Third Saturday of April 2021

For "Hang Your Quilt Day" this month, the theme was April Showers and Flowers. Shown from left to right the quilts are a 32" square wall hanging I call Baskets, a 48" square quilt named Cheery Daisy Stars, and a 25" x 31" wall hanging I call Tulips.

Baskets is one of the earliest wall hangings I made. I had moved to California in 1976, bicentennial year, and had started quilting before the birth of my daughter in 1980. My best guess on time frame is the 1980's based on the blue and pink color scheme, validated by a palette chart from retroplanet.com.  This wallhanging is not pieced but rather one panel of fabric from a cheater cloth. Because of the Easter reminiscent baskets, I thought it qualified for the April theme.

A closeup of one basket block reveals that I unimaginatively merely sewed on each of the printed lines. I used my Pfaff with the feed dogs engaged and just stopped and turned to get the straight lines. I do not think I even know what "FMQ" was back then or even "Stitch in the Ditch". A closeup of the hearts and wreath block on the lower left reveals that – oh, no – I did not even finish doing those hearts. The upper right wreath and hearts block was completed. Maybe the baby came and I was distracted or sleep-deprived. Guess what I will be doing once I take down this quilt.

Cheery Daisy Stars, 2007, measures 48" square. Since it predates when I was blogging it does not have a post of its own. Although it is a repeat from last month's Hang Your Quilt Day, I displayed it again because of the April showers and flowers theme. Details about Cheery Daisy Stars are in that Hang Your Quilt Day post dated 3/20/21. 

Tulips was made from a 1990 kit from Keepsake Quilting with a Four Corners pattern titled Field of Flowers. I think dyes were not as stable 30 years ago. That blue/lilac in the outer border is not nearly as vibrant as it started out, which can be seen from comparing the pattern photo with the quilt.

Here are details of the tulip ceramic buttons I added and the tulip motifs I quilted in some of the blank squares. One button is coming loose and one is missing. I'd better fix that, too. I also noticed I had mitered the pink/blue/pink/white borders. Hmmm. I do not usually do that. It is actually fun to go back and review your creations from "a long time ago [in a galaxy] far, far away"

Hang Your Quilt Day Beginnings
Beginning April 2020, my quilt guild members began a tradition of hanging quilts in the front of their homes on the third Saturday of the month as a source of enjoyment for the community and as a thank you for the essential workers during the pandemic. My initial post about this practice is dated 4/22/20. I find it hard to believe it has already been a year.