Two tops finished!

Half-square triangle quilt. 40-inches square.

Woo hoo! I finished the half-square triangle top last weekend. And a spider-web top that I hadn't mentioned before.

The half-square triangle was nine blocks waiting for a border while I debated various ideas. One plan was to turn all the leftover squares from the half-square triangles into applique circles of various sizes and scatter them over a vine on a solid navy border. Circles inside circles would form the flowers on the vine.

I found circle templates from my kaleidoscope and Dresden plate quilts, cut some more in different sizes and even tried Anna Maria Horner's super circles on a couple before I confessed to myself that I was totally going to hate making all those circles no matter what method I used, and I was not going to enjoy sewing them to the border either. (The kaleidescope and Dresden plate experiences still being too fresh to repeat no matter how in love with the border idea I was.) And then, I pulled some of the leftover squares and scattered them over the border fabric and realized that the border idea would be too busy and would compete with the already busy interior.

Feeling guilt free about abandoning the applique circles, I pulled different fabrics for the border (didn't have enough navy and trying to use up stash). I didn't have quite enough of this purple stripe leftover from the backing of another quilt, but by using partial seams to set it, I had just enough. The width of the border was determined by the length of the fabric I did have. There was just enough for binding too!

I like how the stripes move around the quilt. This would have looked good mitred too, and if I'd had enough fabric that's what I would have done.

Last Sunday was very productive. I sewed all day. Besides that top and binding, I also finished a spider-web quilt and the backing for it and -- finally -- the backing for Luke's quilt.

Spider-web quilt in progress.

Year's ago (kind of a theme with my quilting) I saw a spider-web quilt at a quilt show in Lake County, Florida. Always wanted to make one, but never did. Then, I saw Marit's spider-web blocks and her tutorial, which includes a link to Bonnie's tutorial and decided that now was the time to give it a try. (Also, I was still avoiding making the back for Luke's quilt). I used paper like Bonnie and shortened my stitch length to reduce the chances of the stitching coming out when I removed the paper.

I squared up my blocks after stitching them together because they weren't as uniform as this anal-retentive quilter would like. I figured my blocks needed to be squared to 11 inches. I kept the 45-degree line of the ruler along a diagonal seam line, the midpoint of the finished size (5.5 inches) on the ruler at the intersection of the seams, and the 11-inch ruler marks on the seams at the corners.

To reduce bulk in the center, I pulled the seams in opposite directions so that I could fan them out, making a tiny four-patch and letting the seam lie flatter.

I used a bunch of strips that had been given to me years ago (I told you this was a theme in my quilting) by a quilt shop owner who didn't want them because they weren't her colors and she thought I'd be able to figure out something to do with them. I don't know where she got them. This was before jelly rolls, and these strips were not cut to a uniform width, which is just fine for the spider-web blocks.

I had some strips leftover, but had to supplement with two other fabrics from my stash to nearly complete the piano-keys border. There wasn't enough of the black polka-dot for the cornerstones so I used plain black and plan to embroider (or quilt) spider webs in bright pink and orange thread.

This quilt and a copy of Charlotte's Web will make a nice present for a certain little girl. I had bought some fabric for her, but couldn't figure out what pattern to use. Still don't know what to do with that fabric, but I'm sure years from now I'll figure it out.

Completed spider-web quilt top. 44-inches square.

Merry Christmas!

6 half-square triangle blocks done. 10 to go?

I had hoped to post earlier to show a little more progress on those two-inch half square triangle blocks, but the light wasn't very good -- it was pretty much gone -- by the time I got around to pulling out the camera last weekend. I tried again yesterday, and it is what it is. Six blocks done. The original pattern called for 16 blocks, and I thought I'd make more because 16 blocks would make the quilt only 36-inches square. That was nearly nine years ago when I didn't truly appreciate wall quilts! Now, I'm contemplating nine blocks for a 27-inch square wall hanging and a finished project.

A New Year's resolution will have to be actually blogging more and not just thinking about it. Or maybe it should be making time to actually blog. I have ideas when I'm not near the computer, but then finding time before I forget the ideas ...

I had more ideas for this entry too, but as I'm about to head out to the airport this is going to be it. Yes, on Christmas Day! Hadn't been my plan, but Mom called little more than a week ago to say she was getting married on the 28. And, my husband is a pilot and that means flying standby. Christmas Day seems like the best travel day for that. Won't everybody else be where they want to be for Christmas already? Hoping that all the people on cancelled flights from yesterday are taken care of now or are not interested in going to New Hampshire!

My husband overnighted in Miami and doesn't fly out for a while. Just talked to him, and even though it's raining a bit there he got to walk on the beach. I meanwhile contemplated whether I should bother shoveling out the bit of snow the plow pushed into the driveway. After hearing about walking on the beach, I've decided not to shovel and the dash out to the taxi will be my only exposure to 20 F weather today. I hope.

Merry Christmas!

Backing avoidance

36 two-inch half square triangles per block. What was I thinking?

Instead of making the backing for the orange maverick star quilt, I'm working on these blocks from a UFO that is three months shy of being nine years old. Yes, for some reason it's all of a sudden important that I work on this instead of cutting two pieces of fabric and sewing a very long seam so I can then baste that maverick star quilt. At the time I packed this away I hadn't made a single block, just a bunch of half-square triangles.

After 9 years, there's suddenly progress!

I'd pulled out this UFO awhile back and was using the half-square triangles to end chain piecing on another project. I'd slip a half-square triangle in when I wanted to free my other project from the sewing machine to press it. Then when I went back to the machine I could continue my piecing without a big thread tail. The half-square triangles were ever so slowly getting sewn together. Not enough of a sense of accomplishment to keep up that snail's pace -- especially when there's a quilt backing waiting to be completed.

The two blocks at the top are unsewn. Seam allowances really shrink these down. And, look! That block in the upper right has a couple triangles going the wrong way. At least I caught it before I sewed it that way.

This past week I've gotten two blocks sewn, two more partially sewn and two others laid out on the design wall. I also cut a number of three-inch squares in light, medium and dark. Still a ways to go though. The 16 blocks in this little quilt (36" x 36") will require 576 half-square triangles! That should keep the backing at bay for a bit.

The half-square triangles are made by putting two three-inch squares right sides together, drawing (or eyeballing) a line diagonally through the square and sewing a quarter-inch seam on either side of the line. Cut on the line and press the seams open. Then trim the half-square triangles to two inches.