{Post 1,429} More Piecing

This AM I sewed the last few rows of the Chevron Quilt together and also pieced 12 more I Spy leader/ender blocks to finish a small quilt top.

My daughter, Susie, is coming to spend a day or so with us, so I want to be free to enjoy her visit.

At some point soon, I'll trim and add borders to the Chevron Quilt.  

The top and bottom row of blocks are not sewn on...I just wanted to spread out the reds in these blocks before I sew them together.

{Post 1,403} Another Leader/Ender I Spy New Project

When will it end?  I always want to try new blocks, use up a little more fabric, etc.  So the end is not really in sight.  I saw Bonnie Hunter working on some Carolina Chain blocks a few days ago, and I just had to try a few.  Not sure I love, Love, LOVE the pattern, but it does use up some more I Spy fabrics.

Here's what I've got so far:

The blocks measure 5" square (4-1/2" square finished).  This will make a cute I Spy for a baby.  I am going to start some machine quilting soon.  First a surprise project, then some baby-sized I Spys.

Wish me luck!

{Post 1,399} 24/36ths Finished!

Here is my I Spy leader/ender.  It will be 36" square when the center is finished.  I'm still stuck in the mindset that all quilts need borders.  We shall see with this one.  This has been fun to cut and piece. I need 12 more blocks to finish the center.  

This is one busy little quilt.  

{Post 1,397} A Finish and A Start

Finished the center of the Charming Addition I Spy this AM.  I will be adding a border or two, but the center is finished.  It is 36" square.

Next up is a leader/ender project I started from strips of the above quilt that were left over.  This is how it starts, isn't it?  I saw the quilt below at a guild meeting I attended with a friend recently and loved it.  The one I saw was not in novelty prints.  I love the shadowing and brightness and darkness and everything in between.  As with all quilt beginnings, there is not a lot of variety in the fabrics...yet.  Wait until I get going!!

{Post 1,252} Six Rows Together

{Post 1,251} Three Rows Together

Here is a picture with a correction made as well as the top 3 rows sewn together.

I had the orientation of the 4-patches wrong.  I figured it didn't matter as long as they were all the same.  But I switched them before sewing.

Can you see the difference?  Here's before and after:

In the top picture, there is a dark line of squares down the center of each pieced diagonal row.  In the bottom, there is a light string of squares.  Not very different, but I figured I better go with the original pattern.

{Post 1,250} Leader/Ender Center on the Wall

I was looking back to see when I started this leader/ender.  It was July 16th.  Of this year, LOL!  The units are all pieced, and I have laid out the center on the design walls.  The inner and outer borders are cut, and the 4-patches for the outer border are also pieced.

When this is sewn together, it will measure 48-1/2" x 60-1/2".  The blue is one I got 2 bolts of by accident, so I'm lookin' to use some up.  I love the denim-y color.  Since the name of the quilt is 501, it's a perfect match.

{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

{Post #951} Feels Like Fall Blocks Finished

Leader/enders are amazing.  Yesterday I realized after a quick count that I only needed a few tiny geese to have all of those finished.  I had them safety-pinned in groups of 10, so it was easy to count them.  I needed 300 total.  That number seemed so gigantic when I was contemplating making this quilt, but, what in the world??  All my blocks are finished.


This AM I drew a template for the leaf and cut them out of 5 different scrap greens.  When I saved the pattern in a page protector, I forgot to get the leaf template off the pattern sheet.  But this works :)


I decided to use the raw-edge applique method like I did on my Bull's Eye quilt.  Perfect!!  This will gain so much personality with the quilting of the pumpkin segments, vines, and leaf veins.  But I'm likin' it a lot NOW!!  Here are the 30 blocks laid out.  Each block finishes at 10".

Doesn't that make your pumpkin-y heart go all a-pitter-patter??  Here is a close-up of one leaf...

After washing and drying, it will be all soft and fluttery-edged.    I.  love.  to.  quilt.


Bet ya never would've guessed!


~Joan

Two Inch Squares

I have used up SO many two-inch squares.  Seemingly meaningless scraps.  Until you make something you like.  The top two pictures are still in the "quilt top" phase of their lives.  But, Lord willing, my Handi-Quilter will be here soon and I can remedy that!

As I was piecing another Scrappy Stars block last night, I saw that my 4-patch basket was NEARLY empty!!  How could that be?  I went through my pictures and gleaned out a few pictures from the last two years.  Glad I didn't throw away those little scraps of fabric now!!  These were all made with the leader/ender method as a starter and then focused on completely after many of the units were finished.

Now I'm wondering how many projects I've made from my 1-1/2" strips boxes?  Hmmm...another question for another time.

~Joan

Leader Ender Spool Blocks

Here is a quick tutorial on how I'm piecing my spool blocks. Bonnie Hunter wrote the book, literally, on leader/enders. I am constantly amazed that some piecers have no idea what these are. I've made most of my quilts in the past year using this method. While I'm purposely making something else, I piece large portions of my units for my next quilt. While I'm finishing that one up, I start my next leader/ender. Lather, rinse, repeat, LOL!

Here is the way I do it. Your mileage may vary.

The most important part is having block pieces near the sewing machine. Every time you finish an assembly line of piecing, you put two more pieces together.

Each of my spool blocks (see one finished in the back of the pic) has a print 2" x 5" rectangle, four 2" squares of the same print, and 2 cream 2" x 5" strips.


I have been doing the first step as a set of two so I make sure I have the same background print. You could do it one at a time. I have lots of small pieces around my machine. No sense confusing myself!

I drew a line on my machine base and sewing table with a Sharpie. I need to reapply it often. It is used like an Angler so I don't have to mark my fabric for the HST seams.


After sewing the diagonal seam, trim and press open. (see the last spool block in the background). My ironing board is to the left of my machine. I use a swiveling office chair as my sewing chair. It gives great support and makes it easy to spin towards the ironing board. Yes--I do that one seam and put it back next to my sewing machine.

When I need another leader/ender, I pick up that same piece and add the other corner. If the squares were bigger, I'd double sew them and have a stack of small HSTs to iron open for a future quilt. But these are very small, so I'm just tossing the trimmings.

Trim and press open. Then the next step is adding the center print fabric.

Repeat that last step with the other side of the spool block, and voila'!! Another spool block finished. Another thing that surprises a lot of quilters is that I use pins as little as possible. Saves a ton of time.

~Joan

Due North Flannel Top Finished!

This is a UFO I started a couple months ago and then stalled. It was from a kit that I bought on eBay. This is identical to the first top we pieced for a customer, so it has some sentimental value. It is all Thimbleberries flannel. It's like sewing colored clouds. I used a walking foot for all the piecing. It finishes at 58" x 82". I have the backing in the washer now. It matches the strips between the geese and the outer border. I only prewash flannels.

Lest you think I just sew all day (well, you're almost right)...all I had to do to finish this top was put on the navy inner border and large print outer border. When the backing is dry, I'll piece it and get it basted right away. That's my next sewing machine project.

I am trying to finish up some UFOs while only piecing on a leader/ender project. Here are two blocks from my next leader/ender...

The name of the quilt is "Plan B". I'll be posting later on the book from which the pattern comes. The squares are all 2". That's the size I cut most of my scraps down to. If they are not 2" wide, I cut them into 1-1/2" strips for my log cabin boxes. If they're smaller than that, I pitch them.

I'm feeling horrible (sore throat, body aches, etc.), so I'm heading upstairs for some hot soup and a nap. Yuck!

~Joan