Under My Needle and a New Swap

A few things I am working on.

The Temperature Quilt:

Last December I learned about Temperature Quilts and Blankets--those were made from yarn. Each color represents a 10 degree temperature band and each vertical row is a week, beginning January 1, 2018. By March I was losing interest and knew I did not want to complete the year--half a year would be plenty and be a reasonable size--this is 26" wide x 30" before the borders. I used the official high temperature at Huntsville International Airport for each day. Here is my Key:

It did not get over 100, which is fairly typical here, but the 90's with our high humidity is plenty hot enough. Glad I did it, I'm over it now. The border fabric came from the closet after the top was completely done--it pays to have a deep stash.

When my two best quilting buddies and I get together, usually for our annual retreat, the idea of a swap between us gets launched. This time we decided to make 5" scrap houses for each other. The original pattern I found was a 3" house, too tiny we decided. Other houses have two chimneys, too much effort we decided. So I found a simple house in Electric Quilt 8 that just needed a bit of tweaking to be perfect. Our 5" finished Quilter's Scrap House:

We will paper-piece 12 of these to give to each of the other two--if we make 12 for ourselves, we'll all have 36 5" houses when the swap is done.  The only thing I had to remember when printing the pattern was to mirror-image it--when paper-piecing, what you see on the paper will be reversed when sewn.

I have been involved in many swaps over the years. Here are my tips:

1. Choose participants carefully. All must follow the "guidelines"--RULES--and agree to meet the deadline. Limit the number of people--the most I have had was 13 and that was plenty.

2. Set a firm deadline and be sure everyone agrees to meet it.

3. The best thing to swap are "units"--parts of blocks that can be trimmed down, like half-square triangles and four-patches. When you do a block like this you learn everyone has their own "personal" quarter-inch seam allowance. Refer to tip 1 above...

4. Hold a "teaching" class if the technique is new to most participants. Paper piecing is not for everyone. Be sure everyone understands to use a very small stitch, tiny thread and lightweight paper.

5. If you allow people to request specific colors/themes, be sure each person is clear in their request and that everyone agrees to follow the requests.

6. If you are located close together, it is fun to have a sew-day to work on the blocks. If apart, sharing photos online is fun OR you can keep the blocks a complete secret until done.

 For this particular block and group the guidelines are simple: trim thread as you go, remove the paper when the block is finished, have them all done no later than Christmas. Only one house per maker can be in violation of the HOA rules--meaning ONE can be "not mirror imaged"--the door can be on the right, window on the left.

I made a test block before sending the information to the other two--oh my goodness, these are like Dorito blocks--hard to stop making them:

I had to stop making houses right now so I can do some Secret Sewing:

I am working on a big quilt I want to have ready to photograph for an upcoming blog. There was a lot of layout design time spent, now I am sewing, then I'll write the blog with all the information for this layout. Lots to do, yet but I like how it's coming along.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Bits and Pieces

Now that I am feeling oh, so much better, I am back at it, making blocks, teaching 6 classes I had to postpone, answering email, booking trips,, all the usual stuff.

Here are a few things I'm working on. The Temperature Quilt, showing the first 5 weeks of 2018. More info about that here.:

More Little Monkey blocks, a section to be added to the section that is currently on display at Barb's Sewing Center:

A small applique' top, used as a sample with the Sunday Sew and Sews who are working on the Patchwork Barn 2018 Block of the Month. Applique' appears in month 9, practicing a bit now will make you comfortable when you get to that step. Some of this is machine, some is hand:

My first 6 blocks of the Patchwork Barn quilt--there are actually 3 of each of these blocks, for a total of 18 so far:

Temecula Quilt Company has a new, simple little sampler, with 4" blocks. I couldn't help myself and to keep it easy I'm using the same fabrics as the Patchwork Barn quilt. Find out more 1880 Sampler Sew A Long:

The design wall is bright and cheerful--time to get the last section of Long Time Gone done. And I am making good progress on my Lifetime quilt--it will be finished this year. More info on that here.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Archie, Squiggy, Little Monkey and Temperature

It's been a productive week. I made class samples after prepping for my trip to California. Here is Little Monkey, an easy quilt for a baby or child, and it uses lots of scraps:

Eventually, this quilt will have 24 blocks and two borders. This is as much as I could get done this week. It's a free pattern from Bonnie Hunter, find it on her Blog. The class will be March 8, 2018, from 1-4 p.m. at Barb's Sewing Center, Huntsville, AL. 256-539-2414.

There are new rulers, better referred to as templates, for free-motion quilting with rulers on a domestic or longarm machine. Designed by Angela Walters for Creative Grids, they have the magic grippy stuff on the outside edge of the bottom of these rulers, it holds the ruler firmly in place as you stitch around it with a ruler foot:

I used two of them, Archie and Squiggy, to create a Ruler Work sample for demo sessions I'll be doing at Barb's Sewing Center, February 16, 2018, 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. I'll be using the Bernina Q20 in the shop, showing several designs for ruler work. Instead of just "practice sandwiches" I am making placemats for my kitchen. The light side is just muslin, the dark side is a dark blue multi-print--that will be the side we eat on. I find I do better stitching if I know people will actually see how I stitched:

The other quilt project I started this year is a 2018 Temperature Quilt--Google it, it's a thing. It started in knitting and crocheting but I saw two quilts online that inspired me to make one. The idea is you assign a fabric to various temperature ranges and use the daily high (or low, I suppose) for the location you want to use and make a quilt with those fabrics, one piece for each day. Here is my first 2 weeks of 2018 for Huntsville, AL and the fabric chart I made:

The rectangles are cut 1.5" x 4.75", there are 7 in each row and there will be 52 rows. The quilt will be 29.75" x 52" before borders, a weird size. We'll see as the year goes on. You can do any size pieces you want. The other decision to make is do you use only one location, like where you live, or do you use the physical location you are at each day?  I'm sticking with Huntsville to keep it easy.

One of the fine women in the Sunday Sew and Sews class gave me a lovely gift she made for me:

The stitching is beautiful, she even used metallic thread to "stitch in the ditch". I hung it up immediately in a spot where I will see it every day. Thank you, Cindy! Those are the extras that make teaching quilting so rewarding. Students often become friends.

Time to pack my bags and get on the Road to California.

Let's quilt!

Barbara