Mumbo Gumbo

In 2004 we went to Disneyland for my 35th birthday, and while in the Los Angeles area in January we also attended the Road To California Quilt Show -- where I bought one of my first quilt patterns, called Mumbo Gumbo from Pie In The Sky Quilts. It's another project that's perfect for using fabric scraps. Since I've recently been rather obsessed with trying to "put a dent in" our scrap baskets (introduced in 'Got Scraps?'), I finally started -- and finished(!) -- this pattern.

Mumbo Gumbo quilt top

My version is slightly different from the pattern, in that each "log" is of a different fabric -- this allowed for strip piecing, which was much speedier. I had started out matching logs (see the set of two blocks framing the center), but the remainder of the quilt is from randomly selected fabrics. I remember many of these fabrics from previous projects, all the way back to when my Mom was sewing during my childhood. So, this quilt is also kind of a memory quilt.

And no, our scrap baskets are still not empty! In fact, they're as full as ever, sigh. I need to keep a Mumbo Gumbo project continuously going!

Update, June 2013: I decided to get the Mumbo Gumbo quilt finished -- so I chose a marbled yellow wide backing fabric and sent it to B&B Machine Quilting in Oroville, CA for just a simple all-over large stipple. It came out great (the quilting doesn't detract from the pieced design, which is what I wanted), and I decided to just fold over the backing with a machine zig-zag stitch for the binding (very quick!).

Mumbo Gumbo quilt finished! June 2013.

The Eyes Have It

Last month, my Mom and I enjoyed two very full and fun days at the Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara, CA: One day for viewing all of the show quilts, and a second day for shopping the 300 vendors. Of course before the shopping day, we had surveyed our massive collection of un-finished objects (UFOs) and promised ourselves that we wouldn't buy any new projects. Well, you know that promise is a difficult one to keep, especially when you find something that's "just TOooOO CuuuUUUuute!!! That was the case with the "Eleven Owls and One Moon" small wallhanging quilt by Morning Glory Productions at the Quiltin' Cousins booth; it was love at first sight! The sample -- of small 3" blocks of winking and peeking owls in 1930s fabrics -- reminded me of my Aerie Parrot (he often peeks out at me from behind his toys).

My Mom bought the pre-cut iron-ons for me, which are of 1930s fabrics, and I then used scraps of polka-dot fabrics for the background and miscellaneous 1930s fabrics for the sashing and prairie points. The finished wallhanging is about 12.5"x16.5". This was the first time I'd done prairie points or any hand embroidery (the eyelashes), so the small scale of the project was ideal.

Here's a pic of the wallhanging before adding the eyes:

And, here's a pic of the wallhanging after adding the eyes:

I think the eyes have it!!