Wentworth County Quiltworks

The tutorial for the True Lover's Knot block is now up!  It's a fairly easy block and is block #16 of thirty planned blocks!

The tutorial for the Children of Israel block is up!  This is another one that is easier to make than it first appears!  This is block #15;  half the blocks of my 30-block sampler are now done!

The Gentleman's Fancy tutorial is up!  It can be a  tricky block;  it's more for intermediate quilters than for beginners. You'll want to take your time with it and be as precise as  you can with your cutting and piecing. 

The Love In A Mist tutorial is now up!  This block is a little more complex than some we've done, but it's a super attractive block once it's done.  The trick is to take your time cutting the templates, starch your pieces and be careful with your placement and positioning when you're sewing it together.

The tutorial for the Greek Cross quilt block is up!  This is a fairly easy block but can be simply stunning with the right colour combination. 

This quilt block is a great beginner’s block because it’s a traditional nine patch made up of half square triangles (HSTs), squares and rectangles.

It's time for another wedding block this month.  The tutorial for the Old English Wedding Ring block is now up!  It's a fairly easy one if you use the quick method for making HSTs.

The tutorial for the Cross and Star block has been posted.  I've also seen this block entitled "Job's Tears," but I prefer "Cross and Star" because that's what it looks like to me!  This is the tenth completed block for my Bible block-of-the-month wedding sampler.  Only twenty to go!

Cross and Crown is this month's block; it's also known as Golgotha.  Here is the tutorial. It's similar to the Walls of Jericho block from last October.   It's a block that looks more difficult to make than it actually is.

Another month means another block!  The tutorial for the Contrary Husband block, another of the wedding blocks, is now posted!

The tutorial and templates for the Whirlwind block are up. This block is a little trickier than it looks because you want to make sure you are sewing the correct edges of the smaller (orange and white) triangles together.   Be sure to pay attention to what you're doing.

The templates and tutorial for the Road to Damascus block have been posted!  This block looks harder than it actually is, but I found it easiest to make with templates and by being as accurate as I could.  You'll want the Key Block diagram on the template printout in front of you as you make this block so you can keep track of your pieces.

The cutting instructions and tutorial for the Contrary Wife block are finally up!  That completes the fifth block to the Bible sampler.

The tutorial and cutting instructions for the Bright Hopes block have been posted! 

The King's Crown tutorial has been posted!  This block was originally published in the Kansas City Star in 1931.  It was also published as “Thrift Block” in the Chicago Tribune on September 6, 1937, by Nancy Cabot.  I’ve seen it made with three fabrics, where the centre fabric is the same as the outer triangles of the Flying Geese, and I’ve seen it made with four fabrics, where the centre fabric is unique and sometimes fussy cut.  In this block, I’ve used three fabrics: fabric one is my white fabric, fabric two is orange and fabric three is blue.  It's a good beginner's block.  The next wedding block will be up in two weeks!

How to make Flying Geese units is something that is helpful to know when piecing certain blocks because it minimizes the number of bias-edge triangles you have to work with. 

The King's Crown block is a fairly easy block to piece and once you've made your four Flying Geese, the block is about half done.  You just add the squares to your four Flying Geese, join the three rows and that's it!

The cutting instructions and tutorial for the King's Crown block will be posted on the 15th of the month.

It's October 15; that means the Walls of Jericho tutorial is up!  This is block #2 of the Bible sampler.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in beautiful, sunny Canada, and it was the warmest Thanksgiving I recall at 80 degrees F.  

Between that and on-going concerns about Dad (and hospital visits) after his latest heart attack, I haven't been online or sewing as much as I usually am.  I did, however, finish block #2 for the Bible sampler.  The tutorial will be up on Saturday.

Since it's a Bible block wedding sampler, I'm going to start posting cutting instructions to wedding and marriage-related blocks as well; they'll be up at the end of each month.

This week, I'm linking up to

BOMs Away Monday - What A Hoot!

Manic Monday Linky Party - Sew Happy Geek

Fabric Tuesday - QuiltStory

and for the first time,

Design Wall Monday - Patchwork Times

As my W.i.P. Wednesday #14 for October 12 I'm linking to

Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday #47 as well as today's WOW at

Esther's Blog.

I'll be missing WiP Wednesday tomorrow while I go visit my father in the hospital, so I'm linking up  Block 1 – Jacob’s Ladder  today instead.

Check 'em out!

BOMs Away What a Hoot!

Manic Monday Sew Happy Geek

Fabric Tuesday Quilt Story

Esther's WOW  Esther's Blog

My unstarted project inventory.  These aren't at the WiP stage yet; they're in the USO category:

Baby Nine Patch, only my colours are yellow and purple.

Midnight Shadows quilt kit that'll be made with...

...Midnight Garden fabric

Scrappy Flannel quilt that'll be made with...

...this flannel fabric

Abigail's Garden fabric for the second quilt I make with this pattern.

I also have my two antique Sunbonnet Sue quilts yet to finish.  My uncle's grandmother made the blocks.

As well, I've been acquiring fabric for "Quilted Purr-fection" - the quilt and the tote bag!

I have also acquired a dozen completed Log Cabin blocks and will make them into a lap quilt.

I keep forgetting about this wallhanging!  It shouldn't take long to do.

Don't forget Peaceful Pathways.  My fabric is ready, I just need to work up the nerve to apply paint to it!

I also have a few WiPs:  the Farmer's Wife QAL to catch up on, some thrift shop quilts to refinish and of course, my ongoing Bible quilt.    Plus my embroidered quilt.  And my poor, languishing Sunflower Sampler.

Wow.  I think I'd better call a moratorium on new projects till I get some of this stuff caught up!

These two poems are thought-provoking to me.  The first one I can relate to as I have two Sunbonnet Sue quilts to finish.  They were started by my uncle's grandmother and have stayed in the family, unfinished, for a number of  years.  I'm looking forward to finishing them but I still haven't decided on the perfect way to do it.   The second one speaks of long-term priorities.  The authors are unknown.  Enjoy!

Dear unknown lady of the past,

I hold your work within my hands;

A top with pattern gay and pure,

A frayed edge reveals loose strands.

The design is made of tiny scraps,

Set in a plain sugar sack ground.

Such tiny little stitches made -

A soft blue border around.

Where did you sit while piecing this?

Upon a stool by firelight bright?

Or slowly rocking on the porch

As the tired day drew into night?

What were your cares while you did work?

What plans and dreams did you spin?

I wonder why your work was stopped.

Why quilting never did begin.

My mind is filled with questions.

Were you just a girl or someone's wife?

Was yours a path of leisure?

Or a journey filled with strife?

I'll quilt this top, dear lady,

With patterns swirled and flowery,

And bond with one I'll never meet

In a sisterhood of stitchery.

                                   --author unknown                                         

My neighbor is washing her windows,

And scrubbing and mopping her floors,

But my house is all topsy and turvey,

And dust is behind all the doors.

My neighbor,she keeps her house spotless,

And she goes all day on a trot:

But no one would know in a fortnight

If she swept today or not.

The task I am at is enticing -

My neighbor is worn to a rag -

I am making a quilt out of pieces

I saved in a pretty chintz bag.

And the quilt, I know my descendants

Will exhibit with credit to me -

"So lovely - my grandmother made it

Long ago in 1933."

But will her grandchildren remember

Her struggles with dirt and decay?

They will not - they will wish she had made them

The quilt I am making today.

--author unknown