Here’s a shout out to Catherine Beemer’s quilt “Tropic of Capricorn,” which hung at the very recent QuiltCon show in Raleigh, NC.
Catherine is a member of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild, which I recently found and joined.
I can’t wait to see what she makes this year.
I spent Saturday morning with some of the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild members at their monthly Sit and Sew at the very fun fabric store Five-Eighth Seams (quilt fabrics and much more) over in North Charleston.
Cathy Beemer started teaching us how to make an incredible scrappy block that she is also making. Cathy is a MASTER piecer and quilter. This block is 30 inches square, and she will be making a quilt that is 90 by 90 with her scrappy blocks. Each block quarter piece will be scrappy and different.
Here’s an alternative center she showed us.
And a purple “lollipop” pattern.
More strip pattern ideas here–I could have taken more and more pics as Cathy showed us how to start off.
Cathy loves quilter Maria Shell’s work, of course. But she very much does her “own thing” too.
This quilt hung at Houston–I think she told me. And she has at least one quilt in this year’s QuiltCon, going on right now in Raleigh, NC.
I came home to the rest of my seafood chowder–cooked in the oven and made the day before.
And I keep meaning to show this picture of roasted veggies, just because they are so pretty. And, were delicious.
I’ve already color sorted my solid fabric strips and have cut out pieces for my first center. I’m going for the pinwheel!
But first, first…the last 1920-30’s reproduction quilt in the series of 3. It’s coming along.
I’ve been having so much fun playing with the 5th of 6 block studies in my online class with Tara Faughnan.
This month Tara taught us a foundation piecing method where one does not sew INTO one’s paper pattern. I learned this method from Tara some years back, but then she used freezer paper. However, today’s freezer paper does not hold its “stickiness” for repeated use past 5 or 6 uses–so Tara figured out how to print a pattern onto regular printer paper and to get the needed “stick” with some glue.
I could not make my Sewline pen’s glue stick strongly enough–so I’m using the washable Elmer’s glue that is purple, but dries clear. I use the SMALL stick, not one of the larger ones. And it does not take much glue at all to get the result I need. Too much glue makes the paper stick to the fabric so that it’s hard to get the paper separated from the fabric–which results in the destruction of your paper patter.
Anyway, here’s my design wall now–after I spent days playing with three different sizes of triangles. I made big ones, medium ones, and smaller fat ones. And I put some around two sides of the “Lines” 9-patch block, which was fun.
The blocks won’t stay this way on the design wall of course. And the final, 6th block coming March 1 will alter things again. But I’m seeing that I do have three big pieces that can anchor a possible improv quilt.
Time will tell.
I’ve been busy…sewing.
The Tara Faughnan online block class released the 5th of 6 blocks February 1st, and I’ve been having such fun playing with this “triangles” method Tara teaches. But more on that in a few days when I make myself…stop.
When I visited the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild a few weeks ago, I was entranced by a guild challenge that many had finished and showed that night. They each made a series of quilts: fabric and units from the primary quilt then were used to make the second quilt, followed by the first and second quilts being used to make something creative for the third quilt.
Ah, I had finished this as yet unnamed and unquilted quilt top using reproduction 1920-1930 fabrics I had in my stash (for 20 years). And I still had a lot of fabric left.
So, this smaller top happened. It’s a good baby size, 48 by 48. I’m calling it “Bubbles.”
What to do for the third quilt in my series?
This, I think.
I’ll likely keep it to a baby quilt size, but you never can tell. There is still a fair amount of fabric left.
I can’t wait to show you my design wall whenI finish up with the “triangle” project in a few days. Then I will return to the above quilt project until I can “call it a day” for using up these fabrics.
DIL Corinne took a picture of this beautiful hawk recently. There was a pair, but one flew off before she could get a picture. I think it might be a red-shouldered hawk, but I could be wrong. Corinne thinks it is a broad-winged hawk. There is a link below if you want to explore further. Two hawks seen together could also be a parent and an offspring? Who knows?
When I walk, I pass two water retention ponds, and they team with birds. I have often seen a pair of hawks here too, and on my last walk, one circled above me and cried as it…hunted? The call is distinctive–a shrill kind of “whee.”
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/id
This pond is on school property, is fenced, and is full of Canadian geese. But along the side you can see a big heron ( a Great Blue?) and a Snowy Egret. In the water, a cormorant swims. Often, outside the fence, a flock of White Ibis, with their distinctive long curved beaks, gather to fleece the grass for bugs.
The woods to the right are both firm and wet lands–and are the buffer between these two schools and my neighborhood. A buffer for now anyway–this land could get developed.
I’ve begun to wonder if, when the geese mate and raise babies, how they will “walk their broods to water,” given the fence.
Budgies, as created by a pattern by Bethanne Nemesh and shared on one of the Aurifil thread posts–see link below. These posts are always inspiring and fun to see. I like seeing them each week.
And you all know I love that “Love” fabric and use it a lot–Carrie Bloomston, “Newsprint.” These budgies are made by @ladydisews, or Diana Z on Instagram.
m
I am admiring from a distance as I already have enough projects going and planned.
Louisa Enright's Blog 