Getting Started on Old Town

Old Town is the latest Bonnie Hunter Winter Mystery Quilt. In case you don’t know, you need to grab the directions while you can, because she takes them down sometime in February. You aren’t out of luck as Bonnie, later, makes the patterns available for sale.

I have done Frolic! and En Provence. I have the directions for many more, but haven’t quite gotten around to them. Bonnie’s directions are amazing and both of my quilts have come out very well.

Old Town clue #1 - cut
Old Town clue #1 – cut

Right now, the group is in week three or four. I did not get started until after the second clue had been posted. Instead of my usual practice of saving all the clues and deciding whether to start sewing later, I just started on Old Town. I didn’t have a quilt going, though I needed and wanted to start on the Sad Quilt. Also, I had posted the information about the mystery quilt on the guild site and thought I might need to sew a long as well. The colors Bonnie posted appealed even though I know I can choose whatever colors I want. It is easier when I like the colors she chooses.

I did make a small change in the colors. I am using pink instead of red. Why not? I like pink and I am acknowledging that I do.

Friend Julie had a good idea to try out all the different techniques Bonnie Hunter provides in the directions. She shows at least two methods of construction of the units in each clue. These Mystery Quilts are a great way to practice different techniques, try out different tools and get practice on accuracy in the process.

Anyway, I thought I would try out the different techniques as well. Then I panicked when the second clue was posted and I was lounging around in the sun on vacation. I cut up a bunch of squares to make Flying Geese using the Wing Clipper** and just went with it.

 

 

**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. 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.

Progress on Ends n.20

Ends n.20 nearly finished
Ends n.20 nearly finished

I finished Ends n.20 the other day, but I am not sure the top is really finished.

I don’t like the distribution of the strips. It looks unbalanced to me.

I know it is a donation quilt and I shouldn’t care that much, but I don’t like sending ugly quilts out into the world. It isn’t ugly, but it isn’t right either. It also isn’t good for me to not do my best. I use these quilts as a design exercise and need to do my best.

Ends n.20 where to cut
Ends n.20 where to cut

I am thinking of cutting the quilt as shown and sewing the right edge to the center. That is flipping the cut off piece 180 degrees. The dark and the grey ‘L’ will be in the middle if I do this.

Ends n.19 in Process

Ends n.19 in process
Ends n.19 in process

Cyndi gave me a few yards of white from an estate sale trove of fabric she got, thus I decided to use white on this quilt.

I know white for a donation top is a bad idea as it will get dirty, but a design wants what a design wants.

I have one more section to sew before I decide if it needs to be larger. Without the left hand section sewn, the top is about 40 in. x 40 in. at the moment. I might not want a white strip on the end. We will see.

More on the Sad Quilt

After my recent post, I thought more about this quilt and decided that the Jacob’s Ladder pattern wasn’t going to work at all. I tried different ideas, different colors, but it just isn’t the right idea for my friend.

First, I really shouldn’t call it the Sad Quilt. Not a great start. I can’t help how sad I am, though.

Frolic!
Frolic!

Second, as an interim solution, I sent off Frolic! to her. I am glad I have some quilts around I can just send off to people in need.

I love this quilt and had a good time making it, so there is a lot of good karma/energy associated with it. My friend lives in Hawaii, so it wasn’t cheap to send. It was totally worth it since I can’t be there to hug her in person.

In the meantime I am still working on a design made specifically in memory of my friend’s daughter. I am thinking that I will repurpose the Tilde fabrics I bought on vacation into this quilt.

Country Revival QCR pattern
Country Revival QCR pattern

A pattern occurred to me that I bought awhile ago, but haven’t yet tried, Country Revival. I don’t know why it is called Country Revival, because it doesn’t look ‘country’ at all to me.

The QCR (etc) patterns I have made, Metro Twist and Metroscape, have come out well, so I think the end result would be successful. At least is has a chance of being successful.

Tilde Fabrics
Tilde Fabrics

Obviously the Tilde fabrics would give it a different look than the quilt on the cover. I think I need to find a common fabric I could use in the center to bring the whole quilt together. I think pink would work, even different pinks. I also have that weird blue, which might work.

Also, the example quilt is small. I would want to make it larger, maybe 9 blocks. Still work to do to bring it together, but I feel I am on the right track now.

New Donation Top: Ends n.19

Ends n.19 start
Ends n.19 start

As I work through some sewjo challenges, I decided to make another Ends donation top. I have already handed in two donation tops this month, but an empty design wall doesn’t work for me.

I had various ends laying around the workroom and slapped a few up on the wall to see if I could make anything.

Ends n.18 was finished in September, so it is time for another one. I want to use a background fabric with the pieces shown, but I haven’t decided what color yet.

Ombre Weave Top Finished

Ombre Weave Top Finished
Ombre Weave Top Finished

After allowing this top to languish on my design wall, I finally got down to business and finished the top.

I like the look of it with the sashing in between the blocks.

I am renaming it Hugs & a Kiss. I mostly made Os with the blocks (hugs). I turned four blocks into an X to symbolize a kiss for my niece.

Ombre Weave Back almost Finished
Ombre Weave Back almost Finished

I am almost done with the back and the binding, so this will be off to Colleen soon.

I decided not to make the Heart Strings quilt**, so I had quite a bit of the V&Co ombre to use for the backing and the binding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. 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.

Baby Jacobs Diagonal 9 Patch Finished

Finished: Baby 2 Jacobs D9P
Finished: Baby 2 Jacobs D9P

I finished this quilt at the beginning of last month, but forgot to post the finished quilt. August was busy!

One of my SILs brought it to the new baby when SIL traveled to the area where my niece and her husband live.  I was glad not to have to mail it.

I am pleased with how it turned out and the juxtaposition of the same design in different colors. The first D9P was for this baby’s brother and is almost the opposite in color of this one.

 

Progress on the Ombre Weave

Ombre Weave - end of Aug 2024
Ombre Weave – end of Aug 2024

I had time last week to trim blocks and cut more pieces for more blocks. I was nervous this quilt would be too small for a teenager, but it is getting larger. It won’t be a huge quilt, but it will be nice for cuddling.

I am thinking I may use some of the ombre fabric I bought to make the Ombre Hearts quilt as the back. We’ll see, but I don’t think I will be making that quilt.

Green Improv Coming Along

Green Improv piece - August 2024
Green Improv piece – August 2024

I have made some progress on the Green Improv #2 donation top. This is the second green improv, though the first one was called The Green Thing. Perhaps I should call #2 The Swamp Creature. LOL!

I started using the green scraps I had already pinned together in the green scrap drawer. It was easy to make progress by using them as leaders and enders while I worked on other projects, such as the Ombre Weave quilt. It is amazing how pieces grow larger if I actually work on them!

it is about 36 inches wide now. I’d like the piece to be minimum 40×40 inches. I don’t really want to put a border on it. I’d like it to matches the other quilts in this series, but I may, if I can’t get it large enough. I was thinking of scattering bits of improv in between sashing. I would want to do that with green solids and I don’t know that I have enough green solids to make the idea work. It is a thought I’ll keep in the back of my mind if I need it.

Finished: Ends n.18

Ends n.18 donation top: finished
Ends n.18 donation top: finished

I was able to finish Ends n.18 over the Labor Day Weekend. DH was out and about participating in various activities, so I had time to concentrate on clearing up projects that were hanging around.

I know Labor Day was a long time ago, but things are busy and I am sewing quite a bit.

Didn’t have quite enough of the grey dots for the background, so I added in a solid grey that has been hanging around for a long time. I have quite a bit of various background fabrics, so I just decided to add it in. The quilt top is about 48×48 inches, which is a nice size.

The back is very much off balance. I thought of putting the scrappy bit in the center, but couldn’t be bothered taking more time on it. It looks kind of cool as is.

Ombre Weave Start

A few days ago, you saw a few of the Ombre Weave blocks on the design wall.

Ombre Weave Start
Ombre Weave Start

After gathering the supplies, I made a start on the Ombre Weave quilt at Sew Day the other day. The pattern was written for a jelly roll, which I didn’t have, and there were no alternate instructions. That meant that, first, I had to rewrite the instructions to accommodate the yardage and dessert roll I had. I also had to make sure I could understand them.

Once I did that, with the help of Mary C, I got busy sewing blocks. These are super easy blocks to make and I was able to make 22 during Sew Day. On Sunday I was able to make another 20. I am going to make blocks until the fabric is gone.Then I’ll see where I am.

Green Strip Donation Top #3 Progress

Green Strip donation top #2 in progress (v.1)
Green Strip donation top #2 in progress (v.1)

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.

Green Strip donation top #2 in progress (v.2)
Green Strip donation top #2 in progress (v.2)

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.

Ombre Weave New Project

Ombre Weave Supplies
Ombre Weave Supplies

Why am I making patterns?

I don’t know, but I am.

I decided that the quilt I planned to give to my great niece wasn’t right. Then I saw this pattern on my Portland/Oregon Coast trip. Then, I remembered the Dessert Roll-ish bundle of fabric I bought at Sharon’s Attic in the beforetimes (2018-ha!). It has been sitting around marinating long enough and now is a good time to use it.

Now I have finished a few things that were in the works and I was looking for my next thing. Bag or Quilt? Quilt, I thought, then I thought about this one. My niece’s brother’s quilt will be done soon, so I should have this one ready soon as well. They are not grownups, so I expect them to wonder where their quilt is if I don’t send both at the same time.

I am not sure I have enough of that speckle fabric so I might need to rethink the background.

More Green Strips Progress

Green Strips Donation top #2
Green Strips Donation top #2

Yes, I am making progress! The top is finished and I am pretty happy with it. I am running out of larger pieces for borders and backings. This does NOT mean I am running out of fabric. It just means the pieces I have left are, mostly, not large enough for the border of a 40 x 40ish quilt. I am not sure what I am going to do about that.

Much of my green, as I may have mentioned, is of the chartreuse and yellow-green variety. I remember buying a lot of chartreuse and icky green as TFQ called it, but I am still surprised I have as much as I do.

The borders I added are some Riley Blake fabrics (I think) that are neither chartreuse or yellow-green or dark green. These are more of a light blue-green…maybe? I don’t know what to call that color. The borders give the quilt a different look overall. Still green, but not as yellow, I think.