Archive for the ‘Piecing in progress’ Category

In a number of quilts that I make I start second guessing my ideas in the middle of the piecing. I’ve learned sometimes it’s best to make changes that will improve the overall quilt and other times to just keep going and trust that the quilt will turn out like I want it to by the time it’s assembled, quilted and bound. The Twisted 9 Patch quilt was one of those that I kept going in spite of some doubts and this simple Rail Fence is another. When I tossed the first few blocks up – I was nervous but it’s coming together and with the addition of the borders and some quilting, I’m sure I’ll end up being happy with it.

I wasn’t sure I was going to get any sewing done today after being gone – my first day home is always a catch up day but I finished up all my non sewing tasks and with Keith gone, was able to spend a couple hours in the sewing room tonight working on my Sashed 9 Patch blocks.

I finished up the blocks and they’ll just need sashing and the  border now. Normally I would go ahead and finish the top but these blocks are going to be put aside probably until November so I can work on a couple piecing projects that need to be done before October. Knowing that – my goal for the summer was just to finish these blocks.

And for any eagle eyed readers out there who may pick up that I have fewer blocks in this than in the design I posted — I often design in two sizes. The original quilt was twin size but I like to have some of my donation quilts twin size, some lap or sofa size, and some kid size and in this case I decided that I have more need of a sofa size quilt as I have several larger and smaller ones here.

Until we moved to Minneapolis, I used the floor but when we moved I didn’t have the floor space to lay out blocks so I found a portable one at a quilt show. I have to admit I’m more likely to pick up errors or blocks that I want to move around with a vertical wall – and since moving to the townhouse here – it sits out at the top of my landing so every time I walk up and down the stairs I study what’s up there.

Today – I tossed the sashed 9 patch blocks back up since they’re next to be finished but I’m feeling the urge to get out again so my day will be a repeat of yesterday – lunch, some knitting at the coffee shop and then the library for more genealogy research. I got half of my August UFO quilted this morning so I don’t feel too unproductive!

So what’s on your design wall?

I promise I won’t bore you every day with my progress on the Spiderweb quilt but there’s something just magical that happens to these blocks as they are sashed with the pinwheel cornerstones.

So as I was sashing another row in the middle of the night, I wondered if I should include the pinwheels in the border – and this is where my love of EQ7 comes in. I could see right away that I like the plain border best. It’s especially nice because if I had started to cut up my border strips into sections and THEN discovered I didn’t like it, I’d be in trouble because I don’t have enough extra fabric to cut the borders twice.

I’ve made up my mind already but I’ll include both EQ7 drawings here so you can decide which you like better.

I’m not sure how Chris managed to talk me into another quilt but at least Mom helped by piecing the blocks for me.

These blocks have been up there for several weeks but I’m finally starting to sash them. This is a variation of my Spiderweb quilt and it will just have one border  that is the same width as the sashing.

And here’s an update on my progress toward completing my list of goals for the summer. My plan is to quilt some HeartStrings tops in between these last 4 tasks but I’ve got a couple trips planned too so we’ll see how it goes.

Finish August’s UFO
Make & send postcard for August
Finish 9 patch blocks
Assemble Chris’ top
  Bind July’s UFO
  Quilt July’s UFO
  Finish letters & piece HS backing
  Quilt Mom’s tumbler top
  Make & send postcard for July
  Finish piecing July’s UFO – my HeartStrings Anniversary Quilt
  Quilt Mom’s star/heart top
  Bind Churn Dash & Stars
  Quilt Churn Dash and Stars top 
  Piece back for Churn Dash & Stars
  Bind the Spiderweb quilt ( June’s UFO)
  Piece back for RWB HeartStrings
  Assemble RWB HeartStrings top
  Bind sashed log cabin quilt
  Finish RWB HeartStrings blocks
  Quilt my June UFO
  Quilt Jan’s blue HS top
  Bind RWB quilt from Sue
  Bind Kathy’s RWB HS quilt
  Quilt my sashed log cabin
  Quilt RWB top from Sue
  Finish postcards for May & June
 

I’m having a little problem getting back in the work groove after vacation so I’m kind of all over the place today.

First, this top has been on the design wall since before we left so I could piece a back for it — that was my first task. I’ve been trying to get backs pieced for all the UFO’s on my Challenge list – Maybe Judy will pick this one next month.

Then I put up this month’s UFO – My HeartStrings Anniversary quilt. I’ve had this top together for a LONG time but it’s square so I’d decided I needed another couple rows. Luckily, I had extras sent to me and I just needed to make two blocks. It will end up 72 x 90 when I’m done with it. The plan is to quilt my freehand Baptist Fans on it and use a scrappy binding from leftovers.

In the same bin, were my free pieced letters — at one time I had enough of the background fabric for the back of this quilt — it’s been 2-3 years at least so I was doubtful that I could even find enough to finish assembling the letters but it was the first fabric I pulled out of my blue drawer — what are the chances of that? I’ll piece these into a big block and then build my backing around it.

Finally, I trimmed the Churn Dash and Stars top and it’s ready for binding now. I need to finish this one before Keith goes to Florida on the 20th which should be easy enough.

And look who’s happy to be home and back on his perch!

I wanted to get one more top quilted before I leave on Tuesday and since it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to get it done tomorrow – I loaded and quilted this top of Jan’s. Pantograph is Happy Times. I’ll show the full quilt once it’s bound but that won’t be for a while. I’m going to pull a HeartStrings top now and then in between the others I need done this summer but won’t get them bound right away as I’ll work on checking off the items on my list first.

I also finished the initial assembly of my blocks – I don’t know if I’ll get this one completely assembled before leaving but should at least get some of the rows done.

And here’s an update on my list of Summer Goals I posted last Sunday – A few things have been added along the way but I’m making good progress.

Quilting
Make & send postcard for July
Quilt Mom’s tumbler top
Quilt Mom’s star/heart top
Quilt college quilt
Finish 9 patch blocks
Assemble Chris’s top
Quilt Churn Dash and Stars top
Quilt my June UFO
Assemble RWB HeartStrings top
Bind sashed log cabin quilt
Finish RWB HeartStrings blocks
Quilt Jan’s blue HS top
Bind RWB quilt from Sue
Bind Kathy’s RWB HS quilt
Quilt my sashed log cabin
Quilt RWB top from Sue
Finish postcards for May & June

And while I’m reporting — I’ve logged 39 miles biking and 19.5 miles walking for June so far. I’m not going to report my weight loss each week but I’ve lost a few pounds and I’ll let you know at the end of the summer if I hit my goal of dropping 10-15 lbs.

I’m going to play now — some family research but later this afternoon I need to get out and walk some.

Another Item checked off my list today — I finished this set of HeartStrings blocks. Then I promptly added assembling the top to the list. I was tempted to set them aside for now but over the last several years I’ve done really well with making myself get blocks into a top before moving on so I’m going to keep this on the list until it’s assembled.

I also managed a bike ride and worked on a binding.

In honor of the Memorial Day holiday, I put away the 9 patch blocks and started a set of blocks for a RWB HeartStrings quilt that will eventually go to a veteran or wounded soldier.

I’m approaching a BIG birthday in a couple days — I was feeling a little down but with a Spa day planned and my son Chris coming in for a visit to help me celebrate – I’m not feeling too bad now and I’m looking forward to Thursday.

Keith and I also went on another bike ride today – it was hotter and very windy but we did 14.3 miles and we got a lot of exercise! My hope in the next 2-3 months is to increase my exercise level and drop a few pounds — they seem to creep up on me.

I leave again tomorrow and I’ve accomplished the quilting goals on my list for these 3 days I was home … of course, I left the unpacking, laundry, and packing until today. So yesterday I started piecing 9 patch blocks – I have a bin with 2.5 inch strips so I cut a few scraps for the one inch sashing between the blocks with my GO. Today I had enough 9 patches done to assemble a few of the larger sashed blocks.

Since you know how much I don’t like sashing quilts, it’s kind of crazy that I picked two sashed quilts to work on back to back. Also, my original plan was to use blue for the larger sashing but after just finishing the String Log Cabin with blue sashing, I might end up using a different color. I’ll wait until I have more blocks made and then start auditioning fabric. And just in case you didn’t see my post last week – this is where I’m going with this one.

Now back to my nine patches. You can expect this one to stay on the design wall for a while because when I get home from Boston, I’ve GOT to get some quilting done before the end of the month.