Sullivan's Floss and Hazel's Quilt Alongs

And here is what was in the mail a couple of weeks ago...

My seasons collection of Sullivans embroidery floss.  I used Sullivans' threads with a Crabapple Hill kit I worked a few years back and loved them.  Made of 100% Egyptian cotton, they are almost guaranteed not to tangle or fuzz.  The Sullivans web site offers a conversion chart and a selection of very nice free patterns; a link is Here
It is worth having a look.
I bought these embroidery threads to use with the new summer project I hope to begin soon.  I've had the information saved on my computer for a year now and decided Summer 2015 will be the time to get at it.

This is a BOM or quilt-along project that is a number of years old now, having been first offered in 2010 on the blog  Hazel's Diary  written by Shelly Pagliai and called "1953 Quilt-Along, Hazels' Summer Wildflowers".






You have the option of working each of the 6 blocks in two different ways, as a colourful bouquet as it were using many colours and stitches, or as a redwork project.  While redwork is one of my all time favourite things, I am going to try the mulitcoloured version of these patterns.  You can find the links for free downloads of the patterns at the Hazel blog, a most generous offering from the author. Shelly also offers examples of how to make smaller quilted projects of individual blocks. There is also a Hazel's Diary Flickr group you can check out where people are invited to submit photos of their versions of the quilt blocks. It is always interesting to see the many creative looks of the very same pattern.

 This Blog, The Life of Hazel Ilene, is a very interesting one.  It offers the day by day transcriptions of a diary written by Hazel, a rural farm girl in the 1950's, and it covers her high school to early married years.  I think it provides an interesting historical look into the life of an American teenaged girl of the times.

 Shelly is Hazel's daughter and she created this unique site as a tribute to her mom and being an accomplished quilter, also added her quilting tips, tutorials and patterns along the way.  As a result she has published as quilt-alongs, four of the quilts popular during her mother's era. There are free patterns and instructions to make all four BOM's and they are still available as downloads on the blog.

  But there is more. 
 Hazel writes in her diary about the meals she has to help her mother prepare and Shelly has included her mothers' recipes for the mentioned dishes.  I was interested in reading the jelly roll recipe for a 4 egg roll with a cream cheese mixture spread.
I, for one, have really enjoyed reading Hazels' entries and equally Shellys' annotated comments and quilting information.
What a wonderful tribute to a mother!