March 2016 – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

I would like to wish all a Happy Easter. I do not remember having such an early Easter. Have a great day with family and friends.

I have been busy trying to play catch-up on Civil War Bride, Stonefields, and now I have added another project on my “to do” list. – The Margaret Potts Quilt. I am a member of the Baltimore Applique Society BAS and they are doing a BOM each month. BAS is a great organization for Appliquers’ to join even if we are miles away from the meetings. The Margaret Potts quilt BOM is a great way for BAS to reach out to their members who are do not live in the area but want to participate in the group projects. The quilt consists of 85 blocks. Doing a block a month will take about 7 years – think I can do this one? LOL. Since I have decided to not make the Farmers Wife quilt, I will be doing this quilt in the 1930’s fabric that was purchased for that “ex-project” (new terminology for not working on a pre-determined doomed project) LOL.

Of course I am 4 months behind the group because for some reason I had not read my BAS newsletters since November (hum wonder where my mind was)? My friend Jaydee just assumed I knew about the project because we are both members, but when dealing with an empty head sometimes…..we are now both working on the project needless to say after I did read this month’s newsletter and realized what was going on. We had a good laugh on that one.

My Civil War Bride (CWB) is coming along. I have 6 blocks ready to applique and today should have Block 1 completed today (if I can get away from this computer). I have made the changes I wanted to (so far and I am sure there will be many more) and ready to catch up with the group. My friends Cathy and Lynn from the DC area and hopefully Jaydee from Washington will be working on the quilt each month. Cathy has one more Lady who may be interested in driving herself nuts along with the 4 of us. We had decided to do 2 blocks a month, but boy that Lynn is really going to town. I will be posting our progress on the 1st of each month so stay tuned. It is so interesting to see the different interpretations of this quilt – each of us have changed things on the pattern and using different fabrics with unique outcomes. Hopefully I can finish Block 2 by Thursday and not start April behind the others. It is so much fun to have others working on the same project – always provides me a challenge and a reason to “get with the program” to start on a quilt that has been in the “que” for a few years!

Jaydee and I are working on Stonefields – well, let’s put it this way. I am in Segment 3 and Jaydee is in Segment 6 – She will have that puppy finished before I even get half way through. We worked on an Edyta Sitar quilt – Sentimental Scraps – that we made almost 2 years ago (purchased all the fabrics for the middle border) but I have not finished putting all the blocks together (shame on me!) Jaydee has her completed – in fact she completed it a long time ago! Turned out beautiful. The pattern was in a Quiltmania magazine I believe in 2014.

Here is a photograph of a quilt that my friend Jaydee Price made for President George W. Bush and it is now hanging in his Library – what an honor! Jaydee is a wonderful friend, quilter, and such a giver. One of these days she and I will tour the Library and just relish in the fact that her hard work has been honored. (Even if it is in our dreams!)

I leave you with thoughts of my Poor Dear Jane! I had illusions of grandeur the other day and set it all out on the cutting table to work on color placement…………Yup – still there but it is on hold for a few more days! I looked back at the 8 blocks I had finished about 18 months ago, and put it on hold when I realized how difficult this project would be and I wanted to really do it justice with a different selection of fabrics. Well, no excuse, just keep putting other things ahead of it. It is next in line! Although I think I am ready to do a “no-brainer” quilt – one that does not take a lot of thinking! One the struggles I deal with when I make a quilt is that nagging little thought that “this one may be a Show quilt” and that is when the perfectionist idiot comes out slows me down. Oh well what can I say!

Have a blessed day – Until next Blog!

What a fast-moving 12 days (29 Feb – 11 March). Just as I was going to start on Civil War Bride (CWB), on 29 February I tried to do the splits while getting out of the bathtub – Well, of course Mr Sciatica came to visit and stayed too long! On the 3rd of March I received a “numbing” shot that kept me down on Thursday and Friday and finally on Saturday (March 5th) I was able to begin my journey with the CWB. YEA!

My goal was to prepare 6 blocks at one time so that I would be able to work on the 2 blocks each month and not have to stop to prepare each month’s blocks. (At least for 3 months – LOL). I finished 3 of the background blocks and realized that there are some blocks in this quilt that I would not enjoy working on and do not want the challenge. I knew that Block 1 was fine except for the “birds?” that were flying in to the flowers were a little weird and I preferred hummingbirds – so off to finding a small bird outline to replace the “birds?” in the original quilt. I found one so I moved on to Row 1, Block 2. The “Eagles” were definitely not going to stay on that block. I have replaced them with Red Birds. OK – finished that change. Then on to Row 1, Block 3. I did not like the strawberries, so found a neat template from EQ7 to replace the strawberries. My original backgrounds that I traced for Blocks 2 and 3 are now in the NEVER TO BE USED BIN – called trash can! On to Row 1 Block 4. The small peacock just did not give me a good feeling either – did not like the feet – so I revamped this one myself! It is looking so much better. On to Row 1, Block 5 and Block 6. Those birds just had to go. I have learned that I can needle turn applique almost anything, but it has to be a “pleasing” block, or I will just forget doing the quilt.

I am using “The Lost Boy Quilt” pattern for my basic pattern setting and “Bountiful Life” pattern for block preparation because it provides a more professionally drawn pattern, and Patricia Cox’s “Folk Art in New York City” for birds. Pat draws the most beautiful birds in her rendition of the Civil War Bride quilt. It really has made a difference in how my blocks will look.

It took me all day Sunday to do the changes, and I now have Block’s 1 and 2 are ready to applique. Here is a picture of the layout of Block 1 with the new birds in the top right (have not selected fabric yet) and left corners.

In late 2014, my friend Cathy and I decided that some day we were going to do CWB. I decided I would start by making Block 1 from Bountiful Life pattern. There are 2 things I do not like about the block – the swooping birds (?) and the vase. The color is great (all done in batiks) BUT it fell flat. I embroidered around the vase to help it stand out, but realized that I had selected the wrong batik for this piece! So this block will probably turn into a wall hanging, or a medallion for another quilt. This time I am desperately trying to blend all colors as I go along. For me it is working, but I am not looking forward to putting the fabric in its original place when this project is complete!

Lost Boy Quilt Block 1 — Block 1 – Made in 2014

Block 2 is mostly leaves. This block took a little more time in selecting the fabrics. I could not decide whether to use the same fabric for all of the leaves or selecting 2 fabrics to provide a contrast. I chose 2 different greens. I changed the birds to birds in lieu of the Eagles. I tried to find a different Eagle, but was unsuccessful and am pleased with the Blue Birds. I am hoping the fabric I selected for the heads and tails will turn out as I hope. My goal for this quilt is for the fabric to have some movement and contrasting colors. (The picture is a little blurred but the colors are accurate)

If I had not made a design change decision I would have probably thrown in the towel on making this quilt. But, I have invested in 4 different patterns for this quilt – so that was not an option. I am now a happy camper and look forward to working on the project.

Well here it is FRIDAY – the weeks are flying by and it is already the 11th – hum… I had better hurry so I can have the blocks completed by the 31st. Today I am finishing the preparation work of the other 4 blocks. I have Blocks 3 and 4 ready to work with the fabric selection and 2 more to trace the backgrounds. I use Jenkins freezer paper which saves me so much time in preparing the applique pieces.

My goal (what a laugh as I am just not working fast enough to meet them) is to have all six blocks ready to applique by Sunday evening – any bets on that one. If I can only keep those unforeseen requirements out of my schedule I might just make this one.

Have a wonderful week-end.