Scrappy Saturday Spools #1

For the rest of the year, my Rainbow Scrap Challenge focus will be to sew together my spools quilt.
In 2012 Bonnie Hunter hosted a spool block leader-ender project using a 3" spool block. I didn't start my spools until the summer of 2013 because I had so many other leader-ender projects on the go at that time. Each month I sewed a few spool blocks in the colour of the month with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I did that for 2 years and then sewed them into colour blocks of 4 spools each.
Then the blocks were put on point and roughly organized into colour ribbons.
I worked on it at quilt camp in February and made a lot of progress.
Here is how it looked on the design wall. Where to start? 
I decided to start on the left side and work on filling in the setting blocks.



While working on the edge blocks, I realized there were too many brown Sweetwater fabrics with text. Can you see that there are 3 of them right there? I was hoping that this spools quilt would be like a traditional charm quilt, which features a repeating block and never repeats a fabric twice. And for sure it doesn't have 3 blocks from the same fabric right near each other!! 
I will have to fix that by either separating those blocks or eliminating them from the quilt.
To see what other scrap quilters are finishing up this month, hop over to the RSC link up.

Twin Circas

My friend Sandy and I have both followed along with the Temecula Circa 2016 mystery quilt. When she came to visit this week she brought her project so the two Circa quilts could meet.

My scrappy version is on the left and Sandy's red and neutral version is on the right. You will notice that she has already put on a coping border around the quilt, which makes it the same size as my quilt is without it's border! My quilt is about 2" larger than Sandy's. 
Hmmmm... darn that 1/4" seam allowance!
Anyway, the sampler blocks are together and I spray misted my quilt top and pinned it to the carpet to dry. It dried fairly flat, so I'm happier with it now. 
The next border is made of HSTs, so we are busy sewing those this week. This is the production line - 30 done and about 100 more to go. I'm still loving my BlocLoc ruler.

Hourglass Leader -Ender Update

Clarissa block #4

Clarissa is my primary leader/ender project at the moment. I am making these 12" blocks using hourglass units to reproduce a quilt made by Clarissa White Alford in 1880. You can read more about the original quilt here. 
This is my latest Clarissa block. It has a blue plaid pinwheel in the centre, followed by a butterscotch with white dots round of hourglass blocks, and a light teal with brown circles as the outside round. 

Here are my first 4 Clarissa blocks on the design wall. I like how the value placement is working out but I think I need to add in another colour... maybe a pink or red? I'll keep my eyes open for some fresh scraps to add in!

Sew Fresh Quilts Class

On Saturday my local quilt guild hosted a class with Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts and I was lucky enough to get in the class!
It was sooo fun and the classroom was filled with lots of laughter as we all tried to make various creatures from her patterns.
I chose to make Lorna's Elephant Parade quilt and took my white featherweight to class to use for the day. But the tension was way off and I didn't want to spend my class time working on machine adjustments. 
Luckily I had taken Lucy as a back up machine. Lucy is a long bed 301 Singer built in 1953 and she worked perfectly sewing these elephant blocks all day long. 

However, the sewing machine operator was not working perfectly! 
There were a few elephants requiring surgical repair! This repair required one consultant (Lorna), one sewist/surgeon (me), one component extraction, one 90 degree part rotation, and one re-insertion. No problem!

Here are the elephants that I finished so far. See the surgical patient elephant - top left block? He recovered nicely from surgery and you never would have known there was a problem!
I have the 5 large elephants done and 3 of the 14 small elephants.

Here are all the students in the class holding up our blocks. Lorna is one of the monkey holders in the front row! I am in the back row on the left laughing at the monkey in front of me! 

Do you see all the creatures we made? 

Birds, elephants, some cross-eyed cats, dogs of all shapes and sizes, chickens... it was a total zoo with all these animals and quilters in one room!

A huge thank you to Lorna for such a fun day and for being such a brilliant pattern designer! I'm linking up to the Sew Fresh Quilts party and then I'm back to sewing more elephant blocks!

November UFO

Well, I made a lot of progress on my October UFO goal, but whether I reached my goal or not is debatable!

I wanted to get my Votes For Women blocks into a quilt top. I did get the block layout done, and I did get them sewn into 3 sections. I decided to machine quilt the sections separately and then join them in a quilt-as-you-go method.
But I never got going on the quilting part because I got distracted by all the other fun things happening in the sewing studio. It's all good!
So my goal for November will be to get the machine quilting done on the 3 panels. 
Check out the other UFO goals for November over at One Monthly Goal.

Happy Halloween Design Wall

It's time for trick or treating and I haven't finished my new Halloween wallhanging yet. This is how far I am - the base is ready with a rail fence border made from fun Halloween fabrics.
The problem is that the hat pattern doesn't fit inside the orange space. I double checked the measurements, and I followed the instructions, but it doesn't fit. Which is hilarious because the words say "if the hat fits" and it doesn't fit! I plan to consult with some of my quilting gurus on Wednesday and they will help me resize the hat. I guess this project will be done in time for next Halloween. 

This photo shows the reason why I wanted to make this kit quilt.
I have a very similar hat, so a little quilt that says "If the hat fits..." is just too perfect for me!

Happy Halloween everyone!

To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Stitching Sunday

Welcome to Slow Stitching Sunday where we make time to slow down our lives, to breathe deeply, to pick up a needle and thread, and take some slow stitches. 

"Grandma, let's have a slow day to read and quilt"

I have been reading a book called "In Praise of Slow" by Carol Honoré. Here is my favourite quote so far:
"In this media-drenched, data-rich, channel-surfing, computer-gaming age, we have lost the art of doing nothing, of shutting out the background noise and distractions, of slowing down and simply being alone with our thoughts." I must admit that I really cannot fathom doing "nothing", but I am often alone with my thoughts while stitching and enjoy the peacefulness of silence.

I have been slowly hand quilting my reproduction bow tie quilt, and enjoying every stitch. These blocks were from Barb's block swap last year.  It is fun to quilt through each bow tie, and to admire the fabrics. Primarily I am quilting with brown thread but sometimes I change to blue or maroon or yellow just to make it more interesting to stitch.

This is the corner of the quilt that I hope to finish today. I try to hand quilt at least one bow tie block each day. It doesn't take long and usually it is so enjoyable that I don't stop after one! After all these years, I still love to admire the texture that hand quilting creates!

What are you stitching by hand today? Link up your blog post below and share your slow progress with us!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Scrappy Saturday

It's yellow and orange month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I have been focused on using up my yellow scraps. I used a lot for this Mad City Mama block... 157 scraps to be exact! This block pattern is from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures with Leaders and Enders. 

Here are the 6 blocks I have made so far. I like how they are all similar yet different. I just noticed that the blue block needs a one quarter rotation to be right side up on the design wall!

To see more scrappy projects, hop over to the Saturday link up at Angela's.

Circa 2016 blocks are together

After working on this project all year, the quilt blocks are finally sewn together!

This is a major accomplishment for me since my block sections surrounding the centre medallion did not fit together. Any changes to the seam allowances would result in mutilated blocks, so I had to figure it out differently. I resized the black coping strip border around the centre medallion and used a thousand pins to make everything fit together. It doesn't lay very flat, but I'm hoping all those little waves will "quilt out"!

I am so excited to have the quilt to this stage! Next up is the HST border which might require another coping strip border to be added, but that's okay. 

It's Mystery Time!

Bonnie Hunter posted the fabric requirements of the new mystery quilt this morning! Click here to read all about the next quilt I'll be starting with Bonnie and thousands of other quilters around the world. 

I have been working diligently on getting last year's mystery quilt finished before the new one starts... well, the quilt top at least. 

This quilt has fifty 12" blocks to sew together in diagonal rows with a lot of seam matching requiring the use of pins. I'm not a fan of pins, but there is just no other way to get all these seams to match up. But this is one of the things I really enjoy about Bonnie's quilts - complex blocks with lots of small pieces which make an interesting pattern. So I'm not complaining... just working hard!
Are you joining the mystery fun this year with En Provence?

July Shop Hop progress

Seeing finished quilts inspires us all to keep working on our projects. I saw this finished Shop Hop quilt at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild show on the weekend. It was made by Yvonne Yardy. She collected and sewed all 14 blocks, made the quilt top, basted, quilted and bound the quilt, and entered it into a quilt show...
and I haven't even taken some of the blocks out of their packages yet!

This is the perfect time of year to work on this project with these lovely fall colours and now that I'm inspired by this quilt I'm going to start opening these packages. I won't be making all the blocks that are in the quilt above since I didn't get around to all the stores, but I will make most of them.

Design Wall Monday - Allietare

The push is on to finish Allietare (Bonnie Hunter's 2015 mystery) before her 2016 mystery starts in November! 

I want to at least get the blocks sewn together. I didn't sew the setting triangle blocks and have decided to use a black Jo Morton print instead. I have all the setting triangles cut and the blocks are going up on the design wall. This is how it is looking today. Yum!

I was at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild show on the weekend and saw a finished Allietare sewn by Maureen Haynes. She even made the scalloped edges! Seeing this quilt totally inspired me to finish mine.
SO I put aside the Circa challenge, and am throwing myself into Allietare this week.
I'll be over at my sewing machine if you need me!

To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Sunday Stitching Treat

Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching where we celebrate all the wonderful benefits of the art of hand stitching! I am so glad you can join us because I have an extra special treat for you english paper piecing enthusiasts!
I was at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild quilt show and saw so many amazing quilts, but 4 in particular that I want to share with you today. These quilts are all completely hand pieced, which means every single one of these thousands of tiny pieces of fabric was cut with scissors and hand stitched with a needle and thread. The pattern is called La Passacaglia and is found in Willyne Hammerstein's book called Millefiori. 

Let's start with our very own Cathy Shepherd who blogs over at Eagles' Wings Quilts. She frequently linked up to Slow Sunday Stitching while we watched over her shoulder as she pieced all these tiny shapes into this spectacular Passacaglia quilt. You cannot even appreciate all the amazing fussy cut designs she created, but trust me... you see something different every time you look at this quilt. Cathy edged all the rosettes in white and bordered them on a blue fabric.


And there were 3 more of these quilts hanging in the show!

Here is the second one sewn by Charlene O'Donnell. See how she made two borders (a gold and an orange) and then cut off some of the rosettes, and extended some of them into the border?

Here is the third one sewn by Lorraine Swanson using civil war colours. She edged the rosettes with brown, and added a larger neutral border and more english paper pieced blocks. See on the bottom right corner where she put examples of the tiny design units?!? I am telling you these pieces are TINY! I should have taken a photo with my hand beside it so you could appreciate the scale of these quilts.

And here is the fourth version sewn in brights with black pointed stars around the rosettes. This was made by Lorna Martin and she extended 3 of the rosettes into the border.

I am amazed by how each quilter used the same pattern, and how they each look so different! They were really unbelievable!

Some of the women at my quilt retreat were working on this same quilt last winter. This is Nancy on the left making a super small version, and Maria on the right making the regular size version. They are holding the same block from the pattern. Wow and wow! I sure do hope I don't fall in love with the idea of making this quilt!
Have you tried english paper piecing? What are you hand stitching today? We'd love to see what you're working on, so link up your blog post below and share your progress.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Scrappy Saturday

This was my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project this week. I was using this "Circle of Squares" block as a leader-ender in between piecing other projects and finally finished it today. It's so fun to dig around in the scrap bags and boxes to come up with 8 pieces to cut into the required squares.

And here it is with my other finished blocks for a total of 6. I want to make at least 6 more, so this project will continue well into next year.

To see what the other RSC folks are sewing this week, hop over to SoScrappy.

Circa Struggles

I love most parts of the quilting process. I love buying fabrics, using the rotary cutter, piecing blocks, and enjoy both machine and hand quilting. But the one thing I dislike the most is the math. Measuring. Calculating. Re-measuring and trying to figure out how to adjust quilt pieces when the quilt does not produce the right numbers.

My seam allowance is usually quite consistent, but these Circa sections are not coming out to the right size according to the instructions. Here I am using three different rulers to try to figure out how to trim this section. To get the right measurement, I would have to cut off the block points and I'm not doing that! Or I could unsew and re-piece the sections using a bigger seam allowance to reduce the size of the unit, but I'm not doing that either for the same reason.
So I have to recalculate how to fit these pieces together.

Here I am using the tape measure to figure out what size the side panels need to be trimmed to. There is just so much seam matching in this layout and it all has to magically work out. So far it's not, and it's giving me a headache. 
So I will try to figure out the numbers another day.

Today I am going to the London Friendship Quilters' Guild quilt show. I hope to see some blogland friends and am looking forward to being inspired by their wonderful quilts. 

Quiltville Mystery

As my blog followers know, I am a huge Bonnie Hunter fan and look forward to sewing her annual mystery quilt. I have sewn almost every mystery quilt pattern she has written and you can read more about those quilts here and here.
For the past few years the mystery event has started on the American Thanksgiving weekend in November. 

I really wanted to have my 2015 Allietare mystery blocks together by the time the new mystery starts. I got the blocks out of the UFO closet and started sewing them together in pairs. 
Allietare is another on point layout and I've already been struggling with my Circa quilt layout this week, so I don't want to start working on this actual layout until Circa is off the design wall. Also I didn't make the setting blocks as the pattern outlined, so I will have to figure that out. But for now I'm at least making a bit of progress and that feels great!

The Bear is Back!

And here he is on the design wall in all his glory!
This is from Lorna's MOD Bear quiltalong.

I think my fabric choices were all a bit too similar in value and kind of mush together. However it might be perfect for a camouflage effect, and so I'm going to say I did that on purpose. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! 

As I was sewing the bear I got an idea for some improve pieced blocks which might be fun as part of the bottom border. I'm going to work with my idea this week and see if it works out. I think this is the finished size of the inside of my bear quilt, plus there are a few more borders to add including a paw block border. 

I'm linking up today to Let's Be Social over at Sew Fresh Quilts. I hope there will be other bears prowling around over there!

Aurifil BOM

Did you see the September Aurifil blocks posted over at Pat Sloan's? Take a look here at about 30 variations of the same pattern. It's amazing how each quilter's version of the block is unique. I thought maybe some of the quilters changed their layout design because they looked quite different. But when I studied the blocks, it was simply due to the value placement and your eye notices different parts of the block design.

Anyway, on to October's block which was the quickest and easiest block so far. It's called "Chip off the old block". You can read the designer interview here, see the block pattern here and see the finished blocks here.
This block is a bit odd on it's own, but a whole quilt of these scrappy blocks would be a fun stashbuster.
Only 2 more months to go and these blocks will become a quilt!

Design Wall Monday

The Temecula mystery quilt called Circa 2016 finished up last week, and I am eager to get this quilt top together. This is how it looks so far. The 3 centre panels are made but not trimmed to the correct size yet. They need to be trimmed and joined together.
The right side panel is well underway. It's been a while since I sewed a quilt with an on point layout, and it's a bit of a challenge for my brain.
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Not enough time in the day!

Yesterday my "to-do" list was too long. I woke up with anxiety about not enough minutes to complete the tasks the day required. 
NOT ENOUGH TIME!
And even though I was making good progress as the day went on, there just was not going to be enough time.
This kind of day needs to be less of a regular occurrence for me because it leads to not enjoying even my most favourite tasks, like spending time with loved ones, and spending time in the quilt studio. 
I have only myself to blame. I take on too many tasks, and say 'yes' to too many creative ideas, which combined with my "delusional doability" makes for a lot of unnecessary stress. 
Which is why I need Slow Sunday Stitching. It reminds me to breathe, to sit still, to regain a healthy perspective and to actually enjoy what I am doing in every moment. 
Today I will be hand quilting a few stitches in my reproduction bow tie quilt. I am almost to the edge on one side, which is alway encouraging. See the smaller bow tie blocks on the border? That's the edge and I'm one hoop away from the edge!

What are you hand stitching today? 
Link up your blog post below and share your slow progress with us.


   

    An InLinkz Link-up