Sister's Choice Quilts

Flowering Snowballs and Kaffe Fasset

It has been so nice to have time to sew this week. Occupying space on my main design wall is the Flowering Snowball quilt I am making with Baycreek templates and Kaffe Fasset fabrics.  I am so late to the party when it comes to Kaffe Fasset. Believe it or not, I had never bought any fabric from this designer.  A friend gave me some fat quarters to play with and I started this Flowering Snowballs quilt with the idea that if the curved piecing didn't work out I wouldn't be wasting fabric that I was nuts about, and also that maybe Eva would like the bright pink colors.

Well, just let me say, the curved piecing is going great, and I have come to LOVE these fabrics.  Sewing with them is like playing with paints.  They remind me a bit of batiks for that same reason.  Each of these prints is a kaleidoscope of shades of pink (and some other colors as well).  Most of the prints are quite large, so when cut up, you can't always tell if the four pieces in each block are different or if some are from the same print.  I could not be happer with this designer's fabric and will be getting more of it in the future.

As far as Eva is concerned, she thinks it is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen and keeps checking in to make sure I am on task and making progress.

I posted this week about the dress I made for Eva, and how I was disappointed in the Butterick pattern I had used.  The fit of the dress wasn't great.  It is rather boxy on her and at least six inches too short.  Of course if I had measured her first that could have been avoided.  I should have made a 4T rather than the 5T, and added some extra length to the dress hem.  That wasn't the pattern's fault particularly, but I did find fault in the construction technique and directions.  I asked if any of you had used little girls dress patterns and had recommendations.  

Barbara got right back to me and suggested I try the Geranium pattern by Made By Rae.  My goodness, this dress has a cult following!  If you check it out on Flickr or Pinterest, you will find countless versions of it, and everyone who makes it seems to love it.  I ordered the PDF pattern for $10 and am very impressed.  The instructions are in color, with the stitching lines clearly marked, and extremely detailed directions.  I cannot wait to make this dress for Eva, and guess what fabric I chose to use?

You guessed it!  Kaffe Fasset.  I think it will be wonderful. The print I chose is so cute--it has red, lavender and pink pencils.  She is going to love it.

 

I Can't Stop

I can't seem to stop making these little six inch Sawtooth Star blocks.  Help!  I need an intervention. 

A couple of years ago, a friend was clearing out her stash cupboard and sent me a few charm packs from Primitive Gatherings.  I had attended a quilt show and picked up a couple on my own at the Primitive Gatherings booth, so with this windfall from my friend, I had a great selection of reproduction charm squares for this sew along project, hosted by Barbara Brackman.  Her blog post this week featured Prussian Blues, and was so interesting.  If you participate in her sew along, or even just check out her blog every Wednesday, you will learn something for sure.

 

The part of this project that is such fun is picking out the fabric pairings.  You can do just two colors (a dark and a light), or put a third color in the center square.  Get creative and do some with dark backgrounds or an additional color for the corner squares.

I have my block pairings organized in this three section plastic dish, and it seems to be working great.  I did quite a bit of cutting and then sat down and sewed while watching all the old episodes of my favorite tv show.  Can you see what it is?

 

And I finished 22 star blocks!  Isn't that renegade one with the dark brown background fun?  I can see I need more Poison Greens and Cheddars.  I am always so heavy on the reds and browns, my favorites.

 Eva is quite provoked that I took down the pink Kaffe Fasett Flowering Snowball blocks from the small design wall, so I will have to put them back I guess.  I have five projects in the works right now:  the border on Rhubarb Whirl, Scrappy Trip, Flowering Snowballs, Orange Peel, and now these stars.  This may be the Year of Ongoing Projects!  I do love juggling projects---I never get bored.  I know that would drive some of you crazy.  If you are a "start it and finish it before moving on" person I hope my blog posts on all these projects going on at once won't make you twitchy.  What kind of quilter are you?  One at a time or a juggler like me?

Orange Peel Block Tutorial

Lucky me, I have had lots of sewing time this week.  I am still working on getting the border on my Rhubarb Whirl quilt, and won't subject you another photo of that thing in progress.  It's coming along very well.

Do you remember me posting about wanting to make an Orange Peel quilt awhile back?  (Sometimes this block is called Flower Petals or Melon Peel).

I think this block is usually appliqued, either by hand or by machine.  I tried doing that, and my results were not so great.  I got better looking blocks if I did hand applique, but honestly, do I want to be working on this project until 2025?

So.  I ordered an acrylic template set from Baycreek Quilting Templates and decided to try machine piecing these blocks together.  And you know what?  I think I like making them that way.  Make no mistake about it, these blocks do not go together like greased lightening.  The cutting is fairly time consuming, but the piecing is easy, and I will be happy to show you how I do it.

FIrmly finger press the center points on the peel and background units.  Can you see my little creases?  I am going to match those up.

Place a pin where those center crease marks line up.

Place pins at the beginning and end of the seam line where you will be stitching. 

Notice my pin placement.  Take just the teensiest "bite" out of the fabric with the pins.  I don't know why this is important, but it is.

Stitch those two curved pieces together, slowly, with your needle in the down position.  Your background piece will be on the top.  Here is another tip--take a *narrow* quarter inch seam allowance.  Don't think about it too hard, but just try to be on the narrow side of a quarter inch.

No need to get up and press, unless you want to.  I just finger pressed the stitched side, and then repeated the procedure for the other side of the unit.

And there you go, one of the four units you need to make one block.  I know, it isn't a quilt you are going to get done in a weekend, but if you make a few blocks a week you will have it done before you know it.

Dueling Pinwheels

As you can see I am making good progress on my Rhubarb Whirl blocks.  More on that later.

No, I didn't lose my mind and start making light blue pinwheels to go with it.  The blue pinwheels are blocks from a project Sara started a year or so ago.  A dear friend of hers is expecting a baby boy in a couple of months and she thinks this may be the perfect thing to give as a baby gift.  She had the half square triangles all together, but hadn't started on the blocks yet.  I put it together for her last week.

You know something?  It isn't easy to put together blocks or block units that someone else has sewn.  I suppose it is because everyone's quarter inch seam allowance is a bit different, which seems odd.  You would think a quarter inch would be a quarter inch, but it doesn't seem to work out that way.  I had to do a bit of unsewing, but in the end, the 25 blocks came together all right.  The baby to be's daddy is a helicopter pilot, so we will have it quilted in an aeronautical theme.  My quilter always has awesome ideas, and I know she will come up with something outstanding.

Have you ever sewn together someone else's blocks?  I had a friend who bought dozens of 1930's bow tie blocks at an antique shop with the idea of sewing them into a quilt.  She ended up taking every single block apart and re-sewing it!  I have to say, that quilt was one of the most beautiful I have seen, so her efforts were worth it.  But, my goodness, what a lot of work.

Up To Pretty Much Nothin'

I have made a few more Flowering Snowball blocks for the quilt I am making for Eva's Big Girl Bed.  Aren't those blocks cool?  I love the effect those wild Kaffe Fassett fabrics make.  The blocks take very little time to make, maybe 15 minutes or so for each one.  I sat down for an hour or so on Saturday while the family was off on a hike and I think I made five or six blocks.

Don't you wish you lived at my house?  I have half finished quilts draped over every available surface.  You see my Antique Stars quilt, and I have been feeling very bad that I stopped half way along with assembling the rows.  Not very exciting sewing, sewing rows.  However, it is my favorite quilt of 2014, so I seriously need to finish it before the end of the year.  So yesterday I got back to it, and was going along great, until I discovered I forgot my own cardinal rule about making sure the lattice strips lined up.

Uh huh.  It definitely took longer to un-sew that row than it did to sew it.  Dumb.

Saw Grandpa Larry yesterday for his birthday.  He is entering his 94th year, so he says he's 94.  A lady named Peggy who also lives in the Memory Care Facility has taken a shine to him and accompanies him everywhere.  And you know something?  She has an uncanny resemblance to his deceased wife.  It is very strange, I am telling you.  No wonder he told my husband "Mother is here".  Oh, well, I say take your friends where you can.

Oh, and by popular demand, here's that Pot Roast recipe--I am putting it down by memory, not copying it from the Joy of Cooking edition that I have.  It is so simple and makes your house smell so good while it's cooking complete strangers will be knocking at your door to see what's cooking

Joy of Cooking Pot Roast

4-5 lb chuck roast, boneless

olive oil ( I used garlic flavored oil from the shop where I work)

carrots, 2 onions, celery
red wine, broth or water
thyme, bay leaf
flour, butter

 

Salt and pepper the meat and brown it a good 15 minutes on the range top.  Remove meat from pan and sauté onions, carrots, celery.  Add dried thyme and a bay leaf, and one cup or so of red wine, broth or water.  I used wine and broth.  Put meat back in pan and simmer covered on range top for 3-6 hours.  I cooked mine for around 5 hours on super low heat.  Mix a couple tablespoons of butter with a couple tablespoons of flour and add to liquid in pan.  Cook a bit longer until thickened.  Serve with noodles or roasted potatoes.  I think noodles are best because there is so much yummy gravy.

Metro Hold the Lattice

 

I can't take credit for the clever name, my friend Thelma came up with it first.  We are both working on this pattern called Metro Lattice, from Sew Kind of Wonderful, using the Quick Curve Ruler.  Thelma made an executive decision to leave out the pieced lattice the pattern calls for and to set the blocks on the diagonal.  I loved the changes she made and copied them.

I think leaving out the pieced lattice gives the quilt top a cleaner look, with kind of a Cathedral Window vibe.  My fabrics are fatquarters of Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket for Moda.  What the heck happened to them?  Are they just designing paper now?  I loved the collections they did for Moda when they were designing fabric.

My solid fabric is Moda Bella Butter, which of course I didn't have enough of.  Thank goodness for speedy deliveries from Fat Quarter Shop.  I should get what I need by Thursday, finish up the blocks and get the side triangles on.

The piecing for this pattern is super easy.  No major square up issues at all.  The blocks are made oversized and trimmed down, so there is plenty of wiggle room for blocks that seem wonky at first.  No intersecting seams that have to line up exactly and make me crazy.  I am relaxing and enjoying the process with this project!

The Design Wall is Filling Up!

I have completed 16 hoop blocks for my Metro Hoops project, using the Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  I have to admit I earned a few more grey hairs when I started this project, but am happy to say I persevered and with the help of a smarter-than-me reader, licked the issues I was having with these blocks.  

It makes me so happy to see them on the design wall!  The fabric collection is so cheerful and bright, and I am satisfied with the way the corner squares are matching up.  More than half of them are perfect, and the rest are just a thread or so off.  It isn't noticible, even with the strong contrast between the dark brown and cream.  Let's hope when I go to sew the blocks and rows together things will line up. 

I didn't order enough brown corner square fabric, yet again, so am waiting for it to arrive so I can finish this project.  I was thinking of making a total of 25 blocks, but am running out of steam.  I may just make the quilt as shown in the pattern, for a total of 20 blocks, four across and five down.  The finished size will be something like 60 x 75", which is a respectable sized quilt.

Here is another opportunity for custom quilting!  What would be a cool design for those hoop centers?

Goosey Goosey Gander

Quick update on my progress with the flying geese--it's going well.  All geese are made, and only 28 more need to be trimmed.  Hopefully today I can get my little Dutchman's Puzzle blocks together.  What a fun project this is:  Whit, a Little Bites pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

And just for fun....Look what I managed to get my hands on!  Cotton and Steel evidently were the hottest new designers at Spring Quilt Market.  Their new fabric line just launched and everyone is raving about it.  This little tote bag is just the cutest thing I ever saw, and I have been using it sparingly to keep it pristine.

I forgot one super important product in my beauty favorites post yesterday.  Eyebrows.  As I have gotten older, my eyebrows have gotten so sparse and light.  This gel by Laura Mercier is amazing.  I have had it for over two years and it is only half used up.  You apply it with an angle brush and it gives you just the right amount of color to define your brows.  Eyebrows are boring, but seriously if you look like you don't have any, the rest of your makeup is pretty much for nothing!  Several of you commented that you thought it was fun for me to switch up the topic from quilting, so perhaps I shall do more posts like that once in awhile.

Have a fun weekend!

Duck Duck Goose

I am up to my eyeballs in geese.  Flying Geese that is.  I have eight more to make and I will be finished with construction, but as you see, my little pile needs to be trimmed.  Ha!  I am tempted to take them to work with me today, along with my tiny cutting mat and trim them during my break and at lunch.  No wasted time for me!

Then, Thursday I can start making the Dutchman's Puzzle blocks, and who knows, maybe I will complete this Little Bites project this week.  In an ideal world, that is my plan anyway.  One never knows what can crop up to keep me from my mission.

Making Flying Geese units always makes me think of the children's game, Duck Duck Goose.  My grand daughter Eva adores playing it, particularly when she gets all the grown ups in the family involved.  We played it on the grassy lawn of Grandpa's nursing home, and we brought quite a few smiles to the faces of the other residents.  Poor Grandpa continues his decline, but still enjoys his meals and the feel of the sun on his arms.  The other day he informed my husband (his son), "You know, Mother is here".  My husband looked all around, non plussed as how to respond.  Evidently Mother (who passed away three years ago) doesn't care for the nursing home, for Grandpa then commented, "But she is thinking of leaving me".  Aw.  Well, at least he seems to have forgotten she has departed this world.

Canned Pears

For those of you who couldn't see my post from yesterday or leave comments, it was due to a major Typepad issue.  Again.  They were down all day long.  Ever since they were hacked last month it has been one thing after another.  I had better type this and get it posted before it goes down again.

As you see, I have been doing a bit of sewing.  The little pear blocks go together pretty quickly once the units are all assembled.  There are four units that make up each block.  A leaf, a stem, a pear top and a pear bottom.  I have the day pretty free today so I should finish up all the blocks.  The lattice comes next and is such that the pear blocks are set in a staggered pattern.

The fabric collection I am using, Mirabelle, is more pastel than I ussually like.  This is going to be a very understated little quilt. 

Yesterday I went a bit nuts and ordered a ton of charm packs--15 different ones!  I have some cool mini quilts in mind, which I will share with you tomorrow.  Have any of you seen any blog posts or reports of Quilt Market?  There are so many wonderful new collections and patterns coming out.  I did spend some time yesterday watching a YouTube video of Moda's Schoolhouse, which was very fun.  Various designers show samples of some  of their current collections and projects, which is so interesting.  Edyta from Laundry Basket Quilts just blew me away.  Click on the link and check it out for yourself! 

These are examples of Edyta's style (photos I pulled off the internet).  She is known for combining print fabrics and batiks in the same quilt, usually with some applique thrown in as well, which these examples do not have. 

I want to be her when I grow up.

The quilt on the left is a Primitive Gatherings pattern called Pinwheel Garden.  It is only 22" x 28".  The pattern below is Starry Night by Laundry Basket Quilts.