Category Archives: Inklingo

Stitching A Flying Swallows Block – Lots of Photos

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A bright summery block of flying swallows seemed right for this little tutorial. Mr. Q.O. calls them bats, but …

There are a number of pieces in the block, but it really is an eight-point star made up of pieced 90-degree diamonds. Each of the pieced 90-degree diamonds is made up of 3 diamonds and 4 triangles. First piece the 3 diamonds together.

Then take advantage of the continuous stitching opportunity offered when adding the 4 triangles to the diamond unit as shown in this photo. Following the arrows, it’s possible to stitch all the triangles to the diamonds without breaking the thread.

Make sure the top and bottom triangles are placed the right way so that you end up with a larger 90-degree diamond.


While I usually wait until a block is completed to press it, this block is an exception. Pressing the pieced diamonds before joining them to one another makes the final pressing easier.

Join the 90-degree diamonds to create the eight-point star, making sure all the swallows are flying in the same direction.

Add the setting squares and triangles and the block is done. This block finishes at about 15″ and is destined to be part of a stitching book cover. I made it using the 6″ LeMoyne Star Inklingo collection, which has all the shapes to make the block other than the outer setting triangle.

Smudge found this whole process so calming that he fell asleep with some soft stuffed toys to keep him company!

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It seems that our ISP is bouncing some e-mails from friends. If you have e-mailed me in the past day or two and haven’t heard back, please let me know in a comment.

Summer Plates

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Getting the Summer Plates done has moved up the list. Why? Because I really want to get this top done while we can still get good pictures outdoors. Somehow taking pictures of this one in summer seems right. So Monday night, although Joseph’s Coat was really calling to me, I got started and added the frames to two of the plates.

The blocks finish at 9″. I’m thinking this will be a small lap quilt that will look wonderful draped over a chair or the loveseat. Makes me think I want to find a wallpaper with huge cabbage roses in faded peaches and pinks for the living room and have a completely shabby chic look. Not sure what Mr. Q.O. would think of that.

The back:

Smudge, caught yet again just shortly after diving in his water bowl. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that his ruff is looking rather matted after getting so wet. Thankfully, his fur is so silky that it combs out in seconds.

Shabby Coat

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Did I get distracted this weekend? Oh, yes! Saturday a new Joseph’s Coat Inklingo Collection was released and I was immediately and totally captivated. Couldn’t resist. Thanks to the fact I hadn’t yet put away the shabby chic fabrics after cutting and printing Yin Yang shapes, I immediately grabbed a bunch of them, some background fabric and started printing. By late Saturday night the first ring was done.

Sunday evening, I added a bit more. The curves are so gentle that no clipping into the seam allowance is needed at all. More curved piecing. Irresistible to me. I know this will be a lap quilt so have printed 150 melons so far. Between this and the Yin Yang, I’m going to have a wonderfully shabby summer!

It presses like a dream. I followed the pressing suggestion in the Collection and pressed the seam allowances towards the melons.

Smudge was sitting in Mr. Q.O.’s computer chair after diving in his water bowl. He was just about dry when we got this shot.

Flying Swallows

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A friend asked me how I’d stitch the Flying Swallows block. I had to stitch one to figure out the best stitching sequence. It’s a rather fascinating block to put together by hand and actually went together quicker than I thought it would. I used shapes from the free Inklingo collection to make the block, which will finish at approximately 10.75″.

It’s easy to press.

Now that I’ve made one block and sorted out what I think is the best stitching sequence, I will make another and take lots of photos to do a mini tutorial.

Smudge was stretched out snoozing on the couch.

Shabby Yin Yang Blocks

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Nine blocks done. I don’t think there’s any chance of these blocks ever becoming boring to stitch.

In fact, I’m so sure they won’t that I’ve printed and cut out the shapes for another 25+ blocks. Next thing to do is to get more of the fabrics for the Contented Kitty blocks printed and cut.

Yesterday was a fabulous day — seeing my first sales of a pattern was a real thrill. Thank you all for the wonderful supportive comments!

Smudge was dozing on the floor, after spending most of the evening draped over my legs.

Joining the Pink Ice Blocks and …

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Over the weekend I finally settled on an arrangement for the Pink Ice blocks and have started stitching them together. I’m stitching the blocks into rows by  hand. Because there are many points and I want my seams to line up exactly, stitching by hand is the best choice for me. It doesn’t take long to join 5 blocks into a row and then join the rows to one another. So far, I have two rows joined and the third is waiting to be added. I have a couple of different ideas for a border treatment but won’t be making any decisions on that until the main body of the top is together.

What have I been working on lately that has been taking so much time? Well, over the past few weeks I have been working on a pattern for Chintz Circles. Along with that, I was putting together a web site. I’m very happy to report that late yesterday, the web site went live and my first pattern is listed. More patterns are in the works. Writing patterns has been one of my goals for some time. My blog will remain a place to talk about projects I’m working on, our activities and cat/cats.

We have had a stretch of relatively cool weather since mid-week last week.  Monday was more of the same but the forecast appears to indicate that by the time Wednesday arrives, we’ll be back to more summer-like weather. I can’t wait!

Smudge was content to lounge in the pink chair. There was no baseball game for him to watch Monday night.

One Shabby, One Contented Kitty Block

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While I got a lot of printing done over the weekend, the amount of stitching that was done was rather minimal. I’m still working on the secret project, but can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

More of the shabby chic yin yang shapes were printed — a total of 95 more, that is. To make the quilt the size I want, I need to print at least another 125 shapes. That I’ll work on over the next week or two. None of the fabrics for the contented kitty blocks got printed. Nor did any of the backgrounds for the Dresden Plates. Those fabrics are pulled and waiting on the disaster area known as my sewing table. That’s another job for this week or next or else I’m afraid there will be an avalanche.

I’m now so far behind on responding to comments that it’s embarrassing. Rather than promise to catch up, I’m just going to say I’ll do my best — and tell you that I do really appreciate all the comments. Once I get past one last hurdle with this project, things should quiet down a bit and I’ll get back to normal.  I hope.

Smudge was curled up on the couch while the baseball game was on — and close to Mr. Q.O.’s baseball glove.

Choosing Fabrics

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There’s going to be some printing this weekend — actually, lots of printing — shabby chic yin yang shapes, more of the brown and gold ones for the contented kitty quilt too and the setting pieces for the summer Dresden. That’s the plan for the weekend. I took a break Thursday afternoon and started picking out the shabby fabrics. The browns and golds are already out and waiting to be printed.

Doing a lot of printing at once suits the way I like to work. Once I get all the printing done, then I can concentrate on stitching the blocks. It’s so fast that I can likely have everything I need done for the 3 quilts in an afternoon.

Don’t forget about the giveaway. You can still enter the giveaway here until midnight tonight. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

Smudge on the sofa, looking towards the window.

A Few More Dresden Plates

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This is one of the projects I’m trying to stay focused on. I have the setting all planned out and, given how quickly these plates go together, have hopes of having the top done within a month. That, of course, is if I can stay focused on it. Those Yin Yang blocks keep calling to me and I have a setting for them figured out as well.

We had some crazy weather on Wednesday. It was very hot, which I really enjoyed, but right around the dinner hour the sky got dark and the wind was fierce.  We saw tons of lightning, heard long rumbles of thunder and had a bit of rain, but that was it. They say we may have thunderstorms today.

I’ve been woefully bad at responding to comments this week. Why? Because I’m working on a secret project that has been taking up a ton of time and demanding some rather intense concentration. With any luck, I’ll be able to share this by Monday. I hope to get caught up on comments between now and the time the weekend is over.

Smudge was posing in the pink chair, and wasn’t the least bit interested in the wind and thunder Wednesday evening.

More Shabby Yin Yang Blocks

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I can’t stop making these!  Probably not a big surprise, given my love of curved piecing and shabby chic fabrics but there’s something extra special about these. They really do go together amazingly quickly and are much simpler to piece than they appear.

Now there are 8 completed. I’ve got a plan for a quilt using these and another type of block that involves curved piecing. Now I have 3 –no, 4 — no, make that 5 projects on the go, all of which I’m really excited about. This is going to be a great summer — lots of stitching choices for days when stitching on the roof garden is possible. Today just may be one of those days.  It’s supposed to be hot as can be with a humidex reading of 41C. But, as it’s always markedly cooler on the roof garden, it’s probably going to be just perfect.

The giveaway is still open for entries.  You can leave a comment at the post from Friday here to be entered.

Smudge was curled up in his kitty bed, looking almost exactly like the Contented Kitty blocks.

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