759 pieces

Here is another quilt in my series. It is made entirely of fabrics from the last quarter of the 19th century. The hexagons are 1/2" finished across the flats, and yes, it has 759 pieces (if I didn't miscount!). This quilt was inspired by a Susan McCord quilt. (The other quilt was inspired by a photo of an antique Pennsylvania German crib quilt c. 1880.) I call this quilt Field of Diamonds. It is not in the museum. I love scrap quilts, but the ones using a limited amount of fabrics are actually more "showy," especially when the quilts are this size. The above quilt is 12" x 14". Working with hexagons is a favorite of mine. All the quilts in this series are hand pieced and hand quilted. Even the bindings (which finish at 1/8") are sewn by hand.
Thanks for the nice comments that were posted about the other quilt.
Till next time....
Sheila

It's been a long time since I blogged anything, but no one ever makes any comments, so I am supposing that no one ever reads it! Ahh, well, I wll try again.

This past spring, I started a series of miniature quilts made entirely from antique fabrics. About that same time, I started having some health issues, so it has been slow going.

The quilt above is one of two that are now in The International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is 14.25" x 14.25". I need a camera with more pixels. Hope this shows up at least moderately well. It features a Lancaster Blue fabric in the center, but it may not show up. I will put up some more pics soon.

Happy quilting to all,

Sheila

Cooking with Paula

Here we have a photo of the new Paula Deen toaster and egg cooker. My cousin Jean's husband gave her one as a Christmas gift and she likes it. As luck would have it a little post- Christmas shopping presented me with the opportunity to buy one at a reduced price. If my cousin likes it, it is good enough for me. I emailed her and told her I got one and she replied with this story:

Her granddaughter saw it sitting on the counter and asked, "Oh, did you go to a toaster signing?" (You can see the signature on it in the above pic.) Don't you just love the way kids see the world? Of course I have visions of all these people standing in a line at a bookstore, holding their toasters.

Till next time,

Sheila

Cleaning out the pantry... with some help

Here you see the Giz. Short for Gizmo. I inherited him as a kitten after my father passed away. He is a huge help. Before the holidays, I thought I should straighten out my corner cupboard that I use as a pantry. As luck would have it, a spot opened up and the Giz was there to fill it.
Hope you all had a nice holiday yesterday.
Sheila

Honey Crisp Apples

We like to try new foods. While shopping one day, my husband grabbed a bag of a new variety of apple named Honey Crisp. Turns out it has been around for awhile, but it was new to us. It was absolutely the very best apple we have ever tried. My cousin has a theory that we are all searching for the perfect whatever. You know, you want an item and you search endlessly for the perfect one of it. Well, we have arrived with the perfect apple. They are crisp, sweet - but not too sweet- and have a nice shelf life. I decided to look it up on Wikipedia and the funny thing about this apple is that they don't know the parents of the breed. The University of Minnesota that does extensive apple rearing and note taking on the subject somehow lost track of one of the parents. One is a variety called Keepsake, but the other parent is unknown. Maybe it was simply a numbered variety that the university decided to delete. Anyway, isn't it odd that the best apple in the world is a mystery? You can read more at: http://www.minnesotaharvest.net/apple_honeycrisp.htm
Try one, you will like it.
Sheila

Back to Quilty Things

I gave some thought to posting some free quilt patterns, but then I thought - hey there is already so much out there in cyber space, why not just give you a link? There is a website that I visited briefly, so I didn't research who writes it, but whoever it is does a great job. Once again that generosity thing I talked about earlier. Anyway, anything from quick little projects to Block of the Months are posted or linked. Give it a look-see at:

http://www.bomquilts.com/index.php

You are sure to find something that interests you. The best part is that it is free.

You are probably asking yourself what does the quilt pic up above have to do with the website that's linked. Nothing. It is an antique quilt top in my collection. I just put the pic there because I could.

More later.

Sheila

Cooking with the gas turned off!

That is the slogan for the Chambers kitchen stove. That 's the Ebay photo of our new/old stove. We bought it last May and spent the next 2 months restoring it. It is my favorite stove ever and I mean ever. Ours is a 1950 model. The small door on the lower right is a utility closet and not a small oven, as is sometimes advertised. The large door is the oven and above it is a griddle with a broiler underneath. There are 3 burners with a thermowell behind the front one on the right. There is a small shelf at the top with a light underneath it. This little baby weighs in at 450 pounds. Isn't it a beauty? The slogan comes from the fact that it is so well insulated that you fire up the thermowell or oven, put the food in for a certain amount of time and then shut the gas off and let everything finish cooking on retained heat.

I have to take a moment now and talk about how great the Net is. Through the efforts of lots of interesting and generous people, just about anything a person needs to know is available. There is a wonderful site that lets you download - for free -literature, advertisements, cookbooks, time charts, etc. for the Chambers stove. Also there is a wonderful forum where people will tell you not only how to restore them, but where to get parts. What a wonderful resource. It is: http://www.vintagechambers.com/

Anyway, in the photo our stove looks pretty good, but it actually needed a lot of help. For cosmetic reasons, we replaced the oven door, as it had a chip on the side and had the top and shelf re chromed. We tore it down completely and replaced the insulation in it and my husband repainted all the interior portions (they don't show when it is assembled) with heat proof paint. We replaced all the aluminum tubing with copper and on and on. Now it proudly sits in my kitchen and cooks like crazy. My husband and I both have a background in mechanical drafting and we know good engineering when we see it. Simply put, we love this stove and are so very proud of ourselves for restoring it. Here is a general observation about life: You appreciate something a lot more if you have some old fashioned elbow grease in it.

Till next time.....