Finished: X Quilt

Finished: X Quilt
Finished: X Quilt

I finally finished the binding on the X Quilt!!I feel like I usually get the quilt bindings done faster. This one felt like it took forever.

Fortunately, I had a deadline and I got the quilt done before the deadline. I watched some Midsommer Murders with my Mom and was able to sew while I watched.

I took the photo in a hotel room. The best position was laying it on one of the beds. I was pleased that the quilt fit, with an overhang, on a queen sized bed.

X Quilt Back

X Quilt, quilted not bound
X Quilt, quilted not bound

I went to see Colleen the other day and came home with the X Quilt. This quilt hasn’t been gone very long at all, so quite a contrast to Frolic!

This is another photo where I just flung the quilt on the floor of my workroom.

Colleen did a kind of Xes and Os motif, which is nice. I have to do the binding, but don’t need to do a sleeve. Perhaps it will be ready for me to send on its way soon.

HSTs on the Design Wall

Pop Parade HSTs Donation Top
Pop Parade HSTs Donation Top

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.

X Quilt Top and Back

X Quilt Top Finished
X Quilt Top Finished

I finished the X Quilt top and back  and took it to Colleen last week.

I am pretty pleased with the way this came out, though I think I would like to try the pattern with different fabrics. The Pop Parade fabrics are not clear enough. Also, I think I needed to choose fabrics with larger designs. While the viewer gets a surprise when coming close too the quilt, I think the large size of some of the pieces would have more impact if the motifs were large or had more contrast. 

X Quilt Back
X Quilt Back

I do like the different sizes of the Xes. I think that is really good design.

The size of the Xes really used a lot of fabric, too. The quilt and back took 10 yards. If I need to make progress on fabric usage, this is the quilt I will make.

X Quilt Top Finished

X Quilt Top Finished
X Quilt Top Finished

I finished piecing the top and back of the X Quilt.

I started the backing on Saturday night (after finishing the Retreat Pouch) by pulling some of my Philip Jacobs prints. Then I realized that I wanted to use up the Pop Parade prints, which would take a lot longer since I didn’t have very large pieces. I compromised and used one large PJ piece and the rest are Pop Parade. I worked on the backing all day on Sunday, finishing just before it was time to make dinner.

I still have a lot of Pop Parade fabric left, so I will make an improv donation quilt in addition to the HST donation quilt. I could use the improv piece for the backing. We’ll see.

HSTs Again

X Quilt HSTs - all
X Quilt HSTs – all

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.

Many More HSTs

Final group of X Quilt HSTs
Final group of X Quilt HSTs

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.

X Quilt Almost

X Quilt top almost done
X Quilt top almost done

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.

More HSTs

Additional Pop Parade HSTs
Additional Pop Parade HSTs

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.

Pop Parade HSTs - mixing it up
Pop Parade HSTs – mixing it up

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.

X HSTs Again

More Pop Parade HSTs
More Pop Parade HSTs

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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X Quilt Progress

X Quilt- Sunday work
X Quilt- Sunday work

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.

X Quilt Leftovers

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.

Pop Parade HSTs
Pop Parade HSTs

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.

X 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.

X Quilt- Saturday work
X Quilt- Saturday work

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.

Pop Parade Xes

Pop Parade by Metro for P&B Textiles
Pop Parade by Metro for P&B Textiles

I have been looking at the Pop Parade fabric by Metro for P&B for years, but specifically recently as I rummage through my dots yardage. This week, I saw a quilt on Instagram and it called to me.

I have had this fabric since 2008, so it is past time to use it. At the time, I wanted to just use this fabric, but I think, now, I will add some tone-on-tones or solids to the mix plus a background. These are all fat quarters so I won’t be able to make some of the blocks in the size I want, because I don’t have enough fabric.

The problem with this fabric hanging around for years is that I don’t like it as much as I once did. I don’t dislike it, but it doesn’t use the clear colors I am now excited about. This is an advertisement for using fabric you are excited about when you get it.

X Design
X Design

The design of which I am now enamored is an X design. I made a pillow some time ago for Maria that I think has a similar design: lozenges. The thing I like about this design is the variety of sizes. I also think this design will go really fast.

What I have to think about is whether I want to start on it now or finish FOTY 2019 first. I could do both at the same time using leaders & enders.