As you might remember there were good comments on the next to the last post I wrote about the border of this quilt. Rhonda was right, not that I doubted her, of course. This quilt looks a lot better with a red border on it.
I did a trial run of the border in another post and, then, sewed it on last weekend. Do you ever have times in your quilt work where you have a lot of little things to do – make a binding, sew on a border, fix a hole, print foundation templates – that all seem to stack up before you can move on with projects? I had a weekend like that last weekend. I never feel like I get a lot done when I have those lists of things to do, but the weeks that follow are full of amazing productivity.
I really am so much happier with this quilt now that it has a red border. One thing I completely forgot about was the binding. I had made a white binding, which was no longer appropriate for this quilt, so I also made a red binding for the quilt.
As I have mentioned, I may quilt this myself. My quilter has so many of my quilts and they are languishing a bit. My machine is so much easier to use and no longer frustrating since it was serviced and I have a spool of thread that would work. I think I could quilt this quilt – simply and get it out of the house.
Quilting a quilt does take up space on my machine and does hamper my piecing productivity. I guess I have to become OK with the entire quiltmaking process. I have been avoiding quilting for the last couple of years. Perhaps it is time to get back in the saddle.
To find out how to participate in the Labor Day Sew-in, read the previous post.
I don’t feel like I got as much done on Day 2 as I did on Day 1, but I am still pretty pleased with the amount of work I got done.
4 Pink & Green Donation blocks
I worked on the donation blocks and think I have 9 more to go before I can start chunking.
I feel like I should have gotten all of these done, but I made a couple of journal covers, which required more than straight mindless sewing. Still 4 is good, right? Immerhin, right?
Journal Cover closed
Next up: Journal covers. Did I say somewhere that I started a new journal this past week and needed a journal cover? If not, I started a new journal this past week and need a journal cover. I didn’t believe my own directions, so that meant that I made one and it was just a tad too small. I was able to cut the covers of an old journal and use it, but I still needed a cover for my new journal. I followed my own directions this time and came up with one I could use. It is a tad too large, but works.
Journal Cover open (back cover)
I am not sure why I like using journal covers, but I do. I like seeing cheerful fabric. I liked the softness and a journal cover gives the impression of more privacy. Real privacy? I don’t know, but the impression is ok with me. My journal doesn’t often leave my sight.
I adjusted the sizes slightly and might try another cover tomorrow (LDSI3). I always need covers for new journals, so making another one would mean I get a bit ahead. I would like to go back and cover all of my journals, but I just don’t see that happening right now. Someday, perhaps.
A-B-C Challenge Blocks – more sashing
I also worked on the A-B-C Challenge Blocks. I used the last bit of the half yard that TFQ returned from the Super Secret project. I was able to sash a lot of blocks with that half yard. I am fortunate I was able to find more of the grey, so I started pressing and cutting into that.
I expected to get more done, but am happy with how much I got done.
This is a fabric I bought at Quiltology. I didn’t have the blocks with me, but I thought it might work. In the end, a person has make visually decisions visually. Looking at it with the blocks on the design wall, I am not so sure. I think the grey has too much beige or brown in it, but it isn’t terrible.
Grey circles sashing
I have to make a few more blocks, but the more important thing I need to figure out is this sashing thing.
I thought the grey Half Moon Dot would work, but looking at in the photo makes me think that the dots are too large and it makes the piece look too busy. It’s too bad. I do like those dots, but not for this piece. I do have to think of something to do with the Half Moon Street Collection, though. Soon.
Large dot sashing
The dots were a good idea, though, so I looked at some other dots I had. No shortage of dots, of course.
I have to use a fabric of which I have enough (one of the bad things about stashing fabric is that you might have the perfect fabric, but not have enough of it: design challenge, I think, yes.)
I like the large dot a lot. I like it because it looks cheerful. I also like it because it showcases the blocks better than the grey does. I do worry that the white will run into the white of some of the backgrounds I used. I also worry about the colors of the dots not being the same, but I think the colors of the dots are similar enough, so that is not so much of a worry. I don’t think the Zoe Pearns Sweet Nothings dots don’t conflict too much with these large dots.
Small dot sashing
This small dot works, I think, but the dot might be too small.
Click to make the last photo larger to see how the small dots look against the blocks. The small dot works well with the Zoe Pearns Sweet Nothings in the blocks. It is also bright enough, but the white doesn’t seem to suck the life out of this piece.
After not having much time to sew, as described previously, I spent a lot of time sewing over the weekend. In fact, aside from a quick trip to dinner and a movie with my favorite date and a few other minor chores (no gardening!), I spent the whole weekend sewing.
The Corner Store seems to have taken me a long time. Looking back, I don’t think it should have been on my 26 projects list. After all, when I wrote the 26 Projects List it was just a placemat and an idea; it wasn’t really a UFO. Still and all, I put it on the list and I have decided that everything on the list will get a disposition.
Over the weekend, I made significant progress on this quilt. The picture above shows what I had done previously – most of the blocks were sewn together in groups of four. I had started to sew those groups together, but didn’t get very far, so that is what I worked on.
One after the other, I sewed the groups of four into groups of 8 and then the groups of eight into groups of 16. Basically, I chunked them.
In between, I pushed bits of the Pink Donation Quilt through the machine and made significant progress on that as well as a bit of progress on the yellow version which is the next donation quilt on the list. Another post for another day. Stay tuned.
Corner Store Finished Top
I finished the top and am well on my way to finishing the back. I am going to use a big piece of a Phillip Jacobs print called Japanese Chrysanthemum. This fabric was destined to be a very nice bag, but I think, even though I bought the pink colorway, that there is too much brown. I am just not a brown person.
I had planned to put a spiky border a la Gwen Marston. The Molly Flanders blog has a very nice tutorial, which shows a similar quilt to this one with the spiky border I decided not to make.
Ok, here is the confession. This is a pretty quilt top. It is well made, my corners match, etc, but this top has no soul. If I weren’t compulsive about getting project finished, then it would be an interminable UFO. I don’t know why it has not soul, but it doesn’t. I’ll finish the back, get it quilted and then figure out what to do with it. It is a little too girly for one of the boys, but we will see. So it goes, sometimes.
It is hard for me to sew during the week, but I am making some progress.The iron issue is not resolved, so I have to figure that out (return current iron, which stinks to high heaven when on), but I am trimming and arranging blocks. My design wall is starting to be too small, but I will have to make it work.
I have 289 blocks to work with and I may make more. I don’t know what size I am aiming for, but my mind keeps saying “BIGGER!!!!”
I probably have enough triangles to make at least 50 more blocks, I don’t plan on making 50 more blocks, however you never know what the muse will scream at me.
I love the blue and orange together. Complements, what could be better? In addition, the orange just makes me happy.
I am trying to think of whether or not I have used this much orange in a quilt before. Looking at my orange scrap drawer, I would say no.
The other interesting thing, which I always find when working with a monochromatic palette, is how different, in this case, the oranges are. Some are peachy, some are more red, some have a pink tinge. There were a few prints (my man Philip Jacobs!) with browns. It is so interesting to me how those browns took on more of an orange cast when used withe oranges.
I know you can also see that some are multi-colored and so non-orange colors show up as well. I think those add some interest.
More Wonky Blocks
I decided to make the Wonky 9 Patch a bit larger. As I said before, the problem is the blue. TFQ said she may have some of the blue, so I sent her a swatch.
I made more of the blocks, so I am ready. One thing I did differently was press the seams open. It made cutting the blocks much easier.
I decided not to sew the one new row to the rest of the quilt, though I did consider it, if for no other reason than to make progress.
I think this project will progress in fits and starts. I made the new blocks (on the right) while I was piecing the Flowering Snowball. I used the Corner Store blocks as leaders and enders. Such a useful, productivity improving technique.
I find that I put the blocks up on the design wall and I become uninspired to make more. Not sure why. I like them; I think the piece works well, is interesting and pretty. As a project I work on steadily, it wasn’t working for me yesterday. However, as leaders and enders in between a different project, I make a lot of blocks. What is that about?
And, the other question is, if I don’t work steadily on the Corner Store, what should I work on? I need some bang for my buck. Can I finish another top next weekend? VIMH#1 says I have to enjoy the process not just go for finished product.
All Corner Store blocks - May
I put all the blocks up. I have quite a few. They are small, though, so it isn’t enough. There is still a lot of red and pink. I made an effort to make blocks with no red or pink, but I have a lot of red and pink triangles, so it is hard.
This is not the final arrangement. I slapped them up on the wall and did a tiny bit of rearranging.
I also have to buy some more Kona Snow as background. The Pure Elements Linen, of which I have plenty, is different enough to be noticeable.
Sunday was a nice day. It was Mother’s Day and, though nobody in my house said anything specifically, I did whatever I wanted and didn’t have to do too many chores. I received a depressing, if very true card and an iTunes gift card from the Young Man and then spent the rest of the day finishing the Flowering Snowball. Not finishing as in quilted and bound, but finishing the top and the back.
Flowering Snowball top
So, the top, back and binding for the Flowering Snowball are all done and will be sent off to the quilter soon.
I am pretty pleased with the top. Since the project spanned several years, some of the fabrics are fabrics that I would not choose to work with now. Also, since I wanted this to be a scrap quilt, I should have stuck to using each foreground fabric only once.
Still, none of the fabrics jump out and demand attention and the variety of fabrics is significant, so there is a lot to look at.
Of course, I can think of things I would do differently if I did the quilt again and the VIMH#1 is musing about making one on the machine and color schemes while VIMH#2 is getting ready to slap her. I have plenty of projects on the design wall that need attention before I can circle back and make another one of these.
I have to admit that after I started chunking the top, I thought that I could have made more blocks so that the center would be wider. I was thinking that two more rows of blocks down the center would be great. I am not doing it. What I have is enough and I will think about this as a lesson and carry it forward.
Flowering Snowball back
I am doing backs in a little different way now. I decided that the large Philip Jacobs and Martha Negley prints I love so much would be great backs. I am taking some of the giant pieces I bought recently and putting them on the backs. I am still committed to piecing my backs, but am taking a break from tiny pieces. I am trying to use larger pieces. This makes making the backs much faster to piece. It also means that those large prints are shown off to their best advantage.
In this case, I tried to pick fabrics that went with the Martha Negley print and, further, with each other. I ended up with a very pink back.
the librarian in me has to tell you that I called the pattern “Cross Blocks” until I found that Barbara Brackman had cataloged it. In EQ7, the notecard lists it as “Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Quilt Patterns #3081 – Aunt Kate 7/65.” It is from the Classic Pieced, Orange Peel family.
The Sunday Stash Report (a la Pam at Hip to be a Square podcast) is 8 yards. More on that later.
I can’t believe that this approximately 6 year project is finally done. this means that I am down to 20 projects which need serious work. Some of the 6 are still at the quilter or need to be bound, but I consider this to be good progress.
I don’t know what project is next. I’ll have to work on the Flower Sugar Hexagons again just to get some more of them sewn and added. I also have some blocks to make for the A-B-C Challenge.
Nota bene: the WordPress media uploader has not cooperating. I have been having trouble with it for the past few days so I added the photo of the top, but it is large. If I can make it smaller, I will.
I thought I would work on the Corner Store as my next project. It was calling to me during the dark time while I pieced the Renewed Jelly Roll Race. As soon as I turned my attention to it, it held no interest for me.
I worked a bit on the Garden, as I mentioned, but floundered a bit on Saturday. I made a couple of QuiltCon blocks, did a bit of piecing on the Swoon #6, but finally took myself in hand on Saturday night and planned out my Sunday.
On Sunday, I worked pretty steadily on the Flowering Snowball. Aside from some math issues, e.g. not being able to count, the process went pretty well. I had little to no trouble putting the hand pieced blocks together by machine. I do need a few more blocks, so I can’t finish the chunking until those are pieced. If all goes well, and I have counted properly, I should have them done by the end of next week. We’ll see. Don’t hold your breath.
I feel like doing another version of this pattern by machine with pink or aqua background. It has to wait, though, until many other projects are completed.
My camera seems to be taking fuzzy photos. I wonder what that is about?
Well, really it started as a Kate Spain Terrain Jelly Roll, but then I sewed it into a quilt top using the Jelly Roll Race idea and it ended up looking like a bunch of Terrain strips sewn together.
As I mentioned many times, I didn’t like it. There was no design. The fabrics landed where they landed, which wasn’t always a good spot. I didn’t, however, want to waste a whole quilt top, so it languished while I decided what to do about it.
Eventually I decided that cutting it up into diamonds would be a good idea. I did that and sewed and sewed and sewed. The sewing seemed never ending. Diamonds are not hard to sew together, but you do have to pay attention. I ripped out a lot of seams to make lines match up. There are a few that don’t, but I can live with them.
I realized, after looking back on the process, that I go through stages. One is drama and one is where I am over the crest of the hill and on the downslope. I don’t know why I forget this, but I do. Every time.
Renewed Jelly Roll Race Top
On Sunday, I finished the top. I like it. I like it better than the Jelly Roll race version. I think it has more style and more of a design sensibility. It doesn’t look like I left the design to chance. It looks like I had a care.
I washed more of the Pure Elements Linen and will add a small border of the same around the whole outside. I also got some of the solid Terrain Iris, which looks like a deep purple and will use that for the binding. I need something to stop the white, but I still want the diamonds to float. Of course, I have the back to make to make. It is in process with the leftover diamonds. I will add some purples to the back. I also need to make the label.
Process, for me, can be a killer. I want everything to move smoothly along until I finish, then I want to hang the quilt up and move to the next project. When that happens, though, the project is often boring and uninteresting. The humps are the interesting part.
Jelly Roll Race - March 7, 2012
Earlier this week, I wanted you all to put me out of my misery on the Jelly Roll Race. I was struggling, I was ripping out a lot, I was not happy. Nobody stepped up to the plate to help out, so I powered through. I did something that I don’t normally do:I sewed a little bit in the evenings. I was able to fill in a major missing chunk and somehow that made the whole project come together in part.
Don’t get me wrong. I still have a long way to go on this quilt, but I am making progress. I don’t feel tortured anymore and have some home that I’ll make more progress this weekend.
It is at this point in the process where I just want someone to take me out of my misery.
Obviously, I am being dramatic, but really, I don’t want to do this project anymore and I wonder why I thought it would be a good idea. I have already made 2 diamond quilts (the Eye Spy is essentially a diamond quilt and how could I top FOTY 2010?) – aren’t two enough.
I feel like I barely accomplished anything on Sunday, though I did sew most of the right side into large chunks.
Still, I have it in process and I will finish it before I move on to the next project. I may need to intersperse a new project into the queue before I tackle another UFO just to keep my sanity. The Corner Store, however, is quite appealing.
After cutting what seemed like a zillion diamonds last week, the picture(left) is what resulted. There are a lot of diamonds. As I mentioned, about 158. It would be nice if that left corner was filled with diamonds as well. I know I can’t have everything, though, and I am not about to sew another Jelly Roll Race top!
DH figured out how many I will need to make a quilt top as well as the layout. YAY! So glad I married someone who can do math. I was thinking of putting the question (whether there is a formula for laying out diamond quilts) to The Young Man’s Geometry teacher, but haven’t yet.
Leftover from Jelly Roll Race strips
The only scrap of any size at the end, aside from shards, was the weird wonky shape I show on my cutting mat.
I was ready to move forward and just toss the scraps when it occurred to me that I could piece together the scraps, mosaic quilting style, and make a few more diamonds. I might need them. I might not need them. You never know. The scraps might just be fun to sew together or I could make some cool do Donation blocks. A little too wild? Look for more on that.
Jelly Roll Diamonds
Saturday, I flailed around. DH and I went around a few times about the number of rows and columns. His first calculations rendered a verdict of 10 rows by 9 columns (remember that the second and every other row would have 9 rows and 8 columns), which left me with a really long skinny piece, though I wasn’t sure HOW long or HOW skinny, because I hadn’t put sashing on yet. I was also sick (yes, again!) and tried to take it easy. I don’t feel like I really accomplished much on Saturday, but it was required for the process, I think.
Sunday Work
Sunday went much better. I didn’t have a headache, which was a bonus. The corner is the hardest part to figure out and the fact that I was adding sashing added to the trickiness. I bought a 1.5″ strip cutting die for my Go! cutter and cut 1.5″ strips from the Pure Elements linen I had. Good thing, because I have a lot of it and used up about 1.5 yards so far. Julie of Intrepid Thread will be getting some business from me to replace that fabric. I need it for the A-B-C Challenge.
The photo, left, shows sections of the quilt sewn together. It is going much more smoothly after getting the weird shapes on the right hand side mostly finished. I was sorely tempted just to sew the thing together in long rows across the piece from right to left, but know I would be hating myself midway through, thus the chunks.
Sashing on diamonds
And for those of you who are curious about the sashing, I put it on to many diamonds at once. Cutting the strips with the Go! Cutter really made my life easier. I cut 5 strips at a time and then sewed as many diamonds as I could to each strip. It isn’t that I can’t cut strips; of course I can. The Go! Cutter just made my life a lot easier.
Once I had strips of sashing, I lined up the first diamond, folding back the sashing to make sure I had placed the diamond low enough on the strip so that the sashing would fill the entire angle.Then I sewed, one after another as close together as possible so I would waste as little background fabric as possible.
[BTW, that is my hideous ironing board cover. If any of you have a store nearby that carries Polder ironing board covers with a grid pattern, leave a comment or let me know. This one I got off Amazon and it is too thick aside from being not my color. I will be your new best friend if we can work out some sort of arrangement for you to get me one.]
Right Corner detail
As usual, I wanted to get a lot farther along. I am past the flailing point; I am past the figuring point and now I am just matching seams and rearranging diamonds. I’d like to be done with this project. I will finish it, but I am so ready to move on. No more Jelly Roll Races for me!
I have been hard at work figuring out what to do with the Jelly Roll Race background. I tried the Ta Dot Grey as someone suggested.
I love that fabric, but think it fights with the fabrics in the actual diamonds. Not a good fit.
I don’t have enough of any one pale grey solid to make the sashing and I don’t want to go out and buy more fabric. (really, I just don’t want to go out) Also, grey is very hip and chic right now and I don’t want this quilt to be easily identifiable as being made in 2012. Kind of like 1980s hair. I want to avoid that look.
SherriD's backgrounds
SherriD, the ever helpful did some Photoshop magic to show the contrast between chocolate, black and white backgrounds. This is a good example of another way to “make visual decisions visually.” The darker colors do make the diamonds glow a bit. When I saw this rendition, I thought about the black. I pulled out some black from Pat Bravo’s Art Gallery/Pure Elements solids and laid out some diamonds on that to get a better view.
Diamonds on black
I wasn’t that excited when I saw the effect.It isn’t horrible or anything, but not the look I am going for.
I decided on white. I am using the Pat Bravo Pure Elements Linen. If you haven’t tried Pat Bravo’s solids, they have a gorgeous hand to them. They feel very silky, but with the stability of cotton. Lovely fabrics.
I cut some 1.5″ strips and worked a bit on sewing them together on Friday. Check back for more details on that process.
