Sister's Choice Quilts

Not Really a Procrastinator

It was so fun to get so much feedback yesterday on what quilt project you all would have me work on.  I have to laugh at myself and tell you a bit about me.

Back in the day when I was in high school and college and had to study, I was pretty disciplined with myself.  I had a set time when I studied or worked on my term projects.  However, if my room was untidy, I had to clean it up first before I allowed myself to sit down and do my work.  I was OCD enough that anything amiss in my environment was a distraction and I had to take care of it before buckling down to anything else. Forget about skipping out on my study session to hang out with friends or otherwise fool around.  Responsibilities first, then I could focus on the next thing.

My daughter's quilt for her friend is kind of like that.  I have other things I want/need to be working on, but I just have to get this one out of the way before I move on.  Don't misunderstand:  I really am enjoying making this quilt, which is a bit different than the things I usually work on.  And I will be thrilled to have participated in making something that someone special will enjoy.  I have just over half the blocks done and hope to finish all of them this week.  Then she can help me sew the rows together and cut out the border fabric.  This project will be finished over the next week or so and then...

I will move on to Jacob's Ladder!

Oh My, Too Many Projects

Oh dear.  I believe I may have too many things going on just at the moment.  What to work on?  I have been trying to work on them all, and make a block or two each day or so.  This can't keep up.  I need to clear off the design walls, except for one project, work on it until it is done, then move on to the next.

The problem is, I am excited about all four of these projects and can't decide which to finish first.   Bear with me while I try to figure out which one should have priority. 

The little star blocks on the left are a year long project, so I should just make a couple whenever the mood strikes me and it will get done over time.

The three blocks just below the stars are the Single Wedding RIng block Fatquarter Shop recently did a video on.  That is really the project calling to me the loudest.  I love the dreamy soft Japanese fabrics and the blocks are fun to make.  I am thinking of doing a diagonal set, and my mind is just dancing with images of the blocks I want to make with these pretty pastel fabrics.

The quilt on the lower right is technically not my project, it is my daughter's, however the level of difficulty might be too much for her at this point, so I kind of took over.  I know she wants it done so she can give it to her friend and I feel obligated to work on it.  It takes forever to construct a block, as each larger block is comprised of four small blocks.  What looks like ten blocks up here is actually 40.  And I need to make a total of 25/100.

The quilt just above it, the Jacob's Ladder is the one I should probably focus on.  It is a current American Patchwork and Quilting magazine sew along, and it would be super nice to finish it soon and have it quilted so I can use it as the Spring/Summer quilt on my bed in the master bedroom.

So, if you were me, which of these projects would you focus on until it is finished?

And now that I look at this photo, I am thinking what I should do before I tackle one single thing is  make a new ironing board cover.  That thing is gross.

Four Patch Fun

 I've been busy making little four patch blocks this past few days.  They go together so quickly and are the perfect project to work on while I watch episodes of Call the Midwife.  (I am really enjoying that series).   These four patches are for a sew along sponsored by American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, in their current issue.  I didn't use any of the three suggested settings in the magazine, but decided to do my own thing.

This is the setting idea I have in mind for them all.  I do have to pay attention when I am sewing the block units together.  If my mind isn't focused, I can get the orientation of the block units wrong and it throws off the design.  I am enjoying the softer colors of this quilt and am looking forward to seeing it on the bed in my master bedroom, which is painted a soft sagey green.  I think it will be a pretty look for spring and summer.

I call the block and setting Jacob's Ladder. I am sure there are several other names for it.  It is very traditional, a real classic in fact.  The fabrics are mostly all from my stash, but I did use all the pinks, greens and some browns from Julie Hendricksen's recent collection called Threads of Time designed for Windham Fabrics.  I am not using a pattern, precisely.  I browsed the internet and Pinterest for ideas on setting four patch blocks and saw several versions similar to what I am doing.  I knew I wanted my block size to be 9 inches finished, and did my calculations accordingly. 

To re-cap, I cut two inch strips for the four patch units and 3 1/2 inch strips for my half square triangles.  I am using the Easy Angle ruler to cut the half square triangles and there is no waste.  And no drawing of lines.   I am not even bothering to cut wider strips and make the half square triangles bigger, then cutting them down to 3 1/2 inches.  They are all coming out just fine.  Each four patch and each half square triangle measures 3 1/2 inches.  

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?