Hazel Ilene Quilt Along: A Small Quilt Top Finish

Thanks to Shelly Pagliai 's excellent directions in her quilt along, I am ready to reveal my smaller quilt top. 

My small version of the Hazel Ilene Diary quilt along is complete as a quilt top!

Now I'm dreaming of how I'd like to quilt it.  I am leaning toward using the golden threads paper and a sharpie and sewing through the marked paper then ripping off the tissue as the quilt images are stitched. 

Of course it would be nice to take it to my neighbor with the long arm business, but I already have my large Thimbleberries quilt over there and the bill for that is only a week away.  Besides, this quilt is such a cute size at 33" x 42".  There will be very little scrunching or bunching to get it under my regular machine. 

I just love the soft blended look of the blocks.  Most of the fabrics were purchased while on vacation at the various fabric shops near Superior and Duluth.  They were in my stash for 3 years or so and when I signed up to do the Diary Quilt along they came out of storage. 

Stay tuned for the updates on putting my larger version together.  That one is getting closer as all the blocks are ready and the setting triangles have their borders.  I should have a photo to share within the next month. 

Hazel Ilene Quilt Along Blocks

Hazel Ilene Quilt Along Blocks
Originally uploaded by quilterinagarden

I busily sewed during my Christmas vacation. As a result, I now have a photo to document my progress with the Hazel Ilene quilt along blocks in both the large and small size. I've been following Shelly's directions on her blog as she revealed her mom's high school diary. It was great fun peeking into the life of a high school girl in the 1950''s. It was wonderful also to have the directions available throughout the year of 2009. Now I am excited about using the setting triangles to get both the small and the large quilt put together. I hope to make ongoing progress with these 2 very special quilts! A big thank you goes out to Shelly!!!

A Cute Star Block

Setting Block 5
Originally uploaded by quilterinagarden

I worked this afternoon to get this cute little block done for Shelly's quilt along. I really like the way the center square is highlighed inside the star. Once I got the pieces cut it was easy sewing!

Wyoming Valley Blocks for Diary Quilt Along

I've been sewing along for the Diary Quilt Along, just not at the same pace as the directions!  I'm now done with my small and large block 8. I can happily move along to block 9 and be current with the posts. I do really love the way these blocks are coming together and am very happy to be using fabrics in reds and tans that I've been collecting for awhile. I am thinking that maybe the blocks will be set on the diagonal and that the setting blocks may have some darker sashing.

The blocks name happens to be called Wyoming Valley, which is easy to remember because of the "V" that was formed when sewing the flying geese units together.   

I notice that in the smaller block the "V" shapes do not have that much contrast.  What I'd like to do is get started on block 9 and if time allows, perhaps I will remake this block with a substitute for the light tan fabric.

Rising Star Block

I have completed block 6 for the Hazel Ilene Diary Quilt Along. The title of the block is called "Rising Star". I very much like the look of the block and the way that the star is inside a star! So far it's my favorite block!


Now, I have to keep going to get caught up with the directions. I'll need to do another setting block and also complete block #7.


If you are interested, the entries from Hazel's diary are posted on the site by her daughter Shelly. There is also a flicker site where we share photos. I love how everyone's blocks are coming together.

My Recent Block Finish

12 inch Block for the Large Quilt

I got the fifth blocks done for Shelly's Quilt Along. Shelly P has been posting entries from her mother's high school diary (written in 1951) as she posts the directions to make 2 sizes of quilts. It's a lot of fun to make the blocks along with other quilters.

6 inch block for the smaller quilt

Spring Has Really Arrived!

Greetings from Wisconsin!

I've been catching up on my work for the Hazel Ilene Diary quilt along with Shelly and I've been doing well enough to want to start another quilt in flannel fabrics!

This photo shows my blocks in progress for the flannel version. My friend Deb has been doing hers in some lovely pink and green vintage floral flannel, so I must have one too! It will be a great quilt for snuggling in on the couch in the middle of our Wisconsin winters.

I adore the accuracy of my little vintage Singer featherweight. That little seam gauge makes quite the difference! I also rely heavily on my Perkin's Perfect seam guide for resetting the metal seam gauge after sewing squares into half square triangles.

It is perfect because it has a scant 1/4 inch marked clearly into its surface and it has a tiny hole for the needle to be lined up exactly. It has been especially helpful for the smallest blocks in the Diary Quilt Along. Many of those triangles are quite tiny and they have been pulled under the feed dogs by my good Viking machine. I guess the single needle hole on the featherweight really helps prevent that.

Here's a view of block # 3 just after I sewed on the last corner! I am confident that I'll be able to get block #4 done in 1 or 2 days and be all caught up to the first few steps in the #5 block by the end of the week. This may be possible since I am off work for the school's spring break.

It was time for a walk out to the garden to see how it is shaping up for the spring. In the last 10 days I've been enjoying the purple crocus. Now the day after Easter, my yellow daffodils have started to open.

Stepping stone - before cleaning

Stepping Stone - after a brushdown with bleach and water cleaner

Now I suppose the rest of my stepping stones with the mosaic tiles and glass deserve to be cleaned.

Weekend Sewing Plans

Tonight I will be cutting some red and blue fabrics into strips that will work for a string block or two. I will donate at least one of them to a quilt that is being made for Matt, an injured soldier. If I like making them, perhaps I'll set some aside for myself to make.

I am all caught up with my blocks for both sizes of the Hazel Ilene Diary quilt along. Both versions are coming out beautifully. I live laying them out on the floor and moving them around in different arrangements. I think the fabrics I chose will work well in the same room. The fabrics have a lot of reds and tans. Shelly is having a give away of Mary Ellen's Best Press in a mini spray bottle. Anyone may have a chance to win by leaving Shelly a comment on her blog.

I will need to spend some time at school this weekend. Midquarter grades are due and Monday afternoon I am doing a tie dye workshop for all the 5th and 6th grade band members. It will be fun for the kids, but I have to mix up the dye and put it into the squirt bottles before Monday! I think I will do a pair of socks for myself. I have plenty of tie dye shirts already.

More Quilters for the Diary Quilt Along

I have 2 more quilters interested to join up with the Hazel's Diary Quilt Along that Shelly has planned.

My mom has blue and yellow fabrics set aside to do the smaller version. I am going to print Shelly's swatch sheet to get her organized. We are on the look out for a good stripe to use for the binding and the sashing strips. We'd like it to have blue, yellow, cream, and a touch of red and a smidge of green. Perhaps a nice woven plaid would also work. I am going to check if our local quilt shop might have some Portugal fabric left from April Cornel's line a few seasons ago. I think one of those plaids or stripes might be just right.

My good friend Deb has decided to jump in and do a flannel version of the big quilt. Her fabrics are in the shabby rose style and she'll be using some beautiful large floral prints in sage green, peachy pink, and tea dyed ivory. We tea dyed the fabric that had the white background and it came out perfectly for the project! We liked it so much the ivory fabrics went into the left over tea and came out equally as nice.

Preparing Bindings

Yesterday I cut several different Tuscan reds for both sizes of my quilts for the quilt along. The small one is made from a stripe that was too small for all the setting pieces, but large enough for just the binding. For the large quilt I thought it might look unique to piece together several different reds! I do like the look of a scrappy binding.

Fabrics for Large Quilt

Fabrics for Large Quilt
Originally uploaded by quilterinagarden

It turned out that my quilting friend, Deb had just the right striped fabric to go along with my red and tan color scheme. Yesterday afternoon we went up to her spare bedroom (we call it her personal quilting shop) and it was sitting right on the corner of her cutting table. We hardly even had to look at any other fabric, it was so perfect.

Swatch Sheets for Hazel Ilene's Quilt Along

I checked in with Shelly on her Prairie Moon blog and her new blog for the Hazel Ilene's Diary quilt along and I went ahead and signed up. It will be a year long event with small quilting tasks to do along the way while I enjoy reading portions of her mother's diary. It sounds like so much fun. Shelly already has many fine vintage photo uploaded to go with her mother's story.

If it sounds interesting, I'd like to encourage you to click on the button in my side bar.

Hope you can join us in the fun. Bloggers and well as readers are signing up to quilt along.

My baskets hold fabrics for both the 67" x 84" and the smaller one that will be 33 1/2" x 42". Both will be planned around a red and a creamy golden yellow color scheme.