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This pattern is Victory Star, one put out by Paula Barnes of Red Crinoline Quilts (formerly Bonnie Blue Quilts). I have been thinking about Paula lately, as she recently lost her husband under quite tragic circumstances. Paula is a lovely lady, and I had the privilege of taking a class with her once, and Victory Star was a kit that came along with the price of the class. It was very obvious how important her husband and family were to her, and my heart goes out to her in this time of grief.
Since Paula was on my mind, I pulled out my class project box, and the one completed block I had managed to do. This is one kit I have decided not to meddle with, and will be using as is. I am not sure what each of the fabrics in the kit are but I believe the majority of them may be Paula Barnes designs for Marcus Brothers.
Once I pulled out the kit and saw that I had already done all the cutting, I sat down and stitched up a few blocks. It seemed like an appropriate project to work on over Memorial Weekend.
Hope you all had a nice weekend.
That would be All But Binding. It is hanging on the back of the Waiting for Bindings Chair. I'll get it done by the deadline! My red and white Gentle Arts spools block quilt (not bowties) by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co., is the May choice in the Vintage Schnibble of the Month program hosted by Sinta and Sherri. Super cute pattern.
I am sighing a big sigh of relief to have gotten three quilts finished this past weekend. These are going to be wonderful additions to my quilt collection, and I have no excuse for dragging things out so long. Get them done, get them quilted, and get them on the beds!
The quilt in the picture above is Message in a Bottle, a Miss Rosie's Quilt Company pattern. I adore the jewel like facets the blocks make when they are set diagonally. Two super simple basic blocks--pinwheel and square in a square--and when you set them diagonnally and add pieced setting triangles, you get the most complex looking design. I am thrilled that I finally got this pattern done, and highly recommend it.
Those plain squares sure do suggest some great custom quilting options too!
The designer of the pattern, Carrie Nelson, strongly recommended a mitered border on this quilt. She suggests that a mitered border is a great look on most diagonally set quilts, an opinion I completely endorse. However, after my complete failure to get a good looking mitered border on my Long Road Home quilt (pictured yesterday), I was not about to tackle that job again. Bother.
Last, but not least, here is Hill Country Baskets, another pattern by Bonnie Blue Quilts. It is a miracle I finished this quilt, because it took forever to line up the right fabrics, forever to make the basket blocks, F.o.r.e.v.e.r to attach the fussy cut lattices, and FOREVER to get up the energy to get the last two borders on. Something within me persevered however, and I can add this quilt to my DONE! list. I think I am changing the name of this quilt to Forever.
Did I mention it is as big as a circus tent? Yes it is. This will be wonderful on my queen sized bed.
I had three big finishes this weekend. I will share one today, and the other two tomorrow.
For some reason, I stall when it comes to getting the borders on my quilts. I have a big push to get my blocks sewn together, and then completely lose steam (and interest) in seeing things through to the final point--borders.
Long Road Home is pictured above, and wasn't even supposed to have borders. It just looked unfinished to me without them. Besides, I don't like all those bias edges on the outside of my quilts. I found the perfect Civil War paisley print in my stash, which undoubtedly was part of a kit I long ago dismantled and didn't get around to using. The print has a dark brown background, with touches of red and gold and either blue or green. It worked great with the scrappy fabrics in the Long Road Home blocks, and I was pleased as could be to have discovered it.
I have a guilty confession to make. I tried to do a mitered border on this quilt and it looked just terrible. There was too much fabric, and the borders were rumply. I know I measured right, but that is what happened anyway. Also, since we are telling the truth here, my miters weren't that great either. At least the first one I did looked kind of sloppy. I ended up removing all four borders and reapplying them the regular way. I feel like a failure, not even being able to do a decent mitered border at this stage of my sewing career, but I'd rather have a flat quilt with borders that don't rumple than have a sloppy miter job.
How about you? Do you love to do mitered borders? Any tips for the rest of us who dread them?
I am coming along with my Gentle Arts spools blocks. Still waiting for the baby monitor to arrive, so my sewing is happening on the kitchen table with Eva trying to help me out. They come together really fast, so I will finish them in no time.
Most readers have referred to this block as a Spools Block, and a few others insist it is a Bowtie Block. I did a little online research and here are some pictures to clarify things.
Bowties. This block has a strong diagonal design.
Spools. This block is definitely upright.
Spools quilt. Typically Spools blocks are flip flopped alternately one upright and the adjacent one on the side, as shown in the quilt above. As we are doing with our Gentle Arts blocks.
Bowtie quilt. Often Bowtie blocks are set as shown, but they can be flip flopped around as well, to form other designs.
How cool is this one:
I have been a pretty loyal Rowenta customer for years. I go through irons really fast, due to keeping them on for hours at a time, and steaming the dickens out of things. A good iron lasts me a year, maybe two, and then I need to replace it. My last Rowenta, gosh, I bet I have had it for three years or more now! As were the other four or five Rowentas I have owned, my current iron was made in Germany.
It has been starting to act up, not steaming as it should anymore, and in fact, fairly frequently, the steam button gets stuck in the down position and won't come back up. Lately, I have been complaining to anyone who will listen that it is time for me to buy a new iron. My husband always responds, "A new iron? Already? Didn't you just buy one a few years ago? An iron should last you a life time. Why, my blessed mother used the same iron for 40 years, and it didn't even have a steam feature. She used to sprinkle her ironing and put it in a plastic bag overnight in the refrigerator...." etc, etc, etc.
Well, something must have sunk into his brain, and when he was shopping for new frying pans (don't ask--that is another blog post entirely) at the Macy's in Monterey, he saw they had Rowenta irons on sale. And he bought me one.
I was pretty excited, as I would rather he pay $89 for new iron, than me have to do it. Only this didn't cost $89. It was only $49. And it isn't made in Germany. It is made in CHINA.
And it spits like crazy. I hate it.
Added later: My husband just sent me an order confirmation from Amazon.com. He ordered me the Rowenta made in Germany! Woo Hoo! I take back all the bad things I said about him.
My intention was to get this finished for Sara and give it to her for her birthday Sunday, but as you can plainly see, I failed to accomplish that goal.
Several things went wrong. Mainly, I discovered that I had made seven of the blocks with a pure white fabric. The other thirteen blocks appear to have been made with a creamier shade of white. Both shades of white are noticeabley different from each other. I have no idea what happened. The pure white is the better choice I think, as it plays best with the pure pinks and reds in the PamKittyMorning fabric line.
Friends, this is what happens when you abandon a project for a year and then go back to it. Anything can have gone into that project box, and who knows what you were thinking last year? I must have had a plan, do ya' think?
Bother. I ended up with just enough of the pure white to put six blocks together for a table topper. Luckily there was just enough for the lattice. My other issue was I didn't have enough of any one fabric to use for a border and binding, which I think this project calls for. I plan to order some of the red floral print for a border and then I will quilt it myself. Maybe if I give it to her with a big bouquet of red roses, or a snappy red geranium plant she will forgive me for being late with her gift. I think it will be pretty darn cute, in a fun retro kind of way.
I can't swear to it, but I think this creamier white yardage the block is sitting on is a good amount of Kona Snow, which at one point I bought by the bolt, since I was using it so much. In good light, with only one layer of fabric spread out, it is a pretty dead on match with what I used in the remaining 13 blocks. It looks a bit dark in the photo, but it is about 10 layers of fabric, folded. It makes sense I would have grabbed for this white when I started the project, since I knew I had tons of it. How that bright white got in the box, I have no clue.
Tuck my lesson away in your memory banks so this mistake doesn't happen to you. Whites are not all just white. There are a thousand different shades of white and they are not at all interchangeable.
Now I am thinking to make a few more blocks with the Kona Snow and end up with a small quilt for Eva. Maybe 20 blocks all together. It isn't as if making these adorable blocks isn't fun, and I certainly do have plenty of pink and red left...
I totally channeled the Pioneer Woman this weekend. Mother's Day and Sara's birthday fell on the same day, so we did a dual celebration. I have both of Ree Drummond's cookbooks, and have had pretty good success with her recipes. The celebration dinner was at my house, so I elected to make Ree's recipe for chicken enchiladas for our entree.
I'm going to tell you something, and that is, I do not know how that woman manages to cook in those diaphanous blouses she always wears. It is a total miracle she does not catch herself right on fire. Since I was planning my menu around recipes in her second cookbook, I figured I needed to get in the mood and put on a new flowy blouse I had recently got. Flowy blouse, dangly earrings, a statement necklace, coordinating pot holders, and I looked like PW herself.
Cute, right? Well, I put it on and started in on my chicken enchiladas, and before I knew what was what, my right sleeve was weighted down by about half a pound of sour cream sauce. And getting anywhere near the stove was a mission wrought with danger.
Happily, I did manage to put my casserole together without a trip to the emergency room. Here is the chicken enchilada dish a la Pioneer Woman, just before I popped it into the oven.
And it was seriously yummy.
Remember these? I had so much fun playing around with the red and pinks in the first "PamkittyMorning" collection designed by Pam Vieria-McGinnis and Holly Holderman for Lakehouse fabrics. There were dozens of prints in the line, and at least five or six different colorways. If you liked yellows and greens, you were all set. If light and medium shades of blue float your boat, they were available. And of course, the pinks and reds that I chose, are gorgeous, as you can see. Of course if you could afford all the prints in the line, you could get a fat quarter of each and make the cutest scrappy quilt on the planet.
Pam came out with a second collection, "PamkittyLove" which is just as cute as her first design. All the fabrics in the second group coordinate beautifully with the fabrics in the first collection. With the addition of some black floral and polka dot prints that are adorable.
The good news? Pam is coming out with her third collection "PamkittyPicnic", which I cannot wait to get my hands on. After Quilt Market next week, we fans will have a better idea of what all is in this group. I am certain however, that the prints will work perfectly with the other Pamkitty fabrics in your collection! I plan to add to my Pamkitty stash for sure!
Since I have done no sewing this week, I felt I should go down to the studio after work today and rummage around a bit and come up with something to blog about. Low and behold, I discovered my PamkittyMorning granny square blocks. I have enough fabric left to make more blocks. What should I do? Make a nine block table topper with my favorite blocks or make twelve or sixteen blocks for a small quilt? I am leaning towards making a table topper because this style of fabric (which I adore) doesn't play so well with my more traditional decorating scheme in the bedrooms. On my kitchen table though, the sky is the limit. Can't you just see a table topper made with these blocks on my summer table? With a big blowsy bouquet of hot pink roses? And a dish of strawberries?