Sister's Choice Quilts

View From the Sewing Room Doorway

If you were to peek into my sewing room, this is what you would see right now.  As you might notice, I am making good progress with those star blocks for the Aurora quilt.  Sewing that top together is going to be interesting, and I can't wait to share the process with you.  I am going to love that quilt I think.  Can you just imagine it done in reds and pinks or another color scheme?

Moving left, on the smaller design wall, I have leftover scraps from "Recess".  I really should sew those together and make a small topper to give as a gift.

On the far left, you can see my two "Barn Blocks" and get an idea of the scale of them.  At 12 1/2" square, they are much larger than the usual 6" or 8" blocks I typically make.  That is going to be a fun quilt when it is finished.  Not sure what setting suggestions will be provided, but I have one or two in mind.

In a few days, a new project will begin, and I am looking forward to sharing that with you as well.  Primitive Gatherings quilt shop has a summer project called Star Studded Gatherings, which they are offering as a block of the week project for the summer.  I love their fabrics usually, and this block is just so different.  Stay tuned for more info on this project.

Sewing Blahs

I am kind of stalled out on this project, to tell you the truth.  Not long ago, I finished a Double Nine Patch quilt that called for many nine patch blocks, and it was probably not the best idea to start another project involving nine patch blocks so soon.  I have really been putting off sitting down at the sewing machine.

I have purchased the border fabrics and have about 2/3 of the blocks done, but I am feeling so blah about sewing right now.  What do you do when you are feeling like that?  Do you fold up the project for another day and move on to something else?  Or do you buckle down and get going?

Maybe I have Post Vacation Blues?  All I want to do is sit outside with a book!  The weather has been in the 80s and so lovely outside.  It is hard to stay indoors.

 

This Is Going to Take a While.

Hope this photo doesn't make anybody dizzy.  I have all the blocks made for the Jo Morton S'mores quilt--I believe there are 113 square in a square blocks and 28 pieced setting triangles, and 4 pieced corner triangles.

I think I am going to love this quilt when I get it put together, but the next step is attaching all the lattice pieces, which as I said, is going to take a while.  It is hard to see against the light background of the design wall, but I have begun the process of sewing on the 128 short lattice pieces.  I hate to say it, but lattices are so fussy.  Especially the long ones, where you have to pin like crazy to make everything line up.

That is what I will be doing today, so wish me luck.  And tomorrow I hope I can show you a photo that isn't all wavy like the one above!

Catching Up With UFOs

All the blocks for the Double Nine Patch quilt are finished.  In fact there are enough blocks leftover to make another half a quilt because I took out all the dark brown fabrics.  This involved a lot of ripping, but I decided I just didn't like the look of the dark brown nine patches.  Now I am left with just dark blue nine patches in the quilt top.

This is my discard pile of dozens and dozens of dark brown nine patches.  The reason for this OCD compulsion to remove them was due to an idea that without the dark brown, the quilt would be "lightened up" some what.  I am not at all sure I achieved that, especially when viewed from a distance.  However, I did find some border fabric that plays much better with the dark blue fabrics.

Isn't that pretty?  It is even from the same collection as many of the dark blue fabrics I used.  I found it in the tub that held the kit I originally purchased a few years ago and never got around to making.  Evidently the border fabric was included in the kit, lucky me.

I plan to sew the blocks together today and with any luck, get the borders on.

Hope you all had a great weekend.  I spent mine sewing and unsewing in nearly equal amounts.  Sigh.

Time to Fish or Cut Bait

Before I fish or cut bait, I just want to let you know everyone is doing better.  Ozzie is almost himself again, Eva's wrist is pretty good, and my dad continues to think his eye is getting back to normal.  Thanks for all your kind wishes!

So, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I have at least six, no seven, projects that have all the blocks made, but need to be sewn together.  This is not a time to stop and start a new project, right?  

You all know how much I love this latest fabric collection I have been working with, Rachel Remembered by Betsy Chutchian.  I made the Windmills blocks you see on the right and they are ready to be sewn into rows.  Then I wanted to do something with all my leftovers, and assembled the units for the table runner on the left.  Then this happened:

See the little quilt at the lower right?  I decided it would be a really good idea to make that with the rest of the leftovers.  I have seven of the nine stars made, and will put this cute little thing together soon.

My plan for the rest of the week and the weekend is to 1) sew the blocks together for Windmills, 2) sew the leftover Windmills hour glass blocks together for the table topper, 3) put together the little patriotic table topper.  Then, it is definitely time to assemble the blocks for my blue and brown Nine Patch quilt, finish up my red and brown S'Mores top, and heaven help me, sew my Moda BlockHeads blocks together.

No more new projects.  Time to finish up what I have in progress.  So that's my plan and I am sticking to it.

 

 

 

Windmills Blocks Finished

I have finished the 169 pinwheel and hourglass blocks for the Windmills quilt. 85 pinwheels and 84 hourglass blocks.  And a mess of flying geese for the border, but I didn't count them.  The original pattern that inspired me is called Windmills and is designed by Bonnie Blue/Red Crinoline Quilts.  I kept the block size at 4 1/2 inches, but added rows.  I also had a very intentional plan for the color layout, rather than the scrappy random layout suggested by the pattern.

There was considerable fretting and switching up of blocks for this project, and I am happy with my finished result.  There will be one more solid brown outer border, so the quilt should end up being somewhere around 72" square.  I will be working on sewing those blocks and rows together this week.

Since I remade so many blocks, I had a ton of hourglass blocks left over for a table runner!

I also have a little extra project to use up the red and blue leftovers for a Memorial Day/Fourth of July table topper.  I will share that with you this week once I get my pieces cut out and a block or two made.

In other news, Ozzie got sick.  He is going to be 11 years old this June, and in his entire life, he has only been sick one other time.  Oh, he has been to the vet with injuries, but this time he was laid low with some bug or other since Wednesday.  The only thing that comforts him is Eva's Elsa blanket.  Luckily it is washable.

This is a dog who is so active.  It was very disturbing to have him not eat, not drink, not bark at the mailman, not get excited when the front door opened, and just lay on the floor still as could be.  The vet did $500 worth of tests and it looks like he may have a urinary tract infection.  We won't know until today (Monday) if he can have antibiotics.  Isn't that strange?  At any rate, he is somewhat better as I write this.  He ate some white rice and boiled chicken, has been drinking water and has been out to pee etc.  Poor Ozzie.  It is so sad when your pet is unhappy and looks at you wondering why you don't fix it.

Windmills Evolving

Well, this has been a process, I tell you.  I cannot recall when I have struggled and had to dig so deep to come up with an alternate setting arrangement for a quilt!

To refresh your memory, this is what the pattern looks like:

Super scrappy.  Great for a collection of random scraps, but I had a collection of fabric I wanted to feature a bit more.  My first idea was to replace the alternate rows of pinwheels with plain unpieced blocks.

It was ok, but just a bit stark.

Then I got an idea to do the alternate rows of pinwheel blocks with scrappy pinwheels.

Ack.  No.  My eye doesn't have a clue where to rest.  I feel like I will give myself an ocular migraine if I look at that too long.

So take a look at the photo at the top of the post again.  See how I am arranging the pinwheels in diagonal rows featuring the same color?  I think I have kept the idea of the original pattern, but made it less random.  There are a few blocks in there that don't have enough contrast that I plan to replace, but you get the idea of where I am going with this.  

And the best thing is, it is using a ton of fabric because I keep re-making blocks and eliminating the ones the bug me.  It's a stash buster, just not in the way the pattern intended!

Hope you are all having a great week and are getting ready for the weekend.

My news this week has to do with family members being a bit under the weather.  Eva fell off the monkey bars at school and sprained her wrist.  We had her home with us yesterday.  And distressingly, my 92 year old father had a small stroke in his right eyeball of all places.  It isn't unheard of, but his vision is slightly impaired now (but he can still watch tv and read).  He has all sorts of appointments scheduled with eye specialists and his cardiologist to get to the bottom of it.  I talked to him tonight and he is home, chipper as usual, and hopeful that it may improve.  Getting old isn't for sissies, as Bette Davis said.

Windmills: Change of Plan?

I am back from my little Spring Break with family, and got back into the sewing room for a couple of hours over the weekend.  I had started a new project, "Windmills", before I left, but was not happy with the jumble of prints and patterns.  

This is what the quilt is supposed to look like.  It is a true scrap quilt and the joy of it is the mixture of color and the riot of different prints.

My problem with it is that I really loved the colored prints I was using from Betsy Chutchian's Rachel Remembered.  Upon reflection, I wanted to feature the prints more and eliminate some of the busy-ness that all those pinwheels next to each other creates.

I'd love to hear some of your thoughts.  Should I let the quilt be "free" and have mixed color/print pinwheels all over the place, or be more controlled in the placement of color and eliminate some of the busy-ness of having pinwheels every which way?

Windmills: Getting Organized

I worked on Windmills quite a bit this weekend, mostly prepping fabric and cutting and getting organized.

The blocks required are pretty simple-hourglass blocks, pinwheels made from half square triangle units, and flying geese.  It seemed like it took ages to get to the cutting stage.  With the wet weather we have had, starching, drying, and pressing the 70 fatquarters I had pulled took forever.  Well, two and half days actually. Once I had cut out the fabric to make my three block components, I laid them out on my table with labels to keep it all straight in my head what was for what.

Then I started in on making the hour glass units.

This little ruler by Open Gate Quilts is such a handy tool.  Fit to be Quarter, designed by Monique Dillard, it is just what you need to square up hourglass blocks.  The pattern called for cutting 5 1/4" squares for the hourglass blocks, but I knew that I needed to cut the fabric squares larger and trim them down for the best results.  So, I cut my fabrics 5 1/2" square and did just that.  There wasn't much to trim, but it made the difference between slightly wonky blocks and nice square perfect ones.  Did I mention that the blocks for this quilt are 4 1/2" square? 

So, here is the thing I have come to terms with:  This scrappy layout is way too random for me.  There is too much going on.  Too much color, too many patterns, no place for my eye to rest.  Give me a day or so to work on it, but I plan to come up with a plan to get this pattern to conform to my comfort zones.

Here is another random note- Over the weekend I did an upgrade to my MacBook Air laptop and now my photos are coming out mirror images of themselves.  Look at the print on the top of the pattern.  What the heck is that about?   Ah, technology.

Barn Stars Finished

Here is sweet little Barn Stars, a Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots offering from a couple of years ago.  I had subscribed to the bi monthly kits, but quit the club when I realized the kits were piling up and I wasn't making them.  I have recently dipped back into that bin of kits and have been trying to make one or two every now and then.  I am a big fan of Kim's and love how she can't resist throwing in a bit of teal or aqua to most of her projects for some "zing".

I love this pattern, with the stars made up of 'negative space" and the backgrounds being colorful.  It is different, and so pretty.  I don't have the measurements right in front of me, but I am guessing it is 16 or 18" square.  A nice size for a candle mat, or something on which to place a vase of flowers.  

If you missed out on the Simple Whatnots band wagon, or like the patterns, but didn't want to commit to making them in Kim's more primitive style fabrics, this might interest you:  She is coming out with a book this spring that features patterns from her first three or so years of the Simple Whatnots Club.  So if you get the book, you can make up the little table topper sized patterns with what ever fabric you enjoy most.  I am hoping to get the book and will let you know when I hear that it has been published.

Hope your week got off to a good start!