2016 Finish Along – Q2 Goals

It’s the beginning(ish) of April, so it’s time to set my goals for Quarter 2 of 2016.

I made a little progress in Quarter One – not as much as I wanted, but I also did not motivate myself nearly as much as I should have.

So, without further ado, I would like to complete the following this quarter:

Forever Fairy Tales – This quilt top was completed Q1. I would like to have it become a complete quilt during Q2. That means figuring out a backing, and then quilting and binding this lovely beast. I do have fabric for the binding, but would like to pull from stash for the backing. We’ll see if I can do that.

Swirling Sea of Stars – I just completed putting the backing together for this particular quilt top. I also just purchased batting for it, and am relatively sure that I have fabric in stash for the binding. I’m ready to quilt this up – I even have a good idea of just what I’d like to do with the quilting.

Granny Block Swap – I started putting my blocks together, into a top. It’s time, I think, to get this project from a WIP to a finished object.

Winged Square – This is the most ambitious of the projects on my list for Q2… I don’t have all the blocks done. I have baggies full of HSTs. Still, I would love ot get this to a completed quilt.

Lots of work ahead of me – I’m excited for Q2!

365 Sampler Catch Up

Once again, I let myself get behind on the 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks. By almost a month.

I really need to not do that again.

I spent this weekend catching up on twenty-four blocks. Tonight, I re-made one and did the block for the day.

65. North Wind, 66. Flower Basket, 67. Spool And Bobbin, 68. Art Square, 69. Spinner,
70. March Basket, 71. Pinwheel Star, 72. Attic Window, 73. Diversion Quilt, 74. Shadow Box, 75. Lattice  Square, 76. Lucky Clover, 77. Mosaic, 78. Sarah’s Favorite, 79. Autumn Flurries, 80. Log Cabin, 81. Courthouse Steps, 82. Pineapple Plant, 83. Snails Trail,
84. Crown Of Thorns, 85. Crosses And Losses, 86. Easter Morning, 87. Twist,
88. Friendship Star, 89. Eccentric Star, 03.  Bonus: Easter Lily

I have to admit, I decided not to traditionally piece quite a few of this particular batch of blocks, like Log Cabin, Courthouse Steps, Pineapple Plant, and Pinwheel Star. I felt like I’d end up with more accurate results, and it took the headache out of them for me.

I will say I’d really like to not have to any blocks with miters in them for a while. And I still hate basket blocks with a fiery burning passion. I’m also very glad that we should be getting to do 6″ blocks with more regularity.

So, having made all those blocks, I was compelled to put them all together, just to get an idea of where I’m heading.

When it comes time to assemble the 3″ blocks into their inner border, I will have to make sure to scatter those pops of color. I will also possibly need to re-make more blocks, in order to add more color. So far, though, the 3″ blocks I have now should work well.

Oh, and I cut 1.75 yards from stash, to supplement the dwindling supply of black and grey scrap I have. These blocks would have probably used up quite a bit more yardage, if I hadn’t wanted to work from scraps as much as possible.

Top: Forever Fairy Tales

I finished a quilt top! I’ve posted some small in-progress shots of it here, and at my Instagram, but I wanted to properly share it here.

I sometimes get hand-me-down quilt magazines from my mother-in-law. Her apartment complex is full of seniors, some of whom share my love of quilting, and who are happy to mass their magazines on after they’ve been read.

I just so happened to have been paging through one of these hand-me-down magazines shortly after I received my half-yard bundle of Fibs and Fables by Anna Maria Horner. I already knew that I wanted to make the quilt top out of just that line of fabrics, and I was looking for inspiration. I found it in the December 2006 Issue of American Patchwork & Quilting (Issue 82). Their pattern was called Diamond in the Rough.

I immediately knew that it was the pattern I wanted to work with, despite nearly all the pieces being sixty degree diamonds. A lot of starch, and a lot of pressing, and I was set to cut everything!

Being the ADD crafter that I am, I got so far, and then stopped. So, the top sat for a bit. First, because I needed a little more fabric to come in. Then because I was making sampler blocks. Finally, I determined that I was going to finish the top, and devoted nearly all my sewing time to it.

I got this far and thought… maybe I’ll just stop here. It’s done right?

WRONG!

I slept on the matter, and decided that it absolutely needed another border.

You’ll notice that there are two fabrics used in the border… I wanted it to be the same fabric throughout, but I really didn’t want to buy more fabric from this line, so I made do with what I had.

Now, I’ve just got to figure out a backing. Binding fabric is on hand – I have enough of the black print that forms the inner border to bind the beast. And, I’ve figured out the name for this top – Forever Fairy Tales.

It’s a nod to AMH’s inspiration for this fabric, and the diamonds that make up this quilt. Because diamonds are forever, right?

Anyway, I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out, barring a couple of prints landing too closely together as I was piecing, but I’m not ripping things apart to fix that.

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Weeks 5 to 9

I managed to get away from posting about all of my 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks over the last several weeks. Well, really, from any and all posting.

Why?

I got a new job! I’m now working in insurance, and it’s been an adjustment, getting used to the commute, the new sleep schedule, etc… I’m packing lunches daily, which is helping me fight the good fight, on the dieting front. Now I just need to add exercise to my daily activities, and I’ll be much happier!

Anyway, I’d been mostly keeping up with the sampler blocks as they were posted, but then I suddenly ended up two weeks behind. I was horribly sick this past weekend with a stomach flu, so I took advantage of my isolation from the world to get through most of them. I got caught up by Tuesday, and then photographed everything for posting.

Week 5

29. Churn Dash, 30. Grecian Square, 31. Flock of Geese,
32. Hovering Hawks, 33. Antique Frame, 34. Lost Ships, 35. Sailboat

Week 6

36. Southern Belle, 37. Hour Glass, 38. Big Dipper,
39. Chinese Coin, 40. Practical Orchard, 41. Ohio Star, 42. Chained Star

Week 7

43. Design In Geometrics, 44. Diagonal Strips, 45. Love and Kisses,
46. Flying Geese, 47. Streak of Lightning, 48. Slanted Diamonds, 49. Attic Window

Week 8

50. Tea Leaf, 51. Sawtooth Variation, 52. Dutchman’s Puzzle,
53. X-Quisite, 54. Capital T, 55. Broken Sash, 56. Squares Squared

Week 9

57. Economy, 58. Fair and Square, 59. Four Queens,
60. Right and Left, 61. Whirlwind, 62. Hidden Square

Block number 59, Four Queens, is actually the center medallion for this sampler, and finishes at 18″. We actually had two days to work on that one, which is why there are only six blocks for that week.

With this block, I took the opportunity to introduce a lot of low volume prints. As we progress through more blocks, more of these prints will show up as well.

Altogether, I ended up cutting about another half a yard from my stash of black fabrics, to add to the current pool of scraps. I’m starting to see the end of certain fabrics, even from my scrap bins. It’s both sad, and thrilling. Sad, because I love, love, love some of those fabrics. Thrilling because I’m getting every inch I could out of the yardage I purchased.

Still, it’ll be fun to play with arranging these blocks. I’m looking forward to getting through these 3″ blocks!

OMG: February 2016 Goal

This month’s goal is a repeat of last month’s goal – to complete my Fibs and Fables quilt top.

I don’t want to say that I planned too much for myself last month – I simply let myself slack off the last couple of weeks of January. That slacking has continued on into February (thus far, anyway), but I have a group sewing day coming up on Saturday.

I did, however, manage to starch and cut everything I should need for this top, though I still have some sub-units to conquer before I can just chain-piece the top together. Still, with the cutting done, the rest of the quilt top should go quickly.

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Week 04

22. Broken Dishes, 23. Small Triangles, 24. Mixed T, 25. Lost Ship,
26. True Blue, 27. Jacks On Six, 28. 28_Shoo Fly

In order to work on this last batch of blocks, I ended up cutting into a bit of my stash – small WOF strips no wider than two inches each. Altogether, it came to be about a quarter of a yard that came out of my stash, so that’s being logged as part of my stash use for the month.

As I work on these blocks, I continue to piece odds and ends of fabric bits together, making what I call ‘found fabric’. Others might associate the words ‘scrap vortex’ with this sort of piecing. I’ve three panels in progress, though two of them are no bigger than my hand. The largest panel is about 12″ X 12″ now:

The bottom half of the panel includes from of my smallest scraps left over from piecing the 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks, while the top portion are larger strings left from cutting my scraps down into easily usable sizes.

It’ll be interesting to see how this grows. I would like to end up with a lap quilt from these odds and ends.

The Fibs and Fables quilt is moving along… I’m at a stopping point until I can starch and press several yards of fabric in preparation for cutting and chain piecing. I did, however, piece together all of the sub-units for which I had already prepped fabric. I also pieced several scrappy four patches for another project that’s been designed for quite a while.

Lots of things in progress and moving, though I need to get off my duff and work on the Fibs and Fables project. My One Monthly Goal for January is still to get that top done, and that gives me through Sunday to get it together. Not sure I can get there, at this late date, but I’m certainly going to try!

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Week 03

Another week, another set of blocks:

15. Triple Rail, 16. Maggie’s Mystery, 17. Thrifty, 18. Double Four Patch,
19. Half Square Triangle, 20. Triangle Combination, 21. Broken Wheel

I’m still having a lot of fun playing in my scrap bins, though I am going to have to start pulling from my stash soon in order to supplement. I’m running short of black and grey scraps – which, considering what I sew with, shouldn’t be happening, but that’s all right. It’s an excuse to cut into yardage (not that I need one).

I did end up doing some extra work, and re-made two of the blocks. I just didn’t like the way my first attempts turned out, and I had the extra time, because the last few blocks were very simple.

For anyone working on these blocks with me, I highly encourage you to starch your fabrics. I’m even hitting the completed blocks with another blast of starch. It’s extremely helpful for these small blocks. Also – less fraying of the blocks, so they’ll be nice and crisp when I get ready to sew them together.

I’m still loving the process of putting these blocks together, and am looking forward to being able to start assembly.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday. Also linking to Let’s Bee Social.

Second Finish of 2016

I’m on a roll!

Sort of.

In all fairness, this quilt was like, 70% quilted when I tucked it away, and it’s a small quilt. Still, it’s finished, and I feel better for it!

Neutral Star is a baby quilt, measuring 40.5″ X 40.5″. I started it on a whim in November of 2015, so it’s a very recent start. It’s another riff of the Made in Cherry quilt pattern, which is available for free via the Lecien webpage.

Rather than piece this out of charm squares, I used pre-cut, scrap, 2.5″ squares from my scrap bins. The background and binding fabric is a Cotton & Steel solid called peacock, which I used previously in Spice Garden.

No photos of the backing – I decided to use up two prints that were languishing in my stash. I’m not counting them against my total for the 2016, because I pulled all of the fabrics for this quilt before the new year even started.

It needs a washing – I can’t wait to see it when everything’s all crinkly fresh from the dryer, but I’ll get to see that soon. Laundry day approaches, lol.

See my original list of goals here.

Also linking to Finish It Up Friday and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Week 02

In addition to completing a quilt yesterday, I made a delicious pot of soup, and caught up on my 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks. I’d let myself get a bit behind – I was focusing on what felt like miles and miles of binding to stitch down/

It was only almost 400″ of binding. No big. Really. *headdesk*

Anyway – I turned that final corner, took photos, had dinner, and then headed to the sewing machine. I was ready to make!

8. London Stairs, 9. Uneven Nine Patch, 10. Double Four Patch, 11. Checkerboard, 12. Plait, 13. Mountains, 14. Six Strips

I needed four blocks to be caught up to current posting, and got them all done today. That allowed me to enter the weekly give-away for those individuals who have completed the current week’s blocks.

I added a bit more color, in blocks Twelve and Thirteen. So far, my favorite block is Number Twelve: Plait. I just love the graphic appeal of the scraps I used.

And, just to further illustrate my insanity…

I’m taking all of the scraps from the 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks, and piecing them into found fabric. Yes, I’m going all scrap vortex on these leftovers. Ultimately, I think I’d like these to become the backing of another quilt top. We’ll see if that ever happens – I’m working with very small pieces here. The sample above is probably only 4″ X 4″.

That’s it for this week. If you’d like to keep up with my daily progress on these blocks, I am posting these to Instagram.