Southern Comfort

During my Florida 2019 trip, I met a former work colleague and friend at the house she and her husband built when they retired. It was so beautifully decorated with dusty blues and grays that I immediately began planning a hostess/housewarming quilt for them.

Not long after returning to Connecticut, I found the perfect pattern in Quilting with Fons and Porter. I have two drawers of blues so I had a lot of fun choosing fabrics. The pattern consists of a block that has several names, Three and Six, also known as Double X. I gave the quilt a reproduction flavor, using “Regency Ballycastle 18th Century” (Moda) fabric for the sashing and inner border; the border fabric is “Garden Delights” from In the Beginning Fabrics; and the backing is a beautiful blue floral on a gray background called “The Blue and the Grey” c. 1860 (Windham Fabrics). The blocks and background are from my stash.

I had a hard time letting go of this quilt, but I know these folks will take good care of it.

Audiobooks for this quilt:

Becoming by Michele Obama

The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green

Winter Waves

As I was exploring area quilt shops in Port St. Lucie, Florida during my 2019 trip, I found Pam's Fabric Nook! I love exploring new (to me) quilt shops and Pam's was terrific. I found several prints I needed for a project, and fell in love with a sample quilt top of batik fabrics! Turns out the featured fabrics are part of the Hoffman Batiks Club, a monthly-featured-fabric fat-quarter pack. These blues were for the month of January's collection called “Frost.” Problem was there was not a pattern available for the sample quilt. I'm sure I could have figured it out but I found the pattern on line on allpeoplequilt.com (do you see an AP&Q theme here?) called “Roaring Waves.” I thought that interesting because the Frost fabrics had a winter theme with snowflakes!

I made this quilt top last winter in Florida. As I showed off the top via text, the husband of my quilting friend said he liked it! Hmmm. This became the couple's wedding anniversary quilt this year, and because they live by Long Island Sound, I named it “Winter Waves.”

Audiobook for this quilt:

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Reflections in the Pond

I love the American Patchwork & Quilting Calendar! It lives in my kitchen where I see it constantly and think about each month's project. When I began receiving it, from the very first publication, I thought (here comes the fantasy!) well, I'll just make a project every month! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Seriously, the calendar has given me so much inspiration through the years that I have made a number of the featured quilts, sometimes with a little tweak. Reflections in the Pond is a recent one. It was designed by the late Heidi Kaisand and appeard in the 2018 calendar. It is black and white and designed with only four pink appliqued flowers. I collected my fabrics and as usual let them be until I was ready to begin. Instead of appliqueing flowers, I decided to integrate the pink fabric into four of the blocks. I brought this project to Florida and finished the top on March 19, 2020. As I started sewing, I thought about who would end up with it. Turns out the youngest little girl in the family was turning two in the summer of 2020 and her bedroom is a neutral gray. And as she turned two, she was about to graduate from the crib (she had a new sibling arriving soon!), so I thought this quilt would be the perfect size for a big-girl bed. I backed it with a reproduction fabric I had had for YEARS that had little pink hearts on a vine on a black background. Couldn't get better than that AND I reduced my black stash as well.

This was her second quilt; the first will be spotlighted as I recount the quilts backwards chronologically. And I am told she alternates which quilt to sleep with each night.

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P.S. This quilt has been very loved, but it is back in my possession for repair! The solid black inner border fabric is disintegrating! This is the second quilt where I have used a solid black, and I think the black is a leftover from many years ago and not bought in a quilt shop. So I will be working to fix this problem.

Audiobook for this quilt:

The End of October by Lawrence Wright

How to Reduce a Quilt Stash

I found this book, Modern Views with 3-Yard Quilts by Donna Robertson of Fabric Cafe, during a quilt shop hop, and figured this was a really good way to start sewing into my stash. Robertson's books have become so popular that quilt shops are putting together 3-yard bundles of coordinating fabrics to display with several of her 3-yard books. I had no problem picking 3 yards of coordinating fabrics from all of the yardage I have accumulated over the years.

For my first 3-yard project, I picked what I considered to be an ugly fabric, I think designed by Jinny Beyer. It had a weird combination of turquoise, a pale green, and a pale maize. Every time I put my hand on that fabric I asked myself, “What was I thinking when I bought this!” So the challenge for me was to use it in a way someone would love it. Well, needless to say (for those of you who know), I had nothing in my stash to coordinate! So, during another quilt shop excursion, I found the green and the turquoise. I finished the top on March 25, 2020. I have to say I was pleased with the result. And so is a family member!

You know how purples can be vibrant and exciting? Then there are those that scream "old lady!" Now I mean no disrespect to us aged wonders. But it's that dull, muted purple I'm talking about that seems to suck the life out of you. Yeah, I have a bunch of that fabric, another WWIT (what was I thinking) print. I used that in my second 3-yard quilt. I don't have a picture, but maybe someone will love it.

Audiobook for this quilt: 

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

I did not finish listening because Crazy Rich Asians came up in my holds queue on Overdrive.