While I didn’t achieve my goal of having all the Put a Ring on It rings done before the weekend, I did make more rings.
One problem was cutting. I didn’t have all the arcs cut, but that was a good thing to do while I listened to the meeting. I made good progress at cutting and have about half a block left to cut to finish 9 blocks.
Put a Ring On it Block 8
As a result of cutting during the meeting, I was able to make good progress Saturday after the meeting and Sunday.
I am, however, running out of design wall space. Scrap Dash is taking up almost every inch of space on my large design wall and my random and various other projects are taking up a lot of space on my small design wall. Now, the leftover significant portion of space is filled with Put a Ring on It rings.
Put a Ring On it Block 6
One issue I am having is that I keep thinking how I want to change this project and what I don’t know about the tools to do it. I think I would like skinnier arcs better. I know that means smaller cornerstones, but what else does it mean? Would I have to change the size of the center? Probably.
A few days ago, I posted the second part of the tutorial for the first Large Pocket needed to complete the Ultimate Carry All Bag by Natalie Patton. This is the tutorial for the second Large pocket.
Today we will start the second of the large pockets. The directions for this step in the pattern start on page 8, step 2 of your pattern.
My version of this Large Pocket #2 includes a type of Clippy pocket that I added. The elastic holds your WonderClips and the pocket holds a rotary cutter.
Fabric and supplies layout
This Clippy Pocket is not part of the pattern, but I will share how to make it.
The picture shows all the pieces with which we will be working. If you want to omit my Clippy pocket, skip those parts of this tutorial. If you want to include it, make this Clippy Pocket before starting on the bulk of Large Pocket #2, but after you have cut all the pieces. Having the small bits and bobs ready makes the assembly of Large Pocket #2 easier.
Cut the pocket fabric 4.5 x 12.5”
Cut the SF101 interfacing 4×12
Apply SF101 to wrong side of fabric
Cut double fold elastic (you can also use a strip of fabric) 4.5” long. You can add two strips if you want more space for WonderClips
Clippy Pocket Fabric folded, finger pressed
Fold pocket fabric in half and finger press. You want the short edges to touch when you fold and finger press. The folded piece will be 4.5”x6.25 (approx.)
Pin RST with Elastic
Unfold and pin elastic to piece 1/3 down from the fold or 1 ¾” down from finger pressed center
Sew around edge
Sew around edge, leaving an opening the bottom to turn and avoiding the top with the fold.
Press Clippy Pocket
Press.
Clip corners Tip: try to press the opening seam allowances as straight as possible
Turn RS out
Turn RS out, push out seams, especially corners. Make sure seams are crisp, the press again.
Measure to place Clippy Pocket
Measure to place Clippy Pocket -2
Place Clippy Pocket in place on P1 by:
Measure 9” down from top
Measure ½” over
Place Clippy Pocket
Pin in place
Cut an additional piece of double fold elastic 9 1/8 – 9 ¼”
Measure down 3” from the top of P1. Place elastic in this location.
Tuck one end of the elastic under the Clippy pocket to hide the raw edge
Pin in place
Mark the elastic so that your tools will fit. At some point prior to this, I looked at all the tools I thought I would use and measured them to make sure they would fit.
Attach Clippy Pocket and divide elastic
Sew around 3 sides of the Clippy Pocket (not the top), ensuring that you catch the elastic in your seam.
Sew on your marks in the elastic
Add D-ring using a scrap of double-fold elastic or some fabric. Sew it in the seam allowance. I backstitch or go over the stitching a few times. This helps prevent the D-ring from becoming unsewn.
Leave long tails at the start and end of your seams, pull threads to the back and tie off with knots
If you are not adding the Clippy Pocket, cut your elastic 20″, mark and sew, following the directions on the pattern.
Check back in a few days for the rest of the tutorial for putting the large pocket #2 together.
I updated the About page to include the most recent podcast in which I was featured.
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$60+ shipping: La Passacaglia papers and acrylic cutting templates. PayPal cash only. This set includes:
Complete Piece Pack Includes ALL the Pre-Cut Papers, approximately 2900 pieces, to make La Passacaglia.
5 Piece La Passacaglia Acrylic Set includes shapes A, B, C, D, and E and is available with a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Carnivorous Plant inspiration
Projects, Classes, Patterns & Tutorials
You know you want to make a flock of chicken ornaments. Check out this tutorial from Ann Wood Handmade. She has a number of free patterns and resources, including a slightly grumpy looking apple core ornament. This site, which is new to me, came through the Oliso newsletter. They frequently have interesting sites to visit. They also tell you about new products and when irons are back in stock. Sign up for their newsletter through MailChimp.
Barbara Brackman is starting a new appliqued BOM. Free patterns will be released on the last Wednesday of the month. It is taking place on her Civil War blog, but think about what you could do with more contemporary fabrics.
As I may have mentioned, I signed up for Winsor & Newton’s articles on color. The recent one is about about Green, specifically Chromium Oxide Green. What caught my attention was “What humans do have in common is a shared ability to recognise variations of green better than any other colour.” I have been thinking about this in the context of our 6000 piece puzzle. We have done all the easy bits – the castle, the wall, the lakes. Now we are on to trees (green), mountainsides (green) and sky (flat blue). It is a matter of trying every piece in every space and celebrating when you find one piece. BUT that has nothing to do with what I was talking about. I have been trying to sort the green pieces in this puzzle and I realized that I my efforts were working, but I wanted to sort them in much more detail. While driving down the highway recently, I glanced at the mountains and noticed (again) how many greens I could see. Somehow all of these experiences came together with the Winsor & Newton newsletter.
The other thing the article says is “The average number of colours humans can distinguish is around a million.” A MILLION!! Sheesh! No wonder my photos never look like what my eye can see.
Books, Fabrics, Notions & Supplies
The Glenstone Museum in Maryland is having a Faith Ringgold exhibit. Faith is an artist who sometimes works in textiles and quiltmaking. She expand one of her quilts into a book called Tar Beach. There is a book that goes a long with the exhibit. The buying process is a little strange, but I am sure the book will be fascinating.
I was a little disappointed in the colors I received from my recent zipper order. It occurred to me that there might be such a thing as a YKK zipper color card. There is! I’ll add it to my WAWAK order next time I get zippers. It is also available at ZipperStop on Etsy, but is slightly more expensive.
**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
Remember a few weeks ago when I was thinking about circles? I was fortunate that Latifah agreed to show me how to make the cuts using the Clammy to make my Orange Peel Circle. She took time out of class on Saturday to show me two methods of making the shape.
I went away and tried out the technique. I came up with piece on the left. I used the 12 inch Clammy** for this test. It was always in my plan to use different sized Clammies. After this test, I won’t use many of the 12 inch circles – a few, but not many. It is too big and looks like it takes up too much space. I am going to try one of the smaller Clammies later, 10 inch** for sure, but the 6 inch** maybe as well, and see what I think. I am full up on design wall space so I need to finish some things before I commit to any other projects. Even tests have to be put on the back burner.
Still, I am pleased I know how to to do this now.
**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
I made some more rings from Saturday’s class and the Put a Ring On It pattern on Sunday and during the week.
New Ring 2
New Ring 1
I was trying some hide and seek type effects with the ring on the left, but I won’t be repeating that. I am not taking it out and it will blend in fine with the other rings.
They don’t look that great (or terrible) on their own, but together they look a lot more interesting. Still, I am making some progress.
I worked quite a bit on Scrap Dash over the weekend, using the project as leaders and enders while working on my Latifah class project. It didn’t look super before class, though i was making progress. By the end of class on Saturday I had made progress with which I was happy (photo, left). The pattern was really starting to emerge and I was getting excited about putting blocks together. I was able to do bits and bobs in between the Put a Ring On It rings. Every little bit helps.
Scrap Dash, Sunday afternoon
I continued working on Sunday, a little more on Scrap Dash than on the rings. I feel like I made really excellent progress. While I don’t have all of the pieces for Scrap Dash on the design wall, I do have a significant number.
I have also started to put some of the blocks together.
Sadly, I found out I don’t have enough of the 1.5 x 2.5″ rectangles for the border. I need to think about whether to cut a million more, leave off the border or do something else. I haven’t yet used the rectangles in blacks, whites and greys for the center of the quilt. I might try and see if they look good as a border. I don’t think I have enough for a whole border, but it would be a start.
I can’t even think about fitting a border on the design wall, so I’ll have to see once some of the blocks are together and the seam allowances have shrunk up.
Scrap Dash Churn Dash
Speaking of which, I have sewn a block or two just to see what they look like and to shrink up the seam allowances so I can fit more on the wall.
You can see the background, which I think really makes the quilt look bright.
One of the things that Latifah wanted us to use in class was a 28mm rotary cutter. This is used for the inset Clammy cuts, especially on the 8 inch Clammy, which are used to cut the arcs.
I thought the class was a good opportunity to try a new cutter since I would be cutting a lot with the 28mm. The handle of the one I have isn’t comfortable so I shy away from it as much as possible. The new cutter came midway through class so I was able to try it out a little during class and a lot after class. I love the Clover 28mm cutter!**
Current rotary cutters of choice
The handle fits really well into my hand. It doesn’t have an automatic closing mechanism like my favorite 45mm rotary cutter**, but the closing mechanism is very easy and convenient to use. I am sure having a new, sharp blade didn’t hurt the experience either.
Clover has a 45mm rotary cutter** and I am tempted, but I like the curved shape of the Olfa 45mm. I’ll stick to what I have for now.
Big thumbs up to the Clover 28mm cutter**. Try it if you are in the market for a new 28mm cutter.
**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
Even though I can teach a vast number of quiltmaking skills, I don’t know everything. The guild hosted Latifah Saafir on Saturday via Zoom to teach us her pattern, Put a Ring on It*.
This pattern uses two of Latifah’s Clammies, the 12 inch** and the 8 inch**. I was super pleased to receive these as gifts between my birthday and Christmas.
The pattern is fairly complete and pretty easy to follow. The class was worthwhile, because Latifah gave us tricks and tips and helped us troubleshoot. The Clammy tool and the pattern really make this, essentially a Double Wedding Ring, pattern accessible to almost anyone. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest it as a first quilt or if you haven’t tried curves, but otherwise, you can do it.
Martha Negley Vegetables
We had to select fabrics and cut pieces before class. I used an older Martha Negley fabric for the background. The background isn’t very much of the quilt. I wanted something different after looking at all the various versions of this quilt plus other DWR versions online. I didn’t want to make the traditional light background. I also didn’t want to copy the version on the cover. I thought of text prints for the rings, but defaulted back to my Frolic! color scheme with a variety of red-violets and the dark blue.
Two Rings Finished
During class I was able to finish two rings. I wasn’t pleased with the green I chose for the squares. That was one good thing about being at home. I was able to grab some other fabrics and switch them out. I’ll mix up the rings so the green doesn’t look like big green blobs in the center of the quilt.
I am making a 9 block (1 ring=1 block) quilt. It will be about 48 inches x 48 inches. I didn’t want to commit to something larger and even this number of blocks is feeling like too much. I am going to power through. If I can get a ring a day done this week, I can finish all the ‘blocks’ by the end of the week and be ready to put the quilt together at the weekend. I don’t want this to become a UFO. I want to get it down and ready for quilting.
What I really wanted out of this class was to learn to use the Clammy rulers. I think I have started on that process, but didn’t get very far. This class was all about the Put a Ring On It pattern and making that. Learning various Clammy techniques was not on the agenda. That was sad. I hope Latifah comes up with a Clammy Sampler class. I get the sense that this tool is an awesome method for making circles in quiltmaking.
*No affiliation. Both a PDF and print pattern are available. I got the printed pattern and really liked the format.
**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
Yes, I think I am calling this quilt Scrap Dash instead of 30 Something.
Scrap Dash (30 Something)- April 7, 2021
I spent some time on Wednesday standing in front of the design wall and rearranging various units. The more I do this the better it looks.
I can also tell what I need to work on next. In this case, I need more half square triangles. I prepared a bunch for sewing at Craft Night, but haven’t actually sewed them yet. The process in this quilt was: 1. cut squares; 2. draw lines; 3. sew; 4. cut apart; 5. square up. I don’t really mind this process, but I wish they had chosen a better system like using the Simple Folded Corners Ruler. I wasn’t able to find a tutorial using the size pieces I had already cut, so I just went with the drawing method.
I finally made a One Hour Basket that has been on my list for a long time.
I finally made it thinking I was making it for the multitude of remotes I have in my workroom. I am not going to use it for that, because I used fusible fleece and not Soft & Stable, so it wasn’t as stiff. I wanted a One Hour Basket that I could use to organize my various card decks. This one won’t work for the remotes, but it will work for the decks.
I have undoubtedly become a Sew Sweetness groupie. I want to spend time making all of the projects I have in my library.
The Piebald Pouch is my first finished project from Minikins Season 3. I have to say that it went better than many of my other pouch and small bag projects. For whatever reason, all of the pieces and parts went together smoothly and I had very little trouble.
Except for the front panel. You can see that I didn’t line up the flowers properly, so the ones on the front panel are sideways. I still like it.
The pouch is a little bit of an odd shape. This one is for me and I am not sure how I will use it.
Piebald Pouch – open
This was a fairly easy sew. I started it last week and would have finished it sooner, but have been so swamped that I just didn’t have a moment. It was fun and a charge to finish it on Sunday.
One of the reasons I wanted to finish the HST Donation Top/Back was to free up space on my large design wall.
30 Something/Scrap Dash- early April 2021
I have a lot of pieces and part ready to sew together for the 30 Something top and I was having trouble envisioning how the whole thing was going to go together. I needed to get it on the design wall.
I have to say that I was kind of regretting cutting all the pieces for this quilt. Once I saw it start coming together, I got really excited. I think my fabrics look a lot better than the 1930s vintage and repro fabrics in which the original was made.
My background is an Art Gallery black on white called Raise the Volume from the Capsule Collection. I love the look of a background the doesn’t change amidst all the vibrant scraps.
I have been thinking about the title of the quilt. 30 Something just doesn’t cut it and I don’t like it anyway, but the quilt was not speaking to me in terms of a name. As I put the parts on the design wall, I realized that some of the blocks were Churn Dash blocks and I thought of the name Scrap Dash. I’ll have to see if it sticks.
I finally sat down on Friday afternoon and worked to finish this top. I really wanted to get it ready for quilting and it had been hanging around for too long. I am pleased with how it came out and look forward to seeing how it gets quilted.
HST Donation Back
I am going to show it to Tim, then send it on to another guild member for quilting.
I tried to use as much of the Pop Parade fabric for the back as I could.
A long time ago I wrote about ‘Grandma Betty’s’ quilt. I finally asked my Mom about it. She said that Grandma Betty was our Great Grandpa George’s girlfriend. It was her car they drove from Chicago to Los Angeles. Apparently, she made this quilt for my Grama. Mom said that my sister has it now. It makes me really happy to know more about this quilt. I’ll try to find out more about Grandma Betty. I think she was long gone by the time my mom came on the scene.
I was amazed and thrilled that Tim had bound the small Kaffe donation quilt he quilted a few weeks ago. He put a binding on it sometime last week! He almost never does that, but wanted something quick after cleaning his studio all day.
He machine bound it, but that was a good choice since the quilt will go who knows where.
BAM Kaffe Community Quilt by Patti (detail)
I love the quilting – spirals. They look so great.
