MY JOURNEY: QUILT #20

 Another quilt from the Special Exhibit My Joyful Journey, part of the Virtual Quilt Festival, December 3-5, 2020.

QUILT # 20: Antique Rose Star: 73" x 73" Hand and  machine pieced, big stitch quilted, 2015 

The Story: First inspired by the work of friend, Barbara Chainey, of the UK, I drew the kite shape and just got started. Barbara gave me one of her kites so I would have the correct size as I waited for templates to be sent from Material Obsession in Australia, the only place I could find the kite template. After this quilt was done, I saw the pattern in the book Material Obession 2,  by Kathy Doughty, who owns Material Obesssion. There is a much easier way to assemble this than the way I did it--with lots of set-in seams. 

I love to teach this class, having learned a very quick way to make the blocks without Y seams. It is one of my most popular classes:

Let's Quilt.

Barbara

MY JOURNEY: QUILT # 13

 Another quilt from the Special Exhibit My Joyful Journey, part of the Virtual Quilt Festival, December 3-5, 2020.

QUILT # 13: A-Symmetrical Six-Pence, machine pieced, quilted by Lisa Marshall, 2005

The Story: Part of my Artsy Period, I spent a lot of time rearranging all the blocks on the design wall to create a sense of changing direction over the top. Block units were swapped with 12 other quilters. One of my most favorite pieces, it is used on my bed in the spring and summer. 

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Decision Made

 Working on Western Sun, a pattern of an antique quilt that I have always loved, I was torn between staying true to the original design layout or using a cheddar cornerstone between the rows of Flying Geese sashing. I wrote about this recently here, and here.

A few people liked the cheddar cornerstone, and no one spoke in defense of the original so I went with the cheddar. Eager to get started sewing the top together, I first worked on a color layout design once all 25 of the full blocks were done.

To be able to see them all, I just put them on the design wall without space for the sashing. After snapping a photo to refer to, I was good to go. 

I made one corner block, a quarter block, for the upper left corner and made a few half blocks for the perimeter triangles so I could start. Let the assembly begin:

Scrap quilts are my favorite kind and I  have made many over the years. First, I pull fabrics for a "palette", then start cutting the required size pieces I need. As I worked on this, I knew I would need to cut more fabrics, but how much more?  Once I got this far, I could easily see and count blocks that were left to make and figure out how much to cut. 

Here is what is cut and on hand currently:

So, I "did the math" and about all I need to cut is the parts for the Flying Geese sashings. I need to cut 183 "geese", from 46 squares--they are Quarter Square Triangles. Then I need to cut 333 pairs of "wings" from squares--that's a lot of cutting. But I am happily using up some favorite fabrics that have lived here way too long. 

Using Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8) helps me so much when playing around with quilt design. The book this pattern is in, Butternut and Blue by Barbara Brackman and Karla Menaugh, has the quilt at 45" square, with only 5 full blocks. Mine is 110" square, if I add the border I think I will add, so it's a lot different.

Here is my sketch of the original design in EQ8--the sashing is ALL geese:

And the sketch with the cheddar cornerstones that I ultimately decided to use:

I don't try to match fabrics very carefully in EQ8 with my quilt designs because I use so many different fabrics and adding lots of them to the project file makes it really BIG. I just try to get the feel for what the quilt will look like overall. In this second one, I did work with color placement since all 25 of the full blocks were done and they all  had to go somewhere. 

Back to cutting out fabric and making the remaining 7 half blocks, 3 corner blocks and all those flying geese sashing units. I'll be in the Studio, if you need me...

Let's quilt,

Barbara

Secret Sewing and a Piecing Tip

For the last two months I have been doing lots of Secret Sewing in between several teaching trips. I still can't tell you about it yet but here's a teaser:

If you like quilts with lots of piecing and lots of fabrics, this is for you.

Now on to the Sizzle borders--lots of applique' in my future:

VERY IMPORTANT TIP FOR BLOCK CORNER SEAMS:

In piecing these 20" blocks together, I found my block corner seams, which are pressed open, were coming apart. I had to sew them back again and that took time and wasn't all that easy--the seams joining the circles to the Block Corners  are pretty short.

What I wish I had done:

1. Check each seam on each block after trimming it to 20.5". I had oversized my block corners so when trimming I was cutting away any backstitching I might have made on the block corner seams. Re-sew any seams that were coming open.

2. Stay-stitch the open seams as soon as the block was done--this stitching is done within the 1/4" seam allowance:

 I dragged these blocks to two classes a month, for six months, where they were often passed around so they were handled more than I would usually have blocks handled. With the seams stay-stitched they would have held up to that better.

Now to get my Warm Sizzle blocks assembled. Then I will prepare and start the machine applique' of the borders.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Scrap Storage--What To Save

Quilters generate "scraps" or "leftovers", pieces of fabric that remain after making a quilt project. Some people throw them away, especially if small, so they don't have to deal with little bits.

I save everything--well, maybe not EVERYTHING--but a lot. Making FREE quilts from Leaders/Enders is something I love to do--I have written about that several times: Lifetime Quilt, and Time Management are a couple posts with lots of info.

When it's time to start a new project, this can be daunting:

Where to start? What to make? Looking at this, I'm feeling the need to purge the closets again--this is behind two of the SIX closet doors in my studio, and yes they all look like this.

Since I often make scrap quilts, I  need a way to keep those organized so they can be found and used when needed.

A reader has asked me to discuss how I decide WHAT to save and how I STORE my scraps. So here are a few of my methods:

STRINGS: leftover lengths, no less than 3/4" wide, no more than 2" wide. This large tote bag is close to full--when I teach String Quilts, I bring it and dump it on a table for everyone to share. These are fabrics I don't really care about:

HUNKS: pieces too large to be cut into Strings, these are separated into Less than 2", 2-3", 3-4", 4-5", and more than 5".  These are fabrics I like enough to want to use again. When working on scrap quilts, I start in these boxes to find Hunks to use, all colors are in these boxes, so I sort through them quickly to find those that will work:

This is the 3-3 7/8" box:

These boxes are stored on book shelves, always ready and accessible. The best thing about having big feet is I also have BIG shoeboxes:

STRIPS for Log Cabins, a block I like to make. These are favorite fabrics cut into 1.25" or 1.5" strips, one bag of each size light, one bag of each size dark. When I am ready to make Log Cabin blocks, I decide on the size, grab those bags and start making them. The bags are stored in a small dresser drawer:

1.25" dark and light bags

1.5" dark and light bags

 FAT QUARTERS or almost FQ: these are stored by color and style. The 1800s Civil War repros are stored together--these are blue and green:

 The Contemporary Fat quarters are stored in large Rubbermaid boxes, sorted by color families--these live in the closet on the floor. There are several more of these:

When I pull fabrics for a project, I gather them together and store them in tote bags while I am working on that project. This keeps everything together until the project is complete. Here is a current one I am eager to start:

 All the big tote bags I get from International Quilt Festival shows are ideal for storing big projects in process. This is an ongoing Strings quilt, made with 8 point Lemoyne Stars:

These are the two SIZZLE quilts under construction in 2019:

Every once in a while I dig out old UFOs to get started again, here is one where  I just need to finish the center applique' block--then the piecing can begin. Having handwork at the ready is a good thing:

 LEADER/ENDERS: when I decide on my next Lifetime Quilt, I will cut pieces for it and get started. Now, my fall back Leader/Ender is super simple, 1.5" light and dark squares sewn into 4 patches. Right by my machine, at all times, is a small container of light squares and that green box which has dark squares. Twos become fours, then are trimmed to 2.5" squares, which will be 2" finished someday.  They are stored in that larger plastic tub in the back, it once held fresh spinach:

The most important thing is to decide what kinds of quilts you want to make, what is the smallest size you want to deal with, and how much time you want to spend organizing your scraps.

Bonnie Hunter has written in detail about her Scrap User's System. She cuts all her leftovers into specific sizes, ones she knows she will use, and sorts them by color. I quickly determined this was more organization than I want to do. But it clearly works for her so check it out, it might be perfect for you.

Here are a few quilts I have made just from the fabrics stored in the shoeboxes, not from yardage cut up. I always try to use the leftovers first:

Staying at Grammie's, made for a new Grandma friend

Trash to Treasure Pineapple Blocks

I Wish You a Merry Christmas, given away

A Queen Size Four Patch quilt given away, only the border was yardage

A quilt-along project from Humble Quilts, only the golds were Fat Quarters

Scrappy Trips with piano key borders, given away, 2.5" strips cut from the shoeboxes

So, I do use my "scraps"--good thing, since I have a lifetime supply and make more every day. What do you do with your scraps?

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Special Delivery: Free Quilter Tool

It's new phone book time in my neighborhood--the time when a FREE quilter tool is dropped off at my front door:

FREE paper to use for string piecing--how great is that?!

The ink does not rub off on the fabrics or the iron.  Use a DRY iron, no steam, when pressing, so the paper doesn't crinkle.  See My Tutorial on String piecing here.

Make use of your smallest bits, those fabric leftovers you don't want to throw out, crumbs and strings, to make easy, scrappy quilts.  I'll be teaching the String Pieced Lemoyne Star at International Quilt Festival Chicago in 3 weeks at our free Open Studios demo classes.  People are amazed with this tool they didn't know they had.

Some day in the not-too-distant future, we won't get phone books anymore so I have been saving them for several years, collecting them from my office, etc.  This year's version is half the size of last years--residential numbers are NOT INCLUDED--a link to a website is provided should you want to look up a residential number.  The writing is on the wall, eventually no more phone books.

Just a tip for my quilter friends--don't throw out this free tool you were given--you might want it someday.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Time to Make More Stars

Yesterday I got this far with Stars in a Time Warp with John Hewson.  I first wrote about it here.

Currently, 72" square

There are still four more borders to add, a row of stars next, a narrow blue, a 3" flying geese border and finally, one last narrow blue border.  The flying geese borders will take some time to complete.

This morning I counted the remaining stars and came up 18 short.  So, time to make more stars.  First, I divided up the remaining blocks into my favorites and not-so favorites:

This is my opportunity to make more blocks that are definitely favorites.  The less-than favorites have their place in any quilt:  they let the favorite ones really shine, they provide a "supporting cast" for the "most favorite" ones.  I just didn't want to find myself at the end of this quilt with only the "less-thans" left.

Next, I dug into my stash of my favorite reproduction fabrics and selected the ones to use in these last 18 blocks.  Some are repeats, some are new additions.

Then it was time to start cutting.  I make these blocks in groups of 4--the most efficient way for me to work.  Here are the first four in process:

You'll also notice some of my leader/ender project laid out too.  This is my Lifetime Quilt, I wrote about it here,  Those little half square triangles blocks are coming together quickly.  I have 3 complete 10" blocks done, each has 64 HST in each, that's 128 pieces of fabric/block.  And one more will be done soon.  I cut the triangle pairs from fabrics I am using for the John Hewson quilt, almost all repros.  Then I sew the triangle pairs together, trim them to 1.75" HST, sew pairs together, then sew twos to become fours.  Eventually, I lay out four rows of fours and join those.  When I have four units of four rows each, I join those into the 10" block.  So far, I haven't sewn any of the 10" blocks together.  I'm waiting until I have a wide selection of fabrics in those 10" blocks so the fabrics will be spread out over the entire quilt.  At least, that's my current plan, always subject to change.

Here are the first four stars done.  Along with four units of the Lifetime Quilt ready to be joined.

To finish the remaining 14 stars in a timely manner, I'll stop working on the Lifetime Quilt, other than using the triangle pairs in true Leader/Ender fashion, as I'm making the stars.  The star blocks will be done today, and I'll lay out the remaining borders ready for a day of sewing tomorrow.

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