Quilt Reveal: Ruby Buttons

 I managed to make this week's Project Quilting Challenge submission early. The deadline is Sunday at noon central, but here it is, Saturday evening, and I already have the quilt done.  It is also a proper quilt with lots of pieces, so not a small coaster.

The theme of this week's challenge is to make something that is the color of your birthstone, My birthstone is ruby, so it was easy idea for me to make a quilt for my red and white quilt collection.

I wanted to make a quilt with little red squares. I sewed them together in strip sets. They remind me of fabric covered buttons.

This quilt reminds me of the small squares in the Maximum Minimum quilt.

I quilted it with some straight lines, thinking of pinstripes, but looking at it, it looks more like button placards, which makes them look like buttons even more.

Although the other quilts for this challenge were made by birthing quilts, this quilt needed a binding. In order to make it quickly, I machine stitched the binding to the back, folded it over the front, and sewed it down using a serpentine stitch.

I am really happy that I get to submit this quilt on Saturday and not have to worry about whether I will finish it before the deadline.

Quilt Reveal: Web of Life

 

It's time for the annual Dust Off An Old Quilt Book Blog Hop! I have been participating the last few years and have always enjoyed it.

I have been participating the last few years and have always enjoyed it.

For this hop, I dusted off my Red & White  Quilts Infinite Variety book.  The book features all the red and white quilts that had been in an exhibit at a museum. I had seen the quilt on the cover before the exhibit and the book and had already been fascinated by it. 

My friends and I had done some calculations on how to make this quilt. I had done some research and had even found some instructions about how to make the quilt. I bought a 9 degree ruler. The quilt can be strip cut, but you have to cut the triangles in one direction. The smaller triangles are in the center and the larger triangles are on the outside.  This means you waste half of the triangles. I wondered what the other half would look like if sewn together.

My first worry was whether I am capable of making a checkerboard like that neatly, the regular "squares" much less the tiny points in the center. I decided to make a sample block. In this one, I decided to make it so that I can use all the triangles. I made a strip set with a light on one side and a dark on the other side. I then cut triangles, moving the ruler up or down depending on what color I wanted to be the smallest.

This won't help me reduce waste on the optical illusion quilt, but it does give me a good idea about how difficult this quilt might be if I make it on a bigger scale.

This block may look familiar to you. I started it a long time ago, in 2010. I then added a backing to hide the raw edges. I added it to a gray background, but I didn't like the way it looked, so I abandoned it. I hadn't put it on my list of quilts because I was just playing and hadn't started the Optical Illusion quilt.

During the 15 Minutes to Quilt Challenge in December, I took off the gray background and made a quilt sandwich with a white background. I then had to leave the quilt alone and move on to my next UFO for the next day's video. 

But since it was so close to completion, I didn't put it away, and worked on it in the spare bits of time I could find.

I decided that instead of centering the spiderweb to the rectangular quilt, I wanted to have the spiderweb be a little bit higher and add something else to the bottom.

I traced out a design from another book of quilting patterns. I appliqued the spiderweb and the designs to the quilt sandwich, and decided to add a word. 

What word? Web of Intrigue? Web of Lies? Web of Deception? I looked it up, and the first word I found was Web of Life. Sounded good to me. It was late at night by that time and Life is a nice short word and therefore easy to applique, so I decided to choose that. I found a font I liked and traced out the letters.

Man did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we also do to ourselves. Adapted from Chief Seattle

 

Then I fused the letters on and quilted them down.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this quilt finished. You've waited a long time for it! The video for this quilt should be out on Sunday on my YouTube channel, Quilt and Color.

Here are the people who are participating in the blog hop this time. 

Karrin's Crazy World

Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

High Road Quilter (that's me!)

Beaquilter (our wonderful hostess!)

Quilt Reveal: Red and White Hourglass Quilt

I have finished the Red and White Hourglass quilt for the Project Quilting challenge for this week . The challenge is to make a quilt that is inspired by an hourglass. It must be started and finished in one week.

I've actually wanted to make a red and white hourglass quilt for a long time, years. I saw one in a museum and the docent would not allow me to take a photo of it, even though it is a simple traditional pattern. I drew it out and shaded in the red parts so I would remember what it looked like, but I must have been on a No New Quilts Until the Old Ones are Finished rule, so I did not start the quilt and it stayed on the To-Do List.

I thought about making a red and white hourglass quilt for this challenge, but I wasn't sure I would be able to make a good one in time. I wanted one with enough blocks that the secondary patterns would show through and I also had the blog hop quilt to finish.

So I thought I would make one with one long hourglass block, and a quote on the other side. I got the bright idea that I could print the quote on fabric and that would make the words easy to get on the fabric.

Then I got the bright idea that I could applique an hourglass. So I looked for a pretty picture, and while I was playing in Canva, I thought I could make the whole design, print it on fabric, and make a wholecloth quilt with minimal quilting, easy peasy.

The printer didn't cooperate. I don't think it is the printer's fault. I think that with new releases of Windows and printer drivers, the printer is becoming obsolete even though it works perfectly fine. Or maybe I don't use the ink fast enough and it dries up before I get a chance to use it. This problem has been happening, so I don't think it is just this ink cartridge. There was some faint picture but not enough to see what it is.

So I went to Plan B, or is it Plan A? I used some solid fabric and decided I wanted a bigger quilt so I added other reds from my scrap pile. I didn't make the block with half square triangles that turn into quarter square triangles. I made stripes and set the squares on point.

I found some more red scraps when I went to look for a backing fabric so I made more blocks.

Since this is a quilt that I wanted to make for a long time, I wanted to make it right, so I quilted on both sides of the ditch so that the hourglass blocks are more apparent. The lines are organic sewn. I am hoping that the flaws in the points get hidden rather than accentuated.

I have always admired lightly quilted quilts and I really like the look of this one.

I trimmed the quilt. My original plan was to birth the quilt, but I decided to use the leftover red fabric I had. I didn't have the time to make the quilt bigger, but I thought it would show the quilt better if the backing fabric could not be seen from the front.

I machine stitched the binding to save time. This is a skill I am learning and have not perfected, but I guess I won't learn it if I don't keep trying.

I'll take some glamor shots later, but I wanted to make sure I got this blog post up. I missed the deadline on one of the challenges because I didn't have the blog post up.

Thank you for this challenge again this year. I finally got my red and white hourglass quilt made!

I will post a Youtube video about this quilt and give you a link here next Sunday.

15 Minutes to Stitch 2024

I I have definitely been quilting every day.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7 days

15 minute days this year -- 56 out of 56 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with: Life in Pieces 15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilt Reveal: Fear of the Missed Deadline

 I was going about my merry way, planning today's post to say I have been quilting for the last two weeks but have nothing to show for it. Just cutting some scraps, organizing the sewing room, finishing quilting Boundless.

I even figured I could show you my library stack to keep the post from being too boring. I went to the main library recently and gathered these books.

Then I thought, is Project Quilting over? And sauntered my way to the website to find out. Nope, there is one last project, and it is due in three hours! I can't make a quilt that fast. I already used up the last of my scrap in last week's project.

Then I read the challenge post. It is about conquering a fear. Seriously?! It is daring me to make a quilt in three hours. Very tricky, people. Can I make it?

Step aside, I have another emergency quilt to make. Anyone who complains about the lack of vacuuming can blame the Kim and the Project Quilting people.

 

To make it quickly, I raided the Spare Parts box. That is where I put my orphan blocks that are leftover from other quilt projects. Since my project last week used leftover from another project and I got away with it, I decided to push the rules even more. What are they going to do, fire me? It is the last project of the year.

I figured I could use these pieces and fill in with the leftovers from the Boundless quilt and the box of scraps I am currently cutting for my scrap quilt.

I decided to just use the pieces based on their size and not worry too much about anything else. If it fits, that is where it sits.

I even took a break to make a scrappy lunch - throwing whatever I could find in the kitchen together to get it done quickly.

 

Ta-da! And because of the deadline, there was no time to take a lot of in progress pictures.

 

I had to edit this post to show you how close I came to missing the deadline.

Quilt Reveal: Boundaries

The Project Quilting Challenge this week was to make a quilt inspired by the 54-40 or Fight quilt pattern. When I saw the challenge post, I was all ready. Laundry and dishes washed, groceries bought, cooked food packed up in the freezer. I had just finished a whole bunch of triangles for the Aunt Daisy quilt. Since I had taken so much time making a quilt last time, I thought I should make something small and simple. Maybe an ATC for my ATC holder that hasn't been worked on for years.

 

Then I saw the challenge and I was in full panic mode. I couldn't think of a way to make that block into ATC size. I thought about just making one block, but that block is much more interesting when used in in a group. Plus, I had made so many triangles, and I have another quilt I want to make that uses these triangles that I just couldn't see myself making any more triangles.

So I decided to do something else inspired by the post. The 54-40 block is about boundaries and where they should be drawn. 

It’s about land acquisition, and in the 1840s many suggested the northern edge of Oregon should be drawn at the 54°40′ north line of latitude. And they were willing to go to war to make that happen. “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!”

Boundaries make me think of fences. Good fences make good neighbors. So I decided to make a rail fence quilt. A rail fence I can handle in a week. I made the rails bigger than my standard size of one inch. I thought they would make a bigger impact.I didn't take any in-process photos so you can see the finished photos throughout.

 

The 54-40 block is about where the boundary for Oregon should be drawn. I like that there are several rows of fences, so it does reflect the decision about where the boundary should be. I think I've used all three of the fabrics in other small quilts. 

The background fabric is in Aunt Daisy. I sure hope I am done making the blocks for that quilt and don't find out after I do the inventory that I need more blocks! It took some thinking and planning to make the lines go in coherent directions. I like how it turned out.

I scribble quilted in the red sections. To make it quick, I hand stitched the binding down with a running stitch. I like the way it looks.

 

2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 5

 

I worked on the Project Quilting challenge this week. I also made some of my "daily" circle blocks. I will show them to you next time.

 

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 35 out of 35 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

 

Linked with:

 15 Minutes to Stitch

 Project Quilting

 

Quilt Reveal: Red and White Op Art Quilt

 

I present to you my mini quilt of the month. It is based on a class I took from the Dayton Art Institute about Op Art. I decided to translate it to cloth. I took red fabric and cut out the parts I wanted to be white.

I had tried to add blue underneath, and didn't really like the way it looked so I took out the blue. But since I quilted it days after I posted it on the blog, Tanya said she did like the blue.  I thought about it, and remembered that I did like the blue when I first added it, but then I added too much. I didn't want to take too much time thinking about where to add the blue, but when I got to this section, I decided a touch of blue would be good.

Another thing that happened is that I dreamed that I cut a fringe from the unquilted red fabric. While I think about quilting all day long and have daydreams about quilts, I rarely dream at night about quilts. Cutting a fringe wasn't presented as an option - it was something I was actually doing. (That was really all there was to the dream - my dreams are as exciting as my days). So I cut the fringe during the day and then I cut some fringe out so it looks like I made the quilt by weaving.

 

It's a dream come true, y'all.

 

I turned the white border to the back and wanted some more red as an outline so I secured the "binding" using a running stitch with red crochet thread.

 

Here it is again in a different position. It finishes at 14 1/2" x 18".

Op Art Quilt

I recently told you about a recent class I took Dayton Art Institute where you made a drawing to replicate the style of Julian Stamczak.

I wanted to replicate this style in fabric. Just the simple one with straight vertical lines and curvy horizontal lines, or vice versa - and not the diagonal lines shown in the index card.

My original plan was to strip piece two sets of fabric, The strips of straight lines would need two sets of exact opposite colors. Then they could be cut and the wavy lines would be cut and sewn together the way I have made improv quilts.

It would require some precise piecing though to make sure that the seams matched properly, and diagonal lines would probably cause problems.

My sister recommended applique, which would require extra work for me to create straight lines in applique. A combination could work - piece the horizontal and vertical lines, and then the diagonal lines could be formed with applique. But that probably wouldn't work because the diagonal lines would change the checkerboard of the existing shapes.

 I then thought about cutwork. What if I layered the fabric and then cut away parts of it to form the checkerboard? I thought about layering and just cutting away a part, but I was worried that I would cut too much, since the boxes could be small.

 I drew out a pattern on muslin using a washable marker. I didn't really try to make any special design, just random lines.

Did you notice that I even marked the shapes that needed to be cut out? I changed my mind and decided not to make the diagonal lines because I wanted the shapes to be big enough to easily cut. The marking wasn't easy since I had to look carefully at which lines were left. I made a mistake in the second box. You can see it on the bottom left. I decided not to make that diagonal line, but I put an x there when it should have been white. It was an easy fix to just cut out the boxes that didn't have an x.

I sewed down the lines I wanted to use on top of a red fabric. I used up the red thread so I am using a whitish thread. The tension was off so it caused some tight stitches. I loosened them and it looked like it was better, but not better enough, so I had to keep playing with the tension. I think it will be all right though since I am cutting through and that will help loosen things up.

The plan is to use the muslin as a pattern, cut out the shapes, and then layer it on white fabric to create the checkerboard. I have to make sure I save enough of the "sashing" that I don't wind up with a bunch of shapes that aren't attached to each other.

My plan was to use a craft knife, but I don't know where it is right now, so I decided to see if the applique scissors would work. It does.

 

There is a pucker in the border, but the rest of it looks good to me. I will now layer it on the white fabric and decide how to secure it.

I did notice that each of the photos shows a different position of the piece, but it is all one piece.  In the end, the viewer can decide which side is up.

More Red Quilts

The Color It Red blog hop is over now, but some of you may still want to see some more red quilts.  If you missed my red quilt, you can see it Red and White Portrait with Yo-Yo Trim.  Here are some red quilts I have made. They are all small quilts - too small to use as lap quilts. They are all taken with the same background - living room floor, so you may be able to estimate the size.

Lately, I have been enjoying seeing my quilts in different combinations - like a curator in a museum.