Archive for the ‘Piecing in progress’ Category

Very scrappy I know and I’m sure it’s not to everyone’s taste. Framing each of the 9 patch blocks in a single fabric or putting sashing between the blocks would have calmed it down some but I love it like this. I spent today making the rest of the blocks and I’ve started to assemble the rows.

I’m also  enjoying  having my sewing table in front of the window — not sure why I didn’t put it there when we first moved here. Today I was able to watch the snow coming down as I was working ….and as you can see, it’s still snowing. Again, not everyone wishes for snow but I love it.

The same twisted 9 patch blocks are on my design wall but I’m slowly making progress on them. I need to go back to making 9 patch blocks now as I’ve twisted all the ones I had.

This quilt will take (48)  9 inch blocks (blocks are 9.5 with seam allowances and I started with a 6 inch 9 patch block (6.5 with seam allowance)) It will measure 54×72 which is a good size donation quilt.

I also finished quilting this top sent by Cecile for me to quilt and donate. I used my Circle Lord Swirls template. It’s been a while so I was a bit wobbly in places — it won’t be very noticeable when it’s done thanks to cotton batting and washing/drying the finished quilt.

Bouncing around in the channels with the stylus is my biggest challenge with these giant templates but I love the texture and the results I get and once I’m warmed up it’s not bad. In fact I just ordered the Pampas Clam board the other day — I’ve been wanting a clamshell version and this can be quilted with or without the *grass*.

I always make sure I have several quilts lined up before loading one of the templates on the table so you’ll be seeing a few of these in the next couple weeks although I’ll alternate with some freehand quilting too.

I started twisting a few nine patches last night and I wanted to play with them today

….but Tuesday is for Strings. I finished the first set of Quilt as you GO blocks I’ve been working on for HeartStrings.

Now I’m going to get out of the house for a late lunch and stop by the corner grocery store to pick up a few essentials like milk on my walk home! When I get home I still have to piece a backing too.

I got all the rail fence blocks made and probably would have had the top finished but just like it’s *parent* quilt, I thought this one might need a pop of red.

I’ve used piping before in between borders or bindings but never in the blocks however I think it was the only way I could get the little sliver of color I wanted in here.

As you can see, it’s going to be a very subtle effect and I’m probably going to regret inserting these when it comes time to quilt.

I started with a strip of red cut 0.75 inches and folded it in half to sew in between the seams.

Cut it into 8.5 inch sections (my unfinished block size)

And I am adding it to the appropriate blocks as I assemble the rows. I’ll only have 3 kind of randomly placed zig-zagging lines running through the top.

Here’s a block ready to be sewn into it’s row. I’m using a narrow 1/8 inch seam to sew the piping on first. Some people might just pin it in between the two blocks and sew but I have better luck sewing it first.

And so, rather than being done with this top, I’m slowly getting it assembled. I hope the red is going to be worth the trouble. You might be able to see it a little better in this final photo by clicking on it to enlarge.

By the way, how many of you use digital photographs to help you *check* your work? See that block in the second to the last row that is not rotated correctly? I might not have caught it until it was too late without the photo.

It was empty Monday so I didn’t show it to you but I got up at 2AM and after piecing my batting leftovers, I put this Boxed Squares back on the design wall.

When I put this away, I had assembled a section as large as my design wall 72 x 72 and I needed to add an additional 3 rows.

I finished the additional 36 blocks I needed.

I’ve already sewn these rows together and the top is done but I need to wait until it’s light outside to take a photo of the full top.

Originally I was going to add borders to make this bed size for Adam but since he’s chosen to have the other quilt as a wedding quilt, I’m going to stop at this point with the top being 72 x 90.

Well it’s not Monday but I hadn’t made any progress so it wasn’t worth showing you then. Today however I’ve finished the blocks for this HeartStrings quilt and now I just have to assemble them.

I don’t have any real goals for this month except finishing this top and one other and doing a bit of quilting. I also don’t have much planned around here for the holidays. No company is expected and we might even go out to dinner Christmas rather than cooking.

We will be going to GA to visit the boys the week between Christmas and New Year’s so I do have something to look forward to.

I decided to set the table up tonight to give me a surface for working on my Applecore blocks.

The snow continues to come down and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get Chesty to the Vet tomorrow. You know I don’t do well driving in snow and so far I haven’t heard the snowplows out yet – usually you can hear the beeping all night. Now it’s time for bed so I can get up in the morning.

I mentioned cutting out blocks for an Apple Core quilt the other day. Well my plan is to hand piece these and while it feels very awkward now, I’m hoping that it will feel more natural as I go along. I’m also hoping this doesn’t end up in my never to be completed UFO pile!

Still working on the HeartStrings blocks… I’ll be up all night and leave for VA first thing in the morning so I  may get these blocks finished. Do you see the heart?

I’m still working on my third set of HeartStrings blocks. I wasn’t sure about these blocks at first but now I’m really liking the jewel tones.  I’m using our HeartStrings Logo setting for this top.

I also finished tying the 3rd quilt from Lani and her group in CA and got two of them bound.

I talked to Keith today and now he won’t be coming home until Tuesday around dinner time.  I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up this pace that long but I still have a couple things left on the list to work on tomorrow.

This one a RWB HeartStrings and one of my favorites.  After playing in my pantograph box this past week I was ready for some freehand fun so it’s quilted with a swirly version of Dwirling from the Pajama Quilter DVD.

I’m also still working on my brown centered HeartStrings blocks.

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Our Block Party continues and I started a second set today – these with brown centers.

Join the Block Party!

I’m so excited that I actually have something on the wall that hasn’t been there forever. I started these HeartStrings blocks last week and now I’m in the process of assembling the top.

I’ll start some more blocks this week as HeartStrings is having a month long Block Party. For details on how you can join in visit the HeartStrings site.

And here’s a simple little quilt that I designed for Mom on my visit in October.  She finished the top and send me this photo today. Isn’t it cute?

But I didn’t get very far before I started a new set of HeartStrings blocks. We’re having a Block Party this month and I couldn’t wait to get started. Bad photos taken with my phone but I’m too lazy to go retake them with the camera.

I think Chesty was glad I didn’t get it all cleaned up! He’s very overdue for grooming but I’m finally taking him tomorrow — he will look completely different!

Keith’s off this week so after working during the HeartStrings Sew-in this labor day weekend I’ve been spending time with him rather than sewing — I am doing a little binding at night when he goes to bed but so far no progress on the pink & brown blocks on the design wall except to come across the one with the squares rotated the wrong way — glad I found it before it was sewn into to the top!

The top is too big to fit on the design wall so these are only part of them…..

Look at the bottom two corners and you’ll see where I rotated those two squares wrong…..

If you love this quilt and want to make it – check out my MaryQuilts.com site for an instruction sheet and several different color options.

I’llprobably  get bored with this when I’m about halfway done — assembling blocks into a top is not my favorite part of the process so this weekend sew-in is a good thing for me. It will keep me from leaving this up on the design wall for another week!

Some tips for assembling these blocks – I use a walking foot to handle the layers (these blocks are pieced on a muslin foundation). If I move my needle all the way to the right, I can use the edge of the foot to line up my blocks and get a 1/4 inch seam.

I iron all my seams open on these blocks to decrease bulk — this makes them lie flat which helps a LOT when I go to quilt them.

I assemble my blocks in groups of 4 — the top 16 blocks have been assembled into 4 block sections already. This helps make sure I don’t get my blocks out of order as I’m creating a diamond with each group of 4.

So what’s on your design wall this week? Share the link at Judy’s site

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Kathy and Rhonda worked on our new Diamond String blocks and others worked on our regular HeartStrings blocks.

But most of the people attending worked on assembling Happy Blocks. Carol even took the rest of the blocks home to finish assembling them into tops and I brought two of these home with me to quilt — the blue and the pink & green ones in the front.

You can see some other photos from our day in this Picasa album.

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I’m not. I piece blocks in sets, throw them up on the design wall and admire them for a while. See those bright reds? They were scattered across the top but kept distracting me so I put them to work creating a secondary diamond.

40 blocks done, I need to make a decision about borders soon. I usually don’t border my string quilts but I think I want this larger without having to make it 2 rows wider.

On to binding for a bit.

I decided to work on a rectangle string quilt — similar to the one I have instructions posted except that one was color coordinated to the border I was using and this one has everything but the kitchen sink. I also cut my black center strings narrower (1.5 inches versus 2).

My favorite tool when I’m making string blocks – my rotating mat for squaring the blocks.

I’m trying very hard NOT to think about what I should be doing (quilting tops, binding, finishing Adam’s top, starting Keith’s flannel quilt, and assembling the brown/pink Stars and Pinwheel blocks). I can’t quite manage to do what I want guilt free but I’ll keep trying.

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