The one quarter inch seam and other quilting challenges

Today, I put all the blocks and sashes together for the chemo quilt I am working on.  I have some light green I will use for the first border, then some dark blue with small pink flowers for the second border.  I have some very sweet pink flannel for the back.  I think I will use the green for the binding, as well.  This is not going to be a really big quilt, but it is for a little girl, so it doesn't have to be.  It is a wonder, however, that it has come this far.
I have been sewing these blocks for a while.  That means that I sewed many seams before I solved my quarter inch seam issues.  Today, I tried to work around that issue, but it was pretty tough at times.  I ripped a few seams and used my steam iron quite a bit.  It is still a bit wonky, but the over all look is pretty nice.  I will square this up before I attach the first border.  That should resolve all remaining issues.  At least I didn't have points to match.
Now that I am quilting much of the time, I am discovering several things about quilting I never realized before.  First of all, fingers have to develop tough skin on the tips to withstand heat from the iron and jabs from the occasional pin or two.  Second, I need a better chair that will support my lower back.  It does get sore after four or five hours, even though I am constantly up and down going to my ironing board in the other room.  Third, my hands get so dry from constantly handling fabric, being near the hot iron, and just generally putting them out there.  I am glad I have good lotion to put on at the end of the day. All of these things may deter the less hearty soul, but I will keep on quilting.
After I pieced the above top, I spent some time making three more blocks for the border of my intuition quilt.  I am getting near finishing this quilt top.  Maybe next week.  Joyful quilting, everyone.

Starting the star quilt

Today, I started sewing the BOM from Planet Patchwork, Oh, My Stars by Diane Hundley. In the original quilt, Diane used primary colors with a black ground. That is just not me. I also wanted to make this strictly out of my stash, so I went with teals, turquoise, and golds and a light ground. This first section looks like a bit of a hodge-podge where nothing goes together. I have cut out the pieces for sections 2 and 3, using some of the same fabrics, and hope it comes together better when those are done. I love all these fabrics, so it will be something I like in the end. My favorite fabric in this section is the teal with peach flowers in the lower right flower block. I really wish I had more of it, or at least a manufacturer. I will just have to keep my eye out.

I was going through the bin of teals and turquoises when I found a very small amount of the fabric in the middle of this block. I fell in love instantly with this moth. I dug some more and came up with this white with a small blue print the same blue as in the moth. Then I snagged some scraps from the above project, including the rust corners, and put this together. I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet, but I really like it. It is about 8" square. I think it may become the center in a table topper for my end table. I will post it when I finish it.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I am going on an adventure with my husband. We are going to take some photographs for his stock photo business. Of course, there is a quilt shop on the way. Hopefully, we will have great photos and tales of Harbor Quilts in Gig Harbor, WA.

Thinking About Color

I finally found some time to get back to my intuition quilt. I keep finding wonderful colors and patterns in my stash bins (a gift from a friend) that I want to include in the quilt. Fortunately, the original color palette is one I can add my favorite colors to. I love interesting color combinations. I tend to select fabric in the olive green, gold tone, rusty orange, teal blue, and turquoise families. There are some purples that work really well in this group. I can also add other blues and greens and an occasional touch of bright orange. I really enjoy the happiness and the richness of these colors together.

For the house, I added the orange column to liven up the plain color of the house. I decided to use the golden batik to symbolize a warm sunny day. I found a small piece of the flower fabric on the left and knew I had to use it. There is a bit more of this I will use elsewhere in the quilt. The roof is made from the left over sashing and border of the D9P. In fact, many of the scraps used in this quilt are from the quilts I made last year as gifts for the family. I love having something to remind me of these quilts.

After I made the house, I decided to make some fabric and create another block for the quilt.

This is still a challenge to me. It is like making a collage, only I have to figure out how to sew it together - the challenge part. I chose this block to introduce a little more blue. They are scraps from a challenge quilt I am working on. You can see below how both these new blocks fit into the growing intuition quilt.

A Bonus Quilt from a Grab Bag

I am a sucker for grab bags. When I was a kid, I used to save my allowance to by the sealed brown paper bags and the five and dime. I guess that dates me, but I don't know what the equivalent would be today. Anyway, I savored the moment that I got the bag home to open it. The other day, when I went to Pieces, I looked through the grab bags, which were clear, and came up with two of them. I paid $2.25 for each. Today, I opened the first one and was totally surprised. Some wonderful person had thrown in all the leftovers from a wonderful, I am guessing, quilt project. After some calculation, I figured out I have enough fabric in strips and squares to make a wonderful lap quilt. I did some sewing of strips, and put together one of the 30 blocks. The inside squares will all be the same. There are five different fabrics for the smaller squares. I will do sashing with the light. There is enough of the print fabric to do cornerstones in the sashing. Don't know if I will do it, but I am thinking about it. I am pretty excited about my $2.25 quilt.

Stars and 9 patch blocks

I finally finished the 2000 Member Star created by Carol Doak. I am very pleased that it came together with only one big pattern glitch on my part. Can you see it? I also need to plan my colors a little better next time. I love all these colors, but wish I had spaced the lights differently. I will still use it in my star sampler quilt that I am working on. I guess I will have to go through my stash and find colors I can use, then save my pennies to go to the quilt store again.

Speaking of quilt stores, my local quilt store is shutting its doors very soon. This makes me very sad. In this time of difficult economics, many small independent book and quilt stores are having a very difficult time. Another nearby store that I used to really like moved in with a bead store and a Bernina shop. They carry fewer fabrics, and the selection is really not what it used to be. The closest fabric store is the chain store I was complaining about the other day. I think I will have a very hard time going back after my last visit. In addition to the fact that they don't have great fabrics, they have lousy service. I was standing in a long line at the check out counter, where there was one person working. There were three people standing at the cutting table helping one customer, but mostly chatting about some reality TV show. I really don't like bad service. I guess I will have to venture further afield to the shop in Auburn, or Puyallup, or Gig Harbor. I feel a field trip coming on.

The last thing I did in the studio today was to organize the squares for my disappearing nine patch. I even got four basic squares sewn together. I am loving the colors. I am using a purple piece in the center of each block that I will make the pattern around. I love that it has radiating circles.

A Quilt for a Hero

Before I got my quilt frame and new sewing machine, I made a list of all the things I would like to do this year with them. One of the charitable quilts I want to make is an American Hero Quilt. This project is a big one that was started by a Washington resident. Today, I decided to make the first block for this quilt. The quilts need to be blue, red, white (or off white), with some gold. The completed quilt will have five of these stars altogether. This pattern is mostly paper pieced, which I really enjoy. It took me a long time to do this one, but I am pleased that I took my time. I am happy with the results. The pattern is #121 in Quiltmaker's 101 blocks vol. 2, and is by Chloe Anderson and Colleen Reale. Toadusew is the name of their blog.

One of these days, I will get out of the studio with enough energy to add a list of all the quilting blogs I check regularly. Each day, I find one or two more that I add to the list. There are so many great quilters out there who are willing to share tips and patterns. It is fun to take a look at what others are doing.

Playing with Pink - disappearing nine patch

Today's 12 inch block is a disappearing nine patch. I heard about this block and wanted to try it. I opened the bin with pink fabric and the one with purple. I picked out nine fabrics that worked well together and built a standard nine patch block. Then I cut vertically down the middle and turned it to make the cut the other way. I played with the blocks until I came up with a pattern I liked. I can see there are wonderful possibilities with this pattern depending on the colors, patterns, and ways you turn the blocks. The bonus is that there are no points to match. I will get back to a new star block tomorrow.

For a completely different sort of quilt, I have started an intuition quilt based on instructions over at 15 Minutes Play by Victoria. I have been having a great time creating cloth from scraps and crumbs. For the intuition quilt, I have been pulling colors from the scrap bag that I really like together - golds, oranges, greens, and purples. I will probably add some blues before it is all done. This is the center 12" by 12" block. I love the freedom to this method. I can use abstract collage style along with some more traditional. I added a star and some flying geese as well as a wonky house. The next step for me is the first border. Since I am using only fabric I have on hand, all the borders will be pieced in some manner.

Today, I ripped out as many seams as I sewed. I guess this is the way I am going to learn. These are the three blocks I managed to complete. The one on the upper right is a wonky log cabin. (I told you I was embracing wonky.) I had the most fun with this free form scrappy block. I only used scraps that were pretty small. I ended up with a six inch block I really like. I will try and make one of these each time I go into the studio. Eventually, I will have enough to make a lap quilt. That would be very cool.
The block on the lower right is a five inch pinwheel block. For some reason, I had loads of trouble with this small easy block. I just could wrap my head around the geometry. I am very pleased that I finally conquered it. It is not my favorite pattern, but it had to be done.
The largest block is a twelve inch block in a traditional pattern. This one really threw me for a long time. It was, once again, a matter of me trying to adapt a pattern without the necessary knowledge. In this case, I wanted to use flip and fold instead of trying to peace triangles. Unfortunately, I did not measure right and ended up with triangles that were too small. I am going to look for a tutorial on how to measure correctly for this method.


This is a photo of the fabrics I have chosen for the disappearing nine patch. The bottom fabric is the inspiration for the rest of the colors. I am still thinking about the light purple. It really stands out in this photo. I may not use it, but I do want some light colors.