Sister's Choice Quilts

Flea Market Is Back on the Design Board

With all the talk about Lori Holt projects yesterday I thought I had better get with the program and actually finish one. I brought Flea Market out and put it up on the design wall to see where I am with it. At this point, the next step is to put on a narrow dark brown containment border and a white containment border outside of that.

I had said I would probably just add my final border and call this quilt done even though the pattern calls for one more border of posy flowers before the final final border. However, after looking at all the LH fabric I have on hand, I think I had better use some of it up and make that additional border after all.

I have to admit, they are pretty darn cute. However, they are quite fussy to make. Each block is made up of four quadrants. The seams must be pressed open and the four block units each squared up to 3". If you don't square up, they will be wonky, no matter how carefully you sew. I kind of hate making folded corner units. There I said it. The special rulers (Corner Clipper, Folded Corner etc) don't work that well for me. I am certainly not about to draw lines on 480 1.25" squares, so I am using my seam guide and going slowly. They are coming out ok, but it is taking some time. These little blocks are perfect for listening to an audiobook.

I think they will be really pretty as the outer pieced border for that medallion quilt. Hope I don't regret it! Four down, thirty six to go!

Yesterday was our baking day so Eva and I made a cake. She decorated it so nicely. Unfortunately by the time she finished it, it was time for her to go home so she never got to taste it!

Happy Wednesday. Hope your week got off to a good start. We have had two days at 70°, so I am really feeling spring fever. That will change soon as we are expected to get more than a week of rain. Bye-bye January. 

Mercantile Sew Along

Today I'd like to tell you about a new sew-along that Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet is doing. It is called Mercantile and features a new fabric line of Lori's as well as a gazillion of her products and notions. There will be two blocks a week, with tutorials on her blog site. The sew-along starts this week and ends in April. As you see, the quilt is in her typical style: very cute, kind of vintage, with that 30s feed sack vibe she is known for. 

Let's talk about the first block, Birthday Cake, which I think is adorable (Photo from Lori's website). First, you make the cakestand block, then frame it with the background fabric. Next, you cut your block into a circle, using Lori's special circle template, and sew it to Lori's brand of interfacing. Turn the piece inside out and press to form the circle. Last, applique the circle to four print squares you have sewn together. As a final step, you trim the block down to size using Lori's special trim up ruler. That's a lot of steps, right? The resulting quilt is amazing, but for me, it's a bit too busy. And the amount of fabric required is staggering.

Don't get me wrong, I am susceptible to suggestion more than the average person and I considered buying the kit for about five minutes. The kit costs $260 and weighs contains about 30 pounds of fabric. Lori is a marketing genius and has created rulers, trim tools, applique templates, design boards, fabric "clappers", seam guides, thread to match her fabrics, and about a thousand other products that may make your sewing experience more fun and accurate. I have bought a lot of her products and do enjoy many of them. But honestly? If you are going to make this quilt and buy all the suggested products/notions this project will cost you a LOT of money. That being said, the block patterns are free on her website!

So here's my plan. I am going to make the blocks with the fabric and tools I have on hand and see what happens. I am not going to cut my blocks into circles and applique them onto yards of additional fabric. I am thinking of using several different neutral backgrounds and a diagonal setting and perhaps a pieced border.

As you can see, I have purchased plenty of Lori Holt fabric and it is hard to justify buying more when I have so much on hand. 

Are any of you doing this sew-along? The first block came out Jan. 29 and the second one will be on her website this Friday Feb.2. Are you planning to do the project as Lori suggests or are you a rebel like me and plan to switch things up? 

 

Coming Along Well With the Bindings

I am deliriously happy with this Sampler Spree quilt. It is my favorite quilt that I've made in a while and I am also happy to say I got the binding on it in one long marathon session. I had so much fun making this quilt, with the large variety of blocks it called for. Some were challenging, some were not, but there are 100 of them. The setting is modern, which sets off the traditional style of a sampler quilt. It is just a perfect effort and I am so pleased with it. The quilt is from the book Sampler Spree by Susan Ache.

No trick photography, That binding is sewn on. 

With all the football going on this Sunday, it was another great binding opportunity. My hands are sore, but I am plowing through it.

This pretty quilt has been waiting for binding for longer than I care to admit. I don't remember precisely what pattern I used to make it, but it is very similar to a pattern called Apple Crisp from a book by Evelyn Sloppy called "Log Cabin Fever". The pattern in her book calls for three rounds of strips around the center block and my version has four rounds. I am pretty sure I got the block somewhere else and just made lots of them for the quilt top. I had tubs of Civil War scraps and was determined to make a dent in it. 

I have no idea why I have let this quilt languish for so long. It really is a beauty.

I think the quilting design suits it well. It's fun to look at all the fabrics I used because it brings back memories of past quilts I used them in. 

Hope you had a great weekend! I went down to my father's house and worked with the family to clear things out. It really looks like we are emptying the place. I spent the night there by myself and got quite nostalgic about how long it has been in the family. Over 60 years my parents lived there and there are so many memories of my sisters when we were all young, thousands of meals around the big dining table, family members and friends who are no longer with us, and lots of happy times. There were a lot of ghosts who kept me company while I was there on my own. 

Miles of Binding

I've been attaching miles of binding to finished quilt tops. Sewing them down by hand is going to be a project. 

Here are five quilts that just need their binding sewn down so I can actually start to use them. That is Sampler Spree on the top of the stack, which I think is going to be the first one I tackle. I love that quilt. I'll show a better picture of the quilting soon. The quilter recommended a Baptist Fan design and I think it is perfect.

This one turned out pretty fabulous too. I can't wait to use it this summer due to its patriotic feeling.   

And.....I got the borders on the Hourglass quilt! 

What a week this has been for just catching up on almost-finished projects! I have a full weekend planned, so I don't know what, if any, sewing I will get done. I guess we will have to wait until Monday to find out!

Have a great weekend everyone.
             

Borders, Bindings, and Backings, Oh My

As I promised myself, I have kept my nose to the grindstone and have been working on borders, bindings, and backings to get unfinished quilts done and out the door. In the photo above you see the binding strips for two quilts, and the inner and outer border strips for another.

Best of all, I have finished the Snowman Gatherings quilt! Here it is with the side borders attached. I decided the size was peculiar in that it was 67 inches from top to bottom and 85 inches wide. So I added a 6.5 inch border to both the top and bottom of the quilt and am much happier with the proportions.

Much better. Luckily, I had purchased a ton of that blue snowflake/dot fabric and had plenty.

It's been cool and rainy here this week, so the past couple of days have been perfect for staying in and sewing. Eva made brownies yesterday for her daddy's birthday, and I am happy to say all went well and there were no kitchen disasters. How's your week going?

Productive Day

Sorry for the radio silence the past couple of days. Nothing's wrong, I just had a bunch of stuff going on that kept me from sewing or doing much else that was blog-worthy. 

Yesterday my husband was away for the day so I got up into the sewing room and got busy. First I made a list. A long list of all the projects I have a.l.m.o.s.t finished. You know, the ones that still need binding, or a border, or to have the backing pieced so I can send it off to the quilter. That's my mission for the next week or so-to finish up these projects. I must really hate binding because that is a big item on my list.

I did get the binding attached but not sewn down on the little Valentine's runner above. It will be more even-looking when I get it sewn. That is going to be adorable for my February decor. 

I made major strides with the Snowman Gatherings quilt. I have all the narrow borders on. Today I will attach the two pieced side borders and the final narrow border and this will be good to go to be quilted!

Sandy had commented yesterday that she wished she had signed up for this sew-along 8 years ago when it came out. Well, guess what? If you feel the same way, it isn't too late to make one of these quilts for yourself. You can purchase the pattern on Fatquartershop.com. And, how about this? Primitive Gatherings is re-releasing the Snowman Gatherings fabric collection (version 4 I think!) this July. The fabric prints will be slightly different of course, but the color story is the same. You should make this quilt if you have a mind to.

I hope your week is going well. Today is Moda Blockheads pattern release day, so with any luck, I'll have my effort to show you by Friday. 

Snowman Gatherings and I See the Light at the End of the Tunnel

I am so happy with the way this quilt top is coming together! This is Snowman Gatherings, a 2015 Designer Mystery project by Fat Quarter Shop. I didn't sign up for the sew along when it was going on, but a kind reader sold me her kit, for which I am so grateful. This is a great project and will be stunning on my bed in January next year.

You get the idea of how it's going to look with the side borders. There are two more narrow borders that will go on, and I am awaiting the arrival of a striped tan fabric for the inner border. The outer border will be another band of the navy that is used for the lattices.

To finish off the snowmen, after it's quilted, I plan to sew on tiny buttons for facial features etc. I have never added button detail to a quilt top, and I assume you have to do it after quilting, right? Otherwise, the longarm machine could hit the buttons and break something, which would be bad.

Several of you shared with me your stories of kitchen disasters after my post yesterday when I described our oatmeal cookies sliding off the baking sheet. My absolute worst kitchen catastrophe was the Christmas I was making cheesecake and the bottom fell out of the pan as I was putting it into the oven. That's the moment in the photo above, preserved forever in my memory.

You cannot even imagine the mayhem that ensued. My husband actually had to remove the oven door to get all the cheesecake batter cleaned out. Plus, the batter leaked into the lower oven below and that had to be cleaned as well. Worst of all, there was no cheesecake for Christmas. 

So my reaction when Eva's cookies went sliding off the baking sheet into the oven was pretty much "Never mind honey, I've done worse".

Have a great weekend everyone. And if you plan to cook anything, do be careful.

Moda Blockheads 5, Block 3

These two blocks are from the current Moda Blockheads 5 block of the week sew-along. The one on the left was designed by April Rosenthal and is the block featured this week. The block on the right was a previous block submitted for this sew-along and was designed by Joanna Figueroa. They are essentially the same block. The difference is that the middle square is slightly different and the pinwheels are going in opposite directions.

I guess I could have made them more dissimilar by making the four star points look more solid for more of a star effect rather than a pinwheel. Oh well, I will think of it as a design element in two different sizes.

My Snowman Gatherings quilt is coming right along. I have gotten more border strips attached to the top and sides, and am working on the 10 blocks that make up the pieced border. I have decided to attach my borders to the sides of the quilt rather than the top and bottom. I like it when the sides of a quilt drape over the sides of the bed, so that will work better for me. If I have enough fabric I could make the pieced borders on all four sides of the quilt, but I think I may not. 

See what I mean? I think having the borders on the top and bottom is just weird. But, that's me.

Hope your week is going well. Eva and I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies yesterday and had a bit of a disaster. We were using parchment paper on the cookie sheet and when she was putting a tray of them into the oven the paper slid off the tray and all the cookies ended up on the bottom of the oven. What a mess. Her poor face was priceless. The horror of it all. We actually salvaged most of them and no harm was done. Except now when the oven is on, there is kind of a burny small going on...

 

Foundation Paper Tip

While working on my Designer Mystery 2015/Snowman Gatherings project over the weekend, I ran into a problem. I needed to make some square in a square units in a size for which I did not have foundation paper.

When making this fussy unit, I have found that the only way I can get good results is to use foundation paper. I have been purchasing the little pads of foundation paper sold on Fat Quarter Shop's website. The typical sizes that I have used are 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch unfinished units. But this project was calling for something that I definitely did not have on hand.

I needed to make 2-inch and 3-inch unfinished square in a square units. I was stymied for a bit because I wanted to get those blocks done and not have to wait a week for an online order to FQS to go through. Plus, I wasn't even sure if they made foundation paper in those unusual sizes.

So, I went to Etsy.com and started searching for foundation papers in those odd sizes.

The Quilted Story is an Etsy shop that sells pdf files of foundation paper patterns in multiple sizes. You can make your purchase, download it, and print your foundation paper patterns within minutes. The price is great as well. For $6 you get the download which you can use multiple times to make hundreds of blocks. Also (and this is a BIG deal), in your download are included 5 different sizes of square in a square units!  In comparison, the foundation paper pads sold by FQS cost nearly $10 and you get 40 papers in one size. 

I need to say that the FQS foundation paper pads are of excellent quality and have never steered me wrong. And if you are not sure that your printer will print out to the correct scale, this do-it-at-home process may not work for you. My printer works great and prints things right to the correct scale, so this worked brilliantly for me. 

You also need to have the right type of paper to print on. I had a package of blank Carol Doak foundation paper on hand, which is crucial for sewing. It is lightweight and tears off easily. 

Next up were 40 3-inch unfinished square in a square units. Easy peasy. I printed out the number of sheets that I needed, made my block units and trimmed them to size.

Finding this online source of accurate pdf files for square in a square units was a real time and money saver for me. I wanted to pass the tip along in case you ever need it!

 

 

Snowman Gatherings Quilt

Yesterday those of us in the US celebrated Martin Luther King Day, which turned into a four-day weekend for me since I had Friday free as well. I made great use of my time and have been sewing and reading up a storm. I didn't leave the house except to walk Archie.

I have finished all the main blocks for the Designer Mystery 2015 block of the month project. I have to say they were all a lot of fun to make, but they sure did have a lot of teeny tiny pieces!

I don't think I have ever made a block with so many pieces that I used all 26 Alphabittie letters plus some of the Alphabittie numbers! Alphabitties are little tags that you use to label the pieces in a quilt block. When the instructions say "Sew piece J to piece Y" you won't get mixed up. 

And let me tell you, some of these pieces were minuscule. The last block, number 12, was the church, which came out great, but that tiny cross over the door was challenging.

 Here is a close-up:

I recall that the smallest pieces in the cross measured 7/8 of an inch! When sewing such microscopic pieces, I advise cutting accurately and sewing very slowly and straight. A smaller-than-normal stitch length helps too. 

The border blocks were next up, and are coming out well. That block on the lower left is a Moda Blockheads block that photobombed my picture.

Check back tomorrow for a tip on what to do when you are out of your favorite foundation paper for making square in a square blocks.