Tag Archives: curved piecing

Rouenneries Drunkard’s Path Blocks

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All the little Drunkard’s Path units were made by Sunday and I started putting them into blocks of 4.  So far I have about 18 or 20 of the blocks done, so it won’t take too long to get them finished.   I’m really looking forward to seeing this one together, and am planning the border for it already.

The weekend was one of extremes.  Extremely cold temperatures – wind chills of -15 seemed rather outrageous for late March.  Extremely different outcomes from quilt-related endeavours on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday I started to make a large stitching book and realized that one of the applique blocks I was planning to use hadn’t even been finished.  There were still a couple of pieces that had been back basted, but never actually appliqued on.  The block had been sitting for at least 5 or 6 years.  There were other blocks, so that wasn’t a huge issue.  Cut the backing for the stitching book and cut it too small.   Pressed the backing for the Ferris Wheel quilt, started to lay it out to baste and realized I had washed and ironed the wrong piece that wasn’t the right size.  Then I got out the other piece of the backing, washed it and decided quit at that point before something else went wrong.

Sunday was a totally different story.  Stitching book put together and basted, just needs to be quilted.   Binding for the stitching book made and ready.  Ferris Wheel basted and ready to quilt.  Sorted all the little drunkard’s path units and have stacks of the 4 units needed for each block all ready to stitch.

I’ve been avoiding the computer as much as possible since Thursday.  I seem to have a pinched nerve that makes using the keyboard for any length of time uncomfortable. I owe responses to a few comments from last week still — and will try to get through them slowly.   I’m thankful that this isn’t making stitching difficult.

Smudge, sound asleep.

Lester in his newest favourite spot, under my desk.

Quilters’ Candy

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These little blocks are so quick and fun to stitch that they really do seem like candy. Over the past few evenings, while talking to friends on the phone, I’ve pieced these 50 little Drunkard’s Path units.  I’m always amazed at how quickly they go together.

These are all that’s left to piece from the large stack I had two weeks ago.  I haven’t counted them, but think there’s only another 40 or 50 left to stitch.  Once they’re done, I’ll start putting them together in blocks of four units.  Then the real fun will start when it’s time to lay them out so that I don’t get the same print beside itself.

It was another cold day on Thursday but thankfully no more snow fell.  The cats found cozy spots to curl up.  First Lester at one end of the couch.

And then Smudge at the other end.

Basket Blocks

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While I had the design wall up, I decided to put the 4 basket blocks up.  I now have a plan for the centre block, which won’t be another basket, and the borders for this.  I think I have just enough of the floral print to make it work .  I’m going to spend some time this weekend working out exactly how much I need for the borders and the centre block and then take it from there.

The lesson I learned from this was that when I fall in love with a fabric like this one I really do need to buy somewhat more than I think I’ll need, particularly as I had no firm plan in mind when I bought this but rather a vague idea.

It snowed.  A lot.  All day Wednesday.  So much for me thinking spring was getting closer.  It seems like a very heavy snow as the tree branches and shrubs out on the roof garden seem to be groaning under the weight of it.   Some of the bears decided it was time to get their winter clothes back on.  When the picture was taken, there were fairly large snowflakes flying by the window.

I’m not sure if Lester is winking in this shot or just not quite awake.

Smudge was relaxing.

Label for Ferris Wheel Quilt

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I decided to piece the label for Ferris Wheel on Monday.  When I started quilting, making labels for my quilts never struck me as a design element.  Now?  Now I try to make a label that has something to do with the design of the quilt.  For Ferris Wheel I decided to do the centre of a block.  The cream blades of the plate will be the perfect spot on which to write the pertinent information.

Upon finishing the piecing of a quilt like Ferris Wheel I almost always wish I could make one more block, so making a label like this seems like a great solution — I get to make one more block or partial block and the label is ready to be written on and then appliqued on to the back as soon as the quilting is done.

Lester had a snooze on the windowsill on Monday.  He had some entertainment out on the roof garden as there were some grackles and sparrows on the lawn.

Smudge was sound asleep.  Oh, to be able to relax as thoroughly as a cat!

Ferris Wheel Quilt

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Thanks to Elly, I have a name for the Farmer’s Delight quilt. Ferris Wheel seems to me to be the perfect name for this quilt. It makes me think of summer and movement and that’s definitely what a ferris wheel means to me.  It reminds me of when the Canadian National Exhibition is open in August and all the rides on the midway, not that I go anywhere near them. The ferris wheel is probably as adventurous as I would ever get when it comes to rides.

It was amazingly quick work to put the blocks together into rows and then stitch the rows together. I started stitching them together on Friday evening and finished Saturday evening. All by hand.  Although I had thought I’d join them by machine, I think it probably didn’t take me much longer to stitch by hand than it would have by machine.

I thought I had the perfect fabric for the backing, but it’s just a bit too short.  All that’s left now is to do the final pressing, get the backing prepared, baste and start quilting it.  I have the quilting planned and think it will go fairly quickly.

Over the weekend, I decided to give my blog a facelift.  It’s a bit of a work in progress, but then I suppose a blog always is a work in progress.  For now, I’ve started listing favourite quilt blogs on a separate page rather than in the sidebar.

This is possibly one of the most quirky pictures we have of Lester.  I don’t know if it was the angle at which it was taken on Sunday or what, but there’s something about this one that I love.  He looks like a much smaller cat than he is.

Smudge had just been sticking his head in the water bowl, which is how he seems to prefer to drink, and Mr. Q.O. got this shot.  If you click on it to see the large picture, you can tell the fur on one side of his face is still wet.

Farmer’s Delight

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All 12 of the blocks on my makeshift design wall.  I’m pretty sure that this is the layout of the blocks I’m going to go with.  I suppose it’s no surprise that I have more pink blocks than any other colour.  There are  4 pink, 3 blue, 3 green and 2 gold.  As it stands now, the top would finish at 45 x 60 which is, I think, a good size for a lap quilt.  Now I’ve got to start thinking of a name for this one.  Usually names for quilts come to me easily, but this one?  Not so easily.  The blocks remind me of something but I can’t quite put my finger on just what that something is.

It won’t take long to join the blocks into rows and then into the top, and then I suppose I’ll make a final decision as to whether I add any border.  My initial thought is no border as I really don’t want to take away from the blocks.  That may change. How to quilt it is another question altogether.

This is the fabric I plan to use for the binding.  It has all the colours that are in the blocks and will frame the quilt.

I’ve finally figured out how I can put up a design wall that’s easily removed and hope to get that organized in the next week or so.  But in the meantime, masking tape and a partial batt work.  It’s far, far better than trying to lay blocks out on the floor with four-footed helpers!

Smudge was back on his pillow, but this time wasn’t looking at the camera.

Lester wasn’t trying to convince me to look up at the ceiling this time.

More from the Pastry Shop

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This is such a cheerful piece on which to work at this time of year that I couldn’t resist adding to it.  It’s fast to stitch and makes me smile.  And, as I’m using green as the background, it’s rather fitting to post on St. Patrick’s Day.

The box is full of pieces cut and ready to stitch.  When the contents of the box are all stitched and added to what I’ve already done, the top will be done.  I love having the pieces for blocks all ready as it makes it so easy to choose on which project I want to work.  A little prep work really pays off when I can open a box like this and have lots ready and waiting to be stitched.

The Farmer’s Delight blocks are finished.  I took the last stitch late last night.  Today I’ll press them and start playing with block arrangements and will take a photo of all of them together for tomorrow’s blog post.  I’m already playing with ideas for a border.

Smudge likes having cushions on which to recline.

Lester has a tendency to stare up at the ceiling and seems to wait until I look up to see what he’s looking at — which is always nothing.  I try to not fall for it, but rarely succeed.

Piecing a Drunkard’s Path Unit – Lots of Photos

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There were a couple of inquiries about how I piece the little 2-piece units that are used in Drunkard’s Path blocks, so I thought I’d put together a short tutorial on my method.  Smudge is wide awake and watching.

I’ve always loved making Drunkard’s Path blocks and before Inklingo would trace them and then add the quarter-inch seam allowance.  Since the Inklingo Drunkard’s Path collection came out, it’s so much more enjoyable.  No tracing, no adding the quarter-inch seam allowance.  Just print, cut and stitch.  Now I never want to stop making these.  They’re quick and, thanks to the perfect matching points and stitching lines, very simple to stitch.

The first thing step is clipping slightly into the seam allowance of the piece with the concave curve.  You can see one clip in this picture.  I clip between every matching point that’s printed on my fabric.  In the above picture you can see the stitching line and the matching points that have printed on to the back of my fabric.

Then I line up the pieces and, using #12 sharps as pins, pin the first and second matching points.  I pin the first to hold it in place when I insert the threaded needle a bit over from the beginning of the seam.

Then I bring the threaded needle back up through the matching point at the beginning of the seam, effectively taking a back stitch.

Then, taking the smallest stitches I can, I load the needle with stitches up to the next matching point.

Before I pull the needle through, I move the sharp from that first matching point along the seam to the next.

Pull the needle through, make a small back stitch and proceed by loading the needle with more stitches up to the next matching point.  Then it’s simply a matter of repeating the last 2 steps until the end of the seam.

I’ve reached the end of the seam. At that point I make a back stitch, turn the piece over and make a small knot, once again away from the end of the seam so that the knot won’t interfere when adding other pieces.

The little Drunkard’s Path unit is finished.

The back:

They really only take a few minutes to stitch.  For fun, I decided to see just how long it takes me to stitch one.  It’s just over 5 minutes from start to finish.

Lester hopes you found this relaxing.

Stitching Progress

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32 blocks were finished yesterday.  I probably could have stitched more but the lighting was less than wonderful and my eyes were getting a bit tired.  There’s something about stitching these little Drunkard’s Path units that is absolutely irresistible to me.

The back of one of the blocks:

When we got home, I pressed the ones I had stitched and started cutting out more of them.  If I keep stitching at this rate, I’ll have all the little blocks made in no time at all and then can start putting the groupings of 4 blocks together.

Then I was thrilled to find out that there’s now an Inklingo Log Cabin collection. I’ve never wanted to make a log cabin quilt but I think that may have been partially because of the amount of precision rotary cutting that would be involved.  So now I’m contemplating a few ideas for little quilts.  But more than that, I’m thrilled to have the variety of lengths of 1″ rectangles to play with from 1″ x 2″ all the way up to 1″ x 10″.  There are a lot of design possibilities involved with those!  I’ve already got an idea for a stitching book which I hope to get done this weekend.

Thank you for all the well wishes yesterday.  Mr. Q.O. came through with flying colours.  Everything about the day was amazing (well, okay — except for the getting up at 5:00 a.m. part).  He was taken into the pre-op area almost the minute we arrived, a few minutes later I was sitting with him and met the surgeon, the anaesthesiologist, one of the surgical nurses and then the porter came to take him into the O.R. at which point I was sent up to the waiting lounge.  Great volunteers there who kept tabs on who everyone was and for which patient they were waiting and who would, the minute they got calls from the O.R., immediately come over to tell those waiting how their relative was.  By 9:30 I was on my way up to the short stay floor as he was already there and eating breakfast.  His nurse on the short stay floor was an absolute gem.  By shortly after 4:00 we were home.  I’m glad we got home when we did as it was getting rather nasty outside and the roads were icy from the snow/rain combination that had begun to fall earlier in the afternoon.  I may do moan about our climate, but I wouldn’t trade it for a second if it meant giving up our marvelous health care system.

For the record, getting up at 5:00 is not something I want to repeat very often. Drinking coffee at 5:30 a.m. is a rather futile endeavour for me – I don’t even remember the taste of it, as I think I was a walking zombie at that hour!  While there were some people out and about at 6:30, there were nowhere near as many as I had been led to believe.  Perhaps in the summer, when the weather is nicer, people are out and about earlier but on a rather windy, chilly day in early March? Not so many!

When we got home, Smudge practically broke all speed records getting to the door to greet us and demand some fresh food.  Lester, on the other hand, was lounging on the couch and gave us one of those, “Well, where the heck have you been for all these hours?” looks and that was the extent of his reaction.

Smudge later in the evening after having an after-dinner snack.

And Lester having a snooze while holding on to a monster-size kitty paw.

Charms

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When Rouenneries by French General first came out, I fell in love with it.  Got a couple of charm packs and started making Drunkard’s Path units.

Then I decided I wanted to make a slightly larger quilt and got a couple more charm packs and a bit of yardage.  The charms are all washed and ready to print.  The yardage will be used for the borders and binding.  I’m going to spend some time today printing the shapes on the remaining charms and get them ready to stitch on Wednesday.

Mr. Q.O. is having a minor surgical procedure on Wednesday, so it will be a long day at the hospital.  We were there on Monday for all the pre-op stuff and I was amazed at just how cold it was.  One would think a hospital would be warmer, considering there are patients there.  However, I’m warned now and will be wearing lots of layers on Wednesday.  I took my e-reader with me yesterday and was glad I had, but on Wednesday I plan to stitch and the Drunkard’s Path units are the perfect stitching project.

Lester  was showing us his lion look on Monday.

The light was perfect for this shot of Smudge — all natural light.  I love the fact that each day we have light for a slightly longer time and the light is getting so much better for photographs.