Tag: Piecing

FOTY 2015 Nearing the Finish Line

FOTY 2015 - pre-Grand Parlor Progress
FOTY 2015 – pre-Grand Parlor Progress

I finally got my ducks in a row and got back to piecing/chunking Fabric of the Year 2015. The last time we talked, the piece was in about 9 sections and I was facing some serious partial seaming (left).

After taking the 9k to the repair person (look for a post on that soon), I did a bunch of work and decided to take some time and work on this piece. I could sew a few seams, avoid the partial seaming until the last second and make some progress.

FOTY 2015 - nearing the end
FOTY 2015 – nearing the end

It was great! I have about 2/3ds of the top piece and nobody died. I didn’t have to rip much and the piece looks great!

I was so pleased at how the partial seaming went. It went as planned and looks normal. No puckers or pleats. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. I didn’t learn partial seaming in any class. I watched Eleanor Burns do it on TV and went from there. (I know I have to get the lesson ready for the Sampler class. Have no fear! In the near future, I will make sure you and Frances know what I know.)

Partial Seams - Nice and Flat
Partial Seams – Nice and Flat
FOTY 2015 - Partial Seaming Required
FOTY 2015 – Partial Seaming Required

Of course the hard part of the partial seaming comes next. I can’t sew anymore “large” chunks together because of the blue section, which requires some fancy footwork (or hand as the case may be). I was called away before I could get started and keep looking at the blue section wondering which seam will go next. I think the key will be to just pick a section and go for it. I am also convinced that a bolt of lightning will hit me and I will think, “why didn’t I think of doing that section?”, then the whole last third will come together and I will be finished.

Until the bolt, however, I think the key will be to just pick one and go for it. Ripping might come up, but that won’t kill me.

More Peacocks

In between sewing FOTY together, I sewed more Peacock blocks. I think the pieces are breeding in my fabric closet. I found more pieces for the large blocks and a ton more of the small pieces. I must have been tired to think I was done.

Peacock blocks, batch #2
Peacock blocks, batch #2

Again, in between sewing together FOTY 2015, I sewed Peacock blocks. This batch contains some of the ugly stepchildren. Some are cool. Some will be a challenge to incorporate.

Swirly mini-Peacock
Swirly mini-Peacock

There are a few that I really like. This one looks like draped fabric is at the bottom.

That weird white spot is actually the head of a flower pin. I have not sewn these blocks into hexagons, so that they can be sewed together in rows later and I will avoid the Y Seams. In the meantime, I have used pins to keep the two halves together.

Flower featured Peacock block
Flower featured Peacock block

Another one I like has some of the flowers featured in the center. The blue and green swirls also look like they are pointing to the flowers or curling around the flowers. Such a cool effect.

I just noticed that it was about a year ago that I bought the panels.

If you want more information about this project and my thoughts look through the posts.

EPP New Sections

I know the last time I talked about this piece was back in February. I have sort of been working on it, though there have been long stretches where I have not worked on it. I got a little fed up because sewing big sections to the big main piece is really a pain and I didn’t want to do it. It made me think twice about La Passacaglia, but that is a tale for another day.

EPP April 2016
EPP April 2016

Finally, I put a new section on and it is looking good. A little boring and staid, but good.

I am going to try to put one or two stars on the main piece instead of larger secondary pieces. It means more handling of the large piece, but perhaps the duration of dealing with the main section will be less.

FOTY 2015 – Still Chunking

FOTY 2015 - big chunks
FOTY 2015 – big chunks

I made some progress on getting FOTY 2015 sewn together.

I have big chunks, so ~6 seams and I am done.

Sort of.

I have some problem areas that need partial seams or something. I haven’t quite figured it out yet. Partial seams is the best I can do now, but how is the challenge.

Light area problem child
Light area problem child

Problem area #1

I think you will have to enlarge the photo (there still may be a problem with enlarging the photos. Sorry, if that is the case; I am working on it) to see that yellow that lines up nicely with the top chunk.

It doesn’t line up with the bottom chunk.

Blue area problem child
Blue area problem child

Blue Area Problem child #2

This area is a little more difficult. There are more pieces that are problematic and there are more of them.

None of this is mission critical. I will get through it and it won’t be a huge drama. It feels dramatic at this moment. Tomorrow is a new day and things will look different.

Fabric of the Year – Chunking

FOTY 2015 - Chunking
FOTY 2015 – Chunking

I blew through the layout stage and am on to piecing.

Well, relatively anyway.

I gave myself a certain amount of time to do the layout. The time period was about two weeks and during that time, I didn’t take my cutting table or other in-process projects out of the fabric closet. I only allowed myself to work on other projects as leaders and enders and focused on getting this laid out.

This year’s piece was harder to arrange, because the fabrics I used were really different colors than each other. I am not sure why, because individually they don’t look different. The differences in each hue don’t really show up until you put two oranges or pinks next to each other and try and decide which has a lighter and which has a darker value. It is very strange. If I had thought of it I would have kept track of manufacturers and designers to see if I bought different ones this year than last year. I didn’t know that this would happen. It would have also meant that I would have had to keep track last year as well. More data would be needed.

The too-small design wall was a real problem this year, I think. I did not cut the patches down to accommodate the design wall as I did last year. I just crammed them all on the wall. That means that I found some places where I was short. You can see some white spaces on the bottom (near right hand corner). This problem showed up when some of the fabric was taken up by seam allowances and I was able to line patches up more evenly. I have to rummage through my leftover pieces and find some to fill in.

Most of the piece has been sewn into chunks. The chunks are not even because I had some rectangles arranged horizontally and some arranged vertically. With the squares it made for interesting piecing.

The difficulty was what it was and I got the feeling that it was done at some point and started sewing. I talked a little about the sewing when I posted about the Peacock. It is all about leaders and enders, because I only want two unsewn patches off the wall at a time to ensure the piece stays laid out the way I intended.

You can find out more about the FOTY quilts on the series page.

Stepping Stones 2 Returns

As I said the other day in the latest donation blocks post, laying out FOTY 2015 doesn’t make for a lot of tangible production. While I enjoyed making the donation blocks, I did need a little variety and the Stepping Stones parts were handy.

Four Stepping Stones blocks - April 2016
Four Stepping Stones blocks – April 2016

I enjoy these blocks and seeing the way they will be laid out makes me very happy. Turning each on a little bit makes a huge difference.

Even though I may need the squares for the layout of the Carpenter’s Wheel blocks, I have used some of the low volume prints for the white space in these blocks. I have plenty of fabric for the [mythical] Carpenter’s Wheel layout and can always cut more.

6 Stepping Stones blocks - April 2016
6 Stepping Stones blocks – April 2016

Making a few blocks always leads to making more and the six shown give an idea of what the quilt will look like and makes me want to make more.

Based on the layout I devised for my nephew’s Stepping Stones quilt, it looks like I will only need two more blocks and then border blocks for the width. I thought I measured 8 blocks across my bed, which doesn’t account for border blocks. I want to make the border blocks to finish the design.  There are two blocks around the whole edge of the previous SS quilt and I could eliminate those if I thought the width was too big. Measuring next, I think.

I am really pleased with how the blocks look. Now to get FOTY 2015 off the wall so I can layout all the blocks I have and see what I am facing. After months of feeling meh about quiltmaking, I am finally excited about several projects! Yay!

Peacock Quilt Progress

As I work on FOTY 2015, I also have to work on another project in between each two patches that I sew. I sew two patches from FOTY rows with two patches from something else. This helps me keep the FOTY pieces in order. If I get too many of them off the wall at once, the order is mixed up and all the work of laying them out is for naught. Of course, even having just two patches off the wall does not guarantee that they won’t get out of order, but I do my best and some ripping does come into play.

As you know I have been using donation blocks and the Stepping Stones blocks (look for a post soon) as leaders and enders. I got a little tired of the donation blocks and ran out of HSTs for the Stepping Stones, so I turned to the Peacock blocks.

I thought I thought I still had a gazillion seams left to finish the blocks, but since I hadn’t worked on it in over a month, I couldn’t really remember and just focused on getting the gazillion down to a billion. 😉

Last of the Big Peacocks
Last of the Big Peacocks

Amazingly, I really didn’t have that many blocks left to sew and I finished sewing the large blocks yesterday. Above there are 21 “big peacocks” and that is all of them. With the blocks I made last time, I have about 60 “big peacock” blocks.

Baby Peacock
Baby Peacock

This does not account for the smaller blocks, which I cut from a smaller strip and will see about using in some way. I have more of those to sew, but will do that when I sew the rest of the FOTY 2015 together. It will be nice to be able to leap into laying out another quilt right away.

At least I think it will be nice. It might be too much after the work on FOTY, but at least the blocks will be ready when I am.

Visiting with Improv

Improv Round Robin - March 2016
Improv Round Robin – March 2016

I got a brief glance at my Improv Round Robin piece before Ruth whisked it away to work on.

More of the Philip Jacobs print is showing up and that is creating some interesting results. I do think the piece needs more space, so I will add more solid or, perhaps, someone working on it will add more solid.

Carpenter’s Wheel #10

Carpenter's Wheel #10
Carpenter’s Wheel #10

I made more progress on the Carpenter’s Wheel project over the weekend. I worked on this one in between working on the Cutting Corners donation top. I put in some newer fabrics and that makes me very happy. I am totally in love with that flower print I used for the center. It is by Studio E and that blue is fantastic! Especially since it is not turquoise. 😉

Now I have a dilemma. I now have 10 blocks. That is a very awkward number with which to lay out a quilt. I am going to look at the blocks and see if I can eek out two more unique layouts. If not, I may make two more of my favorites. I will also try to lay the blocks out in different ways to see if there is an interesting layout which will work for this piece.

Peacock Blocks

The change to Daylight Saving Time is a nightmare. What a dumb idea or an idea whose time has passed. I changed the clock by my bed the night before so when I woke up, I saw that it was already later than usual. For some reason I felt awful. It might have been the dread of knowing that I had lost an hour. I got up and got some caffeine and went up to my workroom.

I needed to just sew, so I looked at the projects I had that were at the rote sewing stage. After a very short deliberation, I pulled out the Peacock blocks and started sewing.

Peacock Blocks
Peacock Blocks

I don’t remember how many sets I cut up at the Retreat, but the prep I did there allowed me to just sew pieces and parts together. I now have about 40 blocks. When I say blocks, I mean two halves of blocks because I can’t sew the pieces of the blocks together until I lay out the entire quilt. Once I lay it out, I will sew it together in rows.

It was great to just sew. I only had to sew straight seams. I didn’t have to make a lot of decisions beyond how to press the seams and the stack of blocks got bigger and bigger.

I wanted to do more, but don’t I always? That was the kind of sewing that I needed. I finally feel like I am making progress.

Carpenter’s Wheel #8

Carpenter's Wheel #8
Carpenter’s Wheel #8

I finally finished another Carpenter’s Wheel block. As I have said there is a lot going on and focus is difficult. Looking back, I found that I posted #7 on March 1 even though March 1 seems like a long time ago from where I am sitting now.

I am pretty pleased with how it came out. Since I have so many blocks, I do think a quilt is in the offing. I have been thinking of layouts and was thinking of something asymmetrical after attending QuiltCon.

8 Carpenter's Wheels
8 Carpenter’s Wheels

However, I put them up on my design wall and really like them jammed together. There is something about them together that looks interesting.

Carpenter’s Wheel #7

Carpenter's Wheel #7
Carpenter’s Wheel #7

Yes, this is block #7 of the ‘test’ blocks. Apparently, I have a lot of testing in me and can’t stop.

I think that I am making a quilt. I can’t imagine piecing all of these pieces and then giving the blocks away or something. I guess I am making a quilt.

The patches for this particular block were on the wall for a long time. Some of it was that I was away from my machine for various travel and some of it was that I was sewing other things when I did have time. I fiddled with the layout quite a bit until I decided to go with what I had and began sewing.

There are colors, and similar colors that are near each other in this version. I decided to be ok with that. There are no hues that look so much alike as to muck up the design. In the grand scheme, I think it will be great.

I washed a bunch of low volume prints and am ready to lay out the next block.

Flowerburst

You might remember the review I wrote on Kathy Doughty’s Adding Layers book. After I wrote that review, I decided that I would make the Super Nova pattern included in the book. I wanted to make something fast and the pieces were big, so I thought it would be a quick top.

Bleah.

Flowerburst
Flowerburst

I had to rip out almost every seam at least once. It was so frustrating. After a break because of travel and Quiltcon, my quilting muscle definitely needed a workout. I got back to it and finished the top yesterday.

The back is still to come, but I am glad I am back on the sewing bandwagon.

The other problem is that we can’t take photos of large quilts without the YM anymore and I make large quilts. That is what I do. This time we tried doing it with blue tape holding up one side and DH holding the other. It was ok, but without the Young Man, we really don’t have enough wingspan to photograph large quilts.