After Saturday, I was not feeling like I was accomplishing anything. I had three things on my list Saturday morning and hadn’t finished any of them. However, after yesterday, all three items were marked off my list. I finished the Frolic! flying geese early-ish on Sunday, which was the first task. Next was finishing the Cool Windmill top.
I am fairly pleased with the way this came out. I have used another 512 blades for this piece and still have a lot I can use or give away. I’ll be making the backa nd binding this week as well.
I kind of feel like I am roaring into 2020 with the finishing of the top and back of this quilt. My office was closed for nearly two weeks over the holidays, so I had some time to work. I did have a lot of holiday stuff to take care of so I worked on this mostly after the Christmas holiday.
Warm Windmill Top
As I said previously, I really only had to cut backgrounds for this quilt so it went together pretty quickly. I had a lot of Windmill blades from which to choose.
Surprisingly, the back also went together pretty quickly. I made the binding so this piece is ready to go to the quilter.
I made a lot of progress over the holiday. I am back at work, so I hope to continue to make progress.
The blocks are mostly sewn together. I am chunking them and it is going quickly, though I have started to pin the intersections so they match.
I added a row to the right and another on the bottom. After I sewed the first group of blocks together, I had space. Since I have a lot of blades, I decided to use them. The piece is now 64 blocks (groups of 4-2 blade blocks). It fits on my design wall, though wouldn’t if it weren’t sewn. I had to cut more backgrounds, which is a little tedious, but I am breaking up the work by sewing.
As mentioned, I started working on Windmill blocks. Last time, I talked about this project, I was sewing all the blades together. I realized that I had TONS of blades, so I shifted gears. I have enough blades to make at least two quilts. I decided to make a warm version first. This will consist of red, orange, yellow, pink, brown, beige and any mottle fabric that reads ‘warm’.
Windmill patches
I wanted something easy to sew together. Despite the angles, my idea worked. I can eyeball how to put the patches together so they sew up into a square.
Since I started cutting greys, I made the background grey so the foreground fabrics stand out.
I think this will be part of the Niece-phews project.
Along time ago, Friend Julie and I started cutting Windmill shapes for each other. It’s possible that the last time I posted about this project was in 2012. Last weekend, I decided that it was time to sew them together. This project is coming off the Hunting and Gathering list.
Windmill first sewn blocks – layout 1
The blades sew together very quickly once I got the placement correct.
My first layout, shown left, was kind of a wonky looking zigzag. I was starting to change the layout to the one shown below, so the upper right hand corner blocks are in a different layout. Check the bottom. 😉
The zigzag layout has its charms. Then I texted Friend Julie and she called the pieces blades, so I started thinking about them in a kind of fan format.
Windmill first sewn blocks – layout 2
I rearranged the blocks into that format. I am not sure about this quilt in general. I think I might need to use all warm colors or all reds and pinks or something. I think both layouts look strange.
At some point, I decided to cut background fabrics, so that the foreground blades would be highlighted. The idea works; I am just not sure if I like the whole effect.
Also, I have a lot of these blades. I think I can make at least two quilts.
I got two Recchiuti boxes of windmill pieces last week from Friend Julie. I think I have mentioned that we are cutting for each other and doing the same shape this time.
Windmill patches from Julie
She really has the best batiks. Almost all the pieces she sent to me were batiks and I really like them. I didn’t photograph all of them; just a sample of what she sent.
In the course of putting them away, I realized that I have to find another storage container. I crammed these into the current containers, but no more will fit.
I use plastic scone containers that I get from Whole Foods. I am out of those storage containers. I’ll have to stop at Whole Foods and get some more scones. 😉 It is a requirement since I can reuse the containers to hold my quilt patches.
Julie posted about her Windmills/our joint Windmill project and it occurred to me that I hadn’t post anything about this potential quilt.
I am still very much in the Hunting and Gathering stage at this point and I don’t know how large it will be, what the background color will be or anything about it yet. It is not yet up on my radar, which it why it never occurred to me to post about it.
Julie and I went to lunch last week and she gave a bunch of windmills she had cut for me. The photo shows some of them. Lots of lovely and luscious batiks!
We are cutting windmills for each other and we are using a Come Quilt With Me rotary cutting template/ruler. It is a piece of Lucite thick enough to use with a rotary cutter. It was very slick, so I put True Grips on the bottom to keep it still while I cut. True Grips are expensive, so I use the background as well as the dots. I think they work better than the sheet of plastic that can be adhered to rulers. True Grips are easier to put on as well.
I cut Windmills whenever I am cutting into a new piece of fabric or pull out a piece of fabric from the fabric closet, so there is quite a variety. Lots of dots, pinks and turquoises. 😉
For the moment, I am just going to continue cutting. I have other projects on my plate that are higher up on the list.
