Louisa Enright's Blog

Hello, hello!

I haven’t posted recently as I’ve been busy.

We were meant to get that big storm that developed on the Carolina coasts, but it went north where it is causing a lot of flooding damage, and we didn’t get one drop of rain. It has, again, been so dry. But it is also cool and so lovely. Today I will walk, for sure.

A new and already much appreciated and cherished friend here helped me so much with sorting out the leaders on my longarm. The middle was tight and the sides were way too loose and the ends of the leaders were wildly “off,” so it was impossible to get a quilt to lie straight and true. I was SO frustrated! We completely took off the leaders and put them back on with a true line on the bar. And I took out the red snapper fasteners and am going “old school” and pinning my quilts to the leaders.

Thanks to my friend, things are better now. I just finished quilting the challenge quilt for the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild: “Make The Churn Dash Block Modern.” So that will be its title. More pics when I am done. And I had such a good time making this project. This quilt lay straight and true as could be on the longarm.

Prickly Pear is finished–and this picture does not do it justice. I can’t get the colors right. Anyway, how graphic and modern is this quilt? I love it.

Annabelle Wrigley designed this quilt for The Color Collective, fourth year, as the guest designer. And the fabrics are hers: Ruby+Bee solids. The outer triangle rings–made in quarters around the circle–are easy to sew together, and I used Tara Faughnan’s method of a reusable paper template using a bit of glue, rather than sewing on paper and having to remove it. That was nice as there are LOTS of these rings needed for each block. The curves were easy to manage with a bit of glue.

What was NOT nice about his pattern was that the seams often didn’t butt up–especially on the triangle rings, so I had to cut into seams. AND, one background template wasn’t quite right. I will admit that I didn’t view the instruction video at the time, and they are not available now, so… Perhaps that video would have made things easier.

I quilted with a matching pink thread, and the New Wave pantograph available at Urban Elements. As glue was involved, I did wash this quilt, and washed quilts always look “fuzzy” in pictures.

Here’s the backing–I had enough of this Ruby Star Society fabric in my stash. How lucky was that, as it is perfect. You can see the pantograph better in this photo. I love this panto so much that I ordered it again, but spread out a bit, and it is perfect. I used it in the challenge quilt.

I had to order a lot of extra fabric to make the whole quilt, and I have lots left, so I’ll play with the alternative setting for this block, which involves the quarter circle only. It looks like fun. Perhaps a smaller wall hanging?

My oldest granddaughter just turned 18, and she chose this quilt when she was over here one day.

This is my 227th quilt, and, as usual, I have another quilt ready for the longarm, two on the design wall, binding being hand-sewn on the challenge quilt, and I pulled out Jen Kingwell’s “Glitter” block again and cut a few more. Then there is the Cat’s Cradle ruler and block. I really like that ruler, and I have…an idea.

More later…

Yesterday I got my walk done early, so the day was mine to cook (lamb rack, eaten on the porch in the beautifully cooler weather) and TO SEW.

I wanted to make more rope bowls, as I’m still learning and still liking playing with this technique

But, first, I also wanted to move along some quilt projects. First, the leader/ender top got measured, a back cut, and a batting organized. Now it needs to be loaded on the longarm. (Remember this one is from the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society bins of 3 1/2-inch squares cut up back in Maine about 5 years ago.)

I am also in love with Latifah Saafir’s Hurty Ruler for 1/2-square rectangles. Besotted, actually. And I’m having a grand time making 4 by 8 rectangles from the stash–just choosing colors I want and going for it.

It is going to be 9 blocks in a row by 9 rows, or 72 inches square–at least. It may bet a bit longer? The blocks on the bottom will be used as I go along to spread out the colors/fabrics. These blocks will get moved around a lot as I go, of course.

And on the right is the next leader/ender project with the 3 1/2-inch squares in those bins, which are still more than half full!!!!

Now TO THE BOWLS!

I made TWO yesterday–and quilt sewing at almost 9 pm. The first was this big bowl–I started with a 10-inch bottom–with the 1/4-inch cord I ordered from Amazon. It probably used 100 feet, LOL. And I totally LOVE IT.

Then I thought to try Rick Sanchez’s method to include yarn for color. I went to Hobby Lobby, which is practically walking distance from me, to get some inexpensive cotton yarn, and off I went with this yarn-included project.

Rick’s method worked beautifully, and I love this bowl. Now I need some green or blue variegated yarn I think… It just made a lovely bowl that is a good size. (StitchWithRick, YouTube video, rope bowls)

I want to return to trying to cover rope with fabric. I’ve watched more videos now. And I think it is better to not use really dark fabrics without changing thread, so I will stick to lighter colors–as I’m using 40-wt cotton thread that I use for the longarm. And I did install a bigger needle.

So, now there are FIVE finished bowls, and I really like THREE of them, but I don’t dislike the other two either.

LOL.

I recently discovered this blog and immediately signed up.

Don’t miss this blog entry from Stitched In Color. You will be INSPIRED! For sure.

I’ve always been a big fan of the log cabin block.

https://www.stitchedincolor.com/blog/2024/8/7/favorite-8-types-patchwork-log-cabin-blocks

Enjoy!

That was the challenge issued to members by our local modern group, the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild. There were no rules about how to make the Churn Dash quilt block “modern.” And no rules on what form one’s project should take. A simple one-block effort? A table runner? A quilt?

Here’s what I spent many happy hours this past month playing with and doing–after turning over ideas in my head and on paper for some months. My Vermont friend noted that the Tara Faughnan online “block playing” class that I did last winter–with my friend for company–was a factor in this top. I agree. For sure. I just did one block at a time–after the center block–and played with color and shapes. So many of these blocks totally surprised me. I’m pretty sure I could have kept going and making yet another block.

The Churn Dash block is a 9-patch block. There are 9 blocks in my top–so they make up a 9-patch top–and I set the blocks off-center and alternated the grey field fabrics.

I started with the center block, which is a recognizable Churn Dash block–only it also has the “Cat’s Cradle” block at the corners. (Thanks to fellow quilter Rick Sanchez’s demonstration for me of the ruler that makes this block so beautifully.) I love this “Cat’s Cradle” block.

Each block has a center at the center–except for the upper left, top row lime green block which has its smaller center displaced to the left. This block was the last one I made, so there was a progression toward not having the center at the center I can now see and understand.

Each block has the two-color side pieces that surround the “normal” center–but they take different forms (4-patch checkerboards, half-square rectangles, curves, and stripes). These units are often displaced in the 9-patch block. (I used Latifah Safari’s “Hurty” ruler to make the half-square rectangles and can’t wait to use that ruler some more.)

Each block has a form of the half-square triangle on the corners. Some are curved and some are Cat’s Cradle blocks and many are displaced to other spots in a 9-patch block.

I have pieced a backing from leftover pieces of the Carrie Blomton “newsprint fabric.” So I will probably load this quilt on the longarm soon. And I did make this top totally out of my solid stash.

I like, so much, the pantograph I used for the Prickly Pear quilt, but I wanted a version where the lines are further apart. So I talked to the very nice woman at Urban Elementz this morning, to get some help about how to order that panto in a wider size.

Now, to get the leader/ender quilt off the design wall…

LOL, I need 9 more blocks. And talk about scrappy!! It is fun though. I do now see in this picture the “out of order” block and will fix it later–a great argument for taking pictures and looking at them before anything gets set in stone. It will be 72-inches square, so a nice lap quilt.

I made this 32-inch wallhanging project–in the Maria Shell style–which the modern quilt group’s Cathy Beemer taught to us during our monthly morning Sit and Sew. I’ve long wanted to play around with this kind of “Maria Shell” project, but never had the mojo to…just start such a project. And Cathy is brilliant about figuring out so many ways to combine fabrics in super creative designs that go well beyond the basics of this method.

I started with the lower left quadrant, which is fairly tame as I felt my way. And then I…launched. I hand quilted it with 12-wt cotton–Big Stitch quilting–I have quite a collection of colors now. The white in this piece really lightens up everything, but I wanted to knock back some of the brilliance in the lower right hand quadrant, so I did that with thread color. And I wanted to make that starter lower left quadrant look a bit more…developed…so I quilted it heavily to make it more interesting.

I had enough of this Ruby Star fabric for the back–and I’m a fan of using a print on the back when handquilting. BUT, BUT, my stitches have gotten so much better in consistency after taking Tara Faughnan’ online class on Big Stitch hand quilting.

I hung “Beemer’s Block” in my sewing room–over my cutting table, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. I centered it, so maybe there will be some more small pieces to join it down the road.

That will be possible since I just got this book, which was shown at the Patchwork Gals meeting last Wednesday morning:

I’m intrigued by many of the blocks Kelly Young has created here–with SCRAPS! Many of her ideas are one-block small quilts, BUT each one could be expanded into a full quilt. And many of her small quilts do have multiple colored/scrappy blocks that make up her small project.

Also, several of the men in our neighborhood are going to build a little portable library kiosk that will go next to our big mail kiosk. You know what I mean–you see them everywhere now. So… Debbie Jeske, of the A Quilter’s Table blog recently posted about the little library kiosk near her (or her’s–I forget). She put one of her small quilts behind the display of books, and one day she noticed it was gone. So she put in another one. Hmmmm… Was it synchronicity that I got exposed to this book of small scrappy quilts this week???

Prickly Pear is off the longarm–I quilted it all yesterday afternoon. The new panto, New Wave, gave it awesome movement and texture. Thank you Wendy Curry (a longarm quilter who lives in Thunder Bay, Canada.)

I’ll use this same panto on the local modern group’s “Make the Churn Dash modern” challenge I’ve just finished–but more on that quilt later as it deserves its own post. I’m making a pieced backing for it now.

At our last Sit and Sew, Cathy Beemer shared this quilt top–made by cutting up a panel and adding her own, fabulous additions to the squares she chose to use from the panel. Wow! This top is a whole new way to think about using panels. She, too, was responding to a challenge–this one from the Cobblestone quilters.

Cassandra Beaver recently posted this quilt in her blog–The (not so) Dramatic Life–a blog which I highly recommend following as she teaches a lot of methods along the way. Isn’t it AWESOME. Note the mixture of machine and hand quilting. She has a whole post on how she made this quilt if you are interested.

Cassandra did a very recent blog post on the “Feed Sack” fabrics from back in the day, highlighted at the big quilt museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was fun for me as I spent a chunk of time this spring and summer making quilts using “feed sack” reproduction fabrics collected about 20 years ago.

It is very cool here these days–with days in the 70s and 80s. This coolness so didn’t happen last year, LOL. We’ll likely get an Indian Summer of hotter weather, but that is ok too. I have increased my walking now–2 miles the other day and more short walks too, off and on, around the neighborhood.

We do need rain, so I’ll water the new roses out front this morning. Maybe I’ll “jinx in” one of the thunderstorms that have been promised all week.

So, now, we’re off to a whole new week! Enjoy this day and this week to come!

It was 73 degrees here when I made my morning coffee. People are out walking–children going to school, dog walkers, and just people out and about. They are all wearing long sleeves this morning.

That coolness SO did not happen last summer. So a big welcome to La Niña and her cooler, dryer weather.

With the advent of “cool,” I am switching my walk to the mornings now, as it is getting darker earlier in the evening. I like to sew from mid-afternoon most days to just after 7 pm. And then I walk my mile and come home to the supper I usually prepped at the same time I cooked my noon dinner. But for the last week, I’ve been walking in the evening dusk, with the lights that line the big road I walk, on. It’s nice, but…

A few days back when I emerged from the house to walk, we had this amazing cloud highlighted by the sunset. It looked so fluffy that I felt that if I could reach up and touch it, it would feel like spun cotton candy. It looked good enough to eat.

Here’s a wider picture. All around it was clear sky. So, I think, this kind of cloud is probably due to living along the shore.

The next evening, the fluffy clouds entertained me again. This one probably held some rain, but we didn’t get any. And, again, the sky all around it was clear.

These clouds are a moment of gifted joy. And I loved taking the time to admire and contemplate them–rather than just barreling into my walk pace.

My monthly meeting at Patchwork Gals was this past Wednesday. A local quilter who belongs to both of my quilt groups (traditional and modern) demonstrated how he makes rope bowls. His bowls are gorgeous, and his presentation was first rate. Rick has a longarm business, is a terrific quilter, and is just the nicest person.

August 5, 2024youtu.be

Visit “Stitch with Rick” on YouTube!

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I am going to Walmart today to get some rope…

Oh no!!! But I must try to make a rope bowl.

I’m out of handwork for the moment, so I found a knitting project that I left unfinished. My fingers like to be busy at night. The Prickly Pear quilt is on the longarm, waiting for me, so I’ll have that binding to sew down soon.

I promise to post quilty pics soon. There are several finished projects and a leader/ender that is almost done. It is taking up way too much room on the design wall now.

Meanwhile, I’ve been saying goodbye to the two grandsons–the oldest will be 21 in a few weeks. They are now both back at their universities. The five remaining grand girls are busy, busy with the start of school and their fall athletic endeavors which involve various mixtures of tennis, lacrosse, and volleyball.

It’s been a really good summer for everyone I think.

And we may get some rain today, which unless it is 24 inches in a week, is a good thing.

Tropical storm Debby is swirling to the north of us. Or what is left of her is doing…something. She seems to have broken apart more or less.

I woke to 77 degrees this morning. In August. In Charleston, SC. Wow!

I have not walked for 5 days, except for the tour around our neighborhood to see how our drainage was holding up. I was thinking to walk yesterday afternoon as the sun came out, but, this:

And when this cloud dumped its rain and moved north, the sun came out. But it was going to be followed shortly by another band of clouds like this one. So I just kept sewing as I was not going to risk walking a half-mile or more away from the house, only to get suddenly drenched.

It rained in the night too–and there was fierce lightening–so there is another 3 inches in the gauge out front this morning. Right now, the gauge has collected 23.25 inches of rain since Monday, but we got a bit more rain than that as the gauge overflowed in the night one night. And today we will have some thunder storms.

EVERYTHING is wet! I won’t even think about putting the back porch back together until all is dried out. And I miss my time out there during my noon dinner.

BUT, I’ve had some really fun sewing these past few days. Two new rulers came in the mail: Deb Heatherly’s Cat’s Claw ruler (thanks the demo shared by Rick Sanchez, local longarm quilter Stitch with Rick, at our last Sit and Sew) and Latifah Safari’s Hurty Ruler for half-square triangles. Both are so much fun.

I could EASILY go down a rabbit hole with the Hurty ruler. (This picture had to be taken on a slant due to where the blocks are on the very full design wall.) I pulled some fabrics at random and just played with no intention for anything. Just play. The “A” side of the ruler makes a LEFT side straight edge (these are 4 by 8 blocks). The B side makes a right side straight edge. I started with the A side, but realized I really like the look of the straight edge on the right AND that putting the two choices together makes a big triangle and a bigger diamond AND that putting blocks on their side is kind of fun–either in a quilt of half-square triangles or on a border.

I’m also obsessed with making blocks that are riffs on the Churn Dash block–so here are more half-square triangles–4 inches finished–that surround the center square.

You can see the Cat’s Claw blocks in the red Churn Dash on the bottom of the design wall below–at the corners. Making these Cat’s Claw blocks is so much fun as each effort makes TWO of them.

I made myself STOP playing with the Hurty ruler’s bigger blocks–that’s for another day. But I have 8 orange smaller blocks cut out for the next Churn Dash “riff.” That will happen today. (I have no idea how these blocks will work out–they are for a challenge in the modern group that is due at our November meeting.)

Prickly Pear only needs one more row–and I’m working on the triangle rings for that final row now. I have the backing and binding made and know what pantograph I’ll use to quilt this handsome and very modern quilt, thanks to a consult with master longarm quilter Wendie Currie, who lives in Thunder Bay, Canada. I also have enough fabric left (as I had to order more for the field fabric and for the triangles) to play with the alternative arrangement, which is also fun.

The scrappy leader/ender on the left is growing–it will be 7 blocks wide and 8 long, so will finish around 63 by 72–a good lap size. This kind of quilt is meant to be USED and to be cuddly. The two bins of 3.5 inch Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society squares ARE going down–but there are a lot left. Next I’ll try something like all one-color darks in a specific color (9-patch again) alternated with blocks of the light colors.

And today I have to…cook. Hamburger is defrosting–for air fryer patties likely. An easy meal that will product leftovers.