Tag Archives: hand piecing

Beginning of a New Project

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Last week’s list of priority projects clearly went out the window this weekend with this new project! The above is the beginning of a block that I can’t resist. It’s fairly quick to stitch, so I have some hope that I may have this first block done sometime tonight. I was going to use a muslin as the neutral but then remembered I had some Kona Bay cream, which is my favourite solid to use.  I still haven’t decided on a name for this one.

The back:

These blocks will grow quickly as they’re made using the 6-inch LeMoyne Star Inklingo collection.  Once I got the idea, I had  six pink and the cream fabrics printed within minutes with the diamonds needed.  A little while later, they were all cut out:

What is it about making these stars I find so irresistible?  No matter what else I’ve got going on, it seems I always need a star project of some sort on which to work. I have the centres of three more of the stars ready and waiting as well.

When I wrote the post on Friday about the making of Chintz Circles, it made me realize that it’s rather fun to have a post like that about a quilt.  Which, of course, meant I had to figure out a way to store my photos a bit differently.  So I am, as of now, starting to store photos about each specific project in their own folder as I think I’d like to do recap posts like the one on Chintz Circles every time I finish a project.  Although at the rate I’ve been starting and not finishing, the next one may be far off!

We’re definitely into fall weather.  Lots of leaves have fallen and, as it was a bit breezy on the weekend, they’ve been drifting past the window.  This is Smudge’s favourite time for watching out the window.  We got this shot of him on the weekend.

Lester seemed to be trying to make sure we didn’t change the channel when we had the baseball games on — notice the paw firmly planted on the remote control!

Chintz Circles — Please Vote!

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I entered Chintz Circles at Quilt Gallery’s weekly contest as this week the theme is scrappy.  There are some beautiful quilts in this week’s contest which you can view here — the same post where you can vote for your favourite.

The photo we took on the roof garden the day I finished Chintz Circles is found here and the post about it being given to my aunt on her 90th birthday is found here.

Smudge isn’t too interested.  He’d rather have a snooze as the grey chilly days of fall seem to be upon us.

Lester also seems to have found himself a nice cozy spot for a nap.

A Butterfly Block or a Dragonfly or?

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When I saw Karen Dianne’s Alabama Beauty blocks, I saw butterflies.  I had to try playing with a bright print for the wings and a black for the body.  Mr. Q.O. thinks this looks more like a dragonfly while I’m thinking it’s a butterfly.  It was one of those blocks I had to make just to see how it would turn out.

The back:

I’m not sure how many more butterflies/dragonflies I’ll make, but I think probably at least enough to make a table topper.  It makes me laugh as I had decided earlier on the long weekend that I was going to limit myself to working on 4 or 5 projects for a few weeks and not start anything else.  Clearly I have limited no self-control when it comes to trying out ideas.

Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful with great weather, good food and lots of time to just relax.  We didn’t go for the standard Thanksgiving weekend drive to look at the foliage and, as very little has turned yet around here, have only a picture of one of the roses from the front garden to show.  Much as I do admire the fall colours, I rather like the idea that we still have roses blooming at this time of the year.

Smudge spent most of the time the turkey was cooking on Monday in the kitchen. The meowing wasn’t constant, thankfully.   But any time either of us walked into the kitchen he was right there, looking up ever so hopefully that there might be something forthcoming.  Once the turkey was finished, both he and Lester were in the kitchen waiting for their portions.  This was Smudge after his turkey treat.

Earlier in the weekend I was rummaging about in the stationery cupboard looking for something.  I left the door open for a moment, turned my back and the next thing I knew Lester was in there.  We captured this shot as he started to come out after causing a small avalanche of equipment and paper.

Pickled Ladies and the Cabin Quilt

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Two more Pickled Ladies blocks are done.  I have about 10 arcs ready now to add to clamshells, so should have a fair number of the blocks finished by week’s end. One of the things I want to do over the next week or so is figure out just how big I really do want to make this and then sort out the exact number of blocks I’ll need. Perhaps it will end up as a lap quilt, but I’m having so much fun making them that I don’t think I’ll want to stop there but may just end up turning this into a bed-sized quilt.

Over the past few days some stitches were taken on the Cabin Quilt as well and two more of the stitchery blocks are done.

Tuesday was a grey rainy fall day.  The kitties took full advantage of the snoozing opportunities.  Smudge got himself really tucked into the kitty bed into an almost headless cat pose.

While Lester curled up with a teddy bear for a nap.

September Clamshell Report

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Over the past month I have been working on these 6″ pickled clamshell blocks almost exclusively.  So far, there are 25 of  them done.  I first saw the block on Barbara Brackman’s blog back in June and fell in love with it.  When the Inklingo collections for the clamshell pickles came out, I got an idea almost immediately about the florals for the clamshells and black and white for the arcs surrounding each.  I’m calling this the Pickled Ladies quilt as I have visions of some very elegant, almost Audrey Hepburn-like, ladies in an upscale Art Deco bar.  Once I got the idea, I immediately started going through my stash for florals that I could fussy cut/print for the clamshells.  With the aid of a window template, which was easy to prepare by just printing one shape on a piece of paper that was 5.25″ x 6.5″, I was able to quickly cut my fabrics and print the clamshell templates on the back of each.

Stitching the blocks is much simpler than they may appear.  Putting each arc together is just lots of quick continuous stitching.  Adding an arc to each clamshell is a very quick stitch.  Stitching the pickled ladies together hasn’t begun yet as this will be at least a lap-sized quilt, if not larger, and I know I’ll want to play with the placement of them once the piecing is finished.

With the 11″ clamshell pickle collection, I have started this sunshiny quilt but I’m using an alternate setting and various colours for the end pieces of the arcs so that a little star-type shape appears at the intersection.  While I haven’t added to this in a week or so, it won’t take long to get this to a good size for a lap quilt.  Maybe in October I can tear myself away from the Pickled Ladies to add a few more blocks to this so there’s some progress.

That said, I have lots of clamshells printed and ready to stitch more Pickled Ladies.

As well as the pieces needed for a number of the arcs.

To see more clamshell quilts, go to Cybele’s Patch here and you’ll see the list of those participants in the clamshell club who have posted their progress this month.

Wednesday evening we were cooking some chicken for dinner.  Almost the entire time it was cooking, Smudge was sitting in the kitchen staring at the oven and meowing.  He seemed a bit impatient to get the bit of chicken we always give them when we cook it.

Lester was somewhat more restrained and just sat on the back of the pink loveseat staring into the kitchen.

Another Six Pickled Ladies

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Now that I’ve been stitching these for a couple of weeks, I’m getting into a routine of stitching a few of the arcs each evening until I have 8 or 10 of them and then add them to the clamshells.  I think that process is faster as, once the arcs are done, I can easily stitch 5 or 6 of them in an evening on to the clamshells.  I sort of timed it and I think putting each arc together takes about 40 minutes.  Adding an arc to its clamshell takes much less time, as I can stitch 3 or 4 of those in an hour.  Tomorrow I’ll be showing these as well as another five new ones together with all the others that I’ve finished to date for the month-end clamshell report.

Looking out at the roof garden on Tuesday afternoon, I was surprised at just how many leaves had fallen on to the grass.  There still are lots of green leaves on the trees, but it’s sure a sign that fall is definitely here no matter how much I may want to deny it.

Lester got in some windowsill time on Tuesday.

While Smudge was reclining on a chair.

Pickled Ladies 13 & 14 and Progress to Date

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Two more pickled ladies were completed this week.

And here’s the group of pickled ladies so far.

They were laid out on the floor and, while I was picking them up after the photograph was taken, Lester was very interested!  I was racing to pick them up before he came to inspect as he has a tendency to want to lick and/or bite things like quilt blocks.

Smudge was curled up in a kitty bed with his favourite toy, Cappy, well and truly anchored beneath him and a couple of other toys within paw’s reach.  You can just see the tip of Cappy peeking up.

Pickled Ladies 10, 11 and 12

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Three more of the pickled ladies are ready.  As they are 6″ blocks I’m thinking that for a small lap quilt I’ll need somewhere in the range of 130 of them.  I do plan on adding a border to these, so that number may decrease.  The deciding factor will probably be just how many shabby chic florals I have that are appropriate for fussing cutting/printing.

These two are among my current favourites.

It’s getting to the point now that I need to print more of the black spiky triangles for the arcs, and go through more of the shabby chic prints looking for appropriate florals to fussy cut/print.  It takes no time to prepare a few dozen, so I hope to get that done sometime between now and Monday.

We had a gloriously warm sunny day on Tuesday.  It felt like a summer day rather than the first day of autumn.  The longer it stays this way, the better.

A close-up of Smudge:

Lester was relaxing on the pink chair:

Tools for Piecing

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A couple of weeks ago, Crispy wrote about her favourite scissors.  I thought I’d do the same.

Those numbered 1 are a pair of Gingher stork scissors that I love for cutting embroidery threads.  I remember my mother had a pair of stork scissors, although I have no idea what happened to them.

The ones numbered 2 are a pair of Omnigrid scissors that are my favourites.  I use them constantly.  They have super fine blades, super sharp tips and cut through fabric beautifully.  Because they are so sharp right to the tips, it’s wonderfully easy to make perfectly accurate cuts.

Number 3 — a tiny pair of scissors given to me by a wonderful friend and always kept in my kit for stitching on the go, whether on the roof garden or elsewhere. They are the perfect addition to a stitching kit.

Numbers 4 and 5 are a set of Dovo scissors.  They’re pretty and they feel good in the hand, but they do not cut anywhere near as well as the Omnigrid pair.  I find they actually don’t cut through fabric cleanly at all.  They’ve hardly been used because of that.  I keep thinking they must be a lemon set as so many people seem to love Dovo scissors.  I’ve frequently thought I should take them somewhere to be sharpened and see if that makes a difference.  Has anyone had any experience with having scissors sharpened?  Is it worth pursuing that idea?

Number 6 are fine for clipping threads and are bright so I generally can find them easily.  I picked them up at the Creativ Festival for next to nothing along with the thread snips referred to below.

The three items above the six pairs of scissors are my absolute must-haves when hand piecing.  I’m totally lost without the finger pincushion.  At first, I didn’t think I would get used to it but within an hour after first starting to use it, I was sold.  Now I don’t start stitching until it’s on my finger.  The grey blob is the thimble I use for hand piecing. The thread snips are another tool I always reach for.  While I will use scissors if necessary to cut thread when hand piecing, the snips are the better solution for me.

Monday was a wonderful summery day and today promises to be more of the same, with a humidex reading in the low 30s Celsius.  It appears most of the week will be warm, although rather rainy.  Lester was enjoying the warmth on the windowsill Monday.

Smudge, on the other hand, was snoozing on the couch.

Pickled Ladies 8 and 9

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Stitching these blocks is well underway for this week.  First, this rich red one.  And its back:

This one isn’t quite the right colour, as it’s more a green than the brown it appears in this photo.

And its back:

On Saturday we were out doing some shopping.  As we were coming home, we ended up behind a Model T truck much like the one below that was in absolutely fabulous shape.  The truck had some wooden alcohol barrels rolling around the back. Although we didn’t realize this when we were behind it, but did when we pulled up beside it, inside the cab were a man and woman dressed in prohibition era clothing. That was when we saw “Boardwalk Empire” written on its side.

Ford Model T Truck

Image via Wikipedia

We had great weather on the weekend — a lovely late summer weekend and, from the sounds of our forecast, we will have a few more days of summer-like temperatures this week. The cats, however, are in their fall/winter snooze mode. Lester with a teddy bear and frog:

And Smudge in a kitty bed with a couple of toys nearby.