Soup Mix

This is a fun block - not that all of the blocks in the Southern Album Quilt offer their own type of fun.  But this block is one of my favorites because it just has so much personality.  I love my mother's homemade vegetable beef soup.  And I've become somewhat of a soup chef in my own household.  I found out pretty quickly as my kids got older and had jobs and cars and obligations that soup was one of the few things I could cook that would make everyone happy, could be made at any time of the day and be ready whenever anyone wanted to eat, and would last a couple of days. So for me, soup was the ideal menu plan.  I have one basic chicken soup recipe and one basic beef soup recipe and vary the ingredients so I can mix it up. 

So as you're planning this block, play with it. It's all about the vegetables found in soup.  Use reds or oranges to represent the tomatoes.   Most every household in the south either grows tomatoes or has a neighbor that blesses them with sacks of the vegetable (that is really a berry) during the summer. I'm always reminded of Steel Magnolias with this part of the block when Shirley MacClaine declares that all Southern women grow tomatoes and wear ugly hats to church! 

Likewise, a bright yellow for the corn can help "punch" things up a little on your quilt. I found a yellow that had a design on it that reminded me of corn kernals.  Greens go well for the okra, of course, but some of the women I quilt with used purples and blues for the okra pods.  Who says you have to stick with the obvious?  Not me. And the triangles that represent the bean blocks?  The sky's the limit.  Just look at the shelves of canned beans or dried beans at your favorite grocery store.  It's a rainbow of bean colors. 

Couple of things to keep in mind when putting this block together.  First, it's always a good idea to lay your block out before you start piecing it.  Look at the layout, compare it to the book, and then look at it again.  It's really, really easy to have part of the "bean" triangles pointing the wrong way. Second, piece the block before you applique on your okra.

Above all else, have fun.  And don't be surprised if you have a hankerin' for your mother's homemade soup before the block is all put together.

Railroad Crossing and Indigo

Flying geese and applique highlight this block of the Southern Album Quilt.  Kristin and Diane give clear directions for the flying geese.  If you use their method, the fabric requirements they call for are fine.  However, if you chose to use the No Waste Flying Geese or the Fast Flying Geese method, be sure check those fabric requirements against what is called for in the Southern Album pattern.

There is one other fabric issue to be aware of.  The "D" square calls for 3 7/8 squares of medium fabric.  You may want to use your background fabric for that square so the right and left hand corners of your square fade into your quilt instead of standing out.   This is a personal preference issue.  I chose to use the background fabric for these squares.

The indigo applique is small.  Be sure to use the centering marks on the applique to make sure it squares up with the triange.  And piece your block first prior to applique -- do this on all the pieced and applique blocks in this quilt.

Railroad Crossing and Indigo goes together fast and appliques quickly.  The next block is also a pieced and applique block.  If you're making this quilt on a time table or as a block of the month, I strongly urge you to work on the whole-cloth applique blocks along with the rest of the blocks.  You'll save yourself major time at the end.

Pomegranate

This is the first block in the Southern Album Quilt that is totally, completely applique.  This quilt, as a whole, is applique heavy, with four blocks entirely applique.  I've love applique and have done it for years, but I was introduced to a new technique with the Pomegranate block.

The method is whole cloth applique.  The cloth frames that surround all four of the completely appliqued blocks are done with this technique.  And the best advice I can give you is read all the directions for the whole cloth applique method first before putting rotary cutter to material. 

These blocks are uniquely different from the pieced blocks in more ways than just the applique.  The pieced blocks, when complete, should meausre 12.5 inches.  The appliqued blocks are bigger -- you will cut them 14 inches square and they will remain pretty much that size during the applique process.  You will cut them down later.  I would wait until you're ready to put the quilt together before doing this.

Cut both the framing material and the background applique material and put them together, right side of background material to wrong side of framing material.  Fold the material into quarters and press so that when you open the fabric up, the fabrics are divided into fourths.  At this point, I basted both pieces of material together with a contrasting color thread to hold them snugly and avoid slipping.  Kristin Steiner and Diane Wilson give directions for using a freezer paper template for the frame, but I found a template made of template plastic (sold in fabric stores or quilting supply shops) works better and will last for all for applique blocks and can be kept to use again.  Trace the frame made from the template plastic onto the framing material and then cut around the tracing, being careful not to catch the background fabric and leaving enough margin of the framing material to turn under and stitch.  If you have trouble managing the concave and convex curves, try making tiny clips in the fabric to the marking lines -- do not clip past the outline of the frame.

Be sure to follow the numberical sequence given in the book for sewing down the pieces of the pomegranate. This will ensure that everything looks the way it should when you're finsihed.  This block (as well as quite a few of the others) have points (the tips of leaves, the tops the crowns on top of the pomegranate) and rounded curves (the leaves and the pomegranates themselves).  I have found that a dampened toothpick helps in turning the material sharply for the points and curves. So as you applique, keep a toothpick nearby...say in your mouth...that way you've already got it nearby and it's already damp!