I have been working on this quilt on and off for a few weeks. I was mostly cutting and piecing the stacks of rectangles, but last weekend I sat myself down and pieced all of the blocks and finished the quilt.
I did something different on this quilt, which was making an assymmetrical border. I made a large stack of rectangles for the bottom and the side of the quilt.
Top part of quilt - in process
The piecing wasn’t difficult, but the cutting and the figuring out of how many fabrics to use was a challenge. I started off with a Birch Bundle from Birch Fabrics/FabricWorm. I ended up adding a few fabrics from my own stash. I had to add still more fabrics from my stash for the back.
This will be a gift, but I don’t want to say for who until the gift is given.
I have to say that I felt the same way I felt when I made Passionate Purple. The purple on the design wall was depressing. I needed to get this quilt done, because it was too dark and was making my workroom depressing. It could be that I seem to do purple quilts in the winter. It could be I just don’t like purple enough to make more purple quilts.
I saw this project on Fons & Porter the other day and had to go and watch it again, so I could get more details. It is show #1607 of the 1600 Series.
They don’t provide measurements on their show, because they want you to buy the magazine. Like the Corner Store project, I thought this would be a good scrap project. Frances, of The Off Kilter Quilt podcast, talked about having too many scraps and composting them in a recent podcast.I think Frances should do mosaic quilting, but I’ll bring that up another day. I already inundate her with all of my advice.
Twirling Triangles Half Block
I don’t want to compost my scraps, but I do want to use them. I though this block would work very well. I have the Pyramind ruler and I thought I could use the Kona Snow as the background and then just cut appropriate sized scraps to the right size and make blocks until I have enough….for something.
This project doesn’t look like it would work well for chunking, but it does look like an interesting project. We’ll see.
Twirling Triangles by Kehoeta
This is one I found on the web by Kehoeta. I like the use of the black triangles. I was thinking of that idea as well. I only saw this one example. It looks like she used a lot of scraps, so I am heartened that my idea isn’t stupid.
The photos are bad, because I paused the TV and snapped photos of what was on the screen.
Recently, I was thinking about scraps. Part of my thought process stemmed from a discussion I had with a New Zealand quilt friend, another part had to do with the completion of the Cheerful Baskets quilt and, finally, looking and thinking about some of TFQ’s quilts and process.
For me, a scrap quilt is a quilt made from many, many different fabrics. The fabrics do not have to all come from my scrap basket. Cheerful Baskets is a scrap quilt, because many fabrics were used. Most of the triangles are different. The triangles, for the most part, did come out of my scrap basket. The baskets did not, but are mostly different. We purchased a small piece of many of the yellows based on the exact shade of the yellow. There are many different prints used as the background.
Cheerful Baskets is a thoughtfully made quilt, not just in the piecing, but also in the color selection and placement. I do not think that any old scrap should be placed next to any other scrap. Scrap quilts, for me, are not a jumbled mess.
I don’t have a large scrap pile, because I either toss the scraps or use them up. I don’t like to waste, though, so periodically my scrap basket overflows.
Four patches
One thing that I do is plan a bit ahead for my projects. I have list of pieces I need to cut for scrap quilts. One shape I am cutting now is 2×2″ squares in turquoise and purple. I am making some four patches from these pieces. I put these through the machine in between other chain piecing, so they act as leaders and enders a la Bonnie Hunt (she mentions this technique in a recent post, but I think she goes into more detail in an older post). This type of in between piecing/leaders and enders also is great to warm up your sewing muscles when you start a sewing session.
Along these lines, I also cut squares of various sizes and keep them in a bag for when I need some squares. This is not a well thought out plan and I should probably cut squares all the same size and put them in bags according to their size. I haven’t gotten that far yet.
The idea is to cut regular sized pieces so that you have a selection to choose from when you need some shapes for a project. You can also cut different shapes such as triangles with an eye towards half square triangles, rectangles, etc. This is also a good task when you don’t know what else to do.
The Fabric of the Year (FOTY) quilts are, technically, scrap quilts. They are also charm quilts, but scrap quilts do not have to be charm quilts if you are working TJW. As you know, for the FOTY quilts, I cut a piece from each fabric I purchase or use throughout the year and then make a quilt top from those pieces in January. This concept can be used in general as I am with an upcoming pink quilt and an upcoming blue quilt. I am cutting 2.5×4.5″ rectangles of all of the pinks I come across, either newly purchased or from my stash. When I have enough I will arrange them on the wall and sew them together. I am doing the same for blues.
I don’t do this, but I think it would be useful to sort my scraps by color. I don’t think I have enough scraps to sort by color. I don’t want to devote fabric space to scraps, so I try and keep the scrap pile manageable.
Corner Store block and patches
I found a new source for scraps when I started the FOTY 2010 project. I use a ruler when I cut the diamonds and end up with two triangles. After seeing the Corner Store project in Pretty Little Mini Quilts, I decided I could do that with the triangles. The block is shown in the middle. The triangles are added to a square of Kona Snow and then trimmed to size. The triangles are all slightly different sizes and I am trying to take advantage of the wonkiness. The nice thing about this project is that the triangles never even go into my scrap basket. They go into a separate pile and are sewn on to the squares.
The Red Journal is also a scrap project. As longtime readers know, I have been sewing together little slivers of red fabric for awhile to make a new piece of fabric. The technique is called Mosaic quilting, a concept developed by Shannon Williams. It has all the qualities that work for me for scrap quilting. The maker sews random pieces of like colors together to make new fabric. I do this with red and want to do it with all of the colors, but haven’t gotten to it yet.
I think there are a lot of ways to think about scraps. Above are a few of the ways I think about and use scraps. Hope it is useful.
I actually finished this last weekend. My mind kept saying ” Get this over with! You have been working on it for sooooooooooo long!” When I stopped to think about it, I realized I had really only worked on it for about two days. The top itself took almost no time. The back took, what seemed like, forever. After adding the borders I had to add more to the back. I think the back has more piecing than the front! The problem was that I didn’t want to wasted the fabric leftovers. If you don’t want to waste the leftovers, then you have to sew. I am pleased with this. I don’t know what I’ll do with it as I don’t really want it. We’ll see who likes it. I had some small hopes that I could get it done for Christmas, but my quilter won’t be back until January 5, so this will be one of the first quilts I finish in 2011, I think. It has good borders for complicated quilting.
I made this top from the leftovers of the Frosted Stars. Looking at it in the picture I like it as is. However, I do think that the border is a bit too thin and will get distorted in the quilting process. As a result, I have been looking at borders.
Frosted Stars Leftovers w/Blue
I have enough of the blue fabric to go around the whole piece (but not to show the whole to you).What do you think?
Frosted Stars Leftovers w/Blue & White
Alternatively, I can go with blue and white. I kind of like the blue and white, but one of the boys pointed out that the white disappears next to the blue. I think the values are similar.
My other idea was to put a bit of a piping border in orange in and then add another red border. I didn’t have time to set that up so you could see what it looked like. Perhaps I will.
This weekend was kind of a sewing bonanza. I think I spent about 10 hours at the machine on Saturday, and another 6 or so on Sunday sewing like a crazed woman. The result is two backs and a top, a journal cover, a repaired bag and parts of the Frosted Stars Leftovers quilt. The Frosted Stars top is above. I changed some of Charlie Scott’s pattern, as I have mentioned.
Frosted Stars Top without Final Border
The quilt top, without the final turquoise border is all on the bias and I just don’t believe in giving a quilt to a quilter with a bias edge border. Yes, I am going to send this out to be quilted. I just want this quilt to stay relatively square and adding another border was required. I don’t know why a pattern designer would finish off a quilt with a bias border. Perhaps it is some complicated part of a learning experience of which I am unaware.
I spent a good portion of my day off Wednesday piecing the sashing and the borders on to the star blocks. As you can see, I didn’t quite finish, but I am moving forward.
I made good progress on the Frosted Star quilt over the weekend. Not as much as I would have liked, but I never make as much progress as I would like!
I finished the border piecing for the Frosted Stars. It required that I piece a whole Jelly Roll of strips together in sets of 10 strips each. It was fun to arrange the strips in different and, hopefully, pleasing ways.
I have an amazing amount of leftovers from the above piecing exercise. The pattern refers to a second pattern to use for the leftovers. I am a little annoyed that I would need to buy a Jelly Roll and spend a bunch of time pressing the strips and piecing them together only to find that I needed less than half of the pieces. Isn’t there a better way? It may be that I did need strips that long in order to make the bias sashing/broder strips work. But it may also be that they wanted me to buy a whole Jelly Roll. I suppose I will have to make a second Christmas quilt. Or I could just waste the fabric pieces.
Frosted Stars with Turquoise
My great feat was that I am now ready to put the whole thing together. Since I need to make visual decisions visually, I laid out all of the pieces on two different backgrounds to see which I liked better. I also got opinions from around the house. One opinion was that the turquoise looks like ice. The stars really stand out in this piece, which I like.
At some show I bought a bunch of a turquoise batik to use as needed. I wouldn’t use it all for the background to this quilt, but I wouldn’t have to piece strips together, because I have a long enough length to just cut one piece. In looking at this layout, I think I would have to add a border strip around the outside if for no other reason than to stabilize all of those bias edges.
Frosted Stars with Snowflake Blue
The other background color we considered is the snowflake blue that is part of the 12 Days of Christmas line of fabrics. In this rendition, we noticed that the blue bias strips that make up the borders and sashing drop out, because the snowflake blue is so close in color. The look of this piece is much more subtle.
I have had some interest in the Zig Zaggy Quilt. I have had a lot of nice comments. While, it is not a completely original design, being related to the Oh Fransson! New Wave pattern and the Happy Zombie variation, I thought you might be interested in my version of how to make this quilt.
First, the differences: Oh Fransson’s pattern using templates. Happy Zombie uses the EZ Quilt wedge ruler. My variation uses the longer Philips Wedge Ruler.
Supplies
Basic Sewing Kit
Sewing machine
thread
2 Jelly Rolls (one Jelly Roll will get you 4 rows and a bit of fabric for the border)
sashing fabric (not sure how much you need for this project. I bought a 5 yard piece of Kona Snow and have been hacking bits off for various projects)
Mary Ellen Best Press
10 degree wedge ruler (www.phillipsfiberart.com)
stilleto
quarter inch foot to fit your sewing machine.
iron & iron board
Directions
First, I cut strips of the Kona Snow, selvedge to selvedge, 1.5″ wide. I probably would cut them 1.75″ or 2″ wide if I were to make this quilt again.
Press strips
One by one, lay out your strips on your ironing board. Spray with Mary Ellen’s Best press and press with a hot iron. Follow the directions on the MEBP.
Place ruler on Jelly Roll Strip to Cut
After pressing the Jelly Roll strips with Mary Ellen’s Best Press, take your strip over to the cutting station and trim off the selvedges. Double the strip. Place the ruler on strip lining up your preferred ruler line with the bottom of the strip. My orange post it was used to remind me where I was cutting each time.
Line up small ruler
Use a small ruler and line it up against the short end of the wedge ruler. Remove the wedge ruler and trim the strips (remember your strip is doubled) to the desired length.
Lay out Wedges
It is important to lay out the pieces, before sewing, so you know which way the wedges are sewn to the sashing strips. I also found this layout helpful in order to keep the colors in the correct order.
Sewing Wedges to Sashing
Carefully line up the wedge skinny end or fat end towards you depending on the orientation of the wedge and sew without pushing or pulling the fabric. Remember you are working with bias.
I sew each of the wedges to one sashing piece in assembly line/ chain piecing fashion. After I sew, I press and then lay the wedges in order by color on the floor. You could also use a design wall. Once that is done, all wedges need to be sewn together.
After stitching, press
After stitching, I lay the two pieces on the ironing board. The piece towards which the seam will be press should be on top. In the photo above, I am pressing towards the color/wedge and NOT towards the sashing. I spray lightly with Mary Ellen’s Best Press and PRESS (not iron) the seam in the correct direction.
Lining up Sashed Pieces
Before trimming, lay the two pieces and eyeball how they would be sewn together.
Trimming Wedges
After eyeballing the sashing, move the pieces aside and trim the sashing so it aligns with the top and bottom of the wedge. This may seem wasteful, but it is a lot easier than trying line up perfectly cut sashing with a diagonal line.
Sewing Wedges Together
After trimming, line up the corner (bottom right in the picture above) on the sashing so that when you put the pieces in the machine there is a little v that is approximately 1/4″ from the edge (bottom in the picture above). You may not be able to see the v as it may be on the bottom.
Trimmed Wedge Group
Above is what the trimmed wedge group will look like.
Line up Wedges after they are Sewn
After trimming the ends off the wedge group, put it back in it’s place in line, so you don’t get confused about where these colors go. You want to ensure that the colors are consistent lengthwise down the quilt.
Keep sewing the groups together until you have a whole row.
Once you have two rows of wedges completed you need to sew the rows together.
Press Consistently
In the above photo, you can see that I carefully pressed the seams in the same direction on all the pieces in this row (towards the sashing). The row on the bottom has the seams carefully pressed in the opposite direction (towards the wedges). In that way, I was able to nest them together before sewing the row. This helped the pieces to line up when I put the rows together.
Sew Slowly
Notice: LOTS of pins!
Lots of Pins, Slow Sewing
When putting the rows together, pinning is very important. Also, using a stilleto and sewing slowly really helped.
Press Row Seams Open
Look! The world didn’t end because I pressed the seam joining the two rows together open. It makes the join of the two rows lay flatter. If you have gotten anything from this post it should be that pressing is really an important aspect of putting this quilt together.
You want success? Press. Carefully.
Finished Top
I left two edges wiggly. I didn’t feel like squaring them up.
Here are the Frosted Star blocks. After all the drama of this project, I have finally completed a major hurdle.
The next task is to sew the border together. The border is made up of Jelly Roll strips. We’ll see how that goes. I probably need to get a Mary Ellen Best Press refill to get through all of those strips.
The thought of all of those strips makes me think that I am done with Jelly Rolls. Time will tell though. As I love to yell at the baseball players on the radio “it’s not over until it is over!”
Here are four of the blocks I have made for my Frosted Stars project. There are a couple of things I found and a couple of things I decided.
I found that the red is not working. It is too intense for this project, so I am not going to include any other red in the blocks I have made six blocks so far, which is slightly less than half of what I need.
I also decided that I would use the turquoise primarily for the background triangles. I decided that I am going to include a couple of blocks with the silver for the background triangles. I am also going to include a couple of blocks with other blues. Perhaps I will include only one, perhaps more. I haven’t decided.
My next step is to cut a bunch of background squares so I can put more blocks together. I haven’t worked on these blocks since last weekend as I have either not been sewing, pressing and cutting diamonds or have been working on the Zig Zaggy back.
This project was, in some respects, all about the fabric and using a whole line of fabric. However, it became more about the piecing as I worked through the rows. It was a pleasant challenge to cut, press, sew, press, trim sew and press. I was able to use the bias to put the rows together so the colors would match. I think it looks nice.
I kept the bias and the softness of the Moda Jelly Roll strips under control with Mary Ellen’s Best Press.
You cannot see the edges because I had to take the picture at an angle. I even stood on my desk and wasn’t tall enough to snap the top straight on.
I want you to see the edges, because I want your opinion on what I should do for the borders.
First, I am only applying a border to two sides. The other two sides have a slightly angular edge and I want to keep that as a design element.
Second, I am not much into chopping off edges, even if that is the piecing pattern. I prefer self bordering my quilts, which finishes out the design from the middle. This is a different kind of quilt, which makes me think self bordering isn’t possible here.
Third, if self bordering is possible, I don’t know that I have the patience.
Fourth, the spiky border, a la Gwen Marston, seems to too spiky for this piece.
Zig Zaggy Edges
In the second photo, you can see the two edges, where the color ends abruptly, that I will border. My first thought is to sew some strips of Kona Snow on them and then add soem color somehow. Fan like elements, perhaps?
This block, Four Columns, is suitable for 2 or 4 fabrics. When you cut the strips for the pieces, you can cut a full strip as you will use it for future blocks.
Note from the Management: Comment and let me know if you are working on this project and whether you would like it to continue.
I had some fun over the weekend piecing the Zig Zaggy quilt. I felt a great deal of joy in my sewing this weekend. I know that sounds weird. It is a weird word to use for sewing, but I can’t think of another word that expresses how I was feeling. I am in love with piecing and color right now and simply, as I said earlier this week, cannot. get. enough.
Zig Zaggy - 4 Rows
I decided early in the weekend to try to piece the entire quilt over the weekend. When TFQ and I are together we can get an entire quilt top done. We do large wall quilts or up to single bed sized in a weekend. I got over the idea of finishing the entire quilt top over the weekend, but I made significant progress. Best of all I had fun.
Zig Zaggy Row 1
The first order of business was to spend some time piecing the first row together. I had to figure out how to do it.This way of putting together the quilt goes completely against what I told Frances not more than a month ago. However, this quilt is not really block based, so it has to go together in rows, I think. I tried a couple of different things, but finally settled on a process for the fourth row.
Piecing the first row together meant that I, first, needed to organize the colors and the fabric designs in such a way that there was variety in the layout. Once I got that task finished, the rest was just rote sewing. Not completely rote sewing, but enough to force me to keep my mind from wandering too much.
Some mind wandering is always in order and I spent some time thinking about the border. I’d like to do a spiky border a la Gwen Marston. The more I think about it and the more I look at the four finished rows, the more I think I won’t do it. We’ll see.
The Zig Zaggy quilt is one on which I made minor progress this weekend. In between other obligations, I worked on two Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker totes. The whole time I was sewing the bags together I wished that I had some leaders and enders prepared, but I didn’t and I was too lazy, apparently, to stand up, cut some Kona Snow for the leaders and enders.
It seems like such a waste to cut thread after each seam, which is why leaders and enders are great. The sewist can turn a non chain piecing project into a chain piecing opportunity.
Finally, on Sunday, I dragged my carcass to the ironing board, pressed some Kona Snow and cut a bunch of strips for the Zig Zaggy quilt and some squares for the Corner Store quilt. Now I can use the Zig Zaggy quilt pieces as leaders and enders.
I decided that making the small wedges from the 18 degree circle Ruler by Creative Grids and Lynn Edwards that Happy Zombie suggested was not going to work for me. Too much work and not enough bang for my buck. I didn’t know what I was going to do until I saw the 10 degree ruler. One of the things I bought at the Long Beach show was a 10 degree wedge ruler from Philips Fiber Art. The idea clicked in my mind when I saw it. The man at the booth went to the booth next door so he could tell me how wide their Philips Ruler was (I am using a Jelly Roll and didn’t want it to be much wider than 2.5″).
I am using Happy Zombie’s idea, but making the wedges longer. They are approximately 9″. I think this change will make the quilt go faster.
The problem is that I already cut a few patches, which will leave me short of a couple of the fabrics. If I decide quickly, I can get another Jelly Roll in the Me and My Sister Favorites, but I also want to substitute some fabrics for the patches that I cut.
My idea was kind of sparked by some of the antique quilts I saw at Long Beach. Some of them have patches that are completely different colors than related motifs. I don’t want to choose completely different fabrics. I’ll find some similar fabrics in my fabric closet and replace one wedge for each small piece I cut. I found a pink today as I was cutting patches and that will work for one of the pinks I already cut. Th fabrics won’t be from the Me and My Sister Favorites collection, but I hope it will look interesting and not like I am a moron.
