Sister's Choice Quilts

Cali and Co Month 6

This is the Cali and Co block of the month #6. It is so colorful and fun, I have to say. This quilt sure does use a lot of half square triangles! This is a sew along Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts is doing. Of course it isn't too late to join in, and the patterns are completely free. Corey also has YouTube video tutorials, so you really can't go wrong. 

These are the six blocks I've made since the sew-along began. These fabrics are such a joy to work with. They are a combination of a couple of Corey Yoder's collections, as well as one or two of Sheri and Chelsi's leftovers from the quilt I made for Eva for eighth-grade graduation. Those colors are so joyful. Each block uses half square triangles and/or 2 1/2 inch squares.

This is a mystery quilt, and each month we are instructed to trim off these units after attaching the large print corner squares. What in the world will we do with them at the end? I have accumulated quite a pile of them.

As you see, I am amassing quite a collection of these units. Will they be used in a border? Guess I need to wait and see.

If you are drawn to bright cheerful colors, this is a great quilt to make.

 

4th of July Quilts

Archie loves his porch time, especially if we are all out there together. He isn't that impressed with my 4th of July decorations, but I have had fun putting things out for us to enjoy this year. 

That flag quilt on the rocker is a Minick and Simpson pattern I made called Liberty Road. I can't find the pattern anywhere, so it may be out of print. The fabrics are all Minick and Simpson as well. The stars are  machine appliqued on.

There is another flag quilt that is quite popular this year that I think I may make as well. It is All American by It's So Emma. I like this pattern because it has the flag feeling, but is quite different from the one on my rocking chair in the photo above.


The other flag quilt sew along that is going on right now is the Stars and Stripes one by Thimble Blossoms.


Are you making either of these quilts? Camille Roskelley has an Instagram page where she is showing her blocks, and they are so beautiful. Click on the link and go look:  you will be so inspired!

 

Spooks and Spells

I meant to share this recent purchase with you all. It is a kit called Spooks and Spells by Stacy Iest Hsu, featuring her Halloween collection Home Sweet Haunt. Isn't that black print stunning?

One of my enablers blogging friends, Ina, told me about this quilt kit and I could not resist buying it. The whole thing including pattern is only $89. I purchased mine online at Rocking Chair Quilts. 

The quilt is based on this panel. You can see that there are nine different squares, which are meant to be cut out and used as the center of each of the nine quilt blocks. The piecing that occurs to form the design of the quilt is done surrounding these panel units, creating an interesting overall pattern.

Here is a close up of the finished quilt. I cannot wait to make this!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I have a clear calendar coming up next week and plan to hit the sewing room hard!

Back From a Little Get Away

We are back from a little get away to the Monterey Coast. We stayed at Mission Ranch in Carmel and roamed around some places that used to be our old stomping grounds when we lived down there in the early 2000s. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed revisiting many of the places we used to enjoy. Things have changed so much though. Many of the shops and other businesses we used to frequent closed during Covid and their replacements just aren't as charming. 

I will say Mission Ranch had the best avocado toast I have ever had. The presentation was amazing. It was your basic slice of French bread, topped with mashed and seasoned avocado, but the garnishes were above and beyond. There were a couple of different types of radishes, watercress, tiny cherry tomatoes, and a fine grinding of sea salt over all. It was beautiful to look at and every bite was delicious. It was so good, I went back the next day and had it again!

Honestly, doesn't that look like an exotic French pastry? It was so pretty.

We loved staying at the Ranch, owned by none other than Clint Eastwood, former mayor of Carmel By The Sea. We had several meals outside on the deck overlooking the ocean and a meadow full of bleating sheep. It was quite lovely. Clint is in his 90s now and doesn't make many public appearances. I recall back in the 90s, we went to Mission Ranch with my parents-in-law and as we were entering the restaurant, Clint Eastwood himself was exiting. We literally were inches apart. And Larry, my sweet father-in-law, spoke right up and said "Hi Clint!" He was such a big fan of Clint Eastwood's movies and felt like they were old friends! I was kind of hoping the Earth would open up and swallow me, but Mr. Eastwood made eye contact with dear Larry and said something such as "How you doing?"

I am having my house cleaned today, so I doubt I will get any sewing done, but we are coming up on the weekend, and I have nothing on the calendar, so hopefully there will be quilty content on Monday.

Hope you are all having a great week!

 

 

 

 

Another Look Back

The next blocks for the Strawberry Garden quilt have caused me to take a look back at some of my quilts from the past. This cute little X block reminded me of a quilt I made decades ago. 


Remember Thimbleberries fabric? Now that truly is a blast from the past. This quilt is made from basically the same block as the Fig Tree blocks in my first picture. The only difference is that I added one more corner square in a contrasting fabric. When four of the units were sewn together, the result was a "Posy", which was the name of this quilt. 

When I look closely, I can see that the corners are somewhat chopped off rounded in the Posy block, which gives it a softer, less "X"- like appearance. 

I was so careful when piecing my Fig Tree X blocks. I made sure those intersections lined up as precisely as possible, trying not to be even one thread off. When I pieced the Posy quilt, I don't recall being bothered one bit if things didn't line up!

This little quilt has had a good life and is now living in the back of my Subaru. Is that sacrilege, or is it ok to use your old quilts that way? Old quilts never die, right? They keep on serving.

Bow Ties

Ok, this was a pretty straightforward block. Four little Bow Ties for the Strawberry Garden quilt. I'd forgotten what a quick and easy block this is. I once made a Bow Tie quilt out of Civil War reproduction scraps and enjoyed the experience. It was also a good feeling to use up so many of my scraps.

This was from 2015. When I look back, I am amazed at how many quilts I was churning out then!

Would you believe these blocks are only 3 inches? 

The first time the Bow Tie block came to my attention was probably back in the 90s, when a woman I attended a sewing group with was working on one. She had purchased a stack of hand-sewn 1940s Bow Tie blocks made from feed sacks from an antique shop. She was carefully piecing them together to make a quilt. I thought it was charming at the time and promised myself that someday I would make a quilt with that block as well.

This look back makes me think I should make a one-block quilt again. How about using up my Fig Tree scraps or Minick and Simpson scraps? Food for thought....

 

More Strawberry Garden and a Re-Do

Seriously? I just followed the fabric suggestions that were in the Fig Tree Strawberry Garden book. The flying geese block on the left was the result. Now, that, in my opinion, is a poor choice of fabrics. I re-made the blocks with a less fussy background and a darker tone on tone "goose" fabric and much prefer the results. That was my point yesterday about value and contrast. A big blowsy floral print is not going to show off your piecing like a more solid-reading fabric will. 

I plan to remake the basket block as well, and leave out that fussy brown floral print, but I needed to order more of the brown tone on tone.

Now, these blocks I like. No complaints here. They came out very pretty I think. 

Next up are a bunch of little bow tie blocks. Hope to knock these out today.

These are all the blocks I've made so far.

Archie has been quite mopey since Eva left. He spent the day in his dog bed and barely lifted his head to acknowledge us when we went outside for "family time", when Dennis and I sit on the back porch with a glass of wine, and Archie gets a little treat ball filled with dog food. He finally came out, but he seems less than his usual jolly self. I am thinking he misses Eva and is depressed about being stuck with the boring old folks. 

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. I have absolutely nothing planned, and that's fine with me! Monday, Dennis and I are driving down to Carmel By the Sea (our old stomping grounds) for a couple of days of relaxing in the ocean air.