Because It's Carnival Time

 No stitching taking place here - I hope that will soon be remedied!

Our home repair projects got finished up early this week, but then I spent several days cleaning up the mess!  I thought the contractors used drop cloths and other protective gear, but there was still paint spatter and drywall dust everywhere.  And furniture to be moved back in place, etc.

Since it's almost Mardi Gras, the boys are both back home to enjoy the festivities.  So in  addition to cleaning and organizing, there was cooking to be done.  Gotta have some of the family favorites on hand to share with the kids!

Making the gumbo

 

Once the house was all put back together, I got the Mardi Gras quilts out for display.

"Beautiful Crescent" was finished last year. 

Mardi Gras Memories was finished earlier this year.  I finally took it outside for some pictures this week.  The final quilt measures 60" x 72".

I love the scrappy exuberance of all those purple, green, and gold fabrics!

 

The Mardi Gras Memories pattern was written by Diane Knott, so I asked her to do the long-arm quilting as well.  

 

 

My local quilt shop had the perfect backing fabric - a Fabric Finders Mardi Gras print.

 

I made a printed label so I could use a fun font for the quilt name.  It's a quick way to make a label, especially if there's a lot of info you want to include.  Just iron your label fabric to a sheet of freezer paper.  You can cut the paper to size or use pre-cut paper.  Design the label in a word processing program and print the label using a dot-matrix OR laser printer.  Note: some sources say not to feed fabric through a laser printer, but I've done it plenty of times with no problems.  

Time for another cup of coffee and maybe (finally!) some stitching time!

 

 

Hometown Quilt Along

 My house is still in chaos from all the fixer-upper projects, so only a small amount of stitching got done this week.  The construction guys are trying to finish everything up by tomorrow.  Once they're finished, I'll just have time to get the house put back together before the boys arrive home next week for Mardi Gras.  Sewing will probably take a back seat until after they leave.

And even though I've been trying to focus on wrapping up some UFOs, I have been making plans to start a new project.

Hometown quilt by Diane Knott.  Used by permission of the quiltmaker.

Quiltmania's 2023 HOMETOWN Quilt Along by Diane Knott!

You may have already read about the QAL on Quiltmania's blog or on Diane's Butterfly Threads blog.

The first month's directions went live on January 11th.  I knew I wouldn't be able to start cutting and sewing immediately, but I could rummage through the stash and come up with some fabric choices.

In email conversations with Diane, she hinted a New Orleans-themed fabric choice would be fun.  

I have already done one New Orleans house quilt - but the thought of Mardi Gras houses is still appealing!

 

Instead of modern Mardi Gras houses, I could honor the antique architecture of New Orleans with some reproduction purple, green, and gold (Mardi Gras colors) houses.

This Jamestown FQ bundle from Nancy Gere would be a good starting point.

 

 

Or maybe a Hometown Christmas quilt?  (Old Sturbridge Village by Judie Rothemel) 

 

This would be straight out of my childhood - a very Brady Hometown!

(Bloomin' Bunch by Maureen McCormick)

 

Then there's the Fig Tree inspiration:  a little Catalina Hometown from Joanna Figueroa.

I haven't made a decision yet.  I might just have to write the fabric collection names on slips of paper and pick one from a hat!

Are you inspired to join the QAL and make your own HOMETOWN?!