An experiment for me, with one piece of fabric

There are many different names for this technique that I am about to share with you.  I call my version Kaleidoscope quilt and it all starts with one piece of fabric.  I didn't take a class or anything, so didn't know exactly what to expect, but I saw this somewhere a long time ago.  

This is a piece of Kaffe Fassett fabric, in his usual very colourful theme.  Not sure what it really is, but to me, I am remind of snail shells, by the spiral shape.  This fabric has a repeat every 21", though I am sure you could used bigger or smaller.  If you are looking for something to follow, I know that Jordan Fabrics has a pattern where she goes over how to make a similar quilt, minus the sashing that I made. 

Basically, you need to find out what your repeat is and multiply that size by 6, to determine the amount of fabric you need.  If you want a bigger quilt, you may have to double that amount, as you always need 6 repeats.  You will also need a 60 degree triangle ruler.

You will cut out 6 repeats exactly on the same spot.  Once you have those cut out, take them all and stack them on top of each other.  Pick a spot on the pattern that you can poke a pin through all the layers, in the same spot, so that they are all positioned exactly the same.  This last part is important to make the design work.  

Next you will cut strips from your repeat.  I cut my strips 3.5" wide by the width of fabric.  Keep them all together in the same position.  You are going to want to cut carefully with your 60 degree triangle ruler, first upright and after upside down, until you cut the whole strip.

As the cut pieces measure the same on all three sides, you will have three different options on the design that you settle with, when making your hexagon shape.  After they are cut, keep the identical stack together. you can separate the pieces and match the points in the centre, when you place them side by side.  Make sure the centre of each are all the same (see pictures below for examples). 

I know these are bright.......ok, very bright and not what I was expecting, but there you have it.  One of my wedges turned out to make this kaleidoscope design.  If you want to know where this comes from, look above at the fabric piece.  this little section is located on the bottom right hand side, right on the crease in the fabric that I didn't iron before I took the picture.  Can you see the pink snail shell on the crease, the blue shell to the left of it and the yellow one just above them?  That is the section that this wedge came from.  Doesn't look at all like the fabric any more, does it?

The above hexagon comes from the pink and brown shell close to the top centre section of the fabric. This wedge picked up the small orange shell above the dark pink shell plus the yellow shell above the orange one.  Quite different!  So I am sure you get the idea.  Try and see if you can figure out where this next block comes from.

Can't find it.........sorry.......that would be a trick question, as this wedge section is on the other side of the folded fabric.........lol......sorry.......I didn't mean to do that, but left it in here anyways.

As mentioned above, these hexagons are very bright and loud.  Once I placed them side by side it was chaos.  I just couldn't handle it.  That is why this quilt sat aside for the longest time.  I just couldn't handle the chaos.  Eventually it came to me, that if I separated the blocks with a sashing, it would tone down the overall pattern, hence why I added the dark brown 1/2" finished sashing around each block.

This is what you get when all the hexagon blocks are assembled into a quilt top!  I didn't have any repeats, because I only used the one set of repeats.  Enlarge the picture and check out all the different designs that are made.  

It is amazing how different they are and they all came from the same piece of fabric.  This quilt is going to Project Linus.  Some child is going to love the bright colours, as children always do.

Take care everyone!

Pulled out my Summer Sampler wool wall hanging again

I had a really nice weekend.  Had a sew day with a friend on Saturday, and another sew day on my own on Sunday.  I got a bunch of little things done, but no pictures yet to show you.

Toward the end of the afternoon on Sunday, just after having my afternoon tea, I decided that I had enough of the fast pace, of trying to get loose ends complete.  That is when I decided that some quiet time was in order.  So, I pulled out my Summer Sampler wool wall hanging.

I finished the centre of the wall hanging a while ago, and during my trip to Ottawa with my husband and son, I took the back seat and did the handwork of the flowers for the borders.  The whole piece got put aside yet again, for other things that I was working on.  

Later again, I pulled it out and thought I would work on it some more.  That was when I traced out the vine and stitched it up......all except for about six inches.  I don't know why I didn't find some time just to sew that six inches up, but.....I didn't.

Sunday I decided that it is time to see this one done.  I did finally finish the vine and I started on the leaves.  There are 24 leaves in the border and I managed to get four of them done, on one of the side borders.

It appears that this week will mostly be non-quilting related stuff going on with my son coming home from school for the weekend starting Thursday, his birthday.  I am just hoping that the wall hanging doesn't get set aside yet again......wish me luck!  Just 20 leaves left to go, and I can quilt it.

Contrast in a quilt block

I got permission to use these pictures to help explain why contrast in a quilt block can make all the difference.  We have a small group of ladies doing the Heartfelt BOM quilt.  We are getting together once a month for a sew day, to work on our blocks and to enjoy the company.  

One of the ladies doesn't normally do scrappy and so she is having some difficulty with fabric selection, to make something that she likes.  So she asked for some help with making some combinations that would go together.  Initially when selecting fabrics, her tendency was to pick fabrics that basically all read as medium.  

An example of this was the first Ohio Star block she made.  It is not pictured here, but the one on the right hand side has parts of the pieces for comparison.  The star point unit, top row middle unit....there are two fabrics there.  A purple floral and a multi coloured floral.  The first block had the multi coloured floral for all of the background.  She asked me what I thought, and I suggested, that there was not enough contrast, that the block read as one colour between the star points and the background.  So she tried to change this by replacing the corner units with a white.  There is contrast, however when I first saw this block in a text message, I thought it was a new block she decided to add to her quilt, as it read, to me, as a plus (+) sign.  The star points were still lost.

Contrast can come in many different forms.  You can use one of them or many of them in a block.  First contrast most people think about is light and dark, there are different colours, patterns, scale.  You can have an all blue block, and still achieve contrast by varying the shades of blue or the saturation/intensity of the colour and more.  

So I went on to explain to her that the reason the first and second options don't really work, is because there is no contrast between the element that is intended to stand out  (ie the points of the star).  That the two colours in that unit are so similar in colour as well as scale of design, that the eye just mushes it all together.

Later, when she came to me with her third version (the one on the left above), I thought wow, she has really gone wild!  She has varied the scale (as I mentioned) by adding a large scale background, against a darker purple with small white polka dot, plus a yellow with a salmon grid for the centre.  The two blocks have a completely different feel to them.  To some the one on the left may be a bit loud, as the background is trying hard to steal the show, where the star points really should be the star player, but there is just enough contrast in the deep colour of the purple that you can tell it is an Ohio star.

Her second new version of the Ohio star is also out there with another busy background, though this one the star points stand out a bit more, as the orange points, that are a solid, are a contrast to the primarily blue busy design of the background.

These flying geese, also made by the same person, are a perfect example of contrast.  Mostly in colour, but there are also some different design scale going on as well.

This next one is another example of changing up the contrast.  We have a medium scale print on a blue background paired with a smaller scale green floral design for some of the geese and the other set are a small scale floral on a darker pink, with a larger wavy strip design that adds some movement.  These blocks are showing varied texture, scale and colour.

These geese have the contrast, but are more tame than the first group above.  The first group above will catch your eyes more, as the colours are more saturated.  Both options as well as the more wild Ohio star have their place in the design element.  The trick is to know where to put them in the quilt to enhance each other.  Not everything has to be in you face grab your attention and not everything should be dull or boring.  A mixture with just the right dose of each, makes for an eye pleasing quilt in the end.

It is hard at times to select fabrics, because obviously you want your quilt to look good, but until you try different things and find out what you really like or don't like, you will not come to know your own signature style.  Remember everyone has their own taste.  

Bonnie Hunter's Hunter star quilt pattern in browns (QW)

I haven't had time to do much quilting wise this week, so I will share with you this picture from April 16/2023.  This is a pattern by Bonnie Hunter, call Hunter star.  Or should I say that this is Bonnie's version of the traditional Hunters star quilt.

As any one who knows Bonnie Hunter, can tell you, she is a scrappy girl.  All of her quilts are scrappy.  Beautiful and scrappy!  This pattern was no different.

This particular quilt was made by Teresa.  Bonnie's pattern was done using reds and this one is done using browns.  The hunter star quilt was at one time, on my bucket list, but I did not want to do all those complicated seams.  Bonnie's version makes it so much easier to assemble.  I think my interest in this pattern has increased again.  I am thinking maybe in blues......lol.  Not to worry though....I am not planning on starting another quilt at this time, but when I am ready to, this will be on the list of contenders.

Here is a close up of one block.  I see a string block (Bonnie's favourite), some half square triangles, and a half of a chevron block (I am not sure of the proper name for this type of block).  This pattern version was very well thought out!  Thank you Bonnie for revising a traditional quilt pattern into something more manageable.  Plus, thank you Teresa for sharing version in brown.

This next picture is zoomed out a bit to get more blocks in the frame.  The further you zoom out the more like a true hunter star it looks like.  Very interesting.....I wonder why no one else has come up with this prior to Bonnie now.

Take care everyone.  I am off for my walk with Maddie, our four legged baby girl, and off to bed, as I am up early to head into the office to work tomorrow.

Stars in the Garden, plus one more block for the Heartfelt BOM quilt

For this post, am going to take you back in time to April 16/2023, when I quilted this quilt for a customer.  I am not sure if it was myself who named it Stars in the Garden, or the customer, but it gets it's name from the stripped fabrics, which I believe was a jelly roll of all floral fabrics.

The quilt turned out lovely and different from the others I have quilted of the same pattern.

My progress today, during my 15 minute morning break, the only time I had to sew today, is this, the second last block of this type.  I can't quite remember the name of it at the moment.

One more of these blocks to do.  After that, I have four blocks that make a set, left to redo.  I finally decided that I have to remake a set of blocks.  I was just not happy with them in the end.  I will show you that when I get to making it.

Hope everyone enjoyed their day.  Have a great night.

Bobby Orr quilt and still working on leaders/enders

I did get some quilting done on a customer quilt and one of my own as well, but I still have to trim them before I get the pictures.  So today I will take you back in time to Apr 14/2023:  

To when I quilted this quilt for a customer.  The black fabric is a Boston Bruins fabric for a Bobby Orr's fan. My customer made this quilt for her brother who is a big fan of hockey and specifically Bobby Orr.  We found a quilting pattern that resembles hockey pucks with a geometric line that could represent the hockey stick.  It turned out quite nice.

Later on in the day, I did get some sewing in on my Heartfelt BOM and assembling some of the sections, but I was so involved in that, that I forgot to take the pictures.  I did get a picture of what was going to be the second part of my post, which is the continuation of making the leader/enders, but now into four patches......lol.  Well....I got part of what I was going to show you.....lol.  It is too late and too dark to get any decent pictures of the sections down in the basement studio.  Hopefully tomorrow.

HHQG Cathedral window workshop

Let me introduce you to this cheeky person....lol.  This is Jane.  She is our guild's workshop convenor.  She is modeling her cathedral window quilt...lol.  Jane has a good sense of humor and we tease each other often....good-naturedly of course.

When Jane brought her quilt to the Guild meeting and showed it at show and share, everyone oohed and awed.  I told her that is sounds like it would be a good workshop......so I asked the audience if they thought the same thing, if they would come to a workshop for this pattern, and many hands went up.

The special trick to this cathedral window block is that they are bigger, so less time consuming and also, they are sewn by machine, making them even faster.  Don't get me wrong though....they do take time, but nowhere near the amount of time it would take to do it completely by hand.

Jane's quilt is using oriental type/themed fabrics.  She used a black for the background and the gold for the accent window parts.  It is very striking the contrast between the black and gold.

I very much enjoyed learning this technique.  It is fascinating how it all goes together.  

If the smiles on the faces of the attendees is any indication, we all had such a nice time today.  A big thank you to Jane for her patience and taking the time to show us all how this is done.  Pretty much everyone completed a block, so they knew how to do the whole process. Some people even went home with more than one block done.

Here is a view of all the blocks that were created today, by everyone.  I am loving them.  There was such a variety of styles today with not one block similar to any of the others.  That is what is great about doing things together, where everyone has their own taste of fabrics and colours.

One person even did hers differently by using a scrappy crazy block as her centre square, instead of a focal fabric.  I don't know why I didn't think of it......lol.  I love scrappy crazy blocks.  The crazy block is the one in the middle, top row, with the navy blue background.

Now you may be wondering why there is so much colour showing of the background fabrics in the blocks above.  The reason is that these are only single blocks.  Once you make a set of four, you would have the centre of the four patch, that you can add another focal square, which would cover the background corners.  

It may not make sense, as it is hard to explain.  If you look at the two rows above and imagine that the cream square, the green square, gold square, and the black square are sewn together into a four patch.  Where the seams meet in the centre, is another spot to add a focal fabric and roll back the edges to make a fifth window.........clear as mud......I guess you should have been at the workshop......hehehe.

Have a great rest of the weekend!  I am going to try and get my blocks done tomorrow.

Sue's water colours quilt

With my eyes still healing, I am holding off on sewing.  Since I started back at work, my eyes have been very tired afterward.  So light stuff only for me this past week.  So I'll take you back to Feb 19/2023 with this quilt that belongs to Sue.  

This was a kit that Sue picked up, which was in batiks.  There were numerous different fabrics, like about 13 or more of them.  You really had to be careful not to mix up the fabrics as when they were cut up, it was sometimes hard to tell which was which.  

This quilt reminds me of water colours in the blues and greens heading toward seafoam.  It looks gorgeous on the king size bed.

Here is a close up of the centre.  Do you see how some of those fabrics are difficult to distinguish from one to the next?  Up closer, you can see a little more definition, but not by much.  That was the intent of the designer and why there were subtle differences between the fabric colours.  I spy nine pinwheel blocks in this next picture.  Can you see them?  Four of them are set straight and the other four are set on a diagonal.

 

Here is a shot of the corner of the quilt.  Even the borders have intricate details.  I don't know if you've noticed, but count them......there are nine borders to this quilt surrounding the centre square!!  Yikes!

This is a beautiful quilt, both the pattern design and the lovely colours used to make it.  I have the pattern to this quilt and thought that one day I may want to make it, but I wouldn't know what colourway I would want to use.  I'd want it different, but what?

Have a great night everyone.  Take care.

Carole's giraffes

I've had a procedure done to my right eye last week and I am still finding I have challenges with strain on both my eyes, especially after working my full time job the whole day on the computer.  So needless to say, there has not been much happening in the quilting/sewing department.  Today was the specialist appointment to remove the protective lens.  According to the specialist, all is healing fine, though it may take two weeks to a month to fully heal.  The first part he said was good, but I didn't like the second part.....  

I am hoping that by this weekend, things will be back to normal enough for me to get back to sewing.  In the meantime I work with it and find other things to do that don't require my eyes to focus.

Today, I thought I would take you back to Jan 28th/2023:

I am sorry I didn't get more pictures of this quilt.  It is the sweetest thing!  I love the giraffes.  Carole got this pattern when she and her husband were traveling in the States.

Two new blocks to add to the mix or is that three

I've been having so much fun coming up with replacement blocks for the Heartfelt BMO quilt.  I do appreciate the pattern and all the work the designer put into it to offer it as a pattern, however this pattern leans to so many different variations.  Essentially, I take the pattern as being a suggestion.  It is up to each individual to do what they want with it to make it their own. 

I am keeping many of the blocks provided and the general layout of the different size blocks.  I have just added some additional blocks to replace some of the repetition. 

I am still debating whether I am redoing these four blocks above.  I don't like how the colours all look the same, and with this small sashing to correct the block size issue, you lose the secondary design where the small triangles would normally touch when the blocks are set side by side.  I am pretty sure, like 97% sure, that I will be redoing these blocks.....

These next two blocks, the X and O set together, are just me playing with the theme of the heart.  I think they are fitting.....hugs and kisses.....lol.  Ok.......maybe overboard, but don't burst my bubble and let me play with it.....lol.  I don't have to please anyone with this quilt, as it will likely be my quilt in the end.  I may even be a sappy gift to my husband....lol.

I am having fun with the whole design.  I am getting close with finishing all the blocks.  Once I get into it, I just can't seem to stop making them.  

Maybe if my eyes cooperate I can sew tomorrow.  I would like to start putting some more sections together.  I still have many of the letters for the border to do too.

Take care everyone.

I am back!

I am back from being off since my eye procedure on Wednesday morning.  It wasn't until today, Sunday, that I could say that I am back to pre procedure.  I go back this Wednesday to get the protective lens removed from my eye and now I wait for another call to do the left eye.  Please be patient.

Since I was not able to sew for that whole length of time, you can just imagine, my boredom and almost going around the bend.......lol.  I am not a very good patient when I basically can't do anything.  Couldn't even open my eyes for a couple of days.  But glad that is over!

During my boredom, the quilting ideas were flying through my head.  First think I did when I am able to turn on the sewing machine to sew......is start a new test block......lol.  They call this block a disappearing hourglass, but the initial block you actually make is a broken dishes block......?  Doesn't make sense to me, but oh well.

Most people make this block using a layer cake (10" squares), but I have parts of charm packs that I was able to match several pairs.  I am not sure what size the finished block would be if using the layer cake, but when using two charms with two charm backgrounds, where you make two HSTs (half square triangles) per charm pair, the block finishes at 7 3/4" (7 1/4" finished in the quilt).  

It sounds like an odd size, but that is not a big deal.  Now I have a pattern, for a quilt, that I have wanted to make for a while.  I can use up all these gifted charms for either QOV (Quilt of Valour) or QFS (Quilts for Survivors) and this test block above is the beginning of a NICU quilt for Project Linus.  All a win win!!

Take care everyone.

I've had too much time to think (QW)

I've had too much time to think and when that happens, I usually get myself into trouble.......lol......with starting more quilts......lol.

A few posts ago, I posted a quilt that a friend made using her stash of 2 1/2" batik squares.  Which got me thinking.....here comes the trouble....lol....  Myself, I have a lot of 2" squares that I am currently using as my leader/enders while sewing up other quilts.

While having my morning tea, I took out the graph paper and started sketching.  This is my third and final version of all my thoughts.  I have the primary block layout, shown below, which is 22 1/2" square.  What I plan to do, is make the quilt using six of these squares, and rotating them with sashing between and a small sashing sized border.  This will make a quilt of 50" x 74".  Definitely something I am going to do, when I get enough leader/enders done.  I want to do this one and the last one I drew up about a month ago.

BUT!!!  That is not all I have been thinking of.......more trouble....lol....  I have been accumulating a bunch of half square triangles (HST).  Mostly HSTs with one side light and the other side dark.  I have friends who don't do bonus triangles, as they find them too small.  They are small...lol... but I don't like waste and I love the challenge of figuring out what to do with them.  

When I get the cut off triangles which are already matched together, I sew them up right away, and over the coarse of time I will trim them to the larges size I can get.  For the most part, that has been a square 1 1/2" in size.

This particular idea is a collision of two separate thoughts.  The first thought comes from this picture of a beautiful ocean waves quilt.  This is an antique quilt, and it is one quilt that is on my bucket list of quilts I want to do in my lifetime.  I am not sure why exactly that I am drawn to this pattern, but I am.

The second thought comes from the picture of this section of a beautiful log cabin quilt.  This picture was taken so that I could have a picture of the background fabric.  I really think the teal'ish blue is gorgeous.  The whole quilt is gorgeous!  I was drawn to this blue, as I loved the way it played with the other colours of the log cabin blocks.  With this background, those other fabrics seemed to pop out beautifully.  They seem to shine.  Similar to when you use black and add colour, but in this case in a different way.  The blue just added that little something more.

So.........don't be surprised if I start another quilt or two......lol.  Like I said earlier, having too much time to think, usually gets me into trouble.  The only thing stopping me from starting this second quilt with all the HSTs, is that the majority of the HSTs I have are in the 1 1/2" size.  That would mean that the squares would finish at 1" sewn into a quilt.  At 1", these blocks would only measure 4" finished.......OMG!!  That is 10 HST, 4 small triangles and 2 larger triangles to make one 4" finished block!!  Is that not insane!  On top of being really, really small, it would require gobs and gobs of HSTs to make a decent size quilt.  That didn't discourage me initially, as I did pull out all the HSTs that I had in that size...............we shall see............lol

January's BOM are the flying geese

Yesturday I had a full day of sewing!  It was nice.  I almost got all the January blocks done.  January's BOM blocks are the flying geese.  I redesigned the pattern some, with changing some of the blocks and added or subtracted some of the original blocks.  So, in my case I had to make a total of 20 sets of 2 flying geese.  Here are 4 sets of 2 and they are already assembled together to go into the quilt.

The quilt is coming along nicely.  With the blocks I already had made and now the flying geese, I find that I am able to start assembling some smaller sections.  In this next picture, this is one of the section layouts.  I believe that this little section is all different from the original.  I am using the flying geese, variable star, nine-patch, friendship star and broken dish that is in the original design, as I do like these blocks, but I also added the heart, crazy square both in the variable star and on it's own, plus the monkey wrench block.  It is really looking cute!

My goal in all of this, is to make sure there is enough contrast in the blocks and between the blocks so that you can see each individual block.  The contrast can be in the form of colour from light reds heading toward burgundy, light pinks heading toward dark fuchsia.  When it came to the background, I used some white, cream and different shades of pink.  

On top of contrast in colour though, I am trying to make sure the blocks do not fall flat and start looking like solid coloured fabric.  Some of the contrast is coming from texture, such as plaids, hearts, polka dots, flowers, zig zags, gingham......you name it, and I probably have some if it in here.

Below I have another little section done, because the flying geese are now done.  In this section the Ohio star was coloured differently and I fussy cut a heart to go in the centre.  This section is the top part of the quilt, where the large heart indentation starts.  The single pink square, is the start of the outer border of the larger heart that forms the quilt pattern.  On the top of this section, to the right, there are some more blocks that will create the hump of that larger heart.

In the picture above you have the first pink square that forms the top indented point of the heart, and below you have the bottom point of the heart.  The flying geese are pointing to the centre pink square of the bottom most part of the larger heart.  In this picture, you can also see the variety of the background fabrics I used, which are red on white/cream and pink on white.

 

I've shown you 7 different sets of 2 flying geese in this post.  I have 11 more sets of 2 done, and 2 more sets of 2 left to go, to finish the January blocks for our small little group.  

Since I've started making this quilt, I've found out that there are many others doing this Heartfelt BOM quilt as well.  I know of 2 other groups just in my area that are also doing it.  It will be exciting to eventually see all the different takes on this pretty pattern.  Just in our little group there is not one the same.  Everyone is taking the pattern and making tweaks to it to make it their own.  That in itself is part of the fun.

If you are reading this post and you are also doing, or have already done this quilt, please share your pictures.  We would all love to see!

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!!  As for me, while I sit here and glance up and out the window, I note it is back to snowing heavily, so I think I am going to again, just stay inside all nice and warm.

Another variation for Quilt of Valour

A few of days ago I posted about a quilt using batik squares that a friend is trying to use up from her stash.  Here is another example of a pattern to use them up.  I am trying to remember all the tops she made using her 2 1/2" batik squares......I think there were five of them that I quilted.  I'll have to ask her.  I also am curious to find out now, how much of a dent she actually did make in her bin of squares.

Again, this quilt uses all the different colours in a rainbow and some......lol.  Anything goes, and it does go.  You add enough variety and it will all go together.  When doing this type of quilt, the trick is to have enough contrast from your background, and it appears to be mainly light and dark.  In this case the light is the background and medium and dark batiks are the darks.  The quilting on this one is a simple Jessica's Swirls from Urban Elementz.

It's another snowy day out there this morning.  It is supposed to stop some time around 10:00 am, but we already have a completely white winter wonderland.  I think I am going to stay cozy and warm at home today.

Take care everyone and stay safe.

Finished top for HHQG and my cat quilt

In November, the HHQG had a Outreach sew night for our November's meeting.  People signed up into groups of about 5-6 people.  Each group was responsible for bringing a machine and sewing tools.  The group would have selected who was going to do the sewing, who was going to lay out the quilt, someone to organize the group along the way, and someone else to iron and pin.  Well you get the meaning.

Everyone was having a good time and the comradery was great.  One group even coordinated hats and stuff....too funny.....lol.

I didn't sign up to a group, as I didn't know if I would be needed by the Outreach coordinator to do odd jobs or rotate and lend a hand wherever.  Shortly after things got rolling, I realized I was not needed at all, so after making my rounds to all the groups, I decided to borrow a machine that was not being used and start sewing solo on a simple quilt top.

This here is what I selected.  During the meeting and between making rounds to make sure things were still going well, I sewed on this.  I did the webbing technique so I wouldn't loose my spot or any pieces.  I got the whole centre done by the end of the meeting.

I took the top home and just recently finished adding on the two borders.  I liked the simplicity of making this quilt, that after finishing this one, I decided to pull out some kid friendly fabrics to make one of my own.

Here are the results of what I did.  I had this one done the same day, as it was that simple to make.  The fabrics are cats.  Full body cats on green background, full body cats on red background, and cat faces on turquoise background.  The overall theme of the cats is winter, so I added a white fabric with the words Ho Ho Ho!  It's cute.  Later I might even make another one and maybe bigger.  This one is going to Project Linus when I get it all quilted.

All the while I am adding the borders to the first quilt top and making the second quilt top, I am using my 2" squares to make more sets of two, as my leader/ender.  The pile is continuing to get bigger!

If you are in Southern Ontario, take care and keep warm in this storm.  Perfect weather to stay inside and sew.

I have decided to let go of this hexagon quilt

In my year end UFO list post, that I posted a few days ago, I spoke about a UFO that I have decided to let go of.  I am just no longer into this quilt.  I've had these blocks for a long time now.  It is one of my oldest unfinished quilts.

It's a six point star made up into a hexagon block.  All the fabrics are old brown bag fabrics that contained things like men and women's shirting fabric, cotton housecoat fabrics, day dresses, some solids, and just about anything cotton was put into this quilt.  When I got this quilt from an auction, I started taking it all apart, washing all the fabrics, ironing them and retrimming them all the same size.

This was my test of doing inset seams.  You sew all the stars and inset each of the border diamonds to complete the hexagon.  Above is what I had done.  There are 20 full blocks done and I believe about 6 half blocks done to fill in the top and bottom edges of the quilt.

The picture above are all the little bundles that are already trimmed and ready to assemble.  Even though I did 20 blocks already, there are still 40 more blocks to go.  So I was 1/3 of the way done.  But, not enough incentive for me to be motivated to continue.  My mom is going to give it a go.

Below is just another picture of everything that was packed up and given to my mom.

Sometimes you just have to be real with the amount of quilts you can make.  There are so many I want to make, that it is not worth the constant nagging, to finish one that I am no longer in love with.  Giving it to my mom, gives it an excellent changes of actually getting done.

Have fun mom!

A Quilt of Valour quilt ready to go (QW)

I have a customer who is going with gusto and trying to use up her stash of 2 1/2" batik squares.  This quilt did some dent in her bins, but I am sure only just a small dent......lol.  It always amazes me how far the scraps will go.

This is a large quilt going to Quilt of Valour.  There is a rhyme and reason to the pattern.  The blocks appear to be random, but everything goes together well with two halves flipped.  It makes it easier to work with these more manageable size blocks, sash them and put a border.  I am keeping this picture under QW - quilt want-to-be, for future use.  I too have many squares that I need to use up.  I am currently sewing up two at a time as my leader/ender, while making other quilts.  

This is one pattern she made.  Later I will show you another one she made, that I recently quilted.

Here is a close up of the corner, showing the numerous pretty and colourful fabrics she used in this quilt.  The more the merrier.  The sashing being a neutral pulls it all together.  The quilting on this quilt was Jessica's Swirls from Urban Elementz.

Take care everyone!  Enjoy your day.

Changing up some blocks

I just couldn't stop.  I am geared up to doing this BOM more regularly.....lol.  This time though, I decided to fix some of the blocks I already made.

I tried out a new block that I found and thought it would be a nice addition in a spot where there are four blocks in a four patch format.  However, after making it I didn't like it.  I think it was more so the colours that I selected for it that made it look more like a blob instead of highlighting the blocks themselves.  Do you see what I mean? 

So I made some modifications to the blocks and changed the colours to lighten it up.  I used a lighter background for both the exterior of the block in the interior.  The center square I went with an hourglass unit to match the spokes of the eccentric pinwheel.  Finally I decided to alternate the spokes between red and pink.  Can you see how much of a difference it makes? 

It is essentially the same block, just different fabric choices.  Which one do you like better, the darker version or the lighter version?

I also changed this variable star block.  The points of the star were a washed out burgundy and the background was a very beigy pink that kind of made the block look a bit drabby compared to what I have going on in the rest of the quilt, especially with the centre crazy square having the majority of washed out pinks.  I like this brighter red instead and I now was able to introduce the plaid background is a second block.  I want to find another spot to put this background fabric, so that it appears in at least three different places in the quilt.

Sometimes you have to go with your gut.  If after a bit you still don't like it, remove the block altogether or make changes to it so that it is more acceptable to you.  Afterall, this is your quilt and you need to like it.

Take care everyone, especially in this winter white wonderland......we really got a large amount of snowfall today.

Starting to assemble some sections

I am itching to start seeing some real progress on this Heartfelt BOM quilt.  I've taken some blocks that form smaller sections and started putting them together.  I know that I risk the fact that when I get more blocks done, I may end up wishing it was in another position, but with what I did sew together, I am pretty sure I like what I have in placement.

The above picture has the three square-in-a-square blocks I made to replace a few of the hourglass units and the crazy block on the right is replacing a piano key block.  I am doing my blocks all scrappy and using up my stash.  There are some tiny pieces in here.....lol.  I am liking that fact.

The below picture has more crazy blocks and a paper piece heart block that someone in our small group shared with all of us.  Do you see that the repeat blocks like the nine patch and the variable star blocks are all coloured differently.  I think I am going a little overboard with making sure they are all different.  I think I'll like it, or it could just turn into one big hot mess, but I am going for it......lol

I am still liking the direction that the others are going with their blocks too.   We are getting together to sew on the 27th of this month.  Even though we are kind of following a guideline, we are also kind of going our own way and are at various stages in the process.  That's ok too!  

All the while that I am making these blocks and sewing things together, I am still working on my leader/ender of 2" squares.  I have a jar, almost full of two blocks sewn together and some into four patches.  This is all that I got together into twos just while assembling these sections above.  They add up pretty quickly.  It won't be long before I can put them into a quilt of their own.

Take care everyone!