Red and Cream Quilt, or how to make a quilt in 4 days!

Well, I didn't start out with the intentions of making this a "mystery" quilt.  It just sort of serendipitously ended up that way!  Here's the story.

Several years ago, my local guild did a birthday block swap.  The swap committee chose the pattern, and if you signed up to participate, you chose the colors you wanted.  I have always loved the look of a red and cream quilt, and loved the look of the block, so I signed up.  I received 16 9" blocks.  Not much you can do with  those.  So I put them on a pants hanger (my favorite way of storing blocks while waiting for inspiration) to let them "mellow".

Two years later, we did another birthday block swap.  Again a 9" block.  So I signed up, and again asked for red and cream.  I think I got 11 or 13.  Still not enough.

This year, the Chocolate Chicks, another small group that I belong to, is doing a Churn Dash Stash Buster.  You know where I am going with this, yes, I asked for red and cream!  Surely I would have enough blocks to make this quilt!  I received 21 8" blocks (well, it should have been an even #, but that is all I could find, so either someone made me 1, or 3, or I lost one!)





Working with EQ7, I tried a variety of designs mixing the first two blocks.  But I never really liked the look.  I decided to just let each of the different swaps sing in their own groupings!

 

I LOVE the secondary design that this block creates!  Sixteen different quilters, sixteen different ideas of red and cream.  But what harmony they created when they came together!

I had to make a few more of the double dutch nine patches for the second round.  No problem, as I had plenty of reds and creams in my stash.  I decided onpoint would give more interest.  I used a red Moda Marbles for the setting triangles.  A cream batik from my stash was used for the filler border.

Now, to handle the next border.  To make it totally with the churn dash blocks would require 32, and I didn't feel like making 11 more.  I decided to separate them with 6X8" rectangles of red and cream.  That nicely framed the blocks and let them sing.  I chose to do an hourglass unit for the corners also to frame the churn dash blocks.

 

 

 

On to that final border!  I had to make a field trip to Sew Sassy, my local quilt shop, to buy more of that red! I didn't want to just put a plain border on it, but didn't want anything too fussy, either.  Borrowing from a trick that Debbie Caffrey showed us when she taught at our guild this spring, I put a 1" cream inset into the final red border.  Just the right touch, I think!

So that is how I put together a huge quilt (I think it is 96" square) in just 4 days!



 

Retreat and Debbie Caffery Workshop

July has been a good month.  We have had unseasonably mild weather here in E. Central Illinois.  Not to say that we haven't had some hot and humid days.  But as I am writing this wearing sweatpants and thinking about a sweater, well, I think you get the point!

One of the fun things for this month is getting started on a new project with Chocolate Chicks, one of my small groups.  We are doing a Churn Dash Stash Buster.  This is how we are doing it.  This month our hostess Cyndee entertained us (about 12 quilters) with appetizers and soft drinks.  She passed out a pattern for the Churn Dash that she wants, along with a fat quarter of a cream fabric to each quilter that she wants used as her background.  We are to use from our stash fabric for the churn dash.  She requested a print that reads "Red Solo Cup"! I think this nailed it!  I used three different prints from my stash.  She will receive three 7.5" finished blocks from each member, so she will have enough to make a quilt!  Each member takes a turn hosting! Simple appetizers, nothing fancy.  We have found out that there are so many different variations of the churn dash pattern.

I went to retreat with the Materials Girls (another small group I belong to) for a long weekend of sewing and girl fun!  We stayed at The Old Brick Inn in Chrisman!  Joy, the innkeeper, is a delightful hostess.  We ate wonderful meals in a cozy atmosphere.  I worked on several projects while there.  This was a miniature I had purchased the kit for at the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show this winter.  It is now on the to be quilted pile!

Last week my local guild hosted Debbie Caffrey for a lecture and two workshops!  I was unable to attend her PowerCutting workshop on Friday, but I was able to take her workshop Open a Can of Worms. There we learned some power cutting techniques, how to use the half square triangle ruler to make half square triangles and trapezoids.  These blocks I got done in the morning.

These I got done in the afternoon, sort of like extra credit!  These fabrics are the same fabrics I used in the Kaye England workshop a few months ago.  They are Christmas prints, so I will be able to make a sampler of workshop blocks at some point in time!  The diamond shape I am going to make a small medallion quilt with it!