Just Eye-Candy

I have been sewing my scraps and strings into 1/4 log cabin blocks. I'm aiming big for this one, since it's not like I'm running out of scraps or anything, maybe a large twin size (I mostly do large lap quilts, since they are easier to manage with my quilting set-up). I think I'm a little past the half-way mark. Unless I decide to change the size again (queen-sized...?). I don't have pictures yet, and I'd rather wait for daylight to get good ones, so today you get finished quilts from the past 2 or 3 months (or older).


This Quilt of Valor has already been donated. My last post was about making another quilt from the leftover stars from this project. This set of stars actually resulted in 3 quilts--this first one dates back to 2011.

And just for fun, here is the one I that is on my design wall right now (you saw it in my last post, but here you can see all 3 together). Pretty interesting the way you can use different settings and alternate blocks to change the look of a quilt. This is why I continue to be fascinated by quilting, after so many years--there are so many possibilities!

Here is the Grayton Beach quilt, all finished in fun brights. I wasn't sure if the blue was going to work with the yellows and greens, but it did. I tried taking the yellows and oranges out of the border when I was putting it together, because I though they were maybe making it too bright, and the result was awful. All the sunshine went out of it. So I added them back in. Some quilters are afraid to use yellow in their quilts, but it is one of my favorite additions. I have a much more difficult time using black or white in my quilts.

This is the only black and white (with red!) quilt I've ever finished. The pattern is a 'snail's trail' variation. The large-scale bordered rectangles are on the back of the quilt.

More UnFinished Objects

I spent some time basting the purple hourglass quilt and sketching out designs for the quilting. I usually sketch some on paper and then place a clear acetate (like they use for overhead projectors) directly on the quilt and draw the design at the proper scale.




I tried several designs and picked a couple that I like. I started machine-quilting the quilt, but then I got sidetracked (SQUIRREL!). While looking in the cupboard under the ironing board for acetate, I found a couple of unfinished projects that I pulled out. I decided I was more in the mood for piecing than quilting, so I spent the past week working on unfinished piecing projects instead of quilting. The first one is directly related to the Quilt of Valor that I recently finished. I had 11 9-patch star blocks left over, and a couple of experimental blocks that utilized the same grid spacing to mix with the star blocks. After putting them up on my design wall, I decided that it needed to be another quilt, not a wallhanging. So I needed to make 24 more star blocks and 23 more setting blocks to make a whole quilt.

Here it is, up on the design wall. The blocks aren't sewn together yet and I haven't finished cutting the borders, but I made good progress and got all the remaining blocks pieced and pressed.

The other unfinished project that I have brought out and begun to work on again is a set of 1/4-log cabin blocks. It's a string-piecing project made of scraps from other projects. If you sew a lot, you make scraps. My scraps get tossed into a plastic bin under the sewing table like this one:

I have 3 of these bins. I love string quilts, but obviously I haven't been keeping up with my scraps. A lot of my scrap quilts have been traditional patterns like Spiderweb and Rocky Road to Kansas that use strings but also have a background fabric. Using a background fabric gives the eye somewhere to rest and emphasizes the geometry of the pattern, but it means you use quite a bit of background (usually 2-4 yards), and not so many strings. The 1/4-log cabin pattern will have no background, only a border of blue setting triangles to give the quilt a nice edge and draw it all together. All the better to use up more strings.

I thought that maybe I could use up one of my 3 scrap bins, but after pulling out a lot of strings and ironing them and contemplating how much fabric yardage you can cram into a very small space, I now think (ahem, KNOW) that is an unrealistic goal. However, there will be lots of string quilts in my future, with very little background fabric.

I also sewed the last 3 'crap' blocks into a quilt top and pieced a backing for it. No spoilers, though, I'll post a picture of it later.

What I've Been Working on Lately

I've been working on finishing this quilt top. It's a little more traditional than my usual work, but there's nothing wrong with going old-school now and again. Several years ago, I cut most of my 1/4-yard cuts (fat quarters) of fabric into 5" squares when Pat Speth came to teach a class at our guild. I cut WAY more than I needed for that particular project, so a lot of those squares got put away. I ran across them again last fall and started sewing up a few 'hourglass' units while working on a different quilt, using them as 'leaders and enders' (google Bonnie Hunter for more information on that one). A week or two ago, the guild had an open-sew session at a local community center, and I used the time to sew the hourglass units into blocks.

We had a good time, and I got a lot done. Over the past week or so, I cut solid purple setting triangles and pieced the top together. I decided I needed to put more blocks in the middle border, so I sewed together strips of hourglass units. I got the last border sewn on yesterday, and I'm working on a plan for piecing the backing.

I've been pulling fabrics from my stash and pinning them up to figure out which ones will work. The focus fabric is a floral that my friend Patty brought back for me from England when she took a trip there. It's been waiting years for the right quilt, and I don't want to cut it up into itty bitty pieces, so it's going on the back in one large panel. I'm taking a little staycation tomorrow, so I'll have time to get the quilt back sewn together, and maybe even get the quilt basted.

Patriotic Quilt from the Past

Dug this dinosaur out of the closet--I think I pieced this top around 2009, based on one of the "Nickel Quilt" patterns from a Pat Speth book made with 5" squares. I needed to fix the outer border and didn't feel like it so I put it under the ironing table for a few years.

I got the quilt basted and quilted over the past few days. I was curious about how long it takes me to machine quilt, so I timed myself (I free motion quilt on a Viking Megaquilter that is set in a table, not on a frame). I quilted it over the course of three days in three sessions, 37, 57, and 52 minutes long, for a total of 146 minutes, or 2.43 hours. This is a throw-sized quilt. Machine quilting takes a lot of focus, so it felt like it took a lot longer than it actually did.

I sewed the binding to the front of the quilt, but I haven't started hand-stitching it to the back. I have tried machine stitching both edges of the binding before and it always looks like crap, so I hand-stitch one edge. I actually don't mind hand-finishing it, it's relaxing. This one will be donated as a Quilt of Valor.

You can buy quilt tops on eBay!

I'm not sure why it took me so long to realize that you can buy quilt tops on eBay (after all, you can buy pretty much anything on eBay). But it wasn't until I was reading in an online forum that a quilter had bought quilt tops on eBay to practice her longarm quilting on that I started browsing their listings of finished quilt tops. Wow! They have lots! And now I have two more UFOs (UnFinished Objects). One of them arrived in my mailbox yesterday, the other should show up sometime next week

SO here is my new project:



Oliver has already decided that is is a good nap quilt. It is queen-sized, so it's going to be an adventure cramming it through the sewing machine when I quilt it.


The top has some construction issues. I could see the border wave in the auction pictures, so I knew about that when I bid on it. The outer border is 100 percent bias edges, so that was unsurprising (bias edges stretch, causing the border wave). I sewed about two dozen tucks into the border after I ironed it to reduce the wave. Not all the block corners come to a perfect point, and there is some fullness in the center of the quilt, but nothing that I can't quilt out. I'm not going to try re-sewing anything in the center of the quilt unless I find some seams that are so skimpy that they might fray open. I didn't find any holes when I pressed it, but I'll do an examination of the seams from the back before I baste it.

I dug around in my fabric stash and found an extra-wide blue-on-blue print backing fabric that is a close enough match to the quilt top. I have decided to experiment with using a wool batting that I got for Christmas last year in this quilt. I typically use cotton or a cotton-poly blend batting, although I have tried 100 percent poly and bamboo; this is the first time I've used wool (and possibly the last, it was kinda pricey). Supposedly the Quilters Dream wool batting can be machine washed and dried on cool. I'll report back if it comes out crib-sized after the first wash. I have been sketching quilting designs on plastic overlays to work out the machine quilting plan. It's a rainy Sunday afternoon. I hope to get it basted today. If the cats will move off of it, that is.

T-Shirt Quilt - Work in Progress

I have been quilting for 18 years. I have always said I would never do a t-shirt quilt.

So, here is the t-shirt quilt I said I'd never make.

This is the design wall layout, pretty much worked out. There are 14 10-K race shirts with pretty big logos. In order to round out the 4 x 4 block layout, I printed several photos on fabric to incorporate into the quilt; they will get frames cut from the backs of the t-shirts. Printing the photos on fabric was actually pretty easy. I used EQ Printables pre-treated fabric sheets and ran them through an inkjet printer. They came pre-cut to letter-size with a plastic backing; I put a little masking tape on the leading edge to help the printer grab the fabric and fed the sheets in one at a time. I ran a test sheet through the printer (a blank piece of paper with an X drawn on it in pen) to figure out whether my printer prints on the face up or face down side of the paper so I could tell whether to load it fabric side up or plastic side up. I didn't change any printer settings and I didn't have any problems.



I made a diagram to keep track of how it all goes together as I'm working on it. I still need to add interfacing to the photos and put frames on them, as well as trim some of the t-shirts a bit more. Adding interfacing to EVERYTHING is taking longer than I thought it would (and I'm really glad I bought an entire 10-yard bolt of interfacing for this project, I'm most of the way through it already). I'm not used to being this far into a project without having sewn a stitch. This quilt needs a border or two and I have some good border fabric candidates, but I'll wait to post pictures of them until I get more done.

Springtime

Spring has sprung here and the last of the azaleas are fading away. It has been rainy-ish and semi-cloudy for the past several weeks, and everything has greened up.

Things have been not so fun at work, but I have managed to get some good quilting time in, mostly on weekends. I finished my 'Castillo de San Marcos' wallhanging. I designed the block myself as part of a quilt guild challenge to make your own block to represent Florida. The block is based on an aerial view of the fort at St. Augustine. It is one of my favorite Florida attractions.

I finally finished the second crap quilt. I think I have been working on these blocks since 2009. I finished and posted the first crap quilt last year--my husband has it hanging in his office. I had so many crap blocks left over, I made a second quilt that is reversible--the front is dark text on a light background, and the back is light text on a dark backdrop. I like the back even better than the front. Some quilts I make for others, but this one is all mine.


I found 3 more crap blocks when I was cleaning out my sewing room the other day. No idea what they will become--pillows?