Two and a Half Quilt Blocks

Hello Gentle Readers. Stormy weather blows in and out of our area but the rain makes the outdoors lush and green. Now cooler days will follow some warm humid ones. May is a lovely month full of color, iris, columbine, daisies, and bird song. I did not attract a Baltimore Oriole to the oriole feeder this year but I did see one flitting around the neighborhood. 

Our son was here this past weekend to celebrate his friend's graduation and we enjoyed the time with him. Sunday night he and I prepared a salmon dinner. A thunderstorm kept us off the deck but he baked salmon with lemon slices and it was delicious. I made strawberry shortcake with a homemade biscuit and whipped cream. It was a lovely Spring meal even if the thunder rumbled. I will catch up with blog posts this week. 

Today for Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and friends, my making is a story of two and a half quilt blocks. In 2011, a former colleague gave me a small collection of quilt blocks made by her mother. During the summer of 2020, I made a little quilt from a few of those blocks and posted about it here. These two and a half quilt blocks are from the same group of blocks and scraps. I always thought they were sweet but could never find the right piece for them. 

As I watched a tutorial on cloth pouches by k3n Cloth Tales, I thought of these little blocks and decided to incorporate them into a small pouch. I backed a piece of unbleached muslin with a strip of white flannel. Embracing the characteristics of the cloth on hand, I let the selvedge edge of the flannel, fringe and all be part of the pouch. At first I lined up the blocks one on the cover, front, and back. As I pinned the half block to the cover, I knew the longest edge was wonky and never going to look straight so I placed it at an angle. I cut some diamond and triangle shapes from some scraps from the same woman. 

I appliquéd the raw edges of the quilt blocks with blanket stitch. Then I set about embellishing with bits of fabric and embroidery floss. 

I lined the pouch with a piece of fabric that was my Mom's. There is a small pocket attached to the lining. Raw edges along the outside edges didn't seem right to me, so I sewed the lining and muslin cover right sides together on the sewing machine. Then I turned the pouch right side out, hand-stitched the top edge of the lining down, catching the ribbon, and finally whipped stitched the pouch together. I would have preferred to make the tie from a  piece of red or navy ribbon but in the spirit of slow stitch, I used the cream ribbon because I had it on hand. 

As I worked, I thought about the two and a half blocks put in with the other pieces. Were they leftover from a larger piece that the quilter made? Did she try the pattern and not enjoy it? Did she run out of solid color fabrics to make the center stars? Did she reject these pieces because they weren't up to her standards of precision? I thought about this and more as I stitched. The shape of the star blocks suggests a pattern I know as Seven Sisters. Shapes can also be added to the sides to make a square block called Morning Star. Quilt patterns have numerous names depending upon the reference. The names here reflect my reference book,  Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. 

Something about warmer weather draws me to hand stitching. Stitching on this pouch reminded me of the generations of women, including a woman I never knew, grandmothers, and mothers who found and still find peace and joy in their stitches. 

What are you making these May days?