June Mini: A Puzzle Experiment

I've always wanted to try my hand at piecing a Rocky Mountain Puzzle block.  

Still thinking about Christmas gifts, I thought maybe I could make my Denver-residing son something (a pillow?) using the RMP block.

Since the July 4th holiday was fast approaching, I decided to dig into the red, white, and blue fabric stash for inspiration.  Using the tutorial linked above, I tried the eight inch size puzzle blocks.

It turns out, the "puzzle" is using partial seams to create the border around the center block.  It wasn't difficult to do, but design-wise, it didn't really make sense to me.  Unless one uses different fabrics for that border, the fancy piecing doesn't show up.  For future reference, I'd just construct the block using regular border-style piecing.

I made two additional blocks, then added sashing and cornerstones so the blocks wouldn't run together.  I used invisible thread to quilt around the squares and triangles in the blocks, and a decorative machine stitch in blue thread to quilt the sashing.  

The finished mini measures about 18 inches square - a good size to fit an 18 inch pillow form.  😀

The backing fabric was also from my red, white, and blue fabric stash.

Since this was an experiment, it will stay with me and I'll do another version for Dear Son.  I have a fun stack of indigo-style blues and browns that might make some great Rocky Mountain Puzzle blocks.

I did a little July 4th decorating on the bureau in my front entry hall!

Linking up with Wendy's (Constant Quilter) Monthly Mini Link-up.

October Potpourri (No Pumpkin Spice!)

When your current goal is to finish a bunch of outstanding projects, it's hard to come up with compelling blog topics.  Right now I'm in the process of hand-stitching the binding on a queen-size quilt.  I'm not one of those people who can stitch down a binding in one long session (carpal tunnel issues), so I try to do a little bit of stitching every day.  I'll get this one finished eventually, but there are three more waiting in the binding queue!

This is the quilt being bound:  Austen Family Album - a BOW by Barbara Brackman.  I divided up my completed blocks and made two quilts with them.  The colors are a little washed out here, but I love the soft look of the pink, yellow, and turquoise fabrics.

The first Austen Family Album quilt contained orange, green and brown fabrics.  I gifted the finished quilt to my sister.

We're finally getting some cooler fall weather here in South Louisiana.  I was inspired to do a little decorating.  I purchased the turkey platter on the left at an antique mall almost exactly 4 years ago.  After that first purchase, my Dear Hubby and I seemed to stumble across vintage turkey platters every time we went antiquing.  Pretty soon we had a collection.  My favorites are the ones with advertising for local furniture stores.  They must have been premiums for folks who purchased furniture around the holidays.

We couldn't stop with just turkey platters, we had to start adding turkey figures, too.  

My Halloween decorating is minimal compared to what I did when my kids were small.  There's a closet full of Halloween decorations, waiting for grandkids or a garage sale, whichever comes first!  I made this little quilt from brown and orange scraps and a great jack-o-lantern fabric.  It's perfect for displaying some Halloween push puppets and wind-up toys.

And now it's time to go stitch some more binding!  I hope everyone has a great week!

Still on the Finish It Train!

I have not been blogging much recently, because most of my quilting activity has involved hand-stitching bindings.  I've finished the binding on one quilt and started another, but there are still FOUR more in the pile of un-bound quilts!  

And why have I been focused on all this binding?  Because I'm still on a kick to finish up some UFOs!

This quilt got finished up earlier this week.  It's had a final trip through the washer and dryer and I'm more than happy with how it softened up and got crinkly.

The weather is not conducive to outdoor pictures today, but I wanted to document the quilt before mailing it off to a family member.  This quilt started out as an effort to use up a big stock of red, white and blue scraps from a previous quilt.  First I made the 16-patch blocks, then added the pinwheels (inspired by a Bonnie Hunter quilt).  Next, a red border followed by an HST zig-zag border (maybe my favorite type of border?!) and another dark blue border to frame everything.

My local long-arm quilter, Cindy Braiwick, had fun adding some patriotic quilting elements.

She added lots of stars, some words, and other patriotic symbols.  The quilt is a gift for my uncle, who is retired from the US Air Force.

The quilting showed up better on the back of the quilt, although I had to tweak the color to improve the visual.

And yup - I remembered to add a label!

Another quilt on the Finish It! list is Modern Crosses.  I should probably call this Not Modern Crosses, as I used reproduction fabrics instead of modern fabrics.  These are blue blocks for September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color.

I needed five more blocks to complete the setting, so I chose some multi-color florals.

I wasn't in love with just arranging the blocks in a straight set, so I looked online to see if anyone else was making the pattern and how they were setting the blocks.

When I saw several versions of the quilt using this half-drop setting, I knew I had a winner.  Now to cut some half-size pieces for the side blocks and stitch everything together!

I also did a little experimental sewing.  I needed a clear vinyl bag of some sort to carry necessities to an upcoming American football game.  Any bags being carried into American sports stadiums need to conform to a specific size and be see-through.  I knew I could probably make something from materials I had on hand, so I went looking for inspiration online.  Diane Knott at Butterfly Threads had recently made a bag of her own, and I also found this tutorial which got me started.

I didn't want my bag to be team-specific, so I chose some stash fabric with fall colors.  I already had some vinyl on hand, and some lightweight fusible interfacing for the handles.  Not bad for an afternoon's sewing!  Now I'll have something to tote my wallet, sunglasses, reading glasses and lip balm - all things I hate to be without!

May: 17ufosin2017

Time for another 17ufosin2017 report.  I missed last month's link-up, mostly because I posted my only progress for the month as a link to Audrey's Quilty 365 wrap-up post.  

I'm so glad I pushed myself to assemble all those Quilty 365 blocks into a top - otherwise I'd probably still have a basket full of blocks 5 years from now!  My son came up with the name "Full Circle".   I don't have a timetable for the quilting, but it will happen eventually.

Another of my 17 projects for 2017 was to simply add borders to a scrappy RWB quilt that has been in the making for a year or two.  

The photograph makes the border look very dark, but in person it's a great frame for all those red, white and blue fabrics.  At some point later this year, the top will get quilted and gifted.

Once the red, white and blue quilt was off the design wall, I started pinning up these Sawtooth Star and Uneven 9-Patch blocks.  I've had the blocks made for several years, so it was a priority for me to get them assembled into a top this year.  I still have a lot of stitching to do on this project, but 17ufosin 2017 will help keep me motivated!

Last, but not least, I finished hand-stitching the binding and label for one of my Austen Family Album quilts.  It was gifted to my sister just this past weekend.  I think she liked it!

That's all my progress to date.  It's been very satisfying to check off projects on my 17ufosin2017 list, although there are still some very large projects left to complete!  Meredithe has a linky party over at her blog, pomegranate and chintz, so do check out all the other ufo progress.

Dear Husband's Log Cabin Quilt

In the summer of 2014, I started working on a Log Cabin quilt for my Dear Husband.  

It was his first request for a quilt, and he chose the colors and general layout scheme.  He has always had a thing for log cabins (the structures), and this may be as close as he ever gets to having a log cabin of his own!

 

By the end of November 2015, I was stitching down the binding.  The quilt was finally finished in time for Dear Husband's early December birthday, but I didn't get an opportunity for photographs until last weekend.

 

Once again, my LAQ Cindy Braiwick did an amazing job on the quilting.  There are several different designs throughout the quilt, but these pinecones are one of my favorites.  And how lucky was I to find a backing fabric with log cabins?

 

This block has a wreath of oak leaves surrounding a dog's face.  Hard to see, despite my best attempts at photographing.  Dear Husband is a dog lover, so Cindy was sure to include Man's Best Friend in her quilting designs.

 

Dog bone in the quilting!

 

The full quilt, hanging from the balcony at our camp (the white diagonal strip on the bottom left corner is just the stairway railing).  Dear Husband has been enjoying the quilt for weeks, and judging by the amount of dog hair it has already accumulated, so have our dogs!

 

 

 

Blue Scraps on a Gray Day

Although we've not had much really cold weather this winter, we've still had way too many gray, overcast and foggy days.  Too much gloomy weather can have a dismal effect on one's state of mind, so it's good to have quilty projects on hand for therapy.  I sewed after work yesterday until way past my bedtime and plan to spend most of today engaged in the same activity - a big dose of Vitamin Q!

 

Making some Sugar Bowl blocks in Kaffe Fassett fabrics was my first project.  I started making Sugar Bowl blocks last year, using essentially solid-color fabrics.  I decided I needed more blocks and wanted to use some bright, vibrant prints.  

 

So far, I'm pleased with how the blocks blend with their plain blue counterparts.  I doubt I will color-block the Sugar Bowls in the final quilt, but it's fun to at least look at them together for now.

 

The multi-fabric 9-patch blocks are from last year's RSC.  After playing with last year's blocks on the design wall, I decided more blocks were needed.  A quick dig through the 2 1/2" scrap bin gave me enough blue centers, and it only took a few minutes to cut enough white scraps to complete the blocks.  Again, I doubt I'll use a color-block layout in the final quilt, but it's fun to play!

 

These red, white and blue 16-patch blocks have been a leader-ender project since last July.  They will be the center sections for more Scrap Jar Stars.  I finally finished all the centers, so I'll need to cut some HSTs to turn these into stars.  I did the math on how many HSTs I need:  200 of them!!  Not sure how I will fit all that cutting into my plans; maybe it's time to buy an Accuquilt cutter! 

My coffee cup is empty, so that means it's time to get to work.  I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrappers over at Angela's Soscrappy blog - I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's blue scrappiness on this gray day!

 

 

 

RSC 15: Taming the Scraps in Red, White & Blue

I already finished my red scrappy projects for the month, so this week I went digging through the drawers and baskets full of WIPs, looking for a red project that needed attention.  I found a large collection of red, white and blue scraps that had been languishing since I made a Twister quilt several years ago.  I've been wanting to make a RWB Scrap Jar Star quilt, so I spent some time today taming scraps and getting ready for another SJS project.

 

These scrappy left-overs from a Twister quilt have bias edges on the outside, so I had to do some fancy slicing and dicing to get strips and squares on the straight of grain. 

 

I cut 2" squares in the RWB fabrics plus white, so I can get started on the 16 patch centers of the Scrap Jar Stars.  I also wound up with a stack of 1.5" strips and squares that will find their way into another project some day.  As you can see, I've still got a lot of RWB scraps, plus some untouched fat quarters.  I should be able to complete the quilt top using just scraps, but I'll hang on to the FQs just in case! 

I haven't had time yet to look at all the other scrappy stitching taking place at Angela's Soscrappy blog today.  I believe I will make myself a large glass of sweet tea and go see what all the other RSC quilters have been up to this week!