Tag Archives: Quilt

16 Little Blocks

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Another 60 or so of these and I’ll be halfway done making the 2″ Drunkard’s Path units. They’re unbelievably quick and easy to stitch and, because they are so small, I can spread them out on the Cut ‘n Press and press them in seconds. Last night I was working on a gift for a friend, which I can’t show as she reads my blog, and after that I wanted to stitch for a while. An hour or so later, I had 16 more of these little blocks done.

This weekend I’m hoping to get at least half of the remaining ones I need cut. They’re all printed. The little book box should be pretty full by the time the weekend is over … that is, of course, if I stick to my plans for the weekend.

A portrait of Baxter. This is, we think, one of the best shots of him yet.

Bright New York Beauty 2

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The partially completed block I showed yesterday is now finished. And it’s bright. Almost need your sunglasses bright. I think I may do a series, as Wanda at Exuberant Color does, of small quilts with these blocks. That way I can play with the colour combinations as much as I want, play with the layouts as many ways as I can think up, and just generally have fun. I’m going to print some more shapes from the 12″ Sunflower collection and do quarter blocks that will play with the NYB 1 and 2 collections. Some will be for the Tiffany Lamp quilt, some for the more muted Monet type effect and some will be … well, I don’t know quite yet.

Even with the thicker metallic fabric it still presses like a dream. And, of course, grading the seams as I finish the block helps.

We had a lot of rain and a couple of little thunderstorms yesterday. I hope that’s it for the rain for a while as the window cleaners are about to do our windows.

This shot of Baxter was taken last week but the look on his face makes me laugh so I couldn’t resist using it.

Making a New York Beauty Block

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While I’m definitely not going to drop the red and white quilt for a long period of time I made the decision, after reading some of yesterday’s comments and thinking about it, that my self-imposed pressure to finish it was becoming counter-productive. I do want to see it finished soon, but I think a week or two of not thinking about it and feeling guilty for working on something else is going to go a long way to making it an exciting project to work on again rather than one on which I feel pressured to work.

So with that freeing thought, I decided to work on a Tiffany Lamp block so I could add to this group shown earlier.

When I’m making a New York Beauty block I start by adding the arcs to the two corner pieces first. That’s quick and easy.

Then I make use of the continuous stitching possibilities and add all the small triangles to the diamonds. That takes two threads and is done in next to no time.

The next step will to be once again take advantage of the continuous stitching possibilities by adding the large triangles to the diamond/small triangle unit. Once all the large triangles are added, the centre part will be finished and all that will be left is joining that to the top and bottom arc units.

The photos were taken before the stitched pieces had been pressed as I don’t press this until I’ve got all the triangles added to the diamonds and then one final press after the arc units are joined to the diamond/triangles centre. It really is a fast block to stitch. And presses beautifully. And the finished block will be shown tomorrow.

Isn’t it funny how giving ourselves permission to move away from a project for a while is such a relief? It’s one thing when it’s a quilt that’s needed in time for a gift, but to impose that kind of pressure on myself to finish the red and white quilt with an arbitrary deadline was really silly as it took away from the fun I was having making it. I’m hoping this short break from working on it will put the fun back into it.

Baxter has no deadlines. He gets to do what he wants to do when and pretty much wherever he wants to. Including bath time.

Colour, Colour and More Colour

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More fabrics have been added to the mix for the Tiffany Lamp quilt. Rather than being a small wall hanging, I have a feeling this one is going to end up as a lap quilt. I can’t resist these wonderful colours and can’t wait to play with them. I’m going to try to resist printing more of the New York Beauty shapes on them until the weekend. Try being the operative word.

The lure of those fabrics is irresistible right now. I think it’s because I’m trying to stick with finishing the red and white Feathered Star/Sunflower quilt and have hit that spot where it just seems like I’m never going to quite get there. I’m over halfway finished with the pieced border elements so am determined to stick with it.

I love the elegance of two-colour quilts, but think for my next one I’ll choose a pattern that has not quite so many pieces to it. I am still hoping to make at least two more – a green and white one and a yellow and white one. And who knows, perhaps another red and white one. But not this year!  And not one that has a gazillion pieces to it.

Have you made a two-colour quilt? Did you find that you were really finding it difficult at times to contemplate working on it? I think what this red and white quilt has taught me is that I am more drawn to making scrappy and more colourful quilts.

I’m also starting to put ideas together for this year’s baseball playoffs/World Series quilt. While it’s very early in the season, I want to have lots of ideas in the ideas book when it comes time. Of course, if the Jays make it into the playoffs I won’t be stitching. I’ll be on the edge of the couch, watching every pitch.

The mourning doves are back. We haven’t seen them out on the roof garden for a few years. Yesterday I looked out the window and there was one perched on the tree. I love the sound of them. Baxter was rather intrigued, as they are somewhat larger than the birds he usually sees out there.

Baxter had a busy day yesterday, with lots to watch out on the roof garden including the gardeners. I think they’re starting to prepare the flower beds, but I bet they don’t plant anything before the Victoria Day weekend. After his busy day, Baxter was crashed last night on “his” quilt.

A Gift, Some Printing, Some Blocks and a Cake

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The gift, one of the Rowenta travel irons. I am thrilled to pieces (pun intended) as it is so light and makes pressing blocks so easy on my hands. It gets super hot very quickly and has a little travel case.

The printing of everything for the Drunkard’s Path quilt using 2″ blocks is complete … I think. I may be short a few of the ’30s pieces, but can print more once I have a better idea where I’m at with that. The cutting has begun. That will take me some time as I’m not comfortable using a rotary cutter for this. But if I cut a sheet of the ’30s prints and one of the muslin each evening, I’ll have this done fairly quickly.

The little book box is slowly getting filled up with the pieces. I counted the previously finished blocks and I had, before I realized I could use Inklingo to finish this quilt, made 307 blocks. So only 525 to go.

Well, oops — make that 501 blocks to go. I couldn’t resist making a few on the weekend, some of which are shown here. Twenty-four counts as a few, right? When they’re this small and take only a few stitches to complete?

And just because they’re so cute and press so beautifully, a picture of the back of one of them.

The reason for the gift? It was my birthday yesterday. Mr. Q.O. knew I wanted that Rowenta travel iron. So he picked it up at the Creativ Festival on Friday. His favourite line is that only someone who’s married to a quilter can get away with buying an iron as a gift.

This was the birthday cake. They have these little cakes that come in small mason jars in the grocery store store downstairs. Perfect size for two people.

Baxter loves to lie on Mr. Q.O.’s cryptic crosswords. Mr. Q.O. captioned this one, “Hmm …” I think he was just showing off his lynx tips.

A Little Stash Enhancement

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Friday we made it to the Creativ Festival. While it was smaller than in past years, there was lots and lots to see. I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to find. Some ’30s prints for the 2″ Drunkard’s Path project. Found.

Some white on whites. Found. A black that would read almost as a solid but still light enough on the back so I can print shapes with Inklingo. Found.

I decided to take a super macro shot of the black to show the pattern in it.

Some more fabrics for the Tiffany Lamp quilt. Found. While I’m not sure all these will make it into the quilt, they are welcome additions to my batik stash.

Except for this one. This is one of the Northcott Stonehenge fabrics and most definitely is going to be used in the Tiffany Lamp quilt. I love the play of colours in this.

It was a great weekend. We went to the Festival, I got the lion’s share of the printing done for the Drunkard’s Path quilt and Baxter was posing for photos every time we glanced his way.

Baxter has claimed that spot on the quilt as his own. We put a teddy bear up beside the quilt, looked over a while later and Baxter was sound asleep with his head on the teddy bear.

Setting Idea

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The little ’30s blocks have been sitting for a few days, although more drawings have been prepared by Mr. Q.O. for embroidery. But yesterday, thanks to a new 2″ and 4″ equilateral triangle Inklingo collection, I came up with a setting idea for them. Of course, I couldn’t resist quickly printing and adding some of the 2″ triangles to the three embroidered 2″ hexagons done so far and then started playing with the setting. I am going to try, I think, to use just two different ’30s fabrics for the triangles. I’m relatively sure that I didn’t use either of those fabrics for the various pieces I’ve printed for the half hexagons and diamonds that were previously printed so I think it will work.

I had been playing with setting ideas but nothing really stood out as a great idea. The triangles changed all that. This is going to be a fun and relatively fast quilt to put together.

Now the little frog is a froggy star!

And, of course, it presses beautifully.

There are some fabulous design ideas in the collection using the 2″ and 4″ triangles together, with diamonds and with hexagons. I was immediately inspired by some border ideas. And some small quilt ideas. And — well, you get the idea. I’m always amazed at just how quickly the ideas start to flow when I see new shape collections.

I didn’t get around to replying to any comments yesterday or visiting any blogs. I will get caught back up today. Yesterday I got caught up in work and then Mr. Q.O. was having computer problems, so the iPad was taken over by him. After a long read, I tend to want to flee the big computer and only use the iPad. Amazing how fast I’ve gotten used to using it. Now I can’t imagine not having one.

Baxter was curled up on the couch. Mr. Q.O. captioned it, “She hid the fabric bits and I got tired looking for them.”

And Then There Were Five

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Five New York Beauty blocks, that is. These are far, far, far, too addictive to stitch. Weekends are my “play” time away from the red and white quilt. Did I stitch anything but New York Beauty blocks this weekend? No, not a chance! Dreamt about them, as a matter of fact. I wonder if that’s a bad sign, that I’m now dreaming about these blocks. In different colours, different types of fabrics. I’m wondering what they might look like in batiks with Fassett prints. Or, of course, with my favourite shabby chic fabrics. The possibilities seem truly endless. For now I’m having fun making my Tiffany lamp quilt. But I have a feeling the box with the Fassett prints may come out to play … soon!

It presses perfectly and I am continuing with my (finally learned) good habit of grading the seams as soon as I finish a block.

Remember how thrilled I was with the wonderful warm weather in March? I think it was tempting the fates! The forecast for today is rain possibly mixed with … I don’t believe this … snow! I’m threatening to not open the drapes if there’s the possibility of seeing white flakes at the end of April. I hope the poor plants that have started to come up out on the roof garden survive this. Not to mention the butterflies that I’ve seen over the past few days. This is truly a topsy-turvy year as far as weather goes. No winter, summer in March and now … what, winter in April?

Baxter is fascinated by the little box in this photo. Why? Possibly because one night I forgot to put the lid on it. In that box are the ’30s hexagon blocks. While we slept, he merrily picked out piece after piece and left a trail of pieces for us to find in the morning. No harm was done. He just seems to love carting little pieces around and dropping them on the floor. I suppose I should be grateful he didn’t carry them to drop in his water bowl. And yes, I did do a count and know that none are missing. But ever since that night, he keeps his eye on the box hoping, I suppose, that I’m forgetful again.

Another Quilt in Waiting

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It has been … this is embarrassing … over four years since this was basted. And yet it still isn’t quilted. Thankfully, it’s thread basted rather than pinned! I love this quilt – it is another in which I mixed and matched just about everything I had – batiks and novelties, brights and shabby chic. If the fabrics played nicely together in an individual diamond, I was happy. There is absolutely no reason this has languished this long waiting to be finished. I know how I want to quilt the plain setting diamonds. I know how I want to quilt the sashing. What I’m not a hundred per cent sure about is how I want to quilt the pieced diamonds. But as soon as Ferris Wheel is finished, this will be next in the hoop. The photo was taken years ago when a neighbour helped me (that’s me on the right) hold it, out on the roof garden, just shortly after I finished piecing the top. It is entirely hand pieced and contains all the diamonds from Linda Franz’ Quilted Diamonds 2 book. The pieced diamonds measure 4″ by 7″.

This is a close-up of part of the top.

Here are a few of the individual diamonds, in no particular order.  This duck diamond always makes me laugh.

As does this kitty diamond. A lot of fussy cutting was done so I could get the mouse, the paw prints, the ball of yarn and the kitty centred in each of their respective pieces.

I love the brightness of this star.

The oval diamond has one of my favourite floral fabrics in it.

The butterfly diamond is another of my favourites. As I look at some of these photos I realize I fussy cut for just about every single one of the diamonds. It sounds like a lot, but it was actually a lot of fun. And it’s going to be a lot more fun to start quilting them and get this finished.

The only challenge is going to be finding the perfect binding fabric. It has been so many years that I doubt I’ll find the batik that was used for the sashing anywhere. There’s a funny story that goes with the sashing. I had my stack of diamonds and was going to a quilt shop where I would be meeting a number of quilters, including one who hand-dyed fabrics. She took the stack of diamonds, quickly looked through them, walked to the front of the store and, before I could turn around, had picked the batik off the shelf. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.

Baxter definitely knows how to relax. I wonder if he’s going to want to claim my Quilted Diamonds quilt as his.

My First Applique Quilt

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While I work on the red and white quilt, I thought I’d revisit some older quilts. Tuesday we took this one out to the roof garden for a photo. It was made about 12 years ago — I didn’t date the label and have no notes about it anywhere, so am just guessing. It was my first appliqué quilt and was based on a pattern in a McCall’s Vintage Quilts magazine, although I did amend it somewhat. The blocks are 15″ and the quilt finished at about 66″ by  81″. It was pieced, appliquéd and quilted by hand. The only time the sewing machine was used was to attach the binding.

When I look at it now I get a laugh out of the fabrics – I mixed up everything in it. Muslin was used for the background. There are batiks, ’30s prints, florals, checks, you name it in the plates. I wasn’t following any rules about what goes with what. It was just what appealed to me and I thought played nicely together. I remember using a dinner plate to cut the corners of the quilt so that they’d be curved. That was my first time working with a bias binding and I loved it! In fact, I’ve pretty much always gone for bias bindings ever since then.

As this more current (and still being quilted) quilt that I’ve called Ferris Wheel shows, Dresden Plate quilts are something to which I’m really drawn. I’m contemplating a third one now. But now they are so much easier. No more tracing templates over and over. I just print my shapes with the Inklingo Dresden Plate collections. I was playing with some design ideas last night for another one, using EQ, and I think that it’s not too far off. First of course, I have to finish the red and white and my Tiffany lamp New York Beauty (which won’t be very big).  And start the quilt I’ve designed using the fabrics I won in the Love the Lines contest. And finish Pickled Ladies. And finish … oh, okay. The list is endless.

Baxter doesn’t care what else I make. He has his quilt now. Just about every evening he curls up on it.