Quilt Square 18

It’s getting harder to fit the American Flag Quilt into the frame!

Tennessee. The Volunteer State. The 16^th to join the union, on June 1^st, 1796. I really liked this block – the colors are beautiful together, and the pattern is lovely.

I’m putting this piece down for a little bit. The birthday extravaganza is this weekend, and I still haven’t wrapped DH’s presents! I also need to pick up ingredients for birthday dessert. Last year I made carrot cupcakes with homemade cream cheese frosting. I still haven’t made my mind up about what to make this year. And I need to make reservations and call up friends to invite. Crazy busy around here!

Way too excited,

Quilt Square 17

Back to the American Flag Quilt sampler now that the dreaded midterm grading is done – woohoo!

This is Kentucky, the Bluegrass State. It was the 15^th to join the state, on June 1, 1792. The backstitching on this one was tough. Maybe I wasn’t focused enough, but I ended up frogging quite a bit.

This has been such a busy time for us. Our birthdays are next week! My husband was born only a day before me, so his birthday’s on the 1^st of December and mine is on the 2^nd. We try to make it special, like a two-day extravaganza. I’ve been trying to get his birthday present together as covertly as possible, which is more difficult than it sounds, and finalizing our birthday plans. Busy, but in a good way!

Love you all,

Quilt Square 16

Thank you all so much for your support and sweet comments about my miscalculation with the American Flag Quilt! I think I’ve figured out how to fit it all in, but it means I’m going to have to not include the stripes with “One Nation Under God with Liberty and Justice for All.” Sad, I know, but that’s the only way I could think of to make this work.

So, after quite a lot of frogging while I figured this out, I finally finished the first in the non-blue section of the flag, Vermont!

Nicknamed the Green Mountain State, Vermont was the 14^th state to join the union, on March 4, 1791, meaning it just missed out on being part of the original 13 colonies.

I’m going to keep working on this until I work out the kinks in my new plan. Hopefully I’ll start feeling confident about it soon.

Big hugs to all you lovely people!

I'll Put the Kettle On

I won this beautiful chart, I’ll Put the Kettle On, over at the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe a while ago, but I’ve been so busy with the American Flag Quilt and other little pieces that I hadn’t had a chance to work on this until now.

I bought this great piece of 26 ct. linen from the Linens of Yorktown for $1 at an antique store when I was in the States this past summer, and I found this thread at a random little store here in Dubai. It’s from a South African line called Chameleon, and the thread color is Canterbury Bells.

I loved working on this so much, and thanks again to Nancy over at the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe for being so generous!

I’m thinking of framing this piece, I just love it so much. I’m hoping I can find a good frame and won’t have to resort to a framer – ohhh, and I really hope that little teacup charm won’t be a problem!

Lots of hugs and kisses!

Quilt Square 15

Still can’t put the American Flag Quilt down!

No state today, just a star filler to even out the 13 first states. It’s still really pretty! I never know until I stitch what the colors are going to look like together, and I love that element of surprise.

Speaking of surprise. I finished the “stars” section of the flag, put it down and looked at it, and I realized there was something wrong with the proportions of the fabric. I think something went wrong when I was calculating the size of the fabric before I placed this order back in August. My own fault – I’m not great at numbers – and I must have done the calculations for a smaller stitch count, and when I decided to go with the 28 ct. Bone Jazlyn I guess I didn’t re-calculate.

The point of this little story is that I am now a quarter of the way through a sampler that won’t fit on my fabric. I’m not willing to abandon it at this point and start over, so I’m just going to have to adjust. It’s not going to look exactly like it’s supposed to, but I’m going to do my best to squeeze it all in! I’m not too worried, I think I’ve got a good plan to do it.

Anyway, I’m going to put this piece down for a bit and get some perspective.

See you on the other side!