Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I said I would make a few additional Ribbon Friendship Stars to make up where someone bailed out. I was supposed to make another 5, but only had the fabric for another four. I hope that is good enough, though I can whip up one on the special Sew Day next week if we need an extra.
I made the blocks I promised to make for a group quilt. Most people are making 6 blocks, but I agreed to make more since I suggested making the quilt larger.
I am not a huge fan of the Friendship Star block in general. I like them smaller than 12 inches, which is why I made the Friendship Stars in Flying Around so small. I also like them better when combined in wreath format.
For this quilt, I liked the sentiment of the Friendship star and thought the addition of the ribbon (the green and the blue) was an interesting element. When I put all the blocks next to each other on the design wall, I though they looked great. It looks a little boring with just my blocks, but the group will use different red-violet fabrics for the centers and that will make the whole quilt more interesting.
These blocks are easy to make and would be great for a quilt for friends. I copied the design into EQ8 and created a pattern so you can make blocks for your friends, too. If you need a reminder of how to make Half Square Triangles, you use the Leah Day 2-at-a-time tutorial or my Triangle Technique (8-at-a-time HSTs) tutorial, if you are making a lot of blocks.
Julie is also making some of these blocks. She sewed a practice block, which I think is a good idea, even though I didn’t do it. She also has a great post about her process and the tools she used. I forgot about the Seams Easy marking tool, which I have, but always seem to forget about.
These are the blocks I agreed to make for the project, but I have more fabric, so I thought I would make more blocks so that the quilt can be bigger. We’ll see if I can get them done.
I started this rectangle donation top informally awhile ago. I decided to clear off some of the lingering, half finished projects and this was one of them.
It was a collection of rectangles I had cut from larger scraps. I used the same 4.5 x 8.5 Creative Grids ruler** I use to trim my strip donation blocks. As I cut them I pinned the rectangles randomly to my design wall. Over the weekend, I got myself together to organize them and the few additional cut the few additional pieces I needed.
For once I used the one fabric for the cornerstones. I had enough of one fabric and it had a lot of variety so I thought ‘why not?’
I am in the process of sewing, but it has been slow going. I’ll get there.
*N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and support small businesses whenever possible. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
I finished all the blocks for the Ombre Weave and think I will change the layout to highlight more of the Os that show up in the design. The red I added looks good. The piece overall isn’t as depressing as it was before.
I was able to look at all the Ombre Weave blocks on the design wall.
I was somewhat surprised at how much brown and beige there was in the roll I bought. I never really cataloged the colors, but I always thought it was all the colors. Now I realize there are some significant hues missing such as RED.
This is totally my fault for not noticing years ago when I bought the roll. Still, it is not fatal. I got a small piece of red (cherry? cranberry?) and will add it in to the mix.
I have some other blocks I need to trim and then I will add those as well.
I have been fiddling with this quilt for awhile, ever since I finished #2. My design walls are full of the grey improv, the black improv and the Pantone Project. I basically had no space in which to put it up and look at it.
Design floor to the rescue.
I finally decided to lay it out and see what needed to be done. I finally laid it out and inventoried the different blocks that I had available.
I am farther along than I thought.
The image above shows my first layout with what blocks I had. As you can see, I have been adding sashing to certain blocks even though I have not seen them up on the design wall.
I had enough blocks to add another row, so I did that to see how it looks. I know it is going to be a weird shape again, but I decided that using up the blocks was more important than my worries about shape. If I were really worried about shape, I would make square blocks.
I have sashing cut, so I prepared sashing and cornerstone strips for the last blocks and see how far I can get in the next little while. I really feel like I need to get this quilt off to the Community Quilt ladies.
I was thinking about what to piece next after making some pillowcases. I was thinking of starting the Ombre Weave** pattern, which I bought at Stitch in Ferndale. If I started that new project, I would have to take all the pieces of the Pantone Project off the design wall. I thought that was a bad idea since I didn’t want it to become a permanent WIP. Been there done that.
I decided to work on it a little at least and then see what happened.
I wasn’t that happy with my previous layout ideas, Design #1 or Design #2, for the Pantone blocks. I took all the blocks down and started over with the design I drew in my journal. I liked it on paper so I thought it would be a good place to start.
It really is a good starting place. I am pretty pleased with the design as it is shown in the photo, left. I tried to duplicate what I had drawn with blocks and I am ok with the way the fabrics look. I couldn’t do everything as I don’t have enough of some of the parts, but I made due.
It isn’t perfect yet. The top right hand corner, for example is a little heavy while the left upper corner is a little light. Still for an hour of work, it looks like I can almost start piecing.
I might still start the Ombre Weave quilt and do both at the same time.
**Obviously, you should shop at local fabric, knitting shops or quilt shops. However, if you can’t, please know that I use affiliate links. I may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I do not recommend items I don’t like. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
I finished work on Friday and spent the weekend on some cleanup projects, one of which was the Pantone blocks.
I finally finished all the blocks for the Pantone Project. I am excited that I can start playing with the layout, especially after I saw what Friend Julie was doing on her design wall!
These have been hanging around my workroom for a few weeks now. Last weekend was really the first time in a few weeks I had uninterrupted time to sew. DH was out and the house was quiet so I could concentrate. Fortunately, except for one fabric, I had picked out all the fabrics previously so all I had to do was cut and sew. I did choose some of the easier blocks, but I tried to choose blocks I thought I could use in the overall quilt design. Now to just get these to Julie at some point soon.
I finally had an hour to sew the blocks for the Green & Grey Diagonal 9 Patch together!
I am pleased with how it looks!
Next up: backing, label and binding.
Julie handed me the last three Pantone blocks at Sew Day the other day.
I still have a few to make as mentioned the other day, but I am working my way through them.
I spent some time last week finding fabrics for my last group of Pantone blocks.
I don’t have any greens as dark as Deep Forest, so in the end, I just chose a black.
Most of the others I selected from older fabrics that I haven’t even looked at in awhile. I have one more fabric to select, but I have already cut the 4.5 inch squares. I have also started to make the blocks and will show those soon.
I finally finished all the blocks for the Green & Grey Diagonal 9 Patch.
I haven’t started piecing the blocks together, but at least I have all of the blocks. I have spent the past week fiddling with the placement of the blocks.
There is quite a lot of yellow-green, more than I expected. I think I kind of clumped it together. Where the yellow-greens are not in a block together, I am trying to spread them out.
I’ll start sewing the blocks together soon.
I spent the other day working on these blocks and I am already to put them together.
I wasn’t sure if the background would look good. I think it does. It looks very watercolor-y, which is different than the other one I made. I am glad they look different, but have a lot of similarities.
Now to put the blocks together.
Before the Retreat, I finished all the blocks.
I ran out of fabric, so I had to find something to do about that. The first thing I did was buy more fabric, but I wasn’t 100% sure I was buying the right fabric. I decided to make some blocks in a different fabric and make it part of the design.
As I rummaged through various options, I found a grey ombre and had a brain wave. I made the last 4 blocks in the ombre using the gradation from dark to light. I thought the idea would look much more interesting than having all the blocks use the same background.
I pieced the quilt together and think my fabric choices were good. I tried to place the ombre patches, first, then the ombre blocks in such a way that they blended from dark to light with the other background fabric. I am really pleased with the way it turned out.
The silk is a bear to work with. I thought, at first, “I don’t need no stinkin’ interfacing”. I was wrong. I interfaced all the pieces after the first few and the silk was much more in control.
I have tons of silk left. Since the pieces are FQs, mostly, I can’t make a dress or anything. I don’t really want to make another silk quilt (I am not sure the effort was worth the outcome), so I don’t know what to do with the fabric I have left. I’ll have to think about it.
During my birthday extravaganza weekend, Friend Julie and I exchanged more Pantone blocks.
I think my doodles are giving us both some ideas of which blocks to make.