Spring.....really?

It's late May and I have the heat on in
my house. Who would know it's spring?

If it weren't for the flowers blooming
in my garden....I wouldn't know.

My cousin showed a photo on Facebook
of snow in the Catskills in upstate New York --
Crazy!

Yet, the flowers thrive, and the frogs keep
coming to the creek....

I made yet another one of my
Baltimore Album blocks into 
a small wall hanging with hand
quilting. I really like the way
it came out.

 

 I added some beads and metalic
thread out lines the leaves -
something different from the others
that I have made.

I'm in the process of making another
one. 

Happy Quilting!

Wordless Wednesday

Welsh Quilting

I bought this book a couple of years ago. Living in Amish country here in Lancaster;
I always wondered where the Amish learned the art of quilting.
Did they bring it with them when they came here to Pennsylvania? Or were they
influenced by their English neighbors. The Amish usually called all people (other than
themselves English)
*In researching the Welsh in Pennsylvania; I discovered that the settled
here about 1681 - by 1700, the numbered about 20,000. Most of them being
Quakers. They settled around the Philadelphia and southeastern Pa.


*By 1729 the county organized townships, two of which were Welsh -- Caernarvon and
Lampeter.

Brecknock
    1740, Welsh place name

Caernarvon
    1729, Welsh, Castle of Narfon

Lampeter
    1729, Welsh, "Llanbadr," Church of St.Peter. Divided into East and West Lampeter in 1841

 Six were English - Warwick, Lancaster, Martic, Sadsbury, Salisbury
and Hempflield. -----------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was inspired by a recent discussion on Facebook by a group that I belong to "Celebrate Hand Quilting" - it was about quilted Welsh whole cloth quilts.

It was then that I took the book off
of the shelf and go through it again.

I love the quilts and the quilting
motifs in them. I decided to try one.

This is my first attempt at Welsh quilting -  (a sample)

 This one is one of my favorites!

The motif comes from the book "making Welsh Quilts" by Mary Jenkins and Clare Claridge.

I used my hand dyed cotton sateen fabric.
For the quilting I used Superior Threads
for hand quilting in a rusty orange color.
I love this thread; it slides right through
the sateen.

The back is very important also in Welsh
quilting.

Here I used muslin because I didn't
have enough of the sateen. 

 A quote from the book about stitches:

 "..Welsh quilters of old did not pride themselves so much on being able to work a certain number of stitches per inch...
but on originality of design."




Each quilter designed there own motifs
and did not copy from one another.
Most used simple items for shapes from
their kitchen - dishes, glasses, cups, etc.

With enough practice; hopefully there is
a quilted whole cloth in my future.

I really enjoy hand quilting - it's 
meditative and relaxing and best of
all I can sit out on my deck.

There is so much to learn about the 
History of Quilting! 

Here are some references:
The Amish Quilt
http://www.theamishquilt.com/history.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilt

History of English quilts.....
Otherwise known as Durham quilts, North Country quilts have a long history in north-east England, dating back to the Industrial Revolution and beyond. North Country quilts are often "whole-cloth" quilts, that emphasize the quilting. Some are made of sateen fabrics, which further heighten the effect of the quilting.

Patchwork
http://www.quilthistory.com/ukquilts.htm

The earliest surviving dated patchwork bedcover is the 1718 silk coverlet discovered in 2000 and purchased by the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles  The coverlet is pieced over papers, even the curved bits.

 British Quilt Study Group.
----------------
*http://www.lancasterhistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=78

*http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/groups/4286/welsh/471948

*http://www.lancasterhistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82&Itemid=76

 Happy Quilting!

Wordless Wednesday

More on Big Stitch quilting

I just finished another project 
using Big Stitch quilting.

It can change the look of a 
piece and give it more texture.

For example....

 I really love this Moda red and white
fabric and the faux Redwork.
I added some decorative stitches but
it still looked too plain and boring
to me.

So I decided to try adding some 
Big stitch quilting to it.

  

 It changed the look completely!
It's now more interesting, has texture
and more pleasing to look at.
I also added some french knots.
And also stitched around the flower
and leaves. 

I mentioned in another post about
using Aunt Lydia's crochet thread
size 10. It looked nice but it's
hard to go through the fabric -
I could only stitch one stitch at
a time.

I also tried DMC cotton Pearl
size 5 but it too was too thick.

   
The red (above) DMC no. 8 is much
better. You can take 4 to 5 stitches
at a time. And it's 100% cotton and 
colorfast.

In my area the color choices are 
limited. I only found red, blue,
white and ecru. But I have found
that Joanne's fabric and craft store
on-line had a great variety of colors!

Now that the weather is warming up
a bit; I can sit on my deck and stitch
in the sunshine. Which makes me very
happy.

Which reminds me - the other night
while cleaning up the deck; I heard
hundreds of crows. It happens every
fall and spring. They make such a 
racket and it fascinates me to watch
them flying from tree to tree back
in the farmer's field next to
my backyard.
I grew up in the city so I really
enjoy watching this spectacle.

          
What I don't enjoy is when the farmer
man starts putting down the manure right before planting time! phew! I had just hung
out some of my laundry when he
decided it was time to fertilize
the field! I had to take my laundry
back inside.

Have a great week and happy quilting!

  

Wordless Wednesday

Easter Family Traditions - Mangia Bene!

I hope that everyone had a
happy Passover and Easter!

Do you have any family traditions
- for example; do you have to
cook a special kind of food that
your parents or grandparents cooked
for a holiday? And so hopefully
hand down to your children?

My maternal grandparents came here
from Naples, Italy and brought many
family food recipes with them. 

Easter bread

 This is store bought - my grandmother
used to make this round and braided
with at least 5 colored eggs. It 
represents "new life" and is for good
luck. (normally I would make this
myself) It's a cake like bread.

Pizza Rustica

 This also is store bought - my daughter
brought it here from an Italian store
on Long Island. My grandmother made
the best! Although, this one was very
good! Normally it was made with all
your leftover cold cuts, etc. Ham,
salami, dried sausage and many different
cheeses and almost one dozen eggs.
My grandma would make three of these
the day before Easter because "every
body has to have a piece who stopped
by to visit." 
 I'm not thinking about calories (-:

Sausage bread

       
 I'm not sure how to spell it in
Italian. One of Grandma's favorites.
It has pieces of ham and dried sausage.

I did break tradition by making Ravioli
instead of Lasagna )-: My mom would
make the Lasagna and a ham or pork
roast.
Too lazy this year to cook too much!

Zeppoli

    Zeppoli is a deep fried dough -
you add yeast and a little water;
then when they're still hot, you sift
confectioners sugar all over them.
I did make these because they're
my favorite!

I love carrying on family traditions;
it makes me feel close to my roots and
those family members that have passed
on. While we eat the food; we share
stories about what we remember from
past holidays. It makes us feel happy
and still connected to them!

 Mangia Bene!