New Orleans House Project

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Catching Up with Cassandra

 I've been following along with Barbara Brackman's latest appliqué BOM - Cassandra's Circle.  

I've enjoyed the accompanying Civil War history stories about Mary Chestnut (the Cassandra of the BOM title) and her circle of friends.

More importantly, I've enjoyed the appliqué challenges: learning different appliqué techniques, and improving my understanding of color and fabric choices for appliqué.

I finished block 8 yesterday (Cotton Boll), just in time for block 9 (Lost Love), published today.  I used freezer paper and starch to prep the appliqué pieces.  The pieces were stitched in place using machine appliqué - in this case, a very narrow zig-zag stitch and monofilament thread.

Since the design wall was empty, I did a quick arrangement of all the completed blocks.  Not a great photo, but it does remind me I need to use some more blue fabrics.  That's a perfect starting point for the Lost Love block!