Bloggers Quilt Festival: the Interweave Mini

I made Interwoven for the #igrainbowmini swap, off a pattern from a Susan Schneider book. The HSTs were made out of the off-cuts of the Kona charm swap organised by Pile O'Fabric back in 2013, and only measured 1.75" square...before I trimmed them down to 1.5".

And this is why I'm not a fan of HSTs. Even when they look really really spectacular, there's a bajillion trimmings.


And then I had to arrange the teeny-tiny HSTs into the pattern, which is really just a 4x4 block in a specific layout, which then gets rotated through 90 degrees to form the pattern.


It's pretty clever, right?


Of course, then I have to go and add borders.


Straight line quilting, following the pattern was all I could manage. Alas, I took the HandiQuilter Blessington Academy course the weekend after I quilted this, otherwise it would have been freemotion quilting and much more impressive.

Still I suppose the design holds up pretty well!

Title: Interweave (Mini)
Size: ~18" square

Submitted in the ROYGBIV category of the Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.

WIP Wednesday: the one riding the rails

Not really that much to show ‘in progress’ this week.

Two finishes:

3:10 to Mendocino

I did a full post on the making of The 3:10 to Mendocino earlier today.


1-Hour Halloween Basket

A gift for a Halloween swap which I need to get out ASAP!


Spring Garden (Kate Spain Honey Honey)

Finished the quilting – need to do the binding!


Mini Swarm By Sel

Did the standard fiery curls FMQ on this, need to do some hand-quilting in the middle (when I get the right floss) and bind it.

No Progress
-Meadow
-Passacaglia
-100 Days Project
-Quilt Uberfest: one of the cats peed on some of the squares I had sitting around waiting to be turned into nine-patches, so it’s back to the cutting board…

Status

Lots of bits and pieces projects to get done in the next week – things that have been lingering for far too long.

- Birthday block swap from 2012
- Supernova Friendship Block Swap

a weekend of Yuma: the 3:10 to Mendocino

I've had a lot of Mendocino Mermaids in my collection since I went on a buying spree back in 2012 - 2013. Actually, since I found a couple of bolts of it on the cheap (as in $10/metre, which is cheap in Australia - most fabrics are $20/metre) and bought the lot.

I made one quilt out of my supplies already (The Seaweed Is Always Greener) and had enough for a second.


Looking at the leftover scraps, I have enough for a third...but that's for another post.

I had vague ideas about what to make with my collection, but until Gotham Quilts' pattern for the Yuma Quilt came out, nothing seemed quite right.


What initially caught my eye about Yuma? Those little white triangles on the bigger triangles. Before I realised that was the fabric print and not the piecing. D'oh! I thought it was really cool and fiddly piecing. Yeah, nope. But the pattern is still very cool and I thought it would look good in Mendocino - the big pink and gold prints for the large triangles and a melange of other prints for the small(er) triangles.

When putting a quilt together, there's always that little niggle of doubt. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea." "I don't know about this." "Should I add more fabrics? Take away more? "What if I perpetrate a horror of colour and style upon the quilting world and can never show my face around the intarwebs again?"

I had a couple of those; firstly when I realised that in order to have prints properly directional, I would have to cut them on the diagonal...



Luckily I had enough fabric, and what I didn't have enough of, I could group together. (And now have a lot of scraps that would probably make pretty decent HSTs... Something to consider.)


So far, so good. That was the easy part.

Then there was the layout check and the panic that ensued when I realised that laying out the blocks as the instructions indicated would mean that I had pink and gold HSTs blending with the pink and gold large triangles.


There was the question of what to do about the centre blocks - I was initially intending to use the pink, blue, and brown memaid medallions as centres surrounded by the pink and gold mermaids, but that was making the quilt too busy-and-bright for my liking.

Putting some pink and blue mermaid medallions helped calm things down, and I could keep the brown mermaid medallion as the centre of the quilt (black hair, olive skin mermaids; yesyesyes) and use some pale blue scraps to border it.

It got a bit patchy, especially when I mis-cut 8.5" to be 7.5". D'OH. Luckily I had just enough to cover that missing inch.


I could tell you about the drama of 12.5" squares vs 12" squares which comes down to Sel Does Not Read Instructions Well. It's long and involved and you don't want to hear about it. Instead, I will tell you (or rather, show you) of What Happens When Maladicta Wakes Up From Her Snooze:


Luckily I'd taken a photo before she rolled around in my layout.

And then there was The Problem Of Seams.

Specifically, seams on the diagonal.

Seams. On the diagonal.

It's like a convocation of All The Things I Hate But Which Quilting Loves To Land In My Lap WHYYYYY? (see: The Eternity Quilt and Swarm - each a bajillion triangles, cut on the bias, sewn together and UGH...and the ridiculous part is that I keep doing it.) My seams are...well, a more precise quilter would say "complete shit"...but I like the subtle misdirection of "flexible".

I will never win a prize for perfect seams in any universe.

But that's okay. I make it work. And (mostly) nobody notices. (Until I point it out. Which I have to stop doing.)

I'm presently trying to decide on whether To Border Or Not To Border. I like my quilts big, and this one is still in the Not Quite Big Enough category right now.

But it looks really good - especially in front of my house, with the rosebush in the background!


Also in the background of my pic with Smokey:


I'm debating whether to quilt this one myself or to send it away. I'm inclining towards sending it away, because I rather like the machine-quilted quilts that I have - they're loosely quilted, so still soft, but it's strong and a nice all-over pattern. And not much effort from me. (Always a bonus.)

I was hoping to finish it in time for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, but alas, no time. Everything is crazy right now, and while November should calm down a little, I don't think it will be by much! Sprinting to the end of the year now!

3:10 to Mendocino [YumaQAL]

So it's not really a quilt-along when you're the only one doing it, right?

Anyway, the Yuma Quilt is on the table - the top to hopefully be done this weekend!

I laid out my fabric choices last night, and started sorting them. The range is (for anyone who's been living under a rock these last few years) Heather Ross' Mendocino Mermaids - OOP, very rare, and now in reprint! I found - literally, randomly came across - significant yardage of it on my LQS webpage at a fraction of the price being asked for it online. (Like $40/m, and this was $10/m.)

I'd bought two bolts outright - everything they had of it - and yardage of another two bolts, within ten minutes. And from there, it kind of became an obsession to collect as much of the line as possible. *sigh* I hadn't been invested until I found the bolts!

But now it's going to reprint, and I want to make a quilt before everyone else gets their hands on it! :D

So, here's my Mendocino collection:



And here it is all cut up:



I'm auditioning backgrounds - Kona Steel (foreground) or Kona Slate (background). Right now, my instinct and instagram are saying Slate. It's kind of reminiscent of the murky deeps of the ocean, isn't it? The sea on a stormy day. Steel is more like mountains and rocks - it would probably do really well with earthier, warmer colours. (Yes, I know Mendocino is pinks and golds and oranges and browns, but when you look at them, you realise they're very cool tints of warm colours. More blue in them than red.)

Either way, I'll start cutting the background tonight. I'm debating making the setting triangles out of another Mendocino yardage I have, though...

This weekend is for putting it all together - the diagonals are going to be interesting. Although, maybe not so much since, because the Yuma blocks are on point, I had to cut the fabric diagonally to keep the prints directional. Yes, I did cut the prints directionally. Yes, I have a lot of scraps as a result. They'll probably go on the back, or into a new quilt. We'll see.

So much sewing to do, so little time!

The quilt gets its name from the movie 3:10 to Yuma, of course. :)

WIP: the one with patches

A little work, but not much new.


WIPs

Quilt Uberfest

I've done ten 9-patch blocks to fill in the gaps of the eight blocks from the Quilt Uberfest.


Looking at it now, though, I'm thinking I'm going to have to sash-and-post these, possibly
with a contrasting colour as the posts, to give some extra dimension to the quilt, and to allow the blocks to be better seen, instead of just melding into each other.


100 Days Project

I've been more focused in making up the 4-patches which I'm using to practise on, so I'm quite a few days behind. Also, it's a bit of a pain to put the quilting foot on every night
and switch it out for the quarter-inch foot when I want to do regular sewing.


So I'll do some of the FMQing this weekend - Friday and Saturday night, when I have a bit of time free.

A little movement, but no pictures

Plain Jane Passacaglia: working my way through another rosette


No movement

3:10 to Mendocino: Nothing

Honey Honey (Spring Garden?): Going back to finish the quilting on Sunday

Meadow: Nope

Swarm By Sel (mini): Nope


Other things

Carpet that made me think of quilting:


I don't even remember where I saw it anymore!

WIP: the one with UFOs galore

Lots of WIPs this week!

WIPs

Quilt UberFest


Full post is here where I talk about the blocks, where they’ve come from, and where they’re going.

TBD: 16x 12” nine-patch blocks

So far: 2 down


3:10 to Mendocino

Also known as the Yuma quilt by Gotham Quilts.

My Mendocino collection:


The problem is that the Yuma pattern either requires the fabric to be cut on the bias to follow the print, or else to have the print at an angle. At this point, it’s looking like I might have to cut the fabric on the bias, which will make piecing it interesting, especially given the softness of the original Mendocino fabric.

Choices choices.


Honey Honey (Spring Garden?)

A WIP from long ago, but right now literally ‘in progress’ re: quilting.


I was working on this on Sunday at the Sydney ModSQuad sew-in, and ran out of Aurifil for the top after using two 50yd spools. My attempt at using a comparable Gutermann failed the surface match test miserably, and had major threadnesting happening besides. So I had to take it off the frame and will have to go back and finish it later.


I’ve never done a partial quilt before – it’s always been done in a single sitting – or else left on the frame overnight (once).

The idea was to have relatively light quilting at the edges, and dense in the middle.


That’s a detail of the outer edges. I went with themes of ‘fields’, ‘forests’ and ‘sea’ from outer edge to centre of the quilt. If I had the courage and the skill, I’d love to quilt some crops in there – flowers, fruit, wheat/crops… Ambitious, much?


100 Days Projects

Trying this again with 4-patches made out of 5” scrap squares. I have plenty of scraps and they need doing. Plus, sewing 4-patches is nice and easy and something I can do a few of every night or couple of nights.


I think I may need to start with simpler designs, though – get the feel of the machine before trying the fancy stuff. Haven’t sewn together the yellow scrap square blocks; also need to cut more batting pieces out.


Plain Jane Passacaglia

Putting rosettes together and sewing them to the main quilt. It’s getting unwieldy…


I feel like this is taking so much longer than I wanted it to. Then again, I only manage to do this while I commute; I don’t have all day or even time in front of the TV – I’m just too busy.


Meadow

In the process of making eyes – five at a time. I’m going for a yellow-centre, white petals flower – kind of a daisy.

[pic to come]


Swarm By Sel

Finished the top.


Have a backing. Now I just need to decide how to quilt it. Straight line or FMQ or both? I have an idea for ‘both’, actually. Might go with that.


Other things

I'm not sure what else there is to say after that, other than WHEW, am I busy right now!

UFO alert: QuiltUberFest blocks

About three years ago, a bunch of quilters put together original designs for quilt blocks, and called it the UberQuiltFest. The quilt-along was, quite frankly, a flop. The fabrics weren't well-chosen, it didn't catch the enthusiasm of the zeitgeist modern quilters of the time, and I'm maybe a handful of people finished it.

I made about four blocks, printed out another three, and eventually finished those. But then I had seven blocks (a really unwieldy number for a quilt) and nothing to do with them.


Fast forward three years. I found the blocks, had a bunch of fabrics out, and decided I'd go for one more block (eight is a good number; there are many things that can be done with eight blocks) and then see if it spoke to me.

I actually rather liked this block - it came together well, the seams set beautifully, and I fussy-cut some Mendocino for the centre.


Once it was done, I laid them out.

I have eight blocks; I could divide the eight blocks up into two, and make two single quilts for kids. Sisters, perhaps, from a DV situation, or refugees. That would be my goal. I don't know how I'll get it quilted - that's something I may need to work out with someone local: perhaps one of the women at SCQuilters might agree to do it gratis? At any rate, it's a donation, intended for siblings, and I'd like to make more of them for other children and families seeking shelter from untenable situations.

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me water,
I was homeless and you gave me shelter.
I don't talk about my faith much, which perhaps is a problem. Western Christianity focuses on comfort and blessing and being happy and contented, as though that's what we were made for. And we weren't. Christians are called to serve God, not just in the church but outside of it, to be the hands and heart of God among those who don't care for Him and maybe don't want to. That's a hard calling to follow and I've been challenged a lot to think about what it means in the last year.


This is one of the things that I'm going to start doing - and not just thinking about doing. It'll be slow - I have a lot of things on my plate - but it's something I can do and which I hope will make a difference in the lives of the families these quilts go to.

The plan for these two quilts is to fill the other blocks with nine-patches in various fabrics - mostly purples, with a few other colours to give it pop. Make two 3x4-block quilts (I've laid them out as 4x4 in the photo, I know), which means making another 16 blocks from 4.5" squares.

If I do one a night, that's done in three weeks. And that will be one more UFO out of my hair, which is an all-around YAY.

It occurs to me that I could do much the same thing with another set of blocks I have which are no longer speaking to me. I think I've had those ones since 2012, too.

TIME TO GET THE RETHINKAMOBILE MOVING, BATMAN!

2015 Q4 goals

1. Quilt the Snowflake quilt

Yeah, this sucker:

2. Make 2 summer dresses out of the Liberty fabric I bought in the UK

Use this pattern:

3. Make 1 summer dress out of the C+S voile I have

...probably just a slip dress, no zipper, nothing. Comfy and casual.

4. Piece 'I Bet Fibonacci Never Had To Do Quilt Math'

New project in C+S, very secret. Will hopefully be for next year's Sydney Quilt Show

5. Piece the Meadow Quilt

Started started started, gotta finish it. Lizzy said that once you've done the 'eyes', you'll finish the quilt. So I suppose this project could be called "The Eyes Have It"?!? (*cue groans at dadjoke*)


6. Piece Yuma QAL in HR Mendocino


7. Finish Scrappy Log Cabin


8. Do 100 Days Of FMQ project

100 Days, starting the 2nd October. That'll take me through to the New Year, right? How about a 10x10 of 9.5" square blocks with FMQ on them? See if I can make it work?

Putting my goals up at Fiber of All Sorts' October 2015: A Lovely Year Of Finishes Masterpost.

2015 - Q3 Finishes!

1. Get all my AHBC Birthday Swaps Done - DONE





2. Quilt two quilts - NOPE

Didn't even manage one.

3. Finish Domestic Bliss Quilt Top - DONE



4. Those Damned Curtains for the front room - NOPE

SUMMER IS ICUMEN IN.

Still on the list, though. I am thinking of either a Halloween Pumpkin for the front curtains for Halloween or possibly a Sugar-Skull for Day of the Dead.

5. summer dresses - PARTLY



I think I need to be specific about how many and what dresses precisely next time.

6. Costume for Dragon*Con Atlanta - NOPE

Could have made this a lot easier for myself by buying. But no. Next time, gadget!

many quilt. so swarm. pretty.

This is not quite my WIP Wednesday (it's Friday for starters). I didn't get my WIP Wednesday done because it's been a really busy week on all fronts!

Not Like The Folks Next Door (#sewmystashmini)

Quilting is done!


[insert standard rundown about how it doesn't feel good enough]

I tried a few new things; some worked, some didn't. There was some unpicking necessary. Mostly, I feel like I need to make more minis (Make More Minis = 3M or TripleM) to practise my quilting on. I've said this before, haven't I? I was doing the 100Days of FMQ at one point, and then...didn't end up completing it. I really should keep going with that...

Swarm By Sel (the mini version)


Not sure I like the hexagons clumped together, but it's certainly a pretty pattern!

(I really suck at pattern making. Really.)

#hexiedownunder

I pretty much spent the last week madly sewing hexies to get my load finished.



Finished! Just in time, too!



Finished them off, sent them out. Hope the recips like them. It's always a bit of a Russian Roulette in what you receive. And I don't think I'll do it again - not because of what I received, but because I am a horrendous lazy ass, and I think it would be best if I didn't do things (ie. swaps) where other people are adversely affected by my laziness. Oh, I got everything out - my sense of responsibility is highly developed - but doing things right up to the deadline, while acceptable for, say, a quilt swap, is not so great when you've got many many gifts to give out to many many people.

So, no more swaps like this. Individual swaps, maybe - one to one. Much more doable.

Plain Jane Passacaglia

And now that I'm done with the #hexiedownunder, it's time to get going on the #plainjanepassacaglia


I think I'm going to do some more sewing together this weekend at SCQuilters group.

Meadow Class with Lizzy House

And thus dawned the day with the Meadow Class, in which many of my fellow Sydney ModSQuadders were present:


(That's me in the bottom of the photo. No, I don't have a selfie stick.)

We learned how to make the blocks:



And the importance of design!

(I may be a little bit of a design rebel. I've decided I'm not going to lay my flowers out in the 4x5 pattern, but in another pattern instead...)


Still need to work out which backgrounds to keep coloured and which should be background...

Lizzy herself was wonderful - very sweet and very droll. Her comedic timing in teaching was wonderful, and the day was just a whole lot of fun with really awesome women, and a great deal of jokes. (Angie of GnomeAngel was there, and she made ALL THE COMMENTS with delightful timing.) All in all, it was a good day, and if you ever have the opportunity to do the class - if Lizzy brings it to your city or your town or whatever - I recommend it highly.

Other things

A delivery of Tula Pink's Eden came in the mail and I laid it out for photography.


And then the cat happened.


Look at that expression!

Anyway, this weekend is two sewing meets - SCQuilters on Saturday at the BlueGum, and the Sydney Mod SQuad (Sydney Modern Sewists and Quilters) on Sunday at Hobbysew Top Ryde. I'm going to #plainjanepassacaglia on Saturday, and probably Meadow on Sunday, because it will be easiest then, I think...