Tag Archives: curved piecing

Bright Yin Yang Blocks

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I just couldn’t resist and had to see how the Yin Yang block would look in brights as well as the spice fabrics. These blocks may be the beginning ones for a stitching book cover or, who knows, maybe I’ll make a small Yin Yang quilt of primary colours.

I still can’t get over how wonderfully the blocks press, so have to show the backs:

Yesterday I had a link to the collection in my post, but it didn’t work.  Here’s the correct link for the Yin Yang collection.

Sleepy Cat Hollow left a comment on yesterday’s post with a suggestion for another name for the Spice or Chocolates and Caramel quilt that I loved — Contented Kitty, saying that it looked like Smudge curled up in his kitty bed.  So now I think that quilt will end up being called Contented Kitty.

Smudge likes to lounge by the water bowls before he sticks his head right in the water.  Mr. Q.O. got this shot of him just before he moved over and put his head in one of the bowls and was dripping wet.

Spice or Chocolate and Caramels Quilt Beginnings

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Ever since I saw the Yin Yang block on Barbara Brackman’s blog months and months ago, I’ve wanted to stitch it.  On Sunday, a new Inklingo Yin Yang collection was released and I had to dive right in!  The fabrics I had set aside for the Spice quilt were back out, I had the shapes printed and cut out in a matter of minutes and a few hours later, four blocks were done.

About a month ago, I tried to prep pieces to stitch this block with freezer paper templates.  In the past I’ve used freezer paper templates without problems, but for this shape?  It just wasn’t working at all.  When stitched together, the block had a rather tent-like look that was impossible to get rid of no matter how much I pressed it.  My stitching lines and matching points just weren’t anywhere near perfect or fine enough.  But with Inklingo printing the stitching lines and matching points, it was easy as could be.  So I was absolutely overjoyed when the collection was released.

They press like a dream and, once pressed, are perfectly flat.

I’m torn now between thinking of this as the Spice Quilt or Chocolate and Caramels. There are tons of fabric choices one could play with working with this shape — batiks and hand-dyed fabrics, ’30s repros, shabby chic, black and white, primary colours. The list just goes on and on.  I have an idea for a baby quilt made with this shape which will be very fast to stitch as the blocks almost put themselves together.

Smudge was nowhere near as excited as I was about these new shapes.  He’s happy as long as he’s curled up in his kitty bed with the toy basket nearby.  Sunday night I was watching him as he ever so slowly put both front paws in the toy basket and dragged it over closer to the kitty bed.

Pickled Ladies Update

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It’s time for the monthly Clamshell Club report.  To see what other members of the Clamshell Club have posted, the links can be found here.

While the projects I’ve been working on lately have, for the most part, taken over, I have been making a few of the Pickled Ladies blocks bit by bit.  Friday I put them all up on the temporary design wall to get a sense of how many more I need to make. With 69 of the blocks done, I’m looking at something that will be approximately 46 x 34.  I want to make this a larger quilt than that, so I’m contemplating doing another 45 or 50 of the blocks and then will start working on the layout as well as making the half pickled clams for the edges and then will think about a border or borders.

When talking to a friend about the Pickled Ladies and why I had not done more, I realized that I had got out of the rhythm of stitching these.  While there is another large project that’s seemingly taken over my stitching time, I’m going to try to get at least half of what I need to finish the main part of the top done by the end of May.  I have a number of the clamshells fussy cut already, so need to make more of the arcs and then put them together.

We found two foods that Smudge seemingly loves.  Friday he ate more on his own than he has in weeks.   Here he was resting after eating.

Fans and Smarties

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The brown for the quarter circle on the fan blocks I showed yesterday wasn’t dark enough.  Wednesday I replaced it with a black fabric on the two I had already done and then went on and stitched two more blocks.  These are addictive to stitch, very quick to stitch and just plain fun.  I think it will be a small quilt and set with plain alternate squares.  I’ll probably make another dozen or so of the blocks and then start playing with the layout.

Karen at Journey of a Quilter has, over the past while, showed a little quilt she made which she calls Confetti.  I was so taken with it that I couldn’t resist making one, which I’m calling Smarties.  I’m using 1″ squares and 1″ 60-degree diamonds.  I only needed to print the 1″ diamonds as there’s a little box full of 1″ squares.  Sometimes when I’m printing fabric for some project or another, I will cut a small piece of that fabric on which to print a few 1″ squares.  Those squares then go into the little box and are there, ready to use, when I get an idea that incorporates 1″ squares.  Up until starting Smarties, I was slowly making 9-patch squares when the mood struck. Eventually I do hope to have a good-sized 9-patch quilt, but it’s my easy stitching project that I turn to when I want to stitch something super simple and so there’s no deadline.

The plan is to make Smarties large enough for a teddy bear quilt, although it’s such fun to stitch that I can imagine making a lap quilt for us.  Smarties presses like a dream.  The back:

It seems that Comcast is blocking e-mails I send.  I’ve contacted our ISP to try to resolve this and a friend who has Comcast as her ISP has contacted Comcast.  Both our ISP and Comcast are saying it’s the other’s problem.  How and when this will get resolved is anyone’s guess.  But in the meantime, replies to comments I’ve sent to those who are on Comcast are probably floating around somewhere never to be seen again.   I’ve figured out a work-around and, as the bounced replies come back, am using it to send out replies.  It’s frustrating trying to deal with something like this, particularly when the providers are doing nothing other than pointing fingers at one another.

Smudge has been playing with his favourite kitty toy, Cappy, a fair bit the past few days.  Wednesday night he was holding on to it while he had a snooze.

A Red and White Beginning

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The beginning, that is, of the largest of the red and white quilts I’m planning.  At least, so far it’s the largest of the ones I’m planning.  I couldn’t resist adding a sunflower to a feathered star and have the entire quilt planned out, including sashing and borders.  Curved piecing and continuous piecing — what more could I want?  It’s completely hand pieced and took about 3 evenings of stitching, on and off, while working on a few other things as well.

It presses like a dream and lays flat as can be.

Would I have attempted this block without Inklingo?  Not a chance!  With Inklingo, it’s not daunting at all as perfect stitching lines and matching points make a block like this easily achievable.

This quilt is demanding to be made quickly, I think, so there may be a lot of red and white seen on my blog over the next few weeks.  I can’t wait to get the blocks done so I can start with the pieced sashing and border.

I had a migraine on Tuesday that pretty much kept me off the computer as I was finding it difficult to focus on anything.  Hopefully I’ll get caught up on comments and replies to comments over the next couple of days.  I’m working as a registrar today and tomorrow so my computer time will be limited.

It was a grey overcast day on Tuesday.  Smudge found a cozy spot to have a cat nap.

Red and White Again

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One more of the red and white blocks was finished late last week for a grand total of four so far.  I was going to set them with plain white 6″ squares in between, but now that I see them side by side I rather like the effect.  A lot more blocks need to be made before I make that decision.

I couldn’t resist making a red and white 6″ sunflower block.  This is definitely a favourite block to make for me.  Putting the ring of diamonds and triangles together takes no time thanks to continuous stitching.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll end up with sunflowers as the alternate block for the other blocks.

The back of the little sunflower.

A close-up of Smudge relaxing on the couch Wednesday evening.

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Rouenneries Drunkard’s Path

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Over the past week or so, I’ve been stitching the Drunkard’s Path units together into 4-unit blocks.  Last night I decided to lay out some of them.  There are more that are already put together and yet more to be stitched together so it will finish at a decent size for a lap quilt, exactly as I hoped.   An idea for a border for the quilt is starting to form in my mind but until I get all the blocks put together and laid out I’m not making a decision.

The baby quilt top is stitched together.  I didn’t get it basted on Tuesday, so am slightly behind but I do have a little wiggle room in that I can work on it all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday and, if need be, wash and dry it Sunday morning.

Smudge was just waking up from a nap on the couch when we got this photo of him.

Spectacular Sunflower, Day 3

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My first sunflower block turned out as wonderfully as I had hoped.  I used shapes from both the 6-inch and 12-inch collections so that I could make the double sunflower.

While I was stitching, I was taking pictures of the continuous stitching sequence that I’m using but unfortunately none of them turned out well enough to post.   I’m going to make a second block and Mr. Q.O. will take over the photography duties so that the photos are clear.  I will post them either on the weekend or on Monday.

It presses like a dream and the block lies wonderfully flat.

The block finishes at 12″.  I’m going to make one more block using these fabrics and then play around with some border ideas using shapes from the collections.  And then?  Well, then I’m going to make a sunflower variation using perhaps some batiks or maybe I’ll make a red and white quilt.  The possibilities are endless.  I’m glad I decided to make these blocks first as it has made it easier to sort out think about the design I’ll use for a larger quilt.

Two kitty close-ups .  First Lester.

Then Smudge.

Spectacular Sunflower, Day 2

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While I had hoped to get the first sunflower completed Wednesday night, we were out for a while at a friend’s and there just wasn’t enough time.  Stitching these shapes is an absolute delight!  They go together quite easily, without any issues.  Normally, I’d join the two rounds of diamonds and triangles together before adding them to the fussy cut centre.  The second round of diamonds and triangles is started, as shown.  I can’t wait to see it finished.  The fabric I’m using for the background is going to, I think, really frame the sunflower rather fabulously.

This is how the centre looks with just the one row of diamonds and triangles added.  If I were going to make a 6″ block, all I’d be adding now would be background.  However, I’m adding the further round of triangles and diamonds and my block will finish at 12″.

The back, after pressing.

Lester was looking at something I was holding just above the camera while Mr. Q.O. took the photo.

Smudge had been at the water bowl shortly before this shot was taken.  As usual, he was putting his whole head into the water bowl and then catching the water as it dripped down his face. I think if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can still see some water droplets on his fur.

Spectacular Sunflowers

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Two new collections were released yesterday for Sunflower — a 6 and a 12-inch version.  With the permission of Linda Franz, the inventor of Inklingo, I grabbed the above shot, which can be seen at the  Sunflower Gallery of Quilts — it’s just one of many options shown on that gallery and they’re well worth looking at.  These shapes really are exciting to me as the design possibilities with them are seemingly endless. I know I’ll be making more than one quilt using these shapes.

As soon as the collections were released and I had a few minutes to review the Sunflower Design Book , which is absolutely fabulous, I had my fabrics picked out and had printed the shapes for two blocks.  The design book is, for now, free and is well worth downloading as it’s absolutely stuffed full of great tips about techniques to stitch a sunflower.  If you click on the above picture to enlarge it, you can see the printed stitching and cutting lines and the matching points.

I started making the first of the two circles of diamonds and triangles and can’t wait to play with the design possibilities with other fabrics.  The diamonds in this circle are .74″.   Lots and lots of continuous stitching possibilities and, of course, curved piecing.  I couldn’t ask for anything more. The ideas are just flying through my mind!

It presses like a dream too — the back of what I’ve done so far.  It’s going to be so exciting to put the first block together that I can’t wait to finish it.

Smudge was not so impressed until I sat down on the couch and he could drape himself over my legs while I started to stitch.  Then he was happy.

Lester looks as though he was studying the design, watching as I stitched.