Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I am making progress; notable progress. Because this is still kind of a back burner project, I am making slow progress.
I know I’ll need some more pieces and parts, but am getting all I have cut sewn together before I decide what else I need to cut.
While I was making progress on the Rings quilt, I was also making progress on Scrap Dash. As I said before, I am using the Scrap Dash blocks as leaders and enders for the Rings quilt. I get more done, which is great.
I started in the middle, because I couldn’t really reach the top row without a stool. You can see that the middle has shrunk up quite a bit.
I plan to put another column of blocks along the right hand side. The quilt is supposed to have the Churn Dash blocks around the whole exterior of the quilt and I plan to follow that advice.
I think the section where I have sewn the blocks looks nice. I like how the 1.5×2.5 strips create a path through the quilt.
I worked quite a bit on Scrap Dash over the weekend, using the project as leaders and enders while working on my Latifah class project. It didn’t look super before class, though i was making progress. By the end of class on Saturday I had made progress with which I was happy (photo, left). The pattern was really starting to emerge and I was getting excited about putting blocks together. I was able to do bits and bobs in between the Put a Ring On It rings. Every little bit helps.
I continued working on Sunday, a little more on Scrap Dash than on the rings. I feel like I made really excellent progress. While I don’t have all of the pieces for Scrap Dash on the design wall, I do have a significant number.
I have also started to put some of the blocks together.
Sadly, I found out I don’t have enough of the 1.5 x 2.5″ rectangles for the border. I need to think about whether to cut a million more, leave off the border or do something else. I haven’t yet used the rectangles in blacks, whites and greys for the center of the quilt. I might try and see if they look good as a border. I don’t think I have enough for a whole border, but it would be a start.
I can’t even think about fitting a border on the design wall, so I’ll have to see once some of the blocks are together and the seam allowances have shrunk up.
Speaking of which, I have sewn a block or two just to see what they look like and to shrink up the seam allowances so I can fit more on the wall.
You can see the background, which I think really makes the quilt look bright.
Yes, I think I am calling this quilt Scrap Dash instead of 30 Something.
I spent some time on Wednesday standing in front of the design wall and rearranging various units. The more I do this the better it looks.
I can also tell what I need to work on next. In this case, I need more half square triangles. I prepared a bunch for sewing at Craft Night, but haven’t actually sewed them yet. The process in this quilt was: 1. cut squares; 2. draw lines; 3. sew; 4. cut apart; 5. square up. I don’t really mind this process, but I wish they had chosen a better system like using the Simple Folded Corners Ruler. I wasn’t able to find a tutorial using the size pieces I had already cut, so I just went with the drawing method.
Tim showed me the start of his baby quilt. He is making it loosely based on the Give & Take Quilt by Tara Faughnan. (You’ll have to do a search as there is no good way to link out to her site for a photo). I love his colors much more than in the original.
The blocks that look yellow are actually more of a chartreuse (icky green), which is one of Tim’s go to colors.
He is figuring out how to put this together as he goes along, which I applaud. I told him to tell me if he needed help, which may have been too smug as he is a very competent piecer.
As soon as I move the X Quilt off the design wall, I moved all the HSTs leftover from the X Quilt on to my large design wall. I wanted to play around with layout a little bit.
I had to squeeze it on to my small design wall to show it to you before. I wanted to see how it would look with a little space between the columns, which is what you see above. I am not sure I like it. I kind of like the way the pieces look right next to each other.
It is also a little bit of an odd shape in this configuration. I need to think about whether it matters or not.
I have been looking at these HSTs as I sew other projects.
I think this piece looks a lot better in these fabrics than the X Quilt. Don’t get me wrong, I like the X quilt. I just think it would have looked better if I used larger prints.
I think I will probably sew it in this configuration. Perhaps I am just used to it, but I do like how the eye moves around the piece.
I finished pressing the rest of the HSTs generated from the X quilt. I have plenty to make a good sized donation quilt. I haven’t done any sewing as I still haven’t finalized the design.
Still no final design, but this is looking pretty good in terms of placement of each HST. I still want to break up the chaos a bit with some background fabric.
Despite not using leaders and enders to make donation blocks, I still seem to be generating some donation quilts, which makes me happy.
I almost finished the X Quilt top. I have two or three seams left on the top and I am really eager to finish it. I just don’t want to work on it any more. Perhaps I don’t like the fabrics I chose. Pop Parade has dull rather than clear tones and that depresses me a little bit. Perhaps the background low volume text prints aren’t right for the size of the blank squares.
I don’t know. I just know I want to be finished with it. I don’t know what I will work on next. I have a few bags to finish for sure, but no quilt in mind except the HST donation top.
I am working on the X quilt and the HSTs at the same time. My iron is acting up so some of my lack of progress has been because of not having a working iron. I have a makeshift solution in place and am making progress again.
I have pressed all of the large HSTS and have a few more small HSTs to press. Since there are only 3 large X blocks, that limits the number of large HSTs with which I have to work. As I said before, I am thinking about adding sashing. Some of my final decision requires looking at all of the HSTs in one place. I have to see them all together and decide if I have enough for a donation quilt or if I need it to be bigger. This current layout is about 49wx35h. Kind of a weird shape, but we will see.
I am also not sure if I want to mix up the large and small HSTs in the same column.
I laid some out together just to see what I thought. Again, I have to see what I think. Also, the layout depends on the sizes I have to work with and I haven’t delved into that problem yet. They all look like they will fit now, but the current layout doesn’t take seam allowance into consideration.
I didn’t get a lot of sewing done last week as I was preparing new material for my class. I have always had a great deal of respect for teachers, but I have even more now. Preparing new material for my students takes a lot of time.
The stack of these HSTs, which are being created from cutting the lozenge blocks using the Simple Folded Corner ruler** continues to grow. I didn’t think I would be able to make any kind of good sized quilt, but I think I will be able to make at least a baby quilt. I don’t plan to lay it out like you see above. Depending on how many HSTs there are, I may add sashing between the columns.
I still have a lot of HSTs to iron, so this design will grow based on the number of pieces.
This is definitely not the final design.
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I made good progress on Sunday after getting a good selection of squares cut late Saturday.
Although everything went along very well, I finished up sewing on Sunday somewhat dissatisfied. I think I felt like I figured out the sewing and was done, but here was a bunch of pieces on my design wall that were not a quilt top.
I turned off the sewing machine and lights and left the room. I ate dinner, worked on my puzzle and thought about this quilt.
I decided that one issue is that I don’t want to keep it. I am making it because I wanted to use the Pop Parade by Metro for P&B Textiles fabrics. I also think the design is clever. Still, I don’t want to keep it and didn’t know who should receive it. I have four-ish more quilts to make in the Niece-phews series. None of the people who will be getting a quilt seemed right for this one. I thought about giving it the YM. He is always up for a new quilt. Finally, I received an email from a friend. She is going through a tough time and needs a quilt. Voila!
This quilt is also a cautionary tale about saving fabrics for the perfect project. When I bought Pop Parade, I was pretty excited about them. Now, not so much. The dots are great, the other motifs are great, but the colors are somewhat dull. I see it especially in the pinks. I prefer bright clear colors.
I didn’t have enough of the Pop Parade to make this quilt, so I added in some other fabrics and that makes the overall look better. I love the text and low volume fabrics I am using for the background. I was kind of upset I had chosen those if the quilt wasn’t going to someone I like as I am using up large pieces of them. Now I am excited that my friend will receive it. I am sure she will like it.
As you probably guessed from the Folded Corners Ruler tutorial, I am generating a lot of triangles. As the triangles are cut off the squares, they are ready to sew into Half Square Triangles.
So, I sewed them into HSTs. I couldn’t think of a design, so I put some of them up on the design wall so I could look at them. Now I have an idea of what I might do with them. I don’t think they will fit together as is, so I have to add some sashing or something.
The picture shows only a small fraction of what I have sewn so far. Depending on how large the final piece is, I may donate it to the guild. However, I might make it a Niece-phews quilt.
I have rummaged through my dots drawers numerous times since I bought Pop Parade by Metro for P&B Textiles. Recently, the collection caught my eye and that is what I am using for my latest quilt.
This quilt is from the book Quilt Big** by Jemima Flendt. I tried to borrow it, but nobody had it, so I ended up getting a deal on it in Kindle format.
This quilt had a rocky start. The Kindle format didn’t make for easy reference to the pattern. I finally figure that out and started cutting, but got confused by the directions, so I pulled all the fabrics I planned to use, then started cutting again. That made more sense, but not a lot. My confusion continue. Finally, I printed out a copy of the layout, looked up the sizes of squares I needed and cut using those two aids. After figuring out the folded corners ruler, I sped along.
I made good progress on Saturday. I thought I might finish cutting and sewing the blocks together. HAHAHAHA!!! There was a lot more cutting than I anticipated. I guess I got oriented to the pattern on Saturday.
I didn’t have much time to sew on Saturday, but I did have enough time to finish the Pink Kaffe top. I am pretty excited about this finish. I really like the top. I am not sure how or where I will use it, but I love the flowers and the pink