Hooray! I have some blocks to report. 44 is a good number. I had to start on blue strip blocks even though I didn’t make a white improv quilt after I finished the white strip donation top. My blue scrap drawer is overflowing. I can’t shove anymore scraps in it, so here we are.
I really like making these strip blocks. They are so much more fun than the Half 16 patches, though it could just be that I was sick of them because Sidewalk came out really well.
I plan to use the blue strip blocks for another Sidewalk quilt. The blocks are the same size and I am not done with that Sidewalk design yet.
The way this piecing is going is I cut a lot wrong, then I figure it out, cut it right and piece cool units together. This is the case with Blocks 4 & 5.
However, I like this quilt, am pleased with the fabrics I chose and am learning a lot.
Except for a couple of background strips, these blocks are done and I have the patterns for blocks 6 & 7. I plan to work on this weekend.
I have slowed down a little on the Blue Strip blocks, mostly because I am running out of strips. I am, however, putting smaller pieces of fabric together to make chunks of improv piecing for another Blue Improv donation top. The chunk on the left is the largest piece so far, but I am making progress on others as well.
After out Triumphant week off, I am back to cutting out pieces. Well, I am back to trying to cut out the pieces. There are very few this week as we are on the borders, but I am struggling with those #@%^ HRT Bs again.
I watched the video, which is very clear, and cut several pieces wrong. I am now watching the video again,but stopping it, doing the step and then watching more. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around this ruler. I am glad she came up with the mystery quilt as it is a good way to try out the tools.
Triumphant top border
Now I have the Color 3 (turquoise) pieces cut and am about to add some Color 6 (red-violet) pieces. Fingers crossed I can trim these to the correct size.
I keep filling pet beds and I am still working on my most recent.
We aren’t filling them up as much with schnibbles any more, but just how much is something I have to confirm.
As mentioned, the schnibbles don’t wash well and become giant lumps that pets can’t mold into a comfy shape. I knew this and it worried me, but I was happy to be using my schnibbles for something.
We are now filling the pet beds with Poly-fil** and batting. I am confused about whether we aren’t filling the pet beds with schnibbles at all or only a little bit. I have already stuffed this one a bit, so am now wondering if I will need to remove the schnibbles, put them in a different type of bag and hand them in separately to fill the cubie?
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Saturday’s trunk show inspired me to look at the (photos of) the Aneela Hoey patterns I have made. I have a tag for them, but realized I hadn’t tagged all the posts correctly.
Boxy Clear Pouch
Carrie’s Boxy Clear Pouch with gift bag
Tim’s Boxy Clear Pouch
Lil Sissy’s Inside Outside Pouch – 3/4s view
Dripping Roses Inside Outside Pouch with thread
Inside Outside Pouch finished
2-in-1 Case (fixed by Carrie)
Tula 2-in-1 Case
2-in-1 Case #4 exterior – open
2-in-1 Case #2- closed
Mom’s 2-in-1-Case
Sue’s Kit Supply Tote
Carrie’s Kit Supply Tote
Finished: Kit Supply Tote
Officer Gifts: Speedy Pouches
In looking at this list, I realize I have only made 1 project from Aneela’s book, Stitched Sewing Organizers. Most of the others were sewn from stand-alone patterns. I know my friend MaryM has made more. I’ll see about getting the book out again and making another project from it. There is one big organizer that I keep looking at.
The BAM meeting was good yesterday. I loved the Bag Trunk Show that Lynette did. I admire her work so much and she is a fantastic presenter. She was super well organized. She brought the patterns as well as the bags, which was really nice and stepped up the trunk show game!
She talked about the designers she liked, starting with Aneela Hooey. She showed the patterns as she talked about the bags she has made including the Boxy Clear Pouch, the Kit Supply Tote, and several others, which I haven’t made. She then talked about the patterns she has made from the stitched Sewing Organizers book, which I have also discussed and used for patterns, including the 2-in-1 Case. I have made a lot of Aneela Hoey Patterns, but Lynette, I think has made more. I tend to make several of the same ones.
Lynette’s bags
She also likes to make Minki Kim patterns. The one she talked about was the one she used to show all the different interfacings when she did a skillbuilder demo at a meeting last year. It is kind of a dome shaped bag in the center of the photo with several examples.
I love bags, bag patterns and other people’s bags so this was a great trunk show for me. I especially love Lynette’s work. I think I am a pretty good bagmaker, but I have a lot to learn from her.
The presentation started off with a quilt that Lynette made as part of a challenge when the guild was young. All of the quilts were shown in November 2011. It was great to see her quilt again as it was one of my favorites from the bunch.
Bonnie’s Holiday quilt
The other thing I was thrilled to see at the meeting was Bonnie’s Holiday quilt. She worked really hard on it at the 2024 Retreat.
Show and tell was pretty good. I showed Sidewalk (unquilted) and talked about my plans for the Blue strip version.
I finished enough of the blue strip blocks to make another Sidewalk quilt. This will be the third blue strip donation quilt I have made! Apparently, I use a lot of blue. I am really excited to try the Sidewalk pattern with these strip blocks.
This is not all of the strips blocks I need. It is the group I put up on the design wall as I was making them.
I have made a little dent in my blue scrap drawer. I can probably close it now. I plan to keep making these blocks until I have used most of the strips. I did find that a lot of the scraps are smaller than 4.5 inch strips, so another blue improv donation quilt is in my future, too.
Putting Chain Link up on the design wall the other day made a huge difference. I could finally see what was going on with this quilt. I made good progress over the past couple of days and am pleased that this quilt is finally going in the right direction.
In the photo, the fabrics look plaid. Except for a couple of gingham charms, there isn’t any plaid. The rainbow stripes contribute to the effect, I think.
I worked really hard on putting the strip sets together. It is a tedious task, but had to be done, so I just got on with it. Once all the blocks were in place, I could see what was going on with this quilt. I could see how to put it together and the way the design was supposed to work. I don’t know why I couldn’t see that before.
I cut like a demon at Sew Day, so the pieces were ready to go when I was. Having the pieces cut, having fewer pieces and being more familiar with the process meant I was able to finish Triumphant block 3 in record time.
I am all caught up and have a break for a week until the border instructions are posted.
Yes. This top is in sight of being done. Hooray!
There are some pieces I would have cut differently, though I am sure Latifah had her reasons. I prefer large pieces for the background – as large as possible. I’ll have Colleen quilt over the intersections of the background, however, and I am sure by the time I get it back I won’t care. LOL!
Triumphant center complete
These are large blocks: 20 inches finished. Right now this is a large Nine Patch that is 60 inches wide.
I find the shapes that I can make with the HuRTy rulers are really different from other shapes. I looked at Latifah’s other patterns and didn’t see anything appealing. I hope she has a “Design with HuRTy rulers” course.
I finally took Sidewalk off the design wall and replaced it with Chain Link. No, Triumphant gets no time on the design wall. LOL! I have a lot of quilt projects happening at the moment. This is the result of starting so much.
This isn’t actually all of the blocks. I have to find a step stool and put the last two rows up at the top. It is enough for me now to see what is happening with this quilt top.
As you can see, I have a lot of the strips sets to make. I think this quilt will go together quickly once those are done.
It is so much easier to get a grip on this design when I can see it.
I finished the rest of the block 2 blocks. my design wall is full of Sidewalk, so I used the design floor (LOL!) to lay it out.
What stands out to me is that turquoise border around block 1 (center). It doesn’t stand out to me in a bad way. It definitely highlights the center block.
I kind of wish I had used the purple from the center for the purple tips of block 2, but c’est la vie. I am not ripping out more seams.
Since I had some free sewing time, I spent as much time as I could grab sewing this quilt top together. I concentrated on the half 16 patches first. I had been kind of limping along sewing them in between Triumphant block 2 pieces and was sick of it. I only needed a few more half blocks, so I sat down and sewed them.
I had a few hours while DH was out one evening so I started sewing the blocks together and just continued snatching time wherever I could. Once the half blocks were together this was a relatively easy quilt to sew together.
Sidewalk back
I decided to use red for the back. Shockingly, the back went together very well. Instead of fighting with pieces like normal, this back went together really easily.
I am glad this is finally done! I have some ideas for other versions, but want to get Chain Link and Triumphant pieced.
I am trying to keep up with the Triumphant Mystery quilt. I don’t want that lingering. Since the cutting is the hardest part, I spend as much time as I can on that when I have time.
I cut all the pieces for block 2, but started out just sewing one (of four) together. It has a really different look than ‘regular’ blocks.
I decided to call this quilt pattern ‘ Sidewalk’. There are other quilt patterns called ‘Sidewalk’, but this one looks more like city blocks surrounded by sidewalks than any of the other others. Besides I can’t keep calling it Half 16 Patch Sashing quilt. That name is too much of a mouthful.
I am making good progress. I have sewn the blocks together and am working on sewing them into pairs.
