Hello Quilty Friends!
Happy Thursday to you!
In a few days, it will be officially summer! This got me thinking about a music lyric: “Summertime and the living is easy” and I decided to find out a little bit about it. So here I go down the rabbit hole for a few minutes. LOL! I discovered the lyric is from the song Summertime from the opera Porgy and Bess by Gershwin which debuted in 1935. It was originally sung by Abbie Mitchel.
I can hear the song in my head, but I’m not sure who sang the version I am most familiar with because apparently, tons of artists have sung it over the years. Yikes! Here is a wonderful version by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Enjoy!
Here’s to a little “Summertime and the living is easy” for all of us.
I was planning to do a fun summer tutorial for this week, but I have been using my sewing time to work on new July VRD patterns for you instead.
Let’s talk about Block of the Month (BOM) projects, instead.
Have you ever participated in a BOM? Have you finished them? The reason I ask is that over the years, I’ve not only participated, but I’ve organized BOMs and I must admit I haven’t finished all of them.
BOM Fun
Let me tell you about the current BOM I am participating in at my quilt guild, Free Spirit. Our program coordinator, Lauren (a retired quilt shop owner), organized a new BOM for our guild earlier this year. Lauren was inspired by The Civil War Diary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs and The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion book by Laurie Aaron Hird.
Each month, Lauren selects a block from each book. One block is easy and the second block is more advanced. We have the option to make one block each month or both of them.
My favorite part of the BOM is that at our meeting, when Lauren presents the 2 new block each month, someone reads the letter that accompanies each block aloud to the group. As a former children’s librarian, I really LOVE that concept – story time for adults! YAY! Last month, I was the guest reader, which was so lovely as I hadn’t read aloud for a long time. Sure, we all know kiddos enjoy being read too, but so do adults. Maybe you’ll incorporate this idea into one your guild programs.
Each month we bring our completed blocks to the guild meeting and put them up on the wall so everyone can see each other’s blocks. I am always very excited to see everyone’s blocks side by side. It’s really interesting to see how people interpret a block pattern in their own unique way using their own fabrics.
So I thought we’d do the same thing on the blog today. It can be quite inspiring as well as a learning experience to see different people’s versions of the same pattern. I’m going to share with you my blocks, Robin’s blocks, and Mary Lee’s blocks. BIG shout out to Robin and Mary Lee, my quilty pals, who were okay with sharing their blocks with you.
Block 1: Simple Blessings from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Easy)
Block 2: Sun Rays Quilt from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Advanced)
Block 3: Bitter Enemy from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Easy)
Block 4: Star in the Window from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Advanced)
Block 5: Yankee Papers from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Easy)
Block 6: Church from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Advanced)
Unfortunately as of posting, Mary Lee hadn’t made her 7 and 8 blocks yet.
And here’s where things start to get interesting – look what happens with Robin’s and my blocks. Up until now, we were all following the block instructions, but things change with block 7. Robin continues to create her blocks following the instructions, but I begin adapting the blocks so that they blend better with my other blocks.
Block 7: Puss in the Corner from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Easy)
Block 8: Southern Flags and Patriotism from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Advanced)
Let’s take a look at each person’s group of blocks so far. Now you’ll be able to not only see the color scheme, but also the theme.
Mary Lee is using her stash of Daiwabo fabrics for her blocks to create a classy understated elegance. (Daiwabo fabrics are Japanese taupes.) Although each block has its own group of fabrics, the fabrics are repeated in more than one block for a lovely cohesion.
Robin is using a great collection of Civil War fat quarters for her blocks to create a traditional 19th century look. I just love how she uses the lighter busy prints as backgrounds, don’t you?
Me, I’m using a big bag of blue and cream scraps with some additional fat quarters to add variety for my blocks. It definitely has a Modern Farmhouse feel going on, I think.
We have 2 more months of blocks in order to complete the set of 12 BOM blocks for the guild. Then it will be time to figure out how we want to lay them out and complete them because how we finish the blocks is completely up to each of us. I have a pretty good idea right now as to what I want to do, but that could change based on the upcoming blocks. I think completed quilt tops using our BOM blocks will be a post coming down the road so you can see how our projects turned out.
I hope you have a lazy crazy living easy summer!
That’s it for me this week, see you next time!
Sew. Laugh. Repeat.
Always,
Tricia @ VRD
Villa Rosa Quilts 