Leftover Rail Fence progress

I added a blue round for my leftover rail fence quilt.  I wanted the blue to look purposeful so I thought I would either make it smaller or larger than the other rails. Since smaller is out - did you see the width of the black strip? - I decided to make it bigger, which only amounts to 2 inch finished.

I still have more rails left, so I figured I would just join them together and keep going around the quilt. This could be the outer border. Maybe make the blue curvy too.

I have a lot more rails left, so I could just keep going around and around.

I like the look of and idea of adding more rounds, but when I recently shared my Christmas trees quilt with you, I realized I showed you 50% of my quilt finishes of the year, and my 2015 recap post is going to be a dud like the last couple of years.  What if I just finished this one, without adding any more rails, so that there would be three quilt finishes in the recap? This one would then be 13 1/2 X 17 or thereabouts, which is a good size, yet small enough to fit on my bulletin board.

 It feels kinda bad to end the quilt just to have a finish, but I can use the leftover rails and make a leftover of leftover rail fence quilt, and have yet another quilt finish to show you maybe next year.

Daily Circles!

It's been a a few days since I've shown you some circles. Did you enjoy your break? I'm sure by now you are dying to know what my circles look like.

This is part of the Quilty 365 project, where you make a circle a day. Click on the link on the sidebar for more information.

I started 11/16/2015, and have been pretty good about deciding on my circle each day. Sometimes I make two at a time, but I try not to get too far behind.  There was a day I thought I had fallen behind, and decided that I would just skip it, to avoid any pressure.  I thought that I could just keep going an extra day, or make two whenever I felt I had two good ideas to use that day, but turns out the very next day I had two good ideas, so I haven't really fallen behind yet.

Here's what they look like altogether so far.  I have two weeks done. Right now, I think I will keep whatever I make in the limited time I have, but I do reserve the right to omit or do over a circle or two when I put the quilt together.

I had big plans for the one on the left. I was going to make a clock, with the hands at 11:29 to represent 11/29. I thought that was pretty clever of me to think of it.  However, my plans got too big when I sewed down the background circle with a fancy stitch on my machine without any interfacing and everything got very distorted. There was no way it would work so I gave myself a do-over, only much simpler. I didn't have time to make the clock hands so we will have to save that idea for later.

The next day's circle is pretty simple too - a four patch cut into a circle.  I would like to make something more complex, like a dresden plate or a kaleidoscope block someday when I have lots of time.


My daughter likes to draw, and it is not uncommon for me to find eye drawings on papers around the house.  Since my goal is to learn to draw too, I decided to work on the eye too. It isn't a drawing, but it did make me think about the parts of the eye. I also saw a quilt story on you tube where someone was sharing a quilt that had an eye, so it seemed appropriate.



This one came after the shooting in San Bernardino.  There have been so many shootings this year. It seems like people have all forgotten how to resolve conflicts in a peaceful way.  We wind up disowning and discarding friends and family members instead of trying to work things out. Anyway, this is my wish for world peace. It's the only block that doesn't have a neutral background, and I really didn't want to remember this as a red letter day, but I needed a dark background to offset the white circle and this red fabric was just perfect for it.

When you are finished reading this blog post, run to the Quilty 365 circle linkup.  You will be amazed at how our creative quilters have interpreted this project.

I haven't had much time for quilting, so I haven't made much progress on the rail fence quilt.  I did make some more blocks, and am still thinking about layouts.  For the leftover rails quilt, I am going to put a blue sashing before carrying on with more leftover logs.

ThrowBack Thursday - Holiday Edition

Christmas trees quilt made by Shasta Matova

 Today, I am presenting you this quilt from way back when. When was it? Oh yes, this February. I completed this quilt in time for President's Day this year.

 

Why? Because A Quarter Inch from the Edge is sponsoring a Throwback Thursday link, and I thought I should give you a break from showing another couple rail fence blocks and circles.

Christmas Trees quilt in progress by Shasta Matova

This was a fun little quilt to make with improv piecing. I was able to use some holiday and other fabric that had been sitting in my stash for a long time and make this quick project.  I am sure I was probably supposed to be working on some other UFO or WIP, but hey, at least I finished it!

I just had to throw in this dark picture of my design floor because of what she said on her blog about dark pictures and design floors being vintage.  Sorry, it is still my normal state.

Christmas Trees Quilt in Snow by Shasta Matova

 I was able to  photograph the quilt in the snow in February. We had a few tiny snowflakes fly this winter, but.the real snow hasn't started yet. I am avoiding watching the weather but I'm pretty sure it will come soon.

The pattern was free from Diary of a Quilter. She called it Patchwork Forest tree. I liked her straight line quilting and so I duplicated it, but of course I had to make it hard for myself and not quilt the trees so they would stand out a little bit.  I am still afraid to try free motion quilting with the new machine, so I twisted and turned the quilt every which way to go back and forth row by row. It was a fun little quilt to make. My finish size is approximately 18" x 26".

Quilty Circles

Hello everyone, welcome back.  I'm sure you are here to see some more pictures of quilt parts, and I am happy to indulge. Here are photos from my camera today.

Here's the circle for Thanksgiving day.  I didn't make something to represent the holiday. I just wanted to make a circle out of triangles, so I did.

This is for Black Friday.  Leave it up to me to commemorate Black Friday and not commemorate Thanksgiving.  I spent way too much.

Here is Saturday's circle. Although we are still eating turkey, I had this bowl in the recycle bin.  It is from a frozen meal, and I always wanted to do something with the design. I used the Shiva Paintstiks again, with a paintbrush this time, even though I had already put away the Paintstiks. I'm sure it would have looked better if I had picked a different background fabric.



I put up a fleece blanket on the wall to make an impromptu design wall, and tried again with the Square Steps layout.  I did better on the layout this time.  I still need to play with looking at the design to see if I prefer the the dark or the light fabric is on the top left or if it matters to me.  In some blocks, all the darks meet in the center, in others they vary.  

Wanda and Julie both thought I should make another red and black block to help balance out the design, and they have convinced me, so I am doing just that, along with some more red blocks to make another row. It will now be 5 x 7.

As a Leader and Ender, I am using the leftover rails to make this little baby. Once I had an idea to do this, I started cutting the rails the opposite way - the 22" side instead of the 18" side so I would be sure to have more leftovers. I'm not planning this piece - whichever piece happens to be the right size, shows up in the space. I am very happy with it so far.

 I started with the log cabin then moved to courthouse steps.   I still have some more rails left, which will have to be pieced together to make more courthouse steps. I like using leftovers as Leaders and Enders because then, I only need one set of fabric out. I also like being able to use the leftovers while I am making the original quilt so I don't have to figure out a way to store them.



In case you were wondering which book I was waiting for, it is this one. It came in the afternoon on Friday - I had just about given up on it when I spotted the mail truck, so I decided to wait until the package was delivered before I went out. I waited for a long time listening for the sound. It took so long, that I looked out the window to see what had happened to our mail carrier, and apparently it had been silently placed on the porch. I didn't get any other mail so there wasn't the familiar thump of the mailbox closing. It's nice to get a package and no bills.

Even though the long anticipation was sure to make the book be a let down, it is a great book.  Red &; White Quilts: Infinite Variety: presented by the American Folk Art Museum are all the quilts that were at the Red & White Quilts show that was held last year.  There are several articles about the quilts, the collection, and the show, and then there are pages and pages of photographs of each of the quilts.  It's a lovely book, and I highly recommend that you add it to your holiday wish list.

The Small Quilt Yahoogroup is making red and white quilts this month and I sure would like to join them if I could get some current projects done. It's going to have to be a very simple and quick one and this book showed several options. There are no patterns in the book, so you can enjoy looking at the pictures without feeling any guilt about the need to make them.

The other pictures on the camera are photos of quilt magazines as my scanning project continues at a relatively quick and steady pace.

Rail Fence Layout Options

Here is the layout that is similar to the cover of Cultural Fusion. All of these are trying to figure out the orientation of the blocks.  Once I decide on the orientation, I will work on block placement - I will decide which blocks go where later.

When I went to test the layout of my rail fence quilt, I realized that I did not have enough blocks.  I had read a couple of blogs where people said they did not have enough contrast in their quilt because it was missing a contrasting color - a blue or a green in my case.  I thought adding a whole block in one of those colors would be glaring, but I found this fabric that is mostly warm colors and has green in it. I wasn't sure it would work, but I made the blocks to see how they would look.

Here's the same layout, pictured from a different angle.  I would prefer my steps to go up instead of down. I don't know why - maybe it is because of my accounting background and I am thinking of graphs, and they are usually better when they go up. Higher profits! higher revenue! higher productivity!

Here's Zeus's suggestion for a layout. On top in the middle are the new blocks. I think they blend in okay.

Here's a random pattern. Just seeing if random is good.

This is the zigzag layout in the book. I'm not sure how helpful this one is to see, since I made several mistakes in orientation in this one. Actually, I'm sure I made mistakes on all of them.  I found it pretty difficult to work out which way the blocks were supposed to be oriented.

This is the square steps layout in the book.  Generally, when I saw other people show their layouts, I liked this one the best, because it looks like the multiple trip around the world quilt that is on my to-do list, but I'm not so sure it works well for these blocks.

I know I need to keep trying different layouts. I'll try again tomorrow.

So what do you think? Do all these blocks work well together? Is the red and black one too dark? What layout do you like?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Hope you are having a great day with family and friends.  I wanted to make a quick post to show you my circles and rails progress. I had been running behind the circles already - making yesterday's circle today for several days, and since I caught up yesterday, I wanted to post today and make sure that I didn't get behind in posting too!

Yesterday, I looked out the window all day long waiting for a package to come.  I have ordered a special quilt book from Amazon and was expecting it to come.  It was hard to work on quilting when my thoughts were distracted with this book. 

Eventually, I figured out that the quilt police must have gotten to the UPS / USPS team, and  told them not to deliver the book to me until my rail fences were done. They didn't want me to get ideas to start new quilts until this one was finished.

Improv rail fence progress by Shasta Matova

This picture shows where I was when I started. I tried to put them in color order, but I don't really know how to do that with different tints, shades and values, etc., but it is a good rough idea. I think my issue before was I was trying to get an even number of fabrics for each color, and I decided that I did not need to do that.  I did add more orange and red, but I also added more pink and purple. The orange and red will be accents to the pink and purple.

I decided to appease the quilt police and worked on the rail fence blocks.  I had chosen the fabrics the day before and made most of the rails, so it was simply a matter of putting the blocks together.

Shasta Matova is running out of thread

I noticed that the thread was running low and that began the race. Which would happen first, the finishing of the rails, the thread running out, or the book delivery? Being the competitive person I am, faster and faster I sewed to get finished before the door bell rang.

Quilting progress by Shasta Matova

The finished pile is getting bigger and bigger. My stomach is complaining of hunger. Just wait tummy, there are only a few more to do. Faster and faster.  Oh no, is that a selvage?  We're going to have to fix that.  This is a controlled improv quilt and quality does matter. This delay is making me late. Hurry faster.

Quilting mistake by Shasta Matova

Oh no, this block is going the wrong way. Should I leave it in? It is an improv quilt.  No, if it was a design choice that would be okay, but this is a mistake, and you have to fix it.  Otherwise, you will have to forever explain that you were racing against the mail carrier, and everyone will say you took a shortcut.

Quilt progress by Shasta Matova

Whew done.  Wait, what is that pile underneath the finished blocks. No wonder the package hasn't come yet. The dog is tired of my stomach growling and wants me to eat too. I wouldn't be too disappointed if the bell rang before I finished.

Orange and purple rail fence blocks by Shasta Matova

Whew done!  When I auditioned the fabrics, I wound up with more colored pieces then I did black and white pieces.  I could have gone back through the black and white pieces, but that would have meant that I would have to reject colored fabrics that made the cut.  I like these together and decided to leave them in the quilt. It is an improv quilt, after all, and this was a planned choice. Maybe it will add more interest to the quilt. I really like these blocks. In truth, I like each and every single block.  Each one makes a difference in how the quilt presents overall.

Curved rail fence by Shasta Matova

It is after 8 and the package has not arrived.  I am going to eat.  Package still  not here. I am going to wash the dishes.  Still  not here. Okay, maybe I have to press the blocks.  Still not here.  There is one more block to make.  This one has quite the curve to it. I check online for the tracking information.  Apparently the quilt police gave up on me and I am not getting the package today after all. I win, but it is not a happy win. I wanted the book.

Days 9 and 10 of Quilty 365 by Shasta Matova

On to the circles.  I decided to use my fabric markers instead of fabric to make the circle on the left. When I got out the markers, I saw that they were not made for fabric so I had to switch my plan. I have these Shiva paintstiks and decided to use those instead.  They look thick crayons and I don't have a sharpener, and it was only my second time using them, so it was a very messy attempt.  I debated whether I should try again, but decided it was ugly enough to stay. It was already being made a day late and I wanted to catch up with my circles.

For the circle on the right, when I was going through old magazines, one of the things I saw was a quilt that looked like a place setting. A circle for the plate with food on it, and the knife, fork and spoon.  Since this is a square, it would be hard to get a utensils in there, and since it is a small square, it would be hard to get food on it.  Then I saw a blog - a recent trunk show, where someone had made an Omas Blues pattern by Esther Aliu.  I have that pattern. I've been smitten by circles for a long time.  I pulled it out, and used her fish. I did have fish sticks today. I am grateful for food.  Since I had to reduce the size, I used freezer paper.  I like how the white on the fish looks silvery in the photo. It is not as neat and tidy as what Esther intended, but I do like how it looks.

This block is made from scraps.  The background is used in other blocks, and also the Life of Plenty. The green fabric was used in the Islamic Tile Quilt and the Daisy quilt.  The blue is an old piece that is used in my dimensional quilts and the scraps have appeared in many other quilts, and the white is used with the red in the rail fence.

By the way, the quilt police didn't win. Even though I didn't get the book. I have lots of ideas for new quilts. One to use up the leftover rails for this quilt, one to use up the rest of the fabric, the Omas Blues quilt, a red and white quilt, a turkey quilt, an art quilt that uses the Shiva Paintstiks correctly, an organic utility quilt, and on and on and on.

Trash Circle and Blender Rails

That's a much better title than just circles and rails, isn't it, even though this is just another post showing another circle and more rail fence blocks.

First, I will show you my trash.  These are selvages and other trash that is made during the quilt making process. Everything is less than an inch.  I just hate throwing it away, but gosh, I won't have any room in my house if I save everything, including the last little snippet.  I have been forcing myself to throw away the snippets, but this time I decided to use these snippets to make my circle, and then I would be able to throw away the leftovers. 

At first, I was going to use the snippets in the shapes that they were, but I decided that I would be allowed to trim them to shapes that I wanted. I secured the pieces with a glue stick and then sewed it all down with straight lines instead of going around each piece individually. I see now I could have used white for the eyes instead of pink and given her some eyeballs. Except for the background square and circle, everything else is from the trash pile.  Instead of making it easier, this just made it more difficult to throw away the trash.

These two blocks are my latest additions to the rail fence quilt.  I really like these because they serve as a bridge between the fabrics that are already in the quilt.  The one on the left helps show that the pink and the purple do go together, and the one on the right show that the pink and the orange do go together.I really didn't want to reject the orange fabric.  It's like having a friend, and then discarding her because your new friends are prettier. And she really is pretty too.

Here they are all together. At this point, I think I have enough blocks, but I really like making these, so I am going to add some more. I will add some more orange, and there is some more purple fabric I would really like to add.  I think I should also add a red so it doesn't look like the odd ball.

I also wanted to tell you about my new project. You probably don't remember my photo scanning project, but it is way back about when I started this blog.  Basically the rule was to scan at least one set of  pictures every day, but more is better.  I managed to get all of them scanned that way.  Well my new project has to do with quilt magazines.  I have a whole bunch of them going way back in time since I haven't ever thrown any away.  My plan is to get rid of all of them. It will make space and reduce clutter in my house, and give the dust mites fewer homes to live in.

The plan is that I will go through the quilt magazines and scan whatever patterns I want and give away the magazine. I am not allowed to keep any paper. This keeps me from taking the lazy out of just ripping out the patterns I want, and still keeping a mess. If you want any, let me know - they aren't in any particular order so it will be hard for me to find a particular issue, but they are all quilt magazines.  Right now my plan is to give them away to a local charity.

Linked to:
AdHoc Improv Quilters 
Let's Bee Social #100 (Yep it is her 100th)