Heartfelt quilt words

Today I'll be taking you back in time, to clean up loose ends.  The Heartfelt quilt progress was left on a cliffhanger.  The last post dated Jan 22/2024, was the last discussion there was about the Heartfelt quilt progress.  

Move on forward to Feb 17/2024 when the ladies from our little Heartfelt group were here to sew and you get this cute little heart.  This paper piece scrappy heart pattern was given to each of us in the group.  This cute one belonged to one of them.  I love the cheerfulness.

As for me, this was the time that I was working on my paper piece words for my quilt.  The works pattern come from Sugaridoo (you can buy the whole alphabet in large case and lower case, plus the numbers).   I had these letters done and was working on the small scrappy border along the top.  Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but each of these letters is scrappy red with one small piece of solid pink of various shades.

In this next picture, I added the "I" plus the two rows along side the words to finish off that one side.

I realized that I didn't show anyone the picture of the finished centre.  This next picture is prior to adding the words above.  There is a lot going on in the quilt with all the different blocks, but it is still somehow cohesive.  The light pink blocks surrounding the centre heart blocks help contain everything.

 

Tomorrow I can show you the finished top and some of my favorite blocks.  Until then, take care everyone and enjoy your day.

Inspiration for using up left over jelly rolls or charm packs (QW)

I see more of this quilt in my future.....lol.  I feel the universe is sending me a subtle message for an easy way to use up my scraps, chunks, left over jelly rolls or charms.  Also easy because there are no seams to match anywhere in the quilt.  The rows are offset to create the "brick" layout.  

A couple of days ago I quilted this quilt for Quilt of Valor.  Someone else made this quilt, so I don't have a pattern name for you.  I am just going to refer to it as the stacking bricks pattern.

Here is the same pattern that I came across a few years ago in a quilt shop up North somewhere (universe conspiring...lol).  This one is more coordinated with the maker likely using a full jelly roll to make it.  This one is also larger with an extra section on the side, plus a section added to the bottom.

I am pretty sure that I will be digging through my scraps, to accumulate the fabrics to make this quilt.  I think I have an abundance of fall colours that would work well.  I'll start off with the small scraps, miscellaneous left over charms, and chunks to see what I can use up.  Then if I still need more, I can move on to the fat quarters and so on up the line.

As I don't have the pattern, I will be making it up as I go, starting with 2 1/2" x 5" pieces for the "bricks".   I'll be making the size at the top of this post, as it is perfect for charity, measuring 56" x 66" for the centre and not seen in the picture is the 1 1/2" navy blue border, for a finished size of 59" x 69".

Construction would be as followed, per the diagram.  Though I noticed both the quilt and the quickly drawn up diagram of the layout, are off centre.  When making it, I would start off with a full two bricks of colour, then end with two full bricks of colour and continue the pattern with row two starting with 1/2 a brick and so forth.  I would then make 3 sets of rows 1-9 and 2 sets of rows 10-12.  Note that rows 1-4 are the same as rows 6-9, so you could repeat these 6 times and flip every other section. 

This will make a very nice charity quilt and use up my stash all at the same time.  Can you imagine how many charities we could help if everyone made one?  It would be mind blowing!! 

Take care everyone and enjoy your day.

Sometimes I like the pieces small...

Sometimes I like the pieces small.....really small...  Some people call it insane, but I do like the challenge.  This following quilt is definitely a scrap quilt.  It starts out with HST (half square triangles).  Lots and lots of them.  I think, if memory serves me, Bonnie Hunter says over 5400 pieces....lol.  

The reason I need so many is the fact that these HSTs are only 1 1/2" square, which is 1" finished in the quilt.  Yes, I know.  It is insane.  It's not for the faint of heart and this is not a get it done quick type of quilt.  

I've been using scraps and cut off triangles from bindings, flying geese, snowball corners or anywhere you are left with a triangle.  I even have friends collecting them for me as this size is smaller than most people want to work with.  Me too, normally....lol.  I put them by my machine and use them as my leader/enders.  I do take breaks from them here and there, as I often use the current project I am doing as their own leader/ender.  Once I sew them, I keep on top of ironing them toward the dark, then I store them in a container until I can find some time to square them.

Yesterday, I was quilting two charity quilts for QOV (Quilt of Valor) and while they were quilting, I set up this station right beside my longarm, for trimming the HSTs.  I was surprised when I realized that I was able to trim 170 HSTs while keeping an eye on the quilting progress.  I thought that was amazing!!

   

Here is my little workstation, on a rolling cart.  I secured a piece of wood to the top.  Put my container of HSTs on the upper corner with my small rotating cutting mat on the bottom corner.  I do have to say that I really love my rotating cutting mat and the Loc-bloc ruler.  They make it much easier to trim the HSTs.  When I am done for the day, I just have to roll the cart back up against the wall out of the way.

Below you can see that I am sorting out the HSTs into colour families.  I want to try and distribute the colours throughout the quilt.  As you can see, I have a LOT of blue.  The pile of blues is several layers high. 

I started doing these over a year ago (see post dated Jan 15/2024), however with everything that was going on, I'm really only just now getting back to these and I anticipate working on them for a very long time, but that's ok.  Some things just take time.

Take care everyone.

Scrappy strings chevron quilt

Does this ever happen to anyone else?  You make plans for the day and end up doing none of it...lol.  I wrote in my post yesterday, "Today being Saturday, with no immediate plans, other than a walk later in the day, gives me a lot of time to play around in my scraps.....stay tuned.....it's either this or the tote I spoke about in yesterday's post...".  I did none of the above....lol.  Oh!!  How easily I get distracted...

I was delayed on my computer, then decided to make a nice large breakfast at around 11:00 am and by the time I actually made it downstairs to play in my scraps it was already 1:00 pm.  I did a bit of straightening up, which was in dire need.  Then when it came time to play, I really felt like working on my low volume strings quilt.  

The blocks don't look like much, but they actually take a long time to sew.  One string after the next, but other than the angle, the rest is just mindless sewing.  Here is a sample of a block.  This one has a bit more colour to it (mostly muted).  I made 2 blocks (both halves to each), before I had to step out to take the dog for a walk.

On my design board, I've put up the blocks that I had, minus the two I made today.  This quilt is going to be king size.  This section represents 1/4 of the whole quilt.  Each block is 12 1/2" square and will finish at 12" sewn in the quilt.

Here are the details of the Pinterest picture that I got my inspiration from.  If you follow this person, she gives the details of the original source.  My version is a bit more scrappy as my strips are not cut a particular width and I haven't decided yet whether I will be putting borders on or making more blocks to bring it up to king size.

I'm glad I worked on this one yesterday.  This quilt has been in the making for quite some time.  According to my pictures, I took this picture back on Jan 14/2023.  Let's see if I can concentrate on this one for a while and bring it closer to being completed.

Take care everyone.  Enjoy what's left of the weekend.

Burgundy scrap quilt

I get inspiration from everywhere!  I can't seem to stop the flow of ideas.  Now most would say that it's a good thing, however I sometimes feel it goes against me.  I keep coming up with more ideas on how to use up my scraps, and that would normally be a good thing, however I have already more quilts started then I can get done in a reasonable amount of time!

I do cut myself some slack when I am doing quilts for charity or when I am using up scraps to tame the mountain of fabric, so I guess I'm ok with this new quilt......lol......it meets both criteria.....lol.....sometimes I think I am my own worst enemy.....lol.....YES, I am starting yet another quilt!!  I just have to use up all the burgundy scraps I have! 

I saw this picture on Pinterest yesterday.  The source is Julie's Quilts and Costumes blog, called Design Wall Monday 11/28/2022, but I don't think she is the original designer, and she makes no mention of where it comes from.  

I am taking this inspiration one step further and I am doing it the Bonnie Hunter style with strings.  I've broken down the design a bit.  Most of the red parts will be burgundy strings, except for the middle block, which I will do an hourglass block instead.  I put it in EQ to check out my version of the design and I think it will work out lovely.  See picture below.

Today being Saturday, with no immediate plans, other than a walk later in the day, gives me a lot of time to play around in my scraps.....stay tuned.....it's either this or the tote I spoke about in yesterday's post...

Take care everyone.

Twister Tote

I saw this bag at a quilt store about 4yrs ago and wanted one of my own.  The shop owner was doing a workshop for the construction of the tote, so they didn't have any more patterns and the store was too far for me to go back to take the workshop.  So I took it as a sign that it was not meant to be....

About a year later, what should I come across in another quilt store....none other than this same pattern.  I then took that as a sign, that I was to make it after all...lol...and it wasn't lost on me, the fact that I just talked myself out of and then into the purchase of this pattern...lol.

At the same time, my mom had picked up a pattern for another bag that she was interested in.  It wasn't until about 2mths ago when I came across the pattern and asked my mom if she wanted to make our bags together, because she also hadn't found the time to do her own.  Her answer was yes.

So, 3wks ago on a Friday, I went to my mom's place.  Fridays are usually dinner at my mom's.  We worked on each of our bags and we both got to the stage of fusing the pieces to the fusible batting, which gives the bag some structure and stability.

Today, being Friday, I head to my mom's place with the intension of finishing this tote.  I got the above panel, a part of the front of the bag, attached to the other two parts, that are also a part of the front panel (as seen in the photo below on the left hand side).

This three piece panel also has the inner lining attached to the backside.  The second piece on the right hand side is part of the back of the tote, however for some reason, I missed the instructions to cut a piece of main fabric for the third piece that makes up the full panel for the back of the tote.........dead stop!!!  The main fabric was at home...

So much for finishing the tote today.....  My mom didn't get hers done either as she got distracted with making doggie beds.  Instead we quit early, relaxed and chatted until dinner.  

I'm back home now, but it's late.  Maybe I can tackle it tomorrow...

Take care everyone and have a great weekend!!

The history of a simple traditional log cabin quilt....

The history of a simple traditional log cabin quilt....  It all starts with a picture from Pinterest saved back in 2022 some time.  A little seed of inspiration followed by repeated admiration of the picture and examining the fabrics up close.  The post took me to the original source, where I learned more about the maker and the process she took to make it.  The more I admired it, the more I fell in love with this quilt. 

Information for context:  This quilt was made by the maker with French General fabric in all the shades of red and creams, through all the different lines of their fabrics.  I wanted my quilt to be the same, or at least as closed as possible to the feeling of warmth that I get when I look at this picture.

Fast forward a bit, when we took a trip to Ottawa back in Feb/2023 during my son's reading week.  I being a true quilter, already scouted out all the quilt stores within an hours drive of where we were heading....lol.  It turned out to be one of the worst days we could have gone, as we got hit by a snow storm part way up.  With the snow came delays.....  A long story cut short, we made it to the shop that carries a very large selection of French General fabric, where I proceed to take one of each....lol....within my colour scheme.

When we got home, I promptly washed all the fabrics, and little by little, throughout the year, I proceeded to cut all of the fabric I needed for all the blocks.  One distraction after the next and this got put aside, where it stood for a long while, cut and ready to start....then I hit what I am calling a road block, with my diagnosis of breast cancer in late April/2024. 

During the time off work, dealing with my health issues, I didn't do a lot of sewing. About the only thing I could do was get myself to all the appointments/treatments and in between....take long walks with my dog.  I would walk usually on average 10km per day, just to clear my mind. Walking out in nature, was about the only thing I felt I had control over.  Though after the first surgery and treatment, some time in June through to Oct/2024, I had to take those walks alone, as I couldn't take the chance of the dog sprinting and pulling my stitches.  My strength just wasn't up for it.

Much later, as I started to mend, I knew I wanted to start sewing again.  I missed sewing so much, but I just couldn't bring myself to concentrate on doing it.  I figured I'd try to ease myself into it.  I decided to try and do some easy paper piece sewing of these log cabin blocks.  If nothing else, I should be able to at least sew one block a day...... 

It took me until Dec 16/2024 before I could get motivated and when I took this picture of the first completed block.  I thought I was going back to work some time in the beginning of the New Year 2025, so I thought, I have to get back into the swing of things....get back to my life and a bit of normalcy.

It didn't happen every day, but it did happen many days.  All the fabrics were already cut from back in 2023, so all I had to do was sew them down while following the lines on the paper....  Some days I even got a second block done!!  Things were starting to go smoothly, my health was getting better, blocks were being made, I was feeling more like myself and with the help of my family and of my sewing friends who gathered to sew, my quilting mojo and spirts started raising.  

Though that was short lived, as I encountered a second road block in Jan/2025 with the onset of another surgery Mar/2025, for the other side.  By this time, I had already been through it once, so I knew what to expect....  Don't get me wrong, it was still an ordeal, however my support team and cheerleaders were already in place, and forever keeping my spirts high.

This time around after recuperating from surgery, I was able to gently ease myself back into sewing these paper piece blocks.  It didn't take much, as they weren't hard.  By June, I calculated that my time off work mending was going to be coming to an end shortly, so I bumped up production and started doing them every day, and sometimes as many as five in a day, on a good day.

By July 9th, the quilt top reached to this stage.  All the blocks were sewn, trimmed, de-papered, and assembled into the barn raising layout.  I am loving it!!!

My health is much better these days and I was able to return back to work on the first day, yesterday Aug/2025.  It will be a gradual return to work, to retrain and catch up on all the new things that went on while I was away.  Today I have the day off, so this top is going to be getting it's borders put on.

From the beginning, this quilt has always been destined for our bed (my husband and I).  It took a long time in the making and it's still not quite done, but getting much closer.  This quilt will forever have profound meaning for me, as I navigated through a difficult time in my life.....and through it all with the help of my family and friends, for whom I am and will forever, be grateful.

Stay turned for the final finish once I get it quilted and bound.

Take care everyone.