Larger Blue Cross Quilt

War is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the very many.

~General Smedley Butler

Quilting

The next {and largest} of the shirt quilts is finished. It's earmarked for my youngest. 

Most of the fabrics are also in the previous quilts: here, here, and here. 

Larger Blue Cross Quilt

This quilt was a good place to practice different free motion quilting designs. I've sewn all of them, just not recently. And it shows. However, a good wash shrunk and puffed the batting enough to hide many shortcomings. 

Quilting Detail

The back is the last of some fabric purchased for a dress. Lovely fabric but it was nothing I'd ever wear. This is a good place to use it up. The soft hand feels comfortable against my skin. 

Larger Blue Cross quilt back

The binding is more old shirt material since it's the only thing that blends with the old shirts on front. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 59" x 69"

Block: Cross made without blocks

Batting: Tuscan Rose 100% cotton

Thread: Pale blue Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: FMQ or loops, orange peel, Greek key, bouquet

Approximate yardage: 8.5 yds

There are two more quilts - a toddler and a baby quilt. They've been donated to my guild's charity group. Someone else will quilt them but I helped make more tops this past weekend at our charity quilt sewing day. 

Reading

Evan Friss has written a lovely homage to the history of American book stores. He pauses at various stores highlighting the relationships with their customers, their efforts to instill passion for books, and their service as community spaces. 

Each chapter highlights a different shop from Ben Franklin's through Marshall Fields and the internet. A delightful read!

Enjoy the day, Ann

The Last Blue Squares

I will continue to entertain the hope that there has emerged a cadre of leaders in my own country and region, on my continent and in the world, which will not allow that any should be denied their freedom as we were; that any should be turned into refugees as we were; that any should be condemned to go hungry as we were; that any should be stripped of their human dignity as we were.

~Nelson Mandela

Quilting

Of course, once I started cutting these scraps of blue and green and lavender, there were many more than expected. I thought about using them as part of a larger quilt since they would make a good border or a round of a medallion. But what is needed around here are baby quilts and lap quilts. So here's another Cross quilt. {I did have to dig around for five more background squares to fill out this quilt but that's all to the good since the point is to use them up.}

Cross quilt 3

This time I pulled a delightful yard of bees sparsely printed on chartreuse. It reminds me of Napoleon. A yard is never enough to create a back so I added the remnants of an octagonal print used here {Hey, it was in the scrap bag} and some odds and ends for a center post. And look. It's an improvised reprise of the Cross blocks on the front.

Cross quilt 3 back

The blue flowers were a wonderful back for the previous quilts but this one is just as charming to me.

Cross quilt 3 folded

And wouldn't you know, it's already in the mail. They never stay around long.

Quilt Specifics

Size: 42" x 42"

Design: Plus block

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: Gutermann blue cotton thread

Quilting: SID with walking foot 

Approximate yardage: 3.75 yds 

Previous posts:

1. Cutting the Cross blocks

2. Cross quilt 1 and 2

Gardening

Lots of rain recently but we had a four-day break so I've been busy in the backyard weeding. Many of the original plants are Texas area natives but this one is aggressively taking over the borders. It's taken several days but I've taken out all but two small clumps... and my eye is on those.

I've forgotten what is is - dayflower or spiderwort. The blue flowers bloom one day only and close in the afternoon heat. Then it puts on another kudzu-like growth spurt.

 

Reading

When books aren't available online at my library, they suggest others. That's how the Scumble River series by Denise Swanson came to my attention. Murder of a Small-Town Honey begins with Skye Denison's return to her small Illinois hometown as a school psychologist. She was fired from her previous job for insubordination or refusing to ignore her standards, take your pick. Then a relative dies in suspicious circumstances and her brother is implicated. I'm looking forward to folding this series into with the others I'm following.

Enjoy the day, Ann

A Pair of Cross Baby Quilts in Blue

Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I'm taking with me when I go.

~Erma Bombeck

Quilting

I spend a lot of time using up my scraps. My small scrap bag is the first place I go when making blocks. I almost have to force myself to get into the stash. This past year I made a determined effort to draw down the boxes and now have five large shallow ones left: three for quilting fabric, one for clothing fabric, and one for UFOs. Although I strongly denied having any, quite a few were unearthed during our Swedish death cleaning. My quilting group and I have been laughing that we will be buried with our fabric if we don't get busy and use it up. We haven't decided whether it will piled on a Viking ship and lit up or wound around our bodies like the Egyptians. And perhaps my family will sprinkle some of my spices between the layers.

Anyway... using stash fabric means the scrap bag filled up again. Back to my old habit of starting with that stuff. And I need to because lots of friends are still having babies since DH works with many young people. I pulled all the blues, greens, and purples. There were a few black and white prints also but most of those came from Nann and were already cut this width. 

Cross quilt 1

I admired the many plus blocks on the internet but didn't want to copy any exactly. These off-center crosses produced more ways to arrange the blocks. This one creates a plaid effect. What fun to move the blocks around, deciding whether to group similar colors or scatter them across the surface. 

Front and back of Cross quilt 1

The back is a large-scale blue flower print that I found on sale somewhere. I purchased three yards but forget what it was planned for.

Cross quilt 1 folded

I love these photos of the quilts folded up. Such a good way to see both sides and the binding, too.

Cross quilt 2

There were so many blocks as well as that extra backing that I had enough to make two almost identical quilts. I divided the duplicate blocks into different piles then added singletons until there were forty-nine for each quilt.

Front and back of Cross quilt 2

They are very simply quilted SID along the block boundaries and the crosses. I considered more quilting but this is enough. Much less than I usually do, though.

Cross quilt 2 folded

As usual, I thought these would restart my baby quilt stack and, as usual,  one was called for almost immediately. Lucky me. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 42" x 42"

Design: Plus block

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: Gutermann blue cotton thread

Quilting: SID with walking foot 

Approximate yardage: 3.75 yds each

Reading

Jacqueline Winspear's latest Maisie Dobbs is available and I couldn't wait to read it. While The Consequences of Fear covers the latter half of 1941, it explores the effects of fear on the characters. Fear from their past as well as the future. An excellent continuation of the series.

Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate) 

Four quilts finished this month. Shadow Star is my largest quilt to date and has taken several years. I'm delighted it's done and on the bed. Yardage used doesn't count for me until the quilts are quilted and bound. May = 35.5 yds. YTD =  78.125 yards.

Enjoy the day, Ann

And Now to Use the Blue and Green Squares

True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it's thinking of yourself less.

~Rick Warren

Quilting

With a new set of cool colors, mainly blues and soft greens but also a few lavenders, it's time for a new block idea, too. Many versions of plus blocks caught my eye online last year so I decided to make my own version. Lucky for me, Nann sent me a surprise package of black, white and grey strips cut 1.5" wide when she gifted me a spare copy of Donald Hall's essays. And we're off.

Cutting the six-inch bases crosswise in both directions at 2.25" create an off-centered plus {or maybe the beginning of a plaid.} I enjoyed finding black, white or grey strips to fill in. And there were a few red squares set aside for a long-forgotten project that became the posts. 

Off-centered plus blocks

Here's the layout of the first set of blocks.  Their wonky lineup looks great but unfortunately they will "straighten up" when sewn. 

Plus block arrangement for a baby quilt

Reading

A Promised Land, Barack Obama's latest book, explores his thoughts and post-presidential life.  It's the first of a planned trilogy and covers his first run for state office through the bin Laden raid.

Enjoy the day, Ann