Month 8 Confederate Silver

The first Saturday of the month calls for a new block in the Dixie Diary series. For this month's diary entry Sarah is discussing the poor quality of household items to be found in Confederate homes now that war has been under way for so many months. Confederate silver means, not silver, but rather old and beat up tin items, confederate flour means cornmeal, confederate bridles are fashioned from rope. Our heroine found it difficult to adjust to such deprivations.

Given the title of the block this month and my chosen color scheme I thought briefly of making my block from all silver colored fabrics. But then I thought I better stick with my practice so far of using both pink and grey in each block.

I had a little fun with setting up my photo. With the silver chest empty of all but a few mismatched items and all the good quilts gone this was as much as could be found in the fictitious Confederate home.

With my blocks being 6" I am still not inclined to cover up the centers with the suggested applique of a heart or star preferring instead to draw on the fussy cutting skills developed in the Grandmother's Choice project.

Four more blocks to go in this series. It is as well both projects do not finish at the same time. I have had a cascade of finish dates just now what with a "secret" project (can't be talked about/seen as it may be included in a book) due for delivery yesterday, my two year international round robin due as a finished top by August 18, the last block of Grandmother's Choice which means what's needed next is the assembly of the top and then this little block which came out Saturday.

So much for a long lazy summertime!

Block 49 An Arc - Bending Towards Justice

This is the last of the forty nine blocks to be posted for the Grandmother's Choice project. And since that number of blocks makes for a square layout of seven by seven my plan is to be content with what I have.

However, if you look at the block title and look at my resulting block you can see I was perhaps not content with the block as originally posted. Yes, with just the one arc consisting solely of three blades there was a lot of empty space on that block that needed filling to my eye. First I added an edge (which now looks a little too bold perhaps?) to the blades but the space was still there. I thought about appliqueing one of the big purple or green flowers that have been in several of the blocks but then I decided that perhaps I could turn that flower into another smaller arc. And then I could reverse the color ways. 

I'm not totally sold on the result but I'll let it sit and mature for a bit before making a final judgment on the block.

And how to pose the block this week when I already have needed to amend the title ("An Arc or Two?"). Not having any lawyerly things laying about waiting to pose but having a big mess in my sewing space after making the block I thought that might make a suitable photo to close out this posting. 

Here are some of the things I used to create this block. My compass set and architect's pencil were purchased in 1971 as I started out in my career and studies as an architectural draftswoman. The most work they get now is drafting out quilt blocks; yes, I tend to be a little old fashioned in my approach.

For the upcoming Saturday Post Barbara Brackman has indicated she is going to discuss setting ideas to turn the blocks into a finished top. Many people have already got their assembly under way (I'm in that group) and some have even got their tops finished already (I'm decidedly not in that group!). However, I have the plan and have a goodly amount of progress made but the next step is to try and decide which block goes where.

I am getting very excited about hosting some friends from my international quilt group next week. Rhonda is coming from Canada and Judy from Australia. And if it works out Cheryl might also join us from North Carolina. So perhaps with all that combined quilt opinion under one roof I might be able to come up with an excellent layout of my blocks.

In the meantime I better clear off the cutting table and get the August Dixie Diary block made.

Block 47 Heroine's Crown

Yes, this is my for real post for block 47.

The Grandmother's Choice blog suggested that The Heroine's Crown was an opportunity for us to choose our own Heroine. I don't have a specific heroine in mind but I allowed my fictitious heroine to have some input on how the block was going to look.

 So when the block came out ten days ago I was away at a retreat and also going to a one day conference. There was no way I was going to be able to make the block. And when I looked at it I wondered how I was going to be able to manage those oak leaves once I did have the time along with all my supplies to hand.

I am currently frantically working on a project which has to be done by August 5 and I elected to make it a hand applique project (why do I do this??!) so when block 47 also needed hand applique it was a foregone conclusion that it would not be quickly done. Instead I have worked on it around the other project.

On this past Saturday I first worked on block 48. In the evening I cut the fabric and started to prep the pieces for hand applique for The Heroine's Crown. A 15 minute effort at the ironing board to unsuccessfully work on the oak leaves in the original pattern convinced me (after a small hissy fit) that I could come up with an alternate version of this block. After all, wasn't the second part of the title "choose your own"?

Again I went to the fabric pile and looked at what fabrics had only been used once. There was this somewhat bold stripe that had only the one appearance as the chimney in the Schoolhouse block 11. And there was that wonderful big green polka dot in the purple background which had also appeared only once in block 2. A plan was made to let the fabrics speak boldly and let the oak leaf wither and disappear in favor of a more simple leaf that would allow the bold stripe to be used.

A little more "bling" was called for I thought so I decided to add the green dots (or gems) to my crown.

And really, the posed photo was a snap to set up. Plenty of bling here!

Gosh, just one more block and this project will have all the blocks revealed. I do hope it's a good one to close out on a high note. But with my other project also needing to be finished (as in quilted, bound, labelled and delivered) by Monday August 5 don't be surprised if I don't get the final GC block done on Saturday.

Block 48 Fair Play - Canadian Suffrage

This week the story is about the gradual way that the women of Canada were granted the right to vote. There was a realization that if women could perform wartime service then surely they should also be allowed to vote. Beginning in 1917 women serving as nurses in WWI were given the vote along with women at home in Canada who had close family members serving overseas in the armed forces. Later, women who were property owners were added. Finally the Canadians were able to recognize that all women deserved the right to vote.

 Continuing with my quest to use each fabric at least twice in this project I decided to use the fabric I had used in block 29 The Seven Pointed Star for Australia. A reason to choose this one is to honor my Canadian friend Rhonda who I met in Australia. However, in this, the second to last block I also pulled into use a fabric that has not so far been seen but I liked it because it had both the green and purple I needed and the green was a good match.

From time to time I come across blogs where people have provided a tutorial on how they made their block. That would make something new to blog about I thought and thus I decided to photograph my progress while also using a number of techniques I have picked up over the years. Because the block from last week is still waiting to be done (I want to do hand applique but have not yet had the time to get it done) it was necessary for me to take the curved piecing challenge with this one.

I made freezer paper templates (oops, not shown) and cut out my pieces. On the two outer straight edges I add an extra 1/8" just in case (my blocks hardly ever end up larger but they can end up an 1/8" or so smaller and this gives me some fudge allowance). When I am preparing to stitch two curved pieces to each other I pin quite extensively. First I find the midpoint of each piece by folding in two - one I fold with right sides together and the other with wrong sides together so that the pieces will "nest" and I can pin them. At the straight edges I pin in two places to hold the piece square.

 I put it under the presser foot with the concave side up so the feed dogs will ease in the more voluminous convex side. Having trouble remembering which is the concave piece? It's the one that looks like a cave. I stitch carefully, maintaining the 1/4" seam allowance. And I give myself permission to hold my breath if I think it will help!

 It's stitched!

 Now for the bigger piece. Again it is concave side on top.

 And pretty soon all four units are stitched and ready. This is much faster than hand applique.

 One thing that most pattern people do not mention is how to press. Seams that "nest together" are much more likely to be successful so in this instance I pressed my darker units towards the outer corner and my lighter units towards the center.

 Another "trick" I have heard and used is to sew so the seam allowance on top faces towards the machine presser foot. Sometimes it is necessary for me to seemingly sew it back to front to get that seam allowance in the right place.

 And now, this is what happens when you are so intent on photographing each step and less intent on pinning correctly. Not to worry, that is why I have a seam ripper! Of course in both units I had exactly matched those seams and now I had to take one of them out. Oh well.

The block is done and posted on flickr.

Nope, I am not setting mine on point but I thought it made for a more interesting photo if I laid it this way on the Canadian themed fabric.

Nearly there folks. Next Saturday we get the last block in the project. Hopefully by then I will have completed the block from last week.

Block 47 - this is not!

In case you are here on my blog looking for block 47, alas, it is not done yet.

 This is as far as I have got. Yes, I have printed out the pdf. and I have made my templates. Oh and decided this is a fabric that needs a second chance in the project.

In case you think I have been goofing off let me disabuse you of that notion.

Friday of last week was the first day of our quilt group three day retreat. I spent the first day cutting and stitching borders for my Grandmothers Choice blocks. See, I was trying to make progress.

On day two of the retreat I played hooky and went to the one day conference the Quilt Alliance was having in conjunction with a quilt show. One of the reasons I went was to see up close and personal all the ninety quilts that were entered in the recent TWENTY challenge the QA had - and here I am posing with the quilt that was made by a group I was part of which, much to our amazement, actually won the grand prize. (See my earlier posting on July 5 for more details about this.)

I had not seen the quilt up to this point! My portion of the effort was to create a setup suitable for a twentieth anniversary and photograph it.

 Here you can see a little more detail. As a side thought I was intrigued to see that the QA has custom made black drapes to hang these little quilts on - these are not simple drapes but rather simple quilts with minimal, but effective, quilting on them.

 The quilts were displayed in the foyer area - here's a general shot. Later in the afternoon the sun was pouring through the windows and I surely hope that the windows indeed do have a uv protective film on them as I was told they did.

 The evening before I went to the retreat I was busy making something for the snack table. I decided to use a recipe from my mother's recipe book. She was fairly sparse with her recipes - most of them simply list the ingredients. For this recipe I had to make many substitutions; the recipe was called Spicy Sultana Squares. Lacking sultanas (not well known here) I substituted a mix of golden raisins and currants. The mixed spice from the NZ recipe got replaced with allspice (hey, I was in a hurry and it was getting late in the evening). And the result got cut into oblongs and not squares. I stared off putting mixture into a 9" x 9" pan but that was too big and hurriedly transferred it to an 8" square pan.

However, the end result was fine and if you have never had my mother's Spicy Sultana Squares before you would not know of all the liberties I took with the recipe.

Day three of the retreat was spent working on a "secret" project - of course had you been there you would have seen the secret under construction.

Since the retreat I have had some personal family business to take care of plus I am working on a tight deadline with another quilt project (see paragraph above) that has to be completed and handed in by August 5. And I am doing hand applique on it. Sigh. Why do I do this to myself?

Guess by the time I get to the hand applique for block 47 I will be a little more practiced! Watch this space.

Gee, I hope there is an easy block for block 48 which will be posted tomorrow morning!

Block 46 Barrister's Block - Legal Battles

From this week's story on the Grandmother's Choice blog we read about the struggle women had to become lawyers/barristers even well into the 1900s.

The block as shown on the GC blog page is just a quarter/single section of what is more usually known as the Barrister's Block. I decided to make the more authentic block which of course meant more time and cutting and fussing with seams.

 As you'll know from previous posts I am paying attention to earlier blocks in an effort to try to use each fabric in at least two blocks. This floral print, chosen to represent the lady barristers, is one of the few I have allowed in that depart just a little from my chartreuse/red-violet color scheme. Perhaps for that reason it has only been used once previously in block 26. I also wanted to try to avoid another block with a big piece of one fabric which the one quarter block version would have necessitated.

Another change is that I decided to switch around where I placed my repeated "background" fabric - instead of positioning it in the expected border of the block I made it the central portion to give a light focus there.

With only three more blocks to go I'm not sure that all the fabrics are going to make an appearance in more than one block but I will be trying to do that when I select fabrics.

Years ago when we lived in England we found this old cartoon. My husband had a skeptical view of the importance of lawyers/barristers and had the print framed to hang in his office. Barrister is a term not often heard here in the USA but in the Commonwealth countries is frequently used to denote the lawyers who plead cases before the high court hence this print is particularly apt (and, you'll note, does not seem to depict a lady barrister).

Next weekend I will be away on a three day quilt retreat so I am not sure that I will get my block done and posted before Sunday night. I hope, as compensation, to spend some time working on the sashing of the blocks for this quilt.

Good gracious, I have only just realized that I do not have a working name for this quilt. That is very unlike me as I ordinarily name my quilts as I begin to work on them. I better put in some serious thinking time.

When do you name your quilts and do you remember to then label them with that name and your details?

Dixie Diary - Month Seven

Phew, are you keeping up with me? Three posts in the last 24 hours. This is the exception rather than the rule for sure!

But since today was the first Saturday in the month we also had a new block posted for the Dixie Diary project. Today we could read about our heroine, Sarah Morgan, having to subsist on cornbread and do without many other things including her beloved home.

 As you'll recall I am making my blocks at a 6" size (the pattern gives them at 12") and I am not - so far at least - adding the optional center applique of a heart or star. You'll notice that instead I am always using the one very pretty pink and white floral fabric.

 I ventured outside to take a photo of the block thinking I had many pink and white flowers in my garden but once I held my block near to the flowers I discovered pink has a lot of variety. The second problem was that the sun was still blindingly bright.

Coming inside I passed by the pantry and it occurred to me that the cornbread angle might have better opportunities. Although I did not have any cornbread to hand I did find some cornmeal, corn and the skillet that we use to make cornbread in.

On the Civil War blog this month's block for the Dixie Diary project is named  "Living off Cornbread". I'm not too sure that is an accurate name but for the purpose, that is what the block is called.

Five more blocks to go in this project.