Devoted to UFOs

 Two UFOs have been clamoring for attention (again).

I have blogged several times about my good intentions to finish up these quilts, but somehow life and other quilt projects (dare I say Squirrels?!) seem to get in the way.

I've come to the conclusion that it's time to focus on these two projects exclusively from now until they are finished. 

I started the 4-block eagle quilt in 2015.  It was my first major hand appliqué project.  I finished the appliqué fairly quickly, but I procrastinated on starting the hand quilting until last year.  

The background quilting is complete, so now I need to quilt all four eagles, as well as the HSTs in the quilt border.  If I quilt a little bit every day, I'll get it done in no time, right?

 

The other unfinished project demanding attention is Gathered Harvest - a BOM I started in January, 2018.  

The quilt is made up of nine blocks, five of which are complete.  Now I need to make four of these flowery vine blocks - identical except for different fabric placements.  Yes, each block has twenty appliquéd berries/circles!

Since snapping the above picture this morning, I've finished prepping all the leaves, berries and bias strips.  I'm using the freezer paper and starch method to prep the appliqué shapes.  

Next up, a little fabric glue and lots of machine appliqué.  

If it weren't for those pesky oak leaves, I could probably knock out the four blocks pretty quickly.  Those oak leaves take a little more concentration than your typical appliqué leaves, although I'm getting quicker at prepping them.  By the time I finish all the blocks, I'll probably be able to do them with my eyes closed!
 

 

Pink Scrappy Fun!

 How can playing with pink scraps not be fun?!

This month's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was pink.  I had plenty of fun stitching up pink scrappy blocks, and even started a new scrap project.

The oldest batch of blocks in my current RSC collection are Antique Tiles blocks.

Blackford's Beauty was an unexpected RSC 2022 block.  I didn't think I had enough scrappy variety for multiple blocks, but one block per month (in each fabric style) still uses up a bunch of scraps!

Modern Blackford's Beauty

Reproduction Blackford's Beauty.

And thanks to Pat Sloan - I started up another RSC project.

These are 36-patch blocks, constructed of 2.5 inch squares.  After seeing Pat Sloan talk about this on a YouTube video, I pulled out my Accuquilt and started cutting.

All my see-through project boxes are currently occupied (imagine that!), so I pulled out a tin and a wooden cigar box to keep the pieces tamed.  As soon as the next RSC color is announced, I'll cut another batch of squares and pair them up with light squares to use as leader-enders.

I've been waiting for just the right project to use this Crabtree & Evelyn tin.  This makes me smile every time I see it!

A Time to Finish

 This week I got motivated to try to finish some languishing projects.  I was tired of unfinished projects taking up valuable space on the flat surfaces in my sewing studio.

I had cut out the materials for this crossbody vinyl bag last fall.  At the time, I didn't have the hardware (swivel hooks, D-rings, and strap slider) needed to finish the bag, so I set everything aside.

Dear Hubby and I attended a college baseball game last week, and I needed to take a see-through bag to the game to hold some essentials.  I had a smaller bag I also made last fall, but a roomier bag was definitely preferable.  Time to assemble the prepped bag!

 I used a regular dressmaker-type zipper on this bag; next time I'll be sure to order a zipper with a larger zipper pull.  Happily, I found this cute zipper charm hiding in my jewelry box!

Another project leftover from last fall - zipper pouches designed to use up the unused Dallas Cowboys fabrics from this pillow project.  I had cut out the parts and pieces for three zipper pouches, but set them aside when I decided to order donut pull zippers.

I finished one pouch yesterday and hope to finish the other two today.  The pattern is the Sotak Handmade Essential Pouch in the medium size.

No more bags, just strings!

I had a lot of pink, green, and flamingo scraps leftover from my Flamboyant Flamingos quilt.  Because the fussy cutting made such irregular holes in the fabric, it seemed like a good idea to cut the scraps into strips.  The strips inspired 60 degree diamonds, and the diamonds inspired stars.  

All the strips and diamonds were stashed at our camp, where I could piece them on weekends with my treadle sewing machine.  Last weekend I finally finished enough diamonds for four stars, so I brought them all home to start the assembly process.  The star blocks will definitely need some sashing and maybe some cornerstones.  Luckily, I have plenty of fabric to finish the project, so it shouldn't get stalled out and languish for months!

Two Rainbow Scrap Finishes

The month of April has just about blown by, but I figure I can still get in a few blog posts before May pops up!

 

It's been a busy month.  Dear Hubby and I drove to Kansas City for his 50th high school reunion.  The reunion events were actually fun, and in between we managed to do some hiking and attended a KC Royals baseball game.  Shortly after returning to New Orleans, we walked in our first 10K race.  Dear Son David also came home to run in the same race (Crescent City Classic), so we got to spend time with him and our granddog, Jozy.  In the midst of all that, I entered two quilts in the Gulf States Quilting Association Biennial Quilt Show, won a third place ribbon, and celebrated another trip around the sun!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to attend the quilt show.  Long story short, the show conflicted with Dear Hubby's reunion, and he neglected to tell me about the rescheduled dates until after I had registered my quilts in the show.  Fortunately, local quilting friends took care of my quilts and made sure I got pictures of them hanging in the show.  The ribbon was awarded to Windblown Wishes, which I consider a team win, since Diane Knott wrote the quilt pattern and did the quilting!

 

And speaking of Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts - the inspiration for Windblown Wishes - I finished two more RSC quilts this month.  They are both destined to be gifted, but I did a quick photo shoot yesterday to document them. 

 

 I didn't give this quilt a formal name, but it started with Bonnie Hunter's Easy Breezy blocks.  I started piecing the blocks in July, 2020.

 

 The Easy Breezy blocks are only six inch blocks, so after working through all the rainbow colors I went back and made rainbow framed squares to bump up the number of blocks available for a quilt.  The finished quilt size is 66" x 78".

 

Circular design quilting by Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads Quilting.

 

The backing fabric has been marinating in the stash since 2017 or 2018.  It's a Fabric Finders print commemorating the 300th anniversary of New Orleans.   Yay for using up the stash!

 

I started making these pinwheel blocks in 2017 for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The setting idea came from a vintage quilt I saw in a decorating magazine.  Again, I didn't give this quilt a formal name, but I've seen quilts with this design called "Flutter Wheel".  This one finished at 64" x 75".

 

 Same quilting design as the Easy Breezy quilt; also quilted by Diane Knott.

 

More Fabric Finders 300th anniversary fabric for the backing.  This print is just slightly different as the colorway is red and it has soft pink magnolia blossoms in the mix. 

 

Both quilts have been given their respective labels and had storage pillowcases made.  They'll be traveling to new homes next month, where I hope they will be used and enjoyed!

Azaleas for March

This month's mini quilt was planned to use up scraps of New Orleans 1850 fabric from my Beautiful Crescent quilt.

I had picked up a copy of Doug Leko's Tabletastic at my Local Quilt Shop.  

 

 After looking through the patterns for months, I finally decided to give "London Wall" a try with the purple and gold scraps.

 

 However, when I pulled out the actual bag of scraps, I realized I had forgotten about the yards and yards of border print scraps from the New Orleans 1850 collection.  I decided these border print strips deserved to be the focus of their own quilt, and the other purple and gold scraps needed to stay with the border print.

It wasn't difficult to find some other happy fabrics in my stash that would work for the London Wall table topper.  

I was inspired by the current bloom of azaleas all over New Orleans.

 

Finished size:  18" x 18"

I call my version "Azaleas on the Avenue" - a nod to the masses of blooming azaleas all along St. Charles Avenue.  St. Charles is one of the main thoroughfares of the city, lined with historic homes, universities, and parks.  It's also the path of the iconic St. Charles streetcar line. 

 

 

 

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.  
 

March Comes in with the Scraps

 I don't know about you, but for the past two weeks I've been struggling to stay focused on long-term or complicated quilt projects. It's not that I've lost my sewing mojo, just that complicated pattern instructions or large piecing projects just seem overwhelming.  Simplicity has been the rule of the day.

In that case, hurrah for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

Antique Tile blocks couldn't be simpler.  A couple of squares, a couple of rectangles, sew everything into 9-patch components - pretty soon you have a finished 12-inch square.  

BTW, this month's color for the RSC is yellow. 😎

 I was able to use up some vintage scraps here - the blue and yellow print is 20 years old.

 The sunflower print is another vintage fabric.  I'll be sad when I've used up the last of these scraps!

The Blackford's Beauty blocks require a little more concentration, but after you've made a few of them, they're not that difficult.  Just assemble the pieces into 9-patch units and sew everything together as you would a 9-patch block.

 After making a BB block in bright yellow scraps, dig out some reproduction yellow/gold scraps and make another block.  I think most of the scraps here were generated during Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp BOW.  Which reminds me I still haven't assembled my SIATW blocks.
 

 You may recall a few weeks ago I was working on a tulip block project for my quilt group.  Tulips are not traditional spring flowers in New Orleans because our climate is not all that favorable to them.  However, they can be coaxed into blooming, and we love the results.

The largest park in New Orleans - City Park - shares a tulip garden every year on the shores of their Big Lake.  This is just a small slice of the scenery, taken the Saturday after Mardi Gras.  Happy Spring!

February Mini: Scrappy Snowballs

 I have had Snowball quilt blocks on the brain since the beginning of 2022.

Snowballs may seem a bit out of place in New Orleans, especially since our winter weather rarely features snow.  

The last time it snowed in New Orleans was December, 2008.  Hardly enough snow for snowballs!
 

 On the other hand, we love our warm-weather snowballs, and consider our version of the summer-time treat to be the best!

The first ice shaving machine was invented in New Orleans in 1936.  The SnoWizard machine started the  New Orleans snowball tradition, and the popularity of snowballs has never waned.

Our snowballs are made with finely shaved ice and heavenly syrup flavors.  At your neighborhood snowball stand you'll find a myriad of fruit flavors as well as local favorites like wedding cake and cream of nectar (nectar was a popular local soft drink flavor back in the day: a combo of almond and vanilla).   There are even "gourmet" snowball emporiums that dish out flavors like vanilla orchid cream, rosehips raspberry, and ginger cayenne.

But I digress.  

 

 My February mini was inspired by a similar quilt I saw online, and the happy chance of finding a stack of 2.5 inch blue squares in my reproduction fabric scrap bin.

The snowballs finished at 2 inches.  The checkered border didn't work out exactly, but that's OK with me.  Most of the fabrics in the top were scraps - just a small amount of yardage was cut to get enough snowball blocks...and the binding.

I found this cute teacup toile in my stash - just right for the backing.

I used a single fold binding again for this quilt.  I'm definitely glad I added this technique to my bag of quilting tricks.

And now I hope I've satisfied my craving for snowballs!

Rainbow Scrap Surprise

 I did not anticipate doing any Rainbow Scrap Challenge sewing this month.

I thought my only ongoing RSC project this year would be to make and assemble Antique Tile blocks.  And maybe assemble some neglected RSC blocks from previous years, but that was really more wishful thinking than an actual plan.

The RSC color for February is teal, and I had already made teal Antique Tile blocks last August, so - no new RSC sewing, right?

Not so fast!  As I was digging through the box of reproduction fabric scraps, looking for fabrics for an entirely different inspiration, I came across a hunk of 2-inch teal strips.  Were there enough strips and enough variety to make a Blackford's Beauty block?

Well yes - another Blackford's Beauty block created!

Hmmm...I also made a Blackford's Beauty block in bright fabric scraps last month.  Are there enough scrappy teal brights to make another BB block?

And another block joins the bunch!

The blocks finish at 12 inches, so if I want a bed-sized quilt I'll need more than just one block per month.  Maybe an alternate chain block?

There's still plenty of time to think about how to put these blocks to use, so for now I'm just going to enjoy making them every month!