Transfer Ware

During the Labor Day weekend, AppleJack and I took a road trip to Paducah.  They have a new to me stitch store called Must Stitch Emporium.  The shop has a wide selection of fibers, some linens and plans to expand.  They also carry beautiful fabrics.  While we were in Paducah, we did some exploring and I found a piece of brown transfer ware.  Growing up on a farm, I was drawn to the pastoral scene in the foreground especially the grazing cow.  While not in the best of condition, the price was affordable and I knew I would enjoy looking at the scene.  The back of the plate is marked:  Park Lenery G Phillips Longport.  I knew nothing about this maker but thought it was worth a search.

The Longport Pottery was founded by two brothers, Edward and George Phillips in 1822.  The brothers did not have a pottery background.  Edward married Benedicta Wedgewood and suspect this association was helpful in their pottery endeavors.  Edward was killed in a carriage accident just before a planned trip to the United States.  His widow sold her interest to George, the surviving brother in 1834.

Due to its very fragile condition (heck when i am 100+ years old, I may also be fragile) this plate will not see service but will be enjoyed for its pastoral scene and sweet reminder of my childhood days on the dairy farm.

Quaker Berry

Quaker Berry

Erica Michael's (Linda Stolz)

Linen:  32 ct mystery remnant from stash

Fiber:  Cherry Wine Silk "N Colors from The Thread Gatherer

One of Erica Michael's beautiful strawberries is hot out of my hoop!  Did you see her latest strawberries Wise Men and Honey Berry which she released during the Harvest Market Hop?  At the last Gathering, Linda gave us a sneak peek of the new berries.  Am working up my courage to stitch on silk gauze--am happy stitching on the linen.

With Linda's encouragement, I am going to step outside my comfort zone and "finish" the stitched berry.  I did some "shopping" in my stash and found some Thread Gatherer Silken Ribbons called Berry Spritz which matches the Cherry Wine fiber and will be added to the top of the berry.  Also found some wool for the berry cap and left over gold pin heads for the seeds.  

Our stitch group is so fortunate to call Linda one of our peeps.  She is a great designer, her finishing is beautiful and  once a year she invites us to her home for a stitch in.  We drool over her many models.  She offers finishing tips, asks our input for fiber color choices and is a great cook!  

Thanks Linda--keep those designs coming!

Come Together

North and South

From Primitive Quilts Magazine

Summer 2013

My projects all seem to start the same way:   There is an article or a piece in a magazine which catches my eye or I see something on a blog or pinterest.  I start reading the article and studying the instructions and say to myself "that doesn't seem so difficult, I think I can do that."  

And that is where the trouble begins:  my ambition and imagination overloads my skill level.

The design for this quilt is in the Primitive Quilts Magazine Summer 2013.  The finished quilt in the magazine is 37 1/2" x 46"  the fabrics are from a Civil War charm pack.  My finished quilt is 54" x 71."  Looking through my stash I had several charm packs and thought it would be interesting to make it a true North and South quilt with Yankee blue on one side of the quilt and Johnny Rebel on the other side surrounded by gray.  Me and my big ideas!  

I was sweating bullets with the gray fabric.  Frugal cutting was the theme of the day as I began cutting the setting triangles and sashing.  Setting blocks on point always forces me to put on my quilting thinking cap and remember to sew the rows on the diagonal rather than across.

I have spent most of Labor Day laboring over this quilt keeping the sewing machine and iron hot while I tried to complete all the sashing and get all the blocks joined together.  Backing fabric?  Time to check the sash.  

We Gather Together

Lucille's beautiful quilt--her first quilt!  Her color choices of the blues and beige's work wonderfully together.

Ruth is working on the Mary Slatter sampler from the Worcester Art Museum collection.  Like Anne there are painted faces.

Jane's bee skep rug--another beauty in the making. Jane says she ran out of one of the gold colors and someone shared a similar color from their stash.

Cathy's Rachel Hyde sampler from Threads through Time.  She made some modifications and made it a memorable sampler for her husband.

Cathy's covered Polish pottery bowl from Old Colonial.

Mary Ann's Christmas houses--a Prairie Schooler design I think.

Anita made great progress on her rug.

Courtney says this is for her son's room.

Annie Magnolia makes one last appearance in TN and then she is packing her bags for AR. Lynne the framer did a great job adding her painted paper face.

Another great gathering--beautiful projects, good food, laughter and time with kindred spirits.

Sharing

Jo Morton Little Favorites

Saturday is the Homespun Gathering.  One of my favorite things about the reunion group is the sharing of completed projects.

The long armed quilter did a fabulous job on the Jo Morton Little Favorites.

The Baptist fan quilting on the Christmas log cabin is just over the top.  I followed Jo's direction about the single fold binding.

This is a Stacy Nash club piece.  

Another Stacy Nash club piece.  One of my favorite Valentine sayings.

I also have two pieces to pick up from the framer:  Annie Magnolia and Christmas at Hollyberry Farm.

Now to decide on what food to share.

1803 Ohio Basket

1803 Ohio Basket

One day while reading blogs (Maude and Mozart) and reading Facebook (Dying to Stitch), I saw this long narrow basket.  The basket was filled with smalls.  Displaying seasonal smalls is one of the many things I enjoy about needlework.  My challenge with displaying smalls is they sometimes get lost in the dough bowl or basket.  The 1803 Ohio basket looked perfect for smalls as it would hold a large number.

Herb Gathering Basket

With the Rio Summer Olympics in full swing I'm showing my patriotic spirit while cheering on the USA.

Cannon County White Oak Split Basket

My tastes are traditional and this egg basket is one of my favorites.  One of the items on my bucket list is to take a basket weaving class at the John Campbell Folk Art School.  Yes, I am one of those crazy people who wants to take a walk in the woods, select the tree, split the tree and weave the basket.  Some would call this crazy, I think this would be a perfect vacation.

Another blog (sorry can't remember the name) had used baskets to display hooked rugs.  I use this laundry basket to store and display quilts.  Don't tell Callie Mae or I will find her curled up in the quilts asleep--she's a smart kitty.  Another way to display hooked rugs is in a crock.  Mother any time you want to pass the kraut crock onto me I have the perfect use for it--soft and warm not smelly.

Seeing the 1803 Ohio basket was a great way for me to justify some of my time spent on the computer.

Primitive Quilts North and South

Primitive Quilts Magazine

Summer 2013

My sewing room is a mess!  It looks like someone set off a bomb and closed the door.  In an effort to clean up the sewing room and finish another project, I have resumed work on the North and South quilt.  I've got a lot of work ahead.