Don't Forget the Scraps!

 I've been focused on other quilting projects this month, but I still found some time to work on Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

The RSC color for August was teal/aqua.  I found lots of scraps and chunks to use, but I also cut into some yardage and made new scraps.

Taking inspiration from Gayle at Mangofeet and Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting, I started making some Antique Tile blocks.  These are great scrap busters!  You can find instructions and more inspiration at Generations Quilt Patterns.

I'm still making Sugar Loaf blocks using the instructions from American Patchwork and Quilting October 2015.

I used some previously uncut Bonnie and Camille yardage for this block.  It felt good to cut into some fabric that had been marinating for a long time!

Talk about fortuitous use of scraps - the outer print in this block is leftovers from a pillowcase I had just made to hold a gifted quilt.  It's a neat print of tropical birds and foliage, but with a watercolor painting-like feel.

Looking through my stack of Easy Breezy blocks, I noticed there were almost no aqua/teal blocks.  That was quickly remedied.

Two other scrappy projects crossed my path this month - lotto blocks from a newly joined local quilting group.  

New Orleans doesn't really have a city-wide quilting guild.  Instead, we have the region-wide Gulf States Quilting Association, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida (mostly just the panhandle area).  The group sponsors quilt shows, quilting education, and meets quarterly in different locations throughout the Gulf Coast.

Under the Association's umbrella, different localities have their own quilting organizations.  Some are large, traditional quilt guilds, others are smaller, informal gatherings.  New Orleans and the surrounding area has multiple small gatherings/groups.  I was recently invited to join one of these groups; they keep the membership around 20 members due to meeting place size constraints.  I attended my first meeting at the end of July.  I look forward to getting to know the group better!

They do lotto blocks every month.  Each month, a different member chooses the lotto block and provides instructions and background fabric.

The July block was this spool pattern.  I made mine retro-actively.

For August, the lotto blocks had a New Orleans twist.  

The lotto leader wanted to decrease her large stash of New Orleans-themed fabric scraps, so she chose the Jenny Lane house blocks pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  

The leader provided all the pre-cut fabrics instead of just the background fabric.  My fabrics included illustrations of New Orleans shotgun houses and a plate of Cafe du Monde beignets.  The winner of the lotto blocks will receive everyone's house blocks, plus a copy of the Jenny Lane pattern, so they can assemble the entire quilt.  

We are in hurricane prep mode.  The National Hurricane Center says Ida has the potential to be a Category 3 storm at landfall.  Whatever happens, we're probably in for some rough weather over the next couple of days.  As our governor says, we plan for the worst and hope for the best!

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.

August for Appliqué?

 When I went to Florida last month, I took along an appliqué project that was long-neglected.

I started making the blocks for Blackbird Designs' Gathered Harvest quilt in January of 2018.  The project was a BOM from my local quilt shop, Quilted Owl (sadly, now closed).

Most of the blocks were machine appliquéd with invisible thread, but I stitched this one by hand (no sewing machine at my mom's house).

BTW, the project can be found in the book Fresh Picked in case you're looking for a Blackbird Designs project to make in honor of Barb Adams.

With this block complete, I only need to make four Grapevine Wreath blocks.

Grapevine Wreath by Barb Adams

Shouldn't take too long to make four of these blocks, right? 

You'll notice each block has 20 appliquéd circles.  In contemplating the best method for making all those circles, I considered Karen Kaye Buckley's Perfect Circles and the Applipops tool.  I finally decided the best method for me would be to order some 1 inch circle templates from Paper Pieces and prep all the circles at once.

I also ordered an acrylic circle template which includes a 1/4 inch seam allowance (Paper Pieces).  I used it last night to trace and prep a few circles, but found the 1/4 inch seam allowance to be a little generous for the circle size.  I may be better off just using one of the card stock circle templates to trace the circle shape and cut my own (less generous) seam allowance.

Taking a glance at the calendar, I see we're already half-way through August.  If August is for appliqué, I need to get busy!

Back in the String of Things!

 We spent some time at our camp last weekend, and during an afternoon thunderstorm I pulled out some denim strips I had started stitching for a utility quilt. 

The plan was to make a Rail Fence quilt using fabric from cut-up jeans.  

I'm pretty sure the project has been untouched since last August!

Even though I enjoyed the mindless sewing therapy, I was pretty bored with the lack of fabric variation.  I decided it was time to bring a new string-piecing project to the camp to alternate with stitching up the denim Rail Fence blocks.

After making the flamingo hexagon quilt (Flamboyant Flamingos), I had plenty of pink and green fabric scraps.  

A lot of the fabric was in pretty hole-y condition, thanks to fussy-cutting.  I thought a pink and green string quilt might be a good way to use up the leftovers.

My first thought was to make quarter Log Cabin blocks.  I wasn't crazy about the light pink centers, but the dark pink centers had some pizzaz!

I wasn't sure my scrap supply had the right variety of fabrics for successful Log Cabin blocks though.  Maybe I needed to do something more random.

Maybe some string-y diamonds will do the trick?

I still haven't decided for sure, but I've got a bunch of paper diamonds cut, and a box full of pink and green strings.  I’m looking forward to stitching up some pink and green along with the denim!

The July Report

 We are well and truly into the dog days of summer!  

That means not only is the weather hot and steamy, but it's also Doggie Daycare time!

This year it's just our son David's dog, Jozy (rear).  He's from the same litter as our dog, McKenzie, so it's a family reunion of sorts.  David has a month-long job assignment in California every summer, so he brings Jozy to stay with us.

I missed David's visit/Jozy's arrival, as I was in Florida with my mom.  She wound up in the hospital over July 4th weekend with a nasty case of bronchitis (thank goodness, not Covid!).  I stayed with her after the hospitalization to make sure she was following doctor's orders and to get her to all her follow-up appointments.  

Of course I packed some stitching projects to work on, but I got distracted by Mom's library.  

She has saved copies of lots of the good ol' books we both enjoyed back in the day.  I got caught up in re-reading some favorites.  Indeed, I've embarked on a bit of a Georgette Heyer binge.  Yay for summertime reading!

Before I left for Florida, I had started playing with an idea for a July mini quilt.  I guess this will become an August mini quilt!

This Rainbow Scrap Challenge project got finished up during July.  Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads did the quilting and I hand-stitched the binding, label, and hanging sleeve.  It's been shipped off to it's intended recipient with the less-than-original name "Scraphappy Stars". 

Another July finish: I love how the fan quilting (again, Butterfly Threads Quilting) looks in this quilt!  I made this quilt top several years ago and never proceeded to the quilting stage.  In February, a visiting friend fell in love with the un-quilted top, so I finished the quilt and gave it to her.  I'm glad the quilt found a happy home!

I was also able to finish a Sugar Loaf block for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color:  dark blue.  I already have two blue blocks in light blues and bright blues, so I figured one more blue block was plenty.  

And since the Sugar Loaf blocks make scraps in just the right sizes, I made two Easy Breezy blocks.  

And now I'm off to watch the dogs frolic in their wading pool!  Stay cool, stay hydrated, stay safe, and have a fun August!

Flamboyant Flamingos

 The flamingo hexagon quilt is finally finished!

It currently has pride of place on the quilt hanger in my dining room.  I think I need a life-size wire flamingo sculpture to go with it - right?!

I was originally inspired by Barb Vedder's Hex Vex quilt.

At the time, Barb sold a pattern that included instructions and starter paper pieces for the different shapes needed for the quilt.  

As much as I loved Barb's Halloween theme, I already had a stash of fabrics that I thought would make a great interpretation: flamingos!  I pieced my first blocks in April of 2017.

Barb's Hex Vex description mentioned being inspired by Kim McLean's hexagon quilt from Quilter's Newletter Magazine, March 2005.  As luck would have it, I still had a copy of that very issue.  I immediately made a copy of the cover and consulted it repeatedly for inspiration.

It took several years to accumulate enough pieced hexies for a quilt.  The finished quilt has over 100 pieced blocks, as well as plain blocks.  It measures 60 inches by 52 inches.

I had a blast fussy-cutting all the different print fabrics I picked for the quilt!  I cut several "viewing windows" from card stock to help me visualize how different motifs would look as part of a block.  Later, I bought acrylic templates from Paper Pieces so I could cut block pieces using my 18 mm rotary cutter.

After experimenting with different fabric prep methods, I settled on using pre-cut card stock shapes from Paper Pieces.  The purchased shapes were much more accurate than shapes I could make on my own.  I also used a fabric glue stick to attach the fabric to the card stock shapes.

Once the quilt top was assembled, I sent it to Diane Knott of Butterfly Threads for quilting.  
The simple swirl design of the quilting was a good compliment to all the movement in the quilt top!

I had a big piece of flamingo fabric that didn't make it into the quilt top, but looked great on the back.  The yellow stripe in the sleeve matched the yellow in the flamingo print, so that was an easy choice.

And what does one call a group of flamingos?  

A flamboyance, of course!

Many thanks to Barb for the inspiration and Diane for the quilting!

I think I will be entering Flamboyant Flamingos in my local quilt show next year!

Cassandra's Tale

 Apologies if you came here looking for a June mini quilt.  I attempted two different mini quilts this month and flamed out on both of them.  I think maybe the UFOs in my sewing room were making too much noise!

Instead, I can report I have finished assembling the flimsy for Cassandra's Circle - Barbara Brackman's appliqué BOM from 2020.

The BOM started in January with Washington's Plume as a center medallion block.

I managed to keep up with the monthly blocks using a combination of hand appliqué and invisible stitch machine appliqué.

Here are the completed blocks, trimmed and ready for assembly.  The blocks measure 18 inches, so the quilt was already pretty good-sized.

The quilt pattern came with instructions for an appliquéd border treatment.  I swear I purchased enough fabric to make the borders, but when it came time for cutting the fabric I realized I didn't have enough.

Decisions, decisions.  Do I hunt down more background fabric and proceed with the borders or add plain borders and call it a day?  Que background noise from the host of UFOs in the room...

Answer is:  add simple sashing and borders.  

Press carefully and start thinking about how to quilt.  

Now measuring 84 inches by 84 inches, it's going to have lots of quilty memories when it's finally complete!

Purple Flashes of Brilliance

 I did a little playing with purple scraps this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  My initial thought when I looked through my purple scrap/yardage drawer was that it was time to make a mostly purple scrap quilt.  There are lots of chunks of purple fabric just waiting to get used up.  Unfortunately, the thought didn't evolve into a plan, so no purple scrap quilt has gotten started.  

On the other hand, I did manage to make two Sugar Loaf blocks using purple scrap chunks.

One lavender Sugar Loaf block.

And one darker purple block. 

The Flashes of Brilliance quilt calls for 25 blocks.  I've completed 12 so far, using the RSC monthly colors.  

The scraps from cutting the Sugar Loaf blocks are great for making Easy Breezy blocks.  

While I had purple on the brain, I remembered a quilt kit I had purchased from the Quilted Owl (alas, now closed) several years ago.  

Photo courtesy of the Quilted Owl.

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

The fabrics are from a collection called New Orleans 1850 by Newcastle Fabrics.

I got all the quilt parts and pieces cut out this week.  So I guess instead of making a purple scrap quilt, I'll be making a purple-by-design quilt.  I love the color purple, so I'm a happy camper either way!

Summer's Here

Summer has descended on New Orleans in classic fashion:  daytime high temperatures in the mid-90s with corresponding high humidity.  Cooling afternoon thunderstorms that may or may not reach your neighborhood.  Tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tomato season (see previous post) comes to an end when the weather gets too hot for the tomato plants to flourish.  Unfortunately for us, this year's tomato season has been a bust - and I haven't had a single tomato sandwich!

In less than 24 hours, Tomato Hornworms devoured the tomato plants we grow in pots here in town.  I had never heard of these guys until I spied them on the tomato plant remains and Googled them.  Not only did they eat the best tomatoes we had going, but they stripped the plants of all leaves, too.  Dear Hubby was so upset, he picked off every one of them and took great pleasure in squishing them underfoot!

A few days later, I found these guys eating my parsley - again, stripping the plants down to the nubs!  Turns out, these are Parsley Worms or Caterpillars.  They eventually turn into Swallowtail Butterflies, but I didn't want to see all my parsley destroyed just to meet their needs (there were about a half dozen of them).  Into a tin of soapy water they went.  I still have a little parsley left - hopefully it will grow back.

We also grow tomatoes at our camp in Mississippi.  Unfortunately, the mockingbirds made a fine feast of most of the tomatoes there!  

Even the Creole tomatoes from the Farmer's Market weren't all that good this year - too mushy and not much flavor.  Sigh.

Fortunately, there is always plenty of quilty stuff around the house to keep me happy.  A UFO had been calling out to me, so I pulled out the parts and pieces and proceeded to play.

I started making four inch Sawtooth Star blocks back in 2015 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  After a year or so of making the blocks, I had a good-sized stash and a plan to use them in a medallion-style quilt with an appliqué center.  It took a few more years (!) to come up with a plan for the appliqué block, but I finally had my plan ready.

Fabric selection was fun...and messy!

Here's the final arrangement pinned in place.  The block is from the book Friendship's Garden, by Alma Allen and Cherie Ralston.

Now everything is all stitched up and I'm contemplating the next step.  I used machine appliqué for the center block.  The quilt measures 44 inches square at this point.  The quilt is telling me another border (maybe two?) is needed, but it's not saying what that border should be.  Back to playing with fabrics and scraps, I guess!