Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013 - Flag quilt

I'm entering this year's finished flag quilt in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival throw category. It could have gone in the scrappy category or maybe the group quilt one too, I suppose.

I've blogged about this quilt a few times. The first time I mentioned it, it was a six-year-old UFO. Four years later I finally finished it.

In 2003, at the AQS show in Nashville, my friends and I spotted a quilt hanging in the Opryland hotel hallway and decided to duplicate it. We bought the blue fabric at the show to use in each block for continuity. We planned to swap the 5-inch blocks each month using a variety of golds and reds from our stashes. We did swap for a few months, and then life got in the way.

I'd pull the project out from time to time and make some blocks. With the pieced stripes of the flag finishing at a half-inch, the block is a bit tricky to sew well. One reason the quilt languished. Eventually I got all the blocks done and added the sashing. Also half-inch finished strips with half-inch cornerstones.

Maggi Honeyman quilted the flags in a Baptist fan pattern on her long-arm machine, and I got the binding finished at the beginning of the year. Looking back this is the only non-baby quilt I've finished this year, but as we all know, good quilts take a lot of time!

Thank you, Amy, for hosting the festival again. You can check out all the categories and quilts here at Amy's Creative Side blog.

Blooming nine-patch top

While I wasn't blogging, I was sewing, making this blooming nine-patch at a niece's request. We were in Portsmouth Fabric Company, and she picked out the middle two fabrics and the pattern from a finished quilt hanging in the shop.

The pattern has been around for a while, and I've wanted to make it for a while so this was my excuse. The pattern, according to my Internet research, was first published in 1996 in the book "Tradition with a Twist" by Blanche Young and Dalene Young-Stone. I winged it on paper, and royally messed up the setting triangles. Good thing my quilt shop had more of that fabric.

Construction is easy. Nine-patch blocks alternate with plain squares. Sew the blocks into strips. Sew the strips together. Tricky part is keeping the blocks in the correct order ... and cutting those setting triangles the correct size.

I pressed the nine-patches toward the darker fabric and fanned the intersections to reduce bulk.

Fanned the intersections when putting the rows together too.

Backing is done. Fabric for binding is in hand, which will be the same as the setting triangles. Waiting on a batting order to finish this up.

Quilt, bag, pillows

Looking through the camera I see I've been busy the last few months. Too busy to post? No. I just didn't feel like it. But if this blog is going to be my reminder of what I worked on when, I need to post. So here's some of what I've been up to:

Scraptastic top finished awhile ago. Backing fabric bought recently on sale, washed and waiting to be ironed and sewn together.

A bag for my niece using Tanya Whelan's Ella Carry-All pattern. I'm not much of a purse maker, but my niece is very much a purse lover. She picked the pattern and the fabric.

It came out pretty good. Lots of pockets on the outside, and I like the key chain holder on the inside. I have one of those in my favorite purse.

Throw pillows for my friend Becky. She bought a new rug for her living room, and then we started rearranging the furniture, and the next thing you know she needed new throw pillows. Here are a couple. I made five, but didn't remember to take pictures of them all.

There's more, but that's enough for now. 

Building blocks

Lots of unpicking and sewing to make the block above, and I still couldn't get it quite right. Not happy at all with the little puckers and the size. It was an eighth of an inch off on one side. I mentioned that to my husband and his response was, "That's a lot." Yes, it will definitely add up if all the blocks are like that. Redrafting was called for. 

Much better now, although since the photo above was taken I have redone some seams trying for a more accurate 6 1/2 inches all around with better point matching. That's the thing with solids and small blocks: The imperfections are magnified. 

I learned long ago that if it bugs me, I need to fix it. Otherwise, every time I look at that quilt I will see the things I don't like and wish I'd taken the time to fix them. Much easier to redo at this stage then after it's quilted, bound and on the bed. But I have a three strikes you're out rule too. If it isn't noticeably better after three attempts, another try isn't likely to make a difference. I may be anal, but I'm not obsessive. Ha.

I love it when a plan comes together

Loved this fabric when I saw it at my local quilt shop.

Came up with a plan fairly quickly. Based on the height of the houses.

Some house design research.

Sketches. Lots of pondering. Life. Work. Etc. And then finally a start.

12 1/2 unfinished quilt center in progress.

Like a fine wine my quilt has legs

and like the glass I started with dinner, it is finished.

Baby Boy Blue, 39 x 47.

The quilt has been mailed off to my sister for her friend, whose baby arrived a few days ago.

I marked the darker fabrics with a white chalk pencil and the light blue background with a hera marker.Straight line quilting is definitely my forte.The main part of the quilt is diagonal lines in one direction, and the border is diagonal lines in another direction.I figured that if I felt that wasn't enough quilting, then I could do lines in the opposite directions so the whole piece was covered with a grid, but I liked it with the just the first set of lines. 

The binding was attached entirely by machine. With practice I expect to get better at that. This is my third baby quilt this year with machine binding. I enjoy hand sewing binding, but I just haven't had the time recently.

I'm in love

with this gorgeous Art Gallery fabric.

This fat quarter caught my eye so I brought it home with me, and I can't stop looking at it. I pulled some peachy pinks, navy and a hot lime yellow green to go with it. Now I just stare at the pile on my sewing table trying to think what pattern will do it justice. I should finish up the project on the design wall or quilt that baby quilt or applique some blocks or do something with the pile of fabrics next to my new favorite. But instead I stare dreamily at those little lizards. Do you see them? If I had a nickel for every pile of coordinated fabrics I've put together waiting for the right pattern to come along I could really buy some yardage. What to do. What to do.