Convent knock-off

A couple of my friends bought a kit from Primitive Gatherings called The Convent Quilt. I didn't buy the kit, thinking it was just so simple. 

But when I saw Peggy Dilley's finished quilt, I got really jealous! The kits were sold out! You snooze, you lose, right??!!

The fabrics are what make the quilt. 

My other friends were equally jealous so they dug into their stashes and put together a knock-off kit (that's what Peggy is calling mine).  I put mine together this week. 

Of course Max loved the quilt!

All sewn together:

And then I worked on the Angel Food quilt I mentioned before. All the blocks are done and ready for assembly!  I don't think I can count it as a finished Ufo since Andrea gifted me most of the blocks. Or maybe I will!!

I'm going to put it all together next week at my retreat in Wisconsin!!

Happy New Year everyone! 2016 will be great! Life is good!!

Thimble Envy

My Wisconsin friends have a fun holiday swap each year. This year's project was a little doll quilt which I've been working on for weeks. I had a great plan to make a little thimble top using a very small Primitive Gatherings template. 

This is the template:

This is one small thing!!

Sadly for me, the rows went together great. Putting the rows together was another story!!

When I went to sew the rows together, they wouldn't line up well.  Grrrrrrr

I wasn't going to continue to work on this so I needed another plan for a little quilt!  I scoured my books and settled on something from a book I've loved since day one! Any Wisconsin friends reading this should not continue reading. This is supposed to be a surprise!!

I did a smaller version of one of the quilts and I am happy with the finished product. 

The binding is a light blue. Hopefully it'll make one of my friends very happy 

In between working on this, I was playing with tiny postage stamp pieces which were a gift from Wendy Reed. I love this little top. I'd have used it for the holiday doll quilt, but it is too small. I'll have to keep it!!! Vbg

My dh and I brought our two grandsons with us last weekend to our Oregon hideaway and we had lots of fun with them in the snow. 

My daughter is raising her kids Catholic and we, as you know, are Jewish. I've been explaining this to Ryan (now 6) but he has a tough time understanding. Not entirely, though!

 He did tell me that since Santa wasn't going to be coming to our house, I didn't have to be nice!!

That kept me laughing!!

For those of you who didn't have a white Christmas, here is a look out our windows!

And Max loves to bury his face in the snow:

Here is nearby Mt Bachelor 

Happy holidays to you all!!

Tapestries to enjoy

When we were in France recently, we went to a very old building that was a hospital in the early 1900s. They had on display the most beautiful tapestries, which I always love seeing. 

The colors in these were just beautiful, considering that they are hundreds of years old. 

Then of course were the floors!

This is a cobblestone road. Love the pattern 

This is an old wine press on a spectacular tiled floor. 

We did a tour of some wine caves and were shown this old wall dating back to the 1200s!

Can you see the herringbone pattern?

Here are some of the buildings we saw, from the 1200s as well. Amazing they are intact. 

Typical street in Beaune. 

I'll post pictures of some often holiday Windows that I just  love seeing!

Another healing quilt

I just found out that a guy I used to work with was diagnosed with colon cancer. He's too young and healthy to have such problems but cancer isn't discriminating. So I went through my stack of finished quilts and found the perfect quilt to send him today. Just needed the binding put on (that's another one done!) His chemo starts this week so he will have the quilt to take along. This also made me very happy to be able to do something for someone in need.

This was from American Patchwork and Quilting a few years ago.  It was designed by Kathie Holland.  (thanks to Janet O. for reminding me of the designer's name)  The blocks are 4.5" finished; 

Max liked it right away!

On a more positive note, I finished the blocks for the Temecula 12 days of Christmas. Just need to set them. They are pretty tiny-- more the style of my friend Janet Olsen than my style. 

Pictures from Paris are up next!

Quilts for sale

Will in Paris has a friend, Charles, who is quite the quilt collector. Last year I was lucky enough to be in Paris for the weekend he was having his show/sale in his apartment. 

It just so happened that my trip this year coincided with the show/sale again!  So after a yummy French lunch of a sandwich and dessert, we jumped on to the metro and hiked the rest of the way to Charles' most remarkable apartment. 

A little bit of background: space in Paris is at a premium!  Apartments are generally postage-stamp sized. Not this one!! Frequently there is no elevator but not in this building. Beautifully restored lobby with lift!!

He has several rooms and puts his quilts everywhere. Even the piles are impressive!!

The solid fabric in this Ohio star was fabulous! I think this was one of my favorites:

Large apples in an ocean waves quilt?? Fantastic!

Can you see the tiny quarter square triangles on the table? I'll bet they finished at 1-1/2"!  I didn't feel right about measuring!! Vbg.  Spectacular !

More piles!

I loved both of these although Will thought the hexie quilt was here last year. Still fabulous!

Can you see the postage stamp quilt on the left? Will and I did examine the squares and both thought they were less than an inch!!

Cute homespuns

Isn't this cute?

Hallway 

Simple flying geese. Note the stains on this top!  Many of these tops were from the 1800s and had clearly never been laundered!

This little top was precious. Pillow case sized 

M

I loved this one, too. Note how the center is planned whereas the rest is random. Here's a closer look:

I may try this!

I thought this looked like a pineapple quilt but Charles disagreed, pointing out the flying geese corners. 

His view is not shabby!!

My dh and I then left Paris to go to a small medieval town for wine tasting and touring!! This is Beaune!

More follows!