Tag Archives: curved piecing

Farmer’s Delight Block 11

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Getting these blocks done has moved to the top of the list and, as I’m very close to being finished, they are all I plan to work on until they’re done.  One more block to go, then add the surrounding pieces to turn the last 4 blocks into squares and the piecing is done.  The final step will be figuring out how I want to set them.

Block 12 has been started.  The two triangle strips won’t take long to make and add to it and then it will be finished.

A few days ago I wrote about testing different markers for marking the quilting I want to do on the pink and cream quilt.  I made some marks on a scrap piece of the cream fabric with various markers and then let it sit for over a week.  Wednesday I decided to see if the marks would come out.  I was amazed at how easily they all rinsed right out of the fabric with just water.  No soap was necessary at all.  The pink and yellow Fineliner marks rinsed out without an issue.  The most surprising to me was that the General’s graphite pencil marks practically flew out of the fabric as soon as it got close to water.  After drying and ironing the scrap piece there isn’t a hint of any of the marks.  As I always wash my quilts as soon as they’re bound, I feel quite safe about using any of the markers I tested.

Now to find my quilt stencils.  Some of them are rather large so there aren’t too many spots I could have put them where they could lie flat.  It seems I found a really good spot for them — and one that I can’t remember.  I’d like to get that top ready to quilt this weekend, so hopefully they turn up today or tomorrow.

I spoke too soon about the weather.  Wednesday was quite cool again and extremely windy.  Our high was only -4.  Today’s high is supposed to be -3.  However, the difference in the light is becoming more obvious each day.  We got pictures of both the cats without having to turn on lights or use the flash.

Lester was lounging.

Smudge was posing.

Pickle Dish Addition

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Finally, some progress on my Summer Picnic Dish quilt.  I’m adding the setting pieces as I go so that when I’m finished adding blocks, I’ll be finished altogether.  It takes only a couple of minutes to add a setting piece as I go and is much nicer than having to add them all at the end.  The one thing I’ve not decided on yet is whether this will be a borderless quilt, which seems to be my normal preference, or if I’ll add some sort of pieced or appliqued border.  So for now, I’m leaving the corners curved.  If I decide on no border, then I’ll have lovely curved corners. If I decide to add borders, I can easily add the 4 setting pieces to the corners.  This is one project that is moving to the top of the list to be worked on.

The question of borders is one with which I constantly wrestle.  I love the look of antique quilts that have no borders and that seems to be what guides me.  Yet I also love the look of a pieced or appliqued border.

March came in like a lamb, although it was windy.  We had the windows open for a while and it was marvelous.  I noticed a difference in the light Tuesday as well. What a wonderful time of year this is — so full of promise that winter is almost over.

We did get photos of the kitties Tuesday.   Lester was looking rather elegant.

Smudge was curled up relaxing.

Another Farmer’s Delight

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Once this and two more blocks are finished, and the next one is already partially put together, the blocks for this quilt will be made.  Setting the blocks is something I’ve started thinking about and, while I have no firm ideas as of yet, I’m thinking about something that will involve some applique.  I’ll make that decision once all the blocks are done and I start playing with layouts.

An idea for another Dresden Plate variation is slowly working its way to the top of the list.  I may play with some fabric choices for it and perhaps make the first block this week.

Thanks to the rain early Monday, we have no snow left on the roof garden.  As it’s now March 1, I’m hoping that we get no more snow until next year.   Spring can’t arrive soon enough for me.  There’s something about it being March that always feels so promising.  We got through January and February and it’s all good from here.

We didn’t manage to get any photos of the kitties on Monday.  We just didn’t seem to have a camera at hand at the appropriate times, so I thought I’d dig up some photos from a year ago.

This was Lester just under a year ago.

And Smudge slightly over a year ago, giving a classic Smudge look.

Pickled Ladies and the Pastry Shop

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Sounds like a funny book title, doesn’t it?  As it’s time for the February Clamshell Club report, I’m showing the Pickled Ladies that got finished this month.  Not as many as I had hoped, but half a dozen to add to the mix is progress.  To see more clamshell reports from other participants, check in here at Cybele’s Patch to find those links.

On the weekend, a new Inklingo Pies and Tarts collection was released.  While I’ve often thought  the quilt was appealing, there was no way I was going to make anything that required English paper piecing.  Now?  Now I can make it with a simple running stitch and some continuous stitching as I’ve got perfect shapes with stitching lines marked on the back of my fabrics.

Of course, I had to start making some of the blocks and have printed enough shapes now to make a small quilt.  Mr. Q.O. suggested naming it Pastry Shop.  And that’s how the Pickled Ladies have ended up in a post with the Pastry Shop.  The back:

We had yet more snow on the weekend, but it sounds like today we’ll have rain and who knows what else.  I had a migraine Sunday afternoon that was rather nasty, but it lifted as the storm got closer.  The cats decided to find cozy spots to curl up.

Smudge’s new favourite spot is where the heating pad is.

Lester prefers the loveseat.  I think this is one of the best shots of Lester, as it shows how rich the red colour is in his coat.

More Melons

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All 52 melon blocks are made, so the X’s and O’s top should be finished relatively quickly.  I am going to machine quilt it, know exactly how I want to quilt it and may get this one finished within another a couple of weeks.  Making the melon blocks has me tempted to start another quilt using some melons and other shapes.

A while back, I joined the Bargain Lover’s Club at Sew Sisters and have been receiving 10 great FQs every month.  This time?  This time, when I opened the envelope, Mr. Q.O. said he wanted these fabrics.  I keep threatening to get him piecing to help get all these designs I have in my notebook and in my head actually made.  Maybe this grouping will do it.

Smudge likes to lounge by the water and food bowls.  This was a shot we couldn’t resist taking.

Lester found himself a cozy spot to curl up and have a nap.  It was cold again on Tuesday, but he’s showing more interest in getting up on the windowsill every day. Maybe that’s an indication that spring will be here sooner rather than later.

Melons

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I’ve started putting together one of the elements for the borders of the X’s and O’s quilt.  These little 4″ blocks go together so quickly that I don’t think it will take long at all to get this part of the border ready to put together.

The back of one of the little blocks.

We’re definitely going to have a couple of days of milder temperatures.  If the forecast is correct, we may hit 50 on Friday!  It looks like it will go back to the cold winter weather shortly after that, but what a treat to get a day that warm in February.

Lester continues to improve.  Mr. Q.O. was taking pictures of the boys, focusing on their paws.

Smudge was showing off his paws while he slept.

Rainbow Flower & January Clamshell Report

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The Cranes Circling Flowers at Dusk, aka rainbow flower, is something I can’t resist stitching!  So much so that, when I couldn’t sleep because of a migraine, I was fussy cutting six more flowers and cranes from another fabric at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday.  I have everything cut and printed now for the rest of this piece and hope to have the main piecing finished by mid-week.  When it’s finished, we’re going to have to find a way to photograph it.  The light at this time of year makes for not great photographs.  I can’t wait until spring comes and the roof garden reopens!

When I pulled out the storage container with the Oriental prints and batiks to choose the fabrics in this, I also hauled out the container with striped and directional fabrics. I have a feeling fussy cutting some stripes for this block will be the next thing I play with, although I’m also very tempted to do something with shabby chic fabrics.

I don’t have much to show for the January clamshell report.  While I’ve made lots of the black and white arcs for the Pickled Ladies, I only put together two of the pickled clamshells.  To see the list of and links to participants in the Clamshell Club, go to Cybele’s Patch.

On the weekend, I got a lot of the cream hexagons for the POTC blocks stitched.  At this point, I only need to stitch together the ones needed for two more blocks and that part will be done.  So I feel like progress is being made.  We were taking trying to take a picture of a finished POTC block when Smudge decided he needed to help. You can just see a bit of the block that he’s lying on.

Lester was having a snooze.

Rainbow Flower

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(Click on photo to enlarge)

In the February/March 2011 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, there’s an article on Mosaic Patchwork blocks and Rainbow Flower is one of the blocks featured.  With all the fabulous curves in this block, I think it’s irresistible — particularly as a new Inklingo collection for the Rainbow Flower was released on Thursday.

I’m calling this “Cranes Circling Flower at Dusk”.  It’s not quite finished as one more round will be added to it, if not more.  This one won’t be a large piece, but rather a smaller one with a pretty border which I’m already planning.

Within minutes of downloading the collection, I had prepared my window templates so I could fussy cut the two larger shapes.  Within a few minutes after that, I had the fabric cut and ready to print.  A few hours later, my block was done.

I was tempted to start another shabby chic quilt with this collection, and may well do that yet but the Oriental prints were what first grabbed my imagination.  Imagine this with novelty prints fussy cut for a child’s quilt!  Maybe some stripes for the connecting shapes.   Or a wonderful polka dot print or — the ideas just are flying through my mind!

The back:

When we take photos of quilt-related things, we generally put a board on the pink chair with a piece of grey fabric over it.  As I was getting things ready to take the photo of the Rainbow Flower, Smudge decided he wanted to lay down and have a snooze.  I literally turned my back for a second to get the block, turned around and there he was, already asleep.  We gently moved him and carried on.

Lester found himself a comfortable spot on the loveseat.

Pickled Ladies Quilt, Block 3

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Block 2 is probably going to be taken apart and redone with black triangles that have little white, if any.   When I look at this block and the first one I showed on Tuesday, I like them better than the one shown Wednesday.

The back:

The baseball game was fun, although the Jays lost.  At least we saw Bautista hit a home run, his 44th of the season.  We had amazing seats, 11 rows up from the field and so close to the field on the third base side that we could hear the home plate umpire.  The thing that struck me most was how much the television cameras distort what we see when watching the games on television.  The players, when shown on television, look much bigger than they are.  Seeing them in person I realized just how many pounds the camera does actually add!  This photo was taken at one of Bautista’s at-bats, but not the one when he hit the home run.

When we got home, I came up while Mr. Q.O. went to the store across the street.  Lester was waiting for us.

Smudge was rather relaxed.

First Alabama Beauty Circle

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Watching the circle appear as I joined the fourth block to the first three made me smile.  Now there’s no stopping me on this.  I love the look I’m getting with all these shabby chic fabrics.  Sort of like an old chintz print in an English cottage somewhere, I think.  Mr. Q.O. keeps looking at it and saying it looks old.  Just the look I’m after!

Putting this together is actually less of  a planning nightmare than I had anticipated.  The bonus of it is that, as I’m joining the blocks as I go, when I’m finished making the blocks the quilt top itself will be finished.  As I want a fair number of circles to appear, I think this will end up as a bed-sized quilt.  Maybe even king size.  That I’m not sure about yet.  But it will be large.

We had the most glorious weather on the weekend with highs in the mid to high 20s Friday and Saturday.  Sunday was mild as well.  Although we had fairly strong winds for a while on Saturday night, it wasn’t the heavy wind storm they initially predicted.  And no rain.  An absolutely perfect first long weekend of the spring/summer season.  The leaves on the crab apple trees on the roof garden are starting to make an appearance.

Smudge has been busy watching out the window with Lester.  We didn’t get a shot of him but Sunday he was very intent watching something.  Here he’s in an almost headless cat pose.

Lester relaxing Saturday night after a lot of watching out the window during the day.