Tag: 2022 monthly color challenge

I love a little garlic!!

I am coming to the end of the 2022 Monthly Color Challenge presented by Patterns By Jen and the last inspiration is a favorite food……GARLIC!!!

After finding a couple of cloves in the kitchen, I returned to the studio to pick out a fabric that fits the color scheme and quickly came up with this one…..

It captured the lights and darks of the garlic perfectly!!

This was one of the easiest blocks to cut out……

JUST THREE PIECES!!!

After a few minutes of strip piecing, I had this beauty finished……

With the completion of this block, I have two years of Color Challenge blocks that can be put together into a quilt…..

This will be a fun project to finish out before the year is over!!!

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Adding cloves….

You know, I seldom every use cloves until the holidays are here and it was especially fun to pull them out in November for my block in the 2022 Monthly Color Challenge from Patterns by Jen.

As soon as I poured the cloves out my studio was filled with their luscious armona.

As I started photographing them, I loved seeing the colors and textures in these little “wooden” pieces of joy…..

I headed to my fabric wall and found two fabrics that were perfect for the inspiration…..

The pieces were quickly cut….

(I couldn’t resist making a little design with them)

The first step was to create a Square-In-A-Square……

….and then adding another round of triangles to make an even larger square…..

Then it was simply a matter of adding alternating strips until it looked something like this…..

Now, that doesn’t look like much, but when you put a 6.5-inch ruler over the top and give it a trim, you get this fun block…..

I like the “glamour” shot even better…..

As I scooped up the cloves I debated what to do with them. Eventually they ended up in my studio trash can and added their spicy smells to the room for several days.

There is just one more month in this challenge and then I get to put the 2021 and 2022 challenge blocks together into a fun quilt. I can’t wait!!!

In this blog, I post DAILY stories about creativity, techniques, tools of the trade, and lots more about the wonderful art of quilting. If you are enjoying these posts, please subscribe to be notified of each new blog.

You might also be interested in the free pattern that you receive when you subscribe to my email newsletter.

Both of these sign-up forms are in the right column….scroll ALL the way up if you are on a desktop and ALL the way down if you are on your phone!! And, please share this post with someone who might enjoy it!!

October Sage

Before the month is over, I want to post about the monthly color challenge block from Patterns By Jen……

October’s prompt was Sage and I loved being able to cut the sprig out of my own herb bed……

I picked out a few fabrics….

….and decided that the Fossil Fern was the best match….

I quickly cut out the needed pieces…..

…..sewed up four half-square triangle blocks…..

…..add four uneven stripe blocks…..

….and it was ready to assemble…..

It is a sweet block…..

….especially when it poses with a sprig of its inspiration!!!

There are only 2 more blocks to make in this challenge….can’t believe that the year is almost over!!!!

Red Pepper Flake Quilting….

When I was signing up for the 2022 Monthly Color Challenge, I saw that one of the blocks was based on RED PEPPER!!!

Since I LOVE using red pepper in my cooking, it was a no-brainer that I was going to present this block!!

BUT, before I start on that, let me tell you about something new. I had so much fun making this small charity quilt…..

….that I turned it into a pattern that you can get for FREE!!!

For a limited time, you can sign up for my newsletter and receive this free pattern “Dancing Squares”!! Sign up HERE

Now….back to our regularly scheduled program………

The first thing that I did was to grab a bottle of red pepper flakes and dump a bunch out so that I could examine it for color…..

I was interested to see that there were not only white seeds in the mixture but also a number of different reds!!

I rushed to the red “cubicle” and quickly pulled out a stack of red fabrics…

Since I am using the same background fabric for all of my blocks, it was easy to pick the one fabric that I wanted to work with and the patches were quickly cut……

First I made flying geese using the 4-at-a-time method…..

If you have never tried this technique before, you might check out this post for all of the instructions.

Next, I added the triangle corner to the “snowball” block, first sewing it on and then folding it over AND pressing it in place… just to be sure that it was the correct fit…..

I then opened it up and cut off the extra triangles…..

….and re-pressed it…..

Ironing it in place BEFORE you cut is the key here. It will really help to keep the triangles in place!!

After the patches were made, it was quick work to put the block together…..

I am especially happy with how the red fabric reminds me of the individual red pepper flakes!!!

I really do like this photo, but now my block smells mildly of pepper….that is okay with me!!

If you want to check out how other quilters interpreted this challenge, please follow these links…..

Patterns By Jen

Sunflower Stitcheries

True Blue Quilts

AnjaQuilts

Don’t forget to sign up HERE to get your free quilt pattern

Purple Sumac….

The July challenge for the “2022 Monthly Color Challenge” from Patterns By Jen is based on Purple sumac.

I used to think that all Sumac was poisonous but learned that the herb “Sumac” is edible!!

I came to this understanding when we were visiting in Turkey and our host said that we were going to eat Lahmajoun!! Michael and I were SO excited about this because we had seen Anthony Bourdain pontificate on the wonders of this treat and we had determined that we WOULD have it when we were in Turkey.

Lahmajoun is basically a flatbread (think thick pizza crust) with ground meat and vegetables pressed into the dough, as opposed to sitting on top of the crust like our pizzas.

Here are the creators of the magic…..

Once layered, it is popped into a stone-fired oven and comes out looking like this……

But, what does this have to do with Sumac??

To eat the slices, you sprinkle on a bit lemon juice, and top with fresh Sumac leaves. You then fold it in half and enjoy….

One funny story…. our hotel in Istanbul wouldn’t tell us where we could find Lamajoun because it was considered “peasant food”. A few days later we were on the tram that traversed the city and I looked out and saw a restaurant that was advertising Lamajoun. We got off at the NEXT stop and had lunch!!!

But……back to quilting!!!!

Since I had already cut my background pieces, there were only seven purple squares to cut…..

The first step was to create a Square-in-a-Square design using the purple squares and the background triangles.

It was simple work to add the triangles to each side of the square…..

….but now I had to trim it down to 2-inches!

To accomplish this, I used a water-based marker and drew some guide lines on my ruler….

Now I could line up the markings with the corners of the square…..

…and trim one side…..

Turn it around and square up the other side…..

Soon I had seven Square-in-square blocks…..

It didn’t take long to get the block sewn together…..

And now for the glamor shot!!!

(I was in a hurry this month, so no purple embellishments!!)

This was a fun block make and even more fun to recall the memories!!!

Do certain designs bring back fond memories for you??