Tag Archives: Pickled Ladies Quilt

More Pickled Ladies Are Gathering

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Over the holiday, I had a good look at the size of the Pickled Ladies top and decided to add a few more rows. These are the first three ladies that will be joining the group.

The arcs are in the process of being made and I hope to have them all done by the end of the week. Then it’s nothing but easy stitching, attaching them to the clamshells which are already prepared and waiting.

Having been through the process of grading the seams on the other Pickled Ladies all at once, this time I’m grading them as I go. It only takes a minute and makes a huge difference to the drape and weight of the quilt.

When each arc is finished I grade the seams of the two sides of each black triangle that are attached to the white triangles. I like to wait until the seam is stitched before grading it, mostly because having even seam allowances makes it easier to line up and stitch the pieces together. It also gives me the option of not grading a seam if a fabric seems to be of a slightly looser weave than others.

Once the arc is attached to the clamshell, I then grade the black seam that’s attached to the clamshell. A quick press and it’s done.

The window templates for the half clamshells for the edges are made and I’ve been auditioning fabrics with them. The arcs and partial arcs for the edge pieces are also ready to be stitched.

Baxter has lounging on the sofa down to an art form. Mr. Q.O. captioned this one, “Dinner ready yet, lady?”

And then there were 46

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46 of the Pickled Ladies, that is, joined together. Now that I’ve started grading the seams, the difference in the weight of the top is very obvious. It will also make the quilting of this easier, as I am definitely planning on hand quilting it.

There aren’t too many more rows to go. Then it will be time to start adding the partial pickled ladies around the edges and then find the perfect border fabric.

Baxter patrols the windowsill even at night, particularly on windy and rainy nights.

Lots of Trimmings

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Trimming of seams, that is. Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time grading the seams on the Pickled Ladies.  It makes an enormous difference in the weight of the top as well as how it drapes. I’m cutting less than an eighth of an inch off the black triangles in all the arcs. I put one trimming on a ruler to show how little I’m actually cutting off the seam allowance.

This little vase is now almost full of the trimmings.

In this close-up of the back of one of the blocks, you can see how it looks after trimming. While I don’t always grade the seams on quilts, for the Pickled Ladies quilt it makes a big difference and is worth the time and effort.

Baxter was lounging on top of a couch.

26 Pickled Ladies

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The fourth row is now added. They’re easy to put together, thanks to the stitching liens and matching points.

It’s a little difficult to tell from this photo, but the intersection where they meet is easy to press by pressing one of the arcs over the other beside it and then pressing the one below it over both of those.  It may look a bit bulky, but it actually isn’t.

Quilting on the Ferris Wheel quilt is going rather slowly but I am getting it done. Baxter is insistent on helping whenever there’s a quilt on my lap, whether I’m quilting or tacking down binding. At one point last night, he was right under the hoop. He seems to think it’s play time as he attacks my hand that’s underneath the quilt.

The Pickled Ladies are Getting Together

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Three rows of the Pickled Ladies are now together. After the first two rows were joined I thought perhaps this needed to be a larger quilt than originally planned. After the third row was added, I completely changed my mind. Because of the number of triangles in each arc and the fact I used some metallic Oriental prints to fussy cut, this is a heavy piece already. In fact, as it is now it’s heavier than the X’s and O’s quilt. Decision made. It’s going to be a large wall hanging.

Initially I was thinking about a rich blue floral print for the border, but now I’m wondering if I should try to find a real Art Deco type print in keeping with my initial idea about these ladies. 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.

I have been fascinated by the Breakfast at Tiffany’s piece being put together at Plays with Needles. Seeing a favourite movie being depicted with such amazing detail in an embroidery piece is a pure delight, as is her entire blog and well worth a visit.

Baxter was looking somewhat startled, perched on the loveseat.

Pickled Ladies Joining Up

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Out came the box in which the clamshell pickles, aka Pickled Ladies, were stored and I began putting the top together.

The first two rows are almost all joined together now. They’re going together quickly and oh, so easily. I’m hoping to get the centre done within a couple of weeks. That, of course, remains to be seen as I’m so easily distracted by other projects!

The piecing of the Twinkling Stars top is complete. The two borders were added yesterday and it was finished even before the second game of the World Series began. We couldn’t figure out where to photograph it last night, but will be getting a good photo of it today.

Baxter had another very busy day on the windowsill, as we had a fairly windy day again and there were leaves flying by the window. Last evening he was posing in my computer chair – or was he perhaps plotting and waiting for his chance to get on the keyboard?

Pickled Ladies Layout

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The stitching of the centre blocks is finished. There are 72 pickled ladies in total, although there will be a number of half pickled clams added around the perimeter to square it up.

Once the rows are together, I’ll audition fabrics individually for the half pickled clamshells that will go around the perimeter. I know there are lots of florals in my stash that will work perfectly as half clamshells and have enough of the black and white triangles already printed for the partial strips of triangles that will be needed.

It took ages to take them down off the temporary design wall as each one is labelled with its placement so that when I start stitching them together I won’t get them mixed up. I’m really excited about this one and can’t wait to get started stitching on it as soon as the baseball playoffs are over. There’s a rich blue floral in my stash that may be perfect as the border for the Pickled Ladies. There may need to be a small stop border as well, but I’ll sort that out once I get the centre of it completed.

There is no way I would have attempted this without Inklingo. With the 6-inch Pickled Clamshell collection, I knew it could be done. Having the perfect stitching lines and matching points is going to make putting the rows together a breeze. This is one quilt top I want to finish for sure before the end of the year. I’m already thinking of the quilting possibilities, perhaps quilting around each flower and possibly the white triangles.

Baxter discovered how to get up on the windowsill in the living room on Thursday. There was lots of activity out on the roof garden for him to watch as the birds and squirrels seemed quite busy. He went back and forth a few times and then settled down to sit and watch.

Pickled Ladies

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It has been a while since I’ve worked on the Pickled Ladies blocks, but on the weekend two more were finished and added to the group.

They’re quick to stitch and press perfectly.

Once all the ones that are ready are stitched, I’ll have to decide whether to make the Pickled Ladies a lap quilt or wall hanging. I’m tempted to make it a lap quilt just for the sheer impact I think the blocks would have in a quilt of that size. Whatever size I make it, it’s going to have a very small plain border to frame it.

We got a new kitty bed for Baxter on the weekend. Of course, he had to have his favourite toy in there with him.

Pickled Ladies

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It seems like a long time since I’ve worked on these pickled clamshells, but two more got finished last night. Thanks to a new little member of the household, stitching time seems to be at a premium right now. There were at least 2 hours last night when he was curled up in my arms, which meant absolutely no stitching.

Speaking of a new little member of the household, Baxter is fascinated by the kitty carrier. Since we brought him home, the carrier has been out as we were thinking he might like it as a “safe” place. Smudge had different ideas and has been cramming himself in there at every opportunity. It’s way too small for Smudge but that hasn’t stopped him. Baxter seems to like to get on top of it and peer in, whether Smudge is in there or not.

Baxter is clearly a quilter’s kitty in the making. The hoop has been collapsed and is down on the floor, so it can’t tip over while he’s exploring, but he seems to have decided it’s a good spot to relax.

Smudge was spending some time on the windowsill Wednesday afternoon.

Tomorrow is the Canada Day holiday, so that means a lovely long weekend.

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.