Sister's Choice Quilts

Aunt Addie's Quilt is Growing

I couldn't help myself.  I just had to make week 2 and week 3 blocks for the Aunt Addie Mystery Sew Along.  The blocks are fun, and I am enjoying my teal and brown fabrics from my stash.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

I keep worrying that I won't like the quilt when the finishing instructions are given, which has been my experience with every mystery sew along I have ever done.  But then, I remembered something.

Remember this book?

And this one?

I have both of them, and had a browse through them and got all inspired.   Have you seen these books?  The idea is you make rows of blocks, alternating kind of plain boring "blender" block rows with more pizazzy rows with houses, flowers, trees, applique etc.  The result is a super cute and unique quilt.   I may use these Aunt Addie blocks as a starting point for one of the quilts in the books!  I always enjoy doing my own thing, and I may end up with something fun if I incorporate some ideas from these books into my quilt.  I have loads of fabric, so I can definitely go larger.  The wheels are turning...

 

Success!

Thank you all so much for all your suggestions on how to be more successful with making this block. There are so many ways to get to a good result:  make half square triangles instead of sewing triangles to the square, hand piece the block, paper piece the block and more.  For me though, it all boiled down to two things, which in my heart, I know to be right:
1)  Starch the fabric
2)  Make the units larger than called for, then trim them down to the correct size

There was also a fair amount of operator error in my technique with the Creative Grids ruler.  There are several places where one is supposed to trim with the tool.  It turns out, I was neglecting to do the final trim down of the "Cat's Cradle" unit.  When making the units the specified size, this trim amount was negligible, but when I tried making the units slightly oversized, I could trim off a good amount and ended up with perfectly square units.

Here are some photos I took when making my test block in red and cream:

I made my units a quarter inch larger than I needed.  When the pieces were sewn, I used the Creative Grids Cat's Cradle tool to trim them down. You line up the solid lines to the size you want your square, and the diagonal lines to the size you want your finished unit.  In my case, this was the 2 1/2" diagonal line.

Trim two sides, then flip the block and trim the remaining two sides. You will end up with a perfectly square 2 1/2" square unit.  (There are other size options on the tool, I just needed 2 1/2" for my blocks).

Lay out your block units and stitch together.

Here is my perfect red block next to my sad floppy blue block from yesterday.

I had also gotten away from starching my fabrics prior to a project, which is really not a good idea.  Always take the time to do that, you will be much happier with the results.

Besides listening to all your great suggestions on how to make this block better, I did watch two YouTube tutorials.  One was by Deb Tucker, who invented a trim tool (the Tucker Trimmer) for this block, which is practically the same as the Creative Grids ruler.  I watched her instructions, and she is so clear and concise, I immediately grasped what I needed to do.  Then I watched another tutorial, specifically for the Creative Grids tool, but not sponsored by that company.  These two funny gals from Prairie Quilt started out bickering over what their favorite Thanksgiving menu item was, but then got into a demo of how to use the Creative Grids tool, which was very instructive.  You should watch it, they are pretty funny.  And their demo was more clear than the one Creative Grids put out to sell their ruler.

Thanks again to those of you who took the time to make suggestions.  I really appreciate it!

 

Slow and Steady

Six more blocks are done, and this is my progress so far.  Not too many more to go.

Not much to report this week.  I have been reading a really good book, "Daisy Jones and The Six", a story loosely based on the rock band Fleetwood Mac.  It is really engrossing, and if you grew up with the music of the 70's you might enjoy it too.  Even if you didn't, the book is well done.  The format of the novel is as if it is one long Rolling Stone magazine interview about the band and the life they all led back in the day.  Kind of fascinating.  It had me listening to Fleetwood Mac songs all day and seeing the (previously to me) tension between Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham.

The book has been getting a lot of press lately, well deserved.

 

 

 

Working on My Sweet Escape Variation

Do you see where I am going with this?  I will end up with four quadrants of blue stars with red centers.  All my taupe blocks will be used as the "background" blocks.  I did not have quite enough of the navy blue fabric and had to order a few more fat quarters, which should arrive this week.  Did you all know that Fabric Shack sells quarter yard cuts of fabric?  Not many online shops will do that.  And they carry almost every current collection.  Everything.  I order fabric from them quite often and they always mail it out very promptly.

Those of you familiar with the Sweet Tea fabric collection I am using will notice that I did not include the light blues at all.  They just didn't work with this plan.  Now, I am finding myself wishing that I had another jelly roll of the collection so I could do a really scrappy version of Sweet Escapes, using all the colors in the line.  I would scramble up the combinations in each block, having some red/light blue, red/navy, navy/light blue etc.  I am really in the groove of making these log cabin blocks!

If I do another jelly roll quilt, I will not precut my strips. It is so much faster not to have to do all that cutting.  Since I am using a ruler to square up each round, those strips really do not need to be cut into shorter lengths.  

All the red and taupe blocks are made, just need to make sixteen more navy blocks.  My blocks are smaller than the Sweet Escapes pattern calls for, so my quilt is going to be more a generous throw than a bed sized quilt.  I should finish it this week.

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Our weather isn't exactly warm or sunny, but it is mild and pleasant.  The air is "soft".  My husband and I went out to lunch on Sunday and were able to eat outside which was lovely.

Sweet Escape Progress

I managed to finish the sixteen taupe blocks over the weekend.  Now I will begin to make the blue blocks that will form the star points that surround the taupe blocks.  I think there are 24 of the blue ones to make.  I am really pleased with the look of the blocks and think the finish is going to be wonderful.  

My friend and I had a wonderful shopping adventure Monday.  It took two hours to drive to our destination and two hours to drive home, and we had four hours to shop and have lunch.  It was delightful.  My friend was able to find not one, but two pair of jeans she liked at Chicos, and I found two pair of espadrille style shoes at DSW, so we both accomplished our missions.  We stopped by Bath and Body Works, and each of us got a French Baguette candle.  That is the best scent--just like fresh baked bread.  

We had fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato bisque soup for lunch and as I write this, I doubt either of us will want dinner.

Hope your week got off to a good start!  

Now I'm Happy

I am so pleased with my modification of the Sweet Escapes log cabin block!  I have an idea regarding the color layout of the blocks too, that is different.  My center star will be red as shown, and I will have radiating blue stars in the four corners.  I decided not to be so random with this project, and be more planned in my color placement.  I hope it works the way my mind is envisioning it.

There are no plans to even leave the house this weekend, so with luck, on  Monday I will have more to show you.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Log Cabin Block All Figured Out

This log cabin block has undergone quite a metamorphosis from the original block in the Sweet Escapes sew along pattern.

This is my test block, which I rejected for two reasons.  One, it came out wonky.  Operator error, but I wasn't confident it wouldn't happen again.  I like to trim my blocks down with a log cabin trim tool, and these strips didn't conform to the tools that I have on hand.  Two, I was very unhappy with my choice of alternate background fabric.  It was too pale and wishy washy, not providing enough contrast, and that particular print reappeared at least eight times in other colorways in the fabric I was using, which bothered me.

The changes I made were to switch out my alternate background fabric to a taupe that coordinates well with the Sweet Tea fabric collection I want to use for the blocks, and which also was a slightly darker tone which I thought provided more contrast with the plain white background strips.

The blocks in the Sweet Escapes pattern are 10" finished.  My Creative Grids Log Cabin Trim tool is for a 6" block.  Still a bit small.  To achieve the look of the Sweet Escapes block, I need to add another round of strips to my block.

To trim the final round, I used my 8" Bias Square trim tool, which kept that last outside round of strips straight and true.  I love all the markings on that ruler.  You can't go wrong lining things up.

You may also have noticed that instead of using two 1 1/2" squares at the center of the block (see my dark blue test block), I made a 2" half square triangle for the single center square.  I think when I put these blocks together, I am going to have the same look as the quilt in the pattern.  Since my blocks are two inches smaller than the blocks in the pattern, my quilt is going to be smaller as well, which does not trouble me in the least.

So why am I going to so much bother to change up the block, instead of just going with the pattern?  I don't know.  I guess because I can.  I like things to be really square and not wonky, and these trim tools achieve that for me.  I don't trust myself to get a nice straight square block without some help.  In the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't matter, but I am just going with a method that makes me happy, even though it is more work.

Killing Time with New Projects and Tools

While I wait patiently (not) for my extra materials for the Sweet Escape project, I have been passing the time by playing with some new projects and tools.  Some time ago I purchased a Creative Grids ruler called the Curvy Log Cabin Tool.  I got the six inch size, but it comes in 4 inch and 8 inch block sizes.

The concept is the same as their regular Log Cabin trim tool, but with the Curvy, you use strips of two different widths to create the curved effect.  If you google Curved Log Cabin quilts, or look on Pinterest, you will see all sorts of wonderful results people have gotten using this tool.

One tip that I learned from this tool is how to get a center square that is dead on perfectly square.

There is a little guide for you to use to cut your center square, and (this is the cool part) the tool has four little holes where you can take your pen and make dots to follow as a stitching guide!

I have learned that if you go awry with that first center square, your block is going to look wonky, even if it measures square once you get all the strips attached.

This picture is before trimming the strips.  You can see that little center square is perfect.

The ruler has marked squares that show you where to line up the center square and seam lines for accurate trimming.  You trim the narrower strips first, then flip the block and the ruler around to trim the wider strips.

I have in mind that I will make a table runner with twelve or sixteen of these blocks.  It takes four blocks to make the pattern shown in my first picture at the top of the post, and four blocks to make this design:

Both designs are fun, but I am leaning towards the circular one.

Hope you had a great weekend!  Mine was pretty quiet.  It stopped raining and the sun came out, which was a great novelty.  I also got some St. Patrick's Day flowers.  It is mostly greenery, but I still like it.

Just Playing Around

These little Sweet Clover blocks turned out to be just what the doctor ordered to give me a shot of Spring.  I made ten blocks and turned them into a table runner, which I plan to send out to be quilted as soon as possible.

I can see it with some sage green candles and I am good to go for Easter.

One thing led to another, as it often does, and I found myself on a chair pulling old unfinished project boxes off the shelf in the closet.  I found three boxes that contained unfinished or un-started Fig Tree projects from years ago.

One was Jelly Ohs, a jelly roll project.  I had everything I needed in the box, except the three different light background fabrics the pattern called for.  I may search online for something that would work, but I definitely will not be finding this particular collection, which is so old it isn't even on the Moda website anymore. 

I made a block, which is kind of cute, but seems so big after all the small projects I have done recently.  I am also kind of over that butterscotch color, but it does go well with my decor.  

I have some other projects that really do command my attention, but I just seem to be in a flighty mood lately.  At least I am in my sewing room, right?  It doesn't really matter what I am working on, just so I am sewing!

Goodbye February!  You didn't last long, but after interminable January, that's ok.  Helloooo March, and warmer weather, sunshine, sitting on the porch and barbecuing outside.  By the end of the month, right?

Shop at Home

Since I am desperate for a touch of Spring, I've been in a mood to make some small quilts in a lighter color palette.  My favorite dark reds, golds and browns seem so heavy right now when my soul is craving lighter more delicate tones.  Pale green in particular.

I recently rediscovered a tub of Fig Tree fabrics that I had packed away.  I used to do a lot with Fig Tree fabrics, and then for some reason, fell away from it.   Lately, I have been paying attention to the Fig Tree Christmas and Halloween collections and it made me recall my stash.  In the tub I had some very pretty light greens that paired well with some butterscotch tones which were also on hand.  

Along with the stash of vintage Fig Tree fabric, I also had a number of Fig Tree patterns.  The one I pulled out to use for this project is called Sweet Clover.   I doubt if stores still carry it, but I did see a couple of patterns for sale on eBay.  What I thought was in keeping with my Spring theme, was that the block forms a sweet flower design.  It is basically four inch half square triangles with sew and flip corner squares to give the block unit a rounded petal shape.  I will have to machine applique the center circle, but that is not a big deal.  This pattern is giving my Doug Leko Folded Corner ruler a real work out.  I have used that little ruler in so many projects lately.

I've really enjoyed working with these pretty fabrics and think I may order some future Fig Tree lines.  Their "Christmas Figs" collection was wonderful and they are releasing a Halloween themed group  "All Hallow Eve" in June.   

How about you?  Are you fighting the Winter doldrums as well?  What springy projects are you planning to counter act the gloom of Winter?