Two Tops Done!

I've been hard at it these past few days, working on quilt tops.  Now they are done.  Not the pieced backs, I'll get to those tomorrow, but the tops are finished.

This weekend I worked on a shop sample for a Fall class:

I love making these, they are my go-to quilt for a gift since I can usually make a top in a long weekend.  This one took much longer with that diagonal pieced border but since I think I'm keeping this one, I didn't mind putting in the hours.  The pattern is Southern Star from Calico Carriage Quilting Designs.

At the retreat last week (more on that here) I finished sewing all the rows onto my year-long Tumbler project:

There are 45 rows of 61 tumblers, for a total of 2,745 two-inch finished tumblers and it's about 90" x 100".  This was Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Leader/Ender challenge.  Her 2016 one should be revealed July 1 or thereabouts.  Unless I can't help myself, I don't plan to start that one--I've got several quilts I am determined to finish this year and need NO NEW PROJECTS!  

Saturday I taught two classes.  Here is Smitten. There were only 3 students and they did great:

Their first block--each student did very well and was happy with her block

Donna's second block cut and ready to be pieced

Catherine created a sewn strip before cutting her units 

In the afternoon I had 2 students for Strippy Stars:

Rebecca trimming her units

Hollie and Rebecca's blocks made in class

Summer is a tough time for classes since people are busy.  But I love to teach and having just a few students in a new class is a good way to find out if they can accomplish what I think they can in the time allotted.  Smitten continues in a couple weeks and I'll be eager to see the wonderful blocks the students come back with.

I'm keeping up with The Splendid Sampler:

and Circa 2016:

3" blocks

My husband and I went to see the movie "The Free State of Jones" on Sunday.  We enjoyed the history though it was intense in parts.  It takes place between 1862 and 1876, with a few scenes set in current times.  Our history is ugly at times and some people still have some of those ugly beliefs.  But I try to focus on how far we've come and hope for the future.  Saturday night we saw "Spotlight" on TV and I felt similarly sad and conflicted about that movie too.  

We're indoors because it's been so hot.  Great time for quilting.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Live Laugh Love

I finished the Scrapbasket Sampler from the Quilts by Cheri Facebook page:

Front  26" x 46"

Back

Cheri's pattern had a primitive design of flowers, leaves and vines at the top--I substituted one of my favorite sayings.  At the bottom I added my initials and the year--I love seeing those things on other people's quilts so was happy to add them to my own.  The back is made of all the 4.5" squares I auditioned for the front--I only had to cut 4 more to have enough for the back.  See my earlier post about the decision-making process here.  It shows some of my ideas about choosing those squares.

I had to force myself to make this quilt this size--I still don't know where I'll hang it but it's done, it was fun, and I'm ready to move on to the next thing on my list--making a few more dresses for Stella--she will be ONE June 2 and we'll be there to see her.  Here she is just the other day:

There is something so delicious about baby toes!!

My husband has been working very hard in our flower beds and his work is really paying off.  We were sad to learn one of our Knock-Out roses has the virus Rose Rosette caused by a tiny mite in the roots.  There is no cure, it is 100% fatal and will almost certainly spread to the other five roses right near by.  So sad--they are as beautiful this year as they have ever been :

Approaching the pond--there are 3 large Knock-Out Roses on both sides

The fish are happy:

And a few more quilty-things underway:

Westering Women block #4

Stella's Splendid Sampler block #22

My Tumbler quilt as it grows--a great Leader/Ender project, only 13 more rows to go

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Smitten by Westering Women, Circa 2016--Splendid!

I've kept the pedal to the metal most of the week to get Smitten together:

I added a 1" black solid border and then a 4" black printed floral border.  The first border really helps--the outside edges of the top and bottom contain a lot of bias pieces--using that narrow border and cutting them to fit precisely, brings the quilt into square.  The bold floral print made the quilt the size I wanted and it really seems to work well with all those bright fabrics.  The quilt top is 58" x 73" and I'll quilt it later this spring.  This will be an upcoming class, either summer or fall.

There was a Quilt-Along in 2015 for this quilt--I didn't follow along but you can find that here.

This week Block #2 of Westering Women was posted this week so I got that 12" block done:

Remember Circa 2016? And how I thought I was done?  Fortunately for me, this week there was only one small 3" finished block to make.  Here it is with the Center Medallion portion:

This was easy to keep up with.  Eventually, there will be more blocks to do, I'm sure.

The Splendid Sampler is going strong--a new 6" block each Thursday and Sunday.  There are more than 20,000 people who have signed up worldwide to receive the blocks by email.  The Facebook group has 16, 500 members currently. There are 84 designers providing the blocks.  Lots for people to learn by going to the designers' websites and blogs for tips. Wish I had done a little more research on the fourth block--I used freezer paper for the stabilizer and it was challenging to remove:

Rather than just create and store the 100 blocks over the 50 weeks of this project I decided to sew them together as they are made:

This is a good plan as long as you know for sure how you want to set the blocks.  There will be setting suggestions throughout the year so if you're not sure, just wait.  I know this is what I want, 10  rows of 10 blocks each with 1" finished sashing from dark turquoise.  So the quilt will grow each week until it's done.

I also had a student here all day Wednesday for private lessons.  She had to miss two of my classes earlier this month due to a family emergency so I had her come here and taught her the Leaders/Enders class and Kisses and Hugs--we had fun and went out for a good lunch too:

Kisses and Hugs (Japanese X and +)

Leader/Ender Ideas

I do practice what I preach, usually, and while piecing Smitten, I joined 8 more rows to my tumbler Leader/Ender quilt, brought to you by Bonnie Hunter. 

This probably won't be done by July, when Bonnie reveals the next Leader/Ender challenge--I plan to add 18 more rows to the 27 shown here.  That may not sound like much but it's 1098 more tumblers--still have lots more to cut.  It's easy and I cut them as I'm cleaning up from whatever project I'm doing or just from scraps.  This has all kinds of fabrics in it, batiks, repros, brights, muddy, everything.

My grand-girl Stella is on her way, arriving with her folks shortly.  She'll be 9 months old next week and she is really crawling a lot now.  We'll be chasing her soon.  There will be photos next week!

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Back to the Future

Happy New Year--it's 2016!

I've been working on my two favorite Leader/Ender projects currently--when I really have at least two "real" quilt projects I am eager to get back to.  But sometimes a quilter just has to do what she/he really wants to do right now.

My Tumbler quilt--I've been working on this since July 2015, just not very often. The rows have 61 tumblers in each, cut from 2.5" strips or squares, mostly from leftover fabrics used in current projects or my stash boxes.  First, I lay out a handful of dark and light pairs, sew the pairs into fours, sew the fours into eights, then pick 7 eights and one four--sew those into one long strip, add a dark or light on the end, depending on what is needed for that strip.  I sew 4 long rows together then add that to the "mother ship"--easier than having the whole thing in my lap each time I add a row.

Here you can see a stack of eights on the left, piles of lights and darks with a few pairs in the back, and a bunch of laid out singles, waiting to be sewn into pairs.  If I was just working on this while doing another quilt, I would only be concerned with making pairs--they would become longer units later.

With this quilt I am not at all concerned about what type of fabrics are included:  batiks, reproductions, modern, anything I like and have at least a 2.5" square of is fair game.

Here is my new favorite:

I call this my "Lifetime" quilt and first wrote about it here.  With this project, I am trying to keep the fabrics looking "old"--most are reproductions or look like them.  This quilt will include fabrics I haven't bought yet as I know it will take lots of time to make.

Chain, chain, chain

Clover thread cutter pendant in a toy block

Easy way to separate chain-pieced units

Pressed toward the darker fabric, ready to be trimmed

Trimmed to 1.75" 

"Trimmed to Perfection" my method for precise piecing, oversize and custom cut

The small plastic tubs hold triangle units ready for use.  In the front are 16 squares laid out ready for sewing.  In the back are 4 sets of 4 units.


Rather than make these into long rows of 1.25" finished squares, which would be tedious, I am sewing them into sixteen patches.  Usually I lay out 16 squares and sew them into rows, 4 x 4.  This makes them 5.5" raw edge to raw edge.  Then I'll sew four of those units into a large four-patch.  That block will measure 10.5" square, raw edge to raw edge.  That will make it easy to measure.

Currently, my plan is to have 8 x 10 large squares, or 80" x 100".  Time will tell.  I also think I will make this quilt with four quadrants so if I decide to rotate the quilt into a barn-raising set, I can easily do that.  I still think I like the original best, with all the triangles going in this same direction:

Now that I've gotten this somewhat out of my system for now, it's time to get to those other projects that are calling me.  I will be teaching a class on Leaders/Enders next month and am eager to share this fun way to make "free" quilts--the class is almost full already--we will have fun!

My husband is still recuperating from his leg injury but is getting better, too slowly to suit him, but at least he's improving.  We had a wonderful time with our sons, their women, and of course, Stella.  Here is the only good photo of she and I together--I got lots of hands-on baby time!

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Another Long-Term Project

In July, 2015, Bonnie Hunter introduced her "Leader/Ender" 2015 Challenge--Tumblers.  I didn't think I would be a fan of this project but I was curious as to how she would easily cut the pieces.

 See How She Does It Here!  I thought that was pretty cool so I zipped off to the store to get my Dresden Plate EZ Tool and started cutting 2.5" strips and squares.  You can make them larger if you want to cover a bed faster.

This project has been sitting by my machine since early July and now I have 13 rows together.  No rush, it gets done while working on other things.  I think of it as "saving thread" and making a "free" quilt.  I'll be teaching the Leader/Ender process this winter at Patches & Stitches--I'm always surprised to learn how  many people aren't familiar with concept.

This is another one of those quilts I would not enjoy making to the exclusion of all else--it would just get to be boring for me.  But this way, I can see progress without getting burnt out.

And, no, I don't try to plan any of the colors--just alternate light and dark pieces.  Can you see the "oops" areas?  In the top photo there are the same 3 green tumblers at the top center--didn't plan that but I'm not changing it either.

Would it drive you nuts to have 2 of the exact same fabrics on top of each other?  Yeah, me, too, BUT I'm not changing it.  Considering how hard it was to find this to photograph, I'm betting when the whole top is together this will be very hard to find.  It happened because I used this fuchsia print as a dark in one row and as a light in another row.  Oh, well, things happen..  One hundred years from now someone will be certain I did this on purpose to prove I'm not perfect--right!?

I'm liking how this is coming along.  Glad I jumped in on this one.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Progress and the Ugly Quilt

I've been working on a few projects, as usual.  Here is the top for Kisses + Hugs, also known as the Japanese X and + blocks:

I added 3 more rows to the top I had prepared for my Quilt-In class and am now declaring this top "done".  Some simple straight line quilting, a binding and a label, and it's finished.  Very bright and cheerful. 

Last week I quilted both Box of Wine and the Ugly Quilt, with free motion and straight line quilting.  They turned out all right.  That free-motion process takes lots of practice and I just haven't put in the time yet to improve beyond "OK".  More tops, more practice, more classes, I'll get there.

Box of Wine, class sample for Color College

 I'll be teaching a series of classes about color, using the wonderful new book by Becky Goldsmith, The Quilters Practical Guide to Color.   I wrote about that here.

The Ugly Quilt

This will be donated--it's just weird enough to appeal to a young person, I hope.

This is my Tumbler Leader/Ender project.  Bonnie Hunter does an annual Leader/Ender challenge, learn about this one the 2015 Leader/Ender Challenge,  There are four rows of 60 tumblers laid out, not sewn yet, no rush.

New start, Smitten by Jen Carson Kingwell.  I saw this a couple months ago on Instagram, most people are doing the blocks with English Paper Piecing.  Some are hand piecing, some machine piecing, and some are doing the hybrid method, some of each.  There is a set of Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates, Set H, that has all the pieces necessary for all the blocks so I am using them.  I machine pieced this block, Y seams and all, and will keep going with that process.  No rush on this one either. 

What are you working on this summer?  It's too hot here to be outside much so quilting keeps me cool.

Let's quilt!

Barbara