I have finished the Ta Dots and Stripes top and back. It came out better than expected, though it is still chaotic.
I took it to Colleen for quilting on Friday and can’t wait to see it finished.
Ta Dots and Stripes Top Finished
Tag: Piecing
Planned Improv Top
The top is finished. It came out to be about 60″ x 84″, which I think is a great size. No, it isn’t bed sized, but it will be a good couch, snuggle quilt.
I cut the border pieces to fit each block and sewed them on to the blocks, then sewed the blocks to each other. It was pretty easy to match up the seams using this modified ‘chunking‘ method. It is somewhat scrappy within both colors – interesting, but not psychedelic.
On to the back
Planned Improv Block n.6
This is the last block before I put the quilt together. As with the others, I like the way it came out. I think I might like to consider making a whole quilt using Sarah’s technique, eg cutting much larger pieces, arranging them, calculating the background and then sewing the whole quilt together. I could possibly use this technique with the FOTY patches, though it might not be necessary.
Planned Improv Block n.5
Block 5 is complete and n.6 is in process.
I think I will make 6 total. They are 24″ blocks, so the 6 will make a large lap quilt.
Ta Dots and Stripes
I made a list of projects I had in process in my journal and found a lot. Seeing them on paper seemed to galvanize me in a way that seeing them here did not. I like having them here as it makes me accountable, but the combination of paper and bytes works for me.
One problem has been that I have had my design wall set up since last January. I have been using my small design wall, but really need a larger one. I have been hoping to sell the Pind Design wall (you know you want it!), but no luck so far. I finally spent time on New Year’s Day setting it up.
For whatever reason, the first project I put up was the Ta Dots and Stripes quilt. Yes, that is the new name.
I started working on it as a donation quilt using the Leaders and Enders method while I worked on the Planned Improv blocks. I made some progress, but it is easy to get confused about where what goes.
I found some more dots and decided to make another row of HSTs, so I prepared them at Sew Day and sewed them when I got home. It will make the quilt a little larger.
I thought the quilt would be a donation quilt, but after I sewed a number of the sections together, I think it will become a Niece-phew quilt for one of the nephews.
Planned Improv Block n.4
I am working very hard on this piece as I don’t want it to get stale. Block number four is another winner.
Planned Improv Block n.3
I have immersed myself over the past couple of weeks in the Planned Improv process. I finished block 3 a few days ago and am pleased with how it came out.
Planned Improv Block n.2
I decided to start on a new Planned Improv (from the Sarah Goer class) block to work on in between the gifts and Christmas stuff I had to make. I put the first block on the design wall and started with the same idea.
My first iteration was ok.
As I worked on it, I looked at the balance of shape, size of blocks and color of red.
Some problems I am running into are:
- not enough choices of squares. The solution is that I need to cut more squares in different sizes.
- Impatience. I need to slow down and look at my piece and add squares until I get something good.
- Running out of background options. I don’t mean I don’t have enough squares cut; i mean that I don’t have very much dark grey yardage. I don’t think I really want to buy more, but I also want some variety, so I may need to buy more.
I am sewing my final design together and I am pleased with it. The only thing that I need to worry about are partial seams. There are a lot of them in this block. I am not scared of partial seams and have a tutorial for those of you who haven’t done them, but they make me sigh. I just wasn’t thinking when I decided on the final layout. Oh well.
En Provence Top: Finished
Nobody died.
I have just been really busy and haven’t taken the time to post. It is that time of year and my evenings have been spent writing Christmas cards.
The En Provence Mystery Quilt top is finished. I finished it last weekend, I think, and I am pleased with the way it turned out.
You can only see part of it as I only had one quilt holder available. I hope to get a better shot before I send it off to its new home.
En Provence Almost the end
I made a lot of progress on the En Provence quilt and it is nearing the conclusion.
I started out Saturday afternoon sewing the two halves of the top together. Then I laid out the quilt to see where I was. It was really great to see almost the whole quilt laid out. I think it looks really great.
After seeing the quilt so close to completion, I was on fire to sew the last 4 rows. I took everything back upstairs and laid on that bottom corner on my design wall. I didn’t have much more time to do that on Saturday and no time to sew.
Laying out the last corner was huge, though. I found I was missing a couple of Peaky & Spike blocks, so I had to cut some fabric to finish those. It was good, though, because I could switch out some of the Peaky & Spike blocks that I hadn’t yet sewn.
After we came back from a NSGW event on Sunday afternoon, I put the pedal to the metal on my sewing machine and sewed 3 rows. I know there are only 3 blocks left in each row, but there is still a lot of piecing. I also have to add the border and that makes some of the blocks larger, thus more time consuming to sew.
I ended up with what I thought was 3 good rows.
Standing back really helps and I found a mistake. I stopped after the mistake block. It was really too late for me to be sewing anyway and I’d already had to rip out two sections of that block.
Except for the two pieces, I am pleased with how this quilt came out. It is not insane like Grand Illusion, but it was complex enough to keep me interested and interesting enough to want to continue to look at it.
I’ll fix it next time….whenever that is.
Final Weekend En Provence Progress
I added “Piecing” to the hashtags for this post. Immediately my mind revised that as ‘interminable piecing’. I don’t really feel tired of this project, but there are a LOT of seams and I am ready for this top to be finished. Good thing I made significant progress over the weekend.
The upper right hand corner is finished and this means that I have 4 rows of 3 blocks to finish. If I had 4 days free, I could finish the top by the weekend.
I have been sewing the border on as I go along. Using the ‘self-bordering’ technique makes the border much more precise in terms of matching seams. You also don’t have long seams to sew (and match) or borders to add once the center is done. I use this technique as much as possible. It makes my life so much better.
Thanksgiving Weekend En Provence Progress
We had 24 people over for Thanksgiving, so there was no sewing Monday through Thursday while Thanksgiving prep was taking place. I was also working. I did, however, make some good progress over the weekend.
I spent most of the day on Friday sewing. I even declined to watch a movie with the boys in order to sew. They needed some alone time anyway. More than half of En Provence is pieced and I am working on the upper right corner.
I got up and set about sewing pretty soon after that. I usually go for a walk before I sew to get it out of the way, but needed more resting time before I did that. The first thing I worked on was finishing the last/top row of the left hand side.
After coming back from my walk, I laid out the upper right hand side and started piecing. I was able to finish sewing a row and a half of that quarter. I would love to finish this weekend, but doubt that will happen. Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery Quilts require a lot of piecing, which is what makes them such great scrap quilts. Still, I have to sew a lot of short seams and there are a lot more to sew.
Color My Quilt-November
I started my contribution to the November Color My Quilt project for Melinda pretty soon after the October meeting. I meant to do more, but I just ran out of time.
Again, I used all scraps and did some Improv piecing. I was a little mean, but I couldn’t cut off that curve. It was part of the scrap that I used and I liked it. I am sure it will get cut off in the final piece, but perhaps Melinda will keep it.
The pieces have a fall-ish look, but are also bright.
The shards made hung together surprisingly well. I think the colors Melinda wanted were clearly defined and easy to use. There were lots of blocks this time, which made me happy. Someone made a block using the method from Sarah Goer‘s class.
More En Provence
I started out late on Sunday with the piece above. I had finished chopping about a million ingredients for various Thanksgiving dishes and was delighted to find that I had some time to sew.
I had sewn most of the last row together, but had a few more seams, so I put those together and found, suddenly that I was able to layout the last row on the left half of this top. Shocking! I thought I had miles together.
I really don’t know why I keep being surprised by this quilt – how much I have sewn, how much I have left, how well it looks. Perhaps I should call it En Provence Surprise?
I had to fold down the piece before I could layout the top row. I could have reached, but why? It would have been a stretch every time I sewed two pieces together or checked the pressing. I wasn’t up for it.
It is extremely gratifying to see the top row even if it is just laid out and not sewn yet.
Triple Star is at a stopping point until I lay it out and decide on a final design, so I used donation blocks as leaders and enders. I finished 2.5, which isn’t shabby.
I know it is all En Provence All the Time on the blog these days. It is what I am working on except for gifts, which I am not working on enough and can’t show at the moment any way. You’ll have to bear with me for the time being.
Sticking It All Together
I counted up blocks and rows and units again and found that I am farther along than I thought. It all started when I noticed that I was getting very short of the quarter triangle units. I carefully counted and found that I only have to piece two more rows on the top to finish one whole half of the quilt.
Or so I thought.
Really, I have to piece two blocks top to bottom for the right side. I was shocked that I had so little left to do. I had been sure that I had an equal number of blocks to piece for the right side as I had on the left. I don’t know how I got so turned around, but this is great news! I thought I would never finish piecing this quilt. Yet, I had already done so much.
As a treat, I decided to see how the piece would look once it was stuck together. Sort of.
I put two images together. There are slight differences in lighting, and the bottom is folded up, but you still get the idea. I am thrilled.
I saw another version of the pattern on Instagram. It is by Sylvia, Sommerschiebe. I love how round this circles ended up.