An ongoing distraction

In July, I saw this post and thought this would be a great way for someone as anal retentive as I am to make an improve-like block. I so admire them, but can't loosen up enough to be very successful.

After making a few blocks with scrap strips, I thought about making a striped quilt with applique in between. Good plan if I didn't want to finish it. Maybe a medallion. Then I remembered a very, very old UFO using similar colors.

Thank goodness I left myself a fabric legend.

This particular UFO was from a guild challenge. We put the names of quilt blocks, colors and objects into a hat, and five were drawn that we had to incorporate into a wall hanging. Green, orange, frog, mariner's compass and something else was drawn. I had about half the compass, which I'd drafted myself, done.

Why did this become a UFO? Because I drafted the pieces way too small for success.
Years later, I have learned enough to understand this. 

I finished the rest of the compass, but it didn't really work with the other blocks. Colors were right, but not the tone or scale. The compass, despite it's poorly matched points, does not work with the improve ones.

Then I found a block I'd made of leftover half square triangles. I sashed it in dark blues, and then couldn't decide if I liked it or not. I left it on the design wall for a long time before taking it down and putting it away.

This weekend, I saw this post, and decided to make a few star blocks with scraps. The colors I pulled reminded me of this summer's medallion attempt. I've pulled it out and am staring at it again.  

I don't think I like the center. I could make another, but not sure of what I'd put in it. Suggestions welcome. For now, I'm leaving this up to ponder my next move while I sew more arcs. Those arcs take a long time. Three days of quality sewing time, and I am only three-quarters of the way to having enough for a second block.

Applique tip

Before, with lots of pins.

Barb shared a great tip in her post about the applique on her Jubilee quilt. She machine basted her vines to the background fabric. Genius!

After, with machine basting.

The other night I machine basted my arcs to the background, and last night I appliqued the inside and part of the outside of one arc. So much easier and faster and a lot less painful than with all those pins! For the next block, I might try my walking foot for the basting to make it easier going over all those seams.

Almost one block

I've got these arcs pieced, stay stitched, trimmed and freed of foundation paper. This is the progress as of Sunday night, which is unchanged as of tonight. I'm debating whether to forge ahead with more arcs or stitch what I have together and applique them to the background. There's time to decide as I won't get back to this until Saturday or Sunday. For the background I plan to use four different cream prints from the stash, one for each block, selected solely because there's sufficient yardage for a giant block.

My Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2012 entry

Pointless Lone Star

Measurements: 86 x 86 inches

Special techniques: No set in seams. Now that's special! Strip piecing.

Quilted by: Maggi Honeyman of Texas

Best category: Bed quilt

Pattern: Shades of Grey by Sarah Fielke from the August/September 2011 Quilters Newsletter magazine. Pattern can also be found here at Sarah's website.

My husband asked me to make a quilt for the wedding of one of his friend's. I thought I'd use the couple's favorite colors as a starting point, and then I found out they were purple (him) and pink (her). Hmmmm. I happened to see the pattern for this in Quilter's Magazine. It looked like it could be a fast and simple quilt with only four really huge blocks (36 inches square) and no set in seams, and I'd substitute a plain border for the pieced one. 

I pulled some pink and purple prints, and used them to choose the fabrics for the blocks. The original pattern duplicated fabrics and placement, but I didn't have that kind of yardage in my stash, and I wanted a more scrappy look so I made each block different. I was able to use fat quarters for the two rounds of inner diamonds, although I had to piece a couple scraps together to make a couple of the diamonds. When I was selecting fabrics, I needed some math skills to figure out which ones I had enough of for each round of diamonds, and that dictated some of the fabric placement too. I used a wide variety of fabrics from batiks, wovens, plaids, stripes and dots to novelty fabrics.

When I finished the blocks, I decided I didn't like the prints I had planned for the borders so they went on the back, and I went to the quilt shop. The navy and teal print I found has a pattern of birds and hearts on it, perfect in color and motif for this wedding quilt.

Maggi Honeyman did a wonderful job on her longarm. The setting triangles, which needed to read solid to balance the busyness of the star fabrics and give the eye a place to rest, seemed a little too boring compared to the rest of the quilt. Maggi fixed that by quilting special designs in those spaces.    

This was a fairly easy pattern, but probably not a beginner one. Especially if you switch it up like I did and have to recalculate yardage. For tips on making these kinds of points match, check out this post.  

I wanted to share this because I like seeing different takes on the same pattern. Seeing a quilt done in different colors and fabrics can make you fall in love with a pattern you hadn't given a second glance at before.

A big thank you to Amy for hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Small pieces, large obsession

I saw this book mentioned on a blog in early summer (but can't remember where now) and was so taken by the cover quilt that I had the book in my hot little hands a few days later.

This is just a quarter of one of the four blocks. A sixteenth of a quilt. And it's big! Each block is nearly 40 inches square.

I have been happily digging through scraps cutting them into wedges for the arcs and piecing a bit here and there while I tried to stay focused on finishing that last top. I may not have as many lights as darks, and I'll have to wait until I have more sections done to see if that will be a problem. Although it requires applique, the amount should be manageable even for me!

A finish! Yeah!

I made a pillow after all. Only one strip of obviously A&M fabric going back into the scrap basket. I can deal with that!

And this top has been declared done because I've run out of pieces to make enough blocks for another row on either side. Binding and backing still to go. I try not to put the top aside until I have those done. I need to get in the habit of adding a label to that list. I'm such a bad labeler.

Top is 69 x 75, and it has been years in the making. I'm afraid to check the blog to see how many. It started out to be baby quilts for twins and they've started preschool. I switched gears so the boys got their baby quilts awhile ago, and this top languished despite the occasional four-patch and half-square triangles I made as leader-enders.

Getting back to it

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted. Not too much sewing going on, but some. So let's get back in the posting swing of things with this finish.

Texas A&M zigzag quilt, 56 x 76.

The Texas A&M zigzag quilt for my niece is quilted, bound and soon to be mailed. I had pressed many of the seams open when I made the top, which caused me some distress when I was quilting. My plan was stitch in the ditch, which did not work well with those seams! I ended up stitching near the ditch not in it to make sure I caught the top fabric. I'll have to think things through more carefully next time.


Back of Texas A&M quilt, feet not included..

The back is leftover bits of the A& M fabric, which I don't want ending up in my scrap basket. Still have some little bits left. I was thinking maybe a pillow to get rid of them once and for all, but I really want to get this in the mail today so it might be the circular file for them.