Category Archives: hand piecing

Drunkard’s Path Variation

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The blocks for this have been done for ages and were sitting, waiting to be put into a top. Part of the reason for the delay was that I wasn’t quite sure how I’d finish it. Now I know. Without the border, it’s 36 x 42. It’s completely hand pieced.

Last week, 6 new Inklingo collections were released with new sizes of the Drunkard’s Path shapes, ranging from 2″ to 7″, along with an absolutely fabulous Drunkard’s Path Free Design Book.  The book is wonderful and, for the moment, free to download. It’s full of tips and tricks for both hand and machine stitching Drunkard’s Path blocks as well as tons of layouts.

The new sizes gave me a completely different idea than I initially had for the border I’ll add to make it into a lap quilt. The top was made with shapes from the 3″ collection. I’ll be using shapes from the 6″ collection to make the pieced border. The fabrics for the border are ready and washed and now I just need to find one of them. I’ve obviously tucked it away too well, but I think I have an idea where it is.

Baxter is growing in leaps and bounds — and is leaping and bounding around here too as the kitten antics go on daily.  We were fortunate to get this shot of him awake and still.

Scrappy Star Is Growing

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It’s getting bigger with each round of squares and diamonds. And it’s taking longer to add each round. I’m still deciding whether to make it a one-block quilt or whether I’ll make 4 or 6 of these blocks. Once I get this first block to a larger size, I’ll make that decision.

Once again, it pressed easily.

Baxter was peering over the arm of the chair as I was stitching. Within a few seconds, he would be on my lap attacking the fabric pieces.

More Scrappy Star

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The next round of diamonds is added. As each round of diamonds or squares is added, it grows and is taking a bit longer to stitch. The squares for the next round are waiting to be added and then I’ll have to sit down and figure out which fabrics to use in the following diamond round as I’m trying to not have the same fabrics too close together.

It took no time to press after adding this round.

Baxter was a bit sleepy, I think, when this photo was taken. It appears that we have another kitty with odd drinking habits. It’s hard to describe. He lays down on his side beside the water bowl, with his back to the bowl, and then reaches his head over his shoulder and drinks. When he finishes, the back of his neck and one side of his head is soaking wet. We’re going to try to get video of him drinking like that as it’s much funnier to see than to read about it.

Scrappy Star Beginning

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Mr. Q.O. was quite taken with the little quilt seen here, and dropped some hints, so I’ve started a lap quilt for him. This is the beginning of one of the blocks. It’s a fun and easy stitch, which is exactly what I want right now. At this stage, it’s approximately 10.75″. I plan on adding more rounds of squares and diamonds to this block. Then I’ll decide on the rest of the design.

I’m pressing with the iron after adding each round of squares and diamonds. I finger press as I go, so it takes only a few seconds with the iron and the pressing is done.

Baxter was 4 months old yesterday. It seems like yesterday that we brought him home. Now that he has discovered Cappy, he likes to keep it close. So close, in fact, that he sleeps on it.

Little Sunflower

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The last of the red and white sunflowers for the red and white Feathered Star blocks is done. That’s not to say it’s the last sunflower I’ll be making as I love putting this block together and have Mr. Q.O.’s sunflowers to make. It’s a fun block to make and goes together rather quickly as there are lots of opportunities for continuous stitching.

It presses beautifully.

The feathers are all together for the final Feathered Star block so it won’t take long until I can put the centre of the quilt together.

I got behind in comments again and will try to get caught up over the next couple of days. I appreciate and read every comment and do try to reply.

Baxter sometimes sleeps with a paw up by his ear. It always makes me grab a camera to get a photo of his pose.

When he’s awake, he’s wide-eyed and investigating everything. It’s a treat to get a shot of him awake that’s not blurry.

Scrappy Little Stars

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These stars are the beginning of a quilt requested by Mr. Q.O.  He really likes the look of these reproduction fabrics, it seems. I’ve got a couple of ideas for setting these and once i get a dozen or so done I’ll start playing with that.

They press very easily. To ensure whatever layout I end up using will be easy to put together, I’m going to make sure that I press all the stars the same way.

There’s a stack of fabrics ready to print the diamonds from the free Inklingo collection and, once printed and cut, this will be yet another quilt in a box. The freezer paper is ready to iron on the fabric and I’ll print 10 or 12 sheets every day until they’re all done. Then the fun will begin as I want to try to ensure that no two stars are identical. And yes, there’s a lot of fabric there ready to be printed. There will likely be enough for a few little quilts as well.

Baxter is very nocturnal. He tends to wake up around midnight and is awake and wanting to play until just before dawn. So during the late afternoon/early evening he finds a comfy spot and snoozes.

Stormy Seas

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This is my current favourite of the Stormy Seas blocks that I’m making using one of the Inklingo Storm at Sea collections. It has been months since I’ve worked on these, but now that I’ve started again I don’t want to stop as I’ve found a stitching sequence that is relatively quick for me.

They are hand pieced, so far, but I’m contemplating trying a block by machine or at least parts of a block.  I think I might be tempted to put the units together by machine and then stitch them into the block by hand. I printed a few more a lot more shapes than I need for the quilt so I think I’ll give at least one block a try by machine and see how well I do with that. An idea for a second quilt using the extra shapes is already forming in my mind. I’m rather excited about this idea, so am hoping to get started on it as soon as I get the Stormy Seas blocks finished.

This block has one of my favourite fabrics in it, the green/blue batik.

One of the big benefits of using batiks is that they press so easily.

And yes, Stormy Seas is another quilt in a box. Every block is kitted in its own separate glassine envelope, ready to stitch. Even the various threads for piecing are in this box.

It’s either ragweed starting or I’m fighting a summer cold. Tuesday was one of the most unproductive days I’ve had in ages as doing much of anything seemed like a monumental task.

Baxter seems to think the camera is only for taking photos of him. The minute we’re setting up to take photos of anything, he is right there posing.

Black and White

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Stars, that is. They’re tiny star blocks, finishing at 2.25″ x 2.5″. The pieces are small, so the block is quick to stitch. I put these two blocks together in less than 45 minutes. Each seam is one needle load of stitches and it’s done. I think I may incorporate one red or gold star in the top at some point, just to have one splash of colour in the midst of the black and white.

They press like a dream. I finger press as I go, so it’s just a matter of one quick press and it’s done.

There are enough pieces in the envelopes in this box for quite a few of the black and white stars. On the weekend, I was talking to a friend about the number of boxes like this that I have with envelopes containing shapes ready to stitch. While there are a lot of them, each one contains the making of at least a small quilt and it’s great to have such choices, particularly when I’ve been working on a complex project and just want an easy stitch for an hour or so. I think of these as my quilt in a box projects. Over the next couple of posts I may be showing some of the other boxes.

A few years ago I really recognized the value of such quilt in a box projects when I had the flu. While I wasn’t too sick to stitch, cutting or printing my shapes would have been too much. Instead I was able to choose a project that was already kitted and just stitch.

Baxter has been spending more and more time on the windowsill. He is clearly enjoying Baxter TV. His tail is really starting to look like a classic Maine Coon plume of a tail and he has discovered that chasing it is fun.

Little Stars

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The Little Stars quilt is quilted and bound and ready to go to its intended recipient. It is small, finishing at approximately 13″. It was so easy to baste, quilt and bind that it makes me think about doing a series of small quilts.

When I checked on the bindings I had already made, I found the green which seemed to work just perfectly for the little quilt. I tend to make more binding than I need and so now have a stash of bindings that can be used on little quilts.

Saturday the perfect opportunity presented itself and I got this shot of one of Baxter’s paws.

This is a new spot for Baxter to stretch out. I think it’s because he’s eyeing the book as a chewing possibility.

A Little Quilt

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This little top will be quilted and, with any luck, the binding on this weekend. Working with these repro fabrics in the small star blocks was fun. I may add a small border before I baste and quilt it.  As it is now, it finishes at 13.5″. I used the free Inklingo collection to print the shapes and the blocks went together in no time at all.

There’s enough of the striped fabric I showed yesterday for the binding on the Ferris Wheels quilt. Now I really can’t wait to finish the quilting and get to the binding. There’s still a lot of quilting to be done on Ferris Wheels, but I hope to get the majority, if not all, of it finished this weekend and get the binding on it.

I’ve changed my blog theme yet again. This time it was because I only realized yesterday that the widgets in the sidebar weren’t appearing on individual posts, but only on the home page with the theme I was using. I think this will be it for changes for a while.

Baxter seems to approve of the little quilt. As soon as we’re setting up to take a photo of anything to do with quilts or fabric, he’s right there to inspect.

Earlier in the day, we got this shot of him. His paws are getting bigger every day.