Sister's Choice Quilts

Victory Star Center Blocks Done

 My project du jour is Victory Stars, a pattern and kit designed by Paula Barnes for Red Crinoline Quilts.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of making the center blocks, done in shades of navy and a golden tan background color.  The blocks each have a center square in a contrasting color, which I think adds some fun and zip to the equation.  I substituted some fabrics from my stash for the kit's center stars, which were a bit more conservative in color.

The quilt has an outer border that features small Sawtooth star blocks, which will also have these brighter center squares.  This quilt is a bit darker than any I have made lately, but I think it will look very nice draped over my white sofa or out on the golden tan loveseat on the front porch.  I have dark red front doors, which would complement this quilt, so the porch might be the perfect spot for it.

For now, I am enjoying the process of sewing my blocks together with the lattices and corner stones and setting triangles.  Doesn't it look different with the blocks spread out and with the lattices separating the blocks?  I am loving the turkey red setting triangles.

 

 

Half Square Triangle Exercise Almost Done

I didn't finish my Half Square Triangle Exercise quilt top by my self-imposed deadline, but I am nearly there.  I have one more block to make!  I need to make this quilt as large as possible, so I am going with a diagonal set and alternate plain blocks.  I can see I will be doing some rearranging of those plain squares today.  My plan is to put on a black print border, maybe something from Pam Buda's American Gothic line.  Those prints are right in keeping with the various ones I used in my blocks.

I am leaning towards this one, with its large tan flowers.

This quilt will have 840 pieces when completed.  400 half square triangle units.  My blocks are 8" finished.  Not sure what the size will be when I am finished, but my design wall is 72" square, so once I sew it all together and add on the border, I am guessing it should measure around 72" square.  Nice size for the back of the couch, which is where I am envisioning the recipient might use this.

Know which block was the hardest?  Third block in row four, with the straight line design.  Oh man, did I ever have to sew and un-sew those intersecting points to get the overall design to look straight.  I swear, if I was off a thread, the line looked all wobbly from a distance.  Those blacks against the cream/tan are completely unforgiving.

I think I see something wrong with the second block in row five.  Right?  Whoops.  That always happens doesn't it?  Oh well, it's an easy fix.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Half Square Triangle Exercise

Woo hoo, I finally snagged an afternoon where I could spend a few hours sewing, and I was able to make a few more of my half square triangle blocks.  I have been having so much fun with this project, inspired by Thelma and Carrie's Christmas Vacation Sew Along, where they made quilts using half square triangles based on Camille Roskelley's experiment using only half square triangles, arranged different ways to make a quilt top with no block repeated.

I must have dozed off for a minute though, because I see I have indeed repeated a block, the zig zaggy one.  I am thinking maybe if I turn one of them on its side, it could be a different block.  lol

You may recall that I happen to have an entire basket of 2 1/2 inch half square triangle units on hand, left over from my disasterous mistake of making hundreds of them the wrong size for a project I was working on.  Waste not, want not.  Here they are right when I need them and I can just start sewing.

Camille has come out with a printable version of the 25 different blocks she made, which is so convenient.

In other news, Grandpa is back in the hospital, another UTI (urinary tract infection).  Tomorrow he gets transferred to rehab for a month or so.  We have come to the realization that, as much as we want to, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to care for him, and to provide in home care for him.  We are on the look out for an assisted care facility that can take care of all his needs.  His dementia seems to be increasing, and he repeatedly asks me "When can you take me to see Mother?"  In my experience, when the elderly start seeing or asking to see departed loved ones and family members the end isn't too far off.

I remember my Grandma Agnes coming out of her bedroom in her night gown, pocket book on her arm.  "Grandma, where on earth are you going?"  "Grandpa's waiting for me outside in the Oldsmobile, so I must go".  Grandpa had been dead for eight years....Grandma Agnes died a few months later, and in the days before she passed away she swore Grandpa was standing at the foot of her bed.

Antique Stars Still on the Design Wall

Following me make this quilt may be like watching paint dry, but truly I have made a few more blocks and am making progress.  In fact, I am loving the look of these stars so much I haven't had the heart to take them off the design wall to make room for Nantucket.  Just a little bit longer....

I have not quite finished half of the blocks for the quilt.  There is going to be a lattice seperating the blocks, so the over all look will be different than what you see with them all grouped together.  The lattice is chocolate brown, so at this point I can't tell if the over all  look of the quilt will be lighter or darker!  What is your prediction?

When I made my Hill Country Baskets quilt I was so surprised at how much lighter the quilt looked with the lattices on.  But that lattice was light in color.  Remember?  Amazing, isn't it?  Doesn't even look like the same quilt!

No lattice

Lattice

 

Spinning My Wheels

This photo may not look too much different from the last one I posted, but I have actually made a few more blocks for my Antique Star project.  Every block is such fun to make, and seeing the color combinations and the overall effect of the light blocks and dark blocks is really fun. 

I may have a bit of an interruption with this quilt however, because some pals of mine are starting up a sew along, and you know how hard those are to resist.  Sinta, Lisa and Thelma are going to make Nantucket with their bundles of Midwinter Reds!  And I think I want to do it too.

This is Nantucket, a great pattern by Minick and Simpson.  And below is my bundle of Midwinter Reds.  Along side my pile of trimmings from the Antique Star hour glass blocks.

I may be out of my mind, but I said I would try to join in with them.  This may be a miserable failure on my part because I have no time to myself at all lately.

Honestly, you would not believe my life since Grandpa got out of the hospital.  There are FIVE different health professionals that want to visit him each week, and I have to schlep a toddler over to his house each time to meet with them.  A Physical Therapist, an Occupational Therapist, a Speech Therapist, a Nurse, and a Social Worker.  The speech therapist is driving me insane, and I think I am going to fire her.  She can't keep her appointments on time, blowing off our first meeing and showing up forty minutes late for the second.  Today we didn't even HAVE an appointment and she phoned me in annoyance wondering where I was.  Don't you think it is enormously disrespectful not to show up on time for an appointment?  Or verify that you actually do have an appointment?  That has to be one of my top three pet peeves.  Here I am waiting for this woman, with a two year old running around like a lunatic, Grandpa falling asleep in his chair, time I will never see again slipping by like sand, and she tells me she has another patient whose needs she thinks are more pressing (excuse Number One) and computer problems (excuse Number Two)? 

She is toast.

Antique Star Progress

Since I am house bound with this silly head cold, I took advantage of the down time and sat up in my sewing room for a few hours making Antique Star blocks. Doesn't it make a difference to place them on the diagonal?  I do love the look of a diagonal set quilt.  Observe that there are actually two different color placements in the star blocks. One has a dark star on a light background and the other one has a light star on a dark background.  The cool thing about the layout of these blocks is that it is quite random.  No worries if you have three dark blocks in a row, or light background blocks touching.

The colors and patterns of the fabrics I am using are working together in such a pleasing manner to my eye anyway.  Do you notice that the bigger red prints end up looking diffused and more pink than red?  And those really light tan blocks with hardly any contrast?  The ones that look like nothing special, that you are probably thinking "Why is she including those blah things?"

Mark my words, when this quilt is put together, those light blocks that practically disappear into the mix of things are going to make your eye travel here and there and all over the quilt top.  They will be my Sparkle Factor, something from which I believe every quilt benefits.

We will have to wait and see if I am right, but I think I am onto something!

 

Conflicted

This weekend I worked on a little of this and a little of that.  I couldn't seem to figure out just what I wanted to do.  I am excited to make more pineapple blocks, so I started six more.  My alternate blocks for the Blogger Girls BOM are on my mind, so I worked on those.  Actually I spent quite a lot of time unsewing those, as I constructed the first round with the stripes going in opposite directions.

Stripes.Must.Go.In.Same.Direction.

How annoying. I constructed 19 blocks that had to be taken apart and redone.  That'll teach me to pay attention.  Consequently, I do not have a lot to show for myself today!

Hope you all  had a terrific weekend.  We had a little Cinco de Mayo celebration, which is always fun.  Eva entertained us all with her antics.  She is starting to put words together in the most entertaining way.  "Where Ah-ee?"  (Where's Ozzie?)  "Av aa?"  (Can I have that?)  Consonants seem to be eluding her for now,  but I can usually get the jist of what she is saying.  She is becoming her own little person, which is fascinating to observe.  

Baskets All Over the Place

It seems as if these baskets are multiplying.  There are certainly too many to be on the design wall all together.  I have to sew rows in sections, then drape them over the furniture in the studio until I can sew the sections together.  That is the middle section you see there on the table above.

The upper left section is on the design wall, and the lower right section is patiently waiting its turn to be sewn together.  My gosh this quilt is labor intensive.  It is taking forever to sew the rows together with the lattice strips.

It's ok though.  I know I will love it when it's done!

Oh.  Guess what I found under the wicker wastebasket next to the ironing board?  Remember that lizard that sneaked into the studio last fall?  Yeah.  Him.  Dead as a doornail, poor devil.  Unless it was another lizard.....Best not go there.

Mission Accomplished

Well, no, it isn't finished, but I am making great progress on attaching the lattice on my Hill Country Baskets blocks.  A reader commented on my last post that she could not see that fussy cutting the striped fabric for the lattice was worth all the trouble, but I could not disagree more.  What would be the point of a striped lattice that was all wibble wobbly?  It would completely detract from the integrity of the quilt in my opinion.  I love the look of the fussy cut stripes and think it is worth every extra minute of effort to get it right.  What do you think?  Pointless exercise or worth it?

On Saturday I had the entire day to sew, and got so much done!  My student came over to work on her new project and we stitched away companionably.  I have decided that since she is a captive audience while she is sewing with me down in the studio, I should introduce her to the joys of audio books, in an effort to show her there is entertainment to be had beyond video games (her obsession).  My first choice of book may not be high literature, but I thought it was a pretty sure bet to interest her.  Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer.  Being An Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jackie" Faber, Ship's Boy. "Life as a ship's boy aboard HMS Dolphin is a dream come true for Jacky Faber. Gone are the days of scavenging for food and fighting for survival on the streets of eighteenth-century London. Instead, Jacky is becoming a skilled and respected sailor as the crew pursues pirates on the high seas.  There's only one problem: Jacky is a girl".

I knew we were in for an educational experience when I told my student that the book was set in the time of Napoleon.  "Oh, cool, during World War One", was her response.

Okaaaaaay.  The good news is, she loves the story and didn't want to leave to go home.  She stayed for six hours and finished all her blocks.  "When can I come again next?"  she kept asking me.  I think my plan is working.

 

900 Baskets Later....

900 baskets later, I have 85 that I am going to keep in the quilt.  Here they are, not quite finished being arranged, but nearly.  Next step is to cut out and attach the striped lattice.  Thelma told me that the amount of fabric in the kit is just barely or even maybe not quite enough.  I am holding my breath that I have sufficient fabric.  No way will I be able to find more of it if I run short.

This pattern is Hill Country Baskets by Bonnie Blue Quilts.  The fabrics are a few from the kit, a few from my stash, and the rest from a layer cake of Metropolitan Fair by Barbara Brackman.  The fabrics in the kit were all very nice, but an extremely dark color palette of navys, burgundys and dark forest greens.  Just not what I felt like working with.  I went with a much lighter shade of green, true blues and cherry reds.  And a few pinks thrown in for interest and to balance out those lighter greens.

Wish me luck cutting out the lattice fabric.  It is going to take forever to cut out those stripes individually.  Stripes are a super cool look in a quilt, but goodness, they are labor intensive to get just right.