Indigo Dyeing and “Fall’s Splendor” Quilt is Done

Last week I made a quick trip to one of our local quilt stores, Wild and Wooly, and look what they had hung out to dry:

Indigo dyed pieces of fabric!

And some with very pretty patterns laid over a table:

I did a post on the history of indigo and indigo dyeing in South Carolina some time ago. The growing of indigo was pioneered in South Carolina:

Indigo: “The Blue That Enchanted the World”

To recall first, here’s the backing.

This older Kaffee Fasset fabric (which I saw as winter squashes like one sees in New England in this colorway) of “beach balls” started my recent play time with the 8-inch Cat’s Cradle ruler. This piece of fabric had been hanging out in my stash for, literally, years. I chose the fabrics for this new quilt series from those used in this fabric.

The first quilt is “Fall’s Splendor,” and it is done and bound.

BUT, there is a problem that is driving me more than a little crazy. When I sewed the rows, I didn’t put them back on the design wall as I went. So, I didn’t notice that I had sewn two blocks out of order on the third row from the bottom on the left until the top was quilted and bound. The reversal throws off that pattern of the small squares going up the diagonal line.

Ugh!!!

This quilt is otherwise so handsome. But what to do??

I tell myself that no one is going to hang this quilt on a wall or spread it over a bed. It’s a lap quilt. It’s meant to be hugged and loved. I tell myself I didn’t even notice until it was finished.

I also tell myself that I might be able to take off the binding in that spot and to take out the quilting stitches–which would involve more than those two blocks–and to sew the blocks in correctly and redo the stitching using the pantograph.

Can I do that? I don’t honestly know. It would be tricky–and I don’t want to hurt other parts of the quilt pinning it back on the longarm. Could it just be draped over the longarm rollers.

The current quilting is beautiful, so can I replicate that impact?

Honestly, I don’t know what I’ll do yet. I’m just letting this problem simmer.

BUT, I would hate to give away a flawed quilt.

An Adventure With a Duck

Yesterday I ran some errands after 6 pm when it was a bit cooler and the weekend traffic out to Isle of Palms had slowed down.

As I came home and turned right onto my street, a young looking female mallard duck was in the middle of the road. I couldn’t see if she had moved away from the car, so I stopped and got out.

Mommy duck had five babies hidden in the grasses on the island. Here I talk to her in what is my “pet” voice–which is way too highly pitched, LOL.

I called my neighbor, and she and I helped the mommy duck to safely walk her babies to the water in our neighborhood’s front ponds. From experience, I know that’s what ducks do. They nest away from water, and when the babies can do it, the mother “walks them to water.”

This task took both me and my neighbor and the mommy duck. The babies were newly hatched and weak, and it was so, so hot. The mommy duck led the parade and kept to places she could hide the babies until we helped her move them along–past front porches and fences and up to the pond.

My neighbor checked this morning, and the duck and her babies are all still in the front pond. So I walked up to take some pictures.

Nope they aren’t in the big pond where she went first yesterday.

Here they are–in the quiet part of this pond away from the fountain–and near the woods. It’s a much better spot for her and her family. At some point she crossed the street with them.

This little family will be very fragile for some time. There are so many predators around then: a passing alligator or river otter, a hawk or owl, and so forth.

We will see. But my neighbor and I did what we could.

PS: And on Friday, when I left Costco, a mother goose was crossing a very busy road with 9 half-grown little ones following her in a straight line. That area is too busy for me to have gotten a video.

Design Wall Update, July 12, 2025

The third and my last quilt top in this current series exploring how blocks from the small and large Cat’s Cradle rulers might work together is done and folded up on the design wall while it waits its turn on the longarm. There is now, too, a purchased backing that is…”wild.”

I used the same fabric palette for these three quilts. The middle quilt, “Spring’s Song” is on the longarm now.

The first quilt that started this journey, “Fall’s Splendor,” is getting its binding sewn down.

And I will confess, I had another idea of a way to combine these blocks but if I go forth with it, I will use different fabrics.

Bonnie Hunter has released this year’s leader/ender project–“Four Patch Fun.” She starts a new leader/ender project on July 1st every year. One is meant to just sew one of these block components in the place of breaking thread on a primary project. Or, to sew one of these components instead of using a fabric scrap to keep sewing without breaking one’s thread.

I have fallen in love with this 6 1/2 inch block that uses 2-inch strips. (She included measurements for 2 1/2 inch strips for an 8-inch block as well.). These block components are easy to cut and easy to sew. Here is what I have done so far, and I can tell you that these blocks are addictive to make all on their own. No way will this one stay in the leader/ender category long for me, LOL. Nevermind how they look together on my design wall as I’m sure there will be a lot of moving blocks around.

Bonnie included, as she always does, a lot of “how to” in her directions AND numerous ways to set these blocks. I like the way the blocks form diagonal braids, but one could also group 4 blocks to make a circle pattern, with the light cross in the middle, and to maybe separate those blocks with narrow sashing and cornerstones. I have no idea where my blocks will go, but I’m…addicted to making them. For sure.

One project that has been ongoing as a leader/ender project for me is making a dozen placemats from the bin of 2-inch squares. I had a lot of fun devising various patterns using color, but also just making scrappy blocks. I had enough leftover fabric in one print to back the whole dozen. And enough of that fabric to make some bindings too, though not bias binding which I prefer. The rest of the bindings will be made from leftover bias binding strips I’ve saved along the way.

BUT, another goal with this project is to figure out how to install binding on BOTH sides with my sewing machine. I have been lousy at that task. Yet many quilters here that I know do this work beautifully. I tried with the placemat you see on the top. It was…terrible. I had to take the whole binding off and start again and to sew down the binding by hand.

I’ve watched some videos now and have some new ideas–especially with how to handle the corners. And I’ve ordered a Janome foot called a “left bi-level foot” that let’s the needle lie right on the binding edge while the right side of the foot is higher to accommodate the binding thickness. (There is also a “high bi-level” foot available for other projects that have two levels of thickness involved.)

Wish me luck as I’ll try one idea for sewing down the binding later today.

I went through all my saved solid strips and culled the really narrow ones–and pulled out all the bright colors. I’m making log-cabin blocks (14.5 inches unfinished) with these strips. To what end, I don’t know yet.

There is one lone one on the design wall, with the second to follow later today. The wonky strip below is as yet not exciting me… Maybe I’ll try one more. Maybe not.

I think, next, I’ll pull out one of the projects from The Color Collective where I had a lot of leftovers already cut and a stash of those fabrics saved. That project would make a good donation quilt at the very least and would move that fabric along nicely.

“My Parsnips” Quilt is Done

Rachel LaBour of the blog Stitched in Color used her “Parsnips” design as a sewalong some months ago. Rachel has now made two “Parsnips” quilts and you can see those and her pattern on her beautiful blog.

When I cut fabrics I cut leftovers into sizes that I can use later, so I have two separate bins for 2 and 2.5-inch squares that really needed to be used, so I used the 2.5 inch squares for this quilt. Rachel used rectangles and her block is smaller than mine, so she has more blocks. Note that I added the lighter outside border so I could take the stars out to the edge of the quilt. I suppose I could have, also, just made that blue border wider, now that I think about it.

The backing is WILD! It’s a wideback print that I used on its side so I had to buy less fabric to cover the back–and I have the leftover fabric from the edge in my stash now. To compare, that would be 5 or 6 yards of 44-wide fabric (depending on the print drop both long and wide) versus 2 or 25 yards of a wideback. Using a wideback this way if the print allows is…cheaper.

And…now my fingers are itching to try some blocks like these in the wideback with my solid leftover strips. Maybe a stretched canvas piece…

“Fall’s Splendor” is off the longarm, trimmed and bound, and getting its binding sewn down at night. I’m really happy with the quilting texture and the thread color (a mustard yellow/gold).

Up next on the longarm, “Spring’s Song,” which is ready to be loaded.

My design wall is hopping and full of color. I will take pics of it in a few days.

As for the bin of 2-inch squares, there are placemats happening.

Summer is officially here, post July 4th.

The Laughs Are On ME

I am still chuckling, actually.

I found the name for the very old Kaffe Fasset print that has sparked my ongoing series of three quilts on the Kaffe Fasset web site. It turned out to be remarkably easy.

Screenshot

And this print comes in lots of other color ways. Here are a few examples of some of the other color ways.

Screenshot

Have you noticed the NAME yet?

It’s BEACH BALLS!

The images in the colorway I have is NOT winter squash.

BUT, for me, those are so NOT beach balls. They ARE winter squash.

So that’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.

LOL.

PS: My pring is OOP Kaffe Fasset GP37, Beach Balls.

Information on Fabrics Used In Recent Posts For Quilts Made With the Cat’s Cradle Rulers

Some of you are asking for fabric information on the fabrics I used in the last posts.

To remind, here is a picture of the first quilt:

And of the second with the “tree” backing:

The fall squash print backing on the first quilt is a VERY old Kaffee Fassett print that has been hanging out in my stash for at least 25 years. It never got used as I never had the right colors on a top for it–and they are dramatic colors. Someone might be able to find it online at the Kaffee Fasset site????

The tree print on the second quilt is 2265 Clara’s Garden Trees @Makower UK. I’ve had that piece of fabric for some time as well but not as long as the Kaffee Fasset print.

Here is a list of the 11 Kona solids I am using for the three quilts underway:

Tarragon, Peach, Mango, Burgundy, Sienna, Brick, Banana, Butterscotch, Espresso, Mocha, Khaki

I basically took the Kaffee Fasset print and tried to use those colors when I started this project–which became a series of three quilts. These colors remind me of the earth, of growing things in rich soil, of green grass, of golden sunlight, and so on.

Thanks to all for your interest.

More Cat’s Cradle Ruler Projects

I’ve been playing with combining the small and large Cat’s Cradle ruler blocks.

The first top, “Fall’s Splender” is on the longarm. This quilt uses JUST the large ruler, and the blocks are 8 inches finished, so the quilt is 64 by 64 inches. I am including this top on this post as its backing, an old Kaffee Fasset print living in my stash for over 20 years, inspired these rich colors.

Yesterday I finished a top, using the above colors, that combines the 4-inch Cat’s Cradle blocks (small ruler) with the 8-inch blocks (large ruler). And Oh My Heavens! How fun is this top? And it is a great example of what can happen when you just let yourself “play” on a design wall.

I first made the left panel of 4 by 8 rows, then moved to the right panel of 4 by 8 rows, to mirror the left panel. ***Along the way I learned that pressing ALL the seams open while making the blocks worked to let them combine without a lot of bulk.

I have another large piece of fabric in my stash that will just fit this quilt top, and the use of it inspired this quilt’s name: “Spring’s Song.”

The soft greens and golds work fine with the top. I’ll probably bind with the green, Kona “Tarragon.” And today I’ll join the two panels I’ve prepped so that the print matches. There IS a diagonal part to this print that makes matching the print a good idea, and I have enough to just squeak this backing out with a bit to spare.

*Note that when you join two panels you have to match the edges, the length of the “drop” of the print, but you ALSO have to think about how the print matches on both panels along the width. On this one, I’ll lose about 5 inches I think, but that will still work for me. Often if you just try to join two panels without moving one to the actual piece of the pattern you are trying to match, you get two of something in the middle in a way that jars–like two identical trees, in this case. Those stand out in a way that jars the eye.

I still have a lot of this solid fabric and have lots of extra big blocks, so there will be a third and final quilt, which will likely be a donation quilt.

Time will tell…

But, I have a plan happening on the design wall now.

Catching Up!

I’ve apparently been AWOL. But I’ve been…summering. And, yes, always, sewing.

First, look at my beautiful Crepe Myrtle tree. It just bloomed, and it’s growing and filling out now. It seems so happy.

On the gardent front, the grass is thriving from the rain brought by the thunderstorms we’ve had, and the Japanese Beetles are slowing way down for this year. I think I picked a thousand off of my roses and adjacent plants like the now-blooming Vitex (a drought resistent Mediterranean plant).

Second, my 16-year-old (almost 17) granddaughter starts TODAY sailing across the Atlantic to Spain from the British Virgin Islands in a 2-mast wooden boat–after a week of preparation and sailing refresher days that also included scuba diving in the BVI islands.

This young woman LOVES sailing, and this trip meets educational requirements that will serve her well if she pursues this interest as crossing the Atlantic in a sailboat opens all sorts of doors. The boat is the ARGO, and we can track the route online at seamester.com, which many family members and friends are doing. The “first stop” across the Atlantic is the Azores, which will be reached after 18 or 19 nonstop days. The students and crew will sail the boat, night and day. There is no “parking” this boat. The students will have harnesses on at all times (whew!) and have come equipped with all the necessary foul weather and foot gear.

Here’s the Argo at rest in the BVIs:

What an adventure! I am of course glued to the online interactive map of the Argo’s progress, reading the daily blogs, and looking at all the pictures. The students will rarely have access to their phones until they reach the Azores and, later, when they get to Gibraltar and then go on to the Spanish coast.

Three, “Dancing Kites” is now finished. It is a baby quilt for an upcoming little girl, arriving sometime in July.

I used a 5-inch Kites ruler, and I will be using it again. There are so many blocks one can make with a kites ruler–and they come in many sizes. The fabrics all came from my stash–but I did buy a backing fabric. I quilted with a pale pink thread, using the “Folk Hearts” pantograph (Urban Elementz: Beany Girl Quilts / Benay Derr).

For this quilt I wanted lots of kite movement, so I contrasted the groupings/rows of 4 kites of the same color with up/down “sashings” of single kites in downward rows of 4 kites and sideways rows separating the 4-kite groupings. Truly, these kites ARE dancing.

I am in total love with this Tilda backing fabric:

Could it be more fun or more perfect for this quilt?

I don’t think so.

Have a wonderful weekend folks. ENJOY summer!

Sunday Happy Moments

I finished reading a book gifted to me by a long-time friend when she discovered my favorite book in the whole world is Gene Stratton-Porter’s LADDIE–a book my mother read to me an my sisters more than once.

I enjoyed every minute of reading THE KEEPER OF THE BEES which my friend sent to me. This novel was Stratton-Porter’s last novel–written before her automobile was hit by a trolley in Los Angeles in 1924, where she was working in the film industry due to the success of her writing.

My friend and I were born in 1944 and 1945 during WW2, which was only a little over 20 years from Stratton-Porter’s 1924 publishing of THE KEEPER OF THE BEES. Her novel LADDIE was among her earlier books.

My friend and I were Air Force “brats” who lived in military communities that had strong ties to the world Stratton-Porter details in her novels. It was an era of patriotism, belief in God, strong families, sacrificies made for “doing the right thing,” honesty, truth, character, sturdy educations in the classics and reading, and so on. Her protagonists have very strong connections to nature, and she writes in a time when there are a lot of small communities where people are strongly connected to each other. In Stratton-Porter’s novels, bad men and women fail dramatically. And shame does not just affect a person who didn’t “do the right thing”; shame falls too on those nearby–on families, communities, the innocent, and so on.

I miss much about that world, that country.

My son and DIL gave me a camellia and a Texas Sage plant for my birthday this year. Both are planted now and are thriving. I went out to water the Texas Sage and its adjacent plants the other day, and it was COVERED with pink flowers!

I had some help digging out the liriope plants in this bed–planted before I bought this house. This bed gets direct, really hot morning sun, and the liriope was so not happy there. While at the nursery with DIL Corinne, I also got a phlox (Intensia) and a Veronica that hopefully will take the heat in this bed. The white pipe is the discharge pipe for my water filtration system. These plants will spread and fill up this space.

I am still playing with the Cat’s Cradle rulers. I wanted to see if the 4-inch and 8-inch blocks would play nice with each other.

They do. These 4 rows are sewn together and make a big block that will be 1/4th of a quilt top that will meaure 64 by 64, like the first top. Butting up the seams between the blocks has been an issue and I’m exploring whether or not I can press differently when sewing the block parts together. Can all those seams be pressed open?

The second block is now organized, and I’ll sew it together later today and connect it to the first block. (On the left is the finished first top and its backing, waiting for the longarm.). Then it will be on to the other side and its two blocks.

One grandson is now home from his travels (Thailand). The other one landed in Laos yesterday and will be in Asia for the rest of June. My granddaughter leaves on her sail in a wooden boat to Spain this next weekend. Everyone else has their feet on American soil, LOL.

The Japanese beetles seem to be slowing down now. I have picked at least a thousand off my roses and nearby plants. Next spring I’ll put down something around the roses that the Japanese beetle grubs will hopefully eat–Bacillus Thuringiensis, which is a naturally occurring soil bacterium that is toxic to some insect larvae, but not to humans or mammals in general.

The weather is beautiful, though we have storms coming through again. We always already need rain here in the tropics. My grass got fertilized and is thriving. It is so pretty this year.

And now it is time for my main meal on the back porch, where I will start the next book in Jan Karon’s Mitford series: HOME TO HOLLY SPRINGS. I’m baking some cod and stir frying some spinach in butter with some garlic. The seedless watermelon has already been cut up, and my pears on the counter are almost ripe. There will be no starch today as I have picked up two pounds–from all the summer fruit of course.

Have a great week next week!

The “No. 15 Best Buds” Quilt

My blog reader says I got the wrong “Best Buds” Quilt.

Here’s the one of which she was thinking. And it is adorable, colorful, and, yes, modern.

It’s from “Sentimental Stitches,” under the “shop” section.

https://sentimentalstitches.myshopify.com/search?type=product&q=No.+15+Best+Buds

Adorable as it is, the method is appliqué.

And I don’t like appliqué. I’m not sure why. I love hand work. I can do appliqué well. And I’m not a big fan of machine appliqué either, though I do it well too.

These blocks, though, would make adorable stretched canvas pieces.

I might get tempted…