{Post #958} Fair and Square Nearly Ready to Set

My Fair and Square quilt blocks are nearly ready to set out on the design wall.  I have to sew the second set of black pieces on about 20 of the blocks and trim down the string blocks to 10-1/2" square.  I had barely any time to sew at all today.  I don't know how you readers who have full-time jobs get it all done.  I ran just a few errands today...two banks, Wal-mart, filled car with fuel, daughter to piano and violin lessons, two chats (separate in-person visits) with college students, son to karate, shopping, drop off daughter at nursing home to minister, take son home, go to nursing home to sing and play flute with daughter, home.  I'm worn out just reading it.  How could I do this if I had to WORK??


Hubby (oh, dear, sweet, hubby) is making me a second design wall tomorrow.  Mine is only 4' x 6'.  That is probably huge to some of you.  I would really like to lay out a whole quilt at one time.  My design wall is portable...it's not attached to the room wall.  I just lean it against my fabric shelves.  How much harder would that be with two?  Not enough to matter.


Anywho...here is a sneak peek of how my quilt will look:

And a smackerel closer...

I am every so glad that I made the string-pieced blocks.  The main reason is that they totally depleted my stash of homespuns (oh, there might be a thread or two still in there, but they are for the most part GONE!).  I think the strings add to the look of the quilt.  I didn't want this quilt to weigh a ton.  I thought the strings would be so heavy, but I cut them in fairly wide widths, so it isn't too bad.  


Recently I got a machine quilting DVD set and have watched them all the way through.  I'll probably be selling it at the next online yard sale.  But it did give me some ideas for how to quilt this particular quilt.  Love, love, love it!!


~Joan

{Post #995} New Sewing Buddy!

Look who's stitching!  My youngest, Isaac (12), tackled the daunting task of learning to run a sewing machine tonight.  First he laid out an I Spy on my design wall.  Then I showed him how to take it off to make it easy to web it.  He.  did.  an.  awesome.  job.  


He got a whole I Spy top webbed (the horizontal rows sewn together).  In a couple days we'll work on it again...tomorrow is booked solid.


Here he is in action...nose to the "grindstone"...

I also finished the top of my Fair & Square quilt as well as piecing a back for it.  I needed 5 more inches of length beyond the WOF.  In the drawers under my cutting table I found a stack of 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" rectangles.  I have no earthly idea what they were intended for, but the fabrics are very old.  That ship seems to have sailed, so I pieced them side-to-side and put them between two pieces of gold fabric for a backing for Fair & Square.  There were just enough rectangles :)

~Joan

{Post #961} Fair and Square on New Design Wall

Here are the 30 center blocks, corner triangles, setting triangles, and one strip of the outer border for my Fair & Square quilt.  The top left corner has 3 rows actually sewn together.

It is hard to detect in the picture, but I have a second design wall on the left side.  The "old" one is on the right.  The new one is taller.  My husband cut down and screwed the insulation board to the particle board this past weekend.  This AM I stapled the tablecloth onto it.  Again, pics don't tell all.  The above blocks cover a huge area.  Scale is hard to determine in pictures.  Looking forward to finishing the piecing on this one.


Truth be told...I've started 3 other shirt quilts.  I am in the process of cutting the shirts apart.  I would rather only handle them once.  So as I cut off the collars, sleeves, cuffs, and yokes, I deposited the pieces I cut out into 2-1/2" x 16" for a scrappy bargello, 2-1/2" x 10" for Rectangle Wrangle, bricks and squares for Hand Me Down blocks, and the smallest strange-sized pieces into an old plastic spinach box for a spiderweb shirt quilt.  I have a few blocks of each one made (just to see what they would look like, of course).


To my surprise, I came across a stack of 9" wide x WOF woven plaids.  I THINK I might have gotten them from my sister in this purchase.  Anywho...I cut them up.  My process...as I cut the shirt parts down, if a strip was 2-1/2" wide, I cut it into 16" if it was long enough, and 10" if it was long enough.  The Hand Me Down blocks take sets of 4 or 8, so I had to see if there was enough for those.  The string box quickly filled up.  Pics of the spiderweb string later.


~Joan

{Post #955} Fair & Square Coming Along

My Fair & Square quilt is coming along.  What a difference a little solid black makes!  The top picture is a few blocks and a couple string-pieced alternate blocks.  I did a little searching and found the solid black I had purchased (a year ago?) for this.  I sashed 4 blocks, and voila!

You can see that I am using my outer border blocks as the leader/enders for my string-piecing blocks.

I was in a tight plaid spot.  I even wrote to my b-friend, Julie, about it.  Julie loves plaids.  I needed her advice.


Years ago (many, many years ago) I purchased a kit on eBay that was all plaids.  Much to my chagrin, most of them were homespuns, not tightly woven plaids.  I hated to pitch them, but it looked like that might be a possibility.  I spent a few minutes here and there the last week cutting them up.  I used a few for the 1-1/2" strips for the blocks surrounding the red squares in this quilt.  I cut some 2" strips for the outer border.  Then I cut up all the rest of it for the string-pieced blocks.  All of my homespuns are gone (used in this quilt).  I tried to border most of them with muslin or more tightly-woven fabric so they would not stretch.  That way they were in every unit of the quilt, but not all together to make them weak or stretchy.  We'll see how that works out.


Today is one of the few times I've had to sew this week.  It was good to see a little progress on this quilt.


Sew many quilts to make and sew little time!


~Joan

{Post 1,038} Sew Unproductive

So, I was bemoaning the fact that I haven't gotten much sewn this summer.  School will start soon.  We home school, so I'm cancelling all parent/teacher conferences for sake of time.  My sewing time will be extremely limited.  I am feeling the loss of sewing time already.

I perused my own blog to see what I've accomplished since July 1.  I don't want to take the time to link everything.  If you want to see a picture, type the key word in the search box on the top left.

Pieced large throw - Apple Pie top (sold).

Quilted and bound full-size Scrappy Bargello (kept).

Quilted and bound baby quilt (to gift).

Started up an Etsy store and listed lots of yardage, I Spy sets, quilt tops, etc.

Pieced twin-sized Northern Comfort top (destination undetermined).

Pieced and quilted fall leaf runner (for Emily).

Started hand quilting Grandmother's Flower Garden wall hanging (about half finished--to keep).

Hand pieced two LeMoyne star blocks.

Pieced, repaired, quilted, and bound queen-sized Christmas quilt (to keep).

Pieces and quilted Twister wall hanging (28" square - kept).

DECLUTTERED AND REORGANIZED SEWING ROOM...deserves to be in all caps.

Pieces Squares Surrounded (queen-size...destination unknown).

Pieced, quilted, and bound top-secret large throw (destination classified).

Quilted and bound Fair & Square (destination unknown).

Assisted neighbor girl in starting I Spy for unborn nephew.

Assisted friend making Twister table runner.

Pieced, quilted, and bound floral string quilt (to be gifted soon).

Pieced Ryan's quilt (needs two more braided borders then outer one-fabric border...obviously going to Ryan).

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yep--I've just been sittin' around, doin' nothin'.

~Joan

{Post 1,020} Fair & Square Finally Finished

You are probably soooo tired of seeing this quilt.  This AM I watched Mirror, Mirror and hand sewed the last of the binding down.  Then I washed and dried it.  Love it!


It measures about 78" x 92".  Very large.

{Post #996} Fair & Square Quilting...Cool!!

I tried a new machine quilting continuous free motion pattern.  It is loosely based on a pattern I saw somewhere, but I don't think the designer would want to be associated with me, so without further ado...may I present my new design?  

It is going very slowly.  Lots of places to be very careful.  I just took a break to debone some shirts.  I bought 8 yesterday.  The thrift store was having a 50% off sale.  It was very crowded.  Fun times!

~Joan, who is desperately trying to keep herself from starting any new quilts.  H-e-l-p!!

{Post #998} Fair and Square Quilted!

Wow--this is a big finish.  I have never done machine quilting that was so intensive or dense.  I.  love.  it!!


I am looking forward to seeing it washed and dried.  I sewed the binding onto the front.  I used one shirt and had enough to go around another two sides.  Much more fabric there than I thought.

{Post #957} One Quilt At A Time...or Three!

I noticed something unusual...I get more done on a quilt when I only work on that quilt.  What a concept!  But I find myself working a bit here and there on other quilts while the main quilt is in process.  That's usually because as I am cutting for the "main quilt", I cut pieces for other quilts I plan to make in the future.  Plus, there's the whole leader/ender thing.  Ironically, the future is now (I think that's a quote from some famous historian, but I don't know who)...I can barely wait to see how one block of "future quilt" looks, and next thing I know, I'm zipping up a couple blocks, then another...


It's a vicious cycle.  But I was looking back at my recently finished quilts.  Florabunda.  Bow Ties.  Two I Spy baby quilts.  Scrappy Trips Floral/Plaid/Thimbleberries scraps.  Hmmm...there's a pattern here.


All that to say that I finished MOST of the piecing for my Fair & Square quilt last night.  I need to add the black 1-1/2" wide sashing to about 20 blocks, then I'm ready to lay this quilt out on the design wall.  Finished piecing, starching (it pains me to even type the word), and removing paper foundations from the last 29 string blocks.  So if I can find some piecing time today, this might be ready to lay out next week.


Here are the last 11 1-1/2" strip 4-patch blocks.  In spite of having few shirts, there is a lot of variety in each block.  Once again, my goal was to separate the attention-getting fabrics (you know who you are!).

Here is my design wall as of last night.

In the back are a few of the finished sashed and pieced string blocks.  On the right are the two outer border pieces I have done so far.  They are folded in half and are much longer than they appear.  They are pieced from 2" strips.  


What is that on the left side?  Oh...that's what I was referring to earlier in this post.  As I am handling all these plaids, I have been cutting strips for a scrappy bargello plaids and stripes only quilt.  Nearly all are shirt strips.  I just HAD to see what one panel would end up looking like.  I had a picture in my MIND, but I wanted to see one on the WALL :)  This is the result of 40 2-1/2" strips.  The panel is 80-1/2" long and 12-1/2" wide.


There are only 6 panels in the quilt I plan to make, so I am 1/6 of the way there!  If it weren't for the cutting of all the strips, I could have one of those made in a day, I think.  Quilted and all!  Sooooo fast.  Truly, as with any good scrap quilt, ANYTHING goes!!  No matchy-matchy fabrics.  Just toss it in there.  I might use a jelly roll that's been languishing in my fabric storage for one of these.  They are just that fast and easy.  


I thought it would be difficult to cut the tubes of squares from the original panel.  It wasn't.  In fact, I was fairly frightened about the process because instead of cutting my strips 18" as suggested (I couldn't stand to throw away such a large chunk of fabric), I cut mine 16", giving me only 1" total of waste.  So after I straightened up one side, I had just a smidge to trim from the other.  All was well.  Perfect, in fact.  It didn't pain me at all to throw away <1" of fabric total from each strip.  If I had the 3" piece, I would have been racking my brain to come up with a way to USE it!  Really!  Just ask my daughters :)


Off for a busy day.  Graduate brunch, airsoft war, and opening season for the baseball team my son is on.  Glory!


~Joan

Franklin Trunk Show

These are just my favorites of all the great quilts Bonnie showed us last night.  I would like to make a couple of these.

Bricks in the Barnyard:

Fair and Square:

Hexagon Project:

Close up of Tiny Log Cabins:

Whole Log Cabin quilt--paper pieced:

Crabapples:

Smith Mountain Morning:

We had a fun time chatting with Bonnie, seeing her lovely quilts, etc.

When we got back to the hotel, we cut out Susanna's quilt kit for tomorrow.  Well, she cut it while I worked on her next quilt (that's my girl!)...

~Joan

{Post 1,013} Attempting the (Nearly) Impossible

I am baring my soul (well, my sewing room) to you.  It has gotten messier and messier.  I have finally decided to dive in and do something about it.  Today I worked about 5 hours on it.  Don't see a marked improvement (yet!), but I am happy with what has been accomplished. 


I had worked about two hours when my sweet sister-I-was-separated-from-at-birth emailed me about "before" pictures.  All I had done to that point was go through two huge storage boxes that are now EMPTY (a rare sight around here), so not much has been touched on the cutting table or shelves.  


I hope some of you have done this same thing.  Dejunking is so time-consuming for me.  Having to decide what to keep, gift, dump...all those decisions!  Add in running across project after UFO after lost yardage, ad nauseum.  Surely some of you know what I mean?


The two aforementioned boxes were in my bedroom for ages.  Then in a bedroom-cleaning frenzy, they were moved to the garage.  They were mostly fabric chunks, quilt tops, and other crafting stuff that had sneaked into my bedroom. Unfortunately, a leak a good while ago in the room over the garage mostly landed in my boxes.  I forgot about it though because only my daughter parks her car in the garage.  Out of sight, out of mind?


I had to wash all the fabric in the boxes (as well as a quilt top that I was just wondering last night where it was).  The quilt top has several squares that need to be replaced.  They are stained.  I washed it on a gentle cycle.  There was a tiny bit of fraying, but not much.  I will replace those squares soon.  You can see it hanging across my quilt frame in some of my "before" pictures.


The perfectionist in my wants to head right back down there and "finish this thing for goodness' sake!".  But I am afraid I will burn out.  Five hours of facing that mess is enough for today.  I am going to go down and sew for about an hour after I finish here.


I listed some of the fabric chunks I washed and dried today on my Etsy store.  My store name is ShelbyStitcher.  I am charging $5 a yard for the fabrics.  I threw away two large trash bags of...um...stuff.  Don't want to think about it.  Also have a large bag to take to Goodwill.  I will press on (little quilting pun there).


Are you ready?  Forewarned is forearmed:

Yes, it is as bad as it looks.  Maybe worse!  

Above is two of my storage areas.  I cleaned off the top shelf of the brown bookshelves.  I also went through all the drawers that are mine in the plastic shelves on the right.  Two of them are my daughter's things.  I made a list of the quilt tops in there and what stage they are in (need piecing, borders, quilting, etc.).  I make so many quilt tops with no recipient in mind that many of them languish for a long time.  The brown shelves have the green curtains across the front most of the time.  The bottom section is my I Spy stash.  The shelf above it is fabrics I've saved for borders (mostly Thimbleberries).  Above that is my books, and the top shelf will be the new home for my recycled shirt chunks.

This is the neatest wall.  It has my two fabric bookshelves, two portable design walls, and a school bookshelf on it.  This just needs some minor straightening.

My cutting table...a cutter's nightmare.  The shirt projects are spiraling out of control.  In the back left (under the wire basket and piece of leftover batting) is my pile of shirt front and backs.  They are large pieces, neatly folded.  My original idea was to cut pieces for several quilts as I cut the shirts apart.  As it turns out, I've had my hands full whittling down the strings generated from just deboning the shirts.  All is well, though.  I did complete a Fair & Square and Scrappy Bargello quilt, not to mention several baby quilts.  Others in the works, but I need to clear off my cutting table and make a shirt section in my storage nightmare!

Let the sympathy or congratulations begin!  I have a doctor's appointment in about an hour, so I'm going to go sew until I have to leave.  I only wanted to declutter for an hour today, and I did 5 times that, so I deserve a few minutes' break.

~Joan