I finally finished the square blocks for Scrapitude. The above photo shows a sample if the two kinds of blocks required for the project. I still have some pressing to do to completely finish this part.
I worked on them on and off using Bonnie Hunter’s leaders and enders method while I worked on other projects over the past few days.
There is quite a bit of pink, which is a little worrisome. I hope it work out.
I didn’t sew on Scrapitude during the Black Friday sew-in, but I did cut. As you know, my original plan was to cut as needed. I wanted to see what would look good. Really, I wanted to exert some control over the process.
It was hard to move through the clues without having cut in advance. I don’t like to cut a lot at once, but I buckled down last Saturday and Sunday and spent a few hours cutting.
Scrapitude Background Squares
Scrapitude Background Stripes
I was able to finish cutting the 2 7/8″ squares, the 2.5″x12.5″ strips (probably for sashing) and the 5.25″ squares. All of the above were from background and most of it I had to cut from yardage, though I did have some small enough pieces for the smaller cuts.
Scrapitude Foreground Squares
I also was able to finish cutting 2 7/8″ squares from foreground fabric. I rummaged again through my scraps to find large enough pieces that were cheerful enough.
Since I wasn’t limited to the dots on white, like I am for the background, find the right sizes was easier.
There are some really bright and loud looking pieces, but I think it will work out in the end.
I did pick and choose so I had a variety of colors. I think I was able to use all scraps for the foreground.
I didn’t, yet, do all the cutting as instructed in the first clue, partially because I wanted to see if I could find a better way, more preferred way to cut. I also didn’t want to delve into my stash completely yet. I still wanted to try and use as many scraps from my scrap bin as possible. Some of the drawers are getting pretty full.
EZ Companion Angle Ruler
In order to cut from my scrap bin, I had to be able to cut from smaller scraps. I don’t have a lot of 5.25″ scraps laying around. It occurred to me, as I was thinking through this process, that I had a ruler that would make cutting the quarter square triangles a bit easier. I found the EZ Triangle Companion Ruler (I think I bought this for the Easy Street Mystery quilt) and the Fons & Porter Half & Quarter Triangle Rulers. Neither had been opened (ooops!), so I examined them and, for no particular reason, chose the Fons & Porter to try first.
I cut one 5.25″ square the way Charlotte suggested so I had a sample. I used that to determine the size I needed to to cut using the HST/QST ruler. The directions on the Fons & Porter ruler tell you to cut a strip size of 2.5″ to get the size QSTs I needed. This cut off the tip of the triangle at the top (see that tiny black triangle at the tip of the ruler in the photo below?). I wasn’t sure why I would want to cut off the tip since it didn’t create the bunny ears. This made me wonder if that ruler would work. I didn’t want a hole at the point where those triangles intersected with other piecing. Nobody was around to answer on Twitter, so I cut the strips 2.75″ and used that dimension as a guide for cutting additional triangles.
“Strips” is a bit of an exaggeration as I was using scraps. I tried to find scraps that were at least 2.75″ wide.
Fons & Porter Half/Quarter Square Triangle Ruler
Using this ruler took a lot longer than cutting already cut 5.25″ squares into quarters would, but I was able to use a nice variety of fabrics and I was able to clear out my scrap bin a little more.
I found that I had to have a nice straight cut line on which to line the correct cutting line.
One confusing thing, which I have found with other rulers, is where to put the fabric under the ruler. Some of the lines, including the one I needed to use, were quite thick. Do I line the ruler on top of the fabric with the bottom of the thick line even with the cut line? Or something else?
I just decided to be consistent. I can always trim.
If you haven’t done the triangle step of Scrapitude, I hope you’ll try using one of these rulers to vary your fabric selection.
I thought I would have been able to choose a background from the previous post, but it wasn’t to be. It occurred to me to think about what I wanted. I do want the background to be a player. I don’t want it to just fade into the background, so to speak. I also don’t want it to overshadow the foreground fabrics.
So, I spent some time on Sunday pressing greys and trying different greys with my octagons. It meant that I didn’t sew, but it also meant that I was carefully and deliberately engaging in the process.
Grey Batik
Above is a batik that I bought at The Granary. It has a bit of blue in it. I thought it wouldn’t work, but I do like it. It gives movement to the background. The dark grey bits remind me of swirling fog.
Grey Batik
It isn’t directional, which is a bonus. The blue doesn’t show up very well in the photos.
New Wave
This background goes with the blue flower in the upper left of the photo above. It is from the same line. I may even have bought it at the same time. It is a true background, in the sense of it doesn’t add anything.
New Wave
Again, has a directionality, but I wouldn’t say it is directional — or the directionality wouldn’t look weird if the pieces were cut different ways.
Grey Dot
Dots are always a safe bet. This dot is the right size not to interfere with the other dots, even the red ones.
Grey Dot detail
Not directional.
Angela Walter fabrics
I am not sure why I bought the amount (2-3 yards) of this. I think I was expecting the color to be a little different. Since I was pressing greys anyway, I decided to press this, but I don’t think it is appropriate for the project.
Angela Walter fabrics
Very directional. I don’t want to worry about the way I cut so that the lines of dots lined up. I am not sure I would want to worry about that.
Pearl Bracelets Grey
Lots of movement. If the pearl bracelets don’t interfere with the foreground, then the fabric adds a lot of movement. I would err on the side of this being too busy for the piece, which is a little busy anyway.
Pearl Bracelets Grey detail
Not really directional. I only have a yard of this and would have to buy more.
Ta Dot Grey
I have a boatload of this fabric, because it is a good background and I had the foresight to buy plenty.
Ta Dot Grey detail
Not directional.
Between the the choices above and the previous choices, I think my favorites are below:
Grey BatikGrey DotP&B Happy Go Lucky Grey
Of the three above, I think the batik is the most likely. I don’t have enough of the Happy Go Lucky, and can’t get anymore so that doesn’t seem to be a real option.
The grey dot is perfectly fine, but doesn’t really add anything to the piece. If I decide I don’t want to add the movement I discussed above, then that fabric would be a good option.
That leaves the batik.
My SIL commented that I only showed the light blue on one of the backgrounds. This time, I used the same octagons for all the different backgrounds. I did rearrange them, however.
I spent the day Saturday doing laundry and working on four patches. I had really looked forward to a day in my workroom and, while I got that, I felt out of sorts. I am not sure why, but it just wasn’t the relaxing sew day I thought it would be. I sewed, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as normal.
112 Four Patches
Still, I made progress. I finished the 112 four patches that were part of the first sewing step in Charlotte’s Mystery quilt. I had started them last week or the week before, so about half of the halves were sewn. I needed to do the rest and I had to cut enough pieces to make them.I alternated cutting and sewing. It works better for me.
I have to figure out how and where to store these. I don’t have a good sense of when the next step will happen.
Example Four Patches
As you can see, my background fabric is dots. I figured I would use some of the dots I have been collecting sinc they are just sitting there waiting for a project. As I mentioned, I had to cut much of the background from yardage. I rummaged through my scrap bins as much as possible. Now, I am pretty much left with weird shapes and smaller than 2.5″ squares in many of the colors.
I have to say that part way through making the 4 patches, I was ready to make some larger blocks and see where I was going. I got a little sick of 4 patches, which is sad, because I really adore the simplicity of four patches. There is a lot one can make with a four patch as a base. I think part of what is going on is that I am not organized in my sewing room right now. I don’t have a good handle on the projects I have going. I know what they are, but I don’t have the steps in my head.
If you haven’t been following along, I went down to SoCal for a week and that trip, along with problems with my machine, kind of ruined my flow. I’ll get back into it; it is tough, though. Learn from me: sew or pet fabric every day.
Since I finished the 25 4 patches already as well, I think I am ready for the next step. I don’t see it posted on Sandy’s blog, so I guess I’ll get back to some cutting, of which there is plenty left to do.
Why Should You Care: You can see that it is possible to get work done even if your machine is out of commission and you have a loaner. You can also see that it is possible to create some organization, even in a scrappy quilt.
I succumbed to the Siren call of the mystery quilt. Just like Jason and the Argonauts or Odysseus or the sailors passing Die Lorelei, I couldn’t resist their call and am working on the Scrapitude Mystery Quilt.
The Scrapitude Mystery Quilt was created by Sandy’s friend charlotte after the ladies in their guild begged. Sandy put out the [Siren] call and many of The Twilters joined in. I found an already cut batch of 2.5″ squares, so I joined as well. Lame reasoning, I have to say, because there are a whole bunch of other shapes I need to cut as well.
Scrapitude First 4 Patches
It turned out to be good, though, because I needed something easy where I could accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.
I only had about 3 hours to sew yesterday and was able to finish 25 four patches and make a huge dent in the 112 I still need to make.
One of the first sewing directions was to make 25 four patches out of the foreground fabric (e.g. not the background). I found a container of 2.5 squares I had cut sometime ago and started out with those. I was able to make good progress and finish the first 25 pretty quickly.
2.5″ Squares
The next 112 would be a little harder and I knew that before even starting the sewing. Part of the difficulty was that I hadn’t, yet, picked a background. Fortunately there were enough dots with white backgrounds already cut to sell me on the idea of dots as a background. I toyed with the idea of blacks on whites, but went with the dots. There aren’t enough dots in my life ever. 😉
There were a lot of orange squares in the container, so, periodically, I rummaged through my scrap bins and cut some other colors. A lot of what I was cutting were greens. It is fun delving into my scrap bin. First, I use up scraps, which is always a bonus. Second, I enjoyed thinking about the fabrics through which I was rummaging and the original projects for which they were used. I found a lot of Philip Jacobs prints and joyfully cut those up to use.
112 4 Patches in Progress
Now I have about half of the 112 finished. I have had to use some yardage for the background, but I have plenty of dots, so it is ok.
Sandy has a tutorial on her blog on making 4-patches. Nonnie pointed out a very interesting 4-patch tutorial on the NZ blog, Bee in my Bonnet. I have not tried this tutorial and she doesn’t give sizes, so I don’t know how it works. It looks cool, though.
Why Should You Care: Perhaps you want to join in or use the directions for an activity for your guild?
The last time I seemed to have written about this Flower Sugar Hexagon project was way back in 2011. I didn’t think that much time had flown by, but Pam has made two hexagons, so I guess it has.
My design walls have been empty for several weeks while I work on small projects; the 3D items not needing much design wall space. I also love piecing so much that I didn’t want to be tempted away from the small projects that have been on my list for awhile.
My mom came over for a visit with the Young Man after being on vacation and down with Grama for several weeks. When I arrived home from work she told me that she had raced upstairs to see what was on the design wall and was so disappointed to see NOTHING. She looked a little worried as well. I felt bad.
This hexie project has been on my mind and it occurred to me that I could put it up on the design wall and see what I saw.
The only other photos I have of this quilt is laying on the floor. Laying on the floor is different, for me, than hanging on the wall. I seem to be able to see so much more when pieces are vertical. It must be the perspective or the angle.
I found the piece and put it up on the portable design wall. Looking at it after not having seen it for awhile, I noticed some interesting things:
My balance of different fabrics is pretty good.
The piece is tiny. It is less than half the size of the Swoon. I have a lot of hexies to cut
This piece does cheer up the room.
As I said in one of the previous posts,Adrianne of Little Bluebell, introduced me to the cutting technique I used for these hexies. You can find the cutting instructions on her blog.
I hope I won’t think too much about sewing more pieces together. I still need to work on small projects.
That means that the T-shirt quilt has be OFF the design wall. I am not folding it up and putting back in the UFO area. It has to be ready to go to the quilter. And THAT means that I have to work on it.
Thin borders take forever to build
So, I am working on the border. The green border is made up of 1″ wide strips, alternating green and black, of varying lengths. which is very thin.
Thin=tricky. Tricky because when chain piecing or sewing using the leaders/enders technique, there isn’t enough thread between the pieces to help keep them from unravelling. At 1″ wide, there are only a few stitches to hold the black and green pieces together. Not chain piecing feels awkward and wasteful. Thus, the strips are very fragile. I pulled several apart as I was sewing them to the larger quilt. Of course, I fixed them, but what a pain. I could have solved the problem by back stitching at the beginning and the end of each border piece, but that would have been tedious, too.
Why put up the with drama, you ask?
Once completed, the border is very effective. The border is intended to “float” in larger borders on either side. You can see the floating effect in the photo above. In this case, the two thin green & black borders will “float” in the grey. Such a border adds interest to the quilt as well
It is, however, really a pain to make. Did I mention that the strips are 1″ wide?
I am pretty sure you will sincerely dislike me when I say this, but I am going to say it anyway. Thin borders need tightly woven fabric.
Yes, thin borders need tightly woven fabric.
Why?
Some fabrics tend to unravel and some of the fabrics I am using seem to be unraveling more than others. The Modas are particularly bad in this area. You may love the Moda designs, pre-cuts and designers, but their fabrics are somewhat loosely woven, which means that they tend to ravel.
If you have a 6″ square and one thread frays off the edge, who cares? It won’t matter, because you can easily account for it. With a 1″ strip one thread fraying can make a difference in how straight the border is. I could have used Fray Check, but didn’t think of it.
Tightly woven fabric tends to fray less and, thus, be easier to use when working with thin pieces. Kona cottons seem to be tightly woven as do a lot of hand dyed fabrics. It is pretty easy to tell tightly woven fabric, because it isn’t as easy to see through.
I have only a bit to go to finish the top, then on to the label and the giant border. Wish me luck.
I worked on the border for the t-shirt quilt on Sunday. I have about 8 really long seams left before I can start on the back of this quilt. I really dislike long seams so putting the borders of this quilt together is some kind of torture.
The Young Man designed the border. I was all ready to make a floating square border when the Y.M. told me what he wanted, which was two thin strips of fabric surrounded by the grey.
I did a border like this on the Water Kaleidoscope quilt, so I showed it to him. In that quilt, the thin strips are a variety of oranges, pinks and yellows (I don’t have a picture of this quilt. Sorry).
After looking at it (and he really did contemplate), he decided that he would rather have black and green strips alternating than the blues, greens and red that he, initially, selected.
The fickle mind of a creative in action!
T-shirt quilt border
The middle photo is a detail of the corner. The piece is very heavy and won’t stick to the design wall, so I have it pinned.
The Y.M. told me he wanted the rows to line up up so the black in the first row touched, but was slightly offset from the black in the second row. I told him that I would use random sizes and see how it went. I think I can, mostly, accommodate his wish, but it won’t be as precise as he imagines.
T-shirt quilt border
I gave him my scrap bin to rummage through. This was my way of having him pick out the greens and blacks. He came up with some nice blacks and greens, which were very different than those I would have picked. The greens were all very much in the same chartreuse color line (I am thinking of Joen Wolfrom Color Wheel when I say line, rather than a fabric line). I don’t have enough of the types of greens he chose in the scrap bin for the second colored border. I’ll have him pick some fabrics out of my green bin. I am sure I have more of that chartreuse color.
This quilt feels like it is taking me so much longer than it should. On the other hand, I think I sew faster than most and have higher expectations of myself.
The Young Man is pleased so far. That is what counts.
I have been working on these blocks as leaders and enders for the past month or so. I finally finished sewing enough of the two-squares-sewn-together basic unit for a large lap quilt. I pressed all the pieces and put them up on the small design wall, which had been, mostly, empty since the end of the Star Sampler.
Most of the orange fabrics are leftovers from Fresh Fruit. The grey background is an old half yard (or so) I had laying around. I am trying to use up my bin of neutrals for donation quilts since I don’t use them that much.
In using up pieces, I am trying to use greys that are too beige and other beige fabrics. I worked at making sure this piece did not look too depressing.
While doing my Qi Gong exercises yesterday, I stared at the piece and moved patches here and there and exchanged placement of certain bits as well.
Pam gave me the idea of adding a blue square when she posted her Rainbow Baby quilt with the white square. I like the illusion of looking through the block to the wall (or whatever) behind. In mine, I went for adding some punch. I love that blue and orange combination, though, I think it would have had a greater effect if I had used no background fabric. Next time I might try making monochromatic blocks and punch it up with a dash of a complimentary color.
Clearly, I am not done with this pattern yet.
Nota bene: My computer is still giving me fits so some of the next posts and photos will be via cell phone. Bear with me while I get used to the new platform.
For those of you who do not follow me on Twitter (@artquiltmaker, if you are so inclined) will not know about my commuting woes. Our local interurban train system is on strike, which makes for longer and more tiring commutes. As a result, I have not had much inclination to sew after work or even write much. I don’t often sew much in the evenings anyway, but occasionally I will cut or press fabric, sew a seam or two or do something.
Still, over the last week, I was able to get the center of the T-shirt quilt mostly together. I need to put on a couple of borders to anchor all of the stretch, but, essentially, the main part is done.
I am also considering a pieced border. I am thinking about 4″ squares surrounded by the grey speckle, but we will see.
The biggest problem with this quilt is keeping the &^%$#@ thing square. I have, actually given up, because each time I trim, I have to trim somewhere else. I can see the sense in sashing all the blocks first.
I started this quilt a long time ago, so when I pulled all of the t-shirts out last week, I wasn’t sure where I was or what to do next. The top photo shows the pieces to use as a start.
I had already trimmed off the colors, cuffs and backs, so I trimmed the other t-shirts in prepartion for interfacing them. That was a trip down memory lane. The small sizes of the shirts are hard to reconcile with the giant boy-Young Man who lives with me now.
I spent most of the day on Saturday trimming the t-shirts and pressing interfacing onto the back of each t-shirt panel. I chose a grey pebbly print that I bought before the Young Man was born to make the shirts a uniform size. After sewing sashing to a couple of the panels, I found that that technique was not working for me. I decided to just fill in between the panels. I had thought about sashing each panel and making little stars as the cornerstones. I am not sure it is going to work, though. I think I just need to fill in between the t-shirts and have stars quilted into it.
T-shirt panels
When I cut the t-shirts, I was forced to cut them all to a different size based on the design on the front, which is the main part of the quilt’s design. Looking at the all the designs and brands, while working through this process, made me think of the Young Man’s interests and how they have changed. I do think I will offer to make him another t-shirt quilt to encompass his current t-shirts, which reflect his current interests. However, his size won’t change as much during the 4 years of high school as it did during the K-8 period.
In a way, this quilt is about the fabric. The stretchy t-shirt fabric. It is not terrible to sew once the interfacing has been applied, but the cutting is tricky. I also find that sometimes the design sticks to my sewing table as I sew.
I really thought I had more t-shirts, but I guess I was brutal about the ones I chose. the Young Man also wore a lot of plain colored t-shirts as he got older, which are not interesting in a t-shirt quilt.
I almost didn’t cut up the Winnie-the-Pooh sweatshirt (dark blue, lower right) as it was so adorable and I remember chasing after the Boy trying to put it on him when he was super tiny. There are bits of schmutz on some of them, but I guess that just means they were used and well loved.
T-shirt quilt, after the weekend
The boy came in and looked at the layout Sunday afternoon, as I was working on it. He liked what I had done so far. He did, however, ask me to remove the Blue’s Clues t-shirt, so I will put that one on the back. It is probably a good thing as my design wall is full and I would like to keep the size of the piece to the size of the design wall.
The bottom photo is what I ended up with after working most of the day Sunday on putting the piece together. I am particularly proud of the section with the smaller pieces (middle right).
I subscribe to Easy Quilts, because I am a member of the Quilters Club of America. I never make patterns from Easy Quilts, because often the patterns are too easy and too boring. I can’t say that anymore, now that I have made this quilt.
This one pattern appealed to me because of the fabric. The fabric used is Textured Basics by Patti Young, which I found I liked better in the magazine than in person. The neutral that goes with the colors is too beige for my tastes. The teal and the red, however, are especially vibrant and fun. The oranges, pink and chartreuse would have looked better against a white contrast. As a whole, the line works very well for this quilt.
I cut the pieces while working on my general cutting, which, it turns out, made me not think about the patches very much. I sewed almost the entire quilt together using the leaders and enders technique while working on the Star Sampler. As a result, I finished the top before I really realized I was working on another quilt project.
There is really no way to change this pattern. The pieces are so large and not in block form. That, coupled with the fact that I barely realized I was making the quilt, meant that I didn’t make any changes to the pattern, which I normally would do in order to make it my own. This pattern could be used effectively for other large scale prints (I am thinking Philip Jacobs fabrics) assuming the additional fabrics were selected carefully to retain the strong, but subtle horizontal motifs.
I have the binding done and am working on the back. I am using the orange, chartreuse and pink leftover yardage as I don’t think I will use those. Also, I am using the herringbone print from all the colors since I don’t think I will be using that print any time soon.
Pattern from Easy Quilts magazine, Summer 2013, pg.31-34
I spent the weekend up on the North Coast with my handsome DH. In the car, I like to work on something. The English Paper Piecing project I started in August is perfect and I was able to finish 4 stars. A few of the stars were done during TV watching sessions.
I forgot how much I liked this project.
I organized the half hexagons in the hotel room on Saturday, so they were ready to put together in the car. It worked out great.
I have 3 blocks to make (due this past week) and four more to make next week. I made one! The easiest one, too.
It plays a bit with negative space. some of the pieces that should be background are colored as foreground and visa-versa. Interesting.
I said the other day that I didn’t think that fabrics with a lot of white would work, but this dot, even though it has white seems to be working fine.
Interesting Shape
Before I sewed the last two seams together, I noticed this shape.It is the middle of the block, but I thought it was really interesting. It makes me wonder what a quilt using this shape (and perhaps the size, too) would look like.
