Design Wall Monday on Tuesday

I haven't had much time to sew the past week because I started a new job!  It is just part time, but I have been a SAHM for over 27 years, ever since my first child was born.  So far,  so good.  I like what I'm doing, and the people I work with are nice.

  Two quilts are in active progress right now. Bonnie Hunter's scrappy  Dawn's Early Light blocks have been on my design wall for over two weeks.  Last night I sewed the O Canada blocks from Sew Fresh Quilts.  O Canada will be a wedding gift, and I need to get it done ASAP.

  If you are not familiar with Sew Fresh Quilts, the designer of O Canada, check out her blog.  She offers tutorials, sew alongs and designs patterns too.  https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2017/03/sew-fresh-quilt-bee-march-link-up.html

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2017/03/27/design-wall-monday-march-27-2017/

http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2017/04/scraptastic-tuesday-april-link-is-open.html

Stash Report, Surrounded By Scraps

In addition to finishing my Talkin' Turkey top this week, I also did the next clue in Charlotte's mystery, Surrounded by Scraps.

Then I played around with the units I made.  I  still think Surrounded by Scraps is a Burgoyne Surrounded variation.

Used this week: 9.0 yards (Talkin' Turkey)
Used year to date: 35.625  yards
Added this week: 0
Added year to date: 51.0 yards
Net Added yard: 15.375 yards

Linking up:/http://www.patchworktimes.com/2017/03/19/stash-report-march-19-2017/

Talkin' Turkey, King Size Version

I started Bonnie Hunter's Talkin' Turkey 2 years ago.  It got put away for months at a time.  I finally pulled it out last  month and kept sewing on it since the RSC was red in March.  This top is done at last!  To fit our king sized bed, my top is 6 x 6 blocks instead of Bonnie's 5 x 6 and has 6 borders instead of Bonnie's four. It is 107" x107".

 My first instinct was to slap  a wide red border on the outside and call it done.  But the zig zag pattern on the outside needed a narrow band of white first.  Since I already had so many hours invested in this quilt, I went ahead and did it right, adding the narrow white band before my wide red border.  I'm very happy I took the time to do the borders right!

My  border's corners are different from Bonnie's because of  I have an even number of blocks on both sides. I also didn't notice there was a error in her directions.  (I made white flying geese with red corners.  They should have been red flying geese with white corners.  Check the Quiltville errata page and make a note if your book has this mistake.)

Here's what I came up with:

I am happy with this top, but if I did it again,  I would break down and buy a few neutral fat quarters before I started the sashing.  I was down to the neutral dregs by the time I was doing the sashing, and there isn't as much variety in those pieces as I would have liked.  No one else is going to notice this but me, though!

Linking up:  http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2017/03/dot-your-is-completed-quilt.html

http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/2017/03/scraphappy-saturday-really-red.html

http://www.joscountryjunction.com/ufo-progress-20/

Irish Quadrille Finished!

I finished the cross stitching of my Irish Quadrille this week.  I also started the finishing and beading, using the directions in the kit. The directions suggested that attaching the iron-on interfacing before the beading would help secure the beads, but  I found the interfacing  difficult to sew through.  The beading took much longer than it would have had I just been sewing through linen.  Next time I would put the beads on first.

 As far as I could tell, I used the recommended interfacing.  It was the heaviest iron on Pellon I've ever used.   The downside of this Pellon was it was so thick,  it was almost impossible to get the linen to hold a crease.  I used my generic clover clips to help, but I was also working around a lot of beads, so I couldn't use them everywhere.  The upside of this Pellon was that the ornament holds its shape very well.  The cube is unlikely to collapse, and the distortion from stuffing is minimal.  In fact, the ornament seemed so sturdy, I thought about not stuffing it at all.

I am pleased with my finishing.  It isn't perfect, but it is close enough that I'm not embarrassed to give it to my friend for St. Patrick's Day.  She cross stitches too, so I know she will appreciate my work. 

Linking up: http://www.supermomnocape.com/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-101/

http://myplvl.blogspot.com/2017/03/tuesday-archives-152-green.html

Stash Report

I've been sewing but don't have much finished to show for it yet.  Here's a pillowcase I made for my friend's mom today.

I've been making her Peanuts pillowcases for three or four years now, and she has a bunch. Here are a few of them:

The woman I make them for spends a lot of time in bed.  She is in her 80s and has multiple health problems.  My husband keeps asking me if she needs another pillowcase.  The answer is no, but I make them for her because she likes them, not because she needs them. 

Used this week: 1.25 yards (pillowcase, bee block)
Used year to date: 26.625  yards
Added this week: 9.876 (wedding quilt)
Added year to date: 51.0 yards
Net Added yard: 24.375 yards

At least my yards used YTD is greater than my net added!

Linking up: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2017/03/12/stash-report-march-12-2017/

Talkin' Turkey, Ready For Borders

I have the entire center of Talkin' Turkey together now.  The pattern calls for three more borders, and I still need to piece two of them.

I will be glad to get this one finished because all I've done for the last 2 weeks is buy fabric!  My stash numbers won't look great this week, but soon I'll have yards used to report.

Inverted Star Quilt

Since red is the RSC color for this month, I made a couple of blocks for my Inverted Star Quilt.

I am an old fashioned, press-to-the-side kind of quilter. It has been a challenge for me, getting every seam to nest, but for the most part, I've got it figured out now and haven't had to do as much unsewing on these latest blocks as I had to do at first.  Yes, I have been ripping things out to get a neat, flattish block.   I have tried pressing seams open, but nesting the seams makes my intersections easier to match.


Ten blocks done so far!

Center Medallion

Before I put my 365 Day Challenge project away, I wanted to get the center pieced.  My medallion is based on the pattern, but I changed rows bordering the center.  To me, having flying geese point away from the middle will draw the eye out to the rest of the quilt.   Here's what I have so far:

The color in my picture is a little washed out because I took it last night. Taking another today wouldn't improve things since it is gray out now.

Using some of the 3 1/2 inch blocks in the corners made me realize that I had made the right decision in deciding to stop making these blocks.  They are very cute, but it is difficult to choose which blocks to set next to each other since they all have so many seam allowances on the edges.  I had to try and balance color as well as seam intersections.  I've also cut off a lot of points because the seam allowances are very thick.  I don't believe going back and trying to correct this problem would be worth the time. The points might improve, but they will never be perfect.  I am going to have to rely on the busyness of the rest of the quilt to draw attention away from the many cut off points.

I'm putting this quilt away for a while so I can work on a wedding gift.  Since red is the RSC color this month, I'll keep using Talkin' Turkey border units as leaders and enders for the wedding quilt.

Stash Report

It was a big fabric buying week for me.  I got another fat quarter bundle of  Minick and Simpson's Grand Traverse Bay for the 365 Day Challenge Quilt.  I have officially stopped making the 3 1/2 inch daily blocks, but I needed more fabric to finish the quilt.  The little blocks I made ate up so much fabric that I was almost out of the dark and medium blues.  The colors and patterns in this bundle will be great in my scrap quilts if I have some left over.  I also went to a  'buy 10 fat quarters,  get 10 fat quarters free' sale at an LQS.  My quilting friend and I split the deal and each got 10.  I bought a few new reds since I've used a lot of them this year in Talkin' Turkey .  I also got a couple of greens for my Smart Phone quilt, and the rest are neutrals.  So my numbers are going in the wrong direction again!

Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 26.375  yards
Added this week: 12.5
Added year to date: 41.125 yards
Net Added yard: 14.75 yards

My goal this week is to at least make a pillowcase, so I'll have some yards used to report next time!

I've been working on Talkin' Turkey this week and am down to the borders.  I think the borders are almost as time consuming as making the blocks, but the RSC color this month is red, so I should get a lot done and maybe (fingers crossed) get this top done.  Here's my border progress:

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2017/03/05/stash-report-march-5-2017/

365 Block Challenge Over For Me!

I have been a good little quilter, diligently working on my 365 Block Challenge.  I saved the patterns from last year, so I have most of them on my computer.  I was able to work ahead a bit and have all of the blocks Jan. 1 though March 7.  I also completed July 2 through August 12.  At first I was enjoying the challenge.  The blocks started out easy but quickly got harder, not because the patterns were difficult but because the pieces were teeny tiny.  Last week I as I was cutting 7/8" strips for a block, it occurred to me that I wasn't enjoying the process anymore.  I have been frustrated by the bulk in these blocks.  They are only 3 1/2 inch blocks, and a lot of them have flying geese that measure 1 1/4" X  2",

The stitch and flip covered corners construction methods drives me crazy on 'normal' size blocks.  Even though these were itty bitty blocks, I felt like I was wasting a lot of fabric.  Many of my 3 1/2" blocks are almost perfect.  Many more are not because when you start ripping out pieces that are less than 1" square, there can be a lot more distortion than there would be on a 'normal' sized piece.  Sometimes I would just recut a piece instead of trying to save it. Sometimes I would decide a block was close enough and move on.  Then there was the issue of cutting sixteenths.  I don't have a ruler that can do it accurately.  I was doing a lot of guesstimating.  These blocks started to feel like work.  

I feel like I have been though piecing boot camp.  The good news:  I have learned a lot about accurate piecing and cutting.  The two hundred   1 1/2" X 3 1/2" inch  flying geese I have to make for Talkin' Turkey, now seem like giant units!

And I have a plan to save the blocks I've already made.  Stay tuned!