Sister's Choice Quilts

Binding Needles

As usual, I have a gazillion bindings to sew down. I have been struggling in the past few years with what the best needle to use for sewing bindings might be. I need your help.

I'd love your input. What needles do you find best for hand sewing down quilt bindings?

I am having the hardest time finding a binding needle that is the right length, goes through the fabric "like buttah", and is a joy to work with.

I recently bought these highly recommended binding needles by Primitive Gatherings, but they are not going to work fo me. They are thin and easy to thread, but they are way too long for me.

Can you all recommend to me what you think the best needles are for sewing down quilt bindings? I surely would appreciate it. For me, the main qualities of a good binding needle would be that it is thin, goes through fabric easily, and isn't too long. Short is fine.

Please share what you use and why you like it!

Quilt Home

This is my Comfort and Blessings quilt which was a sew-along last year hosted by Piecing the Past. I really enjoyed this sew-along, which was a block of the week. A very welcome distraction during the pandemic shut down. The sew-along was free at the time, but if you missed out, the patterns are available for purchase for $19.99 from Piecing the Past. They are quite nice blocks and some are very unusual.

I should note that I changed up the size of the blocks, reducing them from 9 inches down to 6 inches. In retrospect, I probably should have left them at 9 inches as I would have ended up with a much larger quilt.

I am very pleased with the colors I used, which are brighter Civil War Reproduction fabrics. There are a lot of different backgrounds, mostly cream tone on tone prints by Kansas Troubles. The alternating squares are all the same fabric for continuity.

The quilt really looks nice in my bedroom. My walls are painted a soft sage green, and I have several colorful paintings in the room that have the colors of the fabrics in them. The overall effect is quite cheerful and spring-like.

This is one of my favorite paintings, and it hangs over our bed in the master bedroom. It is by Lydia and Yvgeny Baranov, a husband and wife team who paint together. we bought it at the Jones & Terwilliger Gallery when we lived down near Carmel, CA. It features a farm woman in a red dress gathering up all her little chicks in her apron at the end of the day. It never fails to soothe my soul.

The end of the week is in sight. Any plans for the weekend? Or are we not quite there yet? I will take my turn visiting my dad. Please pray for no plumbing disasters. 

Heartfelt Sew Along

This is the first block in another sew-along hosted by Gay Bomers at Sentimental Stitches. This one is called Heartfelt and is a block of the week program. The cost is $30, and since the program lasts for 30 weeks, it breaks down to $1 per block/week, which seems like a great deal when you consider the effort that went into planning it.

This sew-along works so nicely as a two-color quilt. I am doing mine in red, white, and pink, but it would be stunning in blues. The fabric I am using is Roselyn by Minick and Simpson. It is due in stores any day now, but has been delayed by the usual COVID excuses. Laundry Basket also has a collection of reds, pinks and whites that is available now. It is called Sweet Sixteen and is super pretty. As a matter of fact, the two collections would probably look great together.

Yesterday was a nice balmy day, perfect for starching and dryng fabrics, so that is what I did. I swear they were dry and ready to use in a couple of hours. The Roselyn prints are really just gorgeous. Take a look at this one piece with a morning glory motif.

Hope your week is going well.

 

Perfect for February

How beautiful is this fabric collection? It is Roselyn by Minick and Simpson. I am sure it was meant to come out in February for Valentine's projects, but due to COVID-related shipping delays, it hasn't come out yet. I bought this little fat 8th bundle from an Etsy seller. No idea how she managed to get it ahead of schedule. I am planning a red/pink/cream project which I will tell you more about soon. I still need a background and probably some additional yardage, but I will have to wait.

Did you all see that Fatquartershop has been closed for a few days due to the terrible weather in Texas? Their employees couldn't even get to work apparently. I hope all our friends in Texas are recovering from that ordeal. 

Have I mentioned these Olfa Endurance rotary blades to you before? They are pretty amazing. The package claims they last twice as long as the normal Olfa cutting blades, but I think they are being modest. In my experience, they last WAY longer than the normal blades. Maybe even three or four times as long. Of course, they are more expensive, but I think they are so worth it. The ones pictured above I bought on Amazon for under $10 apiece. I know that is a lot for a single rotary cutter blade, but these are so good. 

Now you will have to excuse me. I have a bundle of fabric to fondle and a rotary blade to change.

Hope your week got off to a good start.

Paper Piecing Tip

So. We know paper piecing is kind of inside out, upside down and backwards. Sometimes it is really hard to figure out what fabric or color goes where.  More times than I would like to admit, I have gotten things so wrong I have had to toss the entire block into the trash.

I have been following along with the Sentimental Stitches FaceBook group, and a couple of people have given great tips on how to avoid this common error of sewing the wrong piece onto the block. Basically, you need a light table or a bright window to place a diagram of the block. I have taped my pattern instructions to my little light box above.

Here I have overlaid my foundation paper over the diagram of the block. I took a marker and made a dab on the triangles that are supposed to be the darker fabric. Now when I position the fabric on the foundation paper I can double-check to see that I am putting the proper fabric on the paper for piecing. It has really helped!

You may notice that I have also added in some new colors to the mix. It only took about 20 blocks for me to realize that the red/cream/brown color scheme was b.o.r.i.n.g. I am not up for making 365 blocks in that color scheme. So I am pulling in some golds, some teal, some black and who knows what else. I may not make one super large project with all these blocks. The idea of doing several smaller projects appeals to me more.  These blocks could very well end up in multiple projects. 

I am still having fun and getting some great practice with paper piecing.

Hope you all had a great weekend. My dad is doing great and it was lovely to spend some time with him. We had a massive plumbing failure, which resulted in a big flood and emergency call to a plumber. They charged my father $800 to fix his issue, which involved snaking the line and replacing a rubber ball valve in the toilet tank. It was robbery. They totally took advantage of an older man who had no other choice. Shameful. I wonder how many people, when presented with an $800 plumbing bill would just have to say, "Sorry, I can't pay that". I mean really, not everyone has the resources to cover an expense like that!

 

Sewcialites Block 19 Battered Into Submission

Well, actually I did not batter this block into submission. I failed utterly to make Lissa Alexander's Sewcialites Block 19, "Unity". I do not know what the problem was. Maybe the instruction measurements were a tad off, or I was making some sort of error. I must have tried three times to make that block and it was a mess. I wasted an entire fat quarter of a super cute print, plus background fabric.  

For comparison, this is what the block is supposed to look like. (Photo from Fatquarter Shop). My block is the red one above, the real block by FQS is below in pink.

What I did, in the end, was to substitute another block. This one is called Handy Andy, and is really quite similar. My color placement is a bit different, but the pieces are pretty much the same, only there are no corner squares. The way I put the block together used corner triangles. Fewer seams is a good thing.

It came together without incident in one try. I never used my seam ripper to get any of the points to line up better. Whew. So glad it turned out at last. My initial efforts were a real disappointment.

If you want a terrific quilt block reference, this is a great one. I use it all the time. The nice thing about the book is that it offers the block patterns in 5 different sizes! Now that is handy.

Eva and I had a little party with her stepmom and step-grandma, and Eva made the most adorable cupcakes.  No cake mix for us, we went all the way with a from-scratch vanilla cupcake and real buttercream icing. She wanted to do a St. Patrick's theme, so we dusted them with pale green sprinkles and stuck a gold foil-wrapped chocolate coin on top. They were a hit!

Freezer Meals

With all I have going on at the moment, I have been trying to think of something, anything, that would make things a bit easier. Ten years ago, when my daughter Sara was pregnant with Eva, we got together a couple of times and made freezer meals. The idea was, she would stock up her freezer with dinners so life would be simpler once her newborn had arrived. Great idea. That could work for me now, right?

Back then, I bought a book called Dream Dinners which features make ahead and freeze meals. It is still in print, but I bet you could find a used copy and save even more money. The women who wrote the book actually started up a franchise business where people could go assemble meals and take them home to freeze. I recall seeing the shops but never went in. I think it was kind of expensive. I like the idea of picking out a few recipes, doing a marathon shopping trip, and going home and assembling the meals myself. 

So that is what I did yesterday. 

I made Spaghetti and Meatballs, Beef Enchiladas, and Baked Ziti Casserole. My husband and I don't eat that much since it is just the two of us, so I bought fairly small containers for freezing. They are foil pans that come in a stack of five. They measure 6" x 8" and are about 2" deep. Each recipe I made served 6 people, and I managed to divide each recipe into three pans. Each pan would provide two very generous servings.

I will say, it did take about three and a half hours to cook and assemble everything. But I now have 9 freezer meals to use on busy days or to take with me when I stay with my father on the weekends.

I'd like to take this a step further though. I have been reading about making freezer meals that you place into freezer bags and then put directly into your Instant Pot or slow cooker. How about that for a great idea? Plus, most of these types of meals do not require cooking first. You just combine the raw ingredients in the bag and freeze. Have any of you made these types of meals? Can you recommend a cookbook that has recipes that go from freezer to Instant Pot or slow cooker? Please share if you have any suggestions!

A Few New Purchases

Like RIp Van Winkle, I recently woke up and realized I had missed out on some great fabric collections. I made a valiant effort to acquire some pieces of these fabrics, and this is what I managed. I could not get my hands on the precise cuts that I wanted, but that is what happens when you are asleep at the switch when fabrics are released and you do not purchase them in a timely manner.

The first collection above, is Harvest Road by Lella Boutique. Beautiful blues and greens and tans, in the most innovative and lovely prints. I managed to score a layer cake, a honey bun, and some green print fabric I could use for a backing or border. I really wish I could have found some of the navy print shown on the top of the layer cake, but alas, it seems to be all gone. 

This is half of a Bonnie and Camille collection called "At Home". The Camille part of it is beautiful prints in a navy and green colorway. I managed to get a honey bun and some green border fabric. I am challenged to figure out how to use a honey bun, but this fabric is so pretty, I can't wait to come up with something.

And this is Bonnie's version of the same "At Home" collection. This is all done in reds and greens and will make the most delectable Christmas project. I cannot wait to make some kind of table runner or table topper with this group. I was so happy I scored some of the main red print for a border. Again, all I could get was a honey bun, so there is that. 

And this is the latest block for the Sewcialites sew-along. I have to say, it completly broke me. I tried for hours to get this block to turn out and I failed. Totally. I suspect there is some problem with the dimensions of that first square in a square unit. I think it is a smidge too big. I could not get the quarter inch seam allowance I needed to attach the outer units. My block was just off and I don't know why. I could not get a final 6.5" block. Believe me, I re-did it umpteen times. I spent hours on it. Nope. Couldn't do it. On FaceBook, people kept saying "you have to do a scant quarter inch seam", but really? I think I will have to come up with another block to substitute in its place. Seriously, I am done with this one.

Hope you all had a nice weekend. I spent mine with my father, and I am so grateful for the time we had together. As I write this, it is Valentine's evening, and my husband and I have had a lovely dinner.  Looking foward to a night sleeping in my own bed!

Blocks and Weekend Plans

This was a fun block to put together. It will be a nice addition to the Moda BlockHeads 3 mix. My plan is to construct vertical rows with sashing in between the rows to separate the blocks. It is a challenge to put together a regular sampler quilt, let alone a sampler quilt with different sized blocks. Once I get some sashing cut out and my first vertical row put together I will share with you all what my plan is.

As for the Little Blocks 365 project, all I will say is that block 20 ended up in the trash basket. Why did anyone invent directional fabric? Why? I tell you, about 85% of the fabrics I have pulled for that project are directional. And they are driving me batty. I sewed that block together every wrong way that was possible. What a mess. I tell you, I was tempted to say "Ok, I've got myself a nice little table topper. I can stop now". But I won't. I need the challenge and will keep going. If some of the darn blocks are too much for me, I will just end up with a smaller quilt. But it will be a quilt and not a table topper! 

With these tiny blocks, many people are adding sashing as they go. When the time comes to put the quilt top together they will be dealing with larger sections rather than 3 1/2" blocks. Makes sense right? Did any of you join the FaceBook group for Sentimental Stitches? People share their progress and it is quite fun.

It is a long weekend here in the US. President's Weekend. Do you have plans? I will travel to my father's house and stay with him through Sunday. He is loving the attention, the special meals, the company. I am lucky to be able to spend the time with him.

Little Blocks 365 Through Week 3

Every morning I have been getting up early and sneaking up to my sewing room and making a couple of these tiny paper pieced blocks. I finished Week 1 and most of Week 2, and the blocks above are some Week 2 and most of Week 3. I've finished 20 so far. That block on the upper right looked pretty good I thought, but now that I see it in the picture, it may have to be re-done. I swear, that little gap around the center square is about a hair's width, but it looks like an eighth of an inch on that teensy little block! The red fabric isn't quite the right tone either. Yup, a definite re-do. I should finish this project sometime around 2030.

Making these mini blocks is pretty challenging. I tell you, that basket block had me pretty confused. Where to put the cream, where to put the red? With paper piecing, everything is backwards, so color placement is so tricky. Gay Bomer, the organizer has started marking the proper color placement on the patterns going forward from week 6, so that should be a huge help.

And this little sweetie, it just may be one of my all-time favorite blocks ever. It was made from templates. If you are doing this sew along, when you get to this block, note that you need to add a quarter inch seam allowance around every single template, or your piece of fabric will not be large enough to cover the area it needs to cover. Trust me. 

I am also beginning to despise any directional print. I have always been a stickler for having my directional prints all go in the same direction, but with these tiny paper piecing units, it is a real challenge to figure it out while constructing the blocks.

In other news, I am feeling completely out of sorts. My house is a mess, my deadlines for my writing job are looming, my dad needs me at his house all weekend, and Eva's homeschooling needs to be planned and executed. I want two weeks where I sew for six hours a day and read for at least four. And do nothing else.

Hope your week is going more grump free than mine.