Indigo quilt

 

This quilt has been whispering finish me......finish me........sew I finally did, a little bit at a time between piecing other quilts or maybe machine quilting while I thought about what to do next on whatever I was working on.  Finished finally!!  I pieced this back in 2020 when every day felt like a snow day because we were supposed to shelter at home, lock down, avoid gatherings, etc etc.  Good thing I had a large stash of fabric and I still do.  These were all Asian indigo fabrics that I purchased in a bundle several years ago,  I just felt like I had to keep them together and I wanted to show off the prints.  Its done.  --Ann--

Indigo tessellating star

 

I had a lovely weekend and hope you did too.  Darling daughter came home, she wanted to go to our local kitchen shop, they didn't have what she was looking for but I found a couple little things.  Shop Local!! what fun to get out and do something.  We got burgers at the local burger joint, they were delicious. Then we came home and watched Hamilton.  There are so many words in that musical you have to watch or listen to it a few dozen times.

Another ta da da done. I quilted the white pinwheels with white thread and the indigo pinwheels with navy thread because I wanted to show off the piecing and the indigo fabrics.   The center fabrics are schweschwe prints from South Africa and the border is a Dutch wax print from the Netherlands.  I kept the border  simple because the quilting would be lost in the prints of the border. 

Appreciating the little things--Ann--

Tessellating stars in indigo

Quilt top together!  I kept everything in order as I sewed, every triangle and every square is where it belongs.  I'm rather enjoying these long stretches of creative time and working from my stash of fabrics.  Happy stitching  --Ann--

Puzzle parts

If I would knock all these pieces on the floor and try to put it back together it would rival any puzzle I have seen on the internet. All these pieces are the same size, some are interchangeable but most only fit in one spot then to make things more confusing a couple stars have 2 different prints. —Ann—

More indigo

I finished cutting these prints, the Schweschwe, indigo from South Africa are the lighter colored prints. Thanks to Ramona at Doodlebugs and Rosebuds for schooling me on the Schweschwe fabrics. To square up the quilt to a nice baby or small wall quilt I added what was left of the Asian indigos and a full round of a Dutch wax print.  I wish my design wall had a grid so stars could be more orderly.   Next to cut the white but first do some math to be sure I have enough.  --Ann--

Just thinking

Just thinking about which white to use for the background.  Off white, white white, not quite white. The hexagon print is going to be used for the border, it’s a Dutch wax print and the white in it is very white.  Use the white white. I just cannot cut that print apart and piece it back together I can cut it crosswise and have a trapezoid border.

I cut my South African indigo prints today, there is no turning back.  Ann

Indigo

All that is going on in the world and blogger has to change how to do things argh. 

My phone hasn’t updated so I can access photos on the phone if I take some more pics.

Blocks are together with a narrow border I do not have a good backing fabric so will have to wait until I can shop again. Add it to the stack......—Ann—

Reading list #2

1. The Bitterroots by C. J. Box Cassie Dewell private investigator 
2. The Last One Home by Debbie Macomber romantic fluff about someone living a normal life, she can go places without thinking about covid19. It’s really about a woman starting over after escaping an abusive husband.  Book 1
3. A Girls Guide to Moving On by Debbie Macomber  Book 2
4. As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner very slow reading in the beginning then it picked up, about flu epidemic in 1918 takes place in Philadelphia, Pa.  The story is written in first person by 4 different people so could be hard to follow, I had to check back to the name at the beginning of each chapter to know who was telling the story.
5. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand, written by a college professor who teaches classes about urban legends, modern folklore and researches the stories we told around the campfire in our youth. Amusing.
6. Pale Rider by Laura Spinney non fiction all encompassing history of epidemics, pandemics and plagues and specifically the Spanish flu of 1918. Survivors washed their hands, covered their mouth and kept their distance kinda like what we are going through now.
7. The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd. Historical fiction about the production of indigo in South Carolina pre revolutionary war. Liza Lucas Pinkney was the woman responsible for the indigo trade in colonial America.
8. The Great Quake by Henry Fountain non fiction about the 1964 earthquake in Alaska. I was 8 years old when that happened and I can remember the news reports so clearly. Very interesting to read and a lot of earth science.

My South Africa indigos, I only have fat 1/8 yard cuts and a couple I cut and used in a quilt several years ago.  They are a much brighter blue than of indigos I used in the 9 patch/puss in the corner quilt.  I'm still trying to figure out how to use these fabrics.  The backs of some are stamped by the manufacturer.   I wish I could use both sides of the fabric.  --Ann--

Indigo

 Going from random placement of squares to a more symmetrical placement of some squares.  I like to boldness of the darks against the white patches.  The swallows circiling in the center really draws the eye in but I like the birds social distancing in the middle pic more.  What  would I do if I didn't have a healthy stash of fabrics!?!  --Ann--

design wall

New project on the wall. I have been thinking about my stack of blues since finishing The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd. A teenage girl is left to run the plantation in South Carolina 1739 while her father is fighting the Spanish. Indigo might be her cash crop to save the family farm. Based on the life of Eliza Lucas Pinkney.
Going through the stack of blues was like seeing old friends and acquaintances many of whom I had forgotten where we met. Repo 19th century blues, Moda blues, patriotic blues, indigo blues, Dutch wood block blues and a short stack of South African blues. So many choices and decisions and how many quilts. Divide and conquer!
Indigos and a stack of fat quarters that might be Japanese very dark navy almost black with very plain motifs that by themselves would be very dull. Mix them with some other Asian style prints.

 Simple design to show off the prints large squares alternating with 9 patch/puss in the corner blocks. It needed something brighter to catch the eye, red? I don't want a patriotic looking quilt, yellow/gold would be a better choice.   Lots of blocks to sew.  --Ann--