Honestly, sometimes I think I have gremlins in my head causing havoc and constantly derailing my best efforts. I mean really.... My plan when I showed my UFO list earlier last week, was to try and get at least five quilts done before starting a new one. Well.....I did get one done.....
Today was a bit of this and that. I finally got to ironing all my recently washed scraps and sorting them into categories. I usually take note of what I am working on and what I need first. I sort into lights and darks with sub categories of chunks, strips (to be trimmed per my user system) and strings. That's all done.
By lunch time I had everything cleaned up and had time to play with my own stuff. That hasn't happened regularly for a while. Since tomorrow I have quilting for customers on my calendar, I figured I would take the rest of the day to do whatever the mood strikes. Not a good think...
You know what happens when you go on a diet? All of a sudden you are constantly thinking about food and wanting to eat, all the time. Well equate that to my quilting restrictions of finishing at least 5 quilts before I start anything new. As I mentioned above, I did finish one quilt earlier this week, but later I went and started five more.....gremlins I tell you!
The first quilt I started was that 7-patch Irish chain quilt. I have already 1/4 of my jar full of 4-patches. I started this as a leader/ender, while I was working on that Christmas quilt I spoke about in another post.
This beautiful quilt below is from Pinterest. Per the caption below the picture, it says Article from Ann's Woods dated Apr 29/2013. I read the article and Ann makes reference to the free pattern she got from here: http://www.bijoulovelydesigns.com/2011/03/herringbone-block-tutorial.html The link takes you to a blog called Bijou Lovely Designs. The instructions are clear and detailed.
I read through the instructions, and altered it a bit for myself. I've been keeping my eyes open for a quilt that I can use up all my low volume stings. So for my version, I am not precutting the strips like the pattern. Instead I am using whatever I pull out, however it comes. Here is my first block. Do you like it? My parameter for the strings are a white or cream base that reads as light or soft pastel colour to add some visual texture. I haven't decided yet whether I am going to also add in those lights that have very loud designs on them. I think it may jar the look I am trying to achieve of a low volume quilt.
This is the second quilt I started this week.
Not seen here is the third quilt I started using the small scraps from the above string leftovers. When the string is no longer long enough to use here in this block, I will sew it together with another leftover scrap. The method is from Crazy Mom Quilts and the pattern I believe is called Vortex.
The fourth quilt I started was this next block. I drafted up the quilt and printed it. I haven't found the name of this block yet. This one is also from Pinterest. The reason I started this one, is because I have been looking for a pattern to use up some leftover pieces of Bonnie Hunter's Texas Braid quilt. I didn't realize that Bonnie's quilt was king size. So, as I didn't need it that big, I hade lots and lots of light and dark pieces that measured 2" x 5". When I came across this pattern, I thought great! Now I can use up all those pieces.
This is my test block. I may try and stick to the really light for the background as the centre piece is a bit lost when the lights are too dark. To make this work, I took my 2" x 5" piece and cut it down to
3 1/2" and I took the remaining 1 1/2" piece and squared it down. Very little waste and I will be accumulating 1 1/2" light and dark squares.
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