Here is a little peek at my reproduction civil war era fabrics.

This week I have been off work, and among other things I have decluttered and tidied the sewing loft.  In August it will be six years of sewing there, and a little elbow grease was in order to keep it inviting and inspiring.  

Oh no!  There are more civil war repro scraps than the box will hold.  So, I took a break from cleaning and made scrappy botch handle (aka devil's claw) blocks.  Mr. IQ likes this block, says it looks like a medieval mace.  We will see how many turn up from these scraps.  It takes about one chubby eighth (9x22 inches)  of a light and a dark to make one 8.875 inch block, but if you have strips just find a similar chunk and include it instead.  That is what I did with the block on the right.

Civil War reproduction scraps yield botch handle blocks

These are my two favorite pincushions (above).  A milk glass parfait with a handmade cushion inserted and the sunflower with a ladybug button in the center.  The parfait has loops that fit a seam ripper in - so convenient!  The sunflower pincushion was designed by Anna Maria Horner, she calls it Wildflower Pincushion and it's available here.


Here are pictures of my antique thread holders/sewing caddies. 

The thread holder on the left was gifted to me by a kind friend.  It had a terribly faded tomato pincushion on the top, which is now stashed in the drawer with other goodies that came with it.  The one on the right I discovered in an antique shop with several thimbles which are my size.  How cool is that?  I have left them in the drawer, but if I need one, it's there for me.   Each of these holders came with the wooden spools of thread that are on them too. 

Have a great weekend...let's drink in the last week of Spring!

~~Lisa

Flag Day

On June 14, 1777 Congress adopted the United States flag.  Many towns hold observances, and citizens hold ceremonies and display flags during flag week through Independence Day on July 4.

If you're so inspired, here are a few projects to use up red, white and blue scraps (and maybe a little cheddar too, I can't help myself!).

• Carrie Nation - from Delaware Quilts
• Ohio Stars and Rails - courtesy of Bonnie K. Hunter of Quiltville.com
• Fourth of July - thanks to Bonnie K. Hunter of Quiltville.com
• Star Struck - another from Bonnie K. Hunter of Quiltville.com

Hope you get to sew a little Americana today.

Happy stitching!
~~Lisa

Whig Rose

Nearly two years ago I was fortunate to attend an exhibit "Quilting Through the Ages" at the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum and Parks-Janeway Carraige House.  Among the extensive displays was a friendship quilt from Bethel, Ohio dated 1854.  A few of the blocks on the quilt are the whig rose pattern.

This morning I read of the pieced whig rose on Ms. Brackman's Material Culture blog, and I immediately went back to those pictures I took of that quilt to look more closely at the construction of the whig rose blocks.

What do you think?  Hard to tell from a photo that you cannot zoom.  There is *nothing* like studying a quilt in person.  I cannot see enough antique quilt exhibits!  Anyway, after inspecting the few photos I have, the three roses with dark centers seem to be pieced to me.  In the rose on the upper left, I detected piecing seams in the center portion.  In the other two I saw hints of them, but since it's quilted in a cross hatch pattern, it's hard to tell if I am seeing quilting lines or pieced seams. 

One of the many things I love about quilting is I am always learning something!  There are more pictures from that exhibit posted here.


Happy stitching!


~~Lisa