Sunday, June 19, 2016

IT HAS BEEN A LONG HOT WEEK HERE IN THE BACK OF BEYOND!     
              I have mostly been laying low and staying cool. I have been working on Stonefields blocks.  The top two are from the Stonefields pattern, the ewer is from Chuck Nohara's book and the sailboat floated in on my imagination.  
                                                   
 Not too exciting but pretty French General fabric.
  
          This one is straight from the pattern   It is a charming pot of buds.
I love this one.  The combination of ewer and bowl and tulip is lots of fun.  I added the extra tulip.


This one is my favorites right now.  Notice the racing strips on the sail.  When I was a girl, we sailed on the San Francisco Bay.  My father's hobby was building sailboats.  He build a lovely 27 footer when I was about 5 or 6 years old.  I used to help him by handing him tools or holding something or stirring glue.  My father was great.  He was so empowering.  I asked him if he thought I could build a sailboat when I was older and he said "Yes.  Just get a pattern and follow it".  You must understand was in the 1950's years before Betty Friedan's first cry of feminism.  He did not think I was handicapped by not being a boy.  It was this far-sighted and generous thinking on my father's part that enabled me to undertake any number of activities other girls felt they could not do.

Anyway, we kept the sailboat in a marina on the bay and went there every Saturday.  We either sailed or did maintenance on the boat (wood hulls required constant upkeep in the days before fiberglass).  I loved tacking with the breezes as the side of the boat dipped close to the water and we flew along with the sea birds.  When I was older, he built a 37 footer where he lived for a few years.  Sailing lead to a life-long love of the water.
This is a photo of the fmq sampler from the Sit Down Free Motion Quilters facebook group.  We are on week two which I have completed not to my complete satisfaction.
Week two is the orange peel.  There are some wobblies in there.  I thought I would have done better on this as I used a stitch like this on Mountmellick which I finished last month. Here you can see the orange peel quilting.    
                       
I decided since I have shown some of Mountmellick, I will show you some of the border applique made from Petra Prins Dutch chintz and is perfect for broderie perse which is one of my favorite things to do.  The original border was composed of stars and the little pots of flowers are mine.
          

      

      

 

Here you can see how the border fits together: 


HAPPY QUILTING
AND
STAY COOL!

Linking with MCM, Moving it Forward Monday, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Easter's WOW, NTT and Low Stitching Sunday.  Thanks for hosting ladies!


12 comments:

  1. What wonderful memories you carry in your heart. Love all your blocks and your FMQ looks great!

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  2. Such pretty blocks. Wonderful how the sailboat block brought forth a lovely story about your father, and today is Father's Day!

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  3. I had to click on your sailboat in the link party because my first impression was of coolness ( it's hot here too right now! :) What a sweet little block. Your work is always a pleasure to view and I loved the story about you and your father.

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  4. Love the border on the Mount Mellick Quilt. And the blocks made for stonefield are cute. Greetings

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  5. Love your Stonefields blocks and your blocks are so cute. !!

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  6. There is just so much to comment on with this wonderful post! I don't know where to begin. The applique is stunning and the quilt in the last photo is so much work. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

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  7. Your applique is beautiful. Love the story of your father's sailboat.

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  8. The story of your Dad's sailboat made me smile - I can just picture a man and his little girl sailing along with the wind in her hair. :) Thanks for the info on the Facebook group. I'm not familiar with them and want to check it out. Have fun working on your sampler - it's a great idea! And thanks for linking to MCM!

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  9. I'm going to be starting my own Stonefields quilt this summer. I love that you have really personalized your quilt. Hope I can do the same with mine.

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  10. I'm so in love with your sailboat block! That seagull is wonderful. :D

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