scrappy block – OccasionalPiece

But first, some fun photos arrived in my mailbox this week!

Susan, of PatchworknPlay blog, and also found on Instagram posted this in her Instagram feed this week. I have always loved her colors and especially how she subdivided the center (I changed the pattern because of her design!). Susan’s blog posts are always like a good visit with a far-away friend (we’ve known each other for ages, but have never met since she lives in Australia and I live in California); she makes such beautiful things.

I know that Linda is working on Heart’s Garden and Joan is nearly done as well. Lisa’s almost done, too, but then her daughter decided to get married. When they send their photos to me, I will post them.

Polly, who is on Instagram at Piecing Hope, sent me this photo, saying that it was just the right small project she needed during a move. She enjoyed the free patterns I have in my shop for the New York Beauties. Her feed is filled with lovely wonderful things. Mary S. has made some blocks as have others. You can see their work on Instagram at #newyorkbeautiesquilt.

Mary, of ZippyQuilts, really got in the spirit of New York Beauties, and is now making some more of her own to join these (I backed them with black). I like Mary’s blog, as she’s so inventive and is a champion of creating quick quilts in clever ways. Like Susan, I’ve never met Mary, but feel like she is a good friend. If you make one of my patterns, or something I said on the blog triggered something creative for you, send over a photo! I love seeing your beautiful blocks and quilts.

I started sewing up these blocks in earnest this week.

It reminds me of the Meadow Quilt from the designer Lizzy House (shown above) back in the day, a quilt which doesn’t have a released pattern and was taught for several years only in workshops. I have always loved this quilt, but when I saw this Blooming Scraps pattern, I knew it would be a good one to keep my hands busy while my mind explored all the ramifications of the world we now live in (translation: the J6 Hearings and SCOTUS decisions).

This past Thursday, I finished all 100 blocks. Like the original pattern, I did it in ombré. Now to sew it together and get it sent out for quilting.

I have a whole post on rulers, written when I was teaching, if you want an overview. But this week, I pulled this one out and really found it great for cutting 2 1/2″ blocks and 1 1/2″ snowball blocks. It’s a pretty slimmed down ruler, and sometimes that makes it a lot easier.

I went to my Modern Quilt Guild meeting for the first time in ages on Saturday. I usually participate online, but the covid numbers were down (however, I wore a mask) and it was Just Time. The hybrid meeting was incredibly confusing, but we saw quilts, we saw each other and showed our “Roundabout Challenges.” You can guess what I showed:

Patterns are still free on my pattern shop, for those who are looking for them. And I showed my version of Heart’s Garden for the Show and Share:

It still needs more buttons and some embellishments, but July is bringing me a long car ride, where I can get to work.

Speaking of Get to Work, I packed away my 2021-2022 Get To Work Book, and prepped up my new 2022-2023 book (I like them to go from July of one year to June of the next). I had saved some stickers, acquired others as I like to decorate a bit. I added in events for July, wrote in birthdays, but it’s a blank volume full of possibilities that greets me now at the side of my desk.

As Elise (the maker of the calendar) always says: Big Things Happen One Day at a Time. Think 100 blocks big– Think Making a Democracy big, just like our earliest founders did.

Happy Independence Day!

free handout on making this quilt, found here

As I write this, the (illegal) fireworks are already being shot off, so we’re getting in the mood for the 4th.

(Belated) New York Beauty Notes:

Karen Stone was the one who kind of put the New York Beauty block on the quilting map, when she wrote her well-known book in 2004. You can get a copy now for $50, if you want one. Others have explored this block and written books. One of the more recent writers was Carl Hentsch, who combined the Beauties with Flying Geese blocks in his book, published in 2017. I purchased the book immediately, thought I’d lost it, and bought another. (typical)

Dora, of Orange Dot Quilts, and Rana, of Sewn Wyoming, are doing a summer-long NYBeauty quilt-a-long this year (2022), making a version they call Almond Country Beauty Quilt. Kits are available, as are patterns.

I’ll probably come back with the final four blocks of my New York Beauty series, after I take a break. I want to try out this quilt I sketched up!

Two of my Mid-Century Modern Bee buddies, Carla of Lollyquiltz and Susan of PatchworknPlay have teamed up to run a Friendship Swap of the Cross-X blocks. I had originally pled “no way!” but then Krista of KristaStitched wrote and asked me to be her swap buddy. How could I ever say no to Krista? Besides I’ve had a veritable obsession with these blocks for some time, as witnessed by the evidence below:

It’s been kicking around in the back of the closet for eons, it seems like, and I purposely left the wrinkled up template page for the full effect of ancientness.

And because I might have a wee obsession with text fabrics, I’m hoping that Krista and I can work something out so I can use these.

I did some wandering (yes, I’m avoiding the grading–how did you know?) and found a post on Mrs. Schmenkman’s Quilts blog about her foray into the Cross-X Land, and her beginning quilt. While Carla and Susan have decided to go the coordinated route, I’m kind of liking this from-the-stash look, with light backgrounds. So I think, yes, that’s it, and then I find this:

All of the current rage for this came from Amy of Badskirt, who saw it in a Japanese Quilt, reverse-engineered it, and put up a tutorial. However, if you have Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, it’s easy to find out that Nancy Cabot first published it in 1938 with the name Spool Block, # 1970 on page 248. (For some unknown reason, I bought my book when it first came out, but even at the elevated prices of used books right now, it is worth having. I use it a TON.)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/missriain/9683609064/sizes/c/in/pool-2161187@N21/)

And this whole story goes to show you that every old will be new again. While Amy’s block comes in at 7.5″ inches (finished), here’s templates for a 10″ block: Cross-X Blocks 10-inch and a 12″ block: Cross-X Block 12%22 (although that feels too big too me if it’s the scrappy, cozy quilt top look you want).

Click on the links at the top of the post to see what Carla and Susan have come up with, including a Flickr Group to help keep the quilters motivated. Krista and I are still working out the bits and pieces on how we want to do it. Anyway, how ever you cut it or however you do it, the bottom line is to grab a quilty pal and to get going.