’ 

Just so, a walk along through the garden might take you through large herbaceous borders full of scented plants with plenty of self-sown annuals intermingled with the forest and wild flowers just waiting to take over – the essence of informal gardening.

Today, the gardens are a mass of flowers, shrubs, trees, and topiary with leisurely lawns and secluded corners that are a real delight. A kaleidoscope of spring iris and stands of allium merge into a summer show of roses and drifts of white foxgloves, before the mellow colors of autumn.

A majestic Huntingdon elm marks the passing of the seasons – in spring its seeds float down like a gentle fall of snow.

During the winters when she was unable to garden, Lucy spent time writing her classic series of children’s books.  For those of you reading the Green Knowe series, the Manor at Hemingford Grey and the gardens were recreated and made famous as the house of Green Knowe in the books. 

The topiary figure prominently in the books - especially the deer topiary- as does the statue of St. Michael which is also found in the garden. 

 All the secret paths and hiding places in the books are still there making a visit to the gardens especially enjoyable to both adults and children alike who have read the books.  As the main character of the books says:  ‘I like this house,’ said Tolly. ‘It’s like living in a book that keeps coming true.’ And so it is today, that all who visit the Hemingford Grey Manor and its’ gardens can step into the pages of Lucy’s books and travel in time with Tolly and his companions.

A blast from the past

Way back in October of 2002, shop owner Sylvia Johnson's pattern for an "Antique Churndash" graced the cover of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  Sandra bought a kit for the quilt and, now, twelve years later, here is her finished quilt with hand appliqued borders and beautiful hand quilting!  What a treasure and still a classic design.

Family made quilt gift....

Marla inherited these cute butterfly blocks that were stitched by her grandparents and aunts. She then made the patchwork blocks and stitched the top. The finished quilt will be a gift to her grandson. What a treasure!