Sister's Choice Quilts

Catching Up on Sew Alongs

I had a productive weekend, spending most of it with my dad and no sewing machine. The two of us had a pleasant time together, and I stayed to make him a nice Easter breakfast. My sisters planned to see him for dinner and make it as festive as possible. He kept asking all week long who was coming and what we would have to eat.  Typically we go all out and host a big family brunch for 20 or more people, so he was definitely missing all the hoopla.

Our breakfast for two was modest compared to what he was hoping for, but I have to say I thought it was pretty good. Scrambled eggs, sausages, fresh pineapple, and little coffee cake bites. I think he enjoyed it.

This was our little centerpiece. I went outside before he got up and cut some of my mother's camellias from one of the bushes in the garden. They are so perfect, aren't they? 

I got back home in the early afternoon and worked on my Sewcialites block for last week. I took a picture of block 25 and block 24 at the top of this post.

Monday, I got my Serendipity row 1 together. I did lots more starching and am ready to go with the next rows. This is a close-up of the block for row 1. Kind of a weird block in my opinion, but the rest of them are better. I do love those fabrics.

Hope you all had a splendid Easter!  I get my second COVID injection today. Fingers crossed I am still standing tomorrow. I had no reaction to the first shot, so with luck, this one will be the same. I will be glad to have that behind me.

Little Village Lattices

Woo hoo, more progress has been made on the Little Village quilt. I got all the middle of the quilt lattices on. This Sunday when I get home from my father's I will put on the top, bottom and sides. Next comes a solid red containment border and finally an outer border of a cream print with a large red floral design. The overall effect of the quilt will be the red houses surrounded by a pretty light-colored setting.

I am happy with the look of the top. I am also happy that it won't take much to finish it up.

Maybe it will be part of my red and white front porch decorating plan for this summer! Except for my husband just planted blue and yellow flowers in all the containers out there. We may have to do some switching around.

Hope you all have a great weekend. My plan is to visit with my dad, do some reading, and to work on two or three articles for the company I am working for as a writer. Never a dull moment, right? Happy Friday!

Little Village Revisited

I revisited my Little Village house blocks yesterday. I had finished 12 of the 16 blocks and decided I needed a kick in the pants to finish up those last four blocks and get this done. None of the blocks was difficult, even the pinwheel one on the upper right.

I think I will re-do the churn dash block on the lower left. I am not feeling the joy in that one. Too many directional pieces give me a headache. 

If you recall this was a free sew-along hosted by designer Jessica Dayon. Here is a link to her website.

This quilt top will finish with lattices around the blocks and three borders as I recall. The separation of the blocks with a cream-colored fabric lends a lightness to the look of the top overall. The photo below is Jessica's photo of her finished quilt top.

Hope you are all having a great week. Super chilly here. I can't seem to warm up! Just so you know, I am a California sissy.  The high was 54, which means if you live in Wisconsin you are probably out wearing shorts and flip-flops.

Serendipity Sew-Along

I know there seem to be an awful lot of sew-alongs going on right now. You may have held off joining in on any of them. The current Serendipity Sew-Along hosted by the Fatquarter Shop might change your mind.

This is the quilt Fatquarter Shop is making. They are using Corey Yoder's Spring Brook fabric collection and a dark blue background. It is a really different and striking look. The quilt itself is a "row" quilt. Every couple of weeks a free pattern will be released by the Fatquarter Shop for one of the rows in the quilt. I believe the sew-along concludes in June. The quilt isn't large, and the blocks are interesting. As far as a sew-along goes, this one looks easy to keep up with, not too easy, but not too challenging either.

I am making my version with Corey Yoder's Apricot and Ash collection and using a Bella Solid (200) for my background. The fabrics are so cheerful and really bring to mind the loveliness of spring. Corey is using these fabrics also and gives more information on her website.  I encourage you to check out her blog posts and sewing tips there. 

If making another quilt isn't in the cards for you right now, you may be interested that there is a cross-stitch group making the same design as a hand stitchery project.  More details can be found here and here. 

The patterns are free, but Fatquarter Shop is asking for a donation to benefit the Make A Wish charity foundation.  As with the Serendipity sew-along, Kimberly Jolly (owner of Fatquarter Shop) is putting out video tutorials on YouTube showing how to construct each block.

Isn't it wonderful these days, that there seems to be a sew-along for every taste and ability level? I am enjoying them so much. Even if I can't participate in them all, I sure am having fun seeing what others do.

Two More Blocks

I had to share two more cute blocks with you. The Dahlia and the Beehive blocks are from Lori Holt's Farmhouse Vintage 2 book. I love the whimsical element that they add to the quilt top. They add to the heart/love theme of the quilt and tell a story about the things that make me happy.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos. I had a really full day Sunday and never got around to writing a blog post for this morning. It is around 6:30 (Pacific Daylight Time) as I write this on Monday morning and it is still really dark! As in 5:30 AM dark. Is it just me, or it is crazy hard to get used to the first days after a time change?

I hope you all had a great weekend. My father continues to improve and is in great spirits. When asked, he always says he is "in the pink". My husband and I got our corned beef and cabbage fix taken care of, due to an invitation to join my first son-in-law and his wife for dinner. The bonus was we got to take our Leprechaun Eva home with us. And the last big event of the weekend was that I managed to get my COVID shot scheduled for this week! I will be sure to let you know how that goes!

Sewcialites Catch Up and Great Tip

I grabbed a couple of hours yesterday and got caught up with my Sewcialites blocks. The most recent ones are the two on the bottom. #20 "Honor" by Lisa Bongean is the tan block on the bottom right. Super easy block (which is a surprise from Lisa!), but I still managed to sew the strips on wrong. My trusty Jack the Seam Ripper sorted it out quickly and all was good.  The black block on the bottom left is #21 "Zest" by Brigitte Heitland. This was another one of those complicated blocks that can simplified. 

You may recall the difficulties I had with #19 "Unity" by Lissa Alexander. That is the red block on the top right. I still think the measurements were off on that block. I remade it later with the tip I am about to share and it turned out so much better.

Anyway, back to "Zest". This block called for corner squares rather than the large corner triangles that I put on. It added seams and bulk and fussiness I thought. Just as I was thinking I would swap it out for something else, I saw a FaceBook post by an Australian woman named Tracy Bes. Did you know the Sewcialites sew-along has a FaceBook group? Well, they do, and now and then someone comes up with a very helpful tip for better block construction. The group is "private", but you just need to request to join it. Once you are approved my link to the tip below will work.

Tracy eliminated 12 seams from Block #21, and I am all for that.  Here is a link to her FaceBook post. I highly recommend you take a look at it if you would like to lessen the difficulty of this block and get better results.

Here is a better photo with the wrinkle pressed out.

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

Maybe You Should Finish Something

My husband and I were sitting in the living room visiting with each other while dinner cooked. We do that most nights. Take some time at the end of the day to sit together with a glass of wine and connect with one another. He asked me "So what project are you working on right now?"

Sound of crickets....

"Well," I said finally, "I have five or six different projects spread out all over the place at the moment".

"How is that working for you?" he inquired. 

"Honestly, not great", was my answer. "I feel very disjointed, unorganized, scattered, messy, and kind of frazzled". 

"Maybe you should finish something", he offered.

Wow. Imagine that. Finish something? Really? 

The next time I was up in my sewing room, I took an honest assessment of all the unfinished, half-started projects I have in various states of disorganization throughout my sewing room. The major project that I would like to get done is my Moda BlockHeads 3 quilt. Those blocks have been on my design boards for well over a year. A lot of excitement, fabric, time, and effort went into making those 50 some blocks.

I have been dithering over how to set them in a way that shows off the blocks rather than a busy, confusing, mess. When you make a quilt with several different sizes of blocks, finding a setting that works is extremely challenging. I wanted those blocks to be set apart from one another so the eye has a place to rest when looking at the whole quilt.

Julie Lloyd at Julesccreates on Instagram had a brilliant setting for her MBH3 blocks. I commented on her post and asked her if she would share the size of her lattice strips because I wanted to recreate her setting with my blocks. She very kindly responded with her measurements and I ordered lattice fabric in Bella Solids Porcelain (which matches my 3 Sisters fabrics). And then the fabric sat on the shelf and the blocks stayed on the wall and nothing got done.

Until yesterday. I took my husband's words to heart and got to work. This quilt is sewn together in vertical rows. Each block has a lattice around it, which is trimmed down to size when you sew the blocks into rows. You can see my first row on the far left in the photo. I am so pleased with how it is turning out.

I plan on having 7 rows. Four rows will have 12", 6", and 4" blocks. Three rows will have 8" and 4" blocks. I do not have quite as many blocks as I will need, so there will be a bit more block construction before I am done. This quilt is going to be very large and will cover my queen-sized bed with a good amount of overhang.

I am so excited to turn these blocks into a beautiful quilt. 

Little Blocks 365 Almost Through Week 6

I am almost through Week 6 of the Little Blocks 365 challenge. This Friday the blocks for Week 10 will come out, so clearly I have some catching up to do. At this point, I think I have made 39 or 40 blocks. Maybe less. I had some issues with a couple of them...

I am really enjoying the process of making these blocks, which are all paper pieced. I will say that the little tree block at the bottom of the photo was not for sissies. My favorite block so far is the third one on the right at the top of the photo. That little checkerboard with the isosceles triangles. So adorable.

Honestly, I have no idea what I will do with all these 3 inch blocks, but I am certain something will occur to me as the months roll by. I am adding in a lot more color and using leftover scraps I doubt I would ever use otherwise. 

There is a Facebook group called Sentimental Stitches for this sew-along that is pretty interesting. People share photos of their blocks and often give tips on piecing them. Many seem to be attaching a lattice to the blocks as they go. Some are sewing groups of blocks together into larger sections that they will piece together later. If you are sewing along, you might want to join the FB group, as it is entertaining and informative.

Hope your week is going well!

Heartfelt Sew Along

This is the first block in another sew-along hosted by Gay Bomers at Sentimental Stitches. This one is called Heartfelt and is a block of the week program. The cost is $30, and since the program lasts for 30 weeks, it breaks down to $1 per block/week, which seems like a great deal when you consider the effort that went into planning it.

This sew-along works so nicely as a two-color quilt. I am doing mine in red, white, and pink, but it would be stunning in blues. The fabric I am using is Roselyn by Minick and Simpson. It is due in stores any day now, but has been delayed by the usual COVID excuses. Laundry Basket also has a collection of reds, pinks and whites that is available now. It is called Sweet Sixteen and is super pretty. As a matter of fact, the two collections would probably look great together.

Yesterday was a nice balmy day, perfect for starching and dryng fabrics, so that is what I did. I swear they were dry and ready to use in a couple of hours. The Roselyn prints are really just gorgeous. Take a look at this one piece with a morning glory motif.

Hope your week is going well.

 

Sewcialites "Hearty" Block

How cute is this block? It is the 18th block in the Sewcialites Sew Along hosted by Fatquartershop. This one was designed by Corey Yoder of Coriander Quilts. I had no issues with this block, even though it was classified as for an "experienced" sewer. Well, I guess I am, but mainly it was trouble-free because I made flying geese and half-square triangle units that were oversized and then trimmed them down to be exact.

Do you all take on more than you can handle? I guess as women we all do, but I am thinking of as a quilter taking on too many projects. I have so many sew-alongs and unfinished projects it is ridiculous. I feel like the quilt police are going to knock on my door and issue me a citation for excessive unfinished projects.

I am enjoying this Sewcialites sew along because it has been pretty simple to keep up and the blocks are not terribly challenging. I still have that Red Barn block project to finish. And I just started the Little Blocks 365 paper piecing project, which is going to take forever to finish. And there are about six or seven other projects I won't list here that all need finishing. I shouldn't really care because I don't have any particular deadlines, or even a need for more quilts. I do have fun with the process and love starting new things and playing with fabric. I am like a magpie. With each  new shiny thing I get distracted.

But the big project that is calling to me to finish is the Moda Blockheads 3 sew-along. I have loved participating in that over the past year. But now it is time to choose a setting and I have been paralyzed. I am wondering why on earth I chose to make blocks in four different sizes. How on earth will I combine 12", 8", 6", and 4" blocks in one quilt? At one point a week or so ago, I was thinking I would have to end up making two or three different quilts. I should have had a better plan when I started out. 

However, I have had an inspiration. Julescreates on Instagram has come up with an amazing setting using all the block sizes and I think it is stunning. She used sashing around her blocks and constructed her quilt in vertical rows. She kindly shared her sashing measurements with me and I think I am going to copy her. But guess what? I am going to have to make more blocks!

I think I am going to try to focus on finishing up that project over the next few weeks.

How about you? Are you one of those people like me who juggles multiple projects at one time and tries not to feel too guilty about it? Or are you disciplined and just work on one thing at a time and not start something new until your current project is wrapped up?