Finishing Details

I'm still feeling too distracted to work on any quilt projects that require major concentration, but I have managed to add some finishing details to a couple of items.

Our recent weather has not been conducive to quilty glamour shots, so I resorted to indoor photography. 

 

Harmony Flannel Quilt 

Pattern:  Harmony by Carried Away Quilting

Finished size:  70" x 70"

 

Quilting by Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads Quilting.

 

Note to self:  avoid black binding (even if machine-stitched) on all future quilts!

 

The quilt is already winging its way to my oldest son, who lives in Denver.  Their spring weather is still a ways off, so I think he'll get some good use out of it.  As much as I disliked working with the flannel fabrics, the quilt turned out very snuggly - and it's heavy! 

The New Orleans 1850/Pyramid quilt is finally finished!

Fabric:  New Orleans 1850 by Jean Ann Wright for New Castle Fabrics

Pattern:  Pyramid by Monique Dillard

Finished size:  54" x 68"

 

I love that purple paisley fabric!

 

And the border print is really amazing, too!

 

 

The backing fabric came from my stash.  It features antique maps of New Orleans.  We are blessed to have a regional fabric design/manufacturing firm - Fabric Finders - that specializes in fabrics with regional themes (and their fabrics are 60" wide, so they come in handy for quilt backs!).

 

 

I decided "New Orleans 1850/Pyramid" wasn't a particularly good quilt name, so I labeled the quilt as "Beautiful Crescent".  New Orleans is known as the Crescent City because the original city was founded at a sharp turn - or crescent - in the Mississippi River.

 

 

 

I also finished up another Goody Goody Binding Kit.

The fabrics are from a collection by Lella Boutique called Farmer's Daughter.  They play together so nicely for these binding kits, I think I'll have to make a couple more and use up more of the fabrics!

 

The original Goody Goody Binding Kit was designed by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique.
 

 Sherri McConnell (A Quilting Life) asked Vanessa if she could make the binding kit just a little bit bigger, which resulted in a taller version.  Sherri calls her version a Simple Sewing Kit, and she put together a video tutorial demonstrating how she made it.

Now that I've made two of these, I think I can quickly stitch up a few more and keep them on hand as gifts.

 

If you're still reading - thank you!

You may have heard that New Orleans was hit by tornadoes on Tuesday night.  

Thankfully, the primary storm was not particularly organized as it passed near us - we just had lots of wind and some rain.   As the storm moved east, it jumped across the Mississippi and now more organized, did plenty of damage to a downriver suburb called Arabi.  As many as 150 homes and businesses sustained damage.  With the storm coming at night, it's amazing there weren't more fatalities, but only one death has been reported.  

 

Thank goodness weather forecasting has gotten better at predicting severe weather, so communities can at least be aware of what's brewing.  Our cell phones blasted out the tornado warning, and since the power didn't go out, we were able to tune to local TV stations for real-time mapping of the tornado!

 

As always, folks in south Louisiana are resilient and the community is already pitching in to help clean up and take care of those affected by the storm.  
 

Pyramids on the Crescent

 I spent some of this week's stitching time trying to finish a long-term project.  

Back in 2013, I purchased some New Orleans-inspired reproduction fabrics.  The line was called "New Orleans 1850" and was designed by Jean Ann Wright for Newcastle Fabrics.  I loved the fabrics, but wasn't sure how I would use them in a quilt.

Fortunately, the staff at the Quilted Owl (local quilt store, now closed) came up with a plan using the 1850s fabric and a quilt pattern from Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts by Monique Dillard.  They kitted up the necessary yardage for the Pyramid quilt and I succumbed.

Eight years later, I finally got around to making the quilt.

I really love the look of these blocks, but they were aggravating to make.  The pattern instructions called for using the flip and sew technique to make the Flying Geese blocks.  That's my least favorite method of FG construction, but I was afraid to switch to the no-waste method for fear I'd run short of fabric.  It seemed like it took forever to make all the FGs (160) and trim and press them into submission!

The pattern made good use of the gorgeous border stripe fabric.  As I was cutting the borders, I noticed a fun typo on the selvedge.

I cut and attached the borders last night, so I now have a New Orleans 1850 Pyramid quilt.  I'm not sure if that's what I'll name the quilt, but it got me thinking about pyramids in New Orleans.

I knew there was one relatively famous (infamous?) pyramid in our fair city, but a little research turned up a couple more.

New Orleans has a long tradition of above-ground burials.  Two general theories are given for this practice: our swampy, flood-prone land is unsuitable for in-ground burials, and/or ancestral residents were just following the customs popular in their home countries (France and Spain).  Whatever the reason, New Orleans cemeteries contain all sorts of unique tombs.

The oldest pyramid tomb is located in St. Louis Cemetery #1.  It was constructed in 1814 for two children.  

The tomb has been renovated, but still looks essentially the same.

In 1892, Lucien Napoleon Brunswig had this tomb built for his namesake son who died at the age of ten.  His wife was buried here about a year later.  The elder Brunswig was not interred until his death in 1943.  The tomb is located in Metairie Cemetery, which is just on the outskirts of New Orleans.

And that brings us to the most famous pyramid, a tomb built in 2010 by actor Nicolas Cage, also in St. Louis Cemetery #1.   Mr. Cage has a colorful history with the city (he once owned an infamous "haunted" house in the French Quarter) and presumably plans to enjoy New Orleans eternally.

New Orleans 1850 Revisited

After petting my New Orleans 1850 fabrics a few weeks ago, I decided I needed to return to my LQS and purchase some more of the fabric line so I'd have enough for a large quilt.  I finally had the opportunity to visit the store last Friday, and imagine my surprise when I walked through the front door and saw this:

Not only had the shop owner found a great pattern, she wisely had the fabrics already cut and kitted up!  I really like how the gold fabric almost twinkles against the purple in the star blocks.  It wasn't part of the original line, but really adds some sparkle to the quilt.  I also really like the large upholstery-style stripe for the outer border - great use of that fabric!

The pattern is "Pyramid" from the book Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts by Monique Dillard.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you I bought a kit for the quilt.  I won't be able to start working on it until several other projects are complete, but I think I'll put some of the fabrics on my design wall so I can admire them while I'm waiting!

New Orleans 1850

A recent visit to one of my local quilt shops resulted in some New Orleans-flavored stash enhancement.   The Quilted Owl specializes in reproduction fabrics and they had just gotten a shipment of these drool-worthy fabrics!

The line is called New Orleans 1850 and was produced by Newcastle Fabrics.  There are other colors available - I just succumbed to the purple.  You can view the entire line on the Newcastle website.

During the decade before the Civil War, New Orleans was often called the Queen City of the South.  The economy was bustling and the social and cultural life of the city were flourishing.  For a glimpse of what household life was like for well-to-do families, check out the pictures from the 1850 House Museum.

I haven't decided what I'll make with my New Orleans 1850 fabrics yet.  Since February is a purple month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilters, maybe inspiration will strike soon!