LUCKY STARS -- NEW HANDWORK PROJECT

 Recently I decided I needed a new Hand Piecing project to take with me on my travels. My friend, Jackie Kunkel, has been showing her tantalizing LUCKY STARS blocks on Social Media and she SUCKED ME RIGHT IN.

A few of Jackie's photos:

Who wouldn't be tempted with all these fantastic fabric selections of such amazing COLORS?! 

But I don't have a lot of orange, or lime green, or aqua, etc. A group swap would be the perfect way to get some. Fortunately, my Sunday Sew and Sews were all excited to join in this project. 

Twelve of us are swapping 3.5" squares of a LIGHT and a DARK shade of specific fabrics each month.

Cyndi took on the task of ordering the 12 sets of patterns. She also made us each a set of cardstock templates for the 3 shapes needed so each person could get started right away. That was an unexpected surprise! Thank you, Cyndi:

The pattern is excellent and a reasonable price for all the information included. There is an additional password-protected file online with even more instructions, including the best way to baste each shape and files for printing your own paper templates. There are video instructions there as well.

See the designer's website: Kustom Kwilter.  There are several options for ordering.  Just the pattern--printed or PDF, the pattern and 3 acrylic templates for easy cutting of the shapes, or a complete set with the pattern, templates and ALL the pre-cut papers for the 60" x 72" quilt. There are additional intriguing designs available as well:

We met recently and did our first swap: ORANGE:

I made a name page for each of us and as people arrived they put their LIGHT and DARK orange squares on each person's page. I didn't get a photo of the beautiful stacks but here is what I received:

We are using lights and darks for the 15 wedges that make the circle around the star and background shapes. We will discuss color and contrast--"COLOR gets all the credit but CONTRAST does all the work."

As a demo for our first meeting I was working on an ORANGE block:

Next month is GREEN so I cut that one out too:

Cyndi had also done some pre-meeting work so we could discuss alternatives to the pattern instructions. Here you can see what we had ready for the group to enjoy, Cyndi's orange and aqua stars and my two in progress:

We are looking forward to seeing what each person does. There are NO RULES, and NO DEADLINES, each person can do as she pleases. I love picking the fabric and using glue to baste shapes to the papers. The sewing is not as exciting to me. But I love how they turn out. 

This is going to be FUN!

Find a project you like, see if a few of your friends want to join in, and get a group together. These small squares of fabric would easily lend themselves to a "distance group", where those not nearby could mail the fabrics in a regular envelope. 

We are a group of 12. Cutting 3.5" squares from a Fat Quarter is easy--cut two strips 3.5" x 21", lay them on top of each other and cut into 3.5" squares--exactly 12 are cut from those two strips. And you still have a 11" x 21" piece of fabric left for your collection. So buy ONE LIGHT and ONE DARK fat quarter of a color and get 11 more different fabrics for your rings. Easy and fun!

Let's quilt.

Barbara

The Village

In 2018 I was involved in two swap projects, one was 5" paper-pieced houses and one was 4.5" stars. I wrote about the Quilters Scrap Houses here and the Tiny Star Blocks here.

Recently, when I should have been sleeping, I wondered what I could do with thirty 4.5" tiny stars. And then wondered what I could do with thirty-six 5" little houses. Two  more quilts to make. Wait a minute...

What If: they were combined into ONE quilt, stars and houses. I ran the numbers in my head--what do you know? Ten 4.5" stars = 45" of stars, 3 rows of 10 stars each could be made.  AND nine 5" houses = 45" of houses, 4 rows of 9 houses could also be made. No extra blocks had to be made--I had just enough--that never happens!  It was meant to be, here is "THE VILLAGE":

A much better photo will be achieved when this is quilted and bound--in the not too distant future. I was just so eager to see it up on the wall. Good to have another top finished for 2019.

After I made the rows of stars and the rows of houses, I thought the neighborhood looked a little sterile--it needed some greenery. So each row of houses got one paper-pieced tree on either end of the "street"--much better. When I write the directions, the trees will be added to each "street" before the rows are sewn together, so much easier. If only I had thought about the trees earlier.

This will make a great 3 hour class for guilds--in 3 hours you can learn to paper-piece the house and one tree AND learn the adorable Tiny Star--and how to convert that simple star into other easy-to-make sizes. They are so good for swapping because the points "float" and don't have to match, always good in a swap project.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

String Block Swap Challenge

I've been working on a quilt using string blocks I received in two swaps, one with our guild quilt show committee and one with 6 members of the Education Team that comes to Houston for Festival.  Here is the finished top:

45" square
 

I used the larger blocks in the center and some of the smaller blocks for a border, I have lots of small blocks left for another project.  I'll quilt it simply by machine, a good chance to practice free-motion quilting.  I'll also use it to practice stitching the applied binding in place by machine.  I usually hand-stitch the binding in place but there is a time when machine stitched binding makes sense, like baby quilts and donation quilts, so I want to work on that skill.

While working on this project I came up with several points to consider when working in a swap group.  Here are the positives:

1.  You will receive a wide variety of fabrics, many of which you don't have.
2.  People work with color differently so you may see color/fabrics in a new light.
3.  Each person puts their own mark on the quilt and it's a great memory project of people and a time in your quilting journey.

Here are the challenges:

1.  You may get fabrics you don't have for a reason, you won't love them all.
2.  Each person sews differently and has their own interpretation of the guidelines.
3.  Some of the blocks may not be useable depending on your design idea.

Tips for working in a swap group:

1.  Set clear guidelines and a deadline.  (Those who miss the deadline need a gentle push.)
2.  Keep it Simple--the more specific the design, the more variation you will get.
3.  If you are persnickety about your fabrics and design, you should sew your own quilts.
4.  Do not complain publicly about what you received, you won't be invited to join again.
5.  Use the blocks you can, and those you can't can be added to your "orphan blocks" stash to use for fun pieced backs or simple donation quilts--someone without a quilt will love those blocks.
6.  Use quality fabric and try your best to provide the fabrics requested.  Do your best work.
7.  Meet the deadline.  Follow the guidelines--ask if you don't understand something.

Paper Piecing Tips:

1.  Use lightweight paper, like telephone book pages.  Do not use vellum or heavy copy paper.
2. Use a small stitch, 1.5 or 16/inch--this makes taking the paper off a breeze.  Regular size stitches make taking the paper off an ordeal--and pulls out stitches at the beginning and end of each string.
3.  Be sure you trim seam allowances down to 1/4" if you sewed with a larger seam--before you add the next string. 

A group swap can be a fun experience but it's not for everyone.  Enjoy what you receive and make something useful with the blocks. 

Other projects I've been doing this week:

Stars in a Time Warp, Ombre

Four Patch Leader/Ender project

 

The four patch blocks are my latest Leader/Ender project and were sewn together as I worked on the String Block quilt.  I'm not sure if I'll put the tan/cream backgrounds in one quilt and the white backgrounds in a different quilt or use them in the same quilt--what do you think?  I have a large stash of four patches I've been making as leader/enders so it was time to figure out a use for them. 

We had a baby shower for my daughter-in-law and baby Stella will be well-supplied.  Here is a photo of the two happy grandmothers and our mama-to-be.  The next time we see her, Stella will be here:

Check out Judy L's blog to see what others are doing.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

String Blocks

I've been saving strings of fabric for years to make string blocks.  It's a process that is really popular now and allows you to use very small pieces of leftover fabric.  Bonnie Hunter uses string piecing in a lot of her quilts and her blog is loaded with ideas for this technique, check her out here.

Last fall our guild quilt show committee formed a swap group to make string blocks.  I wrote about that here and this is a tutorial.

At Houston last fall, seven of us in the Education Department decided to do this too.  These blocks start out with paper cut 6.5" and we are only making 6 blocks for each person.  Everyone got to decide what colors and design they wanted.  The deadline is March 31 to have them in the mail to each person so when the calendar turned to March yesterday I decided I'd better get BUSY!  I am also going to demo this process and show the many quilt designs you can get with these blocks at International Quilt Festival in Chicago, March 26-28, 2015.  Don't miss the Chicago Show!

Here are the sets I have done: 

Bert wanted random black and white

Carol wanted scrappy
 

Vickie wanted scrappy with a 1" finished black strip in the middle

Tanya wanted various greens with a bright light 1" finished green in the middle
 

Melissa wanted scrappy

 

Judy wanted red and white from the diagonal out--still have to finish hers

This was a great way to run my Featherweight sewing machine after cleaning, oiling and lubricating it.  The motor needs to be run to help get all the oil/grease through the machine and this was the perfect way to do it. 

Here are a few tips:

1.  I use telephone book pages, lightweight and no cost, and, no, they don't put ink on me or the fabric.

2.  Use a small stitch, 1.5 mm or about 15 stitches/inch--this makes paper removal easy.  Leave the paper on so the recipient can decide if she wants to make them smaller and she can trim them.

3.  If doing a design that puts a specific color in the center, it helps to start with paper larger than needed to allow for trimming the block to get that center in the center--I cut those papers 7"

4.  If doing a design with a specific color in the center, I pinned that fabric in place first.  Then I added strips to both sides.  Otherwise, I use no pins in the process.

5.  I usually piece with gray thread.  For the half white/half red set, I'll use white thread on the white half and sew all 6 of those first.  Then I'll change thread to a gray and do the red side of all 6 blocks. For all the other blocks, I alternated sides, and pressed the blocks after adding to both sides.  You don't have to press until the blocks are done but I like to press and getting up from the machine is my aerobics.

This process can be messy because I have a big bag of saved strings:

 

So when I start this project, I keep going until I'm done or can't stand it any more.  The larger strips I save are kept much more organized than this, but for strings, they just get tossed into a big tote bag until I'm ready to piece string blocks--then it's a sorting frenzy.

So I'm almost done and that's what's on my design wall today.  Check out Judy L's blog to see what others are doing.

Let's quilt!

Barbara





Small Projects Finished

In two weeks the first Simple WhatNots Club will be wrapping up at my local shop, Patches & Stitches.  I plan to devote this session to finishing techniques.  So I've gotten a few of these little quilts quilted and bound, or partially bound, so I can demo a few methods. 

 

"MEANDERING":  This one I bound with one of the fat quarters of striped fabric in the collection .  I usually bind with straight grain cut the width of fabric but stripes lend themselves to being sewn on the bias.  I also machine stitched this one in place after turning it to the back--I'll have some tips on how to do that.  Approximately 18" x 24".  The buttons are sewn on the teal blocks to cover some funky stitching--I free motion quilted the petals--still have a long way to go with that but the buttons cover the majority of the "issues" with the quilting.  Finished is better than perfect.

"WIDDLYTINKS":   This one called for tiny yo-yos--I opted for buttons instead.  This binding shows what NOT to do--cut and sew straight or your corners will be "pokey" like these.  Approximately 12" x 15"

"LILY":  My favorite in the first collection.   I quilted this with the walking foot and will use it to demo how to trim the outside edges and how I join binding strips--with a bias seam.  I add a hanging to sleeve to 99% of the quilts I make and will demo that on this project too.  28" square.

The second collection of The Simple WhatNots Club has been announced and the shop is doing this club one more time, from January to June, 2015.  See the projects here.  We only have room for 30 people to sit for the two-hour monthly demo.  Many in this first club are signing up again--they love Kim Diehl fabrics and have learned a few things. 

Another fun project I completed was a Quiltalong small mystery quilt from Lori D of Humble Quilts.

 

This she calls Cascadia.  I've done several of Lori's little quiltalong quilts--they are fast and easy and I enjoy making something fairly quickly. I had a bunch of 2" finished four-patches already completed  so that made it easy to get this one done.  18.5" x 17".
Folks in the string block swap I put together have decided what colors/design they want for their blocks.  I wrote about that here.  That tutorial showed how to split the block exactly in half with two different colors.  Three of the seven of us want a 1" finished strip down the center of the block, like this:

 

This takes a little care, lining up a 1.5" cut strip exactly down the center of the paper foundation.  I pin that to hold it, then add strips on either side.  These are blocks that were made for my in a previous swap--I want light colors on one side, dark colors on the other.  There are many design possibilities with these blocks, just like Log Cabin blocks. 

Finally, I started Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, even though I said I would not until I got a few more things done.  There are over 23,000 people on her Facebook group, Quiltville's Open Studio, and I think most of them got started this Friday November 28, when the first clue was released.  Click the Grand Illusion link below to go to Bonnie's Blog--then  click on Grand Illusion Mystery in the heading--the introduction and Part 1 are posted--or click here.  Each Friday until the end of 2014 she'll have another part of instructions.  Here are my first little 4" finished units:

I am not in a hurry to complete this so I'll use it for my leader/ender project.  The fun part for me is picking all the fabrics and I wrote about that here.

That will do it for now.  I'm almost finished Little Letters and will have that to show next time.  Linking up to Bonnie's Monday Mystery and Patchwork Times.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

String Block Swap Tutorial

I'm in another block swap, this one with a few members of the Education Team who come to Houston each year for Festival.  There are 7 of us doing this one, and we only have to make 6 blocks for each person so this project will go fast.  I've written about an earlier string swap here.  Those blocks just cover the paper with no need to worry about where the center line is.

One of the team says she wants Red and White blocks--can you imagine?  So here is a quick tutorial on making blocks that are exactly half one color, half another.

Our blocks are to be trimmed to 6.5" inches when sewn so start with a 7" square of lightweight paper.  I use telephone books--the paper is thin and the ink does not run.  I'm hoarding old phone books because one day there won't be any more such things.

I dug through my bag of strings I've been saving for these projects.  First, I gathered various red and white fabrics.  Then I folded the 7" page on the diagonal to find the exact middle.  I took one long red and one long white, placed them right sides together, and placed the edge along the fold on the paper.

Here is the first seam sewn and pressed open:

Next, I worked on the red side, adding red strings one at a time, until the paper was covered.  Here is the second red string in place before sewing, face down on the previous red string:

When I get to the corner, I like to use a half square triangle as that puts straight of grain fabric on two opposite corners.  All the other edges will be bias so this helps minimize stretching when you piece with the blocks:

 

Now that the red side is done, it's on to the white side:

 

Notice all the strings are longer than the paper underneath.  You will be sewing with a small stitch and do not want to have to remove a string that is too small so bigger is better.

Now that the paper is covered it's time to trim the block to 6.5", being very careful to get the midpoint exactly right.  See the 6.5" ruler?  I have placed the center diagonal line exactly on the center red/white seam.  Even though the seam wasn't sewn exactly straight down the middle, the outer corners are spot-on so that the corners will match exactly when the block is sewn to others:

Yeah, it works!

 

And here you have it, the finished red and white 6.5" string block.  We do not remove the paper on these--the new owner gets to remove her own paper. 

TIPS:

1.  Use a small stitch, less than 2.0.  If it's so small the paper is perforating and falling off while you are sewing, it's too small.  My stitch is about 1.7.  Longer stitches make it difficult to remove the paper--no one likes that job.

2.  Use a light neutral thread--darker thread will show in the white seams and you don't want to have to change threads between the white and red sides, do you?

3.  Be sure each string is long enough to fit before you sew it.  When you flip it open it has to cover the paper completely--believe me, you really don't want to have to rip one out because it is too short.

4.  Use fabric of first quality and fabrics you really like.  Some of these reds and whites are leftovers from my Red and White--By the Numbers quilt--I'm enjoying working with these fabrics again.

So, that's all there is too it.  Each person is deciding what colors she wants--some may want completely scrappy, one wants black and white, some may say brights, some say pastels.  We're just getting going and the deadline is April 1, 2015 so there is no rush to get these done.  But I will anyway--I like to check DONE on my list of things to do.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. 

Let's quilt!

Barbara

New Projects Yet Again

I decided to make one more garment for our Ruby Jubilee Festival when I had access to more of the great French General fabric, Rue Indienne for Moda.  After seeing this line at Spring Market in Pittsburgh I asked my local quilt shop, Patches & Stitches, to order some of it.  Two weeks ago it came in, right after I completed my less than successful linen jacket and switched to making a simple vest--see that story here.   They also ordered the great linen in a red paisley--that will be another outdoor-type jacket after I get home from Houston--I'm running out of time for any new starts.

Here is the replacement jacket--cotton, not linen, but it will work as a "working" tunic:

I added a Runaround bag, too, a little purse that makes it easy to carry my phone and just a few essentials when I leave the office on an errand or assignment.
Other projects ongoing:

A cute baby quilt called "Little Letters" from Temecula Quilt Co.   I started this a couple months ago for a "someday" grandchild.  They post 2 letters/blocks a week and they are quick to cut out and sew. 

Our quilt show committee had a meeting recently and I showed them what I am doing with the swap blocks they are making for me:

Most of the folks in the swap have their blocks done or will soon.  String blocks are very fast and easy for utility quilts.  Here is more info on string swap blocks.

The most important thing I did in the last week was decide on what quilts I want to have ready for our next quilt show--that helps me focus on what needs to get done next.  Two are to be hand-quilted so that has to get started soon.  The show is a year off but time seems to fly by!

That's it for now.  Check out Judy's blog to see what others are doing.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Studio Overhaul

My best buddies came over today to help me rearrange and organize my closets, all 24 feet of them.  It was a daunting task but they were up to it, keeping me on task and hard at the purge vs. save decisions I had to make. 

BEFORE--chaos!



AFTER--much more organized
 

Keep in mind, there are two more sets of closet doors but I didn't take before shots of those.  They are also much more organized.  I found fabrics and projects I've been missing for years.  Many times they heard me say "I wondered where that was!"  It was a terrific project, one they insisted I needed when we went to Paducah in April.  They didn't call it an "intervention" but it clearly was.  I need to use all this wonderful fabric I've already bought rather than keep buying more to bring home so it can stay huddled up in the closet with its' friends.  I have some really GREAT stuff here!

My guild will benefit as I will hold a private sale for them in early August.  I've done this twice before and they have loved it--great prices for them and I get rid of some of this excess.  The guest bed is piled high with the cast-offs.  What doesn't sell gets donated to our guild challenge in October.  If I have time I plan to tackle the 400+ books I've accumulated, some I haven't opened in 10 years--guess I don't really need  those titles.

There is still more work to do.  A bunch of "fabric groupings" I thought I would one day make into a quilt need to be "deconstructed"--broken up so the fabrics can be returned to the closet with like colors.  As it is, I have at least 15 "project" bags with ongoing quilts that I really want to finish.  

It was fun and tiring and I'm glad this part is over.  Tomorrow we "retreat" together for sewing, basting, fun and fellowship.  Quilting friends are the best!

Here are some more of the string swap blocks I've completed.  The last 2 will be done tomorrow so I can move on to other things:

Jane--bright, scrappy, my favorite colors

Katherine--Halloween, no Halloween fabrics

Mary--totally scrappy

Debbie--bright, scrappy

 

I hope you have a set of friends who help you and know what you need before you do.  Let's Quilt!

 Barbara


String Swap Blocks

Our group decided to make String Blocks for our swap.  There are 10 of us, and we each make a dozen 5" string blocks for each person.  Some people are asking for very specific colors/styles, some just say "scrappy".  Here are the first batches I've gotten done:

Connie--asked for a soft, cottage look

Kari--asked for bright and funky



My first attempt at my own--I cut the papers the wrong size so the black strip is not centered--OOPS!

These are fast and easy to do and fun too.  We will each receive 108 5" blocks from the other 9 people.  Of course, we will each make 108 blocks to give out too.  A great way to use up some of those shoe boxes of leftover fabric strips--though this didn't begin to make a dent in my stash. 

I am using old telephone book pages for the foundation.  When the 5" paper square is covered, I trim it to 5" again, getting rid of the excess around the perimeters.  The recipient can cut them down further or use them that size. 

Let's Quilt! 

Barbara