Sister's Choice Quilts

Moda Blockheads 5 is Finished!

Glory be, I have actually finished something. I had to stay inside out of the heat yesterday and used my time well. All 4th of July activities in our area were canceled except for our neighborhood golf cart parade. Even that was sparsely attended. As I write this it is 106°.

I finished sewing all my Blockheads 5 rows together, and starched and sewed on my inner and outer borders. Our humidity is around 12% so my dripping wet starched fabric dried in about 20 minutes. I am not kidding. 

Anyway, back to my quilt. I love how it turned out! My fabrics were Harvest Road, an older collection by Lella Boutique that I had been saving. My background was also Lella Boutique, from a more recent collection called Flower Pot. The Moda Bella solid that is the closest match is Eggshell.

My setting is what makes the quilt, I think. It is a free pattern by My Sew Quilty Life, called Star Dance. It called for 29 blocks: 5 12" blocks, and 24 6" blocks. It is one of the best patterns I have seen for combining sampler blocks of two different sizes. It is supposed to finish at 60" square, without borders. I needed it to be a bit bigger so I added a 2" inner border and a 4 1/2" outer border. I used every inch of that border fabric! Yes, it is pieced. 

I am on a roll now in terms of getting the borders on my UFOs, so look for at least two more completions in the next week.

I hope my US readers had a happy 4th of July! 

PS:  Sara and I have a new book review podcast up on Apple Podcasts and YouTube (Reeding Between the Lines). We are talking about our best 5 books of the year so far.

Moda Blockheads- Sewing Top Together

I couldn't resist showing one more picture of Moda Blockheads 5. I just need to sew the rows together and this top will be nearly done. I wasn't feeling great yesterday so I didn't sew, but I hope to complete this task today.

I also may have done a bit of fabric shopping lately. Aren't these little color bundles of Lori Holt's new line "Autumn" adorable? I bought them from an Etsy seller called Farm Road Quilts, and was so pleased with how fast they were shipped to me and also how nicely they were packaged.

I highly recommend this seller and will definitely buy from them again.

More tomorrow when I am feeling perkier!

Moda Blockheads 5- Final Layout

I am so glad to wrap up this project! This is Moda Blockheads 5 a sew-along that will continue on through mid-November, but I have all the blocks I need to make my chosen layout, so it's a finish for me. If you like this layout, the Star Dance pattern is free from My Sew Quilty Life.

I love that I could use up some of the plainer prints in the fabric collection with this setting. They form squares around some of the 12-inch blocks and make a nice effect I think. It is a bit different from a lot of other layouts I have seen and I am so glad I discovered it. How clever to put those different-sized blocks together in such a cohesive setting. 

My fabrics are from the Harvest Road collection by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique. She consistently comes out with gorgeous fabric lines and is an "automatic buy" for me!

I am nearly finished with sewing my blocks together. I am considering a border, as I have a good-sized piece of one of the main prints in the line. I'll probably do a narrow containment border in the cream background, and an outer border of the navy floral print below.

I had to take my Bernina 770 in to be serviced. That machine has so many whistles and bells. I am really missing it. Some of the features I love are the thread-cutting mechanism, the needle down option, and the way the presser foot raises a teensy bit when you stop sewing. 

I am fortunate to have a backup machine, a Bernina 440 Quilters Edition. This machine isn't as fancy as the 770, but my gosh, it is SO quiet. It just purrs along as I sew. I'll miss her big sister while she is in to be serviced, but they say it should only be two weeks. 

I sure haven't had many comments for my past few posts! Are you all alive and well? I think I need to have a little contest to see if anyone is out there besides crickets. Comment on my post today and I'll announce a winner on Friday for the new quilting book "Celebrate With Quilts" by Lissa Alexander and Susan Ache.

This is a terrific book and is loaded with patterns for 60 blocks in several sizes. It contains great ideas for sampler quilts as well as one-block quilts.

Moda Blockheads is a Near Finish

I got busy yesterday and decided that I am done with Moda Blockheads. I finished all but one 12 inch block, which I will do today. I have my setting all planned out.

I need to cut out my setting pieces, but the fabric is all starched and ready to cut, so I am good to go. It is just a matter of laying things out and sewing the sections together. I haven't finished Jubilee yet, so that project may have to come off the design wall and go back up next week.

I have a bee in my bonnet to get this one done!

If you haven't been living under a rock, you have probably heard some buzz about Lella Boutique's new Halloween collection "Hey Boo". It is absolutely adorable and has a twist I haven't seen in a Halloween collection. That would be the addition of the color pink!

Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique has the Midas touch when it comes to fabulous fabric collections, and her latest group "Hey Boo" is no exception. It has all the expected Halloween colors, black, orange, cream, a touch of green...and then she threw in some hot pink. The result is adorable, fun, and completely new. I can't wait to do something with this beautiful fabric. I even bought a coordinating background to go with it!

I hope you all have a great weekend. Come back Monday, and fingers crossed, my Moda Blockheads 5 will be all sewn together!

Moda Blockheads 5 Late May Catch Up

I think it is time for a Moda Blockheads 5 catch-up. For the setting I am going to do, I need 5 twelve-inch blocks, 16 six-inch blocks, and 8 six-inch blocks with a darker outside edge.

Right now, I have 4 twelve-inch blocks, 14 six-inch blocks, and 6 six-inch blocks with a darker outside edge, Not too many more to go,

And, you know what? I am pretty much done with this project. Of all the Moda Blockheads sew-alongs, I think this one has been my least favorite for two reasons. One, I did not care for how the sew-along started, with us making a dozen blocks and "you can keep them in your project or use them for something else", and then the sew-along seemingly started over. Two, I found a number of the block offerings to be incompatible with the blocks made thus far. They were either too simple or diverged greatly in style from the others we had made. So, I will pick the best of the lot (to my taste) and make it work. The jury is out as to whether or not I will participate in another Moda Blockheads sew-along. 

Here is a close-up of my darker-edged blocks:

I just need to come up with two more of these. 

Have you been doing this sew-along? What are your thoughts?

Moda Blockheads Substitute and Snow

Oh my gosh, some spring break this has been. We had planned originally to go down to Palm Desert to enjoy some sunshine, but couldn't find a decent place to stay. We canceled those plans and decided to stay home. This has been a very lazy week, with me spending too much time on the computer wasting time. I've done some reading, but not much sewing, and don't have much to show for the week. 

Today was Moda BlockHeads release day, but the featured block was all complicated paper piecing, which didn't fit with my lazy attitude. I substituted a block (block 47) from Jessica Dayon's Scrappy Sampler sew-along. Now, here's the thing about Jessica Dayon. She comes up with great block patterns and does a fantastic job of explaining how to construct them. But. She doesn't press, she doesn't pin, and she doesn't trim her block units as she goes. This drives me crazy, but I decided to try to go with the flow and make the block her way. I highly recommend that you watch her block tutorial and you'll see what I mean. She gets great results, but she gets there in a different way than I do. One must have an open mind to other ways of doing things, right?

I did pretty well following along with Jessica, but I absolutely could not resist pressing my block units as I went along. I just had to press. And then, I had to trim my block units to size before sewing them together into the block. 

So, this block unit was fairly complex, with lots of ways to go wonky. I followed Jessica's directions, but could not resist the urge to trim the unit down. As you can see by the trimming, I did manage to shave off some extra fabric and end up with an accurately sized unit. 

Love how my block turned out, but I think I am going to keep pressing and trimming as I go.

And then. Our weather has taken a giant step backward. It is April. It is Spring. We live in California. It is time for sunshine, temperatures in the 70s and spending lots of time outside. But wait, Mother Nature didn't get the message.

Yesterday it snowed. On April 3rd. What is happening?

Have a good weekend everyone!

Sad Archie and Three More Blockheads Blocks

Archie got through his alteration procedure very well according to the veterinarian. Clearly, he has another opinion and is feeling rather pathetic. As I write this, he's only been home for a half an hour. He promptly went to his squishy dog bed and is now asleep. He is taking pain medication and had a bit of water, but seems down for the count.

With no doggie responsibilities yesterday I had plenty of time to sew. I made three Blockheads blocks in the 6-inch size. The top two blocks are actual Blockheads patterns, but the lower one is one I found on the internet. The block on the top left is Block 12 designed by Heather Briggs. The block on the top right is Block 13 designed by Debbie Maddy. 

The lower block is part of Jessica Dayon's latest sew-along, Scrappy Sampler Block 41.  

The worst part of Archie's surgery is him having to wear that uncomfortable cone collar. Reader Carolyn suggested an inflatable collar her daughter got when her dog was spayed. I immediately ordered one and think it's going to be a lot better than the clunky plastic one.

Keeping things short here today, gotta go check on Archie.

Moda Blockheads Block 8

I made Moda Blockheads Block 8. And then I made it again.

Let's take a look at both versions and I will tell you why I like the second one better. 

The first block is fine, but the center seems kind of random and adds nothing to the overall design. In version 2, the green corner squares of the center unit continue the line formed by the green four-patches in the corners, which is nice. Also, the center unit picks up the navy and brown colors in the large navy print. I think the look of the second block is more purposeful and dynamic than the first one. 

I always give myself permission to change up a block if I think it could be better. It may be an annoying personal quirk, but I am not a "done is better than perfect" person by any means. It would haunt me to keep an element in a quilt that I could have improved upon. 

This is a twelve-inch size block. My proposed setting design will combine 5 twelve-inch blocks and 24 six-inch blocks. With only 5 of the larger size blocks, I particularly want the larger blocks to stand out and be remarkable, not ho-hum. The setting I am considering is called Star Dance by My Sew Quilty Life.

I think today's block might be great right in the center, what do you think?

Moda Blockheads Block 7 and Conquer a Classic

Another Moda Blockheads block. This is block 7, designed by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique. The fabric I am using for this sew-along is also designed by Vanessa, for Moda Fabrics. It is an older collection called Harvest Road. My background is also hers, from her Flower Pot range. 

I used my 3-inch finished foundation papers from Fat Quarter Shop and they worked perfectly. I aimed to have that center star stand out. The theme of this sew-along is that each block has a star design.

I am participating in a read-along (I must be a joiner: sew-alongs, read-alongs- sign me up). The idea is to tackle a classic work of literature. Previous choices have been The Count of Monte Cristo, Lord of the Flies, The Color Purple, and others. This year the classic that has been chosen by The Bookshelf Thomasville is Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, a doorstop of a book that was written in the 80s. I read this back in 1985, and devoured the mini-series that followed on TV, but am totally up to repeat the experience.

I got the book on Kindle, for two reasons. One, the book is huge and must weigh at least 5 pounds. Two, the font is small and I can adjust it larger on the Kindle. 

The idea of the read-along is to break the book up into a certain number of chapters a month and by the end of the year, the book will have been consumed. The problem with this book is that it is too good to spread out over such a long period. I just can't do it. I am all in and am not going to stop just because I've read all I was supposed to for February. I am going to keep going!

Larry McMurtry's voice is so distinct and so unique. I feel as if I am on the cattle drive with Gus and Call and the cowboys. I also am watching the mini-series on Amazon Prime and am totally addicted. I remember back in the 80s when this book and the tv series were all the rage. I thought both were terrific then and now that I am re-experiencing them I feel the same way. I had forgotten that the book won the Pulitzer Prize. I have heard it described as a dark tale, told lightly.

The TV series has some top-notch stars: Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane, Robert Urich, Chris Cooper, and so many more actors who are so well known today. I have read 16 chapters of the book and watched the first episode of the series, and have to say the TV version is faithful to the book. 

I know a lot of you are readers, as I am. I wonder if you ever re-visit a classic that you read years ago, or if you tackle a classic that you somehow missed when you were going through school. Or do you avoid the classics completely? Lonesome Dove is so much more recent than some other books we consider "classics", but I have to say I think it deserves that classification. 

Let us know in the comments if you are up to re-experience Lonesome Dove, if you read it back in the day, if you loved the mini-series...

Moda Blockheads 5 Catch Up

Yesterday I got caught up on the Moda Blockheads blocks. We are up to the fifth block in this second session of block offerings. 

Last week's block, Morning Star by Barbara Groves is on the left, and Glimmer by Janet Clare is on the right. These are both in the 6 inch size. I know some designers are planning settings that include both 12" and 6" sized blocks, so I am trying to remember that I need to make some in both sizes. Joanne Figueroa of Fig Tree & Co. hinted that for her setting she will use 9 12" blocks and 20 6" blocks. I may do that, or I may do something else.

That is the only down side to a sew along like this. You don't see many setting options until the end, which makes it harder to plan. What I do know is that I want to end up with a bed-sized quilt, so no 54" x 62" finished quilts for me. 

There were 9 block patterns released for the first session of this sew along, 5 so far for the second session, and at least 25 more to come. I've got plenty of fabric, so I will just keep making blocks every week and see where I end up. With 40 blocks to play with I should end up with a good sized quilt.

This is an extra block I made on a whim. I was watching a Shabby Fabrics post on their YouTube channel, where Tammy was making a Tennessee Waltz quilt out of this one block. She was promoting a new complicated looking ruler by Creative Grids that is used to make the triangle units. 

As I was watching the video, I thought, "What a minute, those block units are Peaky and Spike!" Do you remember Peaky and Spike, the 1990s brainchild of Doreen Speckmann?  Marti Michell had Peaky and Spike templates and several companies sold what they called "Tri Recs" rulers. There are seveal brands to choose from that are on the market. I had the Tri Recs rulers in a drawer and pulled them out and made this cute block in the 6 inch size. 

I tell you, nothing is new in this world. That has been my theme so far this year. I am going to try to use what I have on hand. I almost got tricked into buying a new gadget this week though. I saw a YouTube video where someone was promoting this amazing seam guide called Guidelines 4 Quilting. It looked brilliant so I went right to Amazon to buy it for $14.95. Well, thank goodness Amazon is smarter than I am, and reminded me "You last purchased this product on Oct. 27, 2022". Oh. Ok then. 

After a rummage in the bureau where I keep various notions I found it. The reason I didn't like it was because the guide sticks up for you to sew against, which gets in the way if you are sewing diagonal seams which I do all the time. But still. It is dumb to buy things twice especially if you don't really need them. 

Here's to a smarter February!