Winter White

We woke this morning to news that the province of Saskatchewan is expecting 20 - 50 cm of snow this weekend; that's in addition to the 50 cm they got last weekend. Yikes! Not the forecast you want at the end of April, but the thought of snow reminded me of a post that I've been neglecting to share. Winter White is a recent finish by Betty and she has kindly drafted the story of her latest finish for me to share. It's been sitting in my gmail account for several weeks now but I very seldom open it, so I only recently realized that it was there. Sheesh!

Without further ado, here's the story of her latest beauty.

"When I started this quilt a few years ago, little did I know that periwinkle – one of my favourites – would be the 2022 Pantone colour of the year. I just knew I wanted to make these tones pop in a predominantly white quilt.

When Steve and I were married in June of 1984, I made my 'going away' outfit from this lovely periwinkle floral chintz, which I purchased from Riopelle’s on Bank Street, Ottawa. As was the fashion, the top had puffy sleeves and a sailor collar, and the skirt was fully pleated.

Channeling Laura Ashley, I wore this outfit for several years and then stored it away as a memento. Once I realized that my waist was never going to be that size again, I took a ripper to it and salvaged the fabric. There was lots to work with.

At that time, I sewed most of my clothes – it was easier to sew a garment than to buy it off the rack, so I frequented the downtown Ottawa fabric stores often. When the Zeller’s on Sparks Street was closing down I snapped up the tiny floral print in pink, blue and yellow, along with the large pink on white grid that I’ve used for the backing. All quality cottons.

The solid periwinkle was also repurposed from a silk-lined linen top that my sister Dori passed on to me.

The white-on-white prints – a mix of warm and cool – are from my sister Marie, and the delicate batiste is from my friend Nancy. The embroidered entre-deux trim is also from her, a leftover from when we used to do traditional French sewing together.

The tiny checked binding in periwinkle and white came from a dress shirt that belonged to my brother-in-law Charlie, who has excellent taste in clothes and fabric!

As for the pattern, I had never made a medallion quilt before. I did have a pattern for the main block, but not for the quilt top. I just winged it – and am still amazed at how the math turned out. It’s also the only square quilt I’ve ever made.

Pieced and quilted completely by hand, it’s another klepto quilt to add to my collection. I’ve christened it Winter White, a perfect pairing for my all white Mother-of-the-Bride quilt."

What a beautiful combination of warm memories and re-purposed fabrics!....M

A Soft Quilt For Baby

Once I got the pin dot sashing sorted for the baby quilt that I'm calling Monkey Business it came together very quickly.

When I started this quilt I had plans to use the taupe strawberry print for the outer border but as it came together all I used it for was a few cornerstones towards the centre. It just didn't seem to need much more. I'll bind and back it with the strawberries and I think that will work just fine.

It's a delicate look without much fuss or bother but still enough interest in the prints to keep the attention of its intended user.

Lots of colours that play well together.

This might be the first time that I've made Monkey Wrench blocks but it won't be the last; they are fun to work with.

With another COVID wave working its way through the area it's another quiet Easter for us. Happy Easter everyone!....M

A Breakthrough for Baby

With the blocks ready to go for baby quilt number two I was struggling to figure out how to make everything work. I have this great Fig Tree strawberry print that I want to use for the borders and backing but just wasn't finding the right fabric to use for the sashing. A pink pin dot from the stash would work nicely, but since I don't know if it's going to be a boy or a girl I don't want to make it too feminine. Something more neutral was needed.

Time for some klepto quilting! I'd mentioned my quandary to Roberta and she came up with a beautiful taupe pin dot to save the day. It's a little hard to see it in this pic but it's creamy and the perfect blend for the strawberries. Pinch me.

There's a little bit of everything in the Monkey Wrench blocks but they all seem to work with the berry print. A lovely blue...

a dusty pink floral...

and a taupe polka dot, just to name a few.

There's also a few bordered Nine Patch blocks that will be tossed in. It's a nice mix.

Of course, Jack (the Ripper) had to save me from myself on one of the last blocks that were pieced. Guess I was just taking things for granted at that point.

Anyway, it's on to sashing and borders. I'm quite excited to see this go to the next step....M

One Down, One To Go

The little Pink Hearts baby quilt top is together now and ready for quilting so I'm movin' on to number two.

I'm very happy with it, despite running into a bit of a glitch near the end. If you look closely you will see that the I probably should have had a short sashing piece added to the corner block before I added the corner triangles. I had figured it out for two of the corners but not for the other two, just based on how I had sewed on the sashing.

In the end it was easier to rip out the two that had sashing than to try and add in sashing on the two corners that were missing it. Confused? I was too for a while because I couldn't figure out why things weren't lining up, but I got it sorted and all's good now.

This little pink radish print (I think that it's called Planted With Love) is going to be the backing. It's a very soft grey, which is better than pure white, and looks cute with the hearts - just hope it's not pink overload. 

I had thought that both quilts were to be for girls but it turns out that they don't know if baby number two is a boy or a girl, so that meant some rethinking. I've landed on Monkey Wrench blocks in an assortment of colours, which will hopefully keep things a little more gender neutral....M