Quilt WiP - It's still the 80s

 I haven't touched this quilt for a bit over a year - Jan 2020.  I lost my 'sew-jo' somewhere in the never-ending parade of masks last spring and it has been reluctant to come back.   But I made a resolution to move forward on my quilting and decided early last week that the best way to do that is to allocate a specific time (namely Saturday and Sunday afternoons) to the task.   I promised myself that I would set up my sewing machine on the dining room table Friday after dinner and then sew on Saturday and Sunday, then put the sewing away for the work week to keep everything in my work space (currently the corner where the living room and dining room come together) nice and tidy.   

What do you know, I worked on my quilt!   I had finished all the blocks and all the pieced sashings (though I had not cut the solid sashings) when I put it away last year.   I will cut those sashings as I come to them in the assembly.  This quilt is not put together in rows due to the asymmetric setting.  It's not even put together in quadrants, but instead in seven large areas that are then seamed together in a way the makes sure that there are no set in corners.   The sections are designated A-G

I actually started with section  B, which is the center and center upper area.  While this one is the largest area wise, it is also the one of the simpler areas in construction, with only one real sashing strip and very few places where corners meet or points are a concern.  I trimmed the outer round of the log cabin blocks down so that the bright rose would not overpower the blue so much.  They were a bit wonky, so that also made that less of an issue (and I hope the rest will quilt out).  The lighting makes it look much worse than it is, btw.  And I didn't smooth out the wrinkles at all, as I was losing what little light a grey winter day provided in my north facing bedroom!.

It's going to be huge.  The length of this section is about 2/3 of the length of the quilt, and between 1/3 and 1/2 of the width.  And it almost covers a double bed mattress top.  It will be nearly 90 x 90.   Bedspread sized.

Next I will try to work on Part A.  It has a much more complex layout with sections of pieced sashing.

Quilt WiP - back to "It was the 80s"

One of my major goals for this year is to get "It was the 80s" done.  I haven't been putting time into my quilting.  Knitting and needlework happen in the living room in a comfy chair.  They are often (though not always) projects where 15 mins of work can happen without needing any set up or much prep.  I can leave a needlework project on a frame on the floor stand and the pattern on my antique music stand that I use for a chart holder and just sit down and stitch whenever I get a minute.  Knitting is even more portable yet.  Even on lace pieces, it's just a matter of finding my place on the chart and away we go.

Quilting, on the other hand, means hauling out a sewing machine, setting it up, getting out fabric, and iron and ironing board.....  I'm a dining room quilter and I can't really leave everything set up.  Well, I COULD, but the dining room table is the only place to eat in the house other than a TV tray in front of the tube (which I try not to do).  I'm trying to find a solution.  But in the mean time, I'm going to try hard to utilize the weekends. 

So this weekend, I spent some time organizing my projects.   And sorted and folded the fabrics that will be used on the back and sashings for "It was the 80s".   I also made a list of the steps needed to finish the top and back for the LAQ.  I have the funds saved up to pay her and once the top and backing are completed, I'll get on her waiting list.  Jean is pretty quick, and I just need an all over pattern, so it shouldn't be a long wait. 
So the next part is checkerboard sashings - 4 of them, three that are a single strip and one that is basically 4 patches set edge to edge.   I got all the parts cut on Saturday and the machine set up and pairs run through on Sunday afternoon.

The single row sets went quickly - these are the two that are 12 patches each.  The four patches (2 x 11) were fun, too.  I wanted to include as many of the mid blues as I could, so there are some 'patched patches' in this set.  The blue and cream stars from the salvaged sashings of the old quilt cut down nicely into two patch sets. 

Still have the one patch row that is 22 long (this one will go along the lower edge of the top).  So that will be next weekend's goal along with figuring out where and how to do a design wall.  I don't want to lay this out on the floor unless I have to.


EDIT:  last of the sashings

Slow Sunday Stitching -- September 8, 2019

I finished some quilt blocks this week:
Number 29 of 30 for the center of Aunt Lottie's Garden.  Hand applique on this block, and for some reason my basting went all puckered and I had to redo half of it because there was a big fold in the background fabric under the applique.  "Haste makes waste!"

"Yankee Puzzle" (12 inch finished size) for my Guild's Quilts of Valor; I think this is quilt number 7 so far this year.  I just love the background fabric on this one; perfect for patriotic quilts in the US.

And I put in about two more hours on Dutch Beauty  (total of four so far this rotation).

So I'm happy with my progress.  Today I'm going to mark and baste the LAST block for the center of Aunt Lottie's Garden - yeah for milestones.    Still lots to go on this top, with the assembly of the center and the borders.   I'm planning on doing the borders 'cornerstone' style, with the same hexi sets as the center in each corner and then leafy vines on the sides.  


Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's.  

FINISHED QUILT: Christmas Cabin Stars Wall Quilt

I finished the little wall quilt:


Size:  approx. 18 x 22 inches
Machine pieced and Machine quilted.  
Fabrics from a bundle purchased in the mid 1990s from Overbrook Quilt Factory.  (Would be called a layer cake in today's terms, though these were 12 inch squares.) Top was found in a tub of 'to be quilted' items and it fit the challenge perfectly - stars made with only squares, rectangles, half or quarter square triangles.

As seen hanging in our guild challenge exhibit.   It's actually square, the photo was taken at an angle due to the way the quilts were hung

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Fill Area #3 (6 inch blocks)

The last of the three fill in areas is in the right side, about the mid point.  It's an area 6 inches by 12 inches, so perfect for a pair of half size (6 inch) blocks.   I debated doing some true miniature piecing there, but when I saw the "X and O" block that Pat called "Hugs and Kisses" in her design, I knew what I was going to do.  That block was Block 20 in "Solstice", and I substituted a block from the old quilt, but I made one X and one O for this area.

These are four patches with each patch 'snowballed' on two opposite corners using the 'stitch and flip' technique.  The X and O simply happens with the way the 4 patches are orientated.   Fun little blocks. 


The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Fill in #2

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Fill Area #1 (Crumb Block)

In addition to 25 blocks of assorted sizes, Pat Slone's "Solstice" with the asymmetrical layout includes solid sashing and several sections of checkerboard sashing.   Three of those checkerboards are fairly large - block sized.   So on those areas, I am substituting something other than checkerboards.

The first area - at the center top of the layout - is 10 inches by 12 inches.   The original quilt had a 'crumb pieced' block that I will cut down for this section.   I think I'll trim off the far left side. 

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #25

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 25

This is the last of the machine pieced blocks (still have the rest of one hand pieced block and some pieced checkerboard sashing to do).   I used Pat's pattern for this block.  she calls it "Summer Rose", but I have seen it as "Christmas Cactus" as well.  

I was very pleased with the way this one turned out, the 'oversized and trimmed down' half square triangles work very well for me

So next thing will be to show off the three 'fill in' sections.  They are all done, just need pressed and a picture taken.

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #24

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 24

And another block from the original quilt subbing in for one of Pat's blocks.   Her block 24 is this same star with a nine patch center instead of a 4 patch and the corner blocks divided. 

This one will do just fine.

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #23

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 23

This block is a simple 16 patch,  I've seen it called "garlic knot" "tied knot" and Pat calls it "Eureka". 

At any rate, I was originally going to just sub in a 16 patch from the original quilt in the 'sunshine and shadows' set, but it had a LOT of that bright rose in it.   So I salvaged what I could, pieced pieces where I ran short and added new neutral fabric

I didn't take a picture of the 'dead' block.  But here it is laid out:

And finished

I think I did a pretty decent job of hiding the 'pieced pieces' by matching up the print repeat carefully. 

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #22

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 21

This block is another of the 12 inch blocks, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in the number of pieces.   The grid is a 36 patch (6 by 6) of 2 inch (finished) pieces.   And 16 of them are half square triangles - that's 52 pieces in this one block. 

Pat's diagram has a dark/medium/light coloring, so I used two pieces out of one of the deconstructed nine patch blocks that let me use the navy calico print for the darkest fabric.  The medium is one of my new fabrics and that half yard is now down to a six inch square and a few scraps.  The light is the 'stars on cream' Bonnie Hunter neutral that was in the sashing of the original quilt.   I love that this block had small enough units to get full sized patches out of the old sashings.   A quick wash and a spray of Best Press was all that was needed to get the fabric back to 'near new' condition. 

All the units:

And the finished block:

If I were going to make a full quilt of these (and Pat's block pattern has a nice layout for just that), I would make at least the center set of four squares into flying geese units.  There's eight seams coming together in the center of this block and it was very had to get them all lined up and meeting nicely.  Flying goose units would at least eliminate two of those seams.


Note:  One thing I haven't mentioned about Pat's wonderful pattern is that not only does she give two layouts for this quilt (the other one is a symmetrical layout with all 12 inch blocks, so she gives  alternate sized blocks or units from the larger blocks to scale into the 12 inch block size), she ALSO does full quilt layouts for most of the blocks and provides a 'coloring sheet' of those layouts.   That's a lot for a free pattern!!!

This block reminds me of Southwest Native American art - rugs in particular.  I think it would be stunning in some of the turquoise, red rock and sand colors.   Maybe with a wide border of Kapolei dancer rock painting figures or something similar.  There are some batiks with those types of primitive art.   The block would scale up nicely to 18 inches square with 3 inch finished units instead of 2 inch.   I have too many quilts in the 'to do list' already, but that might go into the 'ideas' list. 

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #20

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 20

Here's another substitution block.  I am running low on fabric, so I really need to use more of the old quilt blocks.

This is a block called 'Star Flower' and it's basically a modification of the classic Lemoyne star, but made with half square triangles instead of equal sided diamonds.   The classic one will show up a few blocks from now as I also have a hand pieced classic version with the equilateral diamonds from the old quilt.

Pat's block this time is an 'X and O' block she calls 'Hugs and Kisses'.  I do like this block.  Each of the four units in it finishes at 6 x 6 and there just happens to be a fill in area that is 6 x 12.  So I'm going to be making one 'X' and one 'O' for that area when I get to doing the laying out, sashing and fill in areas. 

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #19

BOM Challenge update

I totally didn't make my goal of keeping up with my Block of the Week progress and getting this quilt finished in 2018.  


For some reason, I fell out of love with this project in the second half of the year and this is all I accomplished from April to December


Block 16 - friendship block*
Block 17 - shooting star
Block 14 Redux - honey bee * with the applique finished
Block 18 - on the go*
Block 19 - board games*

And one part of the fill-in areas

I'm so disappointed with myself.   I have 6 blocks to do yet for this quilt and a ton of assembly for both the front and the pieced back.  I need to re-dedicate myself to getting this one done.  

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 19

This block is one of the oversized ones and anchors the upper left corner of the quilt.  It is 24 x24 inches finished, and is made up of five "Friendship Star" blocks (four 9x9, one 6x6) and striped sashing.   In Pat's version, the sashing is pieced, but I think I'll use a striped shirt from the tiny shirt stash and do solid sashing.   I'm cutting these new since my original quilt is on a 12 x 12 grid so the half square triangles from any of the old blocks will not fit, nor do I have enough HST of any one background to make that many stars. 

Each "Friendship Star" sub block is basically a nine patch with four half square triangles:

And here is the finished block. I got rather side tracked while I was working on this one and it took MUCH longer than it should have.   BTW, the name of this block is "Board Games", and I think it looks a bit like a Parcheesi board!

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #18

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 18

This project has been on the back burner for several months.   Yard work, housework and other projects have taken priority in my life of late, but I do want to get this top to the LAQ by sometime this year, so I need to put some time in on it.  
The next block is another of the 12 x 12 inch blocks; it takes 16 half square triangles arranged in diamond and 'flying geese' units.  
  

I debated taking apart one or more of the old blocks that are on a 16 patch grid, but ended up making it from new cuts.

I was disappointed with my points on this block.   There's a lot of bulk in the seams and they didn't come together as nicely as I had hoped.

I think if I were to do an entire quilt with this block, that I would do oversized flying geese units with either 'stitch and flip' corners or paper piece them, which would eliminate half of the seams. 

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #17

FINISHED QUILT: Mug Rug for Rav Swap

I mentioned a while back that I am in a swap for mug rugs - little mini quilts meant to be used as coasters 'with a place for a cookie on the side'.  

My swap partner is katyknitsnyc and she likes 'greens, batiks and grunge'.   Well, I have no grunge, but was able to find batiks in the LQS.  And I stalked her projects a bit (in a non-creeper fashion) and found that she likes pieced animals - at least her last quilt has featured them.

I found inspiration from a puzzle on my 'color by number' app

And so I embarked on a foundation pieced sea turtle.  I was able to find a free 6 inch block on sewhooked and extended it slightly to make a 7.5 x 9 inch block.

Machine quilted, rounded corners required bias binding, which I made continuous fashion (link is in my 'helpful links' page up top).

matches the inspiration pic pretty well!

And the whole thing

Front

Back



About the only thing I'm not happy with is the slight thicker place in the binding on the front.   It would have been less obtrusive and less bulky if it didn't hit right at the seam between the 'deep ocean' and the 'shallower water' colors.   I had to overlap the binding instead of mitering it.   I need to work on that more.    I was fairly pleased with the quilting, which I totally procrastinated on.   I'm a raw novice at machine quilting.   This is the first time I've done anything other than straight lines, stitch in the ditch fashion.  I tried to use a walking foot on it, with gentle waves ala "Walk" by Jacquie Gering.  I checked her book out from the library and it was surprisingly successful!  

I also included a fat quarter of the navy that I used on the back and one of my hand made greeting cards.  

(Note:  My blog is linked to my Ravelry profile, so I held this post until I knew the package was delivered today in order to surprise my giftee.)

Slow Sunday Stitching - July 1, 2018

JULY!!!!  How did it get to be July already????   The summer is just bolting past.   It's not "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" around here.   More like "frantic, panic, manic days".   This month at work is especially fraught.   Each July I have several annual reports due.   Because my business is winter peak, some of our reporting is summer to summer to avoid that busy season.   But for an accountant, that makes this my 'year end close' month.  UGH.     So month close, quarter close, annual stuff...... Yeah, busy.

But I'm trying to at least touch everything.

I am on Round 15 of the lace shawl border.   The next main motif will start in Round 16.  

Round 15 of Inner Border charts

You can really start to see the diamond motifs develop now.  I'm still managing one side a day most days.   That's less than two rounds a week, but it's at least progressing, which is more than it has been.  I've also got a simple hat on the needle for when I need mindless knitting.


another LOSY hat for charity

On the needlework front, the "Fire" band sampler is coming along nicely.  Just finished up Band 6 of 16.   Band 4 was a Honeycomb Pulled stitch with beading.  Band 5 was Rhodes Hearts, Diamond Eyelets and beads.  Band 6 was Scotch stitch checkerboard.   And I'm working on a solid row of beads placed to anchor a section of drawn thread work.   I expect that band will take me most of the week in 15 minute bites, since there's so much prep work for it. 

Last, but also today's project, I'm taking a foray into foundation paper piecing.  I signed up for a 'mug rug' swap.   If you haven't caught the 'mug rug' craze, they are mini quilts somewhere between 5 x 7 to 8 x 10 inches meant to be used as oversized coasters.  Each person did a small survey of favorite colors, styles or themes, etc.   My partner likes 'animals, modern, batiks, blues and greens'.   So she's getting this:

Technically this isn't 'slow stitching' because it will be done on the machine, but it's my first animal in foundation paper piecing and by far the most complex foundation work I've ever done.   Trust me, it will be going SLOW.  LOL.

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitching crew over at Kathy's.  Wander by and see what everyone is doing this week.

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 17

This is a 12 x 12 block.   I still have a bunch of 12 inch (finished) blocks from the old quilt, so even though I really like Pat's block with it's 'birds in the air' and 'hourglass' units, I'm going to sub in this Shooting Star block.  

sub for Block 17

The remaining blocks actually have almost a half dozen 'stars' with potential to go into the top; the rest will find a place on the pieced backing.   Most of them, though, have quite a bit of the bright rose solid that I'm trying to minimize in the top.  This one uses the bright rose print and one of the 'Bonnie Hunter neutrals' that hasn't seen much use.   I'm trying to use the 'minor fabrics' at lease three places in the top so that they don't look quite as much like an afterthought.

Star blocks are a theme in this quilt, which is one of the things that drew me to the design and layout.   Since the original quilt class was a gift from my late husband and with Walt being an amateur astronomer, stars are so appropriate.  Other star blocks so far: Block 2 - night into day star*, Block 15 - precious fabric* and there are a couple more to come.

Side note:  This week's 'basement box' yielded the notebooks from the original class.   The self-published paperback "Your First Quilt...and More" by Virginia Robertson was the main book for the class.   A glimpse of it above.

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #16

Quilt WiP: " It was the 80s" - Block 16

Pat's next block is called "Friendship Block".   There are a ton of quilt blocks with that name, but this one actually reminds me a bit of "Card Trick", though it's much simpler to put together.   I salvaged part of another of the dark 9 patches for one of the fabrics in this block.


The 9 patches are only four and a half inches cut (four inches finished), and I needed five inches cut, so I pieced the larger unit.   But if I had just added on the half inch, that would have meant that the 'extension' seam and the 'actual' seam would be practically on top of each other.   So I moved the extension seam up to 1.75 inches from the bottom of the piece.   I chose that distance because that is the width of the side piece with one seam sewn.    Hopefully that will make the 'extension' seam less obtrusive.   Of course, with fabric this busy, your eye doesn't see the seams anyhow.   But I'm fussy that way.  LOL.   12 x 12 inch finished block; though the grid is not immediately apparent, it's actually a 16 patch.

I didn't, by the way, piece the medium blue.   I wanted to preserve as much of that print as possible.  It's an interesting large scale tone on tone 'cabbage rose'.  I wish I had enough to fussy cut a bit, but I'm already down to just about a fat quarter with another 9 blocks and a bunch of sashing to go.

Block 16

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #15

BOM Challenge Update - March 2018

It's the first Saturday of the month, so that means it is time to check in with the link party on Jo's Country Junction for the folks that are working along on their Sampler/Block of the Month/Block of the Week UFOs.  


Work was a bit busy over the last month, so I only got one block a week done.   And one of them isn't finished.   That "Floating 9 patch" in the center top of the photo will actually become a "Honeybee" block after I get some applique on it.   On the other hand, made good progress on the total area since there are two of the larger blocks in the layout in this batch.

This is basically the half-way point.  My goal is to finish this quilt all the way to the binding this year.  Considering that I'm going to piece the back (I will get RID of those rose fabrics!!), I'd like to have it to the LAQ by Labor Day.    I think that's do-able as long as I keep the pace.  


The details on the blocks:
Block 12  - Jacob's ladder*
Block 13 - studio time*
Block 14 - honey bee* (incomplete in this picture - need to add applique)
Block 15 - precious fabric*
Pattern is Pat Sloan's "Solstice" with the starred blocks and the layout from her pattern.  Un-starred blocks are from the original quilt top and will be substituted for Pat's blocks in the final layout.

Quilt WiP: "It was the 80s" - Block 15

There are several blocks in the new layout that I'm a little unsure about.   This is one of them.   It's one of the larger blocks at 20 x 20 inches finished.   It's a huge pinwheel meant to showcase a 'favorite' fabric.  


The problem is that it's going to be an expansion and re-work of this block from the old quilt.

Oh, yuck, that rose solid.   I don't have any more of that blue, but one of the new blues  will hopefully work with it.   I have tons of the rose, but don't really want to use it for the expansion as I am trying to minimize that color in this quilt top.  I keep telling myself that if I hate it in the final layout, I can always take it all apart and re-make it with the soft rose.  And the neutral border will tone it down some, too.  I hope.
It's going to also be rather nerve wracking to cut this down from 12.5 to 10.5 inches square.  I have one shot. 
Later: 

Block 15

Not too shabby.  But there were a couple of challenges. I ended up having to take the pinwheel apart back to the four quadrants to avoid having to do a set in seam, but that also let me trim everything up a LOT more accurately.  I also discovered that my new purchase of neutral, though the same print, is quite a bit more ecru than my original purchase.  It wasn't noticible in the store; I was more concerned about matching the print.  But once I got it under the daylight bulb in my sewing area, it was obvious.  I ended up having to re-do the half square triangles in the new neutral so that the cream was all the same in the block.   I'll just have to watch that as I go along.

The Solstice Quilt on Pat Sloan's blog with the blocks and layout.

Intro: How this quilt came to be
Trackback to prior block - Block #14