Rail Fence Happenings

Yesterday, I promised to talk about rail fences today, so here I am!

The reason that the Cultural Fusion rail fence became sidetracked was because it needed more blocks to make the layout.  And I have misplaced the book, and because I had forgotten the size I had cut the strips to make the block.  Even if I looked for and found the book, it might not have matter, because I'm pretty sure I had altered the size.

It turns out that it was a simple matter of measuring the parts of a block that was already made and I was good to go!

The purple fabric was already out, so I must have chosen it for this quilt, and the B&W fabric was in my scrap box and in just the right amount. It was used in my improv quilt using one of Sherri Lynn's scores.

I have been sewing together all of the leftover rails end to end and I added the leftover rails of these blocks to the chain. I kept the values the same throughout the chain - all the darks in one row the lights in the other.  Since the leftovers were done, I considered different options.  It is a little hard to show since the rails were in one long chain.

 Alternating light and dark.

Alternating two rows of lights and two rows of darks. I like this better because it better emphasizes the darks and lights.

Courthouse square or log cabin  While this method intrigues me, I had already used it for the Elephant improv so I decided not to make another one of those.

I cut the pieces to one size and sewed them together. While I did reject some combinations because I didn't want big blobs of one color or fabric in any one section of the quilt, for the most part, I just combined them as I picked them up.  I think this is how the Mile a Minute quilt is created.

Here's the finished top.

The whole time I was making it, I expected it to be horizontal. But the seam allowances took quite a bit of the length, and now it is wider than it is long when you look at it this way.

I like the little raindrop or teardrop that wound up in this piece.

This is the same picture turned vertically so you don't have to turn your head.

Rule Breaking Quilt

Here are another 7 circles for my Quilty 365 circle quilt, where I supposed to make a circle a day. 

Last week, I made an HST block as a background.  Due to my method of making them, I made 2 at the same time.  I used one of them last week.  When it came to this week though, I started thinking about my rules for this quilt. Am I allowed to use the same exact background for more than one block? It actually took me a while to think about it.  It finally occurred to me that I had been repeating backgrounds all along, so why not the same pieced background?  I've also repeated fabric for the circles so I am not sure why I had to worry about the rules for this one.

When it came to deciding what circle to put on it, I found this pieced scrap I had recently cut from the rail fence quilt, which I will show you tomorrow.  I wanted to use it up so I did. This is
Block 67, not 66, because I finished it after the one I am showing you next. I wanted to tell its story first so you knew my mindset this week.

Block 66: I saw this layout for a drunkard's path block on another blog and decided to add it to this quilt. This is a tiny block which needs precision piecing.  I often go back and forth between precision piecing and improv, though not usually very successfully.  This is a tiny block - cut 4 inches so each quadrant had to be correspondingly small.

There was a tiny gather in one of the pieces and instead of fixing it, I decided to make more!  Who said the background had to be flat? I'm all about breaking rules.  Once I trimmed this block to the proper size, the gathers, which are in the light fabric, are not very noticeable.

Block 68: This fabric was the backing of the Elephant improv quilt, and was looking messy as it had a batting scrap attached to it.  I cut away the batting, and used up the fabric.  I didn't realize until I put it with the previous row how close it is to the block in which I already used this fabric.

 Block 69:  This is leftovers of block 66. There were four pieces with the red and white strips pieced together.  Instead of piecing the four strips, I appliqued them onto the background. The vertical lines are pieced, the horizontal lines are appliqued.

Block 70: I showed this one to you yesterday.  It is a quilt sandwich with lines of embroidery stitches going through it. I satin stitched it to the background.

Block 71: During a walk near an elementary school, I saw a pink disk on the ground. It had a heart cut into it.  Was it an eraser, or some plastic disk?  It was flat and I thought it would make a perfect addition to the quilt, much like the found button I used earlier in the project. As I was about to pick it up, Zeus marked it, and I decided that maybe a fabric reproduction would be better.

Block 72: I finally realized that I was breaking rules all this week, and thought about other ways I could break the rules. What rules have I not broken?  Well, all of my blocks have a backing and a circle placed on it.  How about a backing that already has circles, so I don't need to place anything else on it!

Here they are all together. Not a lot of light backgrounds in this row. I need to find and cut some more.

Here is how they will look with the previous rows. I cannot attach these to the previous row yet until I make the next few circles.

[edited to add this next photo: I missed a row! This is what it looks like with the previous rows:]

If you can think of other ways I can break the rules, please let me know!

Project Quilting Season 7 Thread

This week's Project Quilting challenge is about thread. This month's Small Quilt Challenge is about hearts. I decided to combine both challenges and make something I could send to a loved one.

I started out with a quilt sandwich and lots of thread.  I usually use a simple background that has a high contrast with what I add, but I liked this fabric, and thought it would give a softer, more mature, look.

I used the embroidery stitches on my machine to add a variety of stitches in all of the threads I had chosen. The plan was to stitch everything on one sandwich and then cut out the individual shapes. A heart for the heart quilt that I could send to my daughter. Maybe a rectangle to turn into a spool of thread. And if there was enough extra, a circle for Circle 365.

I then cut out the heart from it, using a template to make sure I had the right shape and size. I decided that using different threads was enough for the thread challenge. This doesn't look like it would work too well as a spool of thread.  I cut another, slightly smaller, heart for myself. When I make something for someone else, I have learned to make one for myself too, especially when it is small and easy, like this is. Economy of scale and all that.

The original plan was to apply this heart to a background to make a postcard, but I really liked the idea of a quilt that was not a square or rectangle. I also wanted something that was bigger than a postcard.  If I am going to mail it in an envelope anyway, I could make it any size I wanted!  This idea also fit with the idea of finishing by Sunday's deadline, so I finished the edges off with satin stitches.

As a bonus, there was enough leftover sandwich to make a circle. Another bonus is that I didn't have to take a quilt off the board to make room for it.

Circles 65

I am sure by now you are sick and tired of seeing the guilt-inducing finished quilts, and want to see something that has no chance of being finished anytime soon.  I am happy to oblige.  I have 65 circles completed. 

I used an embroidery stitch from my machine for this one. Trying to put some calmer colors in this section.

 A pieced one. The center square finishes at one inch. I made a nine patch and trimmed it into a circle.  It is a combination of precision and improv piecing, in that it is precision until it doesn't work right, then it is improv. I'm not getting out the seam ripper unless I absolutely can't get it to work.  The pattern idea came from a recently published book that is going through a blog hop.  I wrote the name down somewhere...

The idea for this car was also on a blog. It was a pattern on a project. The passengers fabric is an African print that was used on a BOM.

This one is about rules - who has the right to make them, knowing what the rules are, of breaking them deliberately or accidentally, of enforcing them, and the reasonableness of the punishment for breaking them.

The circle fabric is from Cheddar Cheese and Crackers. The design looked like a stream to me.

Copying the idea of a pieced background from another Quilty 365 participant.

Copied the idea of a half applique and half embroidery circle from another blogger.  I kept the blog open on a tab so I could properly attribute it, but then accidentally closed it. Mine is not as neat as hers, so maybe she wouldn't want the attribution.

Here's the whole week's worth altogether.

And sewn into the previous section. I don't know how I managed to get it to fit without a vertical sashing strip. This is three rows of week three.  There is a lot of red in this section. I need to add more red to the weeks 1 and 2.

Only 300 more to go!

Quilt Reveal: Cheddar Cheese and Crackers

Once upon a time, on January 13, 2010 to be exact, I started the Cheddar Cheese and Crackers quilt. This is what I had to say at that time:

I know I was going to finish African Circles before starting a new quilt . . . .

I know I said I was going to make circle banner quilts, or finish some UFOs, or at least start on one of the quilts that are already kitted up and not started. . . .

But I also said that I was going to take advantage of little projects when they called to me. And Lori at Humble Quilts is making a doll quilt called Cheddar Cheese and Crackers. It's a doll quilt, how long can it take?

This post had me laughing out loud. Yes, I actually said that. I'm sure I said it tongue in cheek since I did know by then that quilts can take a long time. I'm pretty sure though that I didn't think it would would take six years.

The post also shows that I haven't changed at all, because so many quilts, in various stages of completion and ones that have never been started are still floating around in my head, as you can tell from my last two posts. 

Cheddar Cheese and Crackers is finished now.  Let's give it some love, shall we?

Each of the pieces in the checkerboard are one inch finished.  The light spaces have been hand quilted diagonally in both directions. Some of them have been made to practice making small stitches, others to practice consistent stitches, and the rest of them to just get 'er done.

I gave this reproduction quilt a modern take by using batik prints for the checkerboard.  There are a variety of different batik prints but they look pretty similar in this quilt.  The light background crackers and the cheddar fabrics honor the pattern's roots.

Each of the cheese slices have a different circular design hand quilted on it. My affinity for circles has deep roots.

I used a triangle for a label.  The quilt finishes at 22" x 22" It is a beautiful day outside so I was able to go outside without a coat (in February! It's 60 degrees!) for these photographs.

I called it a doll quilt in 2010, and I was thinking that it was really too big to be a doll quilt, but Amanda says it is just the right size for her. The wind posed this picture.

Linked to:
Let's Bee Social #110 
Wandering Camera February 2016
because I practiced my photography skills finding different places to show off this quilt. Throwback Thursday because this is an old quilt as well as a new quilt at the same time!

One Monthly Goal for February

Since the Cheddar Crackers is nearing completion, I wanted to make a plan for what I will finish next.  Therefore, it is time for

Right now, I have a lot of quilts that have some or all blocks made, but have not been pieced together into a top. This is creating clutter in my sewing space, and I have decided to clean that up by turning some of these blocks into a top. I'd rather clean by sewing than, well, cleaning.

Therefore, my one monthly goal will be to take all these loose rail fence blocks and turn it into a top this month. It is quite possible that I may even be able to turn it into a finished quilt this month, but I don't want to promise that. Better to keep the goals realistic, right?

 

Why these? Because they are the ones that have not been put away. The Elephant Parade and Life of Plenty and other blocks are tucked away in drawers or boxes so they don't bother me as much. 

The remaining leftover rails are also out and they are also bothering me, so I have chained all of them together into one very long row. I think I will be able to finish this top / quilt too, but again, no promises on this one.

Quilt Reveal: Dog Gone Cute

Dog Gone Cute is ready for a quilt reveal.

This is Lorna Mahon's pattern from Sew Fresh quilts.  She offered it on her blog for free.  She has many other dog patterns as well.  She is also getting ready to host an Ugly Sweaters quilt-along.

I adapted this one - okay, it was partly an error that I decided to keep because I thought it would get a longer nose this way.  Then I looked at Zeus and realized that I only see his nose when he is looking down but when he is looking up, I see his mouth and chin.  So I  gave the quilt dog a chin.


I quilted straight organic lines, like Lorna would do, but it looked like the Bad Dog picture in the Small Quilts photo album. He looked like he was in jail. I then quilted wavy lines between all the straight lines. I started on the right side, and didn't like the really wavy lines so I made them less wavy as I went to the left.

I bound it with a solid brown. To make sure it got finished this month, since I don't have hand work time, I sewed down the binding on both sides by machine.  It isn't perfect, since I am not used to doing to sewing down the binding by machine (and I was sewing from the front where I couldn't see if the binding was catching on the back), but I managed to get it done, and pretty quickly too.

I showed you the back of the quilt yesterday. With so many finishes so quickly and limited space, the improv elephant quilt didn't get to stay on the bulletin board very long.

It is 17"  x 17 3/4". To see other posts about this quilt, click on the Dog Gone Cute label under this post or in the sidebar. To see other posts about finished quilts, click on Quilt Reveal label under this post or in the sidebar. I think I finished more quilts this month than I did all of last year combined.

Wanda said that for each finished quilt, I can start three new ones. Who am I to argue with that?  So I have picked out three quilts to start!

Shirts Quilt

I received a stack of solid blue shirts from my brother-in-law and I have decided to make a quilt with these to give back to him.  I was considering all kinds of quilt patterns to make but I recently saw the Gee's Bend documentary, and saw a quick glimpse of a Courthouse Steps quilt. The steps are on two sides instead of all four sides.  It only uses two colors and there is very little of the other color.  I figure I could use a pair of jeans for my second color, and make this simple quilt that showcases the shirts.  I won't make it improv method though; I think he would prefer straight lines.  This will be a pretty big quilt though, even if it means I have to buy more shirts, so it won't be a quick finish.

Adinkra Quilt 2016

Debby Kratovil is offering an Adinkra Quilt 2016 block of the month.  I have decided to join her, because this quilt uses African fabrics in a beautiful way and I want to use my African fabrics. It is a simple quilt. Alternating blocks are pieced, and one design is appliqued every month. When I printed the pattern, it printed smaller than the size needed to make the block. This is probably my fault, since I didn't check to see if the printer was going to print actual size.  I was going to consider reducing the size anyway, and now I didn't need to. I decided to use the smaller size. I am going to have to remember to make my alternating blocks smaller.

Scrap Quilt

I am going to start cutting fabric for my next scrap quilt.  When I pull out scraps for the Quilty 365, I wind up having to put the remaining scrap away.  I think it would be better for me to trim these scraps down and get them ready for a scrap quilt.  I am thinking Quilt Vortex, which lets the scraps be the size they are for the most part.  I also want to start cutting fabric for the triangle quilt for my own bed.  I haven't made a quilt for my bed, and although it hasn't bothered me before, it is bothering me now. Mostly because my Walmart quilt is shredding to pieces day by day.

Linked to:
Fabric Tuesday 
Linky Tuesday 
Let's Bee Social #110