New Orleans House Project

Saturday, July 11, 2015

RSC 15: All Reds Together

In last Saturday's RSC post, I mentioned the dearth of true red fabrics to be found in today's quilting marketplace.  Many commenters agreed with my observation, but their comments stirred a memory for me.

Back in the day, a fellow member of the Pensacola Quilters' Guild entered a quilt in our bi-annual quilt show entitled "Mary Ellen Hopkins Was Right!"  The inspiration for the quilt was a quote by quilter and author Mary Ellen Hopkins, who claimed all red fabrics worked together.  The quilt in question featured 154 different red prints, string-pieced and sashed with black fabric with a scrappy 9 patch border.  Just in case you're thinking this sounds like something you'd see in a "modern" quilt show - the quilt was made in 1993!

So perhaps I shouldn't whine about the lack of true red fabrics and just play with my red scraps and see what develops!

Some reproduction red scraps were used to make Scrap Jar Stars.  Since taking stock during Wednesday's RSC progress report, I'm thinking I may need to go back and make an additional star in each monthly color in order to have enough for a decent size quilt.  Still thinking about this.

Some red Maverick Stars were also added to the collection.  I'm planning to set these with alternate blocks, so I think I will have enough of these for a quilt at the end of the year.

Red Sugar Bowl blocks.  No definite plans for these yet.

That's the extent of my red scrappiness for the month.  I need to concentrate on my 4 block eagle quilt, so that will probably be most of my focus for the rest of July.  Unless I give in to the siren song of all the red strips and strings that are patiently waiting in various tubs and baskets to see if all reds go together!