Crossroads and Baskets

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

~E.B. White

Quilting

I'm still avoiding BB2 but eventually I'll get to work on it. Currently I chose to work with the red Crossroad border blocks. {No. It's still not the end. Sheesh.} Remember they didn't work well with the orange and brown squares on BB2. Audrey's many baskets inspired me to try one of my own. As usual I thought about appliqué and chickened out.

I designed the baskets to {almost} fit inside the border. Either coping strips or an inner border will be needed to fill it out. 

Since there wasn't enough background for all four baskets, I used two older prints: pink birds on white and yellow floral on white. Fabrics were mixed and matched until they looked right. The green, yellow, and pink triangles came from a scrap bin but the others were cut from stash. 

With the baskets mostly decided, I cut two strips: a black and white stripe and a multicolor stripe on the diagonal to separate them. While the stronger contrast of black and white draws me, the multicolor may work better.  Progress photos in the montage below.

Originally I planned to put one fabric in the center but changed my mind. The strips will continue across the center and one of these squares below will be the post. 

This needs to be pushed along because a new baby needs it. 

Reading

Dr. Kalanithi worked as a neurosurgeon when he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. This memoir of his life and treatment was published posthumously. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

2024 Ends

My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: Loving others.

~Bob Hope

Quilting

It’s been a long year. Not the toughest one I’ve experienced but my resiliency wanes. Less energy to “move mountains” but more remembrance of loved ones who’ve passed and more visits with those still here. Quilt finishes slowed significantly. I have a mental list of ones I’d still like to make. One resolution is to work only on those… Well, mostly on those. 

Blogger frequently fights me. I have trouble adding photos, commenting, and formatting. it. I started this blog to document my quilting and to connect with people with similar interests. I’m grateful for the friends I’ve met online. Even if you can’t comment, several of you email regularly. Although Blogger is a legacy product, I’ll keep using it.

The quilts finished this year are on my 2024 page. Although my personal promise was to finish each in turn all the way through, a few were set aside. Such as that quilt from four leftover blocks. Wow; it's from 2022. Time flies. 

Quilt top from four leftover sets

I'm also way behind on BB2. There are ideas but not much time or energy right now. Hopefully that will change after the holiday. 

Reading

Dr. Mukherjee has written an excellent history of cancer from its earliest written records through the latest research developments. Although it’s written for laymen, you’ll need to pay attention to get the most from his book. 

Wishing all love, inclusion, and acceptance. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Enjoy the day, Ann

TIGER Baby Quilt

Every disaster movie starts with the government ignoring a scientist.

Quilting

If you follow my posts, you realize I often create baby quilts in series which frequently use leftover blocks and scraps/offcuts from larger ones. Not that I ever tell parents this. People who don't quilt think scraps mean roadkill or something! We know the fabric is still in the $10-15/yard range. 

Once I made a series of Lone Stars; I still have some ideas about that. They started with lots of WOF strips that were hanging around. 

The Word series began from the idea of traditional four block quilts - those lovely, large (usually appliquéd) blocks that fill the entire bed. I could make them smaller for babies and instead of appliqué, use the alphabet because... four-letter words. Wordle uses five-letter words. That made me wonder how many four-letter words are suitable for babies. LOVE came first; eventually a list developed. Not all have been used but I'm running out of Coin sets - only a few left in the scrap bag. 

Combining the last few sets, a yellow and purple group emerged… because my youngest is an LSU grad and surely one of his friends would like a baby quilt in these colors. 

The next step was to find a pertinent four-letter word. Unlike his Arkansas brother, all the words were three or five letters: Geaux, Tiger, LSU. Rats. Eventually I realized the “I” could be altered to take less space. A capital I runs into the letter T but the lower case i solved the problem.

TiGER baby quilt

The purple print was purchased at the closing of my LQS but, as usual, it needed to be widened a bit. Two strips of yellow turned up in a search through my stash. 

Choosing the plainer one finished the back. Then it was spiral quilted and bound with the last of another purple print. 

We’ll see who gets it. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44” x 44”

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: yellow Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: spiral with a walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

Reading

The Black Angels are trained black nurses, mainly from the South, who moved to NY to escape the worst of Jim Crow. There was no cure for TB. Staff members risked becoming patients themselves. With plentiful easier positions available, white nurses quit and/or refused to work at tuberculosis clinics. The authorities advertised down South, promising the women could gain RN status after a few years. 

Cures for TB were not found until after WWII.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Bramble Blooms 2 Again

Life is like writing with a pen. You can cross out your past but you can’t erase it.

~E.B. White

Quilting

Yes, I started BB2 and it progressed into some very light blues… which are not in the original fabric pull. That doesn’t matter except the fabric is still pulled and taking up floor space. Now I’m trying to use a few of the orange and red squares I cut so profligately. 

First, a simple alternate diagonal. Nah.

\

Trip Around the World was another, “No.”

Finally set them randomly with alternate dark browns. No photo of that step because it wouldn't upload. 

Of course, I still have some Crossroads blocks, this time with red backgrounds. And of course, it’s still a great border.

But… they don’t play well with the center. However, the green and orange print makes a good inner border. There’s about a yard so I’m cutting the border wide now. I can cut it down later. Once I made an appliqué border a mere six inches wide and had loads of difficulties fitting things in. 

I’m determined to appliqué this round. There are several yards of leftover stems in my binding box from the Spiderweb quilt that are much too narrow for this wider inner border. Yuck.

I’ll cut some wider stems using Audrey’s method. I think another quilt teacher used that same technique years ago. More recently, someone suggested the bias fold method and I bought several of those tools. It works well until I get to a seam, then I always have an unsightly bulge. Audrey’s plan eliminates that issue.

Reading

Mike Duncan wrote a well-researched book on the Marquis de Lafayette. I didn’t know much about his life in France. Did you know he went to school with one of their future kings? And I learned more about his time in the US. 

Happy Thanksgiving. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

REST Baby Quilt

Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. 

~E.B. White

 Quilting

The previous quilt used the medium green sets but there's still a bunch of dark green ones. They only seem to work with these dark browns. I like the combination although it's pretty old-fashioned. My stash also contained these pastel tan and green solids. That's how this quilt came about. 

The back came from a LQS closing sale. While it's exciting to get the fabric so cheaply, it means fewer choices in the future. I have trouble getting fabrics I really like online - either the colors are off or the fabric itself doesn't have a nice hand.  

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44” x 44”

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose Cotton

Thread: green Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: spiral with a walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

REST also goes to friends of my youngest. 

Reading

Who remembers Orange Guy's terrible response to the Covid-19 outbreak that led to one of the worst outcomes in any country? Nightmare Scenario was written shortly after the end of his term but I only read it now. What a reminder of horrible actions or lack of actions. Who else recalls that Orange Guy got Covid and then got experimental treatments that were unavailable to regular citizens. So many people died unnecessarily.

Enjoy the day, Ann

WISH Baby Quilt

If you're going to rise, you might as well shine.

Quilting

We're feeling better and now trying to reschedule all the appointments we missed this fall. We voted by mail and verified our ballots have been accepted. As Nann said, “May the best woman win.” There's a lot of yard- and house work to catch up on. We aren't at full strength yet but improving daily. I restarted exercise classes and am worn out after each. Again, it will get better. 

I've washed as much red out of the nine-patch quilt as I possibly can. The white background of that lovely floral is still pink but I'm out of ideas of how to remove it. It's folded up again. Waiting. The other two quilts cleaned up very well though.

Fortunately, there's still a lot of partially processed quilt blocks/sets that make quilting easier. Blues and greens are the next combination of coins for a baby quilt. I sewed the sets a few years ago, rolled them into tight cylinders. and set them in my scrap bag.  Now is the time to use them up.

W was the hardest letter to create. Truncating the corners of the letter made it easier. I used that effect for previous letters like V, too. When the letters are angled I find making a template works best. Afterwards I pin the templates together in case they are needed for future words. 

When I first started this series, each quilt was four different colors - one for each letter. However, the Arkansas quilts showed well two color choices work. 

WISH baby quilt

The back is fabric I purchased online for a dress then didn't like when it arrived. The colors are much less saturated in person. After a few months of pouting, I'm putting it to use as quilt backs. Since the quilt is just a bit wider than one WOF, I inserted leftovers blue and green coin sets. The value sequence looks interesting to me.

Quilt Specifics

Size: 45” x 45”

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose Cotton 

Thread: green Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: spiral with walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

Reading

The subtitle of Cat Bohannon's book explains her premise: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution. She notes that the past century of research has focused almost exclusively on males, leaving us with less than half the information we should have on everything from medical care and drug interactions to anthropological studies. 

Cat chooses points on the evolutionary timeline that illuminate changes that led to the development mammals and humans. The book is densely packed with information but provides a very different explanation that all the previous male-centric theories. Definitely worth reading. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Coming Clean

You can edit a bad book but not a blank page.

Quilting

Things have been off around here since the end of August. Whenever one issue ends, another begins. So DH was sick, then gave it to me. Then he caught another infection, then I did. Mine led to vertigo which meant I couldn’t read or even sew much. 

Fortunately I’d almost finished the SING quilt. It just needed binding and a gentle wash. This is where the saying at the top of this post fits because I forgot to put color catchers in the wash and it bled. The black and white binding became black and pink. It took many repeated rinses with oxygen bleach, Shout, and detergent to get it out. And I couldn’t stand up long much of that time - just long enough to get it out of the machine, check the stains, and reapply products. 

Now that I’m better there are other quilts with issues. For example, Strippy Nine-Patch from 2019 had the same problem only worse. The solid red backing bled all over the light pink and white floral turning it dark pink. Oddly, none of the red set on the Kona Snow. It was so disheartening I washed the quilt once and put it away because our place in California had no room to lay out a quilt for drying. It ended up on the kitchen floor, sort of scrunched. 

This time I washed it with four color catchers which came out bright red. Repeated with another four. Then moved to the tub and soaked with oxygen bleach and even more color catchers. I put it in every afternoon, swished it occasionally, then let it soak overnight.

It’s not perfect but much better. The color catchers are only the lightest pink at this point. Hopefully a few more tub soaks will lighten the floral where some of the white shows again.

Shadow Star didn’t bleed but the binding shredded in the final wash. That happened once before when some black fabric completely washed away. This time, the binding shredded very neatly along the stripe. I cried and set it aside because of all the work removing the binding, straightening the edge, prepping new binding fabric, and sewing it on.  My guild has a show next year so this was the time to fix that. So now there’s a similar light blue binding. 

I’m still adding a sleeve and a label. I quit using labels years ago and simply sew my name in cursive on the finished quilt. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

SING Quilt

The sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it's here is up to us.

~Alexandra Elle

Quilting

Tucked in a bag of scraps are several Coin sets in a variety of colors. I actually remember making these a couple of years ago. Now’s the time to use them in some smaller quilts. First up are the red and white leftovers from the Arkansas series and someone I know could use this.

SING quilt

The red and white look festive; the black and white binding reminds me of piano keys. Once I remembered it was in my stash, the choices below just couldn’t cut the mustard. The red and white stripe looks pink at a distance and the red blends into the background. 

The back is a lovely floral widened with {almost} the last of the red Coins.

Back of SING quilt

It’s almost ready to show to my friend. We’ll see what he thinks. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 45” x 45”

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose Cotton 

Thread: white Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: spiral with walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

Reading

 After reading a review of Impossible Creatures I pre-ordered the book for my oldest grandchildren and another for myself.  Written for middle schoolers up, it’s a delightful read for adults, too. I’m already anticipating the sequel.

 

While visiting his grandfather Christopher discovers he guards the portal between earth and the Archipelago, the place where all magical creatures live as well as the source of Glimourie. Christopher joins forces with Mal, a girl from the Archipelago, in a desperate race to save them - and earth - from extinction. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Another Racetrack Quilt

I don't want free healthcare; I want my taxes to pay for it, not war. 

I don't want money for nothing; I want a job that pays for my basic needs. 

I don't want a free place to live; I want affordable housing that costs no more than 30% of my income. 

I don't want corporations to be unprofitable; I want them out of the political election, regulatory, and policy-making processes. 

I don't expect elections to deliver the results I want; I want my vote to count. 

I don't want the wealthy to pay for everything; iI want them to pay for their fair share.

~Drew Jacoby

 

Quilting

My second grandson celebrates a birthday soon. Although he's crazy about trucks and cars, I've never made him a racetrack quilt like his older cousin. He's just the age to enjoy it. I've been collecting conversation fabric for a while and my sister sent more. Enough to make a top. 

Mostly the quilt is made of traditional Snake in the Grass blocks which have quarter-circle tracks on opposite sides. I add a few Plus and three-way intersection blocks to provide a variety of paths across the quilt. Last time I randomly sewed the units into blocks and then put them together. This time I laid many of the units out in an attempt to get a more complex roadway.

When most of the pieces were arranged, I didn't like the color placements. Much rearrangement followed. 

I'll spare you the many, many attempts but here's one. 

Eventually, it was better. I sewed it together. Glancing over while walking down the stairs, I saw a problem. See the closed circuit?

Unsewing and resewing followed. Next I stitched in the ditch along each side of the roadway then stipple quilted the ground.

Since I wanted a slightly larger quilt, I increased the length of the outer blocks this time because a separate border didn't seem like a solution. In hindsight, this may not be much better although it gives children a place to sit while moving their vehicles.

The back is this darling roadster print by Alexander Henry. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 53" x 53"

Design: Drunkard's Path or Snake block

Batting: Warm and Natural

Thread: Superior white and yellow cotton

Quilting: Stitch-in-the-ditch and stipple

Approximate yardage: 5.25 yards

Reading

Sue Black has written an informative book about forensic anthropology and how she identifies bones. She pulls cases from her long career with legal and  educational institutions. Like the best professionals, she makes details intelligible to the general public. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Crossroad Blocks into a Baby Quilt

The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.

~Fred Astaire

Quilting

Yet another set of crossroads blocks. They've made several borders for me... like my Bramble Blooms 1 and The Square Deal {which I kept for myself}. The collection of 25 became the center of a baby quilt.

Crossroad quilt blocks

The green fabric has seven lengthwise repeats separated by a wavy brown line. It's visible on some of the borders below. They gave me the idea of adding a dark inner border. It was too severe but adding a third border in light green helped. However, the four blue cornerstone blocks do not. Out they went. 

Next the spiral quilting commenced. Now that I have the technique mastered, it's my go-to for baby quilts. I happily cross any and all patterns. Echo quilting shows well on prints while the prints themselves still hide quilting imperfections. There are few starts and stops - only when the bobbin thread runs out. I always bury threads so prefer to have a minimum of them to contend with.

Without interruptions the quilting is finished in two days. If something comes up, it can take much longer though. 

This simple quilt has three outer borders: a very pale green, a black with multicolored dots, and a wide flower garden on chartreuse. The dark border looks irregular but that's the remnant of the wavy line in the border print. I hadn't mitered corners in a while. There's no attempt to "match" the design but I find mitering and inset seams easy to do although the sewing is a bit different. Here it's a better solution than sewing the border like courthouse steps. 

Crossroads baby quilt with flower garden border

The binding is a diagonally printed red and white stripe also used on Bramble Blooms #1. 

The back used up most of three leftover fabrics. {Do I ever really use all of any fabric? Even when I think so, there are frequently small bits and strings in my scrap bag. They are a joyful find since they recall previous quilts and the lovely people they were given to.} 

Notice how the spiral quilting shows well on the lighter blue but disappears on the other prints.  

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44" x 44"

Design: Crossroads blocks with border print

Batting: Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon Cotton

Thread: Superior green cotton

Quilting: walking foot spiral

Approximate yardage: 3-4 yards

Reading

Tiya Miles' book, Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People is an engaging read. Most of us know the basics of Harriet's story but Tiya uses her skills as a historian to show her faith, her deep understanding of the natural world she lived in, and her relationship with other enslaved women whose memoirs and speeches encompass some of Harriet's. Tiya's work shows us how to excavate the lives of people who left few written and legal records - the circumstance of many people throughout history. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

The Last Wonky Stars

You never know who is right but you always know who is in charge.

Quilting

I've been helping my kids so this post is late. Here's the final wonky stars with two larger slab-center stars. There aren't very many but this layout might work with two simple borders. It's just not too exciting at the moment. 

There was just enough dark red to make the inner border a funny width { I think it was 1 7/8".} Then I pulled a white print to fill out the star border and cut it to fit. The outer border was a bit more problematical but a black and brown batik seems to echo the inner border and relate the more beige/yellow star backgrounds with the more white/brown/grey outer border. What an improvement to the "ugly duckling" start.

Wonky Stars Medallion baby quilt

That print of birds in winter was a gift from my sister and reminds us both of our grandparents. They had a bird feeder that attracted loads of cardinals. What fun to watch them.

A diagonally printed stripe for the back with spiral quilting again and this baby quilt is also done and gifted. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 40" x 40"

Design: Slab-Center and Wonky Stars

Batting: Mountain Mist Cotton

Thread: Superior white cotton thread

Quilting: walking foot spiral

Approximate yardage: 3.5 yds

Enjoy the day, Ann

Bramble Blooms II QAL

Habitually creative people are prepared to be lucky.

~E.B. White

Quilting

Remember all those months ago when we divided our fabric into three stacks? It's been a while since I looked at the others and I couldn't quite recall everything in them. Last time I was inspired by the white fabric with pastel circles on it. This time I'm driven to use this little bird print remnant from our darling sister who passed away almost a decada ago.  

There is so little that centering the design in each block isn't possible. Also, the shortest length is 5.25" so that will be the size of the squares.  I managed to cut seven squares and one is a bit funky. 

Audrey used X blocks for her center but there are loads of those on my outer border. I skipped four patches so that seems a better place for me to start. There's a shoebox of squares that have been aging on the shelf. I mixed some of those with some stash. Despite wanting to make 4 or 16-patches, these will have to be nine-patches. But there's no reason to make them match. Here they are set as "semi" four-patches.  And it's not working. 

Thinking it needed cooler colors, I tried again with blue and green squares but didn't like it much better. 

Finally, the penny dropped. It needed the darker colors to be O's instead of X's. I added an outer round with cream alternate blocks. 

Success. And fun. Of course, there's now a bunch of orange squares in that shoebox. Somehow it never empties. 

Reading

In Tokyo, an enigmatic librarian researches just the right books to resolve the problems of each patron. Plus she gifts each person with an hand-felted ornament that relates to their issues. Charming story and another look at modern Japanese society.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Those Leftover Stars

Oh, for a book and a shady nook, either indoor or out.

~John Wilson

Quilting

We lost power during Hurricane Beryl for five days. After trying to keep some food in an igloo and on the counter, eventually I dumped it all. We still have canned goods and a few restaurants are open near us. We had water the whole time which helped a lot. Although I knew we’d lost power {and therefore air conditioning} I kept trying to turn on the fans. So silly.

Remember those leftover stars used in the corners of BB1? Now that they are resurrected from the depths of the closet, I wanted to use them up rather than reinterring them. I can't remember exactly why I made them but they were supposed to have wonky points. They still look good to me. 

Anyway, this baby quilt is pretty straightforward. The yellow centered stars are grouped in the center. Scattering them was another option. Didn't work as well and I forgot to take a photo. The posts are a lovely red print with large yellow flowers. Cutting a large scale print so small makes random color movement across the quilt. 

Now it needs a border. Digging through the stash brought up these possibilities. Neither works although the yellow print made the backing and binding. The light colored binding looks better than expected. I usually go with a dark binding as a final frame for the quilt. I'll have to try it again. 

 

So brown sashing and the red plaid border were purchased at the last store closing specifically for this quilt. {Oh, joy! Reducing the stash is finally working.} Of course, now I have leftover fabric from both of these new purchases. 

Red and Yellow Wonky Stars baby quilt

I thought briefly about fancier quilting but went with the spiral. The echo quilting aspect shows well on busy patterns. It's also easier on my arms. 

The quilt is already gifted. And there's still a few more stars left. Let's see what they turn into. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 41" x 41"

Design: Wonky Stars

Batting: Mountain Mist Cotton

Thread: Superior white cotton thread

Quilting: walking foot spiral

Approximate yardage: 3.75 yds

Reading

During this slow, hot summer I've been rereading a variety of books on my shelves. Helen MacInnes {adult spy novels} for one. The other is a teen/young adult series by Suzanne Collins that starts with Gregor the Overlander. She wrote this before The Hunger Games. It's such a favorite I've given copies to my oldest grandchild, too. When Gregor's baby sister falls through a grate in the laundry room he follows her into an entirely unknown world with inhabited by giant cockroaches, bats, spiders, and rats who are about to go to war.

Enjoy the day, Ann