I really like what he did and am planning another one in purples as soon as I finish a couple of the regular postage stamp donation blocks I have started.
Tim was nice enough to send me some details of the quilting, which looks great! He was excited about quilting this piece because I didn’t use white. I’ll think about grey or yellow when I make the purple one.
He changed the back, because he didn’t like it, to an ombre fabric (see that blue at the bottom?). It’s fine with me as long as he doesn’t give me the back back. I already counted it in my fabric used tally and it is hard enough to get those yards used as it is. He is also thinking of a scrappy binding. Photo is of his thoughts on binding.
I finally finished all of the gift bags I started at Gerre’s house a few weeks ago. I know I showed one of them previously. Sometimes I just have to show progress in order to make it seem real. The gifts are in them and ready for Christmas.
Crazy, I know, but those gifts arrived late for Christmas 2018, so I’ll just save them.
I am not sure I will make more of these bags for gift bags as they take quite a bit of time. Still, I bought some twill tape so I wouldn’t have to suffer through making drawstrings and I want to use that up. We’ll have to see.
As mentioned previously, Jeni Baker sells the pattern, which includes multiple sizes including a laundry bag size which is good for those of you sending kids off to college.
I last wrote about my dream projects in July. Since then, I have, actually and surprisingly, made some progress on this list. This makes me kind of feel like writing down dream quilts isn’t a terrible idea. Of course, some projects haven’t changed.
Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Applique’ (Ticker Tape Style) Quilt
Status: Dream state
Pattern: Original, I do have a version of the pattern I used for the Whole Cloth quilt and I will use it as starting point.
Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly, but other colors for the leaves and flowers, perhaps
Steps: need to fuse a bunch of turquoise to some piece of fabric in the ‘ticker tape’ style so i can cut it up into small pieces. I am thinking of making it similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.
Thoughts: I might make another one with turquoise on top of red with just two pieces of fabric.
Art Institute of Chicago Fusible Applique’ (one sheet of fabric) Quilt
Status: Dream state
Pattern: Original, I do have a version of the pattern I used for the Whole Cloth quilt and I will use it as starting point.
Fabric: Turquoise and red, mainly
Steps: need to fuse a big piece of turquoise to SoftFuse or similar, then cut out the image and fuse it to the background. I would satin stitch all around the image. I don’t know that I can make one continuous piece, but will try. The image would be similar to the Whole Cloth Quilt and using red, again, for the background.
Thoughts: I might make it with turquoise on top of red with just two pieces of fabric.
Thoughts: I can’t decide if this is still a dream or if it is already started and I just need to arrange it and start piecing. I have done a lot of cutting, so I think I have started it, thus it may not be a dream anymore. The original idea stemmed from the FOTY quilts. I just decided to do a monochromatic version – using just blues, in this case. I probably have enough patches now and just need to slot the time to work on it into my schedule.
Thoughts: I probably had enough squares to make this quilt, but then I used a bunch of them to make En Provence. Now I am working on cutting more. I hope to slot the time into my schedule int he not too distant future.
Easy Street
Status: have pattern/ dream state
Fabric: pinks
Pattern: Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter
Thoughts: I really liked Daisy‘s version of Easy Street, which she calls Cherry Bomb (she thinks of the best names for her quilts) in terms of color and feel. I don’t want to copy her, but if I do this quilt, I’d like to have the same pinky-red feel to it. One challenge about a mostly monochromatic quilt is getting enough contrast. I look forward to that challenge. Not sure this will become a reality.
En Provence #2
Status: Dream state
Pattern: En Provence by Bonnie Hunter
Thoughts: I loved the one I made before and can’t stop thinking about it. I have to make another one, but I can’t figure out what colors to use next. The ones I used before were almost perfect.
Feathered Star Block (or quilt?)
Status: Dream state.
Pattern: I haven’t decided on a particular feathered star
Fabric: I decided not to use a layer cake and will use the scrap 2.5 inch squares I have been cutting. I love the cheerfulness of Scrapitude Carnivale, as I say over and over, and am not done with that combination yet.
Thoughts: I thought about using dots on a white background, as I did with the Scrapitude Carnivale quilt as the background. It makes the Scrapitude quilt look so cheerful. I probably wouldn’t call it Good Night Irene.
Interlocking Triangles Quilt(s)
Status: dream state
Pattern: This is an idea that I designed myself. I made two quilts and have variations on the pattern to make more.
Fabric: I have a few different collections of fabric I want to use. Most are rainbow colored; I also have a lot of stripes to use
Thoughts: This is a quilt from which I get a lot of bang for my buck. The visual impact is tremendous. The easiest way to do the spiky triangles is with paper piecing. I am not that big of a fan of paper piecing (read my laments about the Spiderweb‘s paper piecing). I made Spiky Stars using templates and that was meditative and won a prize, so it is doable.
Jack’s Chain Quilt
Status: dream state
Pattern: Jack’s Chain, a continuous pattern
Fabric: bright scrappy, consistent centers
Thoughts: This is one of the first quilts I saw hanging in a quilt store and thought of making, after I learned to quilt. I have seen a number of variations lately using different hexagons in the center. It occurred to me recently that I could do four rings and make a pillow cover instead of a whole quilt. Partially, I thought of this because I saw an EPP pattern for this quilt. Taking on another large EPP quilt is not in the cards. I could also make the pattern larger, making the piecing for a quilt much quicker.
Music Quilt
Status: dream state, but not very inspired
Pattern: Top will have a piece of music the Young Man can actually play. That will probably be applique’
Fabric/Colors: music prints and tone-on-tones with a little red
Thoughts: The Young Man has requested this quilt as his high school graduation quilt. I missed that deadline. He has sent me a piece of music, which I printed out. Now I need to make into an applique’
Pineapple (Hunting and Gathering)
Status: I have some strips cut.
Fabric: dots. Have most of the strips cut. Will be much more selective about which strips I use.
Pattern: Pineapple log cabin
Thoughts: I haven’t given up on a Pineapple quilt despite my frustration with the previous attempt. I bought a different ruler: a Creative Grids Pineapple ruler in hopes that it will work better for me
Silk Colorblock quilt
Status: I have the fabrics and the plan
Fabrics: silk dupioni and cotton in brights (of course)
Thoughts: I have made a couple of, what I call, Colorblock quilts over the years. One was the Kona Challenge in 2011, another was my 1990 Colorblocks 2 and the first one, Colorblocks, also made in about 1990. I bought the silk fabrics at the Marin Needlearts show about a zillion years ago and they have languished waiting for me to learn to back them so I can use them. I think I have that covered now and there is nothing stopping me except time and will.
Fabric: Scrappy with controlled scrappy background
Thoughts: I like the construction of this quilt and am convinced that I will make it. Another one just waiting for time and will. I have forgotten to cut the pieces I need to make the quilt, so I’ll have to add the correct size to my cutting sheet.
Status: half cut; need more greys for the background
Fabric: Scrappy. I will use a grey for the background, because if I use more of the cut fabric patches, the pattern will be lost. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps.
Pattern: Come Quilt with Me Rotary templates
Thoughts: I think I will buy the Sizzix template and cut grey windmill pieces with that instead of by hand
Out of the Dream State: Below is a list of projects that were on this list at some point that I actually made or am working on:
Half Moon Modern Quilt I made a Chubby Charmer instead of a quilt and am happy with that choice.
Medium Mondo Bag – I actually made the Midi bag. I think I might have another pattern to make another one, so I will have to try it out without the class.
MetroScape quilt is finished, working on the binding
I removed Stepping Stones #3 from the list, because I decided to give the pre-cuts to quiltmakers from the CampFire who need projects to work on. The details were:
Status: waiting.
Fabric: Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. It isn’t started, but I have lots of pre-cuts and think they would make a really fun version of this quilt.
Pattern: Stepping Stones by the Lintott girls
Thoughts: Hmmm. This is less exciting to me now. I think I need to finish #2 and then decide. It is just as likely as not that I will make this.
I might make another Stepping Stones quilt, but for the moment I think I am done with that pattern.
Green Strips quilt top and back – finished 1/16/2019
Green Thing donation top and back – finished 2/2019
Libs Elliot donation top – finished 2/2019 – Cheryl actually did the quilting and the binding. She made me feel good by saying she really liked the quilt. I should try the technique using stripes instead of making stripes and see if I feel differently. I should do a lot of things.
In Process
The ‘In Process’ is used to denote projects on which I am actively working or are on the design wall waiting for me to stitch. I try not to put away projects, because that will ensure I never work on them
FOTY 2017 – pieces cut. Off the design wall. I counted and resorted the pieces while I worked on the City Sampler. Now the City Sampler is finished, I need to get it back on the design wall. I am tempted just to sew them together as I have sorted them and not worry too much about gradation.
English Paper Piecing Project– half hexies – I work on this generally at night in front of the TV, so I made slow but steady progress. I am still thinking of my friend Faye whenever I work on it. She says that I have to think of this as my slow project.
Serendipity Lady Quilt: I was kind of surprised that I made progress. As mentioned in a previous post, I finished satin stitching the pieces on this project and am ready to baste it for quilting.
Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled. A nicer way of saying UFO is a WIP. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
FOTY 2018 – this has to be on the list now as I have cut a ton of squares and need to arrange and sew it together.
Handbag Sampler – this is still the forgotten project. The blocks were teaching samples when I taught a sampler class the time before I started writing the quilt class sampler tutorials. I found one block recently, but otherwise I actually don’t know exactly where the blocks are hiding. I have an idea and still have to crawl up in the far reaches of my fabric closet soon and see if I can find them. I haven’t even found a picture of all the blocks. Sad.
Lobster – I still have more stitching to do and then I need to quilt it.
Pies and Points from 2016 Victoria Findlay Wolfe class. The last time I worked on it was when Julie and I had a playdate in April 2018. I brought this piece with me so I could cut more elements (Julie has a Sizzix). I lost my excitement about this piece and will have to get it back. Thus, I had to move this to the WIPs area.
Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. No progress.
Under the Sea: the top is done and I need to finish the edges and make it into a pillow
Black and Red quilt – This came about because of two other projects. I made a whole bunch of bias tape as part of my failed attempt at doing the Mighty Lucky Club a few years ago. Another part of the inspiration came from my class with Tina of Little Blue Cottage fame. This was going to be for a nephew, but I think it will be for one of my SILs and BILs. I have rectangles cut and some bias tape ready. My next step is to sew the bias tape to the rectangles like pickup sticks. I don’t have any photos of this, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
Who Am I? – This piece is up on my design and I keep meaning to work on it, but I haven’t. I am not sure why, but I don’t want it to end up like the Self-Portrait.
Small Projects in Process
Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting.
4-Zip Organizer – part of Crafty Gemini Organizer Club. It is on my list, but I haven’t actually started
Chubby Charmer with Good Fortune charm pack – gift; not started.
Retreat Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started
Solid black cell phone wallet – The pieces are cut out and ready to sew
Ultimate Project Organizer – another project from the Crafty Gemini Organizer Club, also on my list, but not yet started
White on black dots cell phone wallet – The pieces are cut out and ready to sew
Ready for Quilting
None now
In Quilting Process
BAMaQG IRR –I have been working on this lately and am making progress. It is slow since it is hand quilting. I might add some more machine quilting to the project to move it along
Theoretically, the Tarts Come to Tea is in the quilting process, though I haven’t worked on it in a while. Mom said she is really looking forward to me finishing it, which might be the incentive I need to get back to work on it.
Binding
The Aqua-Red Sampler is ready for binding. I got it back at the end of February 2019. This won’t count against my fabric usage goals as I counted it last year when I finished the top and back.
Metroscape is being bound. I got it back at the end of February 2019
Hunting and Gathering
30 Something: I continue to cut 1.5 inch squares. I am pretty sure I have the 800 I need, but I am not ready to sew them together yet, so whenever I have a chance to cut more I cut more. It will give me choice when the time comes. I looked at whether I could start piecing this, but I found I need to cut some other sizes. I got those sizes on the cutting sheet and have a cut a few. I need over 600 of a size something like 1.75×3.75. I need some more accessories boxes to organize these new pieces. I’ll have to think up a new name for this quilt, too, since I am not using 1930s fabrics.
Blue Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5 inch x 4.5 inch blue rectangles. It has to end sometime. I wasn’t sure I was ready to put this together, but I think I might be. I might do a couple of gradation quilts in a row just to get the practice.
FOTY 2019: I decided to cut 2.5 inch squares again for the 2019 version.
Pink Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5 inch x 4.5 inch pink rectangles
Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I might have to cut some more background fabrics. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. I am supposed to be cutting a variety of greys for the background, which required the purchase of a new template. Cutting is very therapeutic, so I should try and do it when I have a few minutes.
Other
Gross usage is just over 21 yards YTD. My net is at about 9 yards. It is early in the year so I am hoping I can still use 100 yards of fabric net.
The other quilt that came back from Colleen, along with Metroscape, was the Aqua-Red Sampler. I am very pleased with how it came out.
I am glad I made the decision to forgo the sashing. I think it looks good as is. The blocks don’t bleed into each other too much.
I noticed when I flipped the quilt over that the back was very cohesive, like I made the City Sampler back. I am not giving up my big bold flowers, but I might try and keep some backs similar to the front if the design warrants it.
This back is very subtle except for that one red rectangle. I wonder what I was thinking?
I started to sew some drawstring bags to use as gift bags on the day I sewed with Gerre. I am trying to get the small gifts I purchase throughout the year wrapped as I buy them. As you know, I don’t like wrapping gifts and wrapping 30+ small gifts right before I went to Portland was my own special kind of torture. These bags, using Jeni Baker’s Drawstring bag pattern, are a start.
They have been laying around since the Sew Day with Gerre while I worked on other projects. The other day, I stitched a bit and finally finished one!!!! It turns out that I didn’t have much left to sew and doing several in a row really helped the process.
The size I chose (pattern includes multiple sizes) is a tiny bit small for the gift on which I planned to use them, but it will be fine. I can’t remember what I did with the drawstrings on the Juggling Balls bag, but I need to figure that out as the strings on this bag are definitely not acting like drawstrings.
As I mentioned yesterday, I dropped a quilt off to be quilted. I don’t normally just go to Colleen’s to drop off a quilt. I try to take two or more at a time. As it happens, two were ready for me to pick up and Metroscape was one of them.
I am pleased that it is nearly finished. Colleen machine stitched the binding on for me as usual, but I will hand stitch the rest.
It is a little early to post a complete list of donation blocks for February. I am dong it anyway. I have been doing quilt a bit of gift sewing, which I can’t show for a few weeks, so here we are.
It was easier while I was working on my secret project to make donation blocks rather than work on the back of the City Sampler, thus I used the 2.5 inch squares as my leaders and enders. I’ll finish up the city Sampler back today.
Not a ton, but some progress. I have more ends to use up, so I may work on that next.
A couple of things came up at the guild meeting which I wanted to share.
First, Another of the tops I made and donated was finished and shown. Cheryl finished the Stripes donation top that I made at QuiltCon last year. She gave me some nice compliments on it, which made me feel better about it. I may try that stripes technique without actually making the stripes. I know I can’t vary the stripes when I do’t make them myself, but making the stripes is super tedious.
Peggy, as usual, was prolific in her quiltmaking. She made the above donation quilt from scraps she had saved generated by a previous pattern. Each of the non-white triangles consist of made fabric. I think the randomness of the layout could be done with HSTs and would make a fun donation quilt. Once I am done with the Bias Rectangles, perhaps I will play around with this concept.
Finally, we have a guild baby. His name is Sam and he is about a month old now. His mom, Velvet Pincushion, brought him and his grandma with her to the guild. The new little family will be moving soon, so we were thrilled to get a chance to meet him. I am excited to see that VP is still stitching even with a new baby.
She brought the Color My Quilt quilt she worked on before Sam was born. Progress has halted, but she made good progress before Sam was born. I don’t know if we’ll see the quilt before they move. It is more block based than some of the others. My shard is on the bottom left in between the Friendship Star and the very bottom left hand star.
The other day I got an email from Culcita saying they were raising the prices of Sew Tites.
Like a sucker I bought more.
OK, I am not really a sucker. I like this product. I got my first three free at QuiltCon last year and I found them to be incredibly useful for bags and sewing with vinyl. These fill in the gap where WonderClips won’t work. I bought a 15 pack thinking I would disperse them around my various bags so I would have them handy when I needed them.
Sew Tites are magnetic and fall somewhere between a pin and a clip. One half goes on the top of your piece and one half goes on the bottom. There is nothing pointy or sharp which is why they work for vinyl. I think they would also work for something thick like Soft & Stable. I can’t remember if I have tried that or not.
The other night I was, once again, fighting to line up my half hexie EPP project. The tips need to be in just the right place. I remembered I had received the Sew Tites. I went up and got a few and tried them out.
I was putting half hexies together to make stars. I use a ladder stitch (or an approximation thereof). The trick is to keep the two legs next to each other in the correct position long enough to sew them together. This is really tricky since I only have two hands. I have been using WonderClips. They work okay but not great, especially for the inside angle.
The Sew Tites aren’t perfect either. They are a little hard to maneuver to get the pieces to stay where you want them. Still, once you get the Sew Tites in place, they stay put. Thus, your pieces stay put. The Sew Tite are kind of large, so I am only able to hand sew half of my seam before I remove the magnet. Half is enough to ensure that I can keep the two half hexie legs together the rest of the time needed to sew the seam.
The magnetic Sew Tite can also straddle areas of piecing where there may be no fabric or paper to which to cling. Unlike a WonderClip, which needs something on which to clip, the Sew Tite sticks to itself. In the second EPP picture you can see that there is a space on the inside angle where there is no fabric or paper. The ends of the Sew Tite are on paper and fabric while the middle sticks to itself. There is no problem and they still hold the pieces together.
There is a benefit as well. The farther down I can place the Sew Tite and still have it hold, the more of the seam I am able to sew without moving or removing the Sew Tite.
I have also been struggling with getting the centers of the stars to line up. Sew Tites work for this problem as well. Again, once the pieces are lined up, the Sew Tites hold them in place.
I have been wanting to tell more people about them in the Crafty Gemini Facebook Group, but there is a prohibition against talking about other products. Oh well, I assume people will hear about them eventually.
Check out the Culcita/Sew Tites website for videos and more information.
I made a back for the fun and cheerful quilt I took from him. I started with pink fabrics, but then realized I should use orange. The quilt top has other colors, but came across as mostly orange to me, so orange it was.
The color will be great for a boy, but not the flowers unless the boy is open minded and doesn’t mind a few flowers.
I also added a small border to the top. Somehow it didn’t look finished to me, so I added a border. A slightly larger quilt is always better IMO.
The blocks remind me of the Tina Michalik class BAM had at Always Quilting a few years ago. It is a fun quilt and the texture of the piecing is really nice. I think the border frames it. I do wonder if I just made it un-modern by adding the border. C’est la vie.
The Friday color and creativity posts will return soon!
I meant to drum both of my quilt hangers into service for this huge monster, but, sadly, the YM left to go back to school before I could do it. Regardless, the Stepping Stones n.2 is finished.
Some guild pals helped me take the photos by holding it for me.
There are things I don’t like about it, mostly concerning value (or maybe contrast– I haven’t delved into the differences yet), but the overall look is good. I may not be done with this design yet, but we will see. I am not sure what I would do differently aside from changing placement of some of the fabrics or create a different border.
I finally finished the City Sampler top. I have the binding dome as well, but the back is still in progress. No worries except time as I want to have at least two tops finished before I head to Colleen’s.
I didn’t use all of the blocks. I ended up deciding not fix the ones that would be a pain after I realized I couldn’t find all of the fabric. I did fix a number of them. The ones that didn’t make the cut will go on the back.
The design series came up after the CQFA meeting a couple of weeks ago. I went back to look at the posts and found a number of the images broken. They are now all fixed. Go and take a look.
Projects, Patterns & Tutorials
AllPeopleQuilt.com has a list of bag patterns. I am pretty sure some of these are repeats – perhaps new fabrics or names – but it is still useful to have a list of free bag patterns in case you need a quick gift.
FreeSpirit, like many fabric companies, has a page of free projects. Need something to make? Check out the projects from FreeSpirit designers.
I know Easter is still a few months away. I saw these cute little Easter themed zipper pouches on the Edgestitch site. Adorable!
LilyElla, of Undercover Maker Mat fame, has a number of tutorials on her website. There are three that I thought would be of [particular interest. I have not tried these yet, so report back:
Modifying a two way zipper – this is good if you need a zipper with two pulls that opens from the center
Sturdy fabric basket – this tutorial is similar to the One Hour Basket and has directions for making them in any size. For those of you organizing for your New Year’s Resolution, this is a great project. Not only will you use up fabric, but you will also be able to use the basket to organize.
Mini-Maker Station – this would be a great gift for someone who hand sews a lot. I like the little box on the top.
Media
I very seldom join round robins or online swaps. Quality of sewing is something that concerns me. I have also been a member of many, many swaps, bees and round robins and I don’t find that the group project stimulates me the way it once did. That’s me! As a young quiltmaker, I loved them and encourage you to find your people. I found an article on quilting bees that provides a list of things to think about when considering joining.
Friend Julie has started to post on her blog again. She is posting A LOT! She has a different style than me, but is also very grounded and real. Go take a look and leave a comment. I think you will enjoy her work and recent product reviews.
All of the Why Quilts Matterepisodes are available on the KET site. Frances of QuiltFiction and the Off Kilter Quilt has some interesting thoughts about the series.
If you need a creative break from your sewing machine or are recovering from an illness, OpenCulture has a collection of coloring books available developed by their partner institutions. There are a wide variety of institutions and many of them have collections you would not normally see as part of a coloring book. They may be just thing if life has too much pink in it.
Oliver+S posted a link to a new type of sewing machine. It is definitely cool looking. It was, however, clearly designed by someone who doesn’t make quilts. I may have to get one, however, so I can keep sewing when the power goes out. No free motion, however.
PreQuilt is a new quilt design tool. It is described as “a free design tool for quilters. Include PreQuilt into your design process and you can cut your fabric with confidence that the design you have is the one.” I looked at a it quickly and found that you can create blocks on the design screen. It doesn’t seem to have a library of blocks unless you signup. I didn’t do much more than take a quick look.
The Moda Cutting Table blog has a post on block dictionaries. The author calls them ‘block books’. She uses some of the same and some different ones that I do.
If you haven’t see Summersville, a fabric line by Lucie Summers, you need to take a look. She has some iPhone and Samsung Galaxy cases that are fantastic looking.
There are a lot of places to get zippers. Atkinson Designs is another. Lots of colors.
History
This isn’t a regular category of my Various & Sundry posts, but a few sites came up this time, so I am adding it.
I have been on a mission to find a collection of quilt patterns from Workbasket magazine. Periodically I look at Google and see if anyone has published any or if there are any images of the patterns. Recently, an organization came up called The Antique Pattern Library. It is described as “Antique Pattern Library is a project of New Media Arts Inc, a nonprofit organization, tax exempt under IRC Sec. 501(c)(3), EIN 27-2500171.” I took some time to look through some of the results of a search and found at least one interesting pattern. I see many more hours of interesting research to come.
Frances posted a link to a blog post about baby and doll quilts. This post can be found on the Quilt History Reports blog and was written by Karen B. Alexander. The blog has not been updated since May of 2018, but has many interesting posts to peruse until updating resumes.
Research & Information
If you want to know about yarn dyes, Weeks Ringle has posted an article on Craft Nectar. It is weighted towards the Modern Quilt Studio line of yarn dyed fabrics, but also provides some basic information.
I have been hanging around Julie’s blog quite a bit. She found and wrote about a color picker that is different than the one I used in the ColorPlay posts. Friend Julie wrote quite a bit about it and talked about using it to pick fabrics for the Good Fortune quilt. Check out her blog.
I know we don’t use markers much for our quiltmaking, but I suspect we are all concerned about trash on the streets. Crayola sponsors a marker recycling program and it is open to everyone.