April was another busy month. I’m super happy that I was able to finish paper piecing the units for Violet Craft’s Rainbow Cheetah and was able to get all the units sewn together for the head.

In contrast to the large scale paper piecing of the Cheetah Abstraction quilt, I decided to make a much smaller scale quilted Fairy Wren, pattern by The Tartankiwi. I downloaded this paper-pieced pattern several years ago, and decided to make one for my friend, Kelly, who lives in Kentucky, and one to keep. Below is the Fairy Wren that I kept for myself. The blocks were 6.5″ unfinished. After matchstick quilting, I cut them down to 5.75″ square. I wanted mitered corners, so I attached a one-inch binding strip referring to Twiggy and Opal’s mini mini binding tutorial, but rather binding the mini, I taped the binding strip to the back of a 6.25″ square of acid-free card stock using acid free masking tape. Then I inserted it into a trivet frame I had on hand when I used to make mosaics.

I actually took Kelly’s Fairy Wren with me for my trip to Kentucky, but I took a circuitous route to KY by way of Florida! My friend, Annette, who lives near Orlando, is originally from Kentucky, and was interested in going with me to her home state to show me around. We opted to drive her nice, very comfortable car from FL to KY rather than flying into Kentucky and getting a rental car. Anyway, when I was up at 4:00 am (after about five hours of sleep!) consolidating my luggage for the car trip to KY, I left both the Fairy Wren AND my appliqued hummingbird sweatshirt in the smaller suitcase that I left back in Florida. Ugh! Did I ever feel like a dork! It’s been too warm to wear the sweatshirt, so here’s a pic of it pinned to my design board. The pattern is by Liza Taylor Handmade and was available to purchase as part of The Paper Piecers membership. Here is a link to the waiting list to the Paper Piecers Membership that will re-open in July.

I had a great time in both Florida and Kentucky. I had a short-but-sweet visit with my friend, Kelly, who I hadn’t seen since we were in our twenties. Annette also took me on a tour to Mammoth Caves and drove me to Paducah for the American Quilter’s Society quilt show which was amazing. Annette’s nephew took us for a bourbon tour/tasting and also to watch some races at Churchill Downs which was gearing up for the Kentucky Derby on 5/4/24. Below is a pic of Annette and me at the American Quilter’s Society quilt show.

It was quite crowded at the quilt show and was difficult to get good photos of the amazing quilts. Cassandra Beaver with The Not So Dramatic Life recently wrote a post about some of the quilts that she liked which included two of my favorites: River/Rocks/Fire by Betsy Kulamer and Convergence by Barbara Triscari and Christine McCann. See Cassandra’s post below:

5+ Spectacular Can’t-Miss Quilts From the AQS Paducah Show

Modern Star Swap

I am participating in the “modernstarswap hosted by @mashemodern on Instagram. The centers are supposed to be fussy cut, and we have been asked to used fabrics by popular designers. I’m making five sets of 10 blocks each (plus an extra block for me) and am using fabrics by Alison Glass, Giucy Giuce, and Tula Pink. Below is a sample block I made to post on Instagram (@MRINGER58).

Fussy Fuel BOM

I decided not to redo my 6.5″ square Block Four for Geeky Bobbin’s Fussy Fuel 2024 Block of the Month. I am using Alison Glass fabrics for this BOM that is focused on learning new fussy cutting techniques.. The reason I wasn’t happy with it is because I had planned to also use the purple fabric as sashing between my blocks, and I don’t think I would’ve liked that look with block below. But I’ve decided to use the blocks in a table runner and won’t need to use sashing to separate the blocks. Overall I’m happy with the block and like how it looks like we’re looking out a window at the girl in the lower right corner.

Scrappy Projects

I did not work on any Modern Postage Stamp blocks nor my dryer sheet block. The designated color for April was yellow, and when I looked at my yellow fabric stash, I found it sorely lacking. However, that problem has been remedied with a Fat Quarter Shop order. They have an unbelievable selection of yellow fabrics. They also have a nice selection of Alison Glass fabrics that I may or may not have added to my stash 🙂

What’s Up for May?

• Finish my Star Pulse Quilt Along quilt top.
• Finish my Rainbow Cheetah quilt top.
• Make 54 more Modern Star Swap blocks.
• More secret sewing.
• Make a dryer sheet block with yellow fabrics for the April color for Rainbow Scrap Challenge .
• Make a dryer sheet block with pink fabrics for the May color for Rainbow Scrap Challenge .