More Quilt Blocks

Good morning, my friends. Well, it was a surprisingly nice day yesterday. Fall has clearly arrived in our part of the world. We were expecting an "atmospheric river," a term that I love. Despite the forecast, the sun came out early, and it didn't rain the rest of the day. It gave me a chance to fill the bird feeders, and it gave Sadie a chance to show the world how beautifully the fall colors coordinate with her fur coat.

But there was no time for soaking up admiration. There was serious sewing to be done. We were getting busy making the next block for the Barn Block Samper. This particular shade of orange/coral was not flattering with her orange furs.
 

Smitty, what do you think of this color?

Well, Sadie, I think it goes nicely with my gray furs. And it helps me get in touch with my feminine side. I believe it is purrmissible to purrceed.

Okay, well, that was all I needed to know, and so I went to work making this block.

When I started this project, I was following the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Somewhere I got off on my colors, and so now I'm just picking whatever color I want. Here are the blocks I have for this quilt so far.

And then, I went to work on another quilt block. The next block for the Homestead quilt is the pinwheel. This is another quilt I was making in the colors for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've kept up with this one, but no new colors are being announced. I decided on lavender for the pinwheel.

If you'll recall, the Homestead quilt is made up of traditional quilt blocks listed in the pamphlet I picked up at Homestead National Historical Park. This is what the pamphlet said about the pinwheel block:

19th century quilts were primarily practical; beauty was secondary. Quilts served as window and door coverings. Hanging quilts on the dirt walls of a  "soddie," made them seem more homelike. Quilts could serve as privacy walls, creating sleeping areas in a soddie, or a one-room cabin. Quilts folded and laid on a board placed between two chairs or tree stumps became a sofa. 

When a quilt became so badly worn around the edges that even re-binding could not rejuvenate it, a seamstress would cut it down to eliminate the worn areas or else rework it into a child's quilt. Any quilt was too precious to discard. 

The importance of quilts in women's lives was best expressed in the statement of 19th Century homesteader, Lydia Roberts Dunham, who said "I would have lost my mind if I had not had my quilts."

How many of us feel we might have lost our minds if it had not been for our quilts? Certainly, I've had those thoughts from time to time. 

Here are all the blocks I have for this quilt so far:

There is one more block to make. The next one will be "God's Eye," but that will have to wait until our next stop at the WIPS list. When all the blocks are finished, I'll have to do some creative piecing to fit their different sizes into a single quilt. Already I have some ideas about it.

That was all the sewing I did yesterday. Today I'll get back to work on the Painted Ladies. I'll make the next vertical row of blocks. Here's what I have so far.

The blocks go together fairly quickly, and so it shouldn't take too long. If I can get that finished, I'll get to work making two more blocks for the Whimsical Garden quilt. I'll be making Blocks 15 and 16. There are 20 in all, and so I'm getting close to having them all finished. Here are the first 12 blocks I made:

Here are the two blocks I made back in August:

You might notice the block borders are done in different configurations. Having some of the applique extend out into the block beside it has made this a little confusing to sew together. Way back at about Block #3, I had the borders sewn to the blank background. Then, when I added the applique, I realized I'd rotated the background 90°. With the whole thing finished and top-stitched, I wasn't about to start over again. So I made a "design decision" to make them all differently. The quilt shown on the pattern cover was done with scraps in the block borders. 

I didn't have enough scraps in proper lengths to do that, and so I selected fabrics to be used throughout. With my, um, design decision, it ends up looking scrappy like the original. I'm confident it will all work out in the end. I may decide to do a narrow sashing to set them apart. I'll figure it out when the blocks are finished. Looking at the picture, it looks as if they've done applique in their border. I happen to have the perfect border fabric for this, but I'll tell you about that down the road.

On today's agenda is to try a new recipe for Pumpkin Custard. When I scale recipes to make them for two, I sometimes end up with half cans of things. At some point, I ended up with a half can of pumpkin and a half can of evaporated milk. They're in zip-lock bags, frozen in my freezer. Well, wouldn't you know that if I scale the recipe for pumpkin custard to make it for two, it uses half a can of pumpkin and a half can of evaporated milk. It seems like a sign to me. Clearly, I was meant to make it. I'll tell you how it goes in tomorrow's post.

All right. Breakfast and slow-stitching are next on my agenda. I have a feeling we'll be seeing that atmospheric river today. Good thing I filled the bird feeders yesterday.