Cassandra's Circle BOM Block Five

The sixth Cassandra's Circle block was posted this morning at Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog.  Thank goodness I finished the June block just in time!

Russian Sunflowers - Cassandra's Circle block five.

My plan for this BOM was to only use fabrics from my chosen fabric collection and not add additional fabrics if at all possible.  It has been an interesting challenge!

Civil War Appliqué BOM Update

I've been participating in Barbara Brackman's Civil War appliqué BOM projects for the past two years.  

In 2019, the theme was Hospital Sketches, featuring stories about hospital care during the Civil War.  This year's theme is Cassandra's Circle, focusing on the lives of Confederate women in the social circle of diarist Mary Boykin Chestnut.

I used stash fabrics (except for backgrounds) for the Hospital Sketches blocks, but found my stash lacking in appropriate sashing and border fabrics. 

Happily, I found some suitable fabrics this spring and completed the flimsy.  I had to tweak the exposure on the photo quite a bit to even get the outer border fabric to show up - it's a dark blue paisley.  

This project was a great experience in choosing fabrics for appliqué.  I still have much to learn, but I'm enjoying the process!

This month's block for Cassandra's Circle is called Texas Star.

Several options were suggested for the center star image.  I liked the crossed five-pointed stars.  I especially enjoyed cutting the wreath using a folded paper (freezer paper in this case) technique.

Non-appliqué department

We're having a really prolific year of jalapeños.  So far I've made pico de gallo and pickled jalapeños.  I chopped up another batch and froze them.  And more were split, seeded, and roasted, then frozen.  And still the peppers keep growing!

Cassandra's Circle BOM Block Three

During April, I got distracted with face mask sewing and other projects, and didn't get around to stitching my Cassandra's Circle block until late in the month.  I managed to finish block three well before the end of the month, but I forgot about posting my results.

Here without further ado, is my Cassandra's Circle, Block Three:  Palmetto Wreath.

I added a Fleur de Lis to my block to represent my city - New Orleans.  I learned a lot about all the variations in fleur de lis designs as I was figuring out my block addition.  

The next block in the series - Texas Star - has already been posted, so I guess I better get busy choosing fabrics and stitching!

Cassandra's Circle BOM: Block One

I couldn't resist playing along with Barbara Brackman's 2020 Civil War BOM:  Cassandra's Circle.  

The Civil War history focus for this BOM is the diary of South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chestnut.  

The BOM project itself will be a much larger quilt, including a large center medallion, and an appliquéd border.

I decided to stay with reproduction style fabrics for this year's BOM.  Several years ago, I inadvertently purchased two identical fat quarter collections from Penny Rose Fabrics:  Civil War Times.  I decided to put them to use on this project - I should have plenty of fabric!

The January block, called Washington's Plume, is also the center medallion.  After prepping all the pieces with the freezer paper/starch method, I used invisible stitch machine appliqué to attach the pieces.  As much as I have learned to enjoy hand appliqué, I wanted to get the block finished by the end of the month!

The February block, Mulberry Wreath, was published last week.  I have been contemplating how I can represent the leaves on the wreath using just my fat quarter fabrics, i. e. not adding any green fabric.  Luckily, I just learned a new-to-me appliqué tip from @Red_Alfreda (Mary Jenkins) on Instagram.  

Photocopied fabric

Her tip was to photocopy fabric to help plan how to cut shapes for broderie perse appliqué.  I figured the technique would work for auditioning appliqué shapes, too.

Now I can contemplate which fabric layout I like better before I even cut into my fabric!

Hospital Sketches BOM: Shift Change

I finished up the last Hospital Sketches appliqué block - Star of the East - earlier this month. 

I used machine appliqué on the last block,  even though I re-discovered the joy of hand appliqué on this project.  Sometimes you just need to get things finished, and machine appliqué definitely speeds the process along.

Now that the blocks are finished, I'm a little stuck.  I need some yardage for sashing and/or borders, but I don't have anything suitable in my stash.  The two quilt stores closest to me don't really carry much selection of reproduction or repro-friendly fabrics, so I may be hunting for awhile.

In the meantime, I'll be contemplating Barbara Brackman's newest Civil War-themed appliqué project, Cassandra's Circle.  The latest BOM will have patterns for a much larger quilt - 97 inches - if one completes all the blocks and borders.  I'm not sure I want to undertake a project that large, so I'm not sure if I'll make all the blocks or pick and choose.  Either way, I know I'll enjoy the history lessons presented with each block!

Hospital Sketches BOM: Never Give Up!

No surprise - I'm still trying to catch up with my appliqué blocks for Barbara Brackman's Hospital Sketches BOM.

The June block was Pineapple.  The pattern introduction also featured a great story about Walt Whitman visiting Civil War hospitals in Washington, DC.  Highly recommended reading!

My fabric choices don't look so great in the photograph, but the blue print on a white background does show up better in person.  If I were doing the block over, I think I'd choose a different fabric, maybe a with a light blue background.  Learning about appliqué fabric choices was one of my goals for this project, and I've already learned lots!

The July block was Mountain Laurel.  I finished prepping all the leaves yesterday.  I just need to make the bias stems for each batch of leaves and I'll be ready to stitch everything in place.  

The next block in the series is Tennessee Rose.  I doubt I'll finish Mountain Laurel and get a good start on the rose before a new block is introduced this coming Wednesday.  It's OK, I'll just keep working through at my own speed!  It's all about the process, not the result - right?

Hospital Sketches: Periwinkle Wreath

So...Barbara Brackman is doing another BOM on her Civil War Quilts blog.  

The theme for this BOM is Hospital Sketches - looking at the roles of women in Civil War hospitals.  

I knew I would be participating, because - historical appliqué patterns AND a hospital setting!  

I don't think I've really talked about my profession on the blog.  Yup, I'm a nurse, and I originally trained at an old-fashioned hospital-based nursing school about 100 years ago.  That's my graduation picture - we had finally given up wearing starched white pinafores and graduated to more modern nurses' uniforms.

While I waited for the first BOM block to be published, I debated over what type of fabrics to use.  My love for blue and white quilts was my final inspiration, because I've never done a blue and white appliqué quilt.

I assembled a basket full of potential fabrics, some of which were leftovers from other projects and some new and uncut fat quarters.  I also decided to keep my background fabric fairly simple and purchased yardage in a cross-weave type off-white fabric.

The first block, Periwinkle Wreath, was a tribute to Louisa May Alcott, who served in a Union hospital during the war.  I won't give away her story, because you should hop over and read it!

As much as I'd like to be doing hand-stitched appliqué, I knew I'd NEVER finish the blocks in a timely fashion.  I used freezer paper and starch to prep the shapes, and machine appliqué using invisible thread to stitch them in place.  Yippee for finishing!

FYI, if you have a Facebook account, there is a Facebook group for the BOM if you want to see all the different blocks.