Sister's Choice Quilts

Sewcialites Quilt is Finished

The Sewcialites Quilt Along was a completely free program hosted by Fatquarter Shop and Kimberly Jolly.  A total of 18 designers contributed block patterns each week. There were 36 blocks in all.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on my block each week of the sew-along and am pleased with my quilt top. The blocks were offered in three sizes: 3 inches, 6 inches, and 9 inches. I opted to make the 6-inch size. My finished quilt is approximately 48 inches square. I will probably add a 4 1/2 inch wide solid cream border to finish it off. I'm still considering that.

Kimberly offered weekly YouTube tutorials showing how to construct each block in the various sizes. It was fun to watch her tutorials while I sewed the blocks and I actually picked up a lot of useful tips.

Did you participate in the sew-along? Did you enjoy it? Have you finished your top?

Sorry for my spotty posting this week. I am afraid it will be like that for a while. There is an awful lot going on in my life this summer: my eye surgeries, my husband's illness, caring for my 95-year-old dad each weekend, hanging out with my 9-year-old granddaughter during the week, and my part-time writing job. I will try to post as often as I can, but sometimes I have no content lately! During my three-hour drive to my dad's house on Fridays and Sundays, I have been listening to some great audiobooks, and I will share my favorites with you soon. 

Bindings and Favorite Quilt of 2020

If you have followed this blog for a while, you may have gathered that I am absolutely terrible at binding my quilts. Oh, I know how to do it, and can do it well, but I put it off. I hate sewing bindings. I'd do just about anything to avoid it. 

That being said, my favorite quilt of 2020 has been needing its binding sewn on for a very long time. Piecing the Past Quilts did a sew along called Comforts and Blessings in which I participated. The blocks were 10 inches as I recall, and I thought that was too big. I wanted to reduce the size to 6 inches, which was possible for the majority of the blocks. For the remaining blocks, the math was way over my grade level, so I substituted other blocks in a six inch size. 

I used Civil War Reproduction fabrics for my quilt, but chose colors that were bright and jewel toned. The result is a cheerful, colorful quilt with an outstanding variety of super cool blocks. Gosh, I love this quilt.

The blocks are so interesting. No simple filler blocks in the mix. Every one of them is complex, fun to look at, and of a pleasing color combination.  You can still buy the pattern for about $20 and I think it is worth it. 

You can see why I just have to get this quilt on my bed. I worked for a few hours on it while sitting on my front porch where the light is really bright and good. Have I mentioned that I am having some issues with cataracts? That situation will be taken care of in June and July, but for now hand sewing is a challenge. 

I hope to wrap up the sewing of the binding today and get this beautiful quilt on my bed!

I do hope your week got off to a good start. Our weather has been so perfect, it is hard to imagine another scenario. I am savoring every precious moment.

Quilt Home

This is my Comfort and Blessings quilt which was a sew-along last year hosted by Piecing the Past. I really enjoyed this sew-along, which was a block of the week. A very welcome distraction during the pandemic shut down. The sew-along was free at the time, but if you missed out, the patterns are available for purchase for $19.99 from Piecing the Past. They are quite nice blocks and some are very unusual.

I should note that I changed up the size of the blocks, reducing them from 9 inches down to 6 inches. In retrospect, I probably should have left them at 9 inches as I would have ended up with a much larger quilt.

I am very pleased with the colors I used, which are brighter Civil War Reproduction fabrics. There are a lot of different backgrounds, mostly cream tone on tone prints by Kansas Troubles. The alternating squares are all the same fabric for continuity.

The quilt really looks nice in my bedroom. My walls are painted a soft sage green, and I have several colorful paintings in the room that have the colors of the fabrics in them. The overall effect is quite cheerful and spring-like.

This is one of my favorite paintings, and it hangs over our bed in the master bedroom. It is by Lydia and Yvgeny Baranov, a husband and wife team who paint together. we bought it at the Jones & Terwilliger Gallery when we lived down near Carmel, CA. It features a farm woman in a red dress gathering up all her little chicks in her apron at the end of the day. It never fails to soothe my soul.

The end of the week is in sight. Any plans for the weekend? Or are we not quite there yet? I will take my turn visiting my dad. Please pray for no plumbing disasters. 

Last Finish of 2020

Happy New Year friends! I hope you all started the year off healthy and full of hope for a great 2021. My husband and I managed to stay up, or should I say wake up at midnight to give each other a smooch and a Happy New Year wish. There was lots of banging and fireworks sounds going on in my neighborhood, so evidently, others nearby were giving 2020 a big send-off.

The photo above is of my Red Pineapple quilt. What a project that quilt has been. I can't tell you how happy I am to have this quilt finally finished. I started this quilt back in 2013 and used up most of my stash of French General fabrics on hand at the time. Which was a lot. I used a special trimming ruler called The Pineapple Rule, made by Possibilities, which you cannot buy anymore. Trimming the blocks was a horrendous chore, I don't mind telling you. In retrospect, I should have paper pieced these blocks. 

I would work on the blocks for a week or so, get totally sick of the process and put the project away. When I was reminded of how spectacular a Pineapple quilt can be, I was prompted to take it out again and work on it for a bit until I couldn't stand it anymore. I would always find myself thinking, I should have paper pieced these blocks.

Despite the supposed precision of the trimming ruler, the white strips along the edges were not all exactly the same length, even though the blocks all came out at 12 1/2" unfinished. Sewing the blocks and rows together was made much more complicated and unpleasant by that issue. I should have paper pieced those blocks.

I made 42 blocks and sewed them into seven rows of six blocks each. 45 pieces in each block for a total of 1890 pieces. It will fit nicely on my queen-sized bed. The best part of the quilt is that I didn't give up and waste all that beautiful French General fabric. However, it will be some time before I ever tackle a large Pineapple block project such as this.  Probably never.  But if I do, I can tell you I will paper piece those blocks.

Quilts to the Quilter

Three little runners off to the quilter. Two are fallish, one is for Christmas. By the time I get them back the sunflower one will be kind of out of season, but I will definitely use the maple leaf one for Thanksgiving and the red/green/black/cream/gold one for Christmas. 

And Cinnaberry is the other quilt going out for quilting. I followed everyone's advice and did not add any borders to make it bigger. It remains 60 x 60". A nice size lap quilt for the holiday season. And beyond! 

Every time I mention sending things out for quilting, someone asks me who my quilter is.  And you know something? I never tell. I share a lot, but not that.

Judge me if you will, but some things I just need to keep to myself.

Piecing the Past Comfort & Blessings Finished

Finally finished! I got the borders on this quilt top at last and am so happy with the results. This was a summer block of the week sew-along called Comfort and Blessings by Piecing the Past quilts.  And it was free! If you want the pattern now you can get it, but there is a charge. The shop is finishing up a fun summer row quilt right now, which you can see on their website. Next week I understand they are sponsoring a new fall sew-along, so check out their website for information. You might as well sign up to receive the weekly patterns while they are free, even if you don't have time to make the quilt right now.

So, here are the details of my quilt. I reduced the block size down to 6 inches finished (from 9"). I just like the look of a smaller block. In a few cases, the math was too tricky for me, so I substituted other blocks in the 6" size. The finished quilt size is 70 x 80".  I did a diagonal setting with alternate plain blocks. Fabrics were from my stash, except I did need to buy more cream prints in the exact shade I wanted to use.

I had a lot of fun making this quilt.  The weekly blocks were just the distraction I needed from COVID-19. 

Hope all of you in the States had a nice Labor Day Weekend.  Can I put out the pumpkins now?

Holly Berries/Cinnaberry

I keep calling this quilt "Cinnaberry" but the proper name of the pattern is "Holly Berries".  The fabric line is Cinnaberry by 3 Sisters for Moda.  I love the design's powerful simplicity and the elegance of the fabric. The pattern was free, and still is available through Moda.  

Construction could not have been faster or easier, as the quilt is made up of 4 inch half square triangles.  The setting is a diagonal one, so additional setting triangles are needed.  Moda put this quilt out as a kit, but I waited too long to get one.  I had a fat eighth bundle of the fabric and additional 1/2 yard pieces of the eight cream and tan backgrounds.  More cream fabric was needed for the setting triangles. 

I couldn't be more pleased with the quilt.  My eyes just dance around the entire quilt top when I gaze at it.  I am thinking an additional border of one of the cream or tan prints might be nice, and of course would be a good way to enlarge the size of the quilt.  What do you think?  Leave it alone or add an outer border?

Hope your week got off to a good start!

Square in a Square Block

What is your name for this quilt block?  I call it "Square in a Square", but many quilters refer to it as "Economy Block".

Whatever you call it, it can be a tricky one.  You start with a center square and surround it with two rounds of corner triangles. The edges of the corner triangles are bias and can distort when sewn, creating a wonky block or cut off corners.  But don't despair, there are methods and tools available to help you get a perfect block every time.

There are several ways to make this block.  One is to do the "folded corner" method.  This is a great tutorial. Doug Leko makes a folded corner ruler which is great for this block as well.

The Square in a Square block is also a great one for simple paper piecing.  If you are a beginner to paper piecing, this block is a good one to start with.  Lori Holt has come out with "Economy Block" paper piecing tablets, which are sold on Fatquartershop.com in two sizes (6" and 12").

My favorite method is to use the Creative Grids Square in a Square trim tool, which I have in a 4", 6", and an 8" size.  You cut your pieces slightly oversized and trim up with the ruler.  Always my favorite method for accurate blocks.  My quilt in the photo has 4 inch blocks.  Lots of them.

I never get tired of this block.  You can do a totally scrappy quilt, or a controlled scrappy quilt which I have done with my reds and browns.  It is a wonderful scrap buster and always has such a classic look.  I just got the binding sewn on this one and am enjoying it on my bed.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!  Happy August!

Quilts Back From Quilter

Three quilts came back from my quilter last week.  The Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt above is going to be a gift.  I bet you were thinking, "Nicole, you just got your shelves sorted out, what are you doing adding more big quilts to the piles?"  No, it isn't for me.  I am very pleased with the overall quilting design and hope the folks I am presenting it too will like it too.  

Here is a close up of the overall quilting design.  I think it is a good one for many projects.

Like this one.

And this one.  

Hee hee, I don't suppose I fooled you.  Those are definitely new quilts, but not bed-sized.  These are two table toppers that I know I will enjoy at various times during the year.  I know I have sworn to make a lot fewer bed-sized quilts in the future, but I think I still have a lot of small ones I need to make.

First Flake Quilt Top Finished for January

First Flake is finished!  I am happy to have had the experience of making this fun and easy strip-pieced quilt.  The pattern was purchased by me as a pdf download from an Etsy seller.  I was inspired by Thelma's red and white version and will be excited to add this to my January/Winter decor.  It is a pretty small quilt (58 x 58"), so I will probably hang it from my upstairs balcony where it can be seen from downstairs.

In other news, I have brought out all my Moda Blockheads 1 blocks and laid them out on my design wall.  And guess what?  I have an idea for a layout that I am super excited about.  But...I need more blocks.  So I had another brilliant idea (the second this month) to make the six inch size of the current Blockheads weekly blocks and add them to the BH1 blocks until I have enough.  How about that?

Goodness I am loving this sew along.