Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Another Grandmother Quilt

It's time to make the back for the Ohio Star/Log Cabin quilt. At least it should be since that's the next step and the leftover fabrics are in a pile on the dining room table. They'd make a good start but when I spoke with SIL last week she mentioned she will be a grandmother soon. So I changed course.

Seven blue and white prints ranging from navy to cream, floral to plaid, to tone-on-tone.
Possible fabric choices

And cut a bunch of diamonds for a Lone Star. The fussy-cut centers used all of that scrap and only made four. That's lucky because it forces me to get creative. Soon there will be two tops to back and quilt.

EDIT: Check out Mel Beach's Fruity Mandala for a stellar example of fussy cutting.

The center star has four fussy cut diamonds with fleur de lis prints alternating with a geometric navy print.
Possible Lone Star quilt center

Because these are the leftovers, they make an interesting combination. The "better blending" fabrics are all gone. That's probably a good thing for this Lone Star design. There was a quarter yard of the light blue and I used it all. Interesting how it brightens the design.

For comparison, two different medium blue prints are places next to the outer diamond in the Lone Star.
Possible star point fabric arrangement

Everything went swimmingly until the star points. I arranged the final diamonds several different ways. Fortunately digital photos are easy to shoot. Now I just need to decide. 1) Light to dark with two medium choices.

2) Dark/light/medium or adding a cream to the center of the point.

For comparison, a floral on cream print is tested near the center of each diamond point.
Possible star point fabric arrangement

3) Or moving the cream around some more.

The floral on cream print is moved to other locations within the Lone Star.
Possible star point fabric arrangement

Small variations. The probably don't make much difference but I'll think it over before I sew them up.



Off the bookshelf

Almost fifteen years ago I read Adam Gopnik's, The King in the Window, about a young boy celebrating Epiphany in Paris who sees another young man in 17th century dress in the window. The window wraith {one of a cadre of dead French artists} mistakes Oliver for their new king imploring him to find his sword and reclaim the kingdom. Although a children's novel, it weaves French history of plate glass with quantum physics and Alice in Wonderland in such a complex manner that it became one of my favorite novels. As the reviewer put it, "Harry Potter for the Mensa set."

So I purchased two of his previous non-fictions and set them on the shelf where they remained until this cleaning. Currently I'm reading Paris to the Moon.

The cover shows a small boy bending over to pick up a pebble in a Parisian park.
Paris to the Moon
by Adam Gopnik

Before the millenium, Adam and his young family moved to Paris where he continued to write for the New Yorker. His journal, intertwining raising a small child while navigating a foreign city, became the chapters of this book. Each chapter combines seemingly dissimilar actions that he ties together in a wry fashion by the end. Perfect for reading at the beginning or end of the day.

Enjoy the day, Ann
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