Virtual Quilting

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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?

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.