Red Scraps and Schoolhouses

 Although the calendar says "September", the heat and humidity still feel like August!  We're under heat advisories for the long Labor Day weekend, so quilting is a good excuse to stay indoors - in the air conditioning!

The new month also means a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Red scraps are the focus this month, and I've already been busy cutting and piecing them.

I'm making 25-patch star blocks as an RSC project - trying to use prints instead of tonal or blender type fabrics.  I had to dig around a little to find just the right scraps.

Coincidentally, I finished up a red and white quilting project that started during last year's red RSC month.

The Schoolhouse quilt was finished in June, but I procrastinated on making a label for it.  I finally added the label last week and I'll be sending the quilt off to its new home when the holiday weekend is over.

I've made several quilts for my sister, and she always laments not having any large blank walls in her home where she can hang the quilts.  I keep telling her to just use the quilts, not hang them, but she insists they are "too pretty" to use.  (sound familiar?)

I figured if I made a wall-hanging size quilt for her, she could find a spot to hang it on the wall.  I even added a hanging sleeve! 

I had fun figuring out how to hand quilt the blocks, sashing, and borders.

 She'll be retiring next year after a career in education, so I thought the Schoolhouse pattern was appropriate!

I hope everyone has a safe relaxing weekend!

Au Revoir April!

Greetings from New Orleans/South Louisiana, where new cases of Covid-19 have slowed and hospitals are less overwhelmed.  Still, our governor has continued shelter at home orders for an additional two weeks.  I'm thankful for that, however painful for our economy, because I don't want to see a spike in new Covid-19 cases and subsequent deaths.  Our local hospital (where my husband works) was hit hard by the virus and is still struggling to keep up with the patient demand.

This time of year New Orleans would be in the middle of festival season, specifically our beloved Jazz and Heritage Festival - fifty years young this year.  Of course this year's Fest was cancelled, but in the spirit of resilience, local community radio station WWOZ has been broadcasting previously recorded Jazz Fest performances, so we can have a bit of escape from day-to-day reality.  Jazz Festing in Place follows the timetable of the real fest, broadcasting from 11 am to 7 pm from now through Sunday.  Tune in via WWOZ.org if you need a little musical escape!

As for quilting therapy, I seem to be taking comfort in wrapping up UFOs.

This Sawtooth Star and Uneven 9-Patch quilt has been kicking around the studio for several years.  At this point, the quilt was just shy of being queen-sized, and I kept looking for fabric to add as a final, un-pieced border.  Earlier this month it occurred to me I just needed to add some additional Sawtooth Star and Uneven 9-Patch blocks, and the quilt would be the size I wanted.

I cut twenty-four additional blocks and stitched them up.  Then I removed two of the borders and added an additional row and column to the body of the quilt.  I made a few additional Flying Geese blocks for the outer border, stitched everything back up and soon had a finished flimsy.  

I also finished hand-stitching all 350-something inches of binding on my Full Circle quilt...and made a label.  Full pictures of the quilt coming soon!

I need to stop digging around in the UFO bins.  I pulled out this stalled project and decided it would be a quick finish, if I would just focus on it!  Lots of the small four patches were already stitched, so it was a matter of cutting more of the larger squares to make double four-patch blocks.  These are all leftover fabrics from my Grandmother's Choice quilt - so should I call this Grandmother's Choice Leftovers?

I've also been trying to do some hand-quilting on this Schoolhouse quilt every day.  I enjoy hand quilting, but I really struggle with trying to improve my stitches.   Practice makes perfect!

Gardening and yard work have taken up lots of my shelter at home time, too.  These shots are from the containers at our camp (note: we shelter in place at our camp, just like at home and the camp is only an hour from New Orleans).  We already have lots of tomatoes that are close to being ripe.  I picked quite a few of the jalapeños in the picture above, and made pickled jalapeños with them last week.  Mint seems to almost grow wild at the camp, and we use it for Mint Juleps as well as Thai and Vietnamese dishes.

At home, we demolished our 30-something year-old in-ground swimming pool earlier this year.  Now we have an amazing patch of lovely green grass (lower left pic).  Dear Husband built the rolling planters in the top picture, and I filled them with Knock-Out Roses, Agapanthus, and Bird of Paradise.  The round terracotta pot is full of basil - we've already made our first batch of pesto! The hibiscus bloom is from plants along the back fence, and the remaining pictures are the newly re-done front yard landscaping - lots of daylilies!

And now to wrap up the month with good wishes for everyone.  I hope you all continue to stay safe and healthy and take comfort in your stitching!

Meanwhile: Red Schoolhouses

The last time I wrote about my red schoolhouse quilt blocks, they looked like this:

Shortly after posting that picture, I went ahead and added white sashing between all the blocks, creating a small quilt top with six schoolhouse blocks.

Then I was stuck.  I auditioned several red fabric borders, but didn't like the look.  I also tried some red and white HST configurations, but I didn't like those, either.

I sat back and pondered my original idea for the quilt: it was meant to be a wallhanging for my sister.  She has several of my quilts already, but says she doesn't have the wall space to hang them for display (forget the fact they are all bed-sized quilts and should be used on a bed - she wants to hang them, instead).

The schoolhouse wallhanging is already well over 40 inches wide, and any added borders are just going to make it bigger and more difficult to hang on a wall.  What if I (gulp!) cut off two of the schoolhouse blocks and made a four block quilt?

It only took a matter of minutes to rip out a few seams, stitch up a few injured seams, and press everything into shape.

Now the red border looks fine, and the quilt is a manageable wallhanging size.  

Since my inspiration quilt was hand-quilted, I decided this one should be hand-quilted as well.

After visiting one of my favorite quilting resources (Quilting with Style by Gwen Marston and Joe Cunningham), I designed a simple cable design to fit in all the sashed areas.  I also worked out a fan design for the borders.  Everything else will be outline quilted, with maybe some improv quilting here and there.

Now to get the quilt marked and basted.  Should I start quilting it immediately or put it in the queue behind some finished quilts that need binding?  Thoughts to ponder...

A Dent in the Red Scraps?

I think I made a dent in the red scraps this month as I worked on Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. On the other hand, I definitely made some new red scraps, as I cut into yardage I purchased for a red and white quilt.  

I finished the red and white Schoolhouse blocks I started last weekend.  I decided on mini Ohio Stars (3 inches finished) as cornerstones, and got those finished up today.  Now to cut the sashing and piece everything together.  

For what it's worth:  I couldn't have made those mini Ohio Stars without a couple of handy resources.  The All-In-One Quilter's Reference Guide has a wealth of information including cutting guides, piecing techniques, and other technical know-how for quilt making.  And thanks to Generations Quilt Patterns, I learned a speedy new technique for making Ohio Star blocks.

I wasn't sure I was going to participate in this year's Rainbow Scrap Sampler project, but I guess I am!  I've done each week's Tiny Tuesday blocks and added two extras that were experiments.  Before I started in on the 3-D Bow Tie tutorial, I pieced a practice block to make sure I remembered how to do it.  And I wasn't sure if I wanted to make 3 inch Ohio Star blocks, so I tried a 4.5 inch size first.  The cutting instructions for the 4.5" size are in the Ohio Star tutorial linked above.  You're welcome!

I think I'm done with the red scraps for now.  I'm looking forward to next month's RSC color and Tiny Tuesday blocks.  In the meantime, you'll find some more red scrappy inspiration here!

On a Roll with Red Scraps

I feel like I'm on a roll with Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  Who knows how long the progress will last, but I'm enjoying it while it happens!

I was able to make two Sugar Bowl blocks using some scrappy chunks of red.

I needed some leader-ender blocks, so I added some 4-patches cut from scraps in the 2 inch bin.

While I was digging through the drawers and boxes looking for red scraps, I found a stack of red batik fabrics I bought several years ago to make a red and white schoolhouse quilt.  I made a schoolhouse quilt years ago - in my early days as a quilter - and I wanted to make another.  

I wanted to make the same style block as my earlier quilt, and I found a great pattern on the APQ website.  It's a free pattern by Carrie Nelson:  Home for the Harvest.  It's a great scrappy pattern, but I knew I was only going to use red and white fabrics for my quilt.

The practice block went together so easily, I went ahead and made a second block.  And cut out parts for four more blocks.  If they keep going together so easily, I should have six blocks finished by the end of the month.  That meets my plan for a wall hanging-size quilt.

There's more scrappy red inspiration at the weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up.  I hope you are making great progress with your red scraps, too!

Re-visiting the Schoolhouse

"Made in the USA" quilt from Christmas Memories:  A Folk Art Celebration by Nancy J. Martin

Schoolhouse quilts and quilt blocks have been charming and inspiring quilters for years.  A quick thumb-through of some of my "vintage" quilt books turned up two very different interpretations.

"Schoolhouse Quilt" from Better Homes and Gardens America's Heritage Quilts

A Google search will turn up even more varieties of schoolhouse quilts.  So many, I had to start a new Pinterest board just to keep track of my favorites!  

I'm re-visiting the schoolhouse this week because a dig through my fabric stash last weekend reminded me of this quilted wall-hanging.  It was made circa 1990 and may have been from a Better Homes & Gardens pattern.  Machine pieced and hand-quilted.

As I look at this quilt now I'm amazed I used such plain fabrics!  If I made the quilt again using today's fabrics, I'd at least use fabrics with shading or texture rather than flat solids.  On the other hand, fabric selection was much more limited when this quilt was made, so my choices do reflect that era.  I may have been trying to use only fabrics in my stash, too!

One of the things I especially like about this particular schoolhouse block pattern is the use of negative space to create a stencil-like effect.  The basic block can be used effectively with just about any fabric and style of interpretation.  I think I see another schoolhouse quilt in my future - providing I can decide which style direction I want to take!

Just for fun - here's my family schoolhouse connection.  The schoolhouse was built on land donated by one of the farmers in Burns Township, Wisconsin.  Known as the Striped School, the building dates to 1859.  My dad's family were among the earliest settlers in Burns Township and several of my ancestors were schooled here.  It's no longer used as a school, but I understand community meetings are still held there on occasion.