I received a nice package of blocks from Friend Julie the other day. It is so interesting to see these blocks. Julie mentioned that it looked like a real project now when she posted about the blocks I sent to her last week.
I can’t really see what they will end up looking like, but I can see that they will end up as something. I can see the possibilities now.
I have received more postcards and need to match them to fabric. I might be over the hump of fabric selection being a big barrier. We’ll see how it goes with the next group.
I worked all last weekend on the Pointillist Palette #4 project. I made good progress, but I am not feeling any connection with this quilt. I was quite enamored back in the day, but time did not look kindly on this project. I don’t sincerely dislike it, but I also don’t understand why my younger self loved the concept so much. I guess I need to think about how my quiltmaking has evolved and what makes up my quiltmaking.
This cements my resolve to not let projects linger.
Pointillist Palette #4: blocks in process
So, I worked hard on finishing the blocks for this project.
The piecing is super easy, just a lot of straight stitching in long chains. It is going quickly. It is good after the other projects I have worked on recently.
For this quilt in the series, I want it to be dark, thus the black and white aboriginal prints. I stopped using the lighter parts of the ombre fabrics to get that darkness, but there are still a lot of light fabrics in the quilt. I wonder if I will have to resew some blocks.
I have had this project on my list for awhile. I show the original drawing in one post that also calls this piece part of a CQFA placemat challenge. I discussed working on it after I did some stitching. I showed it at a CQFA Art Walk. It seems that 2019 is the last time I worked on it.
The piece is small and I kept chiding myself for not just doing it. The muse, however, is a fickle mistress and she was not interested in this piece for a long time.
The Lobster with potential blocks
Finally, she allowed me a flash of inspiration and I ran with it. I have started piecing it into a table runner. I need more table runners for my buffet and I thought this would make a good one for summer. Also, I could admire my lobster more frequently.
I always like the Sawtooth Star block and thought it would work to make the table runner a little longer. I put some pinwheels inside the Sawtooth Star’s center just to make it a little more interesting.
I know it is all Orange You Glad all the time right now. I am almost done piecing the top.
I spent the last few days chunking the top. I have many chunks and the piecing is going much faster. I’ll probably be able to finish piecing the top tomorrow or the next day. Life gets in the way of sewing.
I finished the back of the Diagonal Nine Patch Saturday morning before I drove to the BAM meeting. I found a piece of fabric that comprises the main part of the back (top left). The large print works well for a back and I am glad I didn’t cut it up for the front.
I used up a number of pieces of fabric that have been hanging around for awhile, which is always a good feeling.
Diagonal 9 Patch top
I am pretty pleased not only that the whole package is ready to go to Colleen, but also that there were no tasks hanging around for after the meeting. It felt like a clean finish.
I chose a black and white stripe for the binding.
I worked on the back for 20 minutes or so on Friday after cleaning out the garage and that 20 minutes put everything in place for finishing on Saturday. Every minute counts!
This is a pretty easy quilt so as soon as I finished all the bits and pieces required to make Pies & Points ready for quilting, I turned my attention to the Diagonal Nine Patch. I talked about the size in my last post and, as you can see, I increased the size. I think this size will be fine, but am still reserving judgement.
With 7×7 blocks, the quilt top will be about 42 inches square and my hesitation is whether that is a large enough quilt. I think it is on the verge of being large enough, but I may want to add another column and row.
I have about 7 more blocks to go in this configuration. The issue is that I am eager to get this quilt done and move on to Orange You Glad. I also want to bring this quilt to Colleen.
The Pies & Points top and back are done! I really could have used TFQ’s help with the piecing, but I am pleased with the overall design. Quilting won’t solve all of it’s little piecing challenges, but quilting will flatten it out and give it some structure.
I used all the blocks I made and am happy with the look. I like the Points blocks and how they look like flags. The Pies blocks and half blocks add a bit more interest and give the piece a kind of pink circus feel.
I am also happy I used a non neutral background. I like that look and need to get back to doing it more.
Pies & Points back
The back is done, too. I should have done yoga that day, but instead I pulled fabric off the background stack and made the back.
I plan to give this away so I didn’t choose any of my Philip Jacobs fabrics. I did pull some fabrics from Queen Street. I have some leftover after the BAMQG IRR and thought they would work.
Friend Julie and I started a project together. This isn’t the first project we have worked on together. We have worked on Bullseye quilt projects together, the Windmill quilts and Julie’s Tumbler quilts. I enjoy working on projects with her.
Pantone Postcards
This project started with me asking for the Pantone Postcard Box for a gift. Friend Julie got it for me, then we started talking about doing something quilty with it.
We threw ideas back and forth, but recently we got together for lunch and laid out our guidelines. It was a lot easier to make the list when we were together, though I suppose we could have done it on the phone as well.
Pattern Play by Doreen Speckmann
We decided we would use the units Doreen Speckmann recommends in her Pattern Play book. I LOVED Doreen Speckmann’s classes. I have had the book for a long time, but Friend Julie bought it recently. It is a technique book, though there are a few patterns. Doreen shows readers how to make and use different units to make quilts look more personalized. These were the types of books that were written in the past whereas now people just write books that tell you how to make a certain quilt with certain fabric. I don’t see that I have written a book review on this book, but it might be time.
That being said, this is a block based book and, thus The Pantone Project will be a block based quilt.
Fabric, Sewing machine and regular Sewing supplies (BSK)
Decisions to Make:
Size of units (blocks)
Type of units to make
Timeframe for making the project
Timeframe for sending postcards
Every week or so we send each other a postcard. The interval is pretty random, but we aren’t letting months go by. I was on a trip recently and didn’t send any that week, but sent one as soon as I got back.
The postcards have a certain Pantone color. From the color we will choose a solid, tone-on-tone or ‘reads as solid’ fabric to use for the block.
Blossom by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake
We decided to use the same background and bought some together the other day. We bought a cool grey called Blossom by Riley Blake. Christopher Thompson is the designer. I don’t know why it is called Blossom since there is not one blossom-y color on it. Some of the other fabrics in the line are more blossom-like. Anyway, this is a really good grey, which is now washed and waiting to be incorporated into blocks. You can see more of the design of the fabric on Julie’s blog.
Our units will be 4 inches finished (4.5 inches unfinished).
We will make two blocks, plus cut two squares and send one block and one square to the other person. At the moment, I am behind and won’t be able to get started until later this week or next week. Julie has a nice picture of the postcards I have sent on her blog. She also made one block already. I need to get busy, and will soon.
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I worked really hard over the past weekend to get this quilt pieced and off the design wall. I didn’t succeed, but made good progress.
As I worked on this quilt, I realized that I was more interested in working with Victoria Findlay Wolfe than this actual quilt. I will finish it — I am excited about getting this quilt off my UFO list, but I am not excited about the project in general.
There are some things I like about it. I like practicing curves and I am enjoying the pinks.
I started another quilt (stay tuned for photos) as leaders and enders about which I am much more excited and I am eager to get busy with that one.
I have made a few more blocks. I don’t want to lay the quilt out symmetrically like in the class handouts. I want the eye to follow the lines around the quilt and find some surprises. For now, the surprises will be the Pie blocks placed strategically around the quilt.
Pies & Points blocks -problem
I don’t know if that idea will work. As you can see from the arrow, the blocks to do not fit together in all directions.
It isn’t that I couldn’t piece those pieces together and I may still do that. I want to consider all my options. This is one of those design challenges.
These quilts are all made from the edges that are cut off of other quilts as they are being squared up. Sometimes I make the backs larger than needed so I get some large-ish pieces back. Those pieces are hard to store, so making some donation quilts out of them is a good idea.
Ends (n.1) – see more information – this is the top that started it all!
You could also put scraps together into strips, add some background and make one of these. These are very improv-y and there isn’t a pattern. It is a good way to do something good with fabrics I wouldn’t otherwise use.
I don’t think this is my best work. there are a lot of disparate elements. Somehow it works. It kind of looks like buildings surrounding a park to me.
I struggled with this piece, because of the green and orange. I don’t sincerely dislike green, but I don’t make it a main color in any of my quilts except the Improv Color quilts. I also like orange, but somehow this was a struggle on which to work.
Tim’s Improv Donation Back
The back went relatively fast. I took both pieces to Sew Day and gave them to Peggy and the team for quilting.
I talked about one of the Triple Play Missouri Star videos in a recent Various & Sundry post. In this video, Jenny, Natalie and Misty take the same block pattern and make different quilts. I really liked what Natalie did with her version and I decided to try it out myself.
I thought it would be a quick test. Then I thought that I know how those quick “tests” go and started surfing around the Internet for fabric, thinking I would make an entire quilt. Fortunately, I got myself under control and decided to make one block with the True Kisses fabric I have and go from there. Cotton Cure still has packs of yardage.
I stopped and started the video as I followed along with the Missouri Star directions. Unlike other shows, Jenny and the gang tell viewers what sizes to cut, show you how to sew and press so you can follow along and make the block or quilt just from watching a free video. I like this about them.
Double Missouri Star center
The Missouri Star is a block they use for their logo. In this video they redid it. Jenny shrank the block and made a quilt from smaller versions. This version provided the directions for the center of Natalie’s block (above).
I didn’t choose good fabrics from the True Kisses line. There wasn’t enough contrast in the legs. Unfortunately I succumbed to the lure of those fabrics and the desire to just make something.
Trimming alternative
In the video, they show how to use the Clearly Perfect Trimmer**. I didn’t have that ruler so I tried their alternative method of using a regular ruler and it absolutely didn’t work. I should have saved myself the trouble and just squared up the various pieces the normal way.
My pieces were all the wrong size. Since I followed the Missouri Star method for making HSTs, all of my edges were on the bias. The small center block looked awful. I took the whole block apart, trimmed and put it back together again. I was reminded of how bias can work against me. I also think I didn’t completely understand the alternative method of trimming.
Using the Clearly Perfect Trimmer
I did end buying the Clearly Perfect Trimmer**. I had never heard of this ruler and I was curious to try it out. I can’t really tell if it was any better than trimming the regular way. The one difference was that you only make two cuts vs making two cuts, turning your piece and making two more cuts.
I haven’t read all of the directions for this set of rulers, but I am interested in learning how to use more of its capabilities.
Despite all of the ripping, I am pretty pleased with the way the block came out. I won’t be making a whole quilt, however.
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I have a new, year long work contract that is going to be taking a lot of my time. Between the time I found out and the day I started, I had about two weeks where I finished other projects, sewed like a demon and saw friends. Fortunately, the COVID cases were down enough and we were all vaccinated, so I felt comfortable going to people’s houses. One thing I did was have a mini Sew Day with Gerre. Mostly we talk and eat, but this time we sewed quite a bit as well. Our last Sew Day was too long ago.
Finished Gelato at Gerre’s
I took my batch of Gelato strips to Gerre’s house and worked on sewing them together. The numbered pins really helped. In a flash, I was able to finish it. I think chatting and sewing made the project go faster.
Gerre held it up for me so I could take a photo. I was pleased to see that in different light and against a dark background, the quilt still glowed.
Gerre worked on her Ring quilt and was able to finish the top.
We had Thai food, which I like and don’t get a chance to eat very often.
