February: 17ufosin2017 Progress

First item to report:  A Finish!  

All I needed for this finish was to complete the hand stitching on the binding.  Completed that today while recuperating from the flu and watching Mardi Gras festivities on TV.

The quilt was an attempt to use up a large portion of my purple and gold fabric scraps.  I still have a lot of purple and gold fabric (scraps and yardage), but that's OK, purple and gold are the school colors for Louisiana State University and there will probably be other school quilts in my future.

The back of the quilt features a purple bandana print.  Now that it's finished, it will go to my youngest son.  He asked for the first LSU quilt when he was in college - even designed it - so it's only fitting he gets a quilt made from some of the scraps from his quilt.

Now it's on to binding the next quilt in the pile/on the 17ufosin2017 list!

Next up:  Another Finish!

I have had this Joanna Figueroa pattern for over a year, and the fabrics (not hers) longer than that.  I put this project high on my 2017 UFO list hoping I would get motivated to finally turn the fabrics into a tote bag.

I was able to finish the medium-sized Feed Sack in early February.  The result is as cute as I expected, but for the next bag I think I'll make a few changes.  The outer pocket is too small to hold much (see the top picture of my iPod peeping out of the pocket).  The pattern included directions for a matching (half-round) inner pocket, but I didn't make that.   The next bag will have a deeper outside pocket and one or two inside pockets as well.  I already have the fabrics cut for the large version of the bag, so maybe I'll have that to show next month.

OK, that's enough with the Finishes.  

I've been working on assembling my Quilty 365 blocks.  I grouped the blocks into sets of 30, so they resemble calendar pages.  The last seven blocks (I made a few more than 365) will get spread out across the "bottom" of the quilt.  

I can't fit all the sets of 30 on my design wall at one time - here are the other 6 sets.  I'd like to get this to the completed flimsy stage by the end of March - wish me luck!

I'm still finding Meredithe's challenge inspirational and I'm excited to see what progress the other participants have made!

Purple & Gold String Spiderweb Flimsy

 

I added the last border to this string spiderweb quilt this morning.  I'm definitely doing a little happy dance to have this top finished, as I have been working on the blocks (on and off) since 2012!  I used Bonnie Hunter's Spiderweb quilt instructions as a general guideline.  My goal was to use up as many purple and gold scraps as possible.  The size came out to 66" x 76", although that will shrink a little after quilting and washing.  It probably won't get quilted until later this year, but I think there's an excellent chance the quilt will be completed before the end of the year.

So another project is off the design wall and I'm ready to move on to the next WIP in the queue!

RSC 15: Contemplating Finishes...or Not

I thought two of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects for 2015 would be ready for finishing by the end of the year.  However, after counting up finished blocks and contemplating quilt layouts, I'm not sure I'm happy with the number of blocks I have ready.

 

There are 64 of these 9 patch blocks, which finish at 6 inches.  I was planning to color block the 9 patches in groups of 4 and add white sashing between the resulting blocks.  When I did the math for the finished quilt size, I decided I would be happier with a larger quilt.  My plan is to make additional blocks in a reverse pattern - white surrounding one colored piece in the center.  I already have plenty of miscellaneous 2 1/2" squares cut thanks to Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System.  I can cut the appropriate sized white scraps and have everything ready to use as a leader-ender project for 2016.

 

These scrappy Maverick Stars are ready to be turned into a quilt top, although I'd like to do a little playing before I make a final decision on the setting.  My plan is to use a straight set (I don't care for how these look when set on point) with blank squares between each block.  Rather than just using plain fabric squares, I wanted to experiment with string-pieced squares using white and off-white fabrics.  I haven't made the playtime to do that yet, so the stars will have to wait a bit longer for their final assembly.

 

I never considered these string blocks (or spiderweb blocks) to be an "official" RSC project, but they are definitely scrappy and on their way to being finished!  I have 9 more blocks to stitch together and then I can start laying them all out for final assembly.  I think they'll probably need a little trimming, too, as some of them have slightly concave sides, despite careful pressing.  

 

So with the prospect of all that fun, scrappy sewing ahead of me - would you believe I am procrastinating?   That's because this t-shirt quilt has to be finished before I can focus on any scrappy quilting.  Chris, the quilt's recipient, finally agreed on this Kaffe Fassett print for the sashing and borders.  I had to order the fabric, but now everything is ready for me to finish cutting and sewing.  My reward will be free fabric playtime, but it's hard to just go get started!

Other Rainbow Scrap quilters are also finishing up their projects and you can see the results at Angela's Soscrappy blog.

 

Spider Web Blocks: Is the End in Sight?

 

The long Labor Day weekend gave me some extra sewing time at the camp.  I've been working on these string-pieced triangles since at least 2012, but it was more of a fabric therapy project than a planned quilt with a finishing date in sight. 

Earlier this year I decided on a plan for the blocks, and cut enough light yellow center "kite" shapes to finish piecing all the triangles.  This weekend my trusty Singer Model 15 (treadle) and I stitched the last of the purple and gold strings onto their foundations.  Now I just have to piece the triangles into squares and rip off all the foundation papers.  Maybe I can still finish this top before the end of the year?!

 

I still had a big collection of strings left after piecing the triangles, so I took a few minutes to tame them into some additional useful quilt block parts.  The longest strings were trimmed to 1 1/2" width and will go in the bin for 1 1/2" strips.  Smaller remnants were trimmed to various lengths and 1 1/2" width for Lego quilt blocks.  The remaining bits will go in the crumb bin for further adventures in crumb and string piecing.  Very satisfying to have everything neatly wrapped up!

RSC 15: Spring String Fling

Since purple is the April color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I decided to spend some time this month working on a long-term string quilt project I keep at the camp.

 

I started making string spiderweb blocks several years ago, using purple and gold scraps from several Louisiana State University-themed quilts.  It was a project I worked on periodically and there was no specific plan for a finished quilt. 

 

As I counted up my finished spiderweb triangles, I realized I was getting close to having enough blocks for a decent-sized quilt.  I prepped enough paper triangles and center "kite" pieces for a final finish of 30 blocks.

 

As of today, I only need to make 28 more triangle pieces!  This project may actually become a completed quilt this year. 

 

Since I was in a stringy kind of mood, I also made some purple Liberated Stars - or Maverick Stars.  I don't know which name came first, but Gwen Marston calls them Liberated and Bonnie Hunter calls them Mavericks.  Whatever you call them, they are fun to make from scraps and strings!

 

This year's stars and last year's stars.  Finished block size:  6 inches.

And now I have miles to sew before I sleep, but I will be linking up with the other Rainbow Scrappers over at Angela's Soscrappy blog.  

 

Pre-Carnival Fun

You may have heard New Orleans is in the midst of a Carnival celebration.  The week preceding Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, is filled with merriment of all kinds.  It can be a whirlwind of fun or a pain in the behind, depending on your perspective!  Dear Husband and I tend to avoid most Carnival-related activities and escape to our camp until the craziness is over.

The day before Mardi Gras has become an integral part of the celebration.  Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) marks the arrival of the King of Carnival - Rex - who proclaims a day of frivolity and masking for Fat Tuesday.  Me - I just take another day of vacation and hope for Spring-like weather at the camp!

The Spring-like weather was in short supply today, but that didn't decrease my enjoyment of Lundi Gras.  I dug out a long-term project that resides at the camp and had some merriment playing with purple and gold strings.  It was perfect for Carnival, as purple and gold (along with green) are the official colors of Mardi Gras.

It turned out most of my purple fabric stash was also at the camp.  I think my purple string stash was getting low, so I took the stash to add new strings.  Somehow my plans were waylaid by other projects.

Many of the pieces were less than fat eighth size, so I did some strip and string cutting.  Now the purple strings are replenished AND I have some new strips for my scrap collection.

Here's the ongoing string project - spiderweb blocks in purple and gold.  I'm a long way from being anywhere near close to completing this project, so I think I will try to focus on it for the next few months whenever I am at the camp.

Hand Cranking Through the Strings

Since today's weather was not conducive to outdoor activities (it was raining to hard to even jump in the car and go antiquing!), I decided to pull out one of my long-term quilt projects.  I keep this project at the camp and work on it when there's inclement weather or I need a project to keep my hands busy while watching a movie or sporting event.

Here is my secret for sewing while watching TV - a nice, quiet, hand-cranked sewing machine!  This model happens to be a Singer Model 99.  It uses "modern" round bobbins, takes regular thread (I'm using Masterpiece 100% cotton thread here, but cotton-covered poly thread works fine, too), and sews a beautiful straight stitch.  I have the machine set on the coffee table in the great room at our camp.  It's not a great ergonomic set-up, but it works well when I want to sew and still watch TV with my DH.

The hand crank mechanism attaches to the sewing machine flywheel.  It has a short finger that fits between the spokes of the wheel and drives the wheel as the crank is turned.  You can see the finger at about 3 o'clock in this picture.  It's not a machine for pedal-to-the-metal speed sewing, but it is good for all-round accurate piecing.  And for string piecing!

My rainy day project is based on Bonnie Hunter's Spiderweb quilt.  I have accumulated a huge stash of purple and gold scraps (OK, I have scraps and yardage!) thanks to a couple of Louisiana State University scrap quilts I made.  My goal is to put a dent in the scraps by making spiderweb string blocks.  As you can see, I'm using Bonnie's technique of piecing on old phone book pages.  You'll also notice I traded out the standard Singer sewing foot for a quarter inch piecing foot.  Quarter inch seams are not entirely necessary for string quilts, but I wanted to show that it's possible to find quarter inch feet that will fit these vintage machines.

Since the iron is in the other room and I'm lazy, I just finger-press the strings as I go.  

String block with all the floppy pieces, read for pressing.

Over to the cutting board for trimming.

One of four finished units for the Spiderweb block.

I managed to crank out 8 blocks during the LSU-Stony Brook baseball game.

And here's a batch of 16 blocks to show a complete spiderweb.