I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Friday, November 2, 2018

My Sajou ~ a Little French Quilt



Good morning! Today's the final day of the Sajou Linky party and my Sajou quilt's central section is finished just in time! I'll put the link at the end of this post so that you can see everyone's wonderful small quilts, each so special and unique.

My Sajou [inspired by a Paris shop Lori visited], is wildly bright and scrappy. I do not  gather scraps of fabric but I'm perfectly happy to snip off corners to get the effect.



The triangle Circus Bunting border was oddly difficult.  Maybe it was me? I have been struggling with severe rib and knee pain---and an ugly black eye---since I had a bit of a fall a few weeks ago. You may note that some of the other quilts have wonderfully symmetrical and intricate corners. Hahaha. My quilt reflects a child's [imaginary] work, a tiny Madeleine perhaps or Eloise, with her pug!?, home from the convent school, learning to sew with the prettiest tiny bits from her maman's scrap bag.*


The sewalong design stops with the bunting border, but the antique inspiration quilt has more surrounding pieced borders. I plan to use the extra triangles for a Broken Dishes quarter square triangle border. Then perhaps a Square in a Square border after that.



The spacer after the triangles border is a turkey red floral. Somehow I only had a 2 1/2" x 36" piece of this fabric. Nothing else worked as well. I tried so hard to use every itty bitty piece to eke it out, but no.



Instead I used a similar larger print, 4" on one corner. Let's call it a bit of make-do charm?


The final border will be the purple ladybug print, from Jamestown collection, aka Hideous. I call this hideous but i am loving this group. The purple will be perfect, so amusing, tres amusant, ma petite.





Then the binding will be the red stripe, the only French General fabric that I had, and it echoes its use  around the central Postage Stamp square.


To finish, though of course we'll revisit as time goes along, ''Madeleine'' will be allowed to use her maman's new treadle machine to machine quilt her doll quilt. Such a thrill. In real life I'll machine quilt it on my old Brother machine with electricity. Those big empty triangles will get some hand quilting though: hearts or flowers? Initials and dates?


So fun! Fictitious Madeleine and I learned a lot and had loads of fun, dropping all projects to work on this sweet challenge.
Image result for renoir girl sewing
Renoir ''Child sewing''
*You can tell I love making up stories for my quilts, large and small, which is why this year I am so struggling with the Barbara Brackman's Civil War sewalong. I understand that social history is often not pretty or charming, is gritty and painful and real---but again this month's story is awful, about violence and beatings [of slaves?, I skimmed, as Mel suggested]. Not what I want to memorialize in TWO quilts. And it's the hated Carolina Lily block.
sigh, what to do? This was my on deck project coming up, as soon as 1880 is all pieced. It's there behind Sajou, see?


............

Today is a lovely real fall day! Quite warm, grey and wet. The ugly locust tree outside my window has a tint of gold to its few remaining leaves. I can't resist one last pic of my tiny gremlin on Trick or Treat night!


Have a great weekend! Taco casserole or shepherd's pie? You decide!



love

lizzy 

gone to the beach....















7 comments:

  1. I love the Sajou quilt, especially the center diamond block with the center rose! I'm looking forward to seeing it finished - and I love your 'child learning' story, too.

    If it was me I'd sub a different block in the Civil War quilt for the lily block you don't care for. If you don't like it, don't put it in!! It's your quilt! And you can make up your own stories and skip reading the blog ones.

    Do you get many trick-or-treaters? Around here it seems like kids mostly go to hosted parties in community centers and/or several local churches have 'trunk-or-treat' evenings - lot less walking around and they can see friends and compare costumes. This Halloween was nice weather wise, but rain or even spitting snow is not unusual so I can totally understand why the parties have gotten more popular!

    Mo looks cute as a pumpkin! Have you seen the 'teddy bear' costumes? Are you already planning for next year?!

    Thanks for sharing!

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  2. TA Sajou, c'est tres magnifique, mon amie, Madeleine.;))))
    Oh I do love your storyline; I make up stories for my quilts too--they seem to speak to me...
    I used to make up stories for my sweet cousin Jeannette (since sadly gone before us) when we were falling asleep at night when she visited in the Summer Holidays...sweet memories you brought back for me in your post...

    My corners never match and my seam is practically never exactly 1/4" --except by mistake hahaha! So, we are of the same mind...

    I am so sorry to hear that you are still feeling the effects of your fall--ouchey for sure!! Feel better soon...

    Mo looks so stunning in his Halloween garb--what a good boy to let you dress him up!! I
    hope he earned a treat or two...
    Take care now and rest up...
    AND..i do love your Sajou--so unique and vibrant--i love its scrappiness...
    hugs, Julierose


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  3. So sorry to hear of your fall. Get strong soon.
    Sajou is looking very jolly and festive. I agree with you - adding a border or two is a good idea. I'm busy doing that at the moment.
    Perhaps use B Brackman's blocks as a starting point rather than commemoration. The blocks you have done so far are so lovely.
    Penny

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  4. I adore your little quilt. The colors are so perfectly sweet and scrappy. Hope you get to feeling better soon!:)

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  5. Little quilty sure is looking cute! Awww, lovely story to go with it. I followed the link to look at all of the others, wow! So many to see. Aside from yours, I liked #31.

    I agree with Mel regarding the Civil War Quilt.

    I didnt realize you're experiencing pain again...ugh. Sending healing vibes your way. And a black eye too? Tell me you wore a patch?!

    The weather sounds nice, more of what you're used to this time of year. Little Mo sure is a cute pumpkin. Nice last beach pic, sunset?
    Oh, and I vote for shepherd's pie, because, mashed potatoes ;) Love the corn candy in the jars, perfect :)

    Please take care, hugs,

    Kel

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  6. Darn, I'm so sorry you fell and hurt yourself!
    I love your Sajou and that purple you plan on for the next border is great! I love it a lot!

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  7. I hope youre okay! Ouch!! That quilt is pretty. I am really drawn to bold colors. Looks great! :) Kit

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