sophie junction

You MIGHT be a quilter if ...

2012-01-26T17:33:00.003-05:00

I was laughing at myself at Central Market today when I noticed some tamales with interesting fabric packaging in a freezer case in the aisle as I walked by . . . and bought a package to try while thinking about what kind of quilt I could make the printed cotton bags. FYI, the back is covered with the usual product packing stuff like nutritional info, ingredients and company contact info. I had black bean tamales for lunch today and am happy to find out that they not only have interesting packaging, they are tasty, too.

I already have some quilt design ideas for these bags . . . what would you do? And what crazy un-quilt-related something have you bought lately, with quilting on your mind?

They reminded me of those flour sacks from the 1930's with the flour company logos and some cool vintage quilts I have seen made from them, Like this one from the Infinite Variety exhibit in New York last year, where all the logos were re-embroidered to create red work blocks.

For anyone who's now craving tamales, cursing me and wishing they lived in Texas so they could buy yummy tamales in cool cotton sacks from their local grocer, you might take a look at the Texas Tamale website–where you can buy them and have them shipped to you, wherever you are–US only ;-)

Finished Cameo Tote

2012-01-11T09:23:00.000-05:00

I didn't finish in time for the guild's Show & Tell, but the large tote I made from the Sunday afternoon workshop is finished now and hanging on the door, filled with a couple projects to share with friends later today.

I hope to be able to fix her smeared "lipstick"–a side effect of choosing to use some leftover fusible batting in the bag and not carefully checking whether or not the red pen I used was, in fact, suitable for adding permanent color to fabric. The fusing process made the red ink run. I also will probably also darken the beads in her necklace–I was going for something that would look like jade (to reflect the Asian influence in jewelry in the 1920's) and ended up with something that looks more like turquoise.

I do love doing workshops and learning new things and especially love technique classes ... but I often have a hard time finishing those small projects ... so this bag, finished a few days later feels like victory.

What do you do with those small class projects?

It's been a while ...

2012-01-09T01:01:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I shared my wall for design wall Monday or took a workshop. Here's my wall today:

From the top, I've got January's Lotto Blocks, the Block Lotto Banner Quilt (because I need a better photo of it), a portrait I stitched today in a workshop with Lolo Jenkins and my first 6 Just Takes 2 blocks.

I couldn't believe that it's been a few YEARS since this former quilt class junkie signed up for a guild workshop.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much light we had in our "meeting" room, despite it's lack of windows--and lots of tables for everyone, too.

The workshop with Lola Jenkins was just about perfect--lots of learning and fun, too. Although I made the standard class project--Lola is holding the class sample in the photo--others in class brought their own photos or portrait drawings and everyone's project looked great ... and I think everyone finished stitching their portrait well before the end of the 6 hour class.

And, I think everyone had fun--even those that weren't that comfortable with free motion quilting before they arrived. I confess that I wasn't aware of Lola's work, but I wouldn't hesitate if I had another opportunity to spend time, learn some more of what she has to share.

Since I brought her home, I've made my flapper a little more Cameo like--she's destined to be part of a large Tote--perfect for packing up for the next workshop or taking a quilt to show and tell at a guild meeting. (If I finish in time for tonight's meeting, I'll post an update

To see what's on the wall of other quilters around blogland, check out the links on the Design Wall Monday post on Judy's blog, Patchwork Times

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed ...

2012-01-05T13:21:00.001-05:00

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in her shoe.

This phrase popped into my head earlier this week and I realized that besides being a a wedding tradition to ensure a happy marriage, it also is a way to categorize my current set of quilting projects and plans.

SOMETHING OLD

Stephanie from Loft Creations invited quilters to join her in finishing Project in Progress in 2012 and being part of her no rules, loosely connected, group of quilters supporting one another through the year as we finish up projects appeals to me.

First up for me is a project to use some flannel plaid strips that were cut before I left Michigan three years ago. I've pulled them out, pressed them and, after seeing the solved Planet Patchwork New Years Day mystery, decided to make a plaid flannel version of Chips and Strips. Here's my progress so far.

SOMETHING NEW

I put together a few crazy quilt blocks for others, I've never made one of my own. I joined the crazy quilt journal project and have joined Debra's Tuesday Stitchers. Most of the group will be following along with Sharon B's Take a Stitch Tuesday on Pin Tangle. Some are also part of the CQJP.

SOMETHING BORROWED

Julie has organized a round robin and group blog, The Cotton Robin. I'll be borrowing the quilt projects from three quilters and add rounds and help finish these quilts. I cannot share photos of any info about my center block because the identity of each quilt's owners is a secret that only Julie knows.

I added a twist and made two center blocks and two quarter yards of fabric. I'll be making a quilt of my own based on the same center and fabric and am looking forward to seeing how my two "twins separated at birth" look when they are reunited this summer.

SOMETHING BLUE

I know . . . when you look at this button or think about the RED & white quilts from the Infinite Variety show in New York last spring, you might not see "blue" . . . but *I* did and am making the blocks for this interesting project using Indigo and Civil War inspired reproduction fabrics. The quilt was inspired by the Infinite Variety show and designed by Gay Bomers from Sentimental Stitches and Brenda Papadakis (author of Dear Jane), who are revealing the directions in chunks, twice a month on the website, Just Takes 2.

Here are my first six blocks.

SIXPENCE IN MY SHOE?

I don't know what the quilting equivalent to "sixpence in my shoe" could be . . . perhaps an original block for this year's Block Lotto to ensure prosperity and continued success?

I launched the Block Lotto as an activity on a quilting forum TEN YEARS AGO.

We've moved to blog land and continued to grow each year–last year we made almost THREE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED blocks. We've also outgrown the limits of group blogs on Blogger and my biggest Block Lotto project this year will be working on a new home for us ... though I also want to make a sampler quilt from this year's 9 inch blocks.

In the meantime, anyone can join the fun--here's my four blocks for January.

Quietly Ushering in a New Year

2012-01-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

I saw the new year in, quietly, in the company of the cats--all of us snuggling on (them) or under (me) this wonderful quilt that arrived in the mail a few days ago. I read, watched an old movie, reflected on the past year and planned for the future.

The quilt has been in my hands for a few days, but I am still blown away by the quilters in the block lotto community from around the world who created the blocks, put it together and got it quilted and into my hands in something like a month as a get well, Merry Christmas, feel appreciated kind of gift. It accomplished all of the above. The blocks are all past lotto block choices, re-sized to be the same size, made in the original colorways–something I personally NEVER would have thought could work so well.

More than a few times, I've admired a block, guessed who of the almost 50 quilters who put this together made it and then looked at the list that was sent along with the quilt to see if I was right.

Here are photos of the quilt on my design wall--my photos are a bit skewed; the actually quilt is perfectly square ;-)

Laura E organized the effort and put together the blocks. Cathy S quilted it (beautifully), bound it and sent it to me.

The blocks (and their makers–with links to blogs if they have them ... and I know about them):

Row 1: Jeweled Geese ( Andi), Dutchmans Puzzle (Linnea), Thrifty (Pokey), Stacks (Sue), Log Cabin with Attitude (Cathi), Scrappy Heart (Christa)

Row 2: Log Cabin (Janet H), Cactus Pot (Kathie), Cracker (Deanna), Darting Bird (Wendy F), Hearth and Home (Coralie), Pinwheel (Benta)

Row 3: String Heart (Kim G), Tic-Tac-Toe (Rho), Maple Leaf (Krista), Wonky Fly (Caroline), Framed Pinwheel (Laura), Variable Star (Laurina)

Row 4: Yankee Puzzle (Corinne), Scottie Dog (Gail), Buckeye Beauty (Ellie) , Asian Star (Céline), Home Circle (Gwen). Violet (Cathy)

Row 5: Sawtooth Star Star (Julie P), Liberated Basket (Cathy S), Amish House (Kate), Modern Clover (Karen), 16-patch (Debra), Oklahoma Boomer (Julie)

Row 6: Scrap Basket (Terri), Shoo Fly (Vivi), Liberated Checkerboard (Maree), Pineapple Blossom (Irene), Quilter's Choice (Andrew), Free style House (Ginny)

Row 7: String Squares (Laura E), Ohio Star (Nan), Reeds (Janet S ), Curved Rails (Helen), Free-style Trees (Kathy S), Sampler with String Corners (Belinda)

The rest of the blocks (and their makers):

Row 1: Pinwheel, Liberated Checkerboard (Maree)), Wonky Fly (Caroline), Curved Rails (Helen)

Row 2: Flying Geese (Céline), I-spy Snowball (Gail), 9-Path in a Square (Tina), Fireworks (Blondie)

Row 3: Quilter's Choice (Andrew), Scrappy Trips (Sandi), Label, Double Wrench (Barbara)

Row 4: Curved Rails (Helen), Double 4-patch (Debbie), Bow Tie ( Ginny), Words (Balinda)

If I messed up any of that, I hope the quilt makers will let me know--I am planning to print a key to the blocks on fabric and use it as part of a hanging sleeve. When it hots up in Austin in a few months, this will hang on the wall near my desk so I can always be reminded of the great quilters in the block lotto community.

Saturday Update

2011-12-17T15:53:00.001-05:00

The quilt has been trimmed and the binding sewn on and now I'm enjoying the process of stitching it down by hand ... all 10 yards of it. I decided on a red/green/gold poinsettia print from my stash for the binding because I liked how it looked with both the front and the back of my quilt–although there's no way anyone will see poinsettias in that skinny binding ;-)

I think another night of movies and stitching and my quilt will be done, done, done ... in time for Christmas.

I also decided to use two of the leftover star blocks to make big square pillow shams.

Inspired by the leftover triangle squares, I added a pieced border around the star blocks:

And then a plain border to make them the size I need–24 inches

I am looking forward to quilting these smaller pieces--it will be so much easier and quicker.

I need another Friday Night Sew In ...

2011-12-14T14:11:00.001-05:00

... and fortunately for me, I'm not alone. I'm joining this Friday night's Sew In, in hopes of finishing In the (holiday) Mood, my quilt made from swap blocks.

The quilting is essentially* done. I plan to trim it, bind it, cross my fingers and send it through the washer and dryer ... and put it on my bed.

I'd also like to make a couple of pillow shams using the leftover star blocks (still on my design wall.

* I still need to figure out what to quilt inside the plain 6" print square centers of some of the blocks (like the one at the top of this photo). Most have interesting prints, so I'd like to keep the quilting to a minimum, which I fear may be at odds with the wonky, bendy, sometimes pretty dense feathers which cover all the white areas of the quilt. I had a little brainstorm about it yesterday, but if you have a good idea, please suggest away ...

If you have a project in mind to complete before the holiday, why not join me for the Friday Night Sew in?

Update from the Occupation

2011-12-10T08:39:00.001-05:00

This in-progress photo of my Occupation project will tell you a few things.

After my Singer 301 completely balked at sewing with the feed dogs lowered; after trying everything I could think of, talking to a couple of knowledgeable friends; asking some locals for a recommendation for a good sewing machine mechanic ... I decided to see if I could quilt this large quilt (90" square) on my little Bernina 153. After muscling through the center blocks, it got easier and seemed possible and so I decided to put diagnosing my 301 on hold and to continue quilting on my purple Bernina.

I am filling all the white areas with unmarked, bendy, wonky, feather shapes–have I used enough adjectives to let you know they are imperfect? Whether they look like feathers or not, they are adding great texture to the quilt.

The quilting may not be finished before Occupy your Sewing Room ends, but I am still hopeful that I will be done for Christmas.

After a big Friday Night Sew-in (FNSI) Push, I am now quilting the last round of blocks. The end is in sight.
.
I was becoming quite obsessed with getting this done last night. Good thing for me, someone insisted–and she really did dig in and INSIST–that it was time to take a break . . . or my shoulders would have really been hurting this morning.

The Occupation has Begun

2011-12-05T15:57:00.001-05:00

I "occupied my sewing room" for a few hours over the weekend and am happy to share that my Christmas quilt, In the Mood, is now off the wall, the back has been pieced, and everything is layered and pin-basted and ready to be quilted.

I realized when I was opening up the Singer 301 that I plan to use for this project and rearranging the furniture, that it's been a long time since I've:

sewn on the 301
machine quilted anything this large

The virtual table supporting my quilt is actually three pieces of furniture: the art deco vintage sewing cabinet, a modern sewing machine table and a table from IKEA.

I'm itching to play some more with unmarked, free motion, 'liberated" feathers ... and may pass on the Austin Guild's panel of Long Armers that are presenting tonight. Decisions, decisions.

With this work-in-progress OFF the design wall and onto the table, here's what's on the wall now: the leftover blocks and units and the quilt that inspired the 16-patches and on-point setting in my quilt.

Tasty (Veggie) Treats

2011-12-02T22:56:00.001-05:00

There is finally enough of a chill in the air that I feel in the mood for making soups and roasting vegetables.

A couple weeks ago, when I read Julie's post about making baked kale chips, they sounded so good, I dropped what I was doing and headed to the kitchen to make some.

Today, I followed a link to Make Your Own Veggie Chips on chow.com and . . . decided to make an afternoon snack of Carrot Chips.

(The photo is from the chow.com site–I confess that my carrot slices were not as uniform as these and a few looked more like curly fries . . . but they were tasty.)

I'm off to the farmer's market tomorrow to stock up on more veggies: for chips, for roasting and to make stock for soups. Yum.

I'm going to Occupy my Sewing Room

2011-12-01T16:00:00.003-05:00

Barbara has created an interesting event for quilters in blogland and beyond this month: Occupy Your Sewing Room.

I don't think there's any political comment . . . just a reason to spend some quality time with your quilt projects ;-)

The timing is pretty perfect for me--I have been rolled off my contract gig and I'm back in job-hunting more ... and without a reason to take a break, for me, job-hunting can become a 24/7 obsession.

I plan to get that Christmas-y quilt top OFF the design wall, quilted and bound and onto my bed. Since I pulled out the blocks and started working on, that project has been taunting me . . . it even has it's own theme song now, Will I be done for Christmas (sung to the tune of I'll be Home for Christmas)

Will you be "occupying" your sewing room or just finding a few moments to finish some quilt projects for gifts or . . . too busy with the holiday social whirl to quilt at all this month?

Turkey, the Macy's Parade and Setting Triangle Math

2011-11-26T11:12:00.004-05:00

My Thanksgiving morning was perfectly nostalgic. Up early to put the turkey on and make a nice breakfast. followed by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade on TV . . . updated a bit because as I watched, I cut setting triangles and assembled a Christmas quilt top from those old swap blocks.

With a large design wall, it was a lot easier to figure out what I meant by my mysteriously coded sketch and lay out the blocks.

It seems I always have to go look up setting triangle math, whenever I put blocks on point. I know that the magic number is the square root of 2–1.414–but I never remember what to do with it ... so off to the computer I go.

Here's how I will remember NEXT time:

Since I'll need MORE side triangles, I MULTIPLY the finished block size by 1.414. Then, because I am going to cut the square into quarters, as for quarter-square-triangle units, add 1 1/4 for the seam allowances.
For the corners, I do the opposite and DIVIDE the finished size block by 1.414. Because I am going to cut them diagonally in half, like half-square-triangle unites, add 7/8 inch.

For both kinds of triangles, round the measurements to the nearest 1/8 inch ... so you can easily cut them.

For the corners, I used the twelve inch star block as the starting point. 12 / 1.414 + 7/8 = 9 3/8 inches. Because I inserted six inch 4-patches into the side setting triangles, I used 6 in the side triangle math. 6 * 1.414 + 1 1/4 = 9 3/4.

I don't like crowds

2011-09-16T20:55:00.002-04:00

As much as I like music and live performance and the idea of the Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) that began today, the thought of attending a party for 70,000 kept me away. I'll be watching from afar on YouTube this weekend.

OK, it's not that afar. The parking lots and ramps at the office park where I work were designated as official ACL parking. I knew this so planned ahead and went into the office extra early–at 7AM, I still had to queue in a line of traffic including two large buses to get far enough to talk to the security guys and make my case for being able to park without an ACL permit. I was told I could be towed . . .

The performances started just after 11AM. By 2PM, no one was coming into the parking lot, and cars lined both sides of the street as far away as my apartment complex ... where some festival goers were actually sneaking in by following residents through the gate and then parking and scaling the 8' fences to get out and walk to Zilker park. I happened to be picking up a package at the office when three "dumbest criminal" types were scaling the fence right outside the office while the property manager and I watched as she opened the door for me and my big box.

Hmmm ... it just occurred to me that if I subscribed to the for-pay version of YouTube, I could watch and listen and SEW . . . I barely sewn more than sample blocks for the September Block Lotto (so I could write directions) and I think I could really benefit from some ME (and my fabric) time ;-)

It's all Wendy's fault

2011-09-03T12:12:00.003-04:00

After I posted the photos of my Praire Gothic chairs and wrote about making some floor cloths with simple stripes . . . my friend Wendy, who is an extraordinary rug hooker with a great sense of color, noticed a bit of a butterfly wing visible on the arm of the chair.

"You should put some of those butterflies on your rug," she commented ... and with that simple comment, my immediate reaction that I am not a painter, and the discussion that followed, the door opened to considering a design other than simple thick and thin stripes I had planned.

Despite my inability to wield a paint brush, I am now noticing–and seriously considering–design ideas everywhere. This morning, it was painted on the table of a café where I stopped for coffee and a breakfast taco.

Am I crazy to think that this folk art style painting is in the realm of possibilities for a non-painter like me?

Edited to add ... after I blogged about my chairs, the Etsy vendor that sold me the fabric blogged about my chairs, and Jane Sassaman (who designed the fabric) blogged about my chairs, I emailed the links to John's Upholstery so they could see how much everyone loved my chairs.. He responded by thanking me for appreciating their work.

I can't resist sharing

2011-08-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

Yup, another record-breaking day. But look at what's coming ... days with temps less than a hundred are on the horizon.

My Prairie Gothic Wing Chairs

2011-08-26T19:05:00.005-04:00

It's been a pretty lousy couple of weeks at sophie junction ... though maybe I'll whine about it later, since the week seems to be ending on a pleasant note. The upholsterer delivered these chairs this morning and I am very pleased with the result.

I bought the chairs when I moved to Dallas (after donating ALL my living room furniture in Michigan). I found them on Craigs list. They were in rough shape, upholstered in a pale green silk that was falling apart, but they had great bones and I could tell that they were once fine furniture.

Then I got stuck, both in making a decision about what fabric/color to cover them with and finding someone to do the work.

Earlier this year, I went on the hunt for a large scale organic print. I remembered that some of Jane Sassaman's fabric had been printed on lightweight canvas for home deco ... and the hunt began. I found an Etsy vendor, Imagine Fabric, with a 15 yard bolt of this print from Prairie Gothic and I knew it was the one.

Didn't John's Upholstery do an amazing job in wrapping that large print around the chair (and getting everything to end up symmetrical and matching)?

Next home deco project on the horizon . . . painting a floor cloth using these colors. I'm thinking thick and thin stripes in blue, red, green and pink.

How to talk about the weather

2011-08-06T19:22:00.003-04:00

The TV weathermen have gone from counting the days so far this year with temps at 100 or higher, to counting the consecutive "three-digit days" to counting the days with record-breaking highs . . . and now consecutive record-breaking days.

A friend kindly asked today if it wasn't better than the bitter cold of winters in Michigan–lately, I'm less sure.

This morning, my goal was to get to the Farmer's Market, run errands and get back home before the temperature made it to 100. I made it–when I got home and put everything away, it was only (only!) 94.

I don't think I'm the only one with this mindset–the Farmer's Market near me was bustling this morning and lots of people were talking about the weather.

I Love Lucy

2011-08-06T13:31:00.001-04:00

I love the clips in this Google-produced video to celebrate what would have been Lucille Ball's 100th birthday today. Some of my favorite episodes are here. How about you?

Settling in . . . Slowly

2011-07-24T19:42:00.005-04:00

I wish I could say that I was so inspired by the speed of my awesome movers that I quickly unpacked . . . but after that great first night in the new apartment (with no more highway noise!) I have been moving slowly today.

I caught up with the block lotto over coffee this morning and put togetherthe August sneak peek email, then unpacked the stuff in my car . . . with a break to cool down about midway. I went out for some essential shopping–ˆ couldn't resist these sunflowers. I cam home and finally started laungry and cleaning and unpacking. The boxes in the photo are mostly filled with boooks . . . isn't it interesting that however you organize your books on the shelf, when it comes time to pack them, all that really matters is size?

Grace Hopper has found a new hiding spot–I have no idea where–and is spending most of her time curled up there. If she's out, she's very vocal, clearly expressing her discomfort with change. Johnny is dozing on the top of the kitty jungle gym as if it and he was always here. Earlier, there was a bit of feline monkey-see, monkey do going on and I found him in the fireplace and Grace ready to join him. At the old place, I know that the sounds of the birds came into the apartment through the fireplace . . . I suspect they think now that they can get inside the fireplace, they have a better chance of actually finding a bird . . .

. . . on to some serious unpacking now . . .

My Awesome Movers

2011-07-23T16:58:00.004-04:00

Today was moving day and everything I couldn't move myself was moved by these two awesome guys.

They were fast. They were careful. They were incredibly strong. I had a million–OK, it was twenty-some–well-backed book boxes. I couldn't have carried just one of them up the stairs outside my apartment and they were putting 4-5 boxes on a dolley and practically running up the stairs with them ... in this incredible heat.

I have a car full of lighter, more fragile or just more easily NOT packed in boxes stuff . . . soon I'll bring it all in and start finding a place for everything–one of the movers did ask if my second bedroom was going to be a "junk room" (I'm guessing he was thrown by the presence of 4 x 8 sheets of insulation ;-)

Did I mention that they were very fast? As part of my move-in special, the apartment complex paid for three hours of movers . . . these guys finished in 2 hours 10 minutes. A nearly free move for me–they were so awesome, I did have to tip them enough for a few rounds of the Margueritas they were talking about as we wrapped up.

After a couple pretty horrible moves, I was really grateful for these awesome guys and the good work they did for me today.

Cinderkitty

2011-07-23T00:46:00.003-04:00

This afternoon, I packed up the rest of the kitchen, TV and computer and everything connected to them, and the cats and their stuff. It was 107 degrees at Fort Mabry when I passed it on my way from old apartment to new. Upon our arrival, I carried the cats in first and left them in their carriers in the living room while I brought in their stuff and set up litter box, water fountain and food. When I unzipped their carry bags, Johnny came out and made a pretty systematic tour of the new apartment, working his way counterclockwise from room-to-room. Grace Hopper made a beeline for the fireplace . . . which I'm thinking need some real doors to keep her from becoming a sooty cinder-kitty on a regular basis.

They both stayed hidden in the bathroom–Johnny in the cabinet under the sink, Grace behind the door under my bathrobe hanging there–while the cable guy was here . . . for more than two hours. While I obviously have internet, there are serious problems with the (new) cabling in every room and it seems there are a thousand and one cables in the wall. Cable guy is blaming the apartment construction guys and I know apartment property management will blame the cable guy. I'll admit that I probably watch too much TV, but I'm not quite ready to go from too much to none at all . . .

I can relate

2011-07-21T23:04:00.001-04:00

From alles-ausm-kopf

Thanks, Wendy, for the chuckle today.

Signs of a Good Lunch Place

2011-07-19T14:42:00.000-04:00

This week I've been bouncing back and forth between old apartment and new, preparing for the move, moving some of the small stuff, figuring out where/how everything will fit . . . and I confess that I've been grabbing too many meals on the run.

Today, as I stood in line to order a mojo fish taco for lunch today, it struck me that any place with a line out the door and people willing to sit outside to eat in 100-degree heat has to be pretty good.

So far, everything I've tried from their menu has been yummy, so the signs seem correct.

Keeping Cool at a Quilt Show

2011-07-16T19:47:00.001-04:00

Last weekend, a friend invited me to go with her to the Wildflower Quilt Guild's show in Temple. Here's a detail photo of the Best of show quilt, Anesthesia, by Janet Smith, quilted by Linda Buckner. You can see the entire quilt here: Anesthesia and all my photos from the show in my Flickr photo set, Wildflower Quilt Guild Show.

When Karen and I came across this Underground Railroad quilt, by Don and Phyllis Baker, we both confessed to having block of the month kits and decided to challenge one another to finish them. She's already started work on hers . . . I won't be able to get to mine until after I'm moved and settled in.

It was a really nice show and an impressive effort for a relatively small guild (about 100 members). After the show, we stopped for lunch at Las Casas, a local Tex Mex restaurant. It's well known for something called white wings–jalapeno and cheese wrapped in chicken breast meat, then wrapped with a couple strips of bacon and grilled.

Made smaller, I think they'd make great appetizers for a party . . . another thing to add to the project list for AFTER the move is done.

Only a Quilter

2011-07-15T10:41:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I was on the hunt for small moving boxes. I found some at a near-to-my-new apartment home improvement store . . . along with these sheets of Styrofoam (tm) insulation.

Maybe only another quilter will know immediately what this means and why it makes me so happy ;-)

Walking Around Campus with Friends

2011-07-15T09:39:00.003-04:00

Barbara and Debra were in Austin last week and invited me to join them.

We sat and talked about quilting and our lives a lot and walked around a little–because it was one of those triple-digit-days which have become the norm around here.

If you have seen some of their Madonna quilts, then you know that when we walked past this building on the way to lunch, it was a photographic opportunity for a portrait of them that I couldn't pass up.

After lunch, there was a quick stop in a vintage clothing store, then we walked through campus, where we ran into Barbara Jordan and Cesar Chavez . . . and some sunning turtles.

We finished the day with more sitting, more talking, some show and tell and then dinner. Thanks ladies.

Questions, Answers and Things Learned Along the Way

2011-07-06T17:41:00.002-04:00

Isn't it interesting what we learn from quilting discussions?

These Liberated Checkboard blocks are the choice for the July block lotto. I created them by first cutting the fabrics into a slanty 16-patch--my directions are here.

Krista ASKED why I didn't cut and assemble these in the same way as the Tic-Tac-Toe blocks we made last year. And then Sara posted some in-progress photos of that approach. Doh! I'm not sure why I couldn't see it that way. It's so much easier/faster . . . though certainly there are skills to be learned with both liberated approaches.

Yesterday, after I posted my winter themed Liberated Round Robin piece, June ASKED if I have everything stitched together or was I keeping the components separate, to be arranged and put together later. The simple answer is that yes, everything is sewn together, but the question prompted me to remember that I considered not sewing the "icicles" row onto the quilt in round one and how I initially had thought it would work better near the top of the quilt, but didn't want it against the top of my center block. Guess who ripped out that seam this morning (and wished she'd remembered to lengthen her stitches after she shorted them to stitch the foundation pieced log cabin blocks?) Here's the before and after.

Moving that row resolves a design issue for the next "round" for me. I am so glad that June ASKED.

Over the weekend, when the mailing information was sent out to the fifty-some quilters who made lotto blocks in June, Karen, in Australia, brought up a potential issue of sending cotton (and silk) to one of the nine winners, who lives in the Sultanate of Oman. I confess that when I am mailing quilt blocks to another quilter, I never before considered import/export/shipping restrictions and prohibited items. I couldn't find anything on the USPS web site; I found a list on the FedEx site that lists items that cannot be sent to Oman (but no cotton or silk); I felt stuck. I wondered if the prohibition was specific to some countries and not others, so I ASKED Kate, in the UK, if she could check for any prohibitions for sending cotton to Oman from England or Europe. She found a most excellent site - The Universal Postal Union, where the mystery of the prohibited cotton was solved. In the list of prohibited items to send to Oman was this line (emphasis mine):

Cotton or silk cloth as well as other cloth with designs representing coins, bank notes, securities of the Oman government or of other governments.

Isn't it interesting the things we can learn in a discussion about quilting? The questions and answers are interesting . . . and the places that the discussion can take us are wild.

Liberated Round Robin: Round 2

2011-07-05T21:49:00.003-04:00

The guideline for round 2 said the idea of a square is the shape to focus on for this round.

Here's my LibRR piece with 4 borders, based on squares added.

It's approximately 26 inches tall and 28 inches wide (at the widest point on the bottom edge). The smaller white log cabin blocks(above "icles" are 2". They were made using the same foundation stamp, but pieced without the last round of logs and trimmed to size.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can . . . bring this quilt back to an overall rectangle shape with the next round, which is all about strings and letters.

To check out more work-in-progress, check out the links at the bottom of the WOW (WIPS on Wednesday) post on Esther's Blog. Be sure to also check out Ether's beautiful crochet lace Tuscan Shawl ... it make me wish I knew more than the minimum when it comes to crochet.

Log Cabin Squares

2011-07-04T15:23:00.001-04:00

For the "Squares" round of the Liberated Round Robin, I immediately though of log cabin blocks. Here are my first 8 itty bitty (3 inch finished size) wonky log cabins.

While the logs in these log cabin are liberated, I confess that the technique for making them is not. When I decided that 3 inch (more of less) blocks would work for me, I remembered a stamp that a friend designed to stamp fabric with foundations for a wonky log cabin block. I was with her when she ordered one and so I asked if I could use her design for a stamp of my own ... and then never used it until today.

The ink is designed for textiles and is permanent. It worked pretty well for a morning of foundation piecing . . . without any foundation paper to be removed later.

Here's how the blocks look with my round robin piece on the design wall. They're not the entire story for my squares round, but they are a start ... I'm hoping to catch up before the next guidelines are published.

Check out more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times blog.

Red, White and Blue (scraps)

2011-07-02T19:42:00.000-04:00

When I read that red, white and blue was the July colorway in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I immediately thought of an old UFO, a Lone Star quilt made from red, cream and blue scraps that would be the perfect choice–it needs some red and blue applique and I still have plenty red and blue scraps. But when I went to pull it out of cold storage, it wasn't where I expected to find it . . . until it turns up, I'm going to work on these WIPs, which together are red, white and blue.

The red and white redwork seasons wall hanging needs a backing, quilting and binding. I haven't had the confidence to quilt around that redwork in the past, but I'm going to look at it as another excuse to practice my FMQ and have a go at it now.

The blue and white winter WIP is my project for the Liberated Round Robin. I've added the first round–triangles in the borders on the left and bottom . . . but the LibRR is already up to round 3, so I have some catching up to do. You can read my post about Round 1- Triangles on the LibRR blog here: Sophie's Triangle Round.

Liberated Checkerboard Block

2011-07-01T12:07:00.002-04:00

This liberated variation of the classic 16-patch block is easy to cut and sew . . . as long as you take care to keep things organized.

The blocks are made two-at-a time, beginning with 2 large squares. The finished size of your liberated checkerboard block will be 2-to-2 1/2 inches smaller than the these squares.

For the Block Lotto in July 2011 (and these examples), we used 10 inch squares to start: one white and one solid or tone-on-tone (TOT) print in a medium to dark value with high contrast.

CUT FABRICS

Place fabrics on the cutting mat, one on top of the other with edges aligned. Both fabrics must be right sides up.
Vertical cuts: make 3 straight cuts from the top edge to the bottom edge. The sections do not have to be even and the cut lines may be as slanty as you decide to make them. There should be at least one inch between the cuts and at the outside edges. I pulled the sections apart so that you could see them--you don't need to do that and can leave them just as they are on your cutting mat.
Horizontal Cuts: Make three straight cuts from left edge to right edge. If it makes it easier for you, you can rotate the mat (or walk around the table), but avoid moving the cut fabric pieces. The same 1-inch rule of thumb applies.

PREPARE TO SEW

Create the checkboard by swaping top and bottom fabrics of every other piece.
Carefully move to your sewing area–because these irregular shaped pieces will only go together ONE WAY, carefully move them close to your machine. I used a 12-inch square ruler as a platter to carefully transfer my pieces from cutting table to sewing table.

SEWING THE BLOCK

You now have the pieces for two Liberated Checkerboard blocks. Sew them together as a 16-patch. Here’s the approach I used to keep everything organized and correctly oriented–I’m a little dyslexic and so I need to be VERY careful or something will get turned around.

	1. Get Organized Carefully lay out the stacked pieces (for two blocks) next to your sewing machine to prepare for assembly.
	2. Begin Working Top-to-Bottom, Left-to-Right Flip each of the top fabrics in the second column, onto the first column, like turning a page in a book.
	3. Chain Sew the Pairs Sew the pairs together, from Top-to- Bottom. After you've sewn the pieces from the "top" block, repeat the process for the second block. Leave the four pairs of each block connected (by thread)—only snip the thread between blocks.
	4. Press after every set of seams I found it easiest to press after the pieces in each column are sewn. Always press toward the non-white fabric–it will make matching the seams easier later. This photo shows the BACK after the first set of seams have been sewn and pressed.
	5. Layout the Block with Sewn Pieces Put the sewn, and pressed section back in place in your block layout.
	6. Continue to Work Left-to-Right, Top-to-Bottom "Turn the pages" of the pieces in the third column and place them on top of the corresponding piece to the left. Chain sew these four seams as before. Add the third column to the second block of your pair.
	7. Press and Repeat Press the second set of seams and Repeat with the last column of squares. Your block will now consist of 4 sections (rows) that are held together at the intersections by the thread left in place from chain piecing.
	8. Sew the “rows” together Fold the top row down. If the seam intersections are connected by the thread from your chain piecing, you may find, as I did, that you do not need pins to accurately sew the seam, matching the intersections. Stitch and repeat for each row of both blocks until your checkerboard block PAIR is done.

You may decide to square-up all your blocks and trim to the same size. For the block lotto, we're sending the blocks UNTRIMMED and allowing the winner to decide how he or she will use them.

Here's a look at how 35 liberated checkerboard blocks randomly arranged might look--with block photos from Béa, Cathy, Cheri, Ginny, Jennifer, Julie, Kate, Kathie, Linda, Linnea, Mary Jane, Michelle and Toni.

Thanks to everyone for the great block photos that made this virtual quilt possible. If you make a quilt or other project from this liberated checkerboard block, I'd love to see it.

On the first day of Summer

2011-06-21T22:39:00.001-04:00

It's the first day of summer and what I felt like sewing was . . .

Go figure.

Another Finish

2011-06-20T13:06:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, I finished the binding on my FNSI project, the "super-rectangle" table topper--made from 9 of the 3-patch blocks that we are making for this month's Block Lotto.

Now, all I need is some flowers for that vase . . . and maybe the bookshelves could use a little straightening up, too ;-)

When a Project wants to be something ELSE

2011-06-20T11:44:00.001-04:00

When I read that the AAQI quilt-a-month club challenge for June included Winter theme, I thought about a pair of old unfinished challenges pieces in my UFO/WIP collection. Originally begun as part of another challenge, I thought the 8 x 16 inch pieces of my winter diptych could be re-worked into the 9 x 12 format. I removed some of the sky and could have chopped off the snow at the bottom of the piece, but I didn't think I'd like the proportions and the more I thought about it . . . another idea emerged.

I started to see a great place to start for a winter-themed round robin quilt. Maybe it's the fact that it's been 100-plus degrees hot-hot-hot here and I'm starting to wonder if a little winter in my life would be such a bad thing.

If the ladies in charge will accept me at this late date, I'll be joining the in-progress Liberated Round Robin . . . if I'm too late, I'll likely play along with this nested round robin group on my own.

To see more design walls/tables and work-in-progress, check out the links in Judy's Design Wall Monday post.

No longer on the work table at my house, is the pillow I made for the pink portion of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge last month. I like those pale-ish baskets so much more with their yo-yo "blooms" planted in them.

I sewed the quilted back and front sections together with the right sides on the outside and then bound the edges.

Playing with Patterns

2011-06-18T11:30:00.004-04:00

Here's how I spent my Friday Night Sew-In (FNSI)–playing with (quilting) patterns.

This is my table topper, a 18 by 27 inch "super" rectangle, made from 9 of the easy 3-patch rectangle blocks.

I decided that I would quilt each of the 27 different rectangles (3 in each block) with a different design. They are all based on quilting designs in Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project. I chose a bunch of the more organic-looking shapes, a mix of edge-to-edge, center fill, echoing and pivoting designs ... as well as mix of designs I liked and felt confident I could accomplish and some that I didn't think I'd like and thought were a bit beyond my technical reach.

Someone suggested variegated thread, so I pulled out a rainbow of sulky rayon threads from my thread box. The color changes didn't always work in a pleasing way . . . and I confess that I ripped out one design when it was almost completed because it didn't work at all ;-)

At the end of the night, the quilting was done. I plan to bind it, wash it, and put it on my table soon.

I enjoyed losing myself in this little project last night, even if, this morning, it doesn't necessarily feel like I accomplished a LOT. I always start the FNSI with a list of things I plan to work on . . .

In other news, I made a big covered button, with a cover pieced from scraps. The button and loop closure to the string pieced tote. The loop is actually a stretchy poly tail holder ;-)

Get ready, Get set, Sew

2011-06-16T10:05:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the third friday of the month and time for June's Friday Night Sew-in. Haven't decided on WHAT I'll be sewing, but I'm definitely planning to participate this month.

How about you? Participation is as easy as one-two-three:

Commit. Sign up and post your intention on your blog.
Sew. On Friday night, get your house and family settled, get comfortable and work on projects of your choice.
Share. Sometime on Saturday, publish a post about what you worked on (and share photos in the FNSI Flickr group–something I usually forget about, so I'm reminding myself here ;-)

The Zipper Experiment

2011-06-16T00:19:00.003-04:00

I finished the quilting on the front of the 3 Baskets pillow and ... found the courage to unzip the quilted back and slice through the batting and backing. I trimmed the batting, folded in the raw edge of the backing and stitched it to the zipper tape.

In the detail photo, you can see 3 of Leah Day's designs from her free motion quilting project: loose weave (on the basket), sea oats (in green, masquerading as vines for the yet-to-be-added yo-yo "flowers," and bed of roses in the background.

I probably could have finished the back of the zipper application more neatly/evenly, but it works . . . and I rationalized that no one except me (and now, you) will ever see the inside of the pillow and my wavy edge.

After this photo was taken, I added more filler-quilting to continue the quilting to the zipper.

I had a little brainstorm today about a project that won't need too many yellow scraps for the Rainbow Challenge, so I'm anxious to finish up this pillow and move on.

IF I still lived in Dallas

2011-06-15T15:19:00.001-04:00

The itty bitty loft that was my home in downtown Dallas would be a great place to be . . . to celebrate the Mavericks NBA Championship win.

No worries about traffic or parking, just a short walk to join the victory celebration. It's going to be quite a party.

What IF . . .

2011-06-13T15:11:00.000-04:00

When assembling and quilting those pink pieces, I asked myself that dangerous question, what if . . .

What if I assembled the back of the pillow cover, sewing in the zipper BEFORE I quilted it?

I've quilted the back with some flower designs from stencils (the yellow chalked desisngs), filling with a couple of filler designs (inspired by Leah Day) and avoiding the zipper area.

My plan is to unzip the zipper, slit the batting and backing and finish the cut edges with bias strips.

Probably there's a better way to do this . . . and I'm sure someone will leave a comment so I'll know better the next time. I probably could have done some research on the "right way" to insert a zipper into a quilted fabric, but I couldn't resist just running with the what if that was in my head.

Before I take the next steps and see if my crazy idea will work, I plan to quilt the front and add all those pink yo-yos.

To see more work in progress (and maybe a few other crazy ideas), check out the Design Wall Monday links on Judy's blog, The Patchwork times.

The Color of the Weekend is YELLOW

2011-06-12T12:07:00.003-04:00

Yellow is the color for June in the rainbow scraps challenge. The most challenging thing for me about working with yellow scraps is that, like others, I just don't have many of them.

I enjoyed making the small pink yo-yos last month (for a project that is not yet finished) so I thought I'd make some yellow flowers using the Clover tool–purchased at a quilt show a long, long time ago, but never used . . . until now.

Here are my first efforts.

I was thinking of black-eyed Susans when I added big black beads to the centers . . . even though these flowers really look nothing like them.

My idea was to chain them together and use them as a hatband for a wide brimmed straw hat that I'm cleaning up and re-working, but once they were in place, I didn't like it :-(

I'll wait for some new inspiration.

While I like the Clover tool, I don't think I'll be makng more flowers from quilting cotton. I think it would be wonderful to use with a silk chiffon, a handkerchief linen or other lightweight fabric. The flowers finish around 1 3/4 inch wide. I also bought the smaller 1 1/4 flower tool.

On a more successful note, I removed the blocking wires and T-pins from my shawl (Grace helped) and I am quite happy with the result.

World Wide Knit in Public Day is being celebrated this week–I haven't heard of any public knitting events near me, but I'll be casting on a new project soon and being on the lookout for kindred knitters.

Pay No Attention to the COLOR in these Photos

2011-06-10T19:04:00.002-04:00

The real news is that the extra ball of yarn arrived a couple days ago and it seems to be a close enough match, despite coming from a different dye lot.

I finished knitting last night and blocked the shawl this afternoon. The brightly colored modular interlocking rubber mats under the shawl really challenged my camera . . . but I still wanted to share my progress.

The biggest challenge of knitting this pattern in the Aran weight yarn was the P5 together that makes the "nubs" in the Lilies of the Valley pattern. Once I developed a technique for that stitch, it went very smoothly.

Here's a detail photo showing some of those lovely bobbly "nubs" and the final lace pattern.

I'm not sure if the knitting police would consider this "done," but I'm counting it as a finish ... and maybe, since the shawl was knit from some leftover skeins and the color for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge is yellow, it can count as a challenge project, too ;-)

A Rectangle for My Table

2011-06-08T17:28:00.002-04:00

I've been a little focused on rectangular proportions lately . . . as evidenced by my 3-patch rectangle block, created for the block lotto. I realized when I was making my blocks that you could take 9 blocks, mix them up in a random-looking lay out that measures 18 x 27 inches, maintaining those same golden-inspired proportions as the block. I'm calling it a super-rectangle.

I thought this size would be a nice size for a table topper for my small drop-leaf table. Then I started thinking about multiples. If you made FOUR super rectangles like this and sewed them together as a 4-patch, the result would be 36 x 54 inches or a crib size quilt. If you made a NINE-patch of super rectangles, the result would be 54 x 81 inches or a twin size quilt. I liked the idea of starting with rectangle block with nice proportions and making a quilt that shares those same proportions.

After Michelle posted on the Block Lotto blog about making a 42 x 54 inch quilt top using 42 3-patch rectangle block, made from 4 fabrics in 3 hours and 15 minutes, from cutting to done . . . I decided to sew a completely scrappy version of the golden rectangle for my table and time myself along the way.

To make nine 3-patch blocks without using any fabric twice, I'd need 27 fabrics. I used my everyday dishes as my color inspiration choosing tone-on-tone fabrics from the fruits and the blue on the handles and rims. (There are also pears on some of the pieces. I really enjoyed the process of really looking at the mugs and seeing the many colors in each fruit (and leaf) and tried to represent them with fabrics from my scraps.

Time to select 27 fabrics from scraps: 20 minutes

Time to randomly cut the large and small rectangles from the fabrics: 25 minutes

One could lay out all the blocks before beginning to sew, but I didn't ;-)

Time to sew randomly selected rectangles into nine 3 patch blocks: 25 minutes (including the time to rip out and re-sew one of the blocks–something that I thought was a batik actually wasn't ... and I sewed it wrong side up)

Next came the biggest chunk of time . . . where I arranged and re-arranged those blocks until I was happy enough with the arrangement to sew them together: 30 minutes.

(if you like one of these better than my actual super rectangle, don't tell me ;-)

Another quilter might have worked out the color placement in advance with colored pencils or a computer program . . . but, personally, I like moving around actual pieces of fabric.

Time to sew the 9 blocks into a rectangle for my table, press it and be ready to layer and quilt: 10 minutes

Total elapsed time: just under 2 hours.

As soon as I decide on thread color(s), my plan is to quilt it with 27 of Leah's FMQ filler designs, one in each rectangle. It will be good practice for me and interesting texture on my table.

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be ...

2011-06-07T15:12:00.005-04:00

. . . talk to recruiters day. I'm not complaining–job hunting is much easier when the phone is ringing. I suspect that, on Monday, staffing agencies start their week by looking at their new requirements and looking through resumes for a match; then on Tuesdays, the recruiters reach out and touch all the people behind those resumes.

On the job front, I AM talking to lots of recruiters and interviewing with interesting companies–both on the phone and in person–but . . . am beginning to have that always a bridesmaid, never the bride feeling as the feedback continues to be that they liked me for the position and the decision was close, but . . . they went with another candidate.

This morning, before it hotted up to what is expected to be another record-breaking high, I went for a walk to the post office and the grocery store. I dug out a straw hat with a wide brim and thought about how I will rework it a little for this summer. The Lantana trees near my house are already in full bloom and looking gorgeous.

Outside the post-office, under the eaves, on top of spikes clearly intended to discourage nest building, there were several nests like these–look close and you'll see mama sitting atop that mess, guarding her eggs.

She made me wonder if all species have the ability to be stubborn?

She also made me think of a friend who recently told me in an email that she hasn't yet turned on only air conditioner–a window air conditioner with a potted plant on top of it ... a Carolina wren made a nest in a potted plant. She's hoping for cool weather because it's going to be a while before the eggs hatch and before the babies fledge.

Seriously, doesn't it seem a little bit beyond instinctual and just plain stubborn, birds taking on man and building construction when they choose to build their own homes?

I confess to spending most of my time in air-conditioned comfort . . . though it does seem to be a little bit crazy to be knitting when the weather is like this.

Actually, the knitting temporarily stopped on Friday because, even though I have been knitting with fingers crossed . . . on Thursday night, I ran out of yarn . . . with 10 long rows to go. Even unblocked, I think it's looking pretty wonderful.

The pattern did say that I would need a bit more yarn than I had, but I was using a different weight yarn than any of the options listed on the pattern and someone on Ravelry who had made the same pattern using exactly the same yarn, said she used less–in fact exactly the same number of skeins as me . . . so while I thought it would be close, I believed I would make it.

Thursday night, when the yarn ran out, I looked online and only found a single skein, on clearance. Miraculously, it was the same color, though undoubtedly a different dye lot. The shipping was almost twice the cost of the sale-priced skein of yarn. I decided to sleep on it.

Friday, I woke up with an idea of how I could shorten the last border, which is at the top in this photo, and make it work. I unknit several rows and then re-knit them. I knew I wasn't going to like the proportions, but I persevered. But I didn't account for how much yarn the "elastic bind off" was going to take and when I had a little more than half of the three hundred and some stitches bound off . . . it once again became clear that I didn't have enough yarn. And so, once again, I unraveled the bound off stitches and put everything back on the needles and then backed out my foreshortened last border, reknit the pattern as written as far as I could go and . . . called the yarn shop in Rhode Island that has the last skein of this rough silk yarn.

As a result of my experimentation, I know I want to knit the last border as written because it creates the swallow-tail that gives this shawl it's name. So even if the new yarn, when it arrives, is a bad match, I will likely use it . . . and overdye the whole thing to conceal the mis-matched dye lots.

I suppose I'm being a little stubborn, too, and really want to knit the shawl as written no matter what (even with yarn from mis-matched dye lots ;-)

Until then, I am thinking about the next summer knit . . . I think I have some cotton yarn in my stash that might be perfect for the Boutique Sweater that Crazy Aunt Purl has been blogging about. It's another one of those knits that are right for the air conditioned summer environment.

The Easiest Lotto Block Ever!

2011-06-06T11:35:00.001-04:00

Lately, I have been noticing the pleasing proportions of rectangle blocks. The quilts are usually made from rectangles cut from a single fabric, or improvised "made" fabric and set with wide, plain sashings.

It prompted me to do some reading about the golden rectangle and think about quilts and quilt blocks with similar proportions.

Out of all that thinking came the easiest Lotto Block ever. I'm calling it a 3-patch rectangle (the link goes to the block directions page). Because the block is so easy, the real challenge this month is paying close attention to color. We're making violet-blue-green blocks, avoiding the warm red-violets and yellow-greens. It has led some of us to question, how green is our green stash or how purple (and not red-violet) are our purples?

This is what fifteen 3-patches look like–I got a little carried away this month and made 16 blocks so I could play with some setting ideas.

You can see all the blocks that everyone has made so far, on the block lotto blog, here.

These blocks would be a good choice for a quick quilt and would, I think, also make an interesting background for appliqué. I am planning to make a table topper from 9 blocks using tone-on-tone fabrics and practicing free motion quilting designs in each of the rectangles.

For a look at what's on other quilters' design walls/floors/tables, check out Judy Laquidera's Design Wall Monday blog post today.

Three-patch Rectangles

2011-05-31T21:43:00.002-04:00

This simple 6 inch by 9 inch (finished size) block was influenced by the proportions of the golden rectangle.

It showcases the fabrics used and/or the quilting design. It's quick and easy construction makes it a good choice for a last minute gift or a quilt-in-a-day project.

For the June 2011 Block Lotto, we are making blocks in an analogous colorway of green-blue-violet, including one green, one blue and one violet fabric in each block.

CUTTING

For each block,

Cut 1 rectangle - 4.5 x 6.5 inches
Cut 2 rectangles - 3.5 x 5.5 inches

SEWING THE BLOCK

Sew the two smaller rectangles together, along their long sides, Press toward the darker fabric.
Add the large rectangle to the top. Press the seam toward the large rectangle. The block should measure 6 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches.

Here is a sampling of blocks made by some quilters in the Block Lotto community.

For a clean, minimalist look, surround each of the blocks with wide borders in a solid neutral–simulated by white space here–and arrange them all with the same orientation:

For more virtual blocks and layout ideas, check out the June Guidlines for the Block Lotto

Pink Progress

2011-05-30T00:29:00.017-04:00

My basket blocks have been trimmed and sewn together with a narrow border and I've sewn a couple other rectangles from large pink scraps.

With two days left in May, I hope to finish this small (but very scrappy) project in time so I can start thinking about the color of June . . . and get a much earlier start on playing with those scraps ;-)

Check out Judy's Patchwork Times blog o see more work-in-progress on the design wall.

Working by Hand

2011-05-29T18:37:00.001-04:00

When I fall out of the habit of handwork, I forget how calming and meditative it can be ... until I have a reason to sit and stitch.

I labelled the recently finished tote as a "knitting bag," in part, to inspire me to pull something out of my yarn stash and knit something.

This is a rugged version of Evelyn Clark's Swallowtail shawl. The yarn, Reynold's Mandalay, is an Aran weight silk (which, for non-knitters, is a pretty chunky yarn). I am thinking the finished silk shawl will be the perfect summer wrap for movie theaters and other over-air conditioned venues. You can see photos of finished Swallowtails and get an idea of how this might look when it's finished and blocked on this Knit-a-long blog.

I was enjoying the knitting so much that I wanted to find something to hand stitch and decided to add some Yo yos-as-flowers to my pink basket blocks. The Clover Yo-Yo makers make it easy to sit and turn a handful of scraps into delicious little circles. I used the African porcupine quill to arrange the folds in the small yo-yos–a tip I learned years ago in a ribbon flowers workshop with Candace Kling. It's a great tool to use for manipulating fabrics when fingers are too fat.

All the positive bio-feedback from hand-work had me thinking about what's next . . . until I remembered the pre-printed "wholecloth" pillow-sized project I bought from Sew Batik at the Dallas quilt show a couple months ago. It's been years since I picked up any hand-quilting. I'm long overdue and looking forward to it.

An Eleventh Hour Start

2011-05-28T15:17:00.001-04:00

I had a couple pink projects in mind but haven't been able to find the time and inclination until today. The stress of the job hunt is beginning to wear.

Today–with only four days of May left–I finally made a start. These basket blocks are approximately 6 by 11 inches. I started with some more of the leftover bits of string fabric (that I just can't seem to toss) and some pink scraps. I have a plan and . . . a deadline.

Last weekend, as I was making the light string blocks for Strings & Chocolates quilt, I noticed that quite a few of them had pink fabrics and then in a light bulb moment, I saw that I could use them as the basket in a liberated basket block.

I've become such a silent participant in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge that I had to post this meager beginning, if only to let my rainbow friends know that I'm still in the game;-)

Almost Finished

2011-05-27T13:07:00.001-04:00

I will likely add a button closure, but other than that (and a wash to take out chalk I used to mark the spines for the quilting), it is done ;-)

Inspired by some other totes I've seen made from this pattern, I made (yet more) string fabric to use for one side of the straps. I also added some metal rectangles to attached the straps to the bag.

Now . . . to decide upon a summer knitting project to put inside ;-)

Not exactly a silk purse from a sow's ear

2011-05-24T19:20:00.003-04:00

After I finished adding the mitered border to the string quilt in the previous post, here's what was left.

I had 4 of the original string squares from the block lotto that weren't used in the quilt and the 8 triangles trimmed away when I mitered the corners of the string pieced borders. The angles of the strings weren't consistent–I feared that any design that put them side-by-side would be too confused.

I added black to the triangles and squared all the blocks to the same size, about 5 1/2-inches square. My plan is to make a smallish tote to hold a knitting project. My directions for a tote like this are here: Summer Tote from Orphan Blocks.

I have the four sections for the bag assembled and quilted. Lately I look at small projects like these as an opportunity to practice–as you can see, I am still working on quilting unmarked feathers, constrained to fit a designated space.

The thread was pretty randomly chosen from my thread stash ... I don't think I've ever used something with so much contrast . . . but doing so really forced me to see where I wiggled, jiggled or quilted myself into a corner :-)

Check out other quilters WIP s on Wednesday (WOW) on Ester's Blog.

The Story Thus Far

2011-05-22T20:37:00.002-04:00

Every quilt has a story--here's the story of this quilt-in-progress thus far.

A few years ago I won a set of 6 inch square string blocks in the Block Lotto. Half were made from light colors fabrics, half were made from dark strings. I always planned to use them as fabric, cut them up and do something, but my idea of what that something was kept changing. Plus, whenever I had an idea, it always seemed to need more string squares . . .

Last winter during Nancie's Bring Your Own Stash (BYOS) class, while I was working on a very traditional looking quilt and making my blocks from vintage feed sacks, inspiration hit and I decided I would make a variation of her road trip quilt using the string squares. I loved the totally different look you could get from the same basic unit.

I decided I wanted to use the dark and light values of the string blocks in my design and so I decided to make light and dark pieced blocks and alternate them.

Once again, I knew I was going to need more light string squares and so, in February, I made some.

In February, in the block lotto, we were also making string blocks and turning them into heart blocks with dark backgrounds. I really liked the look of those blocks and decided to use a bundle of dark, neutral hand dyed fabrics that I had purchased by the pound at an incredible yard sale at the MSU Museum. Although there are deep blues and reds and violets in those fabrics, they make me think of chocolates . . . and I have come to think of this quilt-in-the-making as Strings & Chocolates.

This afternoon, I pieced the string borders. Since the string fabric in the blocks was pieced on a foundation fabric, I cut a dozen 7 x 19 inch rectangles--sized to to keep the "blocks" manageable--from muslin and chose strings that were medium-to-dark to tie to those almost disappearing blocks made from the dark strings.

I had planned to put string pieced fan shaped blocks in the corners of the border, but after I spread the top on the floor and laid the border rectangles around it, I knew that the corners should be mitered to echo the mitered look of the center of the blocks. More foundations were cut and I returned to the bottomless bag of fabric strips and put together some smaller rectangular string blocks to extend the border on each side long enough for the mitered corners.

I ran out of steam before I could finish, but all the string pieces for the border are done and–even just folded into place--I can already tell that I like the revised, mitered border design very much.

Check out the projects on more design walls/floors/tables on Judy Laquidera's Design Wall Monday blog post.

Ten Thousand

2011-05-06T09:57:00.002-04:00

The exhibit Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak To Hope has premiered. You can read more about it on the AAQI blog.

Ami asked, "Let’s get 10,000 views—one for each person whose name is featured in the exhibit." I think it's a wonderful idea. It still blows my mind and breaks my heart that there are ten thousand people represented here.

Virtual Quilting

2011-05-04T09:50:00.004-04:00

There's no real reason for the lack of quilting in my life lately. It just hasn't been happening.

If the Block Lotto sometimes seems to demand too much of my time, it also keeps me connected to quilting by sewing blocks, sometimes writing directions and almost always creating the monthly virtual quilt.

This month we're making Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Blossom blocks in a subdued scrappy colorway: gray and gold (or yellow) are included in each block. Details here.

A benefit of all that photo cropping and editing and HTML code copy-pasting to create the virtual quilt is that I get to see how well my color guidelines translate into blocks that will ultimately play nicely together in the quilts made by winners ... and I can randomly insert photos of my blocks into the mix to see how well I did in making blocks that contribute to pulling the whole thing together.

You can click any of the "blocks" in the virtual quilt for a closer look or find all the individual block photos on Flickr here: Pineapple Blossom

Someone in the block lotto community said that her husband complimented her blocks on the wall. I think somehow the grays make these blocks feel gender neutral and, perhaps, a bit more contemporary than an all-out scrappy quilt.

Fun with Zippers

2011-04-29T12:35:00.000-04:00

When I read on Linda's Stray Stitches blog that today was National Zipper Day, I thought it was a good day to blog about my own recent adventure with a zipper.

This is a small candy wrapper style bag (coin purse sized), made from folded paper, complete with a sewn-in zipper. I made it last week. I seem to be cursed with a fascination by how things are made and after seeing some interesting bags, I wanted to learn how to make my own.

A couple weekends ago, I went to Market Days in Gruene, Texas. The trip was an excuse to check out the area--a company near there had contacted me about a possible job and I had no frame of reference for thinking about moving in that direction. (My contract gig ended last month and I am once again on the job hunt.) One of the interesting vendors there was Debbie Jo who was selling these cool bags in various sizes, made from folded, laminated wrapping paper which are cut and folded like candy wrappers.

The photo shows a couple of Debbie Jo's bags that were hanging in her booth.

I loved the feel of these bags--the "fabric" was not only interesting, but seem to have so much structural integrity. There were no gaps or holes and even though there was no fabric lining, the zipper was beautifully sewn in with what looked to be a pretty pick stitch visible from the inside.

In addition to her finished bags, Debbie Jo also sells kits and has an instructional DVD–the link will take you to her Etsy shop–so people fascinated with learning how things are made can make their own.

Although I wanted one of those large size bags, I also thought it would be fun to choose my own paper (or possibly print or my own) and so, to learn the technique, I bought the smallest kit along with the DVD and made this little bag.

I was warned that sometimes smaller is more challenging ... but, even if my finished little back is imperfect, I think I got the basics and will try a larger one this summer.

The Circle Game

2011-04-16T09:26:00.003-04:00

It didn't feel like much of a sew-in, but there was some (hand) sewing–if the running stitches in the seam allowance of all those circles count– and at the end of the night I had prepared these 40 circles for machine appliqué . . . it seems a little less impressive in the morning light ;-)

I am using this method for the circles: Preparing Circular Elements for Appliqué

No, I did NOT decide to add appliqué to the sampler quilt, these circles, along with the leaves that will turn them into "flowers" will be going onto the setting triangles for Road Trip to the 30's, my BYOS quilt made from feed sacks.

One More Border?

2011-04-14T11:55:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow night is the Friday Night Sew-in in Blogland. (Follow the link if you want to learn more or play along.)

I plan to finish up the Lotto Block Sampler--not sure if I will add a narrow cream border and call it done, add a final plain border (I'm thinking purple, but could be under the influence of the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge).

I put it on the bed to see if that perspective would provide any insight.

Is it wrong to make the quilt just a little bit bigger so it will fit on the bed . . . even if my original intention was NOT to make a bed quilt? And what about those big white spaces I've created around the outside of the quilt. Does the quilt seem to need some appliqué or should I leave those quiet spaces alone, knowing that when the quilt is quilted, they won't seem so empty?

Did you notice the tail in the photo above?

Probably the only thing Grace enjoys more than admiring quilting fabric or sewn blocks is helping to make the bed.

She seemed to think that the new quilt would make a great bed cover . . . she even held on tight to the in-progress top when I tried to take it away.

The Quilt Speaks

2011-04-11T09:46:00.002-04:00

My best laid plans to add some plain borders to the Lotto Blocks sampler quilt and call it done were foiled by the quilt–it kept insisting that I needed to more gracefully terminate those Knot and Chain blocks ...

. . . and so I pieced some half blocks–technically 60% blocks–and cut some plain rectangles.

Maybe the quilt was right. I think it IS better.

(Yes, at the bottom of the photo, the quilt is crumpled like that because I had to chase Johnny out from under it. Grace was watching from a nearby chair and waiting to see if he was going to get into trouble ;-)

You can check out the other design walls (floors, tables, etc) by following the links at the bottom of Judy's Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday blog post.

Ruby McKim's 101 Patchwork Patterns

2011-04-09T20:21:00.000-04:00

I was poking around looking for a copy of Ruby McKim's original book, One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns and found that an online version has been created at the website 101patchworkpatterns.com
by the youngest granddaughter of Ruby Short McKim, Merrily McKim Tuohey.

It's fun to read through the introductory sections on quiltmaking and notice how much has (or has not) changed in 80 years.

You can download all the patterns--templates are provided for ALL of them. Since the advent of the rotary blade and rulers, the modern quilter probably wouldn't use templates to create most of these blocks, but it's a great resource for hand piecers.

I think the Strawberry block would be fun to handpiece (and easier than machine sewing it).

Purple Progress

2011-04-09T13:25:00.003-04:00

It seemed like this ball of leftovers from cutting purple triangles from my scraps would be all I would have to show for my progress with the purple portion of the Rainbow Scraps Challenge.

. . . until I got inspired last night and sewed together 8 more blocks for my very scrappy quilt.

I kept seeing the star in this block and didn't realize–until I looked it up in Brackman's Encyclopedia this morning–that the block is Broken Dishes. It was first published by Ruby McKim in One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns in 1931 (and republished by Dover in 1962)

I am really liking this variation, where the placement of dark and medium triangles create the star.

I was chatting with a friend last night and mentioned that I have NEVER cut all the fabrics for a quilt before I begin sewing--she is making a quilt using a kit and did all her cutting up front.

The quilt I will make from these blocks is my best example of why not. There will be more than THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED triangles in this thing when it's done . . . and there's no way I could ever have endured that much cutting, cutting, cutting.

Do you cut everything you need for a quilt before you begin? Am I a quilting odd-ball because I like to mix up the cutting and sewing (and leave myself options if I change my mind along the way?)

After I finished these purple blocks this morning, I couldn't resist combining them with some of the blue, red and green blocks.

I'm not sure if I will arrange them in an organized way, but am thinking that if I decide to do so, it would be a good idea to work on the layout so I know before I get there, how many of each color I'll need.

What do you think? Trip Around the Broken Dishes?

Check out the links at the bottom of this post to see what other quilters are sewing for their rainbow scrap challenge.

My Feline Helpers on the Design Floor

2011-04-03T11:58:00.002-04:00

Last night, I put together the sampler and alternate blocks ... and I had help.

While Johnny was the first to discover me working on the design floor, Grace–a true lover of textiles–was the most persistent in helping me put the blocks together. That girl loves fabric.

Johnny just wants to be my priority, whatever I am doing . . .

I did manage to get the blocks together and am now thinking about borders.

(If you're wondering, I really don't like those two yellow blocks one atop the other either ... I'm sure I must have flipped something when I was assembling the blocks, but I've decided I can live with it.)

Taking the photo of the in-progress quilt was not without its challenges because Johnny insisted I needed his help as you can see here, here and here. I would chase him off the top, but as soon as I stepped onto the step stool for a better perspective shot, he ran back in ... even when I convinced to stay off the top, he insisted on getting himself into the frame.

Grace Hopper showed up fashionably late–she'd been napping in the closet–and missed her close-up.

Edited on Monday to add if you want to see more design floors, walls and other work in progress, head on over to Judy's blog and see what everyone else is up to.

Purple?

2011-04-02T15:04:00.000-04:00

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge has not yet been posted ... but the background color of on the blog has recently been updated to a nice shade of purple, so I took a leap of faith, pulled out my purple scraps.

After making all those green and cream alternate blocks, I realized I was missing a couple of the lotto blocks we made in 2006. This one is from Quilter's Cache and is called That Thirties Thing.

For the lotto, we made these paper foundation pieced blocks in red, white and blue and I used the pattern to create a flickr photo tutorial of paper piecing.

I like it as a shaded monochrome ring, too.

Block Lotto Synchronicity in Red & White

2011-04-01T11:05:00.002-04:00

When a quilter walks through almost any quilt show, they will see quilt designs they (or friends) have made and designs that they want to make.

A couple of the quilts reminded me of block patterns that we have made for the Block Lotto ... or would be making in April.

We made a liberated version of the "asterisk" blocks in the quilt at the top of this photo last summer, called Fireworks.

This quilt based on the block pattern known as The Clover Blossom was fresh in my mind when I was in New York for the exhibit last weekend because I had been looking for a documented name for a simplified design that Kate had suggested for the Block Lotto.

I thought The Clover Blossom block was probably it's closest documented relative, so I suggested the block name, Modern Clover for the much simpler block.

I put together directions for making a 6 inch (finished size) version here:

Modern Clover Quilt Block

And here are some of the blocks I made for our scrappy color-way this month.

You can see many more lovely, scrappy examples of this block on the Block Lotto blog.

One more bit of Block Lotto synchronicity . . . in March 73 quilters made 436 red & white D4P blocks. I don't know if they were influenced by the Infinite Variety buzz or if it was just a fun block in a classic color combination . . . but this represents a record number of lotto blocks made in one month. NINE winners will be receiving at least 48 blocks--a great start on a red & white quilt for their own collection. I think Joanna Rose would be happy with our success.

Someone recently shared a link to this video of the Infinite Variety exhibit and it seems like a good place for me to (finally) stop posting about the show.

Modern Clover Quilt Block

2011-04-01T02:35:00.002-04:00

When Kate sent a drawing of this block to me, I didn't realize it was a Kate original and went looking for the name of the block. The closest block pattern I found (in Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns was The Clover Blossom . . . and so I dubbed Kate's simplified version the Modern Clover. Because of my research, I immediately recognized The Clover Blossom quilt at the Infinite Variety exhibition.

Kate's block is easily assembled from 4 units--three Half-Square Triangles and a Stem.

The leaf units are made from green and cream fabrics. You'll need two leaf units.
The bloom unit is made from two shades of the same (non-green) color. You'll need only one of these.

For the April 2011 Block Lotto, we will be making a 6 inch Modern Clover block from 3 inch units, using green for the leaves and stem, cream background and two shades of any non-green color for the blossom.These are finished sizes, the units, before they are sewn together should measure 3 1/2 inches and the block will be 6 1/2 inches before it is sewn into a quilt top.

HALF SQUARE TRIANGLE UNITS

Known as half-square-triangles (HST, for short) or triangle squares, there are a lot of ways to make this useful building block unit. Once you find the method that works best for you and become confident making them, you'll be amazed at the quilt block patterns that you can (easily!) make.

The method you use may be influence by the number of HST units you need to make from the same pair of fabrics. If you decide to make a bunch of clover blocks with the same background and leaf fabrics, you might want to make all those units in one fell swoop using Thangles or Triangle Paper or a similar commerical product.

Making many HSTs

Using Thangles, you begin with strips of fabric that are 1/2 inch wider than the finished size of your HST unit. For example, for our 3 inch units, you would begin with 3 1/2 inch strips of your two fabrics. Read about How Thangles Work on their web site. Triangles on a Roll is a similar product.

With other sew-on-the-line products, you begin with two rectangles, place the printed paper (or lightweight non-woven interfacing-like product) on top, pin in place and sew on the dotted or dashed lines and, after all the seams are sewn, cut on the solid lines to create a bunch of HST units. You can download and print free gridded paper from Block Central. Using their 3-inch HST paper (finished size), you would begin with two 8-1/2 inch squares of fabric to make 8 HST units--enough leaf units for four blocks. As with anything you download, always be sure to measure the 1" arrow to make sure your computer did not "scale to fit" or otherwise chances the dimensions. Commercial products are printed on larger than printer-paper sized sheets--you use larger rectangles of fabric and produce more HSTs at a time.

Making 1 or 2 HSTs

For the most common method for making a pair of HST units, you begin with two fabric squares that are 7/8" larger than the desired finished size. Many quilters will cut the squares 1" larger because it's easier to measure and you can trim afterward. This method is described nicely on the About Quilting site here:

Quick and Easy Half-Square Triangle Units

If you have a fabric cutter, you can easily cut one or two triangles from some smallish scraps to make HST units. (FYI, this is not a product placement, I actually bought and use that Go! baby, but can't compare it to anything else ... )

STEM UNIT

For a 3 inch (finished size) stem unit,

Cut:
One 3 1/2 inch square of stem fabric (green)
Two 3 1/8 inch squares of background fabric (cream)

Assemble the stem

Place a smaller background of background fabric on top of the larger square of stem fabric, right sides together, with one corner and adjoining edges perfectly aligned.

Draw a stitching line from corner to corner on the smaller square. For a bonus triangle, draw a second line, parallel to the first, 1/2 inch away (toward the aligned corner).
Stitch on the drawn line(s).
Cut between the stitch lines . . . or 1/4 inch away from the single stitch line if you don't opt for the bonus triangle square.
Press.
Repeat steps 1-5 with the second smaller background square, placing it so that it is aligned with the opposite corner and other two sides of the background square.

PUTTING THE CLOVER BLOCK TOGETHER

Lay out the four units for your Clover block. Looking at it in an on-point fashion, keep the LIGHT fabric (in the blossom HST) on the LEFT. If you used different leaf fabrics, then place the LIGHTER leaf on the LEFT. If the leaf fabrics are the same, but the backgrounds are different, place the one with the LIGHTER background on the LEFT.

Sew the units together like a four patch, first in pairs and then press.

Sew two pairs together and you are done.

SOME INSPIRATION FROM THE BLOCK LOTTO COMMUNITY

These blocks were made by Karen, Liz, Maree, MB, Pat, Susan and Wendy.

More Words . . . About the Infinite Variety Exhibit

2011-03-30T21:49:00.004-04:00

If Joanna Rose's red & white quilts have captured your imagination, you might want to read what others have had to say:

Simon Schama in the Financial Times
James Barron in the New York Times
Katherine Clarke in the Wall Street Journal
Marlon Bishop on WNBC
Lizzie Crocker in The Daily Beast
Angela Riechers in Metropolis Magazine
Samuel Parker in The Last Magazine
Alice Dana Spencer in Handeye Magazine
Martha Stewart on The Martha Blog
Paddy Johnson on Art Fag City
James Andrew on What is James Wearing
BWW News Desk on Broadway World.com

I believe the exhibit will turn out to have an important impact on quilts and quilt exhibits, both because of the wonderful exhibit design and the treatment of these sometimes quite simply made quilts as art.

Speaking of exhibit design, since I've been home, I've read that the circular nature of the pavillions created as part of the exhibit are a nod to the quilting circles and bees, also more literally represented by the chairs, draped with quilts at the center of the show. I like that idea.

Words on Quilts

2011-03-30T16:03:00.002-04:00

I love words on quilts and, apparently, so does Joanna Rose, as there were many quilts with words as well as signature quilts from her collection in Infinite Variety.

Many people stood looking up at this quilt for a while, puzzling out it's meaning ... happily satisfied when they saw the names, pieced from small hexagons inside the larger ones.

Here are a couple more of my photos of a couple of the word quilts and signature quilts from the show (as usual, click for a larger image)

On the redwork quilt on the left, names are embroidered on the embroidered blades of a fan–just like one you might have had as a child (I did).

On the detail photo of the "signed" schoolhouse quilt below right, it was interesting to see how some blocks only had a few names and others, like you can see, were covered with names on both the red and white areas of the block.

I think all the young, modern quilters must have especially loved all the "hexie" quilts in the collection. The quilt below was constructed completely from itty bitty hexagons, even the big white background areas.

(last photo from the iPhone app, because I had to include it ;-)

How They Did It

2011-03-29T13:21:00.000-04:00

If you are curious about how the display for Infinite Variety was created, the American Folk Art Museum has photos–of which this is one–posted on Flickr here: "Infinite Variety" Installation Shots

As you can see in the foreground of this photo, each "row" was hung and then the quilts were raised and the next "row" added. Notice the crane being used in the background, too.

It must have been amazing to watch this all come together.

It's Here

2011-03-29T12:21:00.000-04:00

I just installed the iPhone app.

It looks and works just like the HD version available for the iPad.

It's free and I can't imagine a quilter or quilt appreciator who wouldn't enjoy it.

There are individual photos of all the quilts in this amazing show–I know, I know, I promise to stop gushing about it soon ;-)

The individual quilt pages look like this. You click the image to make it full screen and can zoom in further using standard iPhone/iPad gestures.

I'm thinking with this on my phone, I will never be bored standing in line again . . .

To find it, go to the iTunes store and search for Infinite Variety.

Your search results will include this:

We did ask the techies at the show and, sorry, no plans to produce a version for android devices :-(

I wish I thought of it ...

2011-03-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

This photo, isn't one of mine. I found it on the Park Avenue Armory website.

I wish I had thought about laying down on the wooden floor of the Armory and looking up like this ... and taking a photo, of course ;-)

Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibit. If you can go, GO. It's worth the trip.

Flour Sacks!

2011-03-29T09:35:00.002-04:00

It is probably because I am working on my own quilt from patterned, vintage feed sacks, Road trip to the 1930's, that this quilt really caught my eye at the Infinite Variety show.

In this redwork quilt, each block is made from a flour sack with the company name and logo, carefully embroidered by the quiltmaker.

I thought it might be fun to try a couple of these as designs myself, so I took a few detail photos of my favorites.

Do you recognize any of these brands? My friend says that Carnation is still using this logo.

Look Up

2011-03-28T11:15:00.000-04:00

At the Infinite Variety exhibit, you saw a lot of people that were looking up, just like the man that stepped into my frame just as I was taking this photo. The quilts were arranged in cylinder-like pavillions, hung back to back, 3-5 quilts high, with enough space between them, that you could also see the quilts beyond in other pavillions.

Here is a view, from the inside of one pavillion, looking up.

You could walk around the outside of these large cylinder shapes to see the quilts on the exterior and then go inside to see the interior quilts.

There were no labels, no quilt names, no quilters' names (except as they appeared as part of the design), no artist statements. Only the quilts.

It was interesting to notice the taste of the collector. For example, although these quilts spanned three centuries, there were very few political or patriotic quilts--my non-quilting friend kept looking for a "flag quilt."

I will be blogging about some of my favorites in the next few days. You can see my photos in the flickr photoset Infinite Variety.

If you have an iPad, grab the (free) Infinite Variety app. It has individual photos of all the quilts. There is also an app for the iPhone which hasn't yet been released to the app store.

Incredible!

2011-03-28T00:05:00.000-04:00

If you saw the promotional postcard, did you think they were really going to hang the quilts ... like this?

This is the view as you walked through the doors of the exhibit space at the Armory on Park Avenue in NYC. It was the most inventive, creative, AMAZING display of quilts I've ever experienced.

How Green is my ... Design Wall

2011-03-20T19:03:00.002-04:00

I haven't made time to quilt in so long, so National Quilting Day seemed to be a good reason to dip into my scraps and get busy.

First, I cut and sewed triangles and made more scrappy stars in shades of the designated color for March, green. I want to make more, but the five star blocks on the left side are a start.

Then I pulled out my cream/tan scraps and made six inch 9-patches and two inch 4-patches and some strips to put them together into single chain and knot blocks–alternate blocks for a sampler quilt that I am now almost ready to put together.

Then I cut more green and cream scraps, combined them with some other colors and made some sample blocks for the April Block Lotto ... which I can't share until April 1.

I hope I'll find time before the end of the month to make more stars, more crumb blocks and . . . maybe make green and cream doll quilt.

Edited to add ... it's all Julie's fault. I saw the leftover green bits on her wall and started playing with mine. It's 11 inches square right now ... I'm not sure if it's done (mug rug?) or if it will grow into that doll quilt.

Right now, I'm thinking it could be interesting on-point with some applique setting squares and more--yes I have more leftover--4 patches.

What is on your design wall? Check out more design walls at Judy Laquidera's blog Patchwork Times.

The rest of the red scrap projects

2011-03-01T00:01:00.004-05:00

Put a short February and the Flu together and ... well, I feel like I didn't accomplish much with my red scraps for the rainbow scraps challenge. But now that March is here, I can share my scrappy red and white lotto blocks.

I almost thought these disappearing 4-patch blocks were a too easy choice for the lotto ... but I decided that anyone who hasn't tried the "disappearing" technique, really ought to be exposed to it, if only so that if they ever need to make a quilt quilt, they'll have this as an option.

Can't wait to see what color March brings ...

15 Minute Challenge

2011-02-23T01:16:00.000-05:00

The challenge was to make a 15 minutes of play-style block using stripes, plaids and polka-dots. Since a few red scraps were left, guess where I started?

. . . and guess what I discovered is lacking in my stash? I think when I go to the Dallas show next month, I'll be looking to add some STRIPES to my stash ;-)

Seeing RED on my design wall

2011-02-21T09:24:00.002-05:00

Friday night's FNSI was a Friday night SICK-IN for me--I was down for the count with the flu all of Friday and most of Saturday. Yesterday, I was upright, but not up for leaving the apartment, so I cut more red triangles from the scraps I found in the bottom of the project box and made 8 more scrappy hearts, for a total of 13. I added some black squares to the red squares and made six 16-patch blocks and . . . from the bits and pieces left over, I pieced a dozen red crumb blocks.

At this point, my red scrap bin contains more pinks than anything else. I'm counting that as a victory.

The 16-patch blocks will probably become a tote like this one; not sure yet how the crumb blocks will be used.

Saturday night--when I started to feel human again--I sewed together the last of the road trip blocks I need from the feed sacks.

Next up, getting started on the applique on the setting triangles for all those feed sack blocks. I haven't made such a traditional quilt in ... maybe forever. It doesn't feel like me, but it's interesting and fun to think about making a quilt like one that might have been made by a quilter in the 30's or 40's from her collected feed sacks.

See more design walls by following the links at the bottom of Judy's Design Wall Monday post.

It's out of the project box

2011-02-13T13:18:00.001-05:00

. . . and finally back on the design wall. Appropriate project to spend Valentine's day with, don't you think?

Friends from the block lotto community have been sending me rose blocks to help and I think I have enough to get serious about finishing this one. This isn't all the words, but I wanted to put as much as I could on my temporary design wall to see if I still like the idea of words and roses.

When I pulled out the project box and unpacked the blocks made ... look what I found in the bottom–more red (and pink) scraps!

I think I will need to make a few more words or phrases, enough roses to fill in-between and to form the border, but ... I see a lot of these found scraps becoming triangles for more scrappy stars.

Follow the links at the bottom of Judy's Design Wall Monday post to see more quilter's design wall.

It's a Start

2011-02-13T01:39:00.000-05:00

Tonight I made the first five red scrappy stars . .. I couldn't resist pulling out a few of the blue ones to see how they will look together.

It's going to be fun to add new colors into the mix as the year goes on.

Scrap Challenge Saturday

2011-02-12T15:42:00.001-05:00

This little stuffed heart is one of the things I made from my red strings. It will become a pin, I think, but could also hand on a bag or be used as a pin cushion.

You can find step-by-step photos and directions on flickers here: Heart Pin Step-by-Step. I plan to put together more thorough (and printable) directions . . . someday.

The rest of my red strings from last week were made into fiber postcard valentines. I still enjoy a bit of child-like awe over how you can stick a stamp on a fiber postcard and it almost always arrives at its destination unscathed.

I used a lot of red scraps in a bunch of sample lotto blocks for March--since I've already given everyone a heads up that we'll be using red fabrics, I can share the corners of the blocks I've made . . .

. . . come back on March 1 to see how great the blocks turned out ;-)

I wanted to do red and white blocks in March in a nod toward the Folk Art Museum's exhibition of red and white quilts that will be taking place in New York, Infinitie Variety: 3 Centures of red and White Quilts. (If you're going, I'll be the one wearing the little stuffed heart pin ;-)

Although the next project didn't begin as a red scraps project (the cover heart is one of the bonus blocks from the string hearts), I used 2 red fabrics from my red scraps bin for the inside and pockets and some red wool felt scraps for the felt leaves. I have published directions for making the small hand-sewing kit here: My Portable Hand-sewing Kit.

I haven't yet pulled the red and white project from my packed away UFOs–I still hope to quilt and bind it this month–but I have started cutting triangles to make more scrappy stars. I'll be taking them with me to UFO night at the Honey Bee tonight.

Value is very important when putting the stars together and I had a hard time finding enough "lights" for these blocks. I broke the Rainbow Scrap Challenge rules this month and used a few pinks and creams to make it work.

While I was cutting triangles, I also cut a stack of some small squares. I have an idea for one more red scraps project this month. They'll probably come along tonight and be sewn into 16-patch blocks.

You can check out what everyone else is making from their red scraps by following the links at the bottom of the So scrappy Scrap Happy Saturday blog post.

For the Birds

2011-02-12T15:05:00.000-05:00

On way the way home from work yesterday, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.

As I was walking across the parking lot and into the building, I felt a little like an extra in the a certain Hitchcock classic.

Many of the birds flew away before I snapped this (bad) photo on my phone . . . none came swooping in my direction. The rest waited for their opportunity.

Friday Night Sew In - February 18

2011-02-10T08:34:00.001-05:00

For the past few months, the Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) has coincided with another quilting activity–a workshop or UFO night at the Honey Bee Quilt Store. But, this month's FNSI–next week on February 19–I have no commitments or other plans and will be spending some ALONE time with a quilting project–probably the Road Trip to the 1930's feed sack quilt. I'm already looking forward to racing home Friday after work and spending a creative night at home.

Want to join me in this virtual Sew-in? You can sign up here.

Progress Report

2011-02-09T13:44:00.000-05:00

I made another dozen blocks from the feed sacks during the super bowl ... and made a few more in the evenings. I have less than a dozen to go. It was time to get them on the (temporary) design wall so I could really see them together.

I didn't spend any time arranging the blocks, but I know I will torment myself with it when it comes time to put the blocks together because of the blend-y nature of most of them--I can tell already I will either have to embrace that characteristic or work really hard to avoid the effect.

I have also been doing some research into typical 30's applique (of the more simplistic variety) and found a simple flower that I'll applique on the setting triangles. I made a quick trip during my lunch hour yesterday to buy some solids in 30's reproduction colors. It was kind of amazing to put the modern solids next to the vintage feedsack fabrics and see how they were an exact color match.

Nancie V named her quilt design "Road Trip." I've come to think of my quilt as a Road Trip to the 1930's. I find myself imagining a 1930's woman (in my head, she's a farmer's wife) and the design decisions she might have made while making a similar quilt.

I didn't get the temporary wall up in time for Judy's Design Wall Monday ... and so I decided WIP Wednesday was the next best thing.

What will you do during the Super Bowl?

2011-02-06T10:13:00.000-05:00

How are you spending Super Bowl Sunday?

Will you watch? Will you host a party or go to one? Will you join one of the many Super Bowl mystery quilts or quilt-a-longs? Have you challenged yourself to make serious progress on a knitting project or a quilt during the course of the game?

I've decided to spend the game focusing on my feed sack blocks and challenging myself to see how many I can make over the course of the game. I received some extra-special motivation this week from Terri, who shared some of her feed sack fabrics with me.

When the BYOS (bring your own stash) group meets this month, I really want to have all my blocks made, so I can spend the time deciding on setting and start working on the piano key borders that I almost certainly will want.

Shifting from Blue to Red

2011-02-05T11:32:00.001-05:00

As temperatures climb from the teens to the 50's today, it seems natural to shift from cool blue to red hot scraps, as part of the Rainbow Scraps Challenge.

It seemed like a natural fit to pull a blue UFO out of the trunk and finish it in January and I am ALMOST finished. I don't know what it is about this quilt, but Grace Hopper (one of my cats) LOVED it and whenever I pulled it out to work on it, she would fly across the room, jump up on my work table, spread out and claim it as her own. Here, she is helping me mark the plume quilting design on the borders . . . and loudly protesting because I kept rotating it to mark the borders with her on the quilt.

You can see the whole quilt in my Flickr photostream here. FYI, the quilting is now complete and I plan to bind it this weekend. It's not clear if it will hang on a wall or become Grace's personal kitty quilt.

My blue scraps mug rug is being put to good use in my boring beige office. It fits perfectly next to my keyboard.

Yes, that is a very oversized cup and saucer--I found it in a thrift show and thought it would be great for soup . . . or a big cup of coffee with a girl scout cookie.

I liked the idea of working on color-coordinated UFOs and after I bind the blue quilt, I will choose a red one to work on this month.

In the meantime, I was excited to start work on some red projects . . . probably because I've been having so much fun with strings that I decided to start there. I dipped into my big ziplock bag-o-strings and pulled out anything red.

It doesn't look like many strings, does it? But it was enough to make two pairs of string blocks, large and small.

I have a couple project design ideas in mind for these (more later). It feels good to have made a start on the red challenge and I haven't even yet used any fabric from my red scrap bin.

You can see what others are doing with their red scraps by following the links on today's Scrap Happy Saturday blog post.

String Hearts and more Strings

2011-02-05T10:54:00.001-05:00

This month's lotto block is this string heart.

My directions for making this block are here.

I pieced the string "fabric" for 10 blocks at last month's UFO night from a bunch of "strings" I've been tossing into a large zip lock for the past couple years ... and when I was finished, the bag looked exactly the same size. Scraps and strings really do seem to reproduce on their own.

Here are the rest of my hearts.

(You can see the virtual quilt made from 60 blocks from Block Lotto sneak peekers at the bottom of this post: String Hearts for February.)

Working on these string blocks, along with the interesting block (and technique) used in my feedsack quilt clicked and a new string quilt project was born. For my Friday Night Snow In last night, I dipped into those strings, pulled out the lighter ones and pieced some more "fabric."

If you look carefully, you can see that 16 string squares later, it DOES look like I made a dent in those strings . . . though there are plenty left.

String Heart Block with a Bonus

2011-02-01T00:52:00.001-05:00

This 6 inch by 8 inch (finished size) heart block is made in two steps: First you make the string pieced rectangles and then you use it to piece the heart block.

Many quilters have posted good directions online for how-to make string blocks. Kate published the basics on the Block Lotto blog when we made string pairs, here:

January Block Lotto String Square Pairs

Bonnie Hunter has a String piecing primer on her Quiltville site here:

String Quilting Primer

You’ll need two 3-1/2 by 8-1/2 inch rectangles of string fabric for each heart block —the strings should be at an angle and you’ll need a pair: one right leaning and one left leaning, arranged so that they form a V shape. You could piece each rectangle individually on a 4 x 9 inch foundation, or you might string piece something larger (maybe an 8 x 9 rectangle or 9 inch square, and then cut it to size.

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS

For each block, you’ll need:
• Two string rectangles 3.5 x 8.5 (1 Left-leaning and 1 Right-leaning
• Four 2-inch squares of background
• One or Two background rectangles 4 x 8 inches

NOTE: Cut ONE back ground rectangle if your fabric is solid or dyed and looks the same on both sides (no right side). Cut TWO if your fabric is printed and/or has a right side and a wrong side.

Slice the rectangle diagonally from corner to corner. If you are cutting TWO (print) Rectangles, you MUST stack and align them with WRONG SIDES TOGETHER before cutting the diagonal. You will end up with two mirror image triangle pairs (and can use the second pair for another block.

If your fabric is solid or dyed and is the same on both sides, you will cut ONE rectangle and flip over one of the rectangles to make a pair of mirror image shapes.

SEWING THE BLOCK

1. Align a square, face down, with the top left corner of each of the string rectangles.
2. Sew across the square, diagonally from corner-to-corner. You can draw the line before you sew if that makes it easier—remember you are going to sew ON the line.
3. Trim the excess fabric (in the corner) away, 1/4 inch from your seam.
4. Press.

5. Repeat with the other two squares in the top right corners of the string rectangles.

6. Lay out your block, placing the triangles on top for reference.

7. Flip one over and align the long edge of the triangle so that:
• it is even with the intersection of the seam at the outside edge of the rectangle
• it crosses the bottom edge of the string rectangle 1/4 inch away from the point (so your seam will go through the point.
8. Sewn the triangle in place,
9. Fold back the triangle after it’s sewn and MAKE SURE that the triangle covers the rectangle underneath. DO NOT trim or press anything until you have checked.

The placement of the triangles does NOT have to be exact. Remember this is supposed to be fun. If you are having problems, try sliding the triangle up or down on the rectangle … or cut a larger rectangle to start.

10. Repeat on the other side.
11. Fold back the triangle and trim the excess string fabric away … but DON”T toss it.

12. Press.
13. Sew the two halves of your heart block together.

14. Press and square up and trim to 6-12/ inches wide and 8-1/2 inches tall.

BONUS BLOCK

I couldn’t toss the large triangles of string fabric that I cut away in step 11 … and noticed when I flipped them over, I saw the beginnings of a smaller heart block. I used 1-3/4 inch squares and a 3.5 x 7 rectangle. The sewing order is a little different for this one: you’ll need to sew the triangles together first, then add the squares at the top.

As you can see, the bonus block is a bit smaller with slightly different, but similar proportions to the “parent block”.

Blue Monday

2011-01-24T02:13:00.001-05:00

First, scrappy blue stars on the design wall:

After correcting my bad math and ideas about color, I'm now aiming at averaging 17 blocks each in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and tan/brown. Today I made more of the blue blocks, but stopped at 13 when I ran out of "light" blues in the scrap bin.

In other blue news, I quilted and bound the blue scrap mug rug . . . and took it for a trial run this afternoon.

It's all set to go into the office and add a little color and whimsy to my very boring beige office.

I had a couple more blue projects (new and WIPs) in mind for the rainbow scraps challenge--with a week to go until the end of the month, I'm not sure how many will be completed before we move onto a new color for February.

Click over to Judy's Design Wall Monday blog post to see what other quilters have on their design walls.

Friday Night ... Saturday Morning

2011-01-22T12:47:00.000-05:00

Here's one of my first blocks made from the feedsacks: It is perfectly imperfect and so quick to make.

I cut into two of the feedsacks last night in class and woke up this morning anxious to add some of the other sacks, so I could begin to see whether or not they're going to play nicely together, so I made blocks from two more. Here's my first dozen.

It's unlikely the blocks will end up in anything like this straight set, but it's kind of interesting to see them side by side like this.

In a class like this, where everyone is starting with fabrics from their stash, it's always fun to see what everyone else is using. It turns out that quite a few of us are working out of our comfort zone--across the table from me, Karen is using pretty, soft water-color-like fabrics and Mary is using some fabrics from a baby print line--including a panel that may end up on the front or as some kind of back art.

Nanci is showing off someone's blocks made from CW repros--I loved the shirting fabrics she was using.

Here are some of the other colorways from the group:

This is one of a set of brights with black & white prints, which would probably have been my usual choice ;-)

There were two or three students at each table, making blocks from dramatically different colorways.

Feedsacks

2011-01-21T09:16:00.000-05:00

When Terri commented on my previous post about my choice of "repros" to make Nancie's Road Trip quilt, I realized I wasn't clear. When I said feed sacks, I was talking about real, vintage, from the 1930's and 40's feed sacks.

Here's my meager collection, after I finished pressing them last night. I didn't realize until I pulled them our of my stash that half of them have paisley designs (and some of the leaves on the other half have paisley-like qualities.)

It's interesting to compare these textiles to modern quilting cottons. The fabric is narrower--from selvage to selvage it's 36 inches--and more loosely woven.

I don't know how many of the 7 sacks will end up in my quilt--there are one or two that definitely have a "not like the others" quality . . . though I'm not sure if that's a reason to take them out or keep them in. Plus, I keep thinking that the one with the big bold red scrolls and blue flowers could become the most adorable apron . . .

Friday Night Synchronicity

2011-01-19T23:37:00.003-05:00

The first Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) of the year is taking place this Friday ... will you be joining the 100 or so quilters that have already signed up? You can read the details and see the impressive list on Heidi's blog, Handmade by Heidi.

I will be beginning a BYOS (Bring Your Own Stash) class, taught by Nancie V--one of the friendliest and most welcoming local quilters. When I saw her sample quilt top, I thought the block was interesting ... maybe because it wasn't immediately obvious how it was made.

I thought the block looked very traditional and was probably made with templates or some specialty ruler, but based on what I know of Nancie, that didn't seem like a Nancie choice. This kind of "we're all making the same quilt" class is not my usual thing, nor are templates or specialty rulers, but this quilt was calling my name . . . then when I was chatting with Nancie at the quilt shop's open house, she quietly told me it was made using LIBERATED quilting techniques and I knew I wanted to make it

I've decided to run with the traditional impression it made on me and plan to use some feed sacks that have been in my stash for a while ... along with a couple I recently won on eBay after I decided that I needed just a little more variety. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else in class will be choosing from their stash.

Lost & Found - a Doll Quilt

2011-01-11T08:10:00.002-05:00

I hear yesterday that my last quilt project of 2010 has safely arrived at it's destination, so it can go public.

It's constructed of 3 inch house blocks - a smaller version of 6 inch paper foundation pattern I designed for the Block Lotto in 2008 (also the year I nearly finished this little quilt for Kate ... before I packed it up to move with me and lost it). I found it last month when I turned my apartment upside down looking for my walking foot ... which I was afraid I had lost in my most recent move.

To make each of the house blocks, I only needed a charm square of fabric, these are from a set of Moda's most popular "marbles." The background really is a dark navy batik--maybe a bit darker than the photo).

I had a lot of fun making the quilt ... and was a little brokenhearted when I thought it had been lost in the move from Michigan to Texas. The quilting is far from perfect (and in this photo, I can see a quilting thread that wasn't yet snipped--I sure hope I caught that before it went into the mail.) I remember tormenting myself over the choice of binding fabric. Along with my fear of the free motion quilting in the borders, that was probably what kept me from getting to done BEFORE the big move. It all seems pretty silly in retrospect.

I do hope you enjoy your Lost and Found quilt, Kate.

If you like this block, check out the wonderful quilt Julie made from the blocks she won in the lotto here.

I'm ready ...

2011-01-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

Today I made veggie stock and am ready for all the soups I know I'm going to want to make this week and I finished these. (Coincidentally, when I blogged about my veggie stock it was almost exactly a year ago.)

They are actually predicting snow for Dallas ... here it will "just" be hard freezes at night and not very highs during the days. (It's kind of amazing how quickly one can adapt to warm weather ;-)

And now that I have made the PERFECT variation of the Braided Mitts pattern for me and the weather is going to be frosty, I am ready to knit something a little more substantial.

A scrappy blue update report

2011-01-08T18:41:00.002-05:00

I wanted to make a clever connection between blue scraps to Elvis' Blue Suede shoes in honor of his birthday today, but I'm just not that clever ...

I pieced this 7-1/2 by 9 inch quilt-let from my blue scraps in the evenings after work this week. I hope to quilt and bind it this weekend and take it into the office and put it to good use as a mug rug next week. Coincidentally, on her blog this week, Angela blogged about using blue strings to make star blocks. As you might guess from the heart block I featured in my little mug rug project (and the string heart in the Block Lotto Blog Button quilt), I enjoy using strings as fabric, too.

I also kept putting my triangle squares together and have completed eight 8-inch blocks.

I am liking them and know I will like them more when I start adding blocks in other colors. I'm already looking forward to finding out what the color for February will be. I confess I am also seriously considering spending some extra salary (from some OT this week) on a GO Baby to make cutting all those triangles from scraps a little faster.

To see what other Rainbow Scraps challengers made from their blue scraps this week, check out the Mr. Linky links on Angela's Saturday Check-in on her blog, soscrappy.

Slimmer, Smaller, X-small and Just Right

2011-01-07T13:36:00.001-05:00

A couple days before Christmas, the weather became a little bit frosty and I remembered some fingerless gloves that Julie had made and written about a couple months earlier. At the time, she was asking if they would be worn by people in Wisconsin in winter . . . while they might not work so well for Winter in Wisconsin, as I was walking across the office park to get a warming latté in the cafe in another building, I was thinking they were PERFECT for cold winter days in Austin, Texas.

I contacted to Julie to find the pattern--I decided they were a great last minute Christmas idea for a friend. Julie told me I could find Tera Johnson's Braided Mitts on Ravelry and suggested that I use a smaller needle because they were on the large side. I pulled some nice wool out of my stash and started knitting ...

I never finished the first pair because, even before I had added the thumb and the ribbing at the top, it was clear they were going to be STILL way too big for me and I knew they'd never work for my petite friend whose hands had to be at least as small as mine.

So when I saw my friend over the holiday, I showed her photos from the Ravelry site and looked at everyone's Braided Mitts projects and decided on a color and yarn. Then we traced her hand, mitten style, so I'd have something to use to compare as I reworked the pattern.While I waited for the yarn I ordered for her (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Grape--a dark red-violet), I worked on making the pattern fit.

I felt a little like Goldilocks, first making a slimmer pair from a tweedy brown wool ... that felt too long, then making a smaller pair (in the photo above), which was OK for me, but still too large for Charisse, then making the extra small pair from the grape yarn.

It's hard to see the pattern in the dark yarns, but they are all the same, with the single braided cable on the top.

Tonight I am meeting Charisse and another friend after work ... fingers crossed that the "slimmer" brown tweedy pair and the X-small grape pair fit. The timing, at least, is good. Temps are predicted to drop dramatically over the weekend and stay there for a couple weeks. I have a feeling that I'll have an opportunity to wear sweaters and coats that have been too heavy for Texas.

I couldn't resist ordering a ball of the luscious Cashmerino yarn for me, too ... so I'll knit one more pair for me, tweak the pattern slightly and have a pair that will be "just right." I'll be tucking this into my bag and working them up quickly. I figure once the cold weather hits, I'll REALLY be in the mood to knit.

Quilting Tools & Gadgets

2011-01-04T01:25:00.007-05:00

As I was cutting the 144 individual blue squares from my scraps yesterday (72 light, 36 medium and 36 dark), I started to think that maybe I could justify the purchase of a GO or other fabric cutter ... at least in the fantasy in my head, it would make all that cutting easier and more accurate. As I repeat this exercise each month and work my way through my scraps for the larger project I have in mind for the Rainbow scrap challenge, it'll be interesting to see if I decide it IS worth it ;-)

In the meantime, after dinner tonight, I was quilting "old school,"using some of my tried and true quilting tools to square up and trim the 144 triangle squares. For me, I still like the design of Quilt-in-a-Day's half-square triangle specialty ruler. Since you are trimming the units BEFORE you open and press them, you only have to trim the squares on 2 sides. I don't know if they are still making Brooklyn Revolvers, but mine is still going strong and perfect for trimming smallish blocks. I still love my ergonomic rotary cutter, too. I was thinking tonight that I don't think I could ever go back.

Do you have a tried and tool quilting tool that has stood the test of time? I'd love to know about it--these days I really have to be convinced that the latest-greatest gadget, ruler or other product is really going to work for me before I buy . . .

After all 144 of the triangle squares were trimmed and pressed, I had to stay up a little be later (on a school night!). so I could make the first block. I may decide I cannot live with that one really badly matched seam, but otherwise, I like it. Over the weekend I envisioned a quilt made of 100 of these 8 inch blocks and was thinking I could make 9 of the 9 designated "colors" of the challenge ... except tonight I realized that nine times nine is not 99 which was the basis for yesterday's plan, so . . . I'm working on a new plan, probably for a smaller quilt ;-)

FYI, here's one example of the scrap quilt design that inspired me.

This quilt, Charm Stars Quilt is from Leisure Art's book Quilt an Easy Scrap Quilts. It was made by Mary Carol Sternitzky of Garfield, Arkansas.

This is a smaller quilt than I have planned (even with my new corrected math) made from larger (12") star blocks than my 8 -nchers. My quilt won't be a charm quilt--I will use the same fabric more than once if there's enough in my scrap bags to cut more than one 3-inch square. My borders will almost certainly be different ... but I hope all my scrappy triangles will tinkle like these ;-)

I'll press and trim them ... tomorrow

2011-01-03T00:01:00.003-05:00

Here are 144 triangle squares, ready to be pressed and trimmed to 2 inches. I thought I'd have a design wall full of half-square triangles at the end of the night, but I decided to stop here.

They will be used for one of my projects for Soscrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month. Like Andra, I plan to make some monochromatic blocks each month in the designated color and put them all together for a colorful, scrappy quilt at the end of the year. Along the way, I hope to reduce my scraps ... a LOT. Each month I will be taking my scraps out of the jumbo zip lock bags where they live now and pressing and folding them into new storage–I have been hanging onto those large lightweight plastic tubs that hold a pound of spinach or salad and thinking they might be repurposed into stackable storage for scraps and projects.

My lotto blocks for January are in a much more finished state--I finished them before earlier this afternoon ... before diving into my scraps:

The block pattern is my variation on the traditional Chinese Coins quilt pattern. You can find the pattern here - Stacking (Quilt) Blocks. I think these 10" blocks would make a fun (and quick) kid's quilt and I plan to make one for the Austin Guild's "baby bundle" charity effort.

The seem to be a hit with the sneak peekers (who earned an advance look a week ago). By the first of January, there were already 85 blocks made. Here's a look at a "virtual quilt" made from 60 of them.

I think these blocks are a great way to use jelly rolls or noodles (or whatever you call 2-1/2 inch wide strips) or scraps and use big enough strips so you can SEE the fabrics. I like the whimsical look of imperfectly stacked "coins," too.

Some memorable finishes

2011-01-01T19:00:00.002-05:00

Unlike so many productive quilters in Blogland, I do not have a long list or a big beautiful collage of images of many things created this year. But here are some favorite projects from this year.

BEAUTIFUL AND USEFUL

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. - William Morris

I love this quote and confess that I feel great accomplishment when I make something that is beautiful AND useful.

I used a beaded heart class project to make this small sewing kit, based on a Moda freebie given to me by a quilt shop, long, long ago. I gave it away as a prize for the longest "term of endearment" in the February Block Lotto–if you are curious, the winner was "hunka' hunka' burnin' love."

I still plan to make another for myself–if you want to join me, the directions are blogged here: My Portable Handwork Sewing Kit

This spring, I finally finished my Summer Tote--begun in Lansing, Michigan and finished in Dallas, Texas. I blogged the directions–you'll find them here–Summer Tote from Orphan Blocks–and it inspired quilters from the Block Lotto community and the Lib-quilters Yahoo group to make one of their own.

And their beautiful bags make me want to make another or two this year.

Here are two bags Laura made (made using some 16-patch lotto blocks she won).

BECAUSE THEY ARE OUR FRIENDS

It takes a long time to grow an old friend. - John Leonard

As soon as I moved to Austin, an old friend here told me that she was "going to extract a craft" from me. I was wary, but when she told me what she needed, I couldn't say no. Here is what I designed and made for my friend, Charisse and why she needed it.

She was participating in Barb's Race, a women's half-iron triathalon in Northern California which is held the same day as the Vineman Ironman Triathalon and raises money for woman facing a cancer diagnosis.

She wanted something light-weight, that she could pull on over her bike helmet and wear for the bike portion of the race on which she could add the names of the family and friends for whom she was swimming and riding for. Her mom, a cancer survivor, shared the race with her and completed the running part. She was the oldest participant that day.

For the back, I gave Charisse a package of fabric for her printer on which she could print the names. She said it was shocking to see the all the names of family members who were touched by cancer. I know that when I was sewing it together, it made me worry for my friend and her family.

Sadly, one of the friends she had included in the "hope for" box lost his battle just before the race.

PROOF THAT I AM AND ALWAYS WILL BE A GEEK

I'm an utterly average, total geek. -Julia Roberts

When I wanted to update the design of the block lotto blog, I kept coming back to the idea of a quilt image ... and created this table-runner-sized banner quilt.

Then, in the way that one thing leads to another, when some of the bloggers in the block lotto community wanted to add the block of the month to their own blogs, I made this doll-quilt sized blog "badge" for anyone to add to their blog to show their Block Lotto love.

The Block Lotto has just finished it's most successful year ever–we made a total of 2,170 blocks in 2010. While it hasn't resulted in any finished objects for me, it continues to be, for me, a place to encourage other quilters to try new things and have fun ... and somehow I still haven't run out of ideas for blocks for all of us to try.

Stacking (Quilt) Blocks

2010-12-31T17:44:00.001-05:00

This 10 inch block (finished size) is my variation on the traditional Chinese coins quilt pattern. Each block is unique as you decide how evenly (or not) you will stack the fabric coins.

I'm calling it "Stacks."

It's a great scrap-buster and is easily made from 2-1/2 inch wide noodles or jelly rolls.

For the January Block Lotto, we are making this block in scrappy bright fabrics–solids, tone-on-tones, hand-dyes, batiks, plaids, florals, novelties, geometric or any kind of prints with a white background.

CUT THE FABRICS

All the pieces you need for this block ar 2-1/2 inches wide.

For one block you'll need:

10 white (background) rectangles cut 2-1/2 by 3 inches
5 different bright (focus fabrics) rectangles cut 2-1/2 by 8 inches

ASSEMBLE THE BLOCK

Sew a white background rectangle to each end of each of the strips of focus fabric. Press all seams toward the focus fabric.
Arrange your stack--do NOT line up any of the seams ... and you won't have to worry about matching them when you sew the rows together.
Sew your stack together as you have arranged it.
Trim your block to 10-1/2 inches square, making sure there is at least 1/2 inch of white background on each side of the bright strips.

Example Blocks

Here's a bunch of stacks made by some of the Block Lotto sneak peekers--more than you would need to make even a California Kingsize bed quilt.

For a closer look at the individual blocks, check out my flickr set Bright Stacks.

Thanks to Benta, Caroline, Cathy, Debbie, Julie, Kate, Laurina, Maree, Mary Jane, Michelle, Rho and Sara for the photos of their blocks.

15 more seconds of fame ... for the Block Lotto

2010-12-28T01:24:00.002-05:00

I knew it was planned for the February 2011 issue of Quilter's World magazine and lately I heard from some friends that they had seen it.

I raced around looking for a copy yesterday and struck out, but when the quilt shops opened today, I made a call and found it.

The Block Lotto blog is mentioned in the side bar of page 10 in the From the Editor pages.

I feel like a proud parent.

As a nice side effect, a little original quilt I made (for the blog badge) is in print ;-)

Doll Quilts and Roses and Santa, my postman

2010-12-27T00:01:00.086-05:00

In quilting, for me, one project often sparks interested in another, especially when it's been a while since any serious quilting--it's like I forget much fun and fulfilling it is when I make/take the time to do creative things.

After I finished the I-Spy play quilt, I couldn't resist finishing up the "lost" doll quilt I found during my hunt for the walking foot ... and christening it with a new name, Lost & Found. I will be mailing it today to Kate, but here's a teasing shot of the back of the quilt.

When I found the quilt in progress, there were some other quilt blocks I intended to send to Kate along with the quilt ... I know she's already made quilts from some of those blocks, so I think I will have to find another home for them, but a little gift I intended to send years ago, will also finally be on it's way.

Finishing that project led me to pull out another doll quilt project--a second miniature Irish chain, made from blocks left over from Double Trouble, a doll quilt made for Terri and finished at the end of January. My quilt, Trouble's Twin has wider simplified borders, but will have miniature feather wreaths, just like those that caused me so much trouble almost a year ago. I guess that even though I haven't quilted much during 2010, I've become more fearless ;-)

Over the past week, my mailman has seemed a little like Santa. Bringing me a couple packages of things I've won in Blogland (Frieda Anderson's book, Fabric to Dye For from Dragon Threads, and some great IKEA fabric from One Red Robin). Even though it was pouring rain on Christmas Eve when both packages arrived and the mailman could have just left a note in my box, he made the trip across the complex, down the stairs and to my door to deliver them.

He's also been delivering these beautiful rose blocks that friends in the Block Lotto group have been making for me. I have a quilt in mind that will use these plus the word blocks I won in February ... and they are all helping me get a lot closer to "done."

Johnny was "helping" when I put them on my temporary flannel-backed tablecloth-as-design wall by pouncing on my hand from the other side each time I pressed a block into place ... and later, here, coming out from his hiding place to make sure he was in the photo.

These blocks were made by Caroline, Ginny, Janet, Kathie, Laura, Mary Jane and Michelle. I don't know how they all found the time during this busy season, but they did and I just love the blocks.

A Biennial Christmas Eve Event?

2010-12-26T12:42:00.000-05:00

The way things turned out, a larger space at the storage place was available (I've been on a waitlist since May) and the deadline for moving out of the old space and into the new one was Christmas Eve.

I couldn't help but feel a little déja vu and remember unpacking my UHaul truck on Christmas Eve two years ago. I hired movers to unpack back then, but this year, I schlepped the things I had in storage myself. Beside the person working there, I was the only person in the building ... which was a good thing because, as it turned out, everything had to move from one end of the long building to the other end--at least both spaces were on the same floor. Here's the scene, 2 years ago ago in Dallas and 2 days ago.

I guess it's true--the more things change, the more they remain the same ... but I'm hoping this does NOT become a Christmas Eve tradition for me ;-)