Basket Quilt

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

~Maya Angelou

Quilting

Quilted, bound, washed, and ready to gift. The basket quilt turned out better than expected. Jinny Beyer's books are my main reference but I can't find this five-patch basket in them. Although I sketched it on my own, I'm sure it has a name. I just don't know it.

The border blocks began this quilt. You could say it was designed like a kawandi - from the outside in. With that set, I had to plan something for the center. I love baskets and always drool over Audrey's but I don't make nearly enough. 

But I definitely didn't want a little brown basket. Once the blues and greens were decided, the block called for red to tie into the border. {And also because I love red.} Little red flowers run up from the base. Alternating the background let me mix both pink and yellow triangles inside.

 

Large as they are, the baskets are a bit too small but a diagonally printed stripe from my stash makes perfect sashing and helped fill in the shortage. And since it was still short, I added narrow coping strips in the background fabrics. I spent more time than necessary deciding to extend the center sashing through that outer coping strip. One other idea was to cut the sashing and let the outer strip encircle the entire center. Another was to use the stripe as the outer coping strip. {That died quickly.}

Basket quilt

The back uses up the last of the yellow on white background and is filled out with some green gifted by my friend Gayle.  More diagonal stripe binds the quilt.

Back of Basket quilt

The older I get, the easier I want the quilting so my usual spiral filled the bill. I don't have the inclination or the arm strength as the moment to try a lot of free motion quilting. 

Quilt Specifics:

Size: 45" x 45"

Quilt design: Baskets with Crossroads border

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: yellow Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: Spiral with a walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

Things have been interesting here to say the least. DH had another surgery. We've been concerned about it and the recovery but it was a cakewalk.  They didn't need to do nearly as much as they anticipated and he's bouncing back much faster than last year. What a relief.

When he came home he noticed my laptop wasn't closing properly. I've been ignoring that but DH said the battery was expanding as it failed and could explode. Yikes! Let the computer rotation begin. DH gets a new computer and I get his hand-me-down {which he always calls "my new computer".} Of course, I also get full tech support since he knows the ins and outs of "mine." Still, it's been a week offline and a few days backing up and reinstalling files. Now I have to learn to use this one properly. 

I planted butterfly weed starters and hope they will take this year. I purchased some garden cloches to keep critters off them while they root. Every year I plant and hope they will take. The only success turned out to be a tropical milkweed. Those can discourage monarchs from continuing their migration. Grr.

Enjoy the day, Ann

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

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

Crossroads Baby Quilt 2

A lie ain't a side of the story; it's just a lie.

~The Wire (TV series)

Quilting

This quilt uses up all the remaining Crossroads blocks. Most of the background colors are organized into columns. Although many of them are dark, the quilt still works. 

Crossroads 2 baby quilt

The very last Crossroads block is on the back - just to move them all out. I thought it would be an easy back but had to paw through a lot of remnants to find a group that works with the block. The outer blue fabric is new this year. Yes, I still buy fabric.

Back of Crossroads 2 baby quilt 

The binding is a red and white stripe purchased years ago with the idea of binding "all" my quilts with it. That would have been a neat idea if I'd remembered it before it disappeared in the stash. There's quite a bit more. Where will it show up next?

Crossroads 2 baby quilt detail

There's no immediate use so this quilt begins rebuilding the Baby Quilt Stack - ready for the future.

Quilt Specifics

Size: 45" x 45"

Design: Crossroads

Batting: Mountain Mist cotton

Thread: Superior white cotton

Approximate yardage: 6.5 yards

Reading

The Buddha in the Attic
by Julie Otsuka

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is a novel that reads like history. Julie traces a group of Japanese picture brides from Japan to San Francisco where they first met their husbands. Many of the men misrepresented their careers. Women who thought they were leaving rural life became itinerant farm workers with their husbands. They bore children who embraced American life - the only one they knew. After Pearl Harbor, the families lost everything they'd ever managed to amass as they were sent to internment camps. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Crossroads Baby Quilt

Attending to what we hate in common is too often all the rage (and it happens also to be very big business), noticing what we love in common, and studying that, might help us survive.

~Ross Gay

Quilting

Helping with Vacation Bible School gave me a very nasty summer cold. How did I forget all the germs little kids bring with them? Instead of quilting on Ocean Waves, I spent a week in bed with boxes of tissue and an assortment of medicines. Once over the cold, I still felt lethargic so decided to dig through my box of leftovers. And look what I found - more Crossroads blocks.

Crossroads quilt block

These were started in 2016 for a class with Sujata Shah which I had to miss due to a family emergency. Two years later I made more for a possible border {then changed my mind.}  Some were finally used on the Square Deal quilt. That is one of my favorite quilts - made of three sets of leftovers. I'd forgotten how many were left. There are almost enough to make two baby quilts although many have dark backgrounds. If I make two, I'll only need four more blocks. This seems to be a better project while it's so hot and I'm still worn out. 

 

The first layout doesn't work. There's a strong dark/light division down the middle. Remembering to use the camera saved me from this mistake.

After moving some blocks around, a better arrangement appeared. It's interesting how wildly different the widths of the roads are depending on what year I sewed them. Major highways and dirt roads. What can I say?

Crossroads baby quilt

The back is a lovely piece of pink on white hummingbirds that has been hanging around for years now. My sister gave me the pink fabric that widens it enough.

The binding is another remnant of a red and white print. It's always nice when stuff from my stash and leftovers combine so well.

Quilt Specifics

Size: 45" x 45"

Design: Crossroads

Batting: Mountain Mist cotton

Thread: Superior white cotton

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yards

As soon as the quilt was finished, I delivered it to a friend's new baby. Even when it's hot, a quilt is good to have on hand.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Bordering the Square Deal and the Grand Canyon

Liking the microdot inner sashing, I was ready to sew the center together but decided to make a Churn Dash of the innermost triangles. The first attempt included very narrow pink rectangles {no photo} but quickly grew to squares for more presence. The extra pink balances the weight of the Square Deal.

The Square Deal quilt in progress: working on the borders

With that part looking good I sewed on the mermaid inner border before going to bed.

In the morning the quilt appears too dark and/or heavy with four black crossroad blocks in each corner. Reducing that to two made it much better but there's another, larger problem.

Where did the blue blocks go? The yellow, green and pink blocks in the outer border make a decent contrast with the red ones but have little relationship with the center strips and HSTs. Looking back at my original layouts, the darker border adds needed presence while the light blues make the center sing.

The Square Deal quilt in progress:
working on the outer border

So now I'm reworking the outer border.  I'm not done but it looks better.

On to the Grand Canyon

Despite a lifetime in geology, I'd never been to the Grand Canyon. So glad I made it last week, especially because it was off season {meaning the North Rim was closed.}

My visit started at the Desert View Watchtower. It highlights the Painted Desert  to the east and the beginning of the Canyon. Inspired by native art, the watchtower incorporated Pueblo designs and styles including native artwork on different levels.

The further west along the South Rim trail, the deeper the canyon and the more complex the carved channels. Eventually that appears to be all one can see. I never knew it was this size: 277 miles long, 1 mile deep, 3 miles wide.

Desert View Watchtower

Grand Canyon from Yavapai Point

Elk posed all over the park. While leaving a calf was casually nursing along the road but I couldn't get a photo. (S)he was so tall I doubt mom will allow that much longer. Two more cow elk from a harem of five grazed near the parking lot. The bull elk rested in the trees nearby.

Cow elk grazing near the
Grand Canyon Visitor Center parking lot

We're already planning our next trip. So much more to see.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Sashing the Square Deal

Once the center {minus one block that kept falling down} was arranged, I started laying out a border. The darker border seemed to make more contrast but a single round lacks weight. A second round on the right creates better proportions.

Starting a border around the Square Deal block

With that start in hand, it was time to think about the sashing and inner border. The inner and outer blocks are different sizes. About six inches is required to get them to fit together. Black was too dark {forgot to photograph}. I next tried some narrow strips of Chinese Coins. {Surely you didn't think the last baby quilt used up all those skinnies.} Now there's no contrast; this is not the solution. Finally I realized the white design wall was trying to tell me something. I cut some mermaids printed on white. All the strips are the same width {and a bit larger than necessary} while I consider whether they should be the same or different widths.

Testing sashing and border fabrics

Making borders and sashing of the same fabric doesn't thrill me either so a different white print was cut. It has blue microdots although it reads white here. After trying it as a border, I decided it looks better as the sashing between the four quarters of this block.

Then I added Crossroads blocks on three sides.

Laying out sashing and borders on the Square Deal

The quilt must be repositioned on the design wall to finish the fourth side.

In the meanwhile, my family and I attended the State Fair of Texas. We went every year while my children were growing so it was fun to introduce a new generation to the Fair. Events have changed. We still enjoy the trained animals, the milking contests, and the beautiful jewel-like jelly competition. We watched pig races and performing rescue animals.

Pig races at the State Fair of Texas

 

The murals dating from the Great Depression were restored a few years ago - ready for a new generation to enjoy.

Mural from the
Hall of Varied Industries,
State Fair of Texas

These umbrellas shading a lunch site are new. Colorful day and night!

Umbrellas shade a lunch area
at the State Fair of Texas

VOTE! It's election day in the US. I wonder how different our lives would be if everyone was required to vote like Australians. Much more emphasis on the center; much less from the fringes. It sounds good to me.

Enjoy the day, Ann

A Border Ready and Waiting

I'm still working on the HSTs and came up with a great plan while putting the extra HSTs away. In the box were the Cultural Fusion Crossroads blocks that have been waiting over a year.

A dark block anchors each corner while the remaining Crossroads blocks were added in two possible values. They both look good to me. The one on the right needs a very strong border while the one on the left needs something else. The blocks won't fit together without some type of border or adjustment.

Dark and light borders around HST center

Compare the photos above with the one below which was an early version of Chinese Coins II. Even though the stars are about the same size as the triangles and the coins in CCII are narrower than those in HST, my Crossroads blocks changed appearance like a chameleon. They are spindly and fragile below but perfect with the HSTs. Like they were planned for this design. Why this works is something I need to study more.

Chinese Coins II quilt
with possible Crossroads block border

In other news, Color Study's binding is on. It should be a finish soon.

Binding strips cut,
then sewing to back first

A group of us visited the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles recently. Their exhibits included fifteen or more swing coats by Patricia Montgomery celebrating important women of the Civil Rights Movement.

Honoring the Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement:
Patricia A Montgomery exhibit
at The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles

Construction is highlighted by the unfinished coat on the wall. The textiles and colors of each coat vary. They are embellished with quotes and photos celebrating each heroines importance. In a time when Helen Keller has been removed from Texas social studies textbooks, it's even more important to remember that women can effect change as much as men.

Strong People Don't Need Strong Leaders -
Ella Josephine Baker

This yellow coat highlights Ella Baker who advanced group-centered (grass-roots) leadership where people "directly directly participate in the decisions that effect their lives." One advantage is that the movement becomes important rather than a single charismatic leader. This idea led to longer-lived, independent organizations such as the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Enjoy the day, Ann

Spring Cleaning

Perhaps because of all the pollen this year, I've taken to spring cleaning with a vengeance. All the pillows have been washed; furniture moved, dusted, and polished; drawers are being emptied, sorted, and restocked. I've even reorganized my fabric boxes. And look what I found: a collection of squares cut for a class last year with Sujata Shah. That was when my family life went to pieces so I didn't take take the class and forgot about them. An easy project to sew this week and part of my plan to build a Parts Department a la Freddy and Gwen.

Fabric for Crossroads blocks

By the end of the day I had these completed.

Crossroads blocks

#AHIQtwoblocks continues Tuesday. CCII/Stacked Bricks needs a border. Might these work?

Possible Crossroads border on CCII

 

The Xs aren't beefy enough to suit; they look wimpy compared to the stars. But the lighter backgrounds give me some ideas. Although these blocks don't work here, more fabric choices have emerged.

I pulled out my stash and set each piece on the top. This is my go-to method to ensure every possibility is tried. Purple is a possibility or perhaps blue?

After a couple of hours, here are the best choices so far.

Fabric possibilities for the next round

Some fabrics might be good colors but are the wrong print. For example, that whale fabric is a wonderful color but the print doesn't work with this quilt. Well, perhaps I'm wrong. {Won't be the first time.} Think seastars rather than celestial stars. There are starfish on that print that could match the red stars.

Testing some light fabrics.

Lavender and white print choices

None of these makes my heart beat faster when placed against the center. I'm going to try more lights tomorrow. If nothing works, a shopping trip may be required.

Enjoy the day,
Ann