100 Day Challenge Goals

As part of getting back into the swing of things on this blog, I'm joining Jen's 100 Day Challenge.

The challenge is pretty straightforward: choose three quilting/crafting goals to be accomplished in the  first 100 days of 2017.   Here are mine.


1.  Make 100 of these little 4 1/2-inch basket blocks

I love basket blocks but have yet to make a basket block quilt for myself.  For a bed-quilt, I'll need 400 of these small baskets, but 100 would be a good start and I hope motivate me to continue.  

This will also be one of my Rainbow Scraps Challenge project this year–I found five purple fabrics for five of these blocks in my scrap bin.

The outside edge of the basket handles have not yet been stitched down. That's my plan for Slow Sunday Stitching tomorrow.

2.  Create 20 blog posts

I want to get back to more regular blogging, but am having a hard time finding my way back. This goal translates to one post every 5 days (or 1 or 2 each week).  One down (this one) ... 19 to go.

3. Finish this very old Block Lotto sampler quilt.

This old project has since had borders added, but still remains unquilted, despite two efforts in the past.

Most of the 10-inch blocks in this quilt were lotto blocks in 2005-2006 ... yes, it's THAT old. It's a scrap quilt, made from fabrics that I thought would give this quilt a 1940's feel.  My plan has always been to quilt it with Baptist Fans. I tried first on someone's longarm that was having problems–and I had to rip it all out, then thought I'd hand quilt it ... which never happened.  Now I'm going to try it via free motion quilting.

FYI, all the block patterns in this quilt can be found on the Quilter's Cache website.

First, though, I have to FIND it ... it was packed away for my move last fall and I think it's in storage.

To push myself to get busy on this one, I'm making it my OMG (one monthly goal) for January.

Laura inspired me last year with her year of turning blocks she'd won on Blocklotto.com into quilt tops--one each month. I hope to make some forward progress with some of my block lotto projects this year ... beginning with this one.  If you want to be inspired by Laura's productive last year, she blogged about it here:

Recap of My 2016 Block Lotto Challenge

A Scrappy Sunday Afternoon

A funny thing happened when I went looking for an orphan project to offer up for the Quilt Orphan Adoption event ...

I pulled out the project I had in mind and put the completed blocks on the design wall.

The fabrics in some of these blocks came from a long-ago fabric swap where we exchanged 8 10 inch-strips and 2 squares of fabric, sized and chosen to make two of these blocks. The pattern came from Eileen Sullivan when she was a guest on Simply Quilts. The quilt was called Summer Vine.

(I tried to find a link, but was unsuccessful)

In addition to these blocks, I had a printed copy of the fabric swap guidelines and–fortunately for me–the block directions from the old Simply Quilts website.  There were also many strip sets for more blocks, still in the envelopes they had arrived in.

My plan was to count up the number of blocks that could be made from those strips ... but what happened is when I started to do so, I think I discovered why I probably stopped making the blocks - incomplete swap packages and questionable fabrics.

Then I second guessed myself and thought maybe I had misread the swap guidelines ... so I sat down and tried to make blocks from the swaps with missing strips.  Way back then, I didn't have scraps or much of a stash.  Today, it wasn't such a big deal to dig into my bin of cream and tan scraps and find something close in value to make up the difference.   After making those two blocks ... I made four more.

Too many of the fabrics either seemed too old and uninteresting or the quality just isn't very good, so I decided not to pass them on to a potential adoptive quilter.   But since I have quite a few blocks made and all those unwrapped strips sets–and they're not all "bad," I am going to cut the strips to make block kits and assemble the rest of the blocks as a leader/ender project.  I still haven't counted the number of potential blocks ... or decided what I'll do with them when I'm done making blocks.

I am joining the party for Oh Scrap! with these very old, very scrappy blocks.

I also haven't decided what will become of the scrappy Wavy Gravy blocks I have been hand-piecing. Now there are four.

For me the most fun has been finding fabrics in my scraps to use in this block.  I thought I would stop at four blocks and make a pillow cover (and that still might happen), but yesterday, I put together 2 more groups of four fabrics (in pinks and grays) ... and will likely prepare some more pieces for some slow Sunday stitching.

I'm joining the party for Monday Making.

Design, Redesign and Some Hand-Piecing ...

Yesterday, I shared this block, designed for Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine's Everything Old is New Again Challenge.

The blocks this month are supposed to be inspired by the traditional Rail Fence block.

If you are curious to see all the entries and vote for your favorite, here's the link:

MQU Challenge

After my Curvy Rails block was made and posted, I wondered if maybe it wasn't quite ready for prime time.  Part of it was my choice of fabrics.  I also wasn't sure about the circle in the center, which I liked in my drawing, but not so much in my block.

A happy coincidence I discovered when I created the templates for this block was that it was constructed from two shapes - 4 s-shapes and 8 of the pieces on either side.

I liked the symmetry and wondered if I could accent that symmetry a bit more.  Here is the revised design.

I thought it might be a fun block to make in many colors for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.


I also thought it would be a fun block to hand piece ... and so here is my plan for Slow Sunday Stitching today.

I created templates for hand-piecing a smaller, 8-inch block, cut up some purple scraps and grabbed my hand sewing kit.  After I run some errands this afternoon and make a start on cleaning up the garden, I'll be good to go.

I'm joining the lists for Oh Scrap!  and Slow Sunday Stitching.

A New Community Service Project

Saturday, the Northern New Mexico Quilt Guild had a community service sewing day.  They need more large bed-size quilts and organized an interesting bed-sized scrap quilt for us to make.

On the floor in the center of the room were packets of 30 background fabric squares.  In four piles spread around the room were  strips of fabric in different widths.   To create a quilt "kit", we picked up a background packet and then chose 120 of the strips–30 from each size/pile. It looked something like this:





It was a fun way for everyone to build their own kit.

I bordered about half my blocks during the morning. After a lunch break, we gathered our chairs for the guild meeting.  I came home after the meeting and finished making the blocks. I had 30 blocks bordered, sliced and re-assembled by the end of the day.

Here's some blocks on my design wall, showing step 1 and 2.




The quilt pattern we used (with the designers permission) is Scrappy Love by Cintia Gonzalez (of My Poppet) from Fresh Quilts magazine.

I am looking forward to squaring up and putting together my blocks and seeing ALL the quilts that came from those 4 piles of strips on Saturday.  

Joining the lists for Design Wall Monday and  Oh Scrap!

A Tale of Two Quilt Projects

Two weeks ago, I have a pile of scrappy tulip blocks and a set of ziplock bags containing a little over 700 colored squares.

Today, I made the last block of the Tokyo Subway Map quilt and completed putting together the quilt top.

Here's how those two projects look now.

The smaller quilt is approximately 60 inches square. I still haven't decided if I will add borders.

The larger quilt is 100 inches square ... which is why I took it outside for it's photograph.



Both are made from pretty much the same set of scraps.

In the original Tokyo Subway Map QAL, there is some appliqué and more small squares on the back. I like the design–you can see a photo of someone else's quilt in the original Flickr group here–but I am not sure I'm up to cutting another 100 or so of those squares ... maybe I will combine that task with yet another scrappy work-in-progress ... and then the real adventure can begin (quilting that monster).

I'm sharing these projects with these lists:

Creative Goodness on Quilt Shop Gal
Can I get a Whoop Whoop? on Fabric Addiction

Missing My Big Design Wall

I have some ideas about how/where I can put a big design wall in my little sewing room, but until that happens, I have been making do with the living room floor.



It seemed like it would work OK, until one of my cats decided to have fun and kept passing through, messing things up and nonchalantly leaving the scene of the crime.



When caught in the act, he quickly switched gears and tried to distract me with flirting ...

Incredibly, I did get the blocks sewn together.

I haven't yet decided on borders, binding or quilting design ... but I figure I have enough time to make those decisions and finish this in time for Spring's arrive in 6 months.

Sharing my adventure with the list for Design Wall Monday.

Orange You Going to Ask?

A couple days ago I shared some very scrappy purple tulip blocks, made using this month's Block Lotto pattern.  I was making them for a small project idea I had for a sewing machine cover, similar to the one in this post, but decided the scale was wrong and I needed a smaller, different block.   I woke up with a new idea today, but I wondered what to do with the purple blocks?  Were you also curious about their future?

I decided that the answer was to make them some colorful friends.

Even though I really haven't participated in Angela's Rainbow Scraps Challenge much this year, I decided to go with the flow and start with the September's color and make some very scrappy orange tulips.

I sorted through my orange scraps and found twenty fabrics (plus one in a complimentary turquoise for the center).  Things are shuffled so that each block is made from 16 different fabrics.  At times I wondered if maybe I was making these blocks a little TOO scrappy.  They look very different than the ones we're making on blocklotto.com which can be made  from two (or more) tulip fabrics per block.

After making the orange blocks, I was on a roll, so I kept going–organizing my scrap bins and also cutting squares for the Tokyo Subway Map quilt along the way.

Next I made some red tulips to add to the mix and put them all together on the design wall and they looked like this:

I envision that with the addition of some more blocks, this will become a colorful, scrappy, throw-sized quilt.  Making them is kind of like eating potato chips, so who knows if/when I will be able to stop ...

Scrap-Happy Works in Progress

This is how scrappy projects begin at my house, with my sorted-by-color scrap bins. They go from neatly folded 5 inch squares, stacked on end with everything visible, to this messy (non) arrangement ...

The bins are re-used produce containers which once contained spinach or mixed lettuces.

In this case, I used some of these fabrics to make a couple of Sunrise blocks (from last year's Block Lotto).


Some friends from the Modern-ish mini group asked me to demonstrate Dale Fleming's 6-minute circle technique and I was working on some samples to use in my demo–hint, it's a great technique for other kinds of curves besides those perfect circles :-)

As someone who already has more orphan blocks and UFOs than any sane quilter should, I didn't want to produce more, so I'll be using my demo-samples to make placemats for the guild's community service group's annual effort.  The placemats go to Kitchen Angels.

A couple of days ago, I had a little idea about how to use this month's Block Lotto pattern and so yesterday, pulled out the purple bin of scraps and made these five scraptastic Tulip blocks.

There are 25 different purple fabrics used in these 5 blocks. I like them, but not for the original project idea, so I'll be pulling out some more of the scrap bins and making more for my new idea :-) 

My quilting mojo must be coming back in a fashion, because I also had a new idea for some 1 1/2 inch strips gifted to me by someone in the guild's QOV mini-group.  At our meeting last week, I created some test blocks. 

Here are the first two. I think it has possibilities and plan to make many more.

The foundation pattern I used was drawn with paper and pencil. Now I am struggling playing with EQ to create a more precise version. It looks like it should be so easily done, but for me ... not so much.

I am amazed at this group, not only for the beautiful QOV quilts they create, but how they all show up SO organized and focused and ready to sew for three hours before they pack it all up and take everything home again.

I am a lot LESS organized.  Here's a peek at my work area last week. I usually take Isaac, my trusty workhorse of a sewing machine (AKA a Singer 301).

Now that I've decided to move forward with this block idea, maybe I can get things a little more organized for next time. 

As you can see the mojo's coming back, but maybe I could use a bit more focus ... 

I am joining the lists for Scraptastic Tuesday and WIP Wednesday. 

Three Questions for My Quilting Friends

First, because it's (almost) WIP Wednesday and two of the three questions I have for you are about this piece, here's what happened with my scrap bag challenge.

To refresh your memory, some local friends and I exchanged quart-size zip lock bags filled with fabric scraps.

The challenge was to use all the fabrics we received and make a little quilt.

It's OK to add your own fabrics, but you must use everything you find in the ziplock bag.

Here's a better look at the fabrics I had to include:



And now for my three questions for you:

         Do you see what I see?

1. This was one of those projects that took on a life of it's own and ended up being something completely different that I first imagined it.  An idea took hold and I ran with it and now I wonder if I made my intent clear.  My question for you is, what do you see in this design?  



Borders?







Does it need borders?  If so,  how wide and what color?  Keep in mind that it was made primarily from someone else's scraps, with some of mine added, so I don't have any more of any of the fabrics. The pieced top currently measures 26 by 37 inches.  It will be a wall hanging, or possibly be used as a table mat.   




What three words describe your quilts? 






As I was playing with these scraps, I started thinking about how you think the challenge is to use all the fabrics, but you find that it's also about how do you make a quilt from fabrics not chosen by you, in combinations you might never choose to combine and have it turn out looking like a "you" quilt. That led me to think about what makes it feel like me and I came up with these three words that often apply to the quilts I design and make: scrappy, organic and color-saturated.  What three words do you think describe your quilting style? 

I'd love to read your answers to one, two or all of these questions in the comments.

Because it's already Wednesday in Australia, I'm linking with Ester's WOW (WIPs on Wednesday).  Be sure to click over–she has quite a WOW to share today. 

Updated Sep 29 to this improvisational effort still in progress with AHIQ.

Orphan Stars and Geese in a Night Sky

I'm feeling stressed.  Sewing is calming ... but it can't be anything too complex or for which creative decisions must be made.   So I sewed together the second round of orphan blocks on my design wall. 

It currently measures 56 by 66 inches.  I will likely add a 2 inch border for a finished size of 60 x 70.  I may not finish in time for the H2H deadline, but either way, both of the orphan blocks quilts will find their way to the charity Happy Chemo. 

I'm joining the lists for Mrs Sew and Sow's Scraptastic Tuesday–be sure to check out the fantastic quilt she made, starting with some orphans–and WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced.

Briar Patch Pattern Information

My design wall looks much the same as the last time you saw it, except all the Briar Patch blocks are made and have been sewn into 4-patches.

Next, I'll be choosing fabrics for the the interior squares between the blocks and the triangles around the outside. 

I have posted the pattern information throughout the progress of this quilt, but whenever I don't, commenters ask and this weekend when I went to get the link for someone who asked, I noticed that the pattern is going to be discontinued ... so if you have been thinking about it, best to get it now. 

Here's the link: 

Judy Niemeyer's Briar Patch pattern

Update: joining Angie's list for WIPS Be Gone - now that the foundations have been pieced, the end is in site. 

More Strings - My Goal for a Lovely Finish in April

When I finally finished the moldy golden oldie String Star quilt–now known as Then & Now–it felt so good that I decided to pull another string quilt top out of the UFO trunk and make finishing it my goal for a lovely finish in April.

This Liberated Wedding Ring quilt is another from Gwen Marston's book, Liberated String Quilts.

I began making the blocks during a virtual online retreat with the liberated quilters Yahoo group at the end of January, 2010.

These were fun to put together and about a week later, I posted a Progress Report with the completed top, taken in my itty bitty loft in Dallas.

In that 5 year-old blog post, I mentioned how, Gwen's quilt has beautiful, traditional quilting . . . and I plan to attempt the same.  I realize now how the notion of beautiful traditional quilting completely intimidated me and is, in part, the reason this one has been folded up and put away for so long. Here's that inspiring-yet-intimidating image of Gwen Marston's beautifully hand-quilting from the book:

I have ordered some thread and am thinking about how to quilt the top in a way that nods at that beautiful, traditional quilting design but also has some of me in it.  I am thinking of a pieced scrappy backing, so that will be my first task toward finishing my big red liberated wedding ring quilt. 

Just in Case ...

Late last night, as I finished up quilting the charity quilt from the guild sew-in, I noticed that the dye in the donated dark blue backing fabric seemed to be crocking and turning my hands blue as I was trimming threads from the back of the quilt.

I will wash it today with a few dye magnets and fingers crossed, but I first pinned it onto the wall and took a few photos of the quilt and the quilting, just in case that suspicious fabric bleeds and ruins my scrappy kid's quilt.

My philosophy when it comes to quilting is that every quilt is practice for those that follow it ...

In this quilt, I was playing with a variation of my go-to big loopy feathers in the "lights," using a pastel multicolor variegated thread. In the "darks," I practiced some simple straight line ruler work, using another variegated thread that is darker/brighter. Both spools of thread were secret sister gifts at a retreat that happened far away and long ago–it was a good opportunity to use them up.

(You can see an even closer look at the good, bad and ugly of my quilting on Flickr here and here.) 

I mentioned in my Sunday post that, of all the ways you can make triangle squares, the method we used here was my least favorite because you end up with half-square triangle (HST) units that have bias edges on all four sides.  (You can read more about making HSTS in many way in my HST tip sheet).

For me, the stretchy bias wasn't too troublesome when I was putting together the top, but it definitely  did become an issue when I was layering/basting the quilt and later, as I was pushing it around to quilt it. Borders would have helped mitigate the stretchiness around the edges and I considered adding them, but realized that if I did, the quilt would be larger than the batting and backing fabric I'd been given to use for it.  

 If you've seen that YouTube video of the 4-at-once technique, you can see that it's a method that demos well and, has a cute gee-whiz factor ... though the fact that you are dealing with all those bias edges is never mentioned.  Your mileage may differ, but, for me,  this was the first and last time I'll ever make HST units this way ... or any other of those gee whiz block techniques that similarly end with blocks with bias edges.  I hope that washing the quilt will also help some of those stretchy bits will relax and shrink back to their original proportions.

I'm joining QuiltShopGal's #CreativeGoodness Linky Party.

In Praise of the Making Scrap Quilts and the Rainbow Scraps Challenge

As often happens at this time of year, I have been looking back and looking forward and thinking about some of the scrappy projects I've made and those still in progress, as part of the Rainbow Scraps Challenge.

When I joined the challenge in January, 2011, one of the first things that happened was some reorganization of my scraps and how I stored them.  Before, I stored them, by color, in large zip-lock bags. As part of the sorting, pressing and using them up or folding them nicely and putting them away, I also moved them into plastic bins, recycled produce containers.



That first month, I made the first of the broken dishes blocks, cutting squares with rotary cutter and ruler and trimming afterward ... and created a pile of trimmings.



This project would become my excuse reason to purchase a die cutting machine ... which was used to cut the rest of the 3,872 triangles I used to make the quilt I shared on Saturday. Next year, I'll be using it again, with a different die to begin a new project.

I didn't always participate in the Rainbow Scraps Challenge–in fact, I took a whole year off in 2012, but it was a great motivation to work on large projects in a small, one-month/color-at-a-time way and some small single-color projects.  Here are a few of my favorite small projects:

 




I still have a few on-going projects for large quilts that I either began this year or picked up and moved further along ... and I do have a few ideas for new projects I'd like to begin in 2015. Here's one.

These butterfly blocks are PIECED (from some very odd-shaped pieces, cut from templates) and I think they would be a great scrap project that would also provide some nice, on-going, hand-work for Slow Stitch Sundays.  This quilt was made c. 1935 by Nina Shrock, Harvard County Indiana.

This is the cover quilt for the book, The New England Quilt Museum QUILTS, still available from Amazon.

It is one of five of the heirloom quilts from the museum's collection for which there is a pattern.

I don't plan to use ONLY 30's fabrics in my butterfly blocks, but I think the feeling will be the same. I think making scrap quilts connects us to those depression era quilters. I found this description in the book of that time and this quilt:

The Great Depression of 1929 brought a national concern for thrift and frugality.  The Work Relief Program of the Works Progress Administration was created to revitalize home crafts and community projects.  The craft program, spear-headed by Eleanor Roosevelt, encouraged women in traditional American Handicrafts. Scrapbag quilts, which are made from tiny "scraps" of fabric, were well suited to the American New Deal.  In making such a quilt, a woman reinforced both her clever economy and her unique role as an American craftsperson.  This Butterfly pattern was published by one of the most popular designers of the era, Laura Wheeler. The design reflects art deco styles in it's curved arabesques and bold outline, and is one of the favorite quilts in the NEQM's collection.

Whether you join Angela's Rainbow Scraps Challenge to organize and/or use up your scraps or to play with ideas about color and value, I whole-heartedly recommend the exercise.  The eye candy you'll see along the way, in the many wonderful projects made by others, is so inspiring.