I made two of these as I worked on the Spiderweb. I have made 6 total and I need to make 14 more. I don’t know if I will be able finish all of them before the December BAMQG meeting, but I will try.
I am not 100% sure about the fabrics. The blocks are made from kits, so I am using the fabrics given. The blocks have a very 1970s look to me. I don’t think they look chaotic, necessarily, but these aren’t fabrics I would have chosen to put together. Still, they are VERY interesting to look at and the eye does move around the blocks. It is a stretch for me to use such fabrics and that is a good thing.
Blue Heart Cat Bed
I have done two cat beds already. I made the second one last night. They are pretty easy, as I have said in previous posts. I think it is good for me to work with different fabrics and different feet as well, just to improve my skills in other areas. I made a Polarfleece robe once and it was a major challenge, because I had never worked with Polarfleece before.
I really had to make the red cat bed on Monday night, because my schnibble bag was overflowing. I could not fit one more slice, shard or schnibble into it. I filled the red cat bed with those from the bag and it is now a quarter full. Amanda has lots of other schnibbles so she can fill the rest.
Herringbone Cat Bed
I didn’t realize I had taken two cat bed kits, but I was glad I did. The cat beds don’t take very long, so in between pie baking and house tidying, I was able to get in a little sewing and I always feel good when I can work on a donation project.
Sadly, though, I was unwilling to pull schnibbles out of red Cat Bed to fill this one even a little bit, so it is very flat and sad looking. Again, Amanda can make that better.
Disappearing 4 Patches
Finally, I made four blocks for Vesuvius Mama’s collection of blocks for Hurricane Sandy victims. I think I said somewhere else that I am not that fond of this block pattern, but it is interesting and you do get a lot of bang for your buck.
There is a woman making two quilts (one is done) for a mutual friend. Another participant decided to make a quilt for the first quiltmaker.
Are you confused yet?
I made this block to send along to contribute. I often, as you may have noticed make stars, especially the Sawtooth Star. I like Sawtooth Stars. I think star blocks give a lot of bang for their buck. I wanted this one to be as cheerful as possible. As you can see, I used fabrics from the A-B-C Challenge.
It is already sent off and I will probably never see it again.
We are making the Flower Wreath block. To find out how to make templates, including the ring, see Part 1 for making templates and Part 2 for making the ring and positioning the ring on the background.
Flower Wreath
Now we are going to stitch the ring. If you haven’t started, check the Supply List in part 1 and grab your 3″x5″ tearaway backed fabric. Your ring should be applied to the background and ready to stitch. If your ring is not fused and ready to stitch, go back to part 2.
I stitch in layers, so that the stitching is easier, there are fewer starts and stops and the piece looks more finished. Now that you are ready to stitch, it is time to choose your thread.
Choose thread
Whenever you choose thread, you must consider the stitch. If the stitch will be dense like a satin stitch, you should choose the color by looking at the thread wrapped around the whole spool. That will give you a better sense of the color the satin stitch will end up.
It you will be using a straight stitch, you should unreel a bit of the thread and look at one strand on your fabric. You may need to pool a little of the thread together – less dense than the whole spool and more dense than one strand.
Now set up your machine for zig zag stitching. You will need to choose a stitch density. I like a semi-open zig zag that is not too wide, because it uses less thread and looks more interesting. Dense satin stitching, however, can really highlight and outline each piece. I use the following settings on my machine:
Ring: width: 3.0, density: 0.45
Flowers: width: 3.0, density: 0.45
Leaves: width: 2.0, density: 0.5
Flower centers: width: 2.0, density: 0.5
Even if you haven’t chosen all the fabric, I like to get the ring stitched down first, so I can audition the other fabric without worrying about the ring. Yes, it is fused and shouldn’t go anywhere, but I still like it to be stitched down.
In order to choose the stitch density, you will need to test. Get the tearaway backed sample piece you have prepared and start testing with the width and densities I have provided above. Stitch lines of zig zag stitching 2-3″ long using a contrasting thread similar to the thread you will be using to stitch the ring. Adjust the width and density on your machine until you are pleased with the look.
Stitch ring
Put the ring on the machine and start stitching. I always leave a long tail that I can pull to the back and tie shut later. My zig zag does not automatically tie the ends. If your machine is more advanced you may not have to tie a knot on the back. I don’t want my zig zag to come out if it gets snagged while being used, which is why I tie the ends.
I use my applique’ foot, which has a red arrow in the center to stitch out the zig zag. I place the tip of the red arrow on the raw edge of the ring and follow it around. You should stitch with needle down or use the hand wheel to put the needle down when you stop. If the center point on your foot gets off the raw edge of your ring, stop and readjust. Stop with the needle down on the outside of the ring’s curve whenever you need to readjust the needle to accommodate the curve. Turn the fabric to the left to get the center point of the foot back on the raw edge of your ring. The stitching will be slightly closer together on the inside of the shape, when the needle punches the fabric to the left, and more open on the outside of the shape or when the needle hits the background.
Tail of thread
When you have done about half – 3/4s of the stitching on the ring, stop and pull the beginning thread to the back and tie it off, if you need to.
I tie the beginning off before I get to the end, because the beginning and ending threads can get tangled up and make it impossible to make small, neat knots. I have tied all four ends together in a pinch, but prefer to make the knots as small as possible.
Fold work back to tie
I also use this technique also if I have to stop and pull the work out of the machine because of thread breakage or necessary bobbin refill.
I fold the work back (I only used my pincushion so I could photograph what I was doing. Normally, I just hold it with my wrist as pull the front through to the back and tie the ends together. I don’t take the work out of the machine unless there is a good reason – like a big knot, or thread breakage, etc.
Completely stitched ring
Once your knot is tied, continue stitching to where you started. I don’t overlap much once I get to the beginning, perhaps only a stitch or two, because I don’t want the look to be too different.
I pull the work out of the machine and tie off the ending threads. You may not need to do this if your machine does it for you.
Now do the same thing, but on the inside to finish stitching down the ring. Once you have stitched both the inside and outside of the rings, your ring will be complete and you will be ready to place the leaves and flowers on the ring.
If you have not already done so, choose the rest of your fabrics. You will need fabric for the flowers (1-4 fabrics) and leaves (1-20 fabrics). If you have not cut out and fused the wreath to the background, please go back to part 2. The leaves can be the traditional green or you can use something else. If you use one color, you might want to mix up the prints to increase interest. You can also use different colors. Make the block your own.
Make visual decisions visually
I thought about making the leaves green to make them more realistic, but decided I was still of a mind to use a variety of turquoises and aquas and keep my quilt’s color scheme of aqua/turquoise with red consistent. I found more leaf fabrics in my scrap basket. It is important, with my limited color scheme, to make sure the viewer can see the individual leaves. For that, I will need to have enough contrast between the various aquas and turquoises. Remember, when choosing your fabrics, to make visual decisions visually. Put your potential fabrics on the background and step back to look at them. From my test piece (right) you can see that there are a variety of tones of aqua and turquoise. Some of them blend a bit into the background. I want movement and interest.
Cover fusible with fabric
Once you have chosen all of your fabrics press the wrong sides, cheek to jowl, to one side of the fusible.
You are not going to be able to cover every inch of the fusible, which is why you have a pressing cloth or applique’ pressing sheet. If you press directly, the fusible that is not covered by fabric will end up on the bottom of your iron.
Cover this piece with a press cloth and press the fusible to the fabric following the directions on your fusible’s packaging.
Trace leaves & Flowers
Make all of your leaves and flowers. Flip the fusible so that paper side is up. You will be able to see your different fabrics through the paper. Place a template face DOWN on the appropriate fabric and trace with a writing implement. I use a Sewline pencil, but you can also use a pen, regular pencil or anything. I wouldn’t use a Sharpie even though I don’t think the paper will allow the marking to bleed through to the fabric.
Once you have traced all pieces**, cut them out right inside the drawn line. You should have 20 leaves, 4 flowers and 4 center flowers.
Take all of your pieces and arrange them the pleasing way. Arrange them into the position you want them to end up once they are fused. You are doing this to look at the effect. Once you are pleased with the arrangement, take a photo or sketch out placement.
Fuse & Stitch Flowers
You will need to stitch the flowers first, then the leaves and finally the flower centers. The flowers and leaves are on the same layer, so you can stitch them in any order. Anything that will be covered by another piece will need to be stitched before you fuse the covering piece.
Place the flowers on the ring using the press marks you used to place the ring on the background (or fold the background in quarters and finger press again). Place them symmetrically along the ring, or in a pleasing way to your eye.
Fuse them into place and get ready to stitch. You can also reference the machine applique’ tutorial for more information. Again, pay attention to where the layers of the design are placed. If there are leaves that you want to place under the wreath, you will need to satin stitch them before you fuse the wreath down entirely. For the flowers, you will need to satin stitch down any parts of the design that will be covered by another piece of fused fabric, such as the centers. The design will look better if you satin stitch a layer and then fuse the next piece down.
Place the interfacing under the background. You could use a machine basting stitch to stitch the interfacing temporarily to the background, but pinning works fine, too. You will need to zig zag with the interfacing under the background.
Stitching flowers
Satin stitch all the other pieces down using the thread you chose. When you stitch, the middle of the stitch will cover the outside raw edge of each piece. I line up the red arrow on my foot (see photo) with the sharp edge of that raw edge. The pieces you will satin stitch have curves, thus you will need to manipulate the stitch so it is smooth. This means that you will need to stitch with needle down.
Stop stitching to create smooth curves
Stop with the needle down on the outside of the curve for the leaves and flower petals. For the inside point between the flower petals stop above that point on the inside. If you do not have a machine that automatically stops with the needle down, then you can use the hand wheel to move the needle into the downward position when you stop. Do this carefully without moving the fabric. Once the needle is down you will need to assess the way to turn the fabric. Always turn the fabric very slightly to ensure a smooth curve. You may only need to take one stitch before adjusting the fabric again in order to get around the curve smoothly. For the outside curves, generally, you need to turn the fabric to the left to make a smooth curve. (Updated 10/30/2012: My engineer SIL says: You turn it clockwise for outside curves and counter clockwise for inside curves.) The stitching will be closer together on the inside of the shape and more open on the outside of the shape when you move in this direction. For the inside point of the flower, between the petals, you will need to take a slight adjustment of the background to the right. For the pointy ends of the leaves, stop the needle on the outside of the leaf near the point and adjust the fabric to the right very, very slightly. Take one stitch, stop on the outside of the point again. Adjust very slightly to the right. Your goal should be to get the needle into the same hole on the inside of the leaf until the arrow or line on your machine’s foot is in line with the raw edge of the other side of the leaf. When you move the fabric always keep the needle down. Before starting, take a few of the shapes, e.g. a leaf and a flower, make some test pieces and do a test on junk fabric so you get the feel of the procedure. This is not something you should work on when you are pressed for time.
Arrange leaves
Once you are finished with the flowers, change your thread and adjust the width and density of your stitch, if desired.
Arrange the leaves in a pleasing manner. I placed 5 at a time on the background and stitched them down.
Stitch leaves
Arrange and stitch all of the leaves. My photo shows only 10 sewn leaves.
Place the centers on the flowers and stitch them down. Follow all the directions above for tying off and moving the needle to create a smooth curve.
Back of block
Once you have stitched all the pieces, rip off the tearaway. I use a seam ripper to get the ripping started on pieces that are surrounded by stitching.
Once you are finished with the entire stitching and tearaway ripping, trim the background down to 12.5″
**Nota bene: These pieces have no right direction. You can trace them any way and apply them anyway and they will look fine. Pay attention if you are cutting out letters or another motif that has a special direction. Put the right side down on the paper backed fusible and trace the motif backwards.
We are making the Flower Wreath block. To find out how to make templates, including the ring see Part 1.
Flower Wreath
Choose your fabrics. You will need fabric for the flowers (1-4 fabrics), leaves (1-20 fabrics) and the wreath (1 fabric). The leaves can be the traditional green or you can use something else. If you use one color, you might want to mix up the prints to increase interest. You can also use different colors. Make the block your own.
I am going to try and use a variety of turquoises and aquas to keep my color scheme in the aqua/turquoise with red range. I have a few of the leaf fabrics picked out from my scrap basket, but need to find more. It is important, with my limited color scheme to make sure the viewer can see the individual leaves.
Cut piece large enough for ring
The ring is the biggest pain to deal with so I deal with it first before I even really think much about fabrics for the other parts. I decided to use one of the Pat Bravo Pure Elements solids in the turquoise range, but more on the green side. I haven’t used it in this quilt before. I picked it to highlight the leaves a little more.
Cover fabric with fusible
Now you need to make sure that your fusible will cover your fabric.
I used a package of Steam-a-Seam 2 Lite, but there are many fusibles that will work just fine for this project. Use what you know how to use or what you have on hand.
Tear the paper carefully off of one side of the fusible (or follow directions for your fusible) and stick it to the fabric, smoothing it carefully so there are no puckers or bubbles. The fusible is sticky so you can stick to the fabric and reposition it until you are happy.
Back of fusible backed fabric
Since the pieces I had were 8.5″x11″, I needed to cover an extra piece (bottom of the photo above) that was wider than the 8.5″ width of the fusible. I cut a piece from the fusible (white part in photo above) and re-positioned it to cover the part of the fabric I need for the size of the template.
Once you are happy, fuse the 2 sided fusible (should have the paper left on one side) to your ring fabric. Follow the directions on the package or website. You may want to cover your ironing board and the piece with junk fabric or an applique’ pressing sheet to keep your iron and ironing surface clean.
Turn your fusible backed fabric so that the paper left on the fabric is face up, as in the photo above. Place your ring template face down on the paper and trace around it with a pencil.
Ring cut out
Cut out the ring carefully on the line. I used an X-acto knife to start the center. I did use a pair of fabric scissors, but not my Gingher scissors. It is kind of hard to know what to do, because you are cutting both fabric and paper and you need a nice sharp edge. I use a pair of my mid-range scissors and hope for the best. They still seem sharp even after a bit of this type of cutting.
Fold the ring into quarters and finger press lightly. Again you will be lining up the folds to center the ring.
Retrieve your background. Fold the background into quarters and finger press, so you can see the folds.
Line up ring on background
Remove paper from the ring.
Line up the folds of the ring on the folds of the background. If they are all in alignment, there should be a ring fold snuggled with a background fold evenly. If you want to check, measure from the edge to the ring. You do need an absolutely square block for this to work.
Press the ring onto the background so it sticks.
Carefully bring background with the ring stuck to it to the iron. Check to see that your ring is still in place. According to your fusible directions, press the ring into place.
Your ring should now be firmly ironed on to the center of the background.
Leave this piece on the ironing board temporarily.
Get the tearaway you purchased (or had) and cut two pieces of tearaway stabilizer a little bit larger than your background. Place your background on top of the tearaway and pin it to the background. This will provide stability and prevent the piece from puckering when you zig zag stitch the pieces.
You are now ready to machine applique’ your first part of the block. See part 3 for machine stitching the block.
Frances and I are back in action with the Sampler class. I am excited, but nervous because I haven’t done this in awhile. The next class is about fusible machine applique’.
Flower Wreath
Supply List:
Notebook for notes
Pen to take notes 😉
Mechanical Pencil
Fabric (at least 4 different, preferably more greens to create variety in the leaves; scraps work well)
Fabric Scissors
Paper scissors
Small ruler
Glue stick
Template plastic
Dinner plate or compass
Fusible web, such as Misty Fuse or Steam-a-Seam 2 or Steam-a-Seam Lite
Applique’ pressing sheet
Tear away stabilizer (the size of your background)
Iron
Ironing surface
3″x5″ piece of fabric backed with 2 layers of tearaway stabilizer
Cut a piece of fabric for the background .5″ to 1″ bigger than the finished size of the block. If you have a regular background fabric, use that, if not use a coordinating fabric. I took a look at my current blocks to help me decide what background I wanted to choose. This is a coordinated scrappy quilt, but I also wanted to find a background that would work well with the applique pieces that I was planning to put on top of it.
After cutting out a background, you need to put it aside for the time being. You will need it after you make the templates and the ring.
Rough cut pattern out for templates
Cut out all the templates from the paper. Leave a little of the paper around the edges. Feel free to adjust the design of the flowers or leaves, if you want the shapes to be a little different.
All patterns rough cut
In the photo above, you can see all of them templates rough cut out, except the circles. The circles print from EQ7 on two sheets of paper. You will need to rough cut the two pieces for each circle and then tape them together. In order to tape the pieces together, hold each piece for one circle in a hand up to the light and match them up you. Before you hold them up, have the tape ready just to tack the pieces together. You can use a light box for this procedure also.
Fold circles in quarters
Fold circles in quarters to make a line down the centers. This will help you line them up to make the ring for the wreath.
I never did this before and had to figure it out, but it works pretty well.
Layer Circles
Using the folds, layer the circles together so you can see the black line of the upper circle. Draw a line around the smaller circle using the smaller circle as a template. You will be drawing on the larger circle. Use a soft implement (pencil or roller ball pen) that doesn’t skip to draw the circle. Once you have drawn the circle, you can put the smaller circle away with your other templates. I use a zipper bag for all of the pieces and parts.
Check width
Fold up the larger circle. Check the width of the ring of the wreath using a small ruler to make sure it is even. Once you are happy with the line. Cut along the line without opening the circle.
Complete Ring Pattern
Once you have cut out the ring, open up the ring.
Now you are ready to make the templates. Grab all of your patterns, your template plastic and your glue stick.
Glue the paper templates to the template plastic.
No template plastic on folds
The only tricky part is for the ring. I avoid the folds in the pattern and only put the template plastic on the parts of the ring where the fold isn’t. Why? Because I want to be able to fold this piece and put it in a zipper bag. Also, by adding the template plastic in quarters you save template plastic and you can use smaller pieces. Finally, you don’t end up with a circle of leftover template plastic.
Trim the templates to the line on the pattern.
Front & back of templates
Depending on the kind of template plastic you have, your templates will look something like the photo above.
Part 2 will talk about choosing fabrics etc.
You can find more detail about machine appliqueing directional motifs, such as letters in a separate tutorial.
I decided to try out the 3rd quarter blocks (though I thought they were for the 4th quarter. I am behind – whatever), Patchwork Wheel, for the Charity Girls at BAMQG. The kits I picked up made 2 blocks each and they are quite…exciting? Loud? Wild? blocks. I don’t know which. I kind of like their exhuberance, though.
The square parts were already cut, but I had to make the HSTs. No problem. They included the fabric cut the parts and I drew a line down the middle and sewed. Worked like a charm.
I have to say that I did start putting these together stupidly. Instead of waiting to finish the HSTs and then put the blocks together in 4 patch segments, I sewed allt he squares together and had to put them together in rows. Yes, I could have unsewed, but I didn’t.
Patchwork Wheels Finished
They came out well. There is nothing hideous about them.
When I saw the four of them together, i decided I wanted to make an entire top from such blocks just to see how it would turn out. Jennifer is saving some kits for me, so I can make more blocks and sew them together in a quilt.
Yes, the fabrics are wild and crazy, but I think they will be perfect for some kid with a wild streak in her. It hought of making some HSTs for the the project using my Triangle Technique but I am not sure if that would be helpful. Each pair of squares makes 8 HSTs and I think the blocks look better scrappy. I’ll have to see.
Donation blocks 1-4/Yellow & Pink
I wanted to finish another top before the next meeting , as a result, I have been making yellow and pink checkerboards.
These blocks are really cheerful and I am enjoying making them.
I am doing something a little different with these blocks. After the mosaic result of the pink and green blocks, I decided to be a little more choosy about the pinks and yellows I chose. The pink with the gold rings (upper left block, lower left corner, last row, 2d patch) is about the darkest pink I am using. All of the yellows are light and cheerful. I weeded out some of the Pat Bravo yellows-tending-towards browns for this particular project. There are a couple of pinks that are a bit too light and some different pinks that blend a bit with one of the Pat Bravo yellows, but all-in-all I am happier with how this project is turning out.
Donation blocks 5-8/Yellow & Pink
At the moment I am out of yellow and need to cut some more before I can make more blocks. I do have some that I sewed together randomly to white, black on white, etc. I could rip those out, but I don’t know if I am that ambitious. We’ll see.
I want to clear off my sewing table of 2.5″ squares and pink and yellow were what I had left. Good thing they go together. I might give away the rest of the squares and move on to something else. We will see.
Pink & Green Donation Quilt back
Finally, I took a photo of the back for the Pink and green donation quilt. These colors are a little darker than the fabrics on the front of the quilt, but they are first quality fabrics that I was not going to use in my own work. I really liked some of them, but the pattern or the colors prevented me from putting them into a quilt. I hope someone will enjoy this back.
Jennifer told me today that the group has made 93 finished quilts for charity this year. I think the one I put the binding on might be 94. I would love to believe that is some kind of record for a guild. Probably not, but I like to think this program was a success. Jennifer and Deborah are rock stars.
International Quilt Festival in Houston starts on November 1. If you are going, you’d better get organized. 😉
I think I mentioned that I signed up for Threadbias when SeamedUp went out of business. I only signed up. I tried to add a project, but I couldn’t upload the photos for some mysterious computer reason and I haven’t been back. I have nothing against Threadbias, I just feel like a jilted lover. I spent all that time with SeamedUp and now have nothing to show for it. I know it is a risk with free sites, but I will need some time.
All that being said, I don’t dislike Threadbias or anything. I am sure they are a fine crew and doing a fine job. Thus, I wanted to let you know about their Kickstarter campaign to design an online quilt design tool, which is described fully in their blog post. I have not decided whether or not I will contribute, because I am disappointed that they say nothing about EQ7. Why didn’t they call up EQ7 and say “dudes, let’s collaborate on a webtool”? Perhaps they did and were blown off?
I did watch part of the video and the features they have developed so far look pretty cool. Still, I have invested a lot in EQ, so I have to think hard before switching. GenQ Interviews the ThreadBias team on their blog in a Q&A type format. Good info.
Speaking of EQ, follow along with Barbara Brackman’s new Grandmother’s Choice blog starting now. She has started a new blog about blocks. A free block each week. Find the block in BlockBase then build the quilt right in EQ7. The topical topic is: The Fight for Women’s Rights.
Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of FunQuilts, now Modern Quilt Studio, have a lot of fun news to share with you: classes, books, fabric. Go take a look at their blog post.
Tutorials and Help
Here is another way to make bias binding, if you are looking to try a new way or you have never done bias binding.
Around the Web
Little Bluebell also wrote about the Whole Cloth Quilt Challenge at BAMQG on her blog.
I liked this blog and the pieces shown on the blog. One of the blog posts has a great Swoon block. The blog post is good in general.
Check out Quilter in the Gap (Rhonda)’s giveaway: Dots and Chevrons!!! Don’t enter, just take a look. I want to win. You know I love dots. I have to make a project with all dots, I think.
You might be wondering why I am writing about my A-B-C Challenge blocks when the BAMQG meeting was definitely not yesterday.
First, I am sewing pretty slowly lately and I am short on things to write about. Yes, you will see some more book reviews. 😉
More importantly, Rhonda finished all of her blocks. Yes, all of them, through Z. She sent a message to us saying she was done and I thought that I had better get busy. I had been thinking about finishing them all anyway. Finishing all of the blocks will buy me time later. Who knows how long figuring out the &^%$ sashing will take?
Yes, all of my blocks are done.
Yes, there are more than 26, because I made some bonus blocks. What the heck?
A-B-C Challenge: X Quartet
The first block I sewed over the weekend was the Ninja Throwing Star, according to Sandy of Quilting for the Rest of Us, Darla of Scientific Quilter, and Gretchen (@mafiretones) of 120 Blocks. It is actually my X block and the official name, according to Around the Block is X Quartet. It does look like a Ninja Throwing Star and once I caught up with their Twitter hijinks, I thought their jokes about wrapping myself in black Jelly Rolls and wandering around throwing the X Quartet were pretty funny.
X Quartet was a pretty straightforward block to put together and I like the way the color combination came out. And, I have to admit, it does kind of look like a Ninja Throwing Star.
A-B-C Challenge: Japanese X
I really wanted to make the Japanese X block that Kathleen combined to make into a pillow for the Pillow Swap challenge at BAMQG for X. I was nervous that the other participants would call me out since the block doesn’t technically start with X, so I decided to make it as a bonus block. I really like the design and want to explore it a little more in the future.
I have been trying to use more of the Zoe Pearns dots to create some continuity in the blocks. I don’t know if it is working, but the blocks, in general, are looking quite cheerful.
Zipper by Judy Martin
I skipped Y at first and went straight to Z. Y and Z are difficult blocks, mostly because not a lot blocks have names that start with Y or Z. I didn’t see any that I liked that started with Z. I thought about Zanzibar, the block from Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr that I resized and used for the FOTY 2009 quilt.
Been there done that, so I looked around to see if there were any other options. I found a printout from the Judy Martin site of a quilt made from a block called Zipper. It has a little different look than the other blocks I have made, namely because of the lack of HSTs, but I made it anyway. I like the way it came out.
Then I got to Y.
Y was a problem.
The first problem was finding a block I wanted to do. The next problem was making it. There are a lot of Yankee something or other quilt blocks. None of them really spoke to me. I had books opened to sections on Y blocks all over my workroom. Finally, I decided on Young Man’s Fancy. It has a nice propeller look in the center and I am not scared by long, thin, pointy triangles.
Young Man’s Fancy: Fail
I should have been, because I had no idea what I was doing with this block. No matter what I did, this block would not go together. Remember: I am making 6″ blocks, so I am sure the size had something to do with my problems.
Finally, I gave up.
The thing I did like about this block is the outside row of squares. The colors are grouped so that two pinks are in two corners and two greens are in the two other corners. I like the way that looks and will keep it in mind for future blocks. The suggested coloration had the border squares of this block colored in that way.
Yankee Puzzle
So, I was back to the Yankees. I just picked one, which turned out to be Yankee Puzzle, made it and moved on.
I have to say that my favorite color combination in all of the blocks is the color combination in Yankee Puzzle. That fun pink (may be called Lipstick) coupled with the dark, but cheerful greenish blue are awesome. You can see, from the photo at the top, that I have used this color combination a lot.
After Yankee Puzzle I had one open spot left in a 5 block x 6 block layout. As an aside, I am not sure why I picked that layout. I put all the blocks up on the design wall and I thought it looked good, so I went with that layout.
A-B-C Challenge: Rambler
The last block I decided to do was the Rambler. The X of Flying Geese stuck in my mind as I looked through block dictionaries. I also liked the way the Flying Geese were sort of backwards.
The layout of the patches reminds me of something (a gift?), but I can’t think what. I especially like the way the first Flying Goose highlights the square-in-a-square in the middle.
This block has a lot of scope for imagination, as Anne Shirley would say, I think. I may make more of the for another project, but larger next time.
I have a vague recollection of a car called Rambler, but I don’t think my parents ever owned one.
A-B-C Challenge: Frosted Star Sashed
I thought I would get a lot farther, but the Young Man’s Fancy and the Rambler took me a long time. I wanted to make some progress on the sashing, but only was able to sash one block.
The grey looks dark in the photos, but it doesn’t look dark in real life. It looks perfect. I am considering buying a whole bolt of that fabric.
You might think the sashing is wide, but I purposefully made it wider than the ratio calls for so I could trim all the blocks to the same size. Most are about 6 1/4″, but there are a couple that are nearing 7″. I think it has to do with me trying to figure out the math for quick piecing HSTs. I am thinking I will trim them all to 8″ and then put one of the red dots from the sashing post in between the grey of the sashed blocks.
I like all the blocks, but some of the fabric choices could be better. There are a couple of blocks that I may remake. I’ll think about it and see.
If you have not already sent off your blocks for the QuiltCon block design challenge, it is too late. I sent mine in earlier and wanted to share what I created with you.
I bought a set of fat quarters from Pink Chalk fabrics. I bought FQs from Pink chalk, because they were a bit cheaper than the other vendors (did not include the white) and I like the Pink Chalk customer service. It is ridiculous for me to try and save a few bucks. I buy enough fabric to insulate my house, but I have my moments of sanity.
The colors, which were selected by Elizabeth Hartman of ohfransson fame, are:
Kona Cotton Cyan
Kona Cotton Azure
Kona Cotton Candy Green
Kona Cotton Lime
Kona Cotton Chartreuse
Kona Cotton Buttercup
Kona Cotton School Bus
Kona Cotton Tangerine
Kona Cotton Medium Grey
Kona Cotton Coal
I wasn’t very fond of the yellow. It is too wishy washy for me. The orange in the upper left hand corner shows up very red on my screen, but it is orange.
QuiltCon block entry #1
I thought some of my Block-a-Long blocks were pretty modern, so I entered some of those. The first one was a block I named Four Columns Squares (Block-a-Long #52). I did rearrange the columns a bit from my original post, because I wanted to take advantage of my perception that the modern quiltmakers like assymetrical quilts (blocks) as a general rule.
I found the 12.5×12.5 unfinished size to be unwieldy for me. Most of the blocks I make are much smaller. I didn’t have to make them 12.5″x12.5″. I could have made them 12.5″ by whatever width I wanted, but I didn’t do that.
I also thought it would be a good idea to make the same block in two different colorways. I also included a printout of how the block would look in a quilt.
QuiltCon block entry #2
I wanted to make several, but read the directions and found I could only make 3. At the time I found that out, I had already made two, so I thought I had to select the third carefully. Instead what I did was send in the two as the same pattern in two different colorways. Clever, eh?
Well, it won’t be very clever, if I get disqualified.
I was thinking about the rules saying that blocks could be any width. I kind of wanted to try a different width than 12×12 finished, so I reduced one of the Block-a-Long blocks by not making all the pieces. I think it looks very similar to the block I used for FOTY 2009.
QuiltCon Block entry #3
If you remember, that is a block I found in a book by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle. Not sure which one anymore. 2009 was pretty long ago, especially in the number of quilts I have finished.
I am pretty pleased with this one. I added one print, as you can see just to add a bit of interest.
I found that a fat quarter pack ends up being a lot of fabric. If I count up, what I bought was 2.5 yards of fabric. That is a lot of fabric and I really didn’t want it hanging around, so I made more blocks.
3 is the limit, you say? Yes, you are correct, but what I did was count QuiltCon entry block #1 and #2 as the same block in different colorways. I sent them off as such and then finally got around to making more blocks towards the end of June. I didn’t post this back then, because I didn’t want anyone copying my work. Shocking, I know, but it happens.
QuiltCon Block Entry #4
This one is more asymmetrical, but is not wonky in the Gwen Marston style. I just couldn’t do it.
I was glad to get this out of my hair. I don’t expect anything, but hope the judges will choose one of my blocks. If not, they will go to a good cause.
I am calmly making these blocks one after another. I refuse to think about whether they will be a quilt or whether they will turn into anything at all. Of course, they will be something. What? I don’t know. Some kind of quilt, I am sure, but for now, I am just making blocks.
You all liked this blue, so I made another block using it. The pink is the block is a little different from the pink I selected and used in Swoon #7. I didn’t have enough of the smaller dot (that I could find), so this one is a suitable stand in.
I am pleased with the way the piecing came out in this block. If you look at the blue wings on the star, you will see how the vine looks like it continues from the middle out to the wings, especially on the left. I wish I could say I pieced it that way, but it was the luck of the draw.
Swoon #12
Swoon #12 (middle photo, right) uses a yellow flower print, which is ok, but not great. It has all the right colors, but there is something about it that is just a little off for me. In this block, the orange of that flower print makes some of the points of the star drop out. I didn’t notice until I was done with the block. I think there was some yellow still showing before final sewing, but when I sewed those parts together, the yellow was taken up by the seam allowance. I thought about unsewing it and making the wings over, but I couldn’t be bothered. Perhaps it will make viewers come closer to the quilt to see what I was doing? For all of these little things that are not quite right, I think about antique quilts and how there is a often a fabric that doesn’t go or a botched piecing job. These quilts are charming, so I will think of these little things as adding charm to my quilt. 😉
And Then There Were Twelve
Twelve Swoon
It is so interesting for me to look at all of these blocks together. Different parts of them stick out, which is all about the fabric, of course.
Some of them look like wreaths and some of them highlight the stars.
Making these blocks is turning into more of an intellectual exercise than I thought it would. Very fun.
I like this one and I was able to do a little adjusting of the colors. I really like the blue print in this piece. Again, it is from the Sophie line by Moda.
I didn’t, however, want to have part of the block drop out because the pink flowers would blend with the dots. What I did was, where possible, I would put the pink flowers in the part of the block that would get cut off. For example, there are many places where I place a square over a corner, sew on the diagonal and then cut off the remaining triangle. I made a big effort to place the flower part of the blue fabric in the location that would be cut off. I think that the effect is of more blue in this block than pink. The larger dots really give these blocks a different look.
Nine Swoon
I think the blocks are starting to look like a group. There are some fabrics I need to use a second or third time, but I am getting to the point where I might want to stop making blocks.
It took me awhile to get back to the Swoon blocks. I keep the latest one on the design to remind me to do it. It has been awhile since I made the last one. I think, after reading Landscape Lady’s comment from last week, I am in transition. I am trying to be in transition.
I spent last Saturday making blocks. It is kind of meditative work, but also clean up work in a way. I made some blocks for the A-B-C Challenge. I also made the Swoon block.
It is funny when I make Swoon blocks. I make one and then I want to make another, but I put it off, because there is so much cutting. Then I have to learn to make the block all over again. I made some notes when I made the last one and it was easier this time. I hope not to put it off so long until I make the next one.
8 Swoon Blocks
Since I had cleared the design wall, I put all the blocks up and took another picture of them all.
One thing is that I think I will add sashing. Yay! I get to go through the drama of picking sashing fabric all over again. Perhaps I should take my time making more blocks? 😉
I think the look is pretty good. I will make more and then see how I want to proceed.
I quickly made up this next Swoon block on Monday night. I was blatantly avoiding my regular household tasks. I found it to be an intellectual challenge to keep the background lined up so that it didn’t look strange.
Now I have to decide if I am going to make more blocks or if I am going to stop and put these together. I have an interest in using the pink dot on white for the background in another block.
