Monthly Archives: September 2016

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Welcome to my blog, especially to any first time visitors finding me through the blog hop. I'm joined by almost 70 quilters over the next three days for the 2016 Cloud9 New Block Blog Hop, hosted by Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs and Stephanie @Late Night Quilter. Each participant has designed and created a 12" finished block that will be donated to the hosts to make into charity quilts. And we've each created a free tutorial of our block for you.  Our hosts curated this Berry Harvest bundle of Cirrus Solids from Cloud 9: Amazon, Sky, Iris, Lilac, and Shadow. Cloud9 generously donated fat quarters of each fabric to each participant.

I love this palette. Purple is my absolute favorite color and, in general, I'm a fan of the cool side of the spectrum. Early in the design process I began toying with a design involving transparency since I liked the idea of two layers of the lighter color "overlapping to create" the darker color. Initially I was working only with rectangles. It was late in the game that I decided to make one shape a triangle, forming a trapezoidal overlap. This also allowed me to create a design with rotational symmetry within the block. Here is my final design, Geometric Transparency.

 

CUTTING

Dark Fabrics (Amazon & Iris), cut from each:
A. (1) 2.5-inch by 3.5-inch rectangle.

Light Fabrics (Sky & Lilac), cut from each:
B. (1) 1.5-inch by 8.5-inch rectangle
C. (1) 2.5-inch by 5.5-inch rectangle
D. (1) 3.75-inch square
E. (2) 2.5-inch squares

Background Fabric (Shadow), cut:
F. (2) 1.5-inch by 12.5-inch rectangles
G. (2) 1.5-inch by 10.5-inch rectangles
H. (1) 4.5-inch square
I. (2) 1.5-inch by 3.5-inch rectangles
J. (2) 1.5-inch by 2.5-inch rectangles
K. (2) 3.75-inch squares

 

Piecing Directions

Sew all seams with an accurate 1/4" seam allowance. My seams are pressed open, using a shortened stitch length of 2.0. I find pressing seams open helps me match up points and makes free motion quilting easier.

Step 1: Use 2.5-inch by 3.5-inch dark fabric and coordinating light 2.5-inch square. Mark diagonal on each square as shown in first photo below. Sew on marked line and trim off excess fabric 1/4" from stitching (second photo below). Press open (no photo) and set aside.

 

Step 2: Pair each 3.75-inch light squares with a 3.75-inch background square. Mark and sew on the diagonal. Trim 1/4-inch from stitching line and press open. Trim to 3.5-inch square.

 

Step 3: Attach HSTs from step 2 to 1.5-inch by 3.5-inch rectangles of background fabric as shown below.

 

Step 4: Piece sections to form each row. Rows should finish at 10.5-inches wide.
Row 1: G (no piecing)
Row 2: B + H
Row 3: C + unit from step 1 + E
Row 4: unit from step 3 + H + unit from step 3
Row 5: E + unit from step 1 + C
Row 6: H + B
Row 7: G (no piecing)

 

Step 5: Attach rows in order shown. Pay particular attention to matching up points. These photos show how I matched up my points when connecting rows 4 and 5.

Use straight pin to go through the fabric 1/4-inch from the edge, directly through the seams for each triangle. Pin should be perpendicular to fabrics.

Push layers of fabric together so they are flush, then pin fabrics together on either side of the vertical pin. Remove vertical pin and sew.

Once all rows are connected, your block should look like this.

 

Step 6: Attach 1.5-inch by 12.5-inch background rectangles to each side to finish the block. Unfinished block should measure 12.5-inches square.

 

Finishing
Each of the following options is made with 20 identical blocks, creating a quilt with a finished size of approximately 48" by 60".

Option 1: Straight set.

Option 2: Alternate Set.

Option 3: Tossed Set.

Option 4: Starburst Set.

Option 5: Rotational Set.

 

Please check out today's other blocks:

Host: Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl (PLUS GIVEAWAY)
Abigail @Cut & Alter
Janice @Color, Creating, and Quilting!
Lorinda @Laurel, Poppy, and Pine
Melva @Melva Loves Scraps
Renee @Quilts of a Feather
Kathryn @Upitis Quilts
Kim @Leland Ave Studios
Amanda @this mom quilts
Holly @Lighthouse Lane Designs
Irene @Patchwork and Pastry
Jennifer @Dizzy Quilter
Karen @Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Anne @Said With Love
Suzy @Adventurous Applique and Quilting
Sharla @Thistle Thicket Studio
Kathleen @Smiles From Kate
Amanda @Gypsy Moon Quilt Co.
Chelsea @Patch the Giraffe
Jinger @Trials of a Newbie Quilter
Anja @Anja Quilts
Daisy @Ants to Sugar

Visit Meadow Mist Designs on the 13th and Late Night Quilter on the 14th for links to the remaining participants. Thank you for visiting!

I'm linking up to Main Crush Monday.

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This is my 13th time participating in Color Play Friday with Trina and Lorinda and this post celebrates their first anniversary of running Color Play Friday! Congratulations to you both. It's been so fun to join you this year. Be sure to visit their posts today (links at the bottom) for their Birthday Bash Giveaways!

Today's photo is a colorful birthday cake and I just couldn't resist going with the rainbow. I picked the gold confetti dots fabric because of the little bit of gold peeking out from under the cake. I could make so many palettes from this photo. What colors stand out to you?

I created my palette with Palette Builder 2.1 by Play Crafts.

Solids:
Kona Tomato
Kona Carrot
Kona Corn Yellow
Kona Jungle
Kona Riviera
Kona Cerise
Kona Snow
Kona Butter

Prints:
Dumb Dot in Red by Michael Miller
Hatch in Papaya by Timeless Treasures
Mini Pearl Bracelets in Meyer Lemon by Lizzy House, Andover
Freckled in Evergreen by Tamara Kate, Michael Miller
XOXO in Rashida Cobalt by Cotton & Steel
Sun print in Orchid by Katarina Roccella, Art Gallery
Confetti Border Pearlized in Rose Gold Glimmer by Michael Miller

Check out the other palettes this week at:

If you'd like to participate in Color Play Friday you can visit In An Otter Life or Laurel, Poppy and Pine for the rules, their contact information, and next week's photo.

Thanks for visiting!

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Some weeks I look back on what I accomplished and I am surprised that I did so much. This is one of those weeks. Kids being back in school and a mostly unscheduled long weekend led to a lot of sewing progress for me.

 

Mysterious Things

Last Thursday the first sewing instructions came out for the Meadow Mystery quilt, by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. I managed to finish up my cutting that day, but I haven't yet started the piecing. I have all month to get it done and still be on track, so I've been working on some other projects first. Instagram and Facebook are filled with beautiful versions of the first blocks.

 

Things I Put in the Mail

Yesterday, on the sixth day of the month, I shipped all my bee blocks for the month! This is unheard of. I sent two for my Do. Good Stitches group and one for Shirley in my Bee Hive swarm. Plus the two bonus blocks that I showed you on Monday for my friend Mary. It's so nice to have the monthly commitment already checked off. Sometimes I get them sewn early in the month, but then I usually don't manage to get them out the door until the end of the month.

 

Kid Things

My daughter is making progress on her second quilt. Just like my son's second project, she chose to make a doll quilt. Her's is for a friend. I love that she has been coming into the sewing room to play with her fabric, neatly arranging it on the floor. Over the weekend, I consulted with her on her plan and cut her strips of fabric for her. She pieced them with supervision from me and is so proud that she finished her quilt top in one day. ;-) She raided my remnant binding box to choose something for her quilt and settled on a purple, with a scrappy low volume white to go with it since the purple piece isn't big enough for the entire quilt. She's pinned the purple up on the design wall with her quilt top. (In the first picture you can see a peek of the kitty fabric she's chosen for the backing.)

 

Slow Stitching Things

I get up at 5:30am now. I'm just over a week into this new routine. It means I go to bed at 9:30pm sharp these days, but the kids don't get up until 7:00am so I get a fair amount of time to myself in the mornings. I am not inherently a morning person, but I think this is working. Over the weekend I kept up my schedule, since I figure that's easier than sleeping in on some days. This meant even more time to myself since nobody else in the house had anything to get up early for. I've used this time in a variety of ways, but I spent one of those weekend mornings making progress on my La Passacaglia project. I was halfway through connecting the pentagons, and I finished that step and attached them to the center section. 20 pieces down, 70 to go in this first rosette. Now I need to prep a bunch of itty bitty triangles to make the ten stars that go around this section.

 

Things I Can't Really Show You

Secret sewing is exciting, but it's so hard not to share. Luckily, I have a few friends who I can text pictures to when I'm itching to share but can't post publicly yet. The first project is a quilt that I've finished the top for. I'll be able to show it off once I've given the gift. The second secret project is my Nine-Patch Challenge quilt for Quilt Con that I've finished drafting in Illustrator (with Daisy's help). I've actually designed two versions. I think I'll piece the easier one first and then I'll decide if I want to try to tackle the harder one. My next steps on this project include deciding what colors I want to use and  how to go about piecing the trickier parts.

 

Things That Are Colorful

I love color and I find inspirations in a variety of places. This week presented two color palettes that stood out to me. First, as I'm working on chipping away at pre-washing and putting away my summer fabric acquisitions I stumbled across this palette of solids that reminds me of a vibrant sunset. I have some improv piecing in mind for these lovelies.

My second palette came from a more surprising location, my dishwasher. I opened the dishwasher to find these colorful cups in a line in this order. Deciding I liked them well enough to keep the colors in mind for a future project, I snapped a quick picture. (Don't you just love that awesome 80's tile!?)

These palettes are both particularly interesting to me, because I generally gravitate to the cool colors. I'll have to finish a bunch of other projects before I can dive into these, but I'm keeping them in mind for when I "need" a new project.

Thank you for visiting! I'm linking up to Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social and Needle and Thread Thursday.