Sister's Choice Quilts

Piece and Quilt Sew-Along and the Celebrate with Quilts Book

I have a confession to make. I've been holding out on you in regard to yet another sew-along I find myself unable to resist. Have you heard of the Piece and Quilt sew-along hosted by Moda Fabrics? It is based on the Celebrate with Quilts book by Lissa Alexander and Susan Ache, two designers who are known for their innovative designs.

The book is pretty incredible. it contains patterns for around 60 quilt blocks, each in four different sizes, and instructions to make a dozen quilts. We are making the sampler quilt shown on the cover of the book. This quilt is unusual because of its unique setting, called a "puzzle setting". There are no lattices or cornerstones in this setting. The blocks in the quilt are different sizes, 3", 6", 9", 12", and 18". They fit together ingeniously to form the overall design of the quilt top. 

The block-making schedule has already started (in April), so I have been working to catch up. I have completed the blocks for April, May, and June, and am just starting to make my July blocks. The block-making sharing for each month starts on the 3rd Monday of each month, and there are Instagram sites where people can show off what they have done. (Go to Instagram and search for #celebratewithquiltsqual or #pieceandquiltqal).

These are the blocks for April, May and June. I plan to start on July's blocks this weekend. The quilt is put together in rows, so I have to be aware of what colors and fabrics I've used in adjacent blocks so I get a good mix of colors and patterns. It is a unique challenge, and I am excited to see how it goes. 

Are any of you sewing along with this project? If so, I'd love to know what fabric collections you are using. I chose Lella Boutique's "Old Glory", which obviously has a limited color palette. Just red, grey, & medium blue. Clearly, I've been enjoying that color combination this summer! There is an Instagram group that shares photos of quilters' blocks, links referenced above

Hourglass Blocks Finished and the Pomodoro Technique

I finished all my Hourglass blocks! Now to sew them together and add a couple of borders. I am a person who really enjoys piecing individual blocks, but when it comes to sewing the blocks into rows, adding borders etc, my interest is not so keen. Most of the time I can manage to get my blocks sewn together (mainly because I want to free up my design wall). Often, however, my top then gets folded up, and set aside and I don't get around to attaching the borders. 

I have a plan to tackle that flaw in my focus. 

Have you heard of the Pomodoro Technique? The Pomodoro Technique is a popular time management method dreamed up by Italian Francesco Cirillo. It was designed not only to get things finished and keep users on task, but to help them figure out how much they can accomplish in small increments of time.

So here's how it works.

1).  Select a task.
2). Set a timer for 25-30 minutes.
3). When the timer rings, take a break for 3-5 minutes.
4). Repeat.
5). Continue to do multiple sessions if desired.

My idea is to start with a 30-minute session, take a break, then move on to something else. Slow and steady wins the race, and the project will be done in the end. This technique is supposed to be particularly great for those projects one finds tedious. The idea is to break a task up into short manageable increments that you tackle without interruption or distraction.

I will be adding a checkbox on my daily calendar for my Pomodoro sessions to get this Hourglass project completed.

 

 

 

Blueberry Delight and Apple Sauce

It seems as if there are an awful lot of food references in quilting, don't you agree? The whole layer cake, honey bun, jelly roll thing, and so many patterns and fabric collections have food names. I wonder why we are so food-obsessed? At any rate, I finished my 8 Courthouse Steps paper pieced blocks for the Petit Four (there we go again) project. The fabric collection I am using is called Blueberry Delight by Bunny Hill.

The paper piecing was super simple and went extremely fast. The whole confusing backwards issue that you find in some paper piecing is not a factor in these blocks at all. The paper pads Fatquartershop makes for foundation piecing make the whole process very simple. They are even shaded so you don't get mixed up where the background or print fabric is supposed to go.

I am also making good progress with my Apple Sauce blocks. This is a pattern by BasicGrey, and I am using three of their collections: Persimmon, Nutmeg, and Cider. Good grief, with the food names. I am stalled with these at the moment because I need more of the teal solid fabric, which is on its way to me in the mail.

I got so many comments from you yesterday! Gosh, who knew I just need to whine about not hearing from people, and look what happens. Seriously though, getting some sort of reaction to a blog post that takes time and effort to produce is very gratifying. I enjoy writing this blog as a journal of my quilting and life, but interacting with readers is what makes it fun and worthwhile. I love hearing from you and do my best to answer your comments. Anyway, it was very nice to hear from so many readers.

Look for a book review post Friday. I must be sewing more than I am reading because I didn't read all that much in September, but I will tell you about what I did enjoy. 

Can't believe it is nearly the weekend again. Where is this month going?

Foundation Paper Piecing

Since my Blueberry Delight fabric arrived, I wasted no time in starching it and assembling my paper piecing supplies. I am very gung ho to get started on this Petit Four project. Supplies: What you need is a glue stick of some kind (I am using a Sewline glue stick, but a kid's school glue stick works fine too), a rotary cutter, an Add a Quarter seam ruler, a seam roller, and a small cutting mat. I also set up my iPad to help me with my fabric selection for the blocks. 

For the first eight blocks, I am using the Courthouse Steps foundation paper.

The instructions are great, telling you just how many strips to cut for the block. I cut several fabrics at once, so the cutting went pretty fast.

The sewing is easy too, you just position the fabric carefully and sew on the appropriate line in numerical order. The paper is even shaded so you are sure to place your lights and darks in the right place. Be sure to use a very short stitch when you sew on foundation paper. My machine is set at 1.5 stitch length.

As you go, you flip the fabric strips, trim to a quarter-inch seam allowance, and press flat.

The first block took longer while I was getting up to speed, but the next ones went quickly. I love how perfect paper-pieced blocks turn out! 

If you are interested in watching a foundation piecing video tutorial, Kimberly from Fatquarter Shop has several on YouTube. Here is the Courthouse Steps tutorial. She had a rather elaborate routine of creasing her foundation paper on every stitching line, which I did not do as I could not see why it was necessary. Otherwise, I followed her instructions.

Hope you are all having a great week. It's been a very slow week for comments, so I'd love to hear your experience with paper piecing! I'm beginning to wonder if anyone besides Jan, Anita, Sally, Mary, and Ina are reading my blog. Have you tried foundation paper piecing? Do you think it is intimidating? 

Archie wants to know....Is anyone out there?

Massive Sewing Room Tidy Up

My big sewing room declutter has been a success. My primary mission was to clear the surfaces of clutter and unorganized miscellaneous objects. Here is a little tour around the room, starting with the sewing table. I am very pleased to have cleared off a ton of stuff and put it where it belongs. My table is a former oak dining table that I had a handyman cut holes in to hold two sewing machines. It worked better in my former studio where I had enough room to access both sides of the table so two people could sew at a time. My current room is too small for that, so the table is pushed up against the wall.

Moving left we have my design wall, which I did not touch. I need to finish the lattices on my Moda Blockheads 3 quilt, and those blocks are staying up there until I do.

This is my ironing station, which I did tidy up as well. I tend to stash things on top of the small storage bins, so it was a bit cluttered. Placing an ironing surface on top of a small metal shelving unit was a brilliant way to get a larger ironing space and additional storage.

The dresser holds all sorts of notions, thread, rulers, interfacing, charm packs, etc, etc. Everything you need to access from time to time but don't want to look at. And, yes, the drawers are still a mess.  My cutting table is under the window and is a place where I spend a lot of time. On top are an additional light with a magnifier on it, and a couple of storage containers for frequently used items.

This cute little organizer box came from Home Goods.  I keep rulers in the back sections and rotary cutters, scissors, pens, and chalk markers in the front ones.

This handy little blue plastic holder is great for those small rulers you reach for all the time.  That was $10 well spent at Fatquarter Shop.

Under the lamp, I keep a magnetic pin dish, a small rotating mat, and a cute little tin with all my eensie weensie BlocLoc and Creative Grids rulers.

I'd never find any of those little guys if it weren't for that lidded tin.

Moving on, we have my storage closet, which has not yet been completely organized, and my bookcase. The storage closet holds plastic bins of unfinished projects, fabric bundles, and fabric on bolts. Extra sewing machines and some unfinished tops are in there as well. I've ordered some more storage bins that should come this week. If my hand cooperates I will tackle the closet. Then we have my bookcase which has books, patterns, works in progress, kits, some machine accessories, and toys. I plan to eventually have all the storage bins match.

Here we are full circle, back to the door and the sewing table. 

I am pretty satisfied with my efforts, particularly the cleared surfaces. I think the space over the sewing table could be put to better use than storing infrequently used rulers. I'd love to get my husband to install some shelving for me. 

So there you have it. My space is all tidy. I suffered an injury in the process, but I still have no regrets.

Siderailed By Fabric Related Injury

As I told you all last week, I spent my free time this weekend sorting out my sewing space. That was such a great dialog we had in the comments. It seems a disorganized sewing area is something a lot of you struggle with as well.  

My organization included hauling a lot of heavy tubs of fabric around. Somehow I managed to sprain my thumb! I must have stretched or torn a ligament. It hurt right away and has gotten progressively more painful, swollen, and bruised. We went out first thing yesterday morning and bought a thumb brace, which helps matters considerably. I am immobilizing it and taking Aleve. 

It turns out there are so many things you just cannot do without a thumb. Brushing your teeth is a real challenge, as is typing. I can't seem to manage the space bar whatsoever. Using scissors is completely impossible. I can use the rotary cutter briefly for small pieces, but cutting out a project, starching fabric, and pinning things just isn't happening. 

But look! Here is something I managed to do with my left hand. I could tear the paper off Fat Quartershop's new Square in a Square foundation units without any trouble. That is indeed a testament to how great those papers are and how easy they come off.

I did make some progress on my room organization and will share it with you tomorrow. If any of you were inspired to tackle tidying up your sewing rooms, I hope you managed to do it without injury.

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day!

Cataracts

I've been blessed with pretty good eyesight during my life.  I need readers to magnify the print when I am reading, but my distance vision has always been all right. In the past few years, I have experienced a gradual worsening of my vision.  I walk three or four days a week with a friend.  I began to notice that the individual leaves I used to be able to see up in a tree were now a blur of indistinguishable green. And when I read a page of a book, there would be a blurry area in the upper left of the page.  I could always shift the page around so my eyes could read the blurry bits, so I didn't worry too much. Then threading needles became really difficult.  I kept wanting more light for whatever task I was working on. More light always seemed to be the answer to my issues. And it helped. Up to a point.

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and she confirmed I had cataracts in both eyes, worse in the left eye.  The good news is, it is fixable. No rush.  I think I'll wait a few months until the COVID issue is more clear, then schedule my procedure.  I have never met a person who has had cataract surgery who has regretted it, so I am pretty excited for good results.

My husband is having some health issues as well, of a more personal nature.  I don't think he would like me to discuss them specifically, so I will respect his wishes.  Let me just say, a general wish of good luck would be welcome on this end right now. Getting old sure is the pits. 

On a lighter note, Eva was having homeschooling with her dad Monday and Tuesday of this week while her grandpa and I were away seeing doctors.  She is such a creature of habit.  She kept texting me, "Nana, can I have my morning break now?  It's 10:30."  "Nana, can I have lunch now?  It's noon".  Good heavens. I will be home soon and we will be back in my kitchen doing homeschool and the Earth will keep spinning on its axis.  

Hope you are all well.  A random quilty thought popped into my mind: have you heard of Joanna Figueroa's (Fig Tree Quilts) new Winter Solstice quilt along? It looks very interesting.  Eight-inch blocks with a dark background.  I do miss the nice big PRINT HERE button for printing the patterns, but you can copy and paste and work around it.

Hope your week is going great. Not long until Christmas.  I just want to get back home and stay put until mid-February.

Something New

As you know, if you regularly read this blog, I have been itching to start a new project.  Now that I have nearly finished a long running string quilt project, I am ready to move on.  I have something all cut out and ready to dive into, but as often happens, I got sidetracked.

It came to my attention that Fatquartershop.com is sponsoring a charity quilt along they call Threadology.  The sew along will ultimately benefit the Make A Wish Foundation.  Full details can be found on the Jolly Jabber (FQS blog).  I am posing a photo of the finished sampler quilt here:

Fatquartershop will post free patterns and also block making tutorial videos each time a new pattern comes out, which is supposed to be every two weeks.  In addition to the setting above, alternate settings will be shared when certain fund raising goals are met.  You are encouraged to donate $5 to Make A Wish for each free pattern you use.  Details here.  Moda Fabrics will match any donations to this worthy cause.

The first block pattern is for the Ohio Star block, with a dark background and light star.  This is such a great block for showing off fabrics you love. 

You make one 12 inch block and four 6 inch blocks each time a pattern is released.  The first fundraising goal of $3500 has already been met, and therefore, an alternate block arrangement was shared.  This was for a table runner, which I really liked.  I had some pretty Fig Tree red prints in my stash and decided spur of the moment to go ahead and make the five blocks, plus the flying geese/square in a square end strips.  I was not able to finish the runner because I didn't have enough of the tone on tone red for the sashing and border for the runner.

Thanks to the trusty Internet however, I was able to order more of the red and with luck, should be able to finish up the runner in the next week or so.  I hate to have to stop when I was on such a roll, but that's life.

Be sure and check out the links to the Threadology quilt along, as people are sharing photos of their blocks and fabric choices, which is always fun and inspiring.  On Instagram, use #threadologyquiltalong.

Spring Doings

Just in time for Easter!  My little State Fair table topper got bound and placed on my dining table.  I love the spring color palette, and will be enjoying this one for many months to come.

My dining table did not see any Easter action this year.  We gathered at my dad's house, 18 of us, to have our traditional Easter Brunch.  Mimosas, salmon puffs, an amazing fruit salad, bacon, sausages, quiche, a mushroom breakfast casserole and my contribution Blueberry French Toast, which the family now calls "Blueberry Crack".  It is so good you can't stop eating it.  It was a feast, but especially nice for those of us who could, to gather together.

Thanks to everyone who commented on yesterday's post.  I am still in a quandary as to how to proceed with this Windmills quilt, but got a ton of suggestions that are very intriguing.  I will keep you posted!  

I have a busy week planned, with volunteering in Eva's classroom, getting my hair colored, meeting up with a friend for coffee--but some sewing will happen I promise.  I will leave you with this photo of Eva on our vacation last week.  We were at a posh shopping mall on El Paseo in Palm Desert, and Denny had just suggested that Jamba Juice might be good.

 

Sewing on the Featherweight

Hope you all had a great weekend!  We launched our Christmas shopping and got a fair amount accomplished.  No waiting until the last minute this year.  

I started a new project on the Featherweight, and I have really been enjoying getting reacquainted with that little machine.  There are a few tips that I am discovering along the way that are giving my piecing much better results.

As you see in the photo above, I am holding onto the top and bobbin threads as I begin to sew.  I also will put the needle in the down position for that first stitch, and I am not getting any scrambled threads or having the needle become unthreaded as I start my stitching.  A reader mentioned a week or so ago that she learned that tip in Home Ec class ages ago, and I agree, it is a golden nugget of advice.  Hold those threads just when you start stitching.

I am making some little log cabin blocks (more on that tomorrow), and my first block came out a bit oversized.  I have a tip that I got from Kim Diehl, which is making all the difference.  Do you see in the photo above that my last pin is horizontal?  The is preventing the strip from flaring out or fishtailing.  It is holding the little strip exactly where it needs to be.  Pinning.  I love to pin.

A second thing I have been experimenting with is the seam allowance.  I was just going by the quarter inch foot on the Featherweight, and my strips were always just a skosh too short, which meant fudging with that bottom layer.  I didn't like that.  I tried making my seam allowance just a hair (and I do mean a hair) wider than the presser foot.  My goodness, once I did that consistently, each strip fit perfectly.  So check your seam allowance if your piecing isn't coming out perfectly accurate.  A tiny adjustment could make all the difference.

Here is a close up of the stitching I am getting on the Featherweight.  I think it is pretty darn good.  No skipped stitches ever since I put in a Singer brand needle.

See you tomorrow!