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

Hatcheting More Scraps

There is a strong strain of individualism and risk-taking in Texas. We'll do what we want to now and worry about the future later. 

This is a case in which the future blew in and hit the whole state.

H.W. Brands, historian at UT Austin

Personally I made it through the winter storm in Houston with no broken pipes but turned off the water all week. And I have lots of quilts. ;-) There were so many on the bed to stay warm, I couldn't move once I got in. By Sunday many were wearing shorts.  

It shouldn't have been this bad; however, our legislature never required power plants to winterize so many chose not to despite similar problems with storms in 1997 and 2011. Most of Texas' energy comes from natural gas and almost half went offline Sunday and Monday; however, several state legislators blame renewable energy that only provides about 10% of our power. Wind turbines in colder northern states {that were properly winterized} did not freeze. 

Mayor Turner led us through Hurricane Harvey, the Covid pandemic, and now winter storm Uri. He and his staff worked all week to open warming stations and distribute food and water. What a good example they set by continuing to do their jobs in difficult circumstances.

Quilting

Funny how this works. My Hatchet blocks inspired Wanda to make her own version. The quiet beauty of her quilt inspired me to try a new quilt with a limited color palette: yellow and green. It was an easy pull because the fabrics are in a pile on the floor. They either needed to be sewed quickly or packed. 

Part of the reason Wanda's quilt looks so good is the uniform quiet background she used. I don't have enough of any cream right now {and I'm still in "use it up" mode} but I found a small collection of quieter prints that work with these light colors. 

In addition to the backgrounds, there are eight greens and two yellows for the ribbons. Halfway through sewing it's obvious they aren't working as ribbons.  

The next idea was a "wave" through the fabrics but this layout looks worse if that's possible. The abrupt line between yellow and green looks more like a shoreline.

The most common layout of Hatchets is the X. I thought about alternating yellow and green Xs but {of course} they aren't evenly distributed. So they need an arrangement that disguises that fact. Starting with a yellow X, I surrounded it with some green and then offset the next yellow X. Suddenly an idea appeared. 

If you know me, you know I will end up with some mathematical solution. Something's a bit off here.

But a couple of minor changes on the bottom rows settled that.

With the design laid out on the wall it was easy to sew up. 

The plan is to gift this as a toddler quilt. The recipient's mother loves yellow and I think these old-fashioned fabrics will suit her well. 

Reading

When Nora deliberately overdoses she arrives at The Midnight Library, a sort of way station between life and death. Each book is a parallel life based on every different decision she could have made. Infinitely many books. Mrs. Elm, her former school librarian and current librarian here, directs her to look at her regrets and see how the other path turns out. But other people don't stay the same so some books lead to wildly different relationships with people in her life. 

I enjoyed Matt's idea that "the road not taken" isn't always smooth and perfect.

Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate) 

Although Hatchet 3 and Shadow Star are finally complete tops, there were no actual finishes in February. YTD = 2 yards.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Half Square Triangles and Scraps

"But wait. There's still more." My quilting sounds like those late night TV commercials!

Although I repurposed the narrow columns from the last attempt at Chinese Coins, the wider columns remain. Those encased columns work better when they are very narrow so the wide ones need a different plan. Taking 6-8" wide columns, I sub-cut them into six-inch squares and got busy combining them with new solids.

Six-inch squares of Chinese Coins

Orange, red, and pink also were cut into squares. Mixing them up made this.

HST scrap block of warm solids and Chinese Coins

I'm very excited about this start, especially because it doesn't look like Chinese Coins!! Amazing. It's a great first day of working on this project. Thanks to Cathy for promoting 20-minute interval sewing. It's helped me slow down and consider multiple possibilities.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Chinese Coins IV: Every Last Scrap

There was a childhood story about a magic pot that made porridge. Like the Sorcerer's Apprentice, the lazy child started the process but couldn't stop it. Porridge bubbled out of the pot, filled the house, and ran down the street until the cook came home and said the magic words.

That's exactly what my scrap bag feels like. It's only an old zippered, clear plastic bag that once held a set of twin sheets. Twin; not king size. {The small size and zipper pleased me enormously.} So how can it still have fabric? Will it ever empty?

Chinese Coins IV: Medallion in progress

When I finished CCIII many of these strip sets were sewn and it looked like enough for another quilt. So I pulled out the other half of that Alexander Henry fabric and started again. This one has more dark blue in the center.

I'm obsessively clearing these strings but decided to see if I could finish a top while finally emptying the scrap bag. Because choices are very limited, the coins are grouped by length rather than any artistic merit. The sides of each border are different lengths from necessity but add more interest.

Pinning that outer dark border on the wall suddenly darkened the entire quilt. What a difference from left side to right side.

Dark outer border makes a dark quilt

After sewing the first border and half the dark, the center looked awkwardly long. So I folded it up, took a photo, and went to lunch. I do enjoy the bit of orange extending through two borders at the bottom.

What if the center was shorter?

After the break I still like the shorter version. It seemed unsewing would be my afternoon lot until... Epiphany. These borders are no particular size. And the center is just a single piece of fabric. I unsewed a bit of the side borders and cut along the seam line. Then I trimmed the center down and resewed everything. About twenty minutes. I fiddled with the side borders to avoid a common seam but it was fairly easy.

Preparing to shorten the center

By the end of the day CCIV emerged. These aren't Roman numerals. So not 204, thank goodness! It's Chinese Coins, version 4. This could be a baby quilt; it's now about 41" by 46".

Chinese Coins IV: Medallion quilt top

Other than a dusting of lint the scrap bag is empty... for the moment. Color me peaceful.

I've been possessed. What is my compulsion to use up every last scrap? Despite nodding as friends talk about tossing these bits, I hate throwing good fabric away. {Did I just throw good thread and irreplaceable time away though?}

Many of the brighter fabrics went to the Mini Trip and the previous Coins. As you can imagine the remnants became successively duller although many light-colored fabrics remained. I think those were the impetus to make these two medallions. I'm attracted to lighter-colored quilts these days so making the outer borders light pleases me.

I've never used a whole cloth approach before; the center makes me slightly uneasy. It could be beaded or embellished; applique flowers and leaves are another idea. In fact, rotating the quilt might turn those white flowers into part of an appliqued vase with stems. And the Coin border could ground lots of applique. Possibilities...

These tops might be a good place to pursue future, new techniques. On the other hand, extra tops and quilts are always useful for unexpected gifts and donations.

Fern Royce recently posted a much livelier coin medallion quilt made with solids. Love the way she turned the corners of the borders. More information on her blog here.

Enjoy the day,  Ann

Chinese Coins III: Working Around the Medallion

My sewing room is a wreck. Fabric everywhere and as usual, the scrap bag is a swash zone of leftovers/rejects. On one hand is an urge to toss it while on the other hand, perhaps there's one more quilt in it. It's impossible to get anything else out so I can't start another quilt till I sew up or clear out this mess.

Most of the remaining strings are dark or light. Boring, but they might make a good string/piano keys/Chinese Coin medallion.

Originally I thought of Gwen Marston's quilt in this style. Lucy Mingo of Gee's Bend made Bible Story which is now owned by Bill Volkening. He wrote an amusing article about Lucy signing this quilt for him. Both quilts are made of solids but Gwen's has a single fabric center while Lucy's is a large nine-patch.

I planned a few Broken Dishes for my center until this old Alexander Henry remnant caught my eye. Although a tiny bit went into my Propeller quilt, {I recognize the cut-out shape. Ha!} the rest has been moldering in the scrap bag. It's a big print and {sort of} blends with {some of} the strings.

Starting a medallion quilt of Chinese Coin strips

The narrow light inner border looks quite nice. Except for the dark blue flower in the lower right. How did that happen? I may change it but...

Working on the third border

The dark border is getting too bright for the center. These strings are still the swash zone, but there are quite a few reds since I actively excluded most from Stacked Coins. Oddly, there were few rust/peach-colored strings.

Enjoy the day,  Ann