After whining a bit about this project, I got back in the saddle and sewed a few 9 patches. I had to cut more grey, but that was easy enough and I took the opportunity to cut some grey for the Flying Geese swap as well.
19 9 Patches
Once you start, it is hard to stop. The good part was that I needed leaders and enders for the FOTY 2014 project and these were handy and required. I scavenged leftover foreground squares and made these 9 patches. I don’t know how many I will need to complete the Octagon 9 Patch top, but these will certainly help.
They also helped complete the FOTY top. Yes, it is done. I still need to do a few things, which will need to be done this weekend, but between the donation blocks and these 9 patches, I had plenty of leaders and enders.
I am in view of being able to put this project back on the design wall and I can’t wait to see it up there again and decide on next steps.
I missed another couple of months. I sewed very little in June and May was very hit and miss, so I suppose posting the same thing over and over would be boring.
I sewed for awhile with wild abandon and it resulted in some quilt projects I delivered to the quilter, but it wasn’t that much fun. I felt confused and overwhelmed. Of course there was a lot of stuff going on in regular life, so I know all of that stuff contributed also. Still, while I like to have a couple of projects going at once they need to be at different stages and I need to be able to focus on one at a time.
Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all, but the list is getting a lot smaller.
Aqua-Red Sampler – Frances and I finished the Basket block and you can make one as well by looking at the tutorial series. Now I am tasked with doing a tutorial on partial seaming.
The Tarts Come to Tea: I still haven’t worked on this since April 2011, though, I have been moving it around the Fabric Closet. Periodically, I think about working on it.
Pointillist Palette #4: Fourth is a series of 6 quilts; needs tiny square patches sewn together. I still haven’t worked on this project either, but I do think about it. The Lunns have a new line of PP fabric out. I saw the new colors and didn’t feel I needed them.
Self Portrait: started in 2006 at a class at Quilting Adventures in Richmond, Virginia. My career counselor breathed new life into this project for me. She asked a simple question and the end result was inspiration for this piece, but I kind of lost steam again after printing images on paper to try out different designs. Lately, I have been feeling like I need to finish this piece as it should be a good reminder to keep in my office.
Under the Sea: class project; like the design, but not the colors. Still a possibility for abandonment.
Ready for Quilting
Wow! Everything on this list is new, as in it was never on the original 26 Projects list.
Table runner: Basted; needs quilting and binding. I am planning on free motion quilting this myself for practice, which may be a challenge when my main machine is not working.
In Process
I decided that I had better put in an ‘In Process’ category. The difference, at least in my mind, between ‘In Process’ and ‘UFO’ is that I am actively working on a project and that is defined as“In Process.”
Stepping Stones #2 using primarily Bonnie & Camille fabrics Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern: I made two test blocks, but wasn’t quite happy with them, so I added a number of other reds and turquoises to the variety to make the piece more scrappy. I ending up deciding against using a solid turquoise for the background.
Hunting and Gathering
Blue Gradation Quilt: cutting 2.5″x4.5″ blue rectangles
Blue Lemonade: cutting blue, green, purple 2″ squares
Spin Wheel: really not started, but supplies gathered. I probably have enough fabrics and just need to decide to start.
Stepping Stones #3 using the Macaron pre-cuts from Hoffman. I just remembered this project-to be. It isn’t started, but I have all the pre-cuts and should think about actually using them.
Windmill quilt: Still hunting and gathering. I am cutting a variety of greys for the background,to preserve the pattern. The pieces are too oddly shaped and I don’t want to lose the pattern in a mass of scraps
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about what I was working on. It wasn’t my normal 26 Projects post, but just the current projects that were in the forefront of my mind and needed to be written down. Now I have made some progress and need to follow up and see what is what.
Since then I have worked hard. You have seen the posts about the different projects, but here is an update.
Box Full of Letters and the Food Quilt #2 are ready to go to the quilter.
The Field Day Zipper top is together (look for a post soon), but I still have to put the borders on the top and make the back.
I haven’t worked on the Improv Quilt at all.
I also didn’t get to the Improv quilt yet, but I have been thinking about it. The fabric and strips have also been in my way, which means that I need to work on the B blocks and get the fabric out of the way.
I haven’t touched the Octagon 9 Patch blocks. I need more 9 patches and haven’t cut the colored pieces of fabric yet. That is a bit of a hold up.
I have made a few more Stepping Stones blocks and am using the pieces as leaders and enders. I am almost done with Block #8 and need to make at least 16 more blocks, lots of leaders and enders action coming.
Finally, I have added a couple of pieces to the Pinkalicious Journal Cover, but only in a desultory manner, not with any purpose.
So some progress, but not complete progress. It’s ok as I am working and that is what counts.
I finally had a large chunk of time to make some good progress on a few projects over the weekend. Yay!
I made really good progress on the Box Full of Letters top. I think I will have a top soon.
As I said before the straight layout of blocks was too boring and it felt too confined or compressed to me. I suppose the ‘modern’ movement is affecting me, because I wanted these little envelopes to breathe a bit as well. I hadn’t any idea what I was going to do with them until I started to put them up on the wall. I had seen a quilt where the blocks were arranged on the diagonal kind of like a rocket taking off.
Yes, I arranged the colors and fabrics as I went along, but not too much.
BFOL – almost done
After I got all the blocks up on the wall in the arrangement above, I looked at them for awhile, moving a few around and trying to imagine the final effect. I decided to go for it and began sewing. I sewed for probably 10 hours on Saturday, which is what happens when I am sew-deprived and finally get some time. I thought I would finish the top on Sunday, but I didn’t quite. I only have a few seams left.
I am more pleased with this piece than I had been. After quilting, I think I will just put a binding on it and leave it without borders.
I haven’t had a lot of time to sew recently. I was determined and pleased to carve out some time out on Sunday. I was resolved to accomplish something. Thus, I needed the most bang for my buck. I looked around and thought of the Box Full of Letters project.
Perfect.
I got to it and finished the rest of the Box Full of Letters blocks. I know I intended them to be leaders and enders, but bang for buck was foremost in my mind. As an added bonus, it was just the right project, because I didn’t have to do a lot of math or thinking.
the last 15
There were about 15 left to sew and I did them chain piecing style. Three seams per blocks makes quick work. I only had to rip one out.
I tried to arrange them to take the photo so all of the blocks made from dot fabrics were separated. Therw ere a lot of dot fabrics, so it was pretty tough. It was not a horrendous hardship, however, I have to admit. 😉
All the blocks
Now, ‘the rest’ is relative. In looking at the finished group of blocks, I am not sure that I am done.
As you can see there are an uneven number of blocks. That means that I am wondering if I need to make more blocks. I have 45 blocks total and I am not that excited about making more, but the design has to rule. I don’t want to make an ugly quilt.
The other option is that I have is to arrange them in an asymmetrical manner. I got the idea from a quilt I saw in Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine. It wasn’t this pattern, but the blocks were arranged in an alternative grid and I might just try some different layouts to see what you think.
I have milked the little progress I have made over the past weeks for all they are worth in the past few days and here I am milking some more. I really do need to get a handle on my current/in process projects. This should probably have been a design wall Monday post, but I am changing it up. I thought your head might be spinning, too, and you might appreciate a recap.
This isn’t my normal 26 Projects post as I am not including the UFOs. I don’t want to think about them right now. This is just a post about the pieces on which I am actively working right now.
Sample Box Full of Letters blocks
Box Full of Letters: I feel like I should put a mini-audio setup in this quilt to play the Wilco song on demand. It is a clever and terrifying proposition. This is, so far, a leaders and enders project.
Improv ‘A’ blocks
Improv: As mentioned, this is a project that I will give as a gift, which was started in Tina Michalik’s class. It is getting better. The A blocks aren’t where I want them to be, but they are better.
Stepping Stones blocks – June 2015
Stepping Stones: I hadn’t made progress for a long time, but did recently.
Field Day in process June 2015
Field Day Zipper: recent post details trials and tribulations.
The Octagon Nine Patch is still ongoing. Field Day Zipper usurped it’s place on the design wall so I haven’t worked on it much lately. Pretty soon I am going to need 50 design walls.
If you are asking yourself how I can work on all of these projects at the same time, believe me when I say I am asking myself the same question. I want to get the three quilts ready for the quilter as I want to give them to their intended recipients and move on. Getting the tops and backs to Colleen means I actually have to make them. The backs, too.
I am linking up to Nina Marie’s blog. She has an Off the Wall Friday linky.
While I haven’t spent a lot of time at the machine, I seem to have made quite a large amount of progress. I would say that the Field Day top is almost done. I screamed through some piecing last Sunday (not the Sunday that just passed) and was shocked to see how much I had gotten done.
I have a couple of things to decide about this top:
Do I sew top and bottom borders of the Sangria on this piece?
Should I get some of the Goldenrod and put a thin border around the outside and then another border of Sangria?
The other problem is the last row. It was doubled up on top of row 7 and I don’t know if was intended to be row 8 or half of row 7? If it was to be half of row 7, then I added more coins where now it is much, much too long for a row. I may cut it in half to make row 7 long enough or add more to it and make the quilt wider.
If I make the piece wider, it is going to be a weird shape and I don’t know if I want to inflict that on someone.
The Field Day Zipper takes on a new view once it is on the design wall. So does my workroom. I need to get this piece sewn together and OFF the wall as it really sucks the light out of an, otherwise, fairly bright room.
This is such a weird concept to me and I spent some timing thinking about it. No, it is not directly related to the making of this piece, but it affects my work in general.
First, sadly, my workroom is still life sucking beige. (Why is a question for a long evening and a bottle of your favorite libation.) The ugly and light sucking nature of the color, if you can call life sucking beige a color, means that all the other colors I work with in that room look different. Also the light has to work a lot harder and I have to be careful to move bits of the projects to other parts of the house. It isn’t a perfect system, but it is working to a certain extent.
Anyway, I still have not put up my new design wall, but I did put FDZ up on the smaller design wall (~4.5′ x 7′). It doesn’t all fit as you saw in Design Wall Monday, but it will fit better once I sew some more of the parts together.
The other thing, unrelated to color, about this project is that seam allowance is affecting the size more than I anticipated. When I laid the piece out, the strips of Sangria were roughly equivalent to the ‘coin’ segments. As I began sewing the coins together into vertical strips, I lost many inches. I added a couple of coins to the first couple of rows to see what would happen and how many coins I would need. I could just cut off the solid strips, but I want the piece to be the length of the Sangria strips. I am going to sew more of the vertical strips together and then see what I need to do.
I am desperate to get back to this project — or really any project. I haven’t been able to sew at all in the past week and am feeling the effects.
Another thing I did a the retreat was work on the nine patch blocks for the O9P quilt.
Before I got to the Box Full of Letters blocks, I worked on these. I wanted to finish all of the parts and then cut more when I got home – I need about 55 more 9 patches to fill in the rest of the O9P quilt. As I finished the squares, I realized that they were getting to look too much alike and I decided to switch to the Box Full of Letters blocks.
Good decision as I got two sets of blocks done and major dents in both projects.
No, it isn’t about getting things done and finished, but it is about making progress and both of these projects felt stalled before I left. Now I feel like I am back on the road.
The last post was in April. Not quite a month, but close.
Design Wall 5-18-2015
How’s this for a change? I completely revamped my design wall.
Normally, I am fortunate enough to work with two design walls. I usually have a large design wall leaning against one wall, but I gave it to Friend Julie at the last retreat. yes, I used it, then made her take it home. HA! I have been waiting for a new one since the Santa Clara show and it was finally delivered on Friday of last week. In the meantime I was a design wall short, so I cleared off the small one in anticipation of actually sewing. HA again!
I made two Flying Geese all week. This nonsense has got to stop or I will not have anything to write about and you will all go away.
Here are the things on my design wall this week:
Hot 4 Patches. I will want to make more of these and do something with them, but they have not floated high enough in the idea file for me to actually do anything about it.
I rearranged the red and turquoise 4 patches. They look kind of cook in a big row like that, don’t they?
FOTY 2015. This is the start of the second batch of patches. Amazing how fast they accumulate.
Field Day Zipper (or whatever I am going to call it). I wasn’t able to put the whole thing up on the wall, because I didn’t want to take down some of the things on the left, but the last three rows are stacked up on top of each other on the right. When I am able to sew the left hand rows together, there will be space for all the rows.
These are hand written numbers that tell what order the rows should be sewn.
I worked on the Box Full of Letters blocks at the Retreat. I made 21 blocks as leaders and enders. The photo (left) shows a selection of the blocks I made.
I love the leaders and enders technique. I couldn’t believe how much I accomplished using leaders and enders.
I still don’t know what I am going to do with these blocks, but I am thrilled that I have an actual group of blocks with which to work.
I haven’t posted this post for awhile, because I haven’t been in the mood. I am sick of being a good girl and want to just sew whatever I feel like sewing. I did finish a lot of UFOs and a few still are on the list, but it means that I don’t have 26 Projects anymore and I have been starting projects with wild abandon. Fortunately, I seem to have learned some self restraint and am finishing projects, too.
Another part of the wackiness of the weekend was adding to my nine patch stash for the Octagon Nine Patch. I made some progress on adding to my nine patch pile.
when I stand next to the piece, I feel like I am making progress, but when I look at it in a photo I post here, I think I will never be finished. I guess that is why I take photos, then I can compare. For example, this photo with the last one.
Octagon Nine Patch – detail – April 2015
One part of my attitude is that people comment on how small the blocks are. Yes they are on the smallish side, but are by no means miniatures.
I think I need to sew some parts together pretty soon. That will make the piece much smaller, of course, but will also enhance the feeling of accomplishment.
I have been preparing for the CQFA Retreat. I have been putting projects, supplies and parts into project bags in preparation to grab and go.
I was all over the place sewing over the weekend and this was part of the wackiness. I don’t know why, but I decided to sew a couple of the blocks rather than waiting until the CQFA Retreat.
I guess they look ok. I am not completely invested in the project yet, but I have some ideas and I want to move forward. It might be a palette cleanser
