Category Archives: quilts

Pickled Star Clams

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This was one of the other ideas that I couldn’t resist with the Pickled Clamshell collections.  At each intersection of 4 pickled clamshells a little sparkly star will appear.  For this one, I’m using the 11″ size and plan on making it 66″ x 66″.  I’m using four colours for the little stars — lime green, a darker green, blue and purple. There are starfish so I figure these are star clams, even if they are pickled!  If you click on the photo to enlarge it, the star shows up a bit better.

Because I’m using four different colours for the little stars, sorting out which colour to use for each end piece in the arcs was my first step.  With each of the Clamshell Pickle collections there are layout pages which are invaluable when planning a quilt like this.  I worked out my colour placement over the weekend, and started stitching.  As I complete each pickled clam, I check it off on the layout page and can tell at a glance what pieces to use at the ends of the next arc.  The back:

Wednesday was a rather unsettled day — cool with sunshine in the morning which was quickly replaced by clouds and windy conditions in the afternoon.   We have tickets for the Jays game tonight and, as I don’t think it will be very warm at all, I’ll be grateful the roof is closed!

Wednesday was a find a cozy spot and snooze day for the kitties.  Lester in one cat bed.

And Smudge in another with a toy or two close by.

Pickled Ladies Quilt, Block 2

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These blocks are addictive.   I think I may end up changing out 2 of the black and white triangles in this one as, while there is a touch of black in the two, there’s not quite enough contrast to their neighbouring white triangles.  I’ll leave that decision for a bit as it may just work with the whole pickled ladies story.

The back:

The Pickled Ladies story is based on an image I have in my mind of  a very elegantly dressed Audrey Hepburn-like lady with an absolutely smashing hat sitting in an art deco bar.  It goes on from there and will probably involve Daphne, the martini-drinking duck previously seen here, before it’s over.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day with lots of brilliant sunshine and warmth.   I know our days of summer are quickly drawing to a close but am resisting the idea of switching out summer clothing for fall as long as I possibly can.  Denial seems to be my middle name when it comes to the colder weather.

On Monday, we finally saw a squirrel out on the roof garden for the first time this summer.  Since then, Lester has been spending time on the windowsill keeping an eye out for the squirrel.

Smudge in one of the almost headless cat shots.  Notice he has toys strewn all about within paw’s reach for when he wakes up.

Pickled Ladies Quilt, Block 1

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The new clamshell pickle collections have me completely enthralled.  I immediately had at least three different ideas, one of which will involve  my favourite shabby chic fabrics and some Oriental prints.  I’m calling it Pickled Ladies as there’s a story that goes along with it which I will eventually write and share.  The first of the Pickled Ladies is shown above.

The back:

I’m fussy cutting/printing the clamshells.  It’s quite quick to do as I printed out one clamshell on a piece of paper cut down to the right size for printing just one shape, Mr. Q.O. cut out the interior of it and I have a window template which makes it very simple to figure out how to cut the fabrics and have a flower or other item as the centre of the clamshell.

The baby quilt top is finished, pressing is partially done and I’m still hunting for the flannel backing for it.  As soon as it’s quilted, which I expect will only take a weekend or two, we’ll get good pictures of it.

Labour Day weekend was chilly.  In fact, so chilly that on Monday we turned the heat on for a bit.  It’s too bad that it was chilly, windy and rainy as so many people head to cottage country for that one last summer long weekend.  Of course, today it’s supposed to be quite warm and humid again — typical of the weather here, as I can’t remember a year when, on the first day of school, we weren’t all roasting by the time school was over.

Smudge was curled up on the pink chair.

Lester was also on the pink chair … at the same time.

Planning a New Quilt

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Of course, I can’t resist the idea of some shabby chic and some fussy printing/cutting with the pickled clams.  An idea is slowly forming and will definitely include some black and/or deep grey.

Another 4 or 5 hours of piecing and the baby quilt will be done.  With any luck, I’ll have it finished by the time Thursday evening is over, will be able to do the final pressing on Friday and then hopefully get it basted over the long weekend.  I’ve got the quilting for it planned and hope to finish the quilting and have it bound before month end.

I’m going to take a brief blog break and have an extra-long weekend and will be back on Tuesday.  I hope everyone has a great weekend .

Lester in his normal spot on the window.

And Smudge relaxing on the couch.

August Clamshell Club Report

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I didn’t get a lot done to show for the August Clamshell Club report but early in the month, I did add sashing to the first of the clamshell diamond blocks I’ve made. Although I’ve now printed enough sashing for a number of blocks I won’t know until I get them all done where they will be situated, so will delay adding sashing to the other blocks until I’ve figured out the placement.

August was pretty well taken up working on a baby quilt, so not a lot of attention got paid to my clamshell projects.  However, when the new Inklingo clamshell pickle collections came out on the weekend, I couldn’t resist and have, so far, made one of each of the three sizes — 6″, 9″ and 11″ ones.  The design possibilities with this variation of a clamshell are seemingly endless.  I have a design in mind that will use all the sizes.  This photo shows the 3 sizes on top of one another.

The next photo shows them laid out separately and gives, I think, a good idea of the difference in sizes.  They all seem huge in comparison to the size of the ones I’m using in the first picture.

As the baby quilt which has taken so much of my attention will be done within a couple of days, I expect to have a fair bit of progress to show in September’s Clamshell Club post.  Now I can’t wait to check out the progress of other Clamshell Club participants.

The weather for us is wonderful for this late in the summer — lovely and hot and humid.  I don’t think it will last too long, so am enjoying it as long as it lasts.

Lester was enjoying it too.

While Smudge was more interested in sitting in the desk chair.

Clamshell on a Pickle Dish

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Back in June on Barbara Brackman’s blog post here, I saw pictures of clamshells done with a triangle arc and fell in love with them.  On Sunday, three new Inklingo collections were released with the shapes for 6″, 9″ and 11″ clamshells on a pickle dish, including all the edge pieces so that one can have a straight edge.  Of course, I couldn’t resist.  And I even made the largest, which is completely unusual for me.  The yardstick shows centimetre measurements rather than inches, but it seems huge — at its widest, it’s 11″.  I have a design idea in mind that will use all 3 sizes in one quilt.  The bonus to the large size is that I can have a quilt done in next to no time.  The design possibilities with these shapes seem endless.  It took hardly any time at all to put the arc of triangles together as it’s all continuous stitching.  Then adding the arc to the clamshell was easy as could be.

The back:

The baby quilt is still at the almost finished stage.  There aren’t that many pieces left to join to finish the top, so hopefully I’ll get it finished by Wednesday.  I just couldn’t resist the pickled clams and, as the baby isn’t due until February, my self-imposed deadline of August 31 can be extended.

We’re going into a few days of high heat and humidity with humidex values in the 40C range through to Wednesday.  The longer it stays lovely and hot the better.

Lester was getting in some windowsill time over the weekend.

And Smudge was posing for the camera.

Possible Fabric Combinations

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After reading the comments on yesterday’s post, I pulled out 4 fabrics to pair with the fabric I showed yesterday.  While I like all of them with it, I think the purple/pink batik is the one I’m going to work with.   I may do a block using the purple/pink and then another using the white.

The baby quilt piecing is tantalizingly close to being finished.  Tomorrow I’m going to see if I have a large enough piece of flannel for the backing and, if I do, I’ll hopefully get it basted this weekend and ready to quilt.

It was a rather cool day on Thursday and by the time the sun went down, it was a rather chilly 55F.  Once the temperature gets below 60, I start thinking about the day we’ll have to turn the heat on.  Hopefully, that won’t be for a few weeks yet.

Both cats were showing signs of getting ready for the cooler weather.  Lester curled up in a kitty bed.

And Smudge was on the couch.

Finding the Right Fabric

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This fabric has been in my stash for ages.  I love the look of it, but never seem to come up with the right fabric with which to pair it.  I’d like to use it to make a two-colour quilt but am thinking it needs something other than a white or cream as the neutral.  Any thoughts?  I have one idea which I’ll try this weekend.

I am very close to finishing the piecing of the baby quilt.  Two more evenings of stitching and it should be done.   This is, without a doubt, the quickest I’ve ever put a quilt together.  It will be less than a month from starting it to finishing the piecing.

Wednesday our weather really changed — from quite warm and humid to heavy, heavy rain and then cooler temperatures.  I think our high today will be only in the low 70s, although they say we’ll have humidex readings back up in the 90s by Sunday.   I’m definitely not ready to see summer go.

Lester had some windowsill time on Wednesday.

And Smudge took over my desk chair to pose.

Revisiting China Plates

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Once the baby quilt is done, China Plates will be first in line for quilting.  It’s been languishing now for a few months, so it’s time to get this one finished and bound and ready to hang.  I made this with the 1.5″ 90-degree hexagon Inklingo collection printing the hexagons on a variety of Oriental prints, the centre squares on an Oriental shirting print and the connecting squares and triangles on a black fabric. I’m not quite sure how I want to quilt it yet, although I do have the thread picked out — a variegated YLI black/charcoal/cream thread.

There were a few questions about washing charms.  What does a salad spinner have to do with it?  Well, generally I just swish them in some warm soapy water, rinse them, hang them on a clothes horse for a few minutes and then iron them dry but sometimes spin them partially dry by throwing a handful in an old salad spinner and then complete the drying by ironing them.  I’m always amazed at just how much they do shrink — at least half an inch on one side so that the 5″ charms generally end up as 4.5″ x 5″ pieces rather than a 5″ square.

Four rows left to stitch on the baby quilt!  Aside from quilting China Plates and working on various other projects that are in varying stages, I’m daydreaming about starting a new quilt with stars.  While I am tempted to make something with bright batiks and a dark neutral, I’m also leaning towards doing something with the Japanese taupes that are in my stash and making a very muted star quilt with those.

On Tuesday, Lester was snoozing in the kitty bed — with a toy within paw’s reach.

While Smudge was on the couch.

Fabric Combinations

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Now that I’ve got those two pieces of gold fabric out on my sewing table, I couldn’t resist choosing some other fabrics to see how well they went together.  I’m not sure just what yet, but I think this grouping or at least part of it will find its way into a design.

Then I had to try those same fabrics with the other gold fabric.  Now that I have some combinations to play with, I can let my mind wander a bit and see if I come up with the perfect design to use these in.

The second row of the baby quilt is now joined to the first.  It’s going together easily, so I feel pretty confident I can have the little quilt that will be 40 x 48 inches finished by no later than mid-September.  I’d love to use the silk batting in the baby quilt but, as that will undoubtedly be a quilt that gets a lot of washing, I guess I’d better stick with a cotton batt.  I got spoiled with the silk batt as it makes fabric wrestling aka machine quilting so much easier.   We have nothing in particular planned for this weekend, so I’m hoping to get a lot accomplished on the baby quilt.  I’d love to get it to the point of being half put together by the end of the weekend, but that may be too optimistic.

Lester makes it easy to take good pictures — he will stay still and look right at the camera.

Smudge has always posed for the camera.