Sister's Choice Quilts

Sewcialites #28 Hope

I am so proud of myself for keeping up with the Sewcialites blocks every week. This one is #28 Hope by April Rosenthal. It definitely is not my favorite in this sew-along. I wish I had thought of a way to make it more interesting because to me, it just isn't. Used over and over again in a one-block quilt, the diagonal pattern it makes could be very eye-catching, but honestly, as a stand-alone block, it is pretty blah. You know, I may just sub it out with something I like better. I tend to do that anyway when I am putting a top together, as you may have noticed.

I had a nice drizzly weekend with my dad. I got lots of work done, and while I did that he was able to read his Kindle. Now that is a real miracle. A few months ago, he had lost a good deal of his sight due to macular degeneration, but due to his treatments being extremely successful he is able to enjoy reading again. I ordered him Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, the fictional retelling of the life of Thomas Cromwell. He is a real history buff, so I hope he loves it. Anybody read it? It is almost 600 pages!

Hope you all had a splendid weekend!

Summer in Kansas is Calling to Me

I am getting quite excited about sewing this new project. It is Summer in Kansas by Carrie Nelson. I want to make this quilt exactly like she did because I can't imagine it being any more perfect. She used two different collections, Canning Day by Corry Yoder in the photo above, and Summer Sweet by Sherri and Chelsi below.

You need a layer cake and a mini charm pack of each. These are older collections and I couldn't find mini charm packs, so I went with the regular size. These fabric collections are just so summery and fresh looking. The colors do not exactly match each other, but somehow they just "go".

You also need 6 yards of Bella 98, and two #11 Cake Mix recipe packs. No doubt about it, this quilt is labor-intensive, with all those half square triangles. Still, I think it will make a fun summer project. I know I posted on this a few weeks ago, but I am just getting in the mood to begin, I guess.

The pattern is free. Here is a link. Well, I have a lot of starching to do, don't I? 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Serendipity Third Row

Yesterday I got cracking on the third row of the Serendipity Quilt sew-along. You can bet I double-checked to be sure I hadn't made these blocks already. Ha ha. 

These blocks use the Courthouse Steps foundation papers from Fatquartershop.com. The papers are an option, you can also make the blocks the traditional way. I really liked the accuracy achieved with the papers. Courthouse Steps is a block that can get wonky on you, but not with foundation papers.

After sewing on each strip, I used the "Add a Quarter" ruler to trim off the excess seam allowance. That is a handy tool if you do paper piecing.

You trim up the block after attaching all the strips, then peel the paper off. It comes off extremely easily. This is a great paper piecing product.

For the row you make four blocks and attach them together with a lattice strip in between. The colors look kind of washed out in my photo, but they are really pretty in person.

The fabric collection is Apricot and Ash by Corey Yoder (Coriander Quilts for Moda). 

I was happy to get caught up with this sew-along. Packages of new fabric continue to arrive. I feel like the princess in Rumplestiltskin. Will I be able to use all the fabric up in my lifetime? I believe I have been guilty of some late-night ordering under the influence of chardonnay. I wonder if I can put a time lock on my computer, shutting it down after 7 PM?

 

 

Oh Yes I Did

It's been a couple of weeks since I worked on the Serendipity Sew Along. I had a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, so I thought I would put Kimberly on my iPad and stitch along with her on what they are calling "Release Two", which is the second row of the quilt. (Remind me to clean my iPad screen). I got my 40 flying geese units all cut out and began happily sewing away.

But for some reason, it all felt kind of familiar. Deja vu, you know?

Oh right. I already made that row of 40 flying geese a couple of weeks ago. Much head-slapping went on for a little while, but then I realized it was ok. I hadn't wasted all that fabric after all. It turns out there is a second row of flying geese just the same as the first one later on in the quilt.

Whew.

I need to keep up with these things a bit better. Maybe, just maybe, I might have a bit too much going on? Yeah, I think so too.

Then I ran out of my starched background fabric and had to make more.

It was a lovely warm afternoon. I just lay out a thick towel and spray until the fabric is soaked with my Faultless Heavy Starch. On a nice warm day, it is dry in half an hour!

Wish me a mistake-free day today, because I hope to sew!

Sewcialites #27 Earnest

Here is last Friday's Sewcialites block "Earnest" designed by Vanessa Christensen of V & Co.

I wasn't loving the tone of my gold blocks, so I had a rummage through my stash and pulled out a few more pieces that leaned more gold than tan. So you see my pull from stash below. All starched and dried in the sunshine.

Confession time: I have been buying fabric like a crazy person. Backgrounds, layer cakes, half yard cuts. It has been intense, particularly for my pocketbook. I want to spend all my time sewing, and life is getting in my way big time. I am hopeful that when summer arrives I will have a bit more time for myself. 

I have also purchased a number of patterns, mostly from Pattern Basket. What the designer Margot Langeudoc does with her patterns really focuses on the fabrics in a collection. Often her patterns just call for a layer cake or fat eighth pieces. The pattern below is a good example of what she does. Anyway, I am looking forward to making a few of them.

Hope your week got off to a great start! Wonderful weather here. Eva and I made banana muffins and worked on math, reading, science, and book club.

New Layer Cakes

This fabric collection was so big last summer. I didn't jump on the bandwagon unfortunately and came to regret it. Luckily you can still purchase precuts and yardage of this super cute group on Etsy and some online fabric shops. Back Porch by Me and My SIster for Moda. Did you follow along with the free pattern sew-along on Moda Bake Shop Last Summer? There is one block that is a canning jar that is the cutest thing ever.

This is probably going to be this summer's most popular fabric collection. Strawberries and Rhubarb by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. It has all of the perfect colors you would expect from Fig Tree. I believe Fatquartershop.com is featuring it in their Designer Mystery Quilt sew-along for 2021.

I have no idea what I will make with either of these fabric groups at this point in time, but i know I wanted to have some on hand. I ended up purchasing layer cakes of each just to have it and give me some options. Do you ever do that? Buy a smaller pre-cut of a collection just so you don't miss out entirely on it?

I didn't feel like committing to a full fat quarter bundle of each but felt comfortable springing for the lower-priced layer cake option. 

I sure hope you all had a great weekend. I visited my dad, who claims to be "in the pink". We had Safeway soup and salad one night and Marie Callendar Chicken Pot Pie the other and he swore it was the best food ever. I have given up cooking anything fancy for him. He eats two tablespoons and says he can't take another bite. However, when I give him a bowl of soup, he eats it all.

I stopped at a Target on the way and picked up some fun new summer things for Eva. We had fun discussing on the phone which bikini was the cutest.

I preferred the orange one but was outvoted. The blue came home with me.

Bella Solids Lights De-mystified

When it comes to the Moda Bella Solids that are so prevalently used as background fabrics, have you been confused? Have you wondered which of the cream or white fabrics is a perfect match for the fabric collection you are working with?

Well, I have kinda sorta figured it out. One thing that may help is that you can buy a fat quarter collection of Bella Solids Lights from Fatquartershop.com.

The different fat quarters are labeled with the name and SKU number of the Bella Solid. The bundle costs $35, but I cut strips of each fabric and stapled its label onto it, and sewed them all together in a sample collection. There were a couple of lights that I use that weren't in the bundle, but it was easy to add them on.  Fig Tree Cream and Kona Snow were the two I added. The leftover fabric from the $35 bundle won't go to waste. I will use it in something.

When you sew with certain designer's collections, you also come to know which Bella lights work with their collections. They are pretty consistent over time from collection to collection. For instance, Minick and Simpson and 3 Sisters both use Bella Porcelain 9900-182. Corey Yoder of Coriander quilts uses Bella 9900-200 "Off-White". Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms uses "Off-White" a lot as well. Lella Boutique seems to favor Bella Solid 9900-97 "Bleached White". The designer will often provide the coordinating Bella Solid information on their blog. Occasionally, but by no means consistently Moda fabrics will include the information on the fabric collection "Fabric Download" page. I have also had good luck doing a Google search when all else fails. If I am getting nowhere, I will email or call the Fatquarter Shop and ask their customer service team if they can offer a suggestion of the best match and have always been extremely helpful. I have a feeling you could email the designer and most would answer you as well.

I hope this information is helpful to you!

 

 

 

 

 

Sewcialites #26 Courage

I don't have much sewing to show for my time, but I did finish last week's Sewcialite block. "Courage" by Joanna Figueroa, #26 in the sew-along. It was pretty easy. I do like the crispness of the cream against the red. The red fabric was a small scrap of some Minick and Simpson collection I had left over. I used every last smidgeon of it for this block.

I've been reading a couple of books this week. I started with "Yellow Crocus" by Laila Ibrahim, a book set in pre-Civil War Virginia. It is about a privileged white child, Lisbeth and her enslaved nursemaid Mattie. It was a thrilling story about how both Lisbeth and Mattie came to want to escape their lives and lack of freedom in the South. It was quite a satisfying book. Short and free on Kindle Unlimited. 

The second book in the series, "Mustard Seed", is about the same characters. It is also a very short read and free on Kindle Unlimited. I started the book, and am dumbfounded that these characters from the first book, who managed to escape to Ohio from the oppression of the times, make a very strange choice. They decide to go back to Virginia after the war is over. Yes, they have their reasons, but seriously, why would anyone do that? It took everything they had to get away in the first place and was the entire premise of the first book, so why would they put themselves in harm's way again? I am not very far into the second book but am wondering if it isn't such an annoying plot device that I should quit.

Have any of you read these books? They are well written and the characters are terrifically portrayed. What do you think? Is the second book worth continuing? So far I am slapping my head saying "Why are you doing that?"

Album Block Woes

I went back to work on my Album blocks yesterday. And realized I had made the first four of them wrong. The second and sixth rows are supposed to be made with 3 1/2" long strips of colored fabric, and I had used strips that were 2 1/2".  Arghhh.  

I sure did not want to remake the whole blocks. I figured that if I unsewed carefully with my seam ripper I could just re-do those rows. And I was right, thank goodness.

This is how they are supposed to look. It is a subtle difference, but I am glad I spotted it and fixed it. I am still not sure if I will make eight blocks or ten. I will add a border and I don't want the runner to be too big. At first, I was thinking twelve blocks, but now I am leaning towards ten.

My husband and I got three pots planted with the plants I bought over the weekend. I cannot wait to see how they look once they fill out. Can you spy Ozzie photobombing my photo?

Roselyn Fabric Collection

This new collection called Roselyn by Minick and Simpson finally has arrived in fabric shops. Poor Moda is a month or more backed up in its release schedule due to shipping delays and issues with the weather in Texas.

I have been waiting for this one for a while and am so glad to get it into my hands. I know I said no more red quilts, but I can't seem to help myself.

FYI, the collection has some outstanding backgrounds that are worth a second look.

There are some beautiful pinks in the line and I will absolutely be making some kind of Valentine's runner out of whatever is left over after I use most of it for a quilt.

Hope you all had a great weekend! It is really starting to feel like spring here. I stopped at a garden center in the more populated area where my dad lives and got some really unusual plants I am excited to plant in pots on my porch. I can never find anything this unique where I live. I can tell you that garden center is going to be a regular stop for me every Sunday on my way home.

Bacopa, calibrochoa, and some kind of amazing sedum at the bottom. I think that color combination is so striking.

Supertunia and more calibrochoa.

Osteospermum.