Sister's Choice Quilts

Why Oh Why

Why oh why have I left things so late?  What was I thinking?  It is November and my son in law is asking me what holiday items I am going to sell in his shop during November and December.  Can I bring a few things in for next weekend?

Good question.  Oh dear oh dear oh dear.  Why didn't I get on board with Carol of Carol's Crafty Creations this summer and crank out clever Christmasy things well in advance of when they would be needed?

Ok, so now I have to scramble.  I need to make at least six to eight sets of mug rugs, six to eight zippy bags, and at least six table runners.  Like by next week.

You may remember awhile back (2008!) I was experimenting with shabby chic blended quilt fabrics.  I ended up making twice the number of blocks I needed because I decided to go with only the neutral blocks for my quilt.  Love that quilt.

So, anyway, since I only used the neutral blocks,  I had all the colorful blocks left over and decided to use them to make elegant holiday table runners to sell in the shop.  You see one I finished at the top of this post.  I think it works because I have a ton of the black floral fabric to use as a border and backing for the runners.  Things all tie in well I hope.

I need to piece the blocks together (three per runner), add the borders and backings and quilt them.  Six of them.  By next weekend.

You saw my progress with the red and white mug rugs.  Those are still in the works.  Five sets of four to make, and he says that isn't enough. 

Oh, and what about the zippy bags, you ask? 

I found this great assortment of Rhubarb and Ginger fabrics in my stash.  I think they will make pretty, and seasonally appropriate zippy bags.  With any luck, people will find them pretty enough to want to give them as gifts this holiday season.  I have the zippers on order, but as you can plainly see, I have yet to do one single thing other than select fabrics.

This week I will be burning the midnight oil for certain.  Do check in with me and see what I have been able to accomplish.  Ready, start, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Halloween 1904 Half Square Triangle Fiasco Revisited

Hi there friends.  Thanks for all the sympathy and encouragement over my Halloween 1904 Half Square Triangle Fiasco.  Do you think this means the quilt is haunted?  Possessed?  

You offered some great suggestions on how to solve my problem or at least salvage the wrong sized triangle units.  Thanks so much for that!  I have decided to make the correct sized half square triangles with the fabric I have left.  It wasn't enough, so more has been ordered and should arrive this week.  I will get caught up to Thelma, but I won't lie, this has been a set back.

The 384 wrong sized half square triangles will go into another project.  I have in my mind, a cute and complementary black and orange table topper or dresser runner.  Perhaps even a lap sized quilt.  Won't that be cute, the two coordinating quilts displayed in the same room?  It will all work out.  When life gives you lemons....etc  It will also be a reminder of my humanity.

But you know something?  When it came to making all those half square triangles all over again, I just could not face fiddling around with those Star Singles papers.  I am a fan of them, but they are labor intensive.  Lots of steps before you actually get the units.  So I just grabbed my Easy Angle ruler and started cutting out 3 inch strips, ironing them together and cutting.  I have about a third of them ready to sew, and will make the rest of them as soon as my new fabric arrives.  Have you tried the Easy Angle ruler?  It is a fast way to crank out a lot of hsts.  And you only have one corner "dog ear" to trim!

If you don't know the Easy Angle, here are some photos from an older post.

First cut your strips the size of your unfinished triangle size.  For the project in the photos, I was making 2.5 inch half square triangles.  Layer the two strips right sides together and press.

Position the ruler and cut on the diagonal edge.

Flip the ruler around, line the edge up and cut again, this time on the vertical edge.  Can you see how fast this method is?  Your triangle units are ready to stitch.  You just have to be careful not to disturb them too much until you get them sewn.

Thanks again for all your comments and emails.  It was a rough weekend and that show of encouragement really helped.

 

Oh Help

I just had to cut out a background square and make a center circle to be appliqued to one of my Dresden Plate blocks.  Sure, I know, I have only made three out of the twelve "plates" so far, but I love to have a finished Inspiration Block to cheer me on while I complete the others.  I got the blades and the circle prepped and pinned to my background before something unfortunate came to my attention.

This is what I need help with---My background fabric is a lovely pale cream that was part of a Fig Tree collection.  Actually, it was in several Fig Tree collections.  It is the perfect cream, verging on the palest of yellows.  Well, I don't have enough for my block backgrounds, lattices and border for this Dresden Plate quilt.  That's ok, I can substitute something else.  No harm, no foul, I haven't actually cut out more than just the one background square and nothing is sewn down yet.

Hopefully, there is a Fig Tree Fanatic out there who can advise me.  Is there a Moda Bella Solid that is a dupe for the Fig Tree creamy yellow?  There actually is a solid in the Moda Bella line called Fig Tree Cream.  Do you think that is what I have there?  I can still order it and the whole thing will just be too good to be true.

Farmer's Wife, Week Whatever

Honestly, I cannot keep track of what week this is for Farmer's Wife block posts.  I have decided to just go ahead and post my progress whenever I have something to show for it.  Somehow I managed to finish seven blocks this week.  My sister Andrea has been to my house for a visit and we sewed together in the unfinished studio.  She put together an entire quilt top made of vintage sheets!  Check out her blog, I am sure she will post on her fabulous project.

I did have a problem with one of my Farmer's Wife blocks, Number 103  "Whirlwind".  I am using the Marti Michell templates and pdf instructions that Marti sends out through her website.  I struggled so with this block, and still am not sure if I was just being dense about following the instructions, or if there was something actually wrong with the instructions.

I think the diagram (to the left of the block) is incorrect.  Isn't the angle of the cut (along the hypotenuse) reversed?  I followed the directions exactly, but to my way of thinking, the trapezoids were unusable, as the angle where you nipped it off with the triangle template was wrong.  I ended up ditching those pieces and making flying geese and sewing my sides together with partial seams. 

I must have just misunderstood the directions, but if anyone else had issues with this block, using Marti's instructions, let me know.  I will probably be hitting my forehead and saying "duh" when someone explains it to me.

Economy

My favorite Farmer's Wife block so far!  "Economy".  Love it.  I call it Square in a Sqaure, but am not about to argue with a farmer's wife.

I continue to stitch away at these fun little blocks.  Just can't seem to stop!  I have around 18 finished now (not including the dozen or so I made before discovering Marti Michell's templates).  I like to start sewing in the morning, and finish up in the early afternoon.  My studio isn't air conditioned yet, so by about 2:00 it is beginning to get hotter than I like it.

Here are the blocks I made yesterday. From left to right:  Country Farm, Hovering Hawks, Economy, Flock, Bow Tie, Practical Orchard, and Prairie Queen.  I had to remake a couple of them (like the Bow Tie block in the middle) because my originals came out too small.  I can tell already that a fat quarter of the seed packet print fabric is not going to be enough.  Ordering more of that in the black and the yellow is on my agenda.

Sara's mother in law has come to visit her for a few days, so I am trying to not be greedy about horning in on her Evangeline time.  I can spend my afternoons doing hand applique or reading the new book I started, that everyone is talking about. 

"Unbroken", the true story of Louie Zamperini, a 1936 Olympic athlete and WW2 bombadier.  His plane crashes into the ocean, where he is adrift for 47 days, relying on catching rain water to slake his thirst, and catching a fish once in awhile so he doesn't starve.  If that wasn't bad enough, his rescuers are Japanese, who put him in a POW camp where he was tortured for years.  Sounds terrible, but the story is all about the resilience and courage and determination we all have within us to help us get through an impossible situation.  Amazing guy.  He became an inspirational speaker, who is still alive today I believe.  I read somewhere that after he finally got back home from the war, he had post traumatic stress syndrome and became an alcoholic, but Billy Graham and his Christian faith led him to a full recovery.  He went on to inspire thousands of people.  He even went back to Japan, met with some of his former tormentors from the prison camp, and *completely forgave them*.  Astounding story.  The author is the same person who wrote "Sea Biscuit", another inspirational story.

A Tale of Two Blocks

I love it when I put out a cry for help and so many of you rally round to save me from myself. Did I ever get a lot of great suggestions for the precise creation of the Farmer's Wife blocks!  If you get a chance, do read all the comments from yesterday's post.  If you are like me, you will learn so much that will enhance the success of your blocks.

My Farmer's Wife issues were all about "scaling".  Liz, from Liz Quilts created a pdf file of many of the Farmer's Wife templates combined on one sheet of paper (instead of one per page as printed from the cd that comes with the book).  Brilliantly helpful.  Only when I printed them out, I neglected to follow one very crucial piece of advice that she gave.  When I printed the templates, I did not hit "None" for the scaling criteria.  My default scaling was "Print to Fit", and yours probably is too.  If you do not hit "None", your blocks will NOT come out the exact size you need to get the perfect 6 1/2 inch block.  My blocks were coming out a quarter inch too small due to the fact that each of my templates was off by about an eighth of an inch.

Here are two blocks, both "Autumn Tints".  The one on the left was made with my too small templates.  The one on my right was made by doing the math (two 3 1/2" squares, eight 2" squares).

Here they are with my too small block on top of the correct 6 1/2" one.  You can see that it is just a wee bit too small.  The question is, since the difference is so teensy, will I be able to use the half dozen or so too small blocks I have made in the finished quilt?  Can I tease them so they fit?  Maybe.  But I can tell you that the rest of the blocks I make will be finishing at the proper 6 1/2" size!

My too small blocks would make adorable mug rugs...

I am also ordering the Marti Michell acrylic templates, and will keep you posted on how that works for me.  Pam in Chico (Library Gal Quilts) raved about them and so did Debbie (Thread Gatherer).

Oh.  A couple of you asked to see my ugly block that must die.

Lord have mercy.  That is some ugly block.  It was horrid to make, with all those fabrics coming to a point in the center of the block.  And the color placement?  I just don't know.  A clown would like this block I bet.

How The Farmer's Wife Kept Busy

My Annie's Farm Stand fabric arrived over the weekend!  I was so excited to get started making my Farmer's Wife blocks, that I jumped right in.  Sara and I worked on our blocks together, and I finished a dozen of them.  Actually 14, but one is much like another so I didn't take its picture, and the other one is too ugly to live.  Sara made great progress too, go check out her blog and have a look.

The blocks are loads of fun to construct, for the most part, and I can see why others have said that making them is addictive.  You just have to see what the next color combination and block layout will be. 

I'd like to have a discussion with you all about techniques for making these blocks.  When Sara and plunged in, we made the decision to use the templates.  I had read that if you print out the 111 templates from the book on the cd which is included with the book, they just print out one per page.  Definitely did not want to do that.  A fabulous gal with a blog called Liz Quilts posted a LINK with the templates combined many to a page, which was more what made sense to me.  I printed out the templates, bought some template plastic and set about making my templates for the blocks.  I cut out each paper template, then used Elmer's glue to stick it to the plastic template, let it dry, then cut it out on the line.

Sara and I found that every block made with the templates comes out 6 1/4 inches square, not 6 1/2 inches as they are supposed to be.  Is this a scaling issue that resulted when I printed out the templates?  The blocks are consistent, so this could end up not being a problem if all our blocks are template made.

However.  We soon tired of using the templates.  Cutting out all those little triangles and sewing them together got old real fast, plus we found it was a challenge to get all our pieces and seam allowances to line up perfectly.  Rotary cutting was looking VERY appealing after we had made a half dozen blocks or so from templates.  So, we did the math and started making our blocks with a half square triangle method that guarantees success every time (making them with 2 7/8" squares and cutting them in half after stitching on either side of a drawn diagonal line).  Ta da, every block a perfect 6 1/2 inches square, just like they are supposed to be.

So here's the dilemma:  Can we use both the template made 6 1/4" blocks in the quilt along with the rotary cut 6 1/2" blocks?  Will the quarter inch size discrepancy create a nightmare when we sew all the blocks together in the finished quilt?  

Many of the blocks in the book can be made by doing the math, since they are simple 9 patch or 4 patch blocks.  But there are loads of blocks that are fantastic that we want to include in our quilts, that seem to require templates.

The block below for instance.  I could probably figure out how to make this using all half square triangles, but I like the look of the larger pieces that template construction permits.

How are the rest of you coping?  I found some excellent tutorials on Lori Holt's blog Bee In My Bonnet for blocks made by doing the math.  Someone also told me that if you buy the Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork Templates sets A, B, D, N & S (for $90!) you can use them for most all the Farmer's Wife blocks with a 6 1/2" block result.  Has anyone used Marti's templates?

Should I bite the bullet and print out the templates from the cd included with the book?  I wonder if they will be 6 1/2", or if my printer will scale them smaller some how.

Please talk to me about how you are making your blocks and what your experience has been.  I'd love to learn about some other options.

Eventide Final Reveal

 
This was close, but I did finish Eventide by the deadline!  I got my scrappy border on over the weekend, and it's done.  After a false start, I chose to make my large alternate hour glass blocks (which form a secondary star pattern) very subtle.  Playing up the smaller Ohio Star blocks and the red inner border was the way I wanted to go.

Not everyone who has made Eventide on this sew along took that path.   Many people chose to emphasize those alternate blocks, and got such a different, but gorgeous effect.  The variety of quilts that have resulted from this one pattern (by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.) is staggering.  Every one of them has its own unique look.  Be sure to check out Thelma's blog Cupcakes 'n' Daisies today to see all the beautiful quilts.

I'd like to take a moment to thank Thelma for all the work she put into organizing this sew along.  It was a lot of work for her, linking to and uploading everyone's progress photos each week, and it made for such an entertaining event for all of us who participated, and also for those who chose just to observe.  She gave out super prizes, and I offer my congratulations to all the winners!  Her weekly posts on all of our progress were terrific.  If you read them, did you notice, as I did, how she took great care to praise and admire each and every person's effort for the week?  She is a natural organizer, and I hope to participate in another sew along with her some day!

In my opinion, sew alongs are such a wonderful activity.  If, like me, you don't have any quilt shops or quilting friends near by, it is a fabulous substitute for getting together in a classroom to make a project.  Everyone works on the same pattern, just as you would in a class, and the participants offer each other tips and support and encouragement.  Best of all, there is a deadline, which aids many of us (like me!) in keeping on track for a timely finish.

I do hope you enjoyed participating, or watching those of us who did.  As always, I appreciated your comments and encouragment throughout the adventure.

 

Today is Monique's day to post on the Fat Quarter Winners Book Tour.  Be sure and pop over and see what her project is going to be!

Penultimate Eventide Post

 
I love that word, penultimate.  Means next to the last, if you need to look it up.  I was off a week on the deadline for our Eventide reveal, which has turned out to be a very good thing!

I finished my quilt top, or so I thought, and folded it up and tossed it over the back of my sewing chair.  Whoops.  What about the scrappy pieced borders?  Oh yeah.

So, wish me luck this week (which is going to be super busy).  I may be burning the midnight oil to get this done by next Tuesday after all!

I'm Woikin' Here

 
I have been diligently slogging away on my little cosmetics bags.  And they are so darn cute!  In the photo above, you can see some of my recent finishes that are awaiting their embellishments.  I am still not tired of making these.   Each one is as much fun as the last.  I am out of zippers though, so a trip to Prairiequeens to buy more is on the agenda.

 
Thelma posted recently that she has completed 451 half square triangles for our Belle Meade project, which put me into a bit a panic.  I have  made a lot of mine, but have a feeling I am no where near that number.  So, I got out my paper piecing and you can see by that stack that I have a fair amount of sewing ahead of me.

 
And, just as Thelma mentioned in her recent post, if you choose a too large basket for your finished hsts, your production level looks pretty pitiful.  This in no way reflects my work effort. 

 
Now, that's what I'm talkin' about.  My basket over floweth.

 

Still, there is much work to be done.