The Gnadenhutten Quilt Project Pulls to a Close

The Gnadenhutten Quilt Project Closes

Posing with the last quilt bound by the Gnadenhutten Quilt Project are a few of our unofficial team members. Our core group was made up of 7 talented women that worked at every aspect of quilt and comforter making over nearly 3 years. We estimate we made and shared over 200 quilts and comforters during that time! 

My Daughter's House Exploded and All Survived

Isabella with Pippi and Vera

Gas Explosion in Port Washington, Ohio

January 14, 2021

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, and I didn't want you to think I'd disappeared completely. I haven't given up quilting in the least, but life has been complicated. This post will explain a large part of it. While I'm not one to share often about my family life, we felt this went beyond the needs of our privacy.

It started with a phone call after we'd gone to bed. It was the middle of January past. Our daughter, Isabella, said she thought there might be someone in her basement. She heard what she thought was her man door being kicked down. I remember saying to go outside, and we would be there as soon as possible. While trying to get my shoes on in the front hall, our house shook some 4 miles away. I tried and tried to call her back, but she didn't answer. My shaking fingers wouldn't do what they were supposed to by then. We were panicked, but steady running for the truck. She called when we had reached the end of our driveway screaming that her house was gone! It had exploded! Her dog and cat inside were gone, but she had Pippi in her arms. She said she was okay. 

Writing this now still makes me cry. The pictures are still hard for me to look at, but please do. Izzi has a public link to an album at the top of the post which reads Buy a Gas Detector. There is also a video of a camera at the end of her road. 

She stood 5 feet from the house when it blew up if you can imagine. Our family wants people to understand what happened, the absolute miracle of it all, and how to protect your own home. Gas detectors are inexpensive, and can save your life. She didn't have one because we didn't know there was such a thing. Now we do, and now you do, too.  

Thank you for reading this important story.

The Morning After

When another daughter and son went back the next morning to look for the missing animals, there was just wreckage. My daughter took pictures, and when she blew this up she saw Vera sitting in the middle of a still smoking house waiting for someone to find her!

Petra, found in a piece of tin after 4 days, burned badly with very little hair left. She lost part of her ears, but otherwise fully recovered including her whiskers.

Hi friends, As many people have heard (and literally felt from miles away), my house was leveled in a natural gas...

Posted by Isabella Stocker on Friday, March 26, 2021

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Teapot Cozy: No Math

Teapot Cozy

Keep Your Teapot Warm

No Pattern Needed

Quilters are made to believe they "need a pattern" for the most basic of things, but breaking out of that thinking is incredibly freeing. We don't need a set of numbers or directions for everything we want to do or make. The makers before us drew mainly on their own ingenuity, imagination, and make-do attitude. If you've never done worked with a pattern, I encourage you. There is a satisfying feeling of creating with your own ideas! 

If something doesn't go as planned, it may be reframed as a positive design element instead of a mistake in understanding poorly written pattern instructions. It stimulates your critical thinking, and creates a one-of-a-kind object. Whatever the outcome, it's a feel-good-thing, and we all need that now. Right?

Let's get creative!

The Family & Pets Issue

The Anna Quilt

I have said before I come from a long line of Anne's, and one Anna. Edyta Sitar has a line of beautiful reds, pinks, and creams right now called Anna, and a quilt pattern to highlight them. It's simple, and perfect for the not-quite-a-jelly-roll I had from a Tim Holtz line. (It was closer to 2 5/8" than 2 1/2".)

This quilt is for a son who never asked for a quilt because he didn't need one. I do think it's finally he would like one from me more than than a need to stay warm now, and that makes me very happy, if you must know. When he asked, I started sewing. The fabric had already been bought, and I was just waiting for the cue. I knew he'd come around sometime.

Secret Surprise Quilting on Back

ABC Child's Quilt

I realized the other day I had not posted in some time. I'm keeping very busy quilting for clients, and at a time like this that's good. Each day seems to bring a new twist with the sunrise. Ohio has had rising Covid cases like most other states, and it has inched closer to my circle. Many members of the extended family, and our children's families have it, and we are hoping for uncomplicated cases. I'm thrown back to the days in the past when I'm sure many women felt helpless with the diseases that swept through their own lives, and like them am finding relief in turning fabric into something useful.

Having so much on my mind makes me long for simple projects, and small quilts. When a few last minute Christmas quilts came in, I was tickled with this small one. It was for a little boy, and he loves trucks of all kinds. Instead of a basic E2E, I wanted it to be special when he flipped it over to the red backing.

Kansas Troubles Block: Improving Accuracy

Kansas Troubles Block 

Do you want to be a better quilter, and improve your accuracy? It's not as hard as it seems. Think while you sew. Keep your brain engaged, and focus.

• Don't depend on a pattern or directions to tell you everything because most often they don't. 

• Use logic and geometry to figure measurements out. It's a few formulas, and pretty standard stuff.

• Watch for bias edges.

• Square for accuracy as often as necessary.

Little Blue Baskets Block

Little Blue Baskets

I don't know how I missed the fact that this sampler was the 1865 Passion Sampler, but I did. So giving credit to France Aubert who blogs at Passion Patchwork is due. She combined the blocks from Barbara Brackman's Civil War book along with 40 others to create a sampler quilt which was also published in the recent edition of Quiltmania magazine.

That said, I'm sticking to the block schedule loosely. Where I can substitute a block that pushes me to work harder, I am. That's how the Little Blue Baskets block came to be. It's fallen in line with some of the other things I've been working at in skill building: accuracy, and working in a smaller scale.

Farmer's Wife 1930s: Bride, No. 17

Farmer's Wife 1930s

Bride, No.17

This week has been a flurry of cleaning up leaves, and summer. Rarely do I cut down my perennials preferring to leave them to wither on their own schedule, but something made me go through the gardens and tidy this year. The saying, "Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today," pops up over and over. My compost and leaf piles are enormous. It will be a rich spring for fertilizer.

Civil War Blocks: Round 2

 

Civil War Blocks: Round 2

Indiana Puzzle

I've had an internal dialogue going whether to write much about these Civil War blocks, or just let them stand on their own. Because it's supposed to be joyful sewing only, I've decided to say little. I won't titter on about missing points or meeting seams. I'm sure that wasn't so much of an issue in those times as I have some of those old quilts, and I've seen it firsthand. I would venture it was much more about the fabrics then, and how they added so much color to fairly plain interiors in many cases. The fabric and quilts might have been the stars of the room all their own so I will try to allow these blocks do the same unless necessary.

Enjoy!

Modified Paper Piecing: Farmer's Wife 1930s: Blossom, No.15

The Farmer's Wife 1930s

Blossom, No.15

Years ago I was involved in a round robin, and introduced to a modified paper piecing technique that didn't require me to sew through the paper. That was a revelation because I hated that part with a passion. I had avoided all paper piecing projects. But the idea of folding back the paper, and sewing beside the seam made a lot of sense, and saved the paper to use again. No ripping!

Yesterday I posted on a Facebook site for Farmer's Wife 1930s blocks, and another poster mentioned a book called Painless Paper Piecing by Marjorie Rine. This is a modified version of her technique, I believe, by the little bit I can read in the look inside option on Amazon. I learned it from another quilter, and will pass on the rough details I used. The book is still available used, and I suggest you purchase it if you want the exact details of that method.