Jessie's Jasmine Tea, Quilt revealed

I finished a second quilt recently. It was inspired by Jessie Aller's Jasmine Tea fabric line for In The Beginning 2012 from a bundle of 8 fat quarters she put together for a DC Modern Quilt Guild prize I won last February.

I added a snow white Kona (from Elle)  for the sashing and a very pale warm gray solid background. Plus there are a few scraps of darker gray fabrics to work with Jessie's white fabric prints that got lost beside my pale background fabric. I tried to make this a very light and feminine quilt, considering the source of my materials, it seemed the right thing to do as a tribute to the lady I admire very much for her talents and kind personality.

 I chose to use a traditional pattern known as the Churn Dash block. I still wonder what a churn dash is, does anyone know? My guess is that the top of the butter churn had a frame to support the round wood and add stability to the part where the plunger handle which goes in and out, up and down... which may give it the shape and name. That is just a guess.

The delight of the google age for me is entering an obscure question and finding out the answers! I just looked up butter churn dash and discovered images of the part called the "dasher" which is what makes the cream into butter. Most of them are simple crosses attached to the end of the plunger. I am not sure how that became the design for my quilt block but it is interesting to consider. Now that I am happy about that new butter churn dasher information. Let's look at the new quilt.

My embroidery label on the white with gray dots selvage edge exposed to show the label on fabric

close up detail of the Perle yarn in rose pink hand quilting

81 x 58 inches finished measurement 

gray on white printed back with a beet red and hot pink print as the final binding frame.  

quilting pattern of diamonds and smaller squares to break up the grid

This was a very fun quilt to build hope you like it. 

here you can see some of the different gray background fabrics

preview pinks

I have been working for a while now on a special quilt made of fabrics designed by Jessie Aller and made into a packet of fat quarters with one of her lovely color schemes. It is a few shades of pink and gray with a touch of black and white thrown in. I have been having so much fun working with this color way that I wouldn't have chosen myself. I am nearly done making the whole quilt but I want to save it for a final reveal in the very near future. The colors of the quilt and the darker pink I am using for the binding brought to mind another pretty color experience we have been enjoying during the HEAT wave.

hand quilting on the Jasmine Tea quilt is contrasting in rosy pink

Meanwhile I noticed that some of the colors are so much like the most delicious summer treat my partner Keith made us a few days ago Ukrainian summer Borscht. We went to the farmers market last week and I saw a  big box of fresh beets and thought to ask the farmer girl how she made them to eat. She told me to just boil them in water and peel them to slice on salad or to grill them in tin foil and put a little olive oil on them when serving them hot. Both sounded good. We tried a boiled sliced beet on salad the next evening and I can't say I was very excited about how that tasted. The weather has been really hot and we had three more beets boiled and peeled and a pot of beet red liquid in ready to go in the refrigerator. It reminded me of the old days in NYC's East Village when I was poor and ate in bargain priced Ukrainian restaurants often. They served cold borscht soup with a big dollop of sour cream and a sprig of fresh dill on hot summer nights that was so good I could have eaten it over and over again.  After that vision of my earlier delight is when I suggested to Keith he look for a recipe for cold borscht soup and ever since we have been eating the best cold summer soup. pictured here in a small cup all dressed up like the Ukrainians served it at Veselka on second Ave. Leshkos and Odessa on Avenue A. and a other fine ethnic diners in Alphabet city some of them now long gone.

Even Keith who says he hates beets was very excited to eat this cold summer soup. In doing research for this article I found a transcribed Allen Ginsberg recipe for a vegetarian cold summer borscht. He lived in Alphabet city back in the 1980's just like me and maybe next time I will try his version with a salad thrown in! So many ways to enjoy those purple red beets besides pickled. How do you like them cooked, I am curious what you do with your beets if you eat them. Leave me a comment to tell me about your favorite beet recipe or story.

Special Days

This past week has been romantic and full of fun, friends, family and a little quilting. I had a lovely Valentine on my desk when I got up on the 14th and enjoyed delicious heart shaped black and white cake with a big pink butter cream rose. Then on the 15th a luncheon with old college friends who drove into town to visit my Mom and us. That was really a treat! Saturday was a trip to the DC modern quilt guild meeting up in Gaithersburg at a real quilter's shop. I got there while show and tell was happening and missed some of the members shows. My photos of the quilts that I got to see are in this flickr. set follow the link and see more quilts and quilters!
We finally got to see every one's Madrona Road Fabric quilts from last months challenge and Jessie Aller brought in a package of her wonderful fabrics she designed as the prize. We were asked to vote by secret ballot for our favorite project. I was thrilled to be the winner with my "Birds in Air" quilt seen below.

Fabrics for the Madrona Road Challenge 

Birds in Air quilt 

My prize is a lovely collection of fat quarters from white to gray to fuchsia and finished with a black and white dot. All but the black and white dots are Jessie's fabrics she drew the plants and designed the repeats and colors. What an exciting gift this is and I am anxious to find a new quilt project that will complement these delightful prints.

Jessie Aller's fat quarters prize

Currently I am working on quilt projects in green and white once again. Here is a peek at one block in progress. My own design...