Mississippi Orange Peel, Part 1

Karen K Stone's Indian Orange Peel

Karen K Stone visited Hattiesburg in November 2016 and presented a program for our Pine Belt Quilters guild and then taught a class on the traditional Orange Peel block, showing her beautiful quilt she calls Indian Orange Peel. Karen's pattern included printed paper foundations, which I then copied onto an interfacing (which can be left in) called Do Sew. This eliminates that tedious step of tearing all that paper foundation out after the blocks are sewn.

Picking and grouping the fabrics for these blocks was a fascinating and fun project, and once I got started, it was like an obsession. The possibilities for spikes and backgrounds were endless.

It took a bit to get the hang of sewing the blocks, but with each block the process got easier and faster. I decided on a five by five block arrangement, adding the curved arcs on the outside of all blocks. I did not want the larger border Karen used in her quilt. The project lived on my design wall for quite some time as I chose how I wanted to arrange the blocks, deciding on a diagonal line of basically red blocks from upper left to lower right. So far, so good. I loved looking at it!

Then life intervened and the project was put aside as I pondered how to quilt it.  I like to quilt my own work and planned to really enjoy the process. I selected a black/white print for the backing.

Finally I layered it and began to quilt on my stationary machines--both the Pfaff and the Janome. Ooops! I hit a wall. All those little pieces coming together at intersections and corners of blocks created thick and cumbersome areas that wanted to push and slide under the presser foot. So I tried free-motion quilting. Still having problems with the thickness. But I have begun and will persevere. I love the pieced top too much to abandon the project. I hope to have some progress to show soon.

June Catching Up

I went on a dream trip to Ireland! I joined a Tom Kimmel music tour from June 1-11. Tom is a talented singer/poet/songwriter who has performed at our Back Door Coffeehouse at University Baptist Church in Hattiesburg. The tour started in Shannon, Ireland, and I met the other 23 people there. They were music lovers from all over the U.S. and one from France. We had shared a picture and brief bio by email, so we felt like we were meeting old friends when we arrived.
There were expected stone walls, castle ruins, sheep, cattle, green fields, views of the wild Atlantic Ocean, musical voices and brogues spoken by the friendly people, and music every evening, either in a concert just for our group or in a local pub among the happy townspeople. We spent three nights in Rosscarbery, West Cork, three in Ballyferriter, and three in Doolin, and traveled by bus in Counties Cork, Kerry, and Clare along the Wild Atlantic Way. We had sunny days, rainy days, and some combinations of weather, but nothing to interfere with our learning some of Ireland's culture and history and beauty.

Stone fences

The Cliffs of Moher

This church was built in the 10th century on level ground. Through the years sand from the Atlantic Ocean has blown up around it until it appears to have sunk into the earth.

 The floor of The Freezer's Pub was like a giant quilt!

 Stairs in Bunratty Castle looked rather forbidding.

Sheep

The path to Mizen Head and Fastnet Lighthouse.

June--what a busy month! After I returned home, I finished piecing the Red Stars String quilt and added borders. With the red background behind each block, it was tempting to leave it unquilted as a "summer spread," but went ahead with a backing and attempt at quilting on my Pfaff while my Sweet 16 is waiting for a new bobbin case. But Elizabeth and Rahrah insisted on keeping me close company, so I had to put it aside.

I also joined all 25 blocks of my Karen K Stone-inspired orange peel design and decided this is the size it will be, with the addition of "arcs" on all four sides. I will name it Mississippi Orange Peel.

Barn Quilts and Paperwhites

What we refer to as "Christmas Holidays" passed rather uneventfully here in Hattiesburg. Weather was warm and humid, reminding me of living in Corpus Christi, Texas. But we finally had a few days of teens temps and icy roads. My geranium and croton plants had to be covered, but we're back in the 60-70s.
Linda and I planned to eat Christmas Dinner at Cracker Barrel since they are always open on holidays for travelers. Not! So we warmed up homemade soup and worked on her barn quilt patterns. She has become fascinated with this idea and plans to rotate her signs seasonally. She doesn't have a barn, so the quilts are for the front of her house. The Noel/Christmas tree hung during December.
The Friendship Star is up now, with the Star of the Orient ready to follow.
She bought an 8' square of 1/4" plywood and had it cut into several pieces. The Noel/Christmas tree is 2' wide by 4' high; the two star blocks are 3' square.

Meanwhile, back in the studio, I've been having lots of fun working on my Indian Orange Peel design by Karen K Stone. Here are some of the parts laid out on the table, not sewn yet--just working with color placement. These little arcs are addictive! They create a huge mess of fabric on the floor.

I had six bulbs of paperwhites last fall that made a beautiful show of flowers. Doubting that it was worthwhile, I dug up the bulbs (which had multiplied into lots of smaller ones) and stored them in the refrigerator until around Thanksgiving. I brought them out and planted them in fresh soil and began watering. My garden center guru mentioned that gin would cause the foliage to only grow about 1/2-1/3 as high while still producing regular-sized flowers. I researched to be sure I heard him correctly, and after some growth took place I began to water them with 1 part gin to 7 parts water. Here is the pot just beginning to put up leaves in mid-December. Next picture is today, January 10.

Mid-December when I started the gin/water

Mid-January

I'll report back later.

Fall is Here, also Karen K Stone

Wheeee! It's really feeling like fall, and that huge moon adds to the joy. My neighbor's persimmon trees were loaded. I had a crew do massive clean-up in my yard. My barn quilt sign was hidden and is now prominently displayed. It's nice being identified as a quilter.

Karen K Stone was in Hattiesburg for a lecture/trunk show and workshop last week; her unique color sense is so exciting and her quilts were eye candy.

Karen's Indian Orange Peel

I could hardly wait to get started selecting fabrics for an Indian Orange Peel. Here's my first arc. Karen's method makes these much easier than they first seem. And getting to play with and coordinate fabrics makes this so much fun.