Add a Border block quilt finished

A few years ago I joined an Internet group of quilters who swap small blocks and add borders to each then send them off to others to add more rounds until a 6 inch block becomes 24 inches then it is given to the first to lay claim to the block. A nice fellow in Kentucky hosts the block swap sending and resending the blocks from one quilter in the Flickr.com group to the next. Here is a link if you want to see some of the work or join in the fun:  AddABorderBlockSwap on flickr.com 

AFter a while in the group I never got to select a finished block so a second option was to keep one you liked and replace it. I chose this block after adding a round to it because I fell in love with the orange/magenta striped background fabric and the hexagon hand pieced block on it that looked like a toy block. It was made by Ed Hart who goes by Cattail in the group. I chose it as my block to keep and pinned it to my design wall to ponder how to build it into a queen size quilt top of my own improvising from this beginning. 

Not long after deciding to keep this block I put it away because I had so many quilt projects already underway and this project was not clearly worked out in my head.

The following year once all my Log Cabin quilts were completed I tried again. This first block built up to about 24 inches square and I realized that to keep going, like some other quilters do making it all a giant medallion, was going to be really difficult to keep my quilt squared. The wobble was starting to distort the square shape after adding only three more rounds! 

Next idea was to make more blocks like this improvising my way along with my core design element taken from the original block, the three diamond hexagon on a bright background that looks like a three dimensional toy block sitting in a field.

Next step was to make some three inch diamond English Paper Pieces and try to match the fabric of the original block with purple, white and green from my stash. It was fun making them up and hand stitching them together a couple at a time. 

The second block was different because the background was different and so it went on and on with each new block. Once I had four I decided I was going to organize them by doing a big nine patch design for the overall quilt pattern. 

Second block used a tartan shirt fabric given to me by Melinda Newton as my background

 The colors shifted to the purple and aqua range and I wanted to keep the magenta, red and oranges in the quilt so I chose another tartan in red and dark blue as the third block's backgrounder.

Third block 

4th block got a different colored hexagon in the center using a warm pink with magenta and white then the  flower background with oranges purples and magenta pinks. 

In this 4th block I was ready to take a step aside from the aqua purple theme and move back to the pink purple orange end of the range of colors. I am not sure why but it felt right when I headed in this direction looking at all four it needed this brightness. 

Three of the 3 inch central hexagons trying a new orange magenta color theme in the center hexagon. 

Then I wanted to throw a twist in and added a block with a diamond setting of the central hexagon. It was fun and a little tricky to add triangle blocks split in two...

I blogged earlier about messing this one up at our guild sewing day. I  cut that orange edged block in half the wrong way first thing and had to start it all over when I got home but that is a good example of how much thought and concentration is required to get the results you want in quilt top piecing.  This is how they looked before I cut them in half to create a triangle to add to the diamond block center. 

The various blocks all improvised pieces totaled nine which took a while to even up with extra rounds of thinner and thicker bands. In the final judgement I chose to add some solid magenta as sashing to draw all these unmatched blocks together to make a top to fit my queen sized sleigh bed. 

I was influenced by the hand work movement to make up some one inch English paper pieced tumbling blocks to include as a sort of button decoration on the intersections of the sashing. I wanted to add some scale to the theme small and large. 

one inch and three inch English Paper Pieced blocks in the quilt side by side

They were so small that I had a struggle to figure out how to get them on the intersections of the sashing and decided that applique was my best bet once the whole was hand quilted. I chose # 8 pearl cotton in contrasting or matching colors to detail the big blocks and surround them on the sashing leaving room for these small tumbling blocks at the intersections. 

Hand quilting with big stitch purple pearl cotton # 8

quilt top before the quilting began laid on my bed with four tiny one inch tumbling blocks at intersections 

detail of finish 

detail of finish hanging 

detail of central block finished 

Finished hanging by my bed (see the foot board lower left blocks the full view)

Hanging Tumbling block quilt improvisation based on the original "Add a Border" block from Ed "Cattail" of the block swap group. 

I wanted to thank Ed Hart for the inspiration and Dustin Cecil for sending me this block that has kept me busy for the last couple years. I regret that my home is kind of small and tight so the finished quilt shots are cramped but maybe next weekend when I show it at the Washington DC Modern Quilt Guild meeting I can get a better photo to add later. 

I would love to hear your comments and questions on my blog posts about quilting or any other topic I cover. Be aware if you do comment I have this blog set  for all comments to be approved by me before they will appear on the site. It might take a day or two to get to them and post them thanks for your patience.  

Butterfly bush versus native hyssop in Manassas

Several years back on a trip to Merrifield Nursery in Gainesville VA with my mother she saw and fell for a purple butterfly bush Buddleia davidii that was particularly showy as most of that nursery's stock is and we brought one home and made it the center piece of her flower bed at the front of the house. My Dutch friend and pen pal, Cor Windhouwer recommended we cut Buddleia down to about knee high in winter. Taking his advice it has performed very well growing about 8 feet tall each summer and giving us a lot of big blooms that do attract lots of nectar seeking creatures, including butterflies and humming birds.

I am amazed how an alien plant can seem to be so beneficial but I know that, not having a long evolution with this plant, our native insects can't lay eggs on it or use the butterfly bush for anything but nectar. That said, it sure is fun to watch them sipping and fitting about on the purple flowers. This article in Rodale news bad butterfly bush details why this flowering Asian plant is a problem in our gardens and we should shun it. So we don't have any butterfly bush in our DC garden but in Manassas I get to take lots of photos of the butterflies that are eating nectar but have to find native plants on which to lay eggs and reproduce in other parts of that garden environment. The huge oak tree is home to over 500 natives species and that is less than 25 feet from the Buddleia. We have a native collection we are beginning to mix in with the non-natives. The New York Aster is one that I mixed in right next to the butterfly bush and is now blooming using the stronger branches of the butterfly bush as a support to hold it upright.

Clear winged moth visits the butterfly bush in daylight hours.  

Male monarch butterfly identified by the two black spots and narrow black lines in the wings. (Thanks Jason Alexander for help with the sex ID) 

 Butterflies rely on a lot of plants and some natives are nick named 'super pollenators' because they offer so much nectar and pollen for the native insects for long periods of time when they need it most. I think this volunteer Anise hyssop is a super native pollenator.  We cultivated it from the first plant that showed up in between the bricks by our old fish and waterlily pond in the back yard of Manassas. It is a great one to have around the yard because numerous bees, butterflies, wasps, flies, moths, hummingbirds, and other small song birds like gold finches visit this flowering mint with a licorish scent summer through autumn.

Seed filled flowers of the native Anise hyssop a member of the mint family that bees and butterflies pollenated earlier this year is now feeding birds like the gold finches that eat the seeds.

Having a mix of native plants planted in with non-native plants helps us supporting the insects that feed our birds and entertain us all year long as well as support life for all. 

male gold finch eating seed of the Anise hyssop

Anise hyssop in the first flower of summer

log cabin quilt in orange and purple

detail of log cabin quilt top

This is my first log cabin quilt finish. It began as a mix of oranges, purples and neutral grays and whites in an attempt to create a "Modern Quilt" design after listening to a webinar from the Modern Quilt Guild. The speaker extolled the use of graphics and lots of open neutral space as modern. I found it's a great idea but I began with too many colors and neutrals to bring it off in this project. For today and for the first time this year I finished a quilt!

39"X 59" Log Cabin Quilt in orange and purple 

It is composed in orange and purple secondary dominate color theme with a full range of red to blue primaries mixed into the blocks to give it the look I like of many colors together. These blocks are 5 inches square with a center that is always orange laid out in the field and furrow diagonal that resembles the rows in a freshly plowed garden. There are two larger ten inch blocks to add a scale jump, my nod to the modern esthetic of playing with the traditional repeats. At least bright color is a hallmark of modern quilt design and they don't get much brighter than this palette. I imagine this is a modern traditional design but what ever it is labeled, it is done and finally ready to show. Having completed 12 or 13 quilts last year I feel like this year the first finished quilt is long over due.

red pearl cotton #8 hand quilted 

It has diagonal lines of fire red pearl cotton #8 hand quilting to hold the all wool batting and backing together. The binding is a collection of fabrics found in the quilt top alternating orange with purple. The backing is a print of black arrows and lavender circles on blueish purple background called "Homestead" ©2013 designed by Juliana Horner which I fell in love with some time ago and only rediscovered during the hunt for complementary backing.  

Juliana Horner "Homestead" arrow and circle printed backing

Finally the label is a block of purple surrounding orange with red pearl cotton #8  embroidered by hand and blanket stitched to the back corner. Finished and ready to hang vertically with a matching sleeve on the back it measures 39 x 59 inches. 

log cabin label hand embroidered in red on purple log cabin block

May full of flowers

This month is so full of flowers and things to do. It is like nature woke up for us and put on a lovely show and we are busy doing the same. All sorts of invitations and activities come rolling in and sadly so many have to be left unattended but the ones we do get to participate in are rich and colorful.

Phyllis (mom) with her purple iris and one black iris lower right corner.

I have been lucky to have visited my mother in Manassas twice this month which allows me to see the results of the flower planting I have done over the years. Things like iris that bloom and are gone in two weeks I get to see this year. I surprised to see the black iris from Fairhaven Cliffs on the Chesapeake Bay bloom in her iris bed.  I thought I planted the black iris  and then it didn't bloom but the yellow one did last year... Those iris are tricky to predict sometimes they bloom the first year like my black iris did in DC and sometimes it takes two years for them to flower after transplanting. It was a delight to find them taking hold with three stalks! Juanita and Molly said they were "very hardy" when I was gifted a half dozen plants year before last from Juanita's garden.

darkest purple red iris is called "Black" by Juanita who gave them to us. 

Another richly colored delight is the gift from brother David of a red rhododendron which has tripled in size since we planted it and gave a big show of color this year. It's planted on the north side of the house which used to be home to a huge lavender colored rhododendron that had to be removed for some reason that is forgotten over the years. There is an empty spot there now where a tall hemlock evergreen tree met the same fate earlier this year. The tree was split at the top by a storm so it had to be cut down and we are still trying to decide what to plant in this bed. 

Finally the front porch planters are looking swift with hot pink geraniums, dianthus in red white and pink, magenta celosia and a pink with yellow striped calibrachoa and some trailing silvery gray vines. My photos barely show the colors but to the visitor it's a very pretty collection. 

Last today the hanging pot is filled with calibrachoa in hot pink and blue lobelia and one I don't know that is pale pink. 

It's fun to have a second garden to visit and help plant and plan. The hard part is for mom, she is there keeping it watered in the hot weather and watching for flowers which seem to take so long to appear then vanish before you can blink an eye. 

Next week I am excited to see the two peonies we planted two years ago bloom for the first time. Stay tuned for updates or visit my flickr.com page to see more as they are coming in from both our gardens and all around.