Happy Valentine's Day

Hello my dear readers and welcome back.  I hope you have a splendid Valentine's Day.

There isn't much to show you, but there has been a great deal of progress.

When last I left you, I had pieced another set of circles.  This week, I pieced that set of circles into the row, added the big circle.  I am now left with two parts, which makes me happy.  I haven't made many more circles so I will show you those later.

The 1857 quilt has been tempting me and I have decided to make it.  Since I promised June,  I decided I needed to get the rail fence quilt into a top first.  Here it is.  I need to do a quality inspection step and press it.  I really like this layout because every time you look at it, you see a different configuration.

I could have balanced the darks better.  I had laid it out in a balanced way, but when I sewed it together, I made some impromptu changes.  I wasn't thinking of the pink and black block as a dark, but it certainly looks like it from this picture. I am going to think of some simple changes I can make to balance this more. I think the top row just looks darker because of the lighting, but I don't like that diagonal row of darks.

I also made another block for the Adrinka 2016 BOM and a corresponding Circle 78.

Linked to:
Moving It Forward Monday

Circles 73-77

I have made enough circles that I can combine another set of rows.

Circle 73: This one is a pleated circle, which is hard to see in this image. The vertical lines are pleats. The horizontal lines are sewn to hold down the pleats. I have ordered new glasses, and when I get them, I will trim away all the loose threads in this quilt.

Circle 74: This one has been moved up from a little farther back because I liked this order better. This is not the first time I have broken the chronological order rule.

It is a broken circle - more leftover fabric from the rail fence quilt.  When I sewed it down though, I went all the way around.  The bobbin has red thread.

Circle 75: This is my attempt to copy Kaja's pretty striped circles. I don't have her pretty fabrics, but I do have stripes.  I sort my fabric by color, and decided that instead of discombobulating the sewing room worse than it is, I would use the first striped fabric I found.  This one came from a charm pack.

 I don't know how Kaja makes her circles, but I turned under the edges and tried to be neater to copy her style. I don't think you will be able to tell there are elephants there after the blocks are joined, but they makes me think of her too, since she made an elephant quilt.

Circle 76: I made  this one with a pieced background and a pieced circle to copy Dawn Chorus Studio.  Again, I copied her some of her methods but didn't capture her style. I didn't turn under these edges because I had smaller scraps.

 Circle 77: Most of the circles in this quilt are about the same size. I wanted to make one that was much smaller. So here's my circle dot.  I like that in this quilt, you can't tell that this one and the one before it both have fabrics that come from the same quilt.

Eventually I will also make a circle that is too big for the background. I think the one below this one can be big since it won't hide this circle.

And here is where they will fit in the quilt.  I have pieced together all these circles and can now add this row to the one above it, and both rows to the big circle.  I am glad to be able to get to a point where I can join these because I don't like this quilt to be in so many sections.

Linked to:
Let's Bee Social #111 
Oh Scrap! 2/14/16

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!