Trimming Points

Is trimming points before sewing a waste of time?  I've always thought so, and I still do, but when sewing a trapezoid piece to a quarter square triangle to make this frame for my old blocks, there are two places that must line up perfectly.  

Here's what the finished piece should look like--straight on the bottom, and with a quarter inch seam allowance at the top so you don't lose the point.  Eye-balling the placement for this is hard.  Believe me I know.

So I thought I'd give Judy Martin's point trimmer tool a try, and I'm a believer, at least for this.  It took some experimentation for me to work this out, so in case anyone else needs to do the same thing, here's what I learned.

To trim the 45 degree angle on the trapezoid that goes at the top of the join, I used the C trim, lining it up with the point of the triangle.

The triangle has its tip cut off, also with the C trim.  (If you use a quarter-square triangle tool, the tip is already cut off.  More about that another time.)

Then use the B trim to cut off the 45 degree points, like so.

Triangle trimmed:

When the pieces are lined up for sewing, they look like this, a perfect match:

And the result is also perfect, or almost:

You just repeat the process with the other side.

Now this is rather tedious, I certainly admit.  But it makes the sewing so much faster that I think it's worth it.  But I still wouldn't want to trim hundreds of these pieces like that, would you?  

Claiming the Blog

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Here I am claiming my blog, whatever that means.

Black and White

Larry's quilt is done.  Isn't he a beauty?  Quilt looks ok too, if I do say so.  It's packed up now, with backing (also pieced, using more black and white prints) and binding to be finished for a guild giveaway.

Black and white prints are unexpectedly tricky to work with.  The value contrasts are sometimes surprising.  The first set of triangle squares didn't seem to have enough contrast for my taste, and so on the second set I over compensated and made them with too much contrast.  The pieces or blocks are hard to square up too, because the fabrics blur together making it hard to see the seam line.  None of these problems show up in the photograph though.  Interesting.  That must also have something to do with the particular characteristic of black and white prints.

Made to Order

I had to find a use for those black and white triangle squares, so I'm putting together this quickie quilt.  I guess maybe I made it for Larry.  It suits him, anyway.

Winners and Cutting: A Brief IHQS Report

The number of entries, vendors, and I believe class attendees was down from last year.  Nonetheless, there were some outstanding quilts.

You can see pictures of the winners here.  Marilyn Badger's Eureka won best bed quilt.  It was a big medallion, it was bright, it had fabulous quilting.  Best wall quilt was America, Let It Shine by Sherry Reynolds.  This quilt has won other awards, and you have probably seen pictures of it.  It seems an odd quilt to be such a winner, in some ways.  It lacks the knock-'em-dead-from-across-the-room impact of many others because there's so much apparently blank white space.  You have to be at least mid-distance or even closer to see the unique qualities: phenomenal quilting, not just dense, but very precisely patterned, lots of metallic thread, superhuman piecing, and last but not least, the thousands of tiny crystals.   Amazing, indeed.

In Debbie Caffrey's Power Cutting class we learned, among other things, her technique for making triangle squares.  Here are mine: there are about 40 of them, 2 1/2 inch square, very accurate and with no dog ears to trim.  I can actually see using this technique again.  I repeated it after I came home, and as promised, it was easier the second time.  I will also start using my smaller cutting board so I can turn it for cutting from the other side.

Debbie presented a huge amount of information.  She's one of those engineer-type quilters, very interested in efficiency, planning, and the mathematics and logic of the process.  I learned plenty I didn't know about some of the tools, especially the Omnigrid triangle tools, and have ordered Judy Martin's point cutter tool.  Ironically, I had one of those once, but put it in a white elephant sale because I never used it.  But now, I think it will help me do a better job on the triangle/parallelogram placement.

Quilt Shows, Past, Present, Future

Present:  I will be leaving tomorrow for the Indiana Heritage Show in Bloomington, Indiana, which I like to visit every year.  I don't have a quilt in the show this year, but I'll be taking a class called Power Cutting with Debbie Caffrey.  I chose this class because it teaches a process, not a project, and I THOUGHT it required no sewing machine.  But, alas, when I read over the supply list yesterday, I saw: "sewing machine".  Blast!  How could I have missed that?  So it's time to load up the heavy thing after all, along with fabric and cutting tools.

Last year at this show I took a wonderful class from Sally Collins called, I believe, Precision Piecing.  This was a delight.  She's an excellent teacher, and the skills learned have carried over, at least a bit.  I now try to be very careful in starting and stopping each seam, and I set the machine at a slower speed when I piece.  It makes a difference.

In the class we worked on this block:

In class I completed the center basket; the outer frame was added later, and I made it into a pin cushion. The overall size is 3 inches, and the smaller triangle squares measure 3/8 inch.  Although this sounds impossible, there is a system to sew and then cut down carefully that produces amazing results.  Enjoyable, even though I'll probably never do anything so precise again.  I'd recommend Sally's books. They're as clear and inspiring as her teaching.

Future:  Yesterday's mail brought a brochure for the IQF show in Chicago, June 20. Having been out of the loop recently, I didn't realize this show was coming back to Chicago.  Cincinnati must have been a bust, as many predicted.   Interestingly, there are no classes scheduled for this show.  Does anyone know why?

More Blocks, and Shopping Time!

Yesterday I pieced three more blocks, and here's where we are:

I made a change in the cutting/piecing.  I had originally drafted the frame with a triangle piece at the corner like this:

I thought this would be easier to piece than a set in seam.  I don't know why, because I've done set in seams before.  Anyway, this triangle was a pain to piece accurately, and of course required cutting eight more pieces per block.  So I decided to try cutting the side in one long piece and making a mitered corner with a set in seam, like this:

It wasn't harder really.  Fewer pieces equals less cutting, fewer seams, less bulk.  I've still got the placement of that muslin triangle and the angle of the roof shaped piece though.  Now if I can just figure out exactly how to do that right the first time, every time...

Now the fun part:  I don't have enough blue fabric that reads as fairly solid in that lighter value, so I'm going to have to go buy some.  I also need to decide how much pattern can go in those pieces without losing the effect I want.  Too solid is boring, but too much pattern would be distracting.  So I've been auditioning the fabrics I have before heading out to the quilt shop.

I'm not sure about the one on the far right.  What do you think?  Decisions are tough.

A Block!

Sometimes you've just gotta make a decision and do it!  I stewed and fretted about fabric and color choices for setting the World's Ugliest Blocks, but decided that one color, two values, scrappy was going to be the way it would be.  Two main reasons led to this decision:  I have lots of blue fabric, and I hope that one color will calm the wild voices of those multi-colored prints.  In addition, my husband actually ventured an opinion:  "I see lots of blue."  If it's that obvious, then why fight it?

Here's the draft of the frame I drew for the block:

It's not hard to piece, although lining up the parallelograms with the triangles takes some fiddling.  The cutting was tricky.  I never rotary cut a parallelogram before, and realized I didn't know how.  I dug out an old book called Measure the Possibilities with Omnigrid by Nancy Johnson-Srebro, and there it was.  The procedure is not at all intuitive, at least not to me.

The big surprise was realizing that you have to add 3/4 inch seam allowance to the finished length instead of 1/2. Also there is a right and left hand to a parallelogram, and since the dark and light have to be placed consistently, I'm sure there will be ripping. And swearing.  

Still, for now I'm pretty pleased.  I love the way the white triangles change the shape of the block.  More cutting tomorrow.

An Idea, Maybe

After lots of tinkering with Quilt-Pro, I came up with this possible layout, done in grey scale.  I scrapped the alternate block plan, and instead framed the original blocks, using an idea from Sharyn Craig's Great Sets, and set them diagonally. When the frame is colored in  two values, this three- dimensional effect appears.  (I can't remove the patch lines, so the effect might be stronger if you squint so they disappear.)

This is all very tentative.  I don't want to overpower the original blocks, and this design is quite strong.  Also, I have no idea about the colors, and even more importantly, I don't know whether it would require only two fabrics to be sure the values stayed consistent, or whether I could go scrappy.  Scrappy would probably lose some of the 3-D effect as values changed.  Would that be good or bad?  Also would the framing pieces need to be two values of one color throughout, blue for instance, or could each X design be a different color?  Since the original block is multicolor,  I'm thinking one color, but I'm not sure.

Part of the decision is related to available fabric.  If I keep the same fabrics throughout, I'll have to buy fabric.  I don't want to, because I already have too much.  A dilemma!

So I guess I'm at the auditioning fabric stage.  It's fun to think out loud, so to speak.  Thanks for reading.

Something Old, Something New?

I inherited thirty of these blocks from my mother-in-law.  I really don't know whether she made them herself, or whether she also inherited them from another quilter at her retirement home. They've been stored in my closet for 25 years, because, to put it in the nicest terms, they were never my taste.  But now that I've enjoyed creating settings for my orphan blocks, I thought I'd give these a try.  Can I make something I like out of something I'm not crazy about?

The block is apparently called Sunflower, but the multicolored fabric selection has created something that looks more like a pinwheel.  The fabrics are 1970's calicos, I think.  I find I like both the block and the fabric more than I did years ago:  there is more movement in the block than I used to think, and while the fabric patterns look very dated, the colors don't.  That bright aqua is very trendy, for example.

I also have quite a bit of respect for the maker.  The design was pieced and then hand appliqued to the muslin.  Interestingly, she used dark brown thread.  It seems like an odd choice, but it works.  There are no stitches visible at all on the right side.

The blocks are currently about 13 1/2 inches, but I will trim them to finish at 12 inches.  It's good that there is a bit of extra, because the placement of the pieces is not entirely even.

My goal for this project will be to keep the vintage charm, and yet give it a slightly up-dated look.  I can emphasize any color I choose: there's lots of red, but the yellow and the aqua pop as accents.  I'm thinking about an alternate block design, which will make the quilt larger than the twin size it would be with simple sashes.


I do have some of the original fabric which I can incorporate, but I'm not too sure about that.  Too much, probably.  There's also lots of muslin intended for borders; that is a definite no!

One question:  Should I cut away the muslin from behind the applique?  If I'm going to do that, I should do it before squaring the block.  What do you think?

Another Orphan

Here's my second quilt created from blocks just lying around.  I started with the five pieced blocks, three of the small maple leaf blocks, and some of the brown and ivory strips I put in the sashes.  I pieced the nine patches and more strips.  

It would have been much easier to make a solid blue border, but since I didn't have a large enough piece of blue, the piano key border was the solution.  This is unquilted, making two of these projects to quilt.  I will do the quilting, reluctantly, but I think my next new project will be to see what I can do with some hand applique sunflower blocks I inherited from my mother-in-law.  Stay tuned.

Meantime, I'm packing up my elephant joke quilt to send to the Lancaster AQS show.  If anyone is going to that show, I hope you'll stop by and say hello to it.  I wish I could go, but it won't happen.  

January Thaw

Seven years ago, in January, 2006, I posted my first blog post.  That would be impressive if I had continued the process all this time, but of course I have been very erratic in the last year or so.  I'm not sure why that's true, and I won't bore you with my self analysis, so if there's anyone out there still reading, here's what I'm doing.


Charity quilts from orphan blocks:  this one is made from the half blocks trimmed off when I straightened the edges of the Athena's Puzzle quilt I finished about a year and a half ago.  I commented on this procedure here.  I think I like this scrap version about as well as the original, and it feels good to salvage some lovely fabric.

Here we have a collection of random blocks.  The alternate blocks and the corner stones came from another batik quilt, even older than the Athena's puzzle.  Why I had so many left over, I don't know.  It must have been one of those counting failures I'm prone to.  By putting the last four in the border, I used every last one!

This quilt was so much fun to make that I'm not sure whether I will stop to quilt it, or go back to the orphan block box and try for another one before I lose the momentum!

Is It Fall Yet?

I began this fall wall hanging about a year ago while staying at my sister's house taking care of my mother. Now here it is, finally finished. It became a UFO because I didn't finish it before it became out of season and because I didn't like the way I quilted it.

It's no longer out of season, but I still don't like the quilting. However, it will have to do--moving on.

Because I brought this with me to bind while away, I had to put the Alzheimers piece on hold for a while. Back soon I hope.

This is my first attempt at using the Blogger Mobile ap, so please forgive the terseness and the poor photograph If this ap works well maybe I can use it in thw future

A Little (very little) Work in Progress

I've started work on a small quilt for Alzheimer's Art Quilts.  It's been a long time since I made one, mine have all sold, and I felt like it was time.  I decided to quilt the background before doing the applique this time, and finished this square spiral, which I hope will complement the design.   Back tomorrow with more to show, maybe.

My flamingos did make the Hoffman traveling exhibit again.  They will be in Group C, which goes to the Mid Atlantic show, among others.   This makes a seven-time streak, which pleases me quite a bit.

Other news:  I had pieces of both big toenails removed because they tend to grow in along the side of the nail bed.  As surgical procedures go, this is minor, but a pain (literally) nonetheless.  It's been over a week now, and they're still very nasty.  I will spare you pictures of that!  Just a little complaint to throw into the mix...  Otherwise things are good.  Thanks everyone who came to visit after my long time away.

After long silence...

I'm back to post my Hoffman Challenge entry for this year.

This year's fabric with the giant pink and lavender roses is not my style, so when I tried to imagine what else the flowers might like, I came up with feathers.  The shape and color of the flower suggested a flamingo body, and I took it from there.  The design is my attempt to capture the look of a vintage travel poster.  It was rather simple, but seemed to take me an extremely long time to do, perhaps because of lack of commitment.  This was my first attempt at free motion quilting on a contest entry, and it's not too bad, I think.  I don't have detail shots, but if you click, you should be able to see.

What else have I been doing?  I've made several charity quilts and am working on some Alzheimer's pieces.  I've also been traveling--we spent three weeks in China and Korea, and will be going to Spain in the fall.  I've also been to Missouri to stay with my mother and sister, and will be doing that again soon.  So life is busy, just not on the sewing front.

Project Linus Completed

I love the way this turned out so much that will be hard to part with it for Project Linus. I wish I had a baby in the family to give it to. If anyone else want to make one of these quilts, the link is here.  You don't have to make 15 blocks.  A row or just one is good too, and although the picture in the magazine shows the blues as all being the same, mine are not, and I think it looks fine.

We have about six inches of snow on the ground here, with more coming down,  a good day to stay inside and sew.  It's the first snow day of the winter, and I'm enjoying it!

A New Year

Happy New Year.  It's been a while.  Household work and Christmas and other activities have kept me out of the studio and away from Blogger.  I hope to be back.

I did make my mom a birthday card,

and yesterday I had a lovely afternoon.  I fired up a Glee marathon through Netflix streaming and worked on these cute blocks for Quiltmaker's Project Linus quilt.

I've made one of these several times in the past and have enjoyed it.  I'm not sure this time though; there's a bit too much paper piecing for my taste, so I may just finish a few blocks.  If I do continue, here are my fabric choices.  Love them!  That may keep me going.

Also on the schedule is the Hoffman Challenge.  I do have an idea, and need to start sketching, and I need/want to make some more pieces for the Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative.  All my previous ones have sold.  Incidentally, the January auction is underway, and the quilts are very good this month.

Looking Up

I'm feeling more cheerful about my work since the last post for several reasons.  One is shown below.  My daughter-in-law took the Athena's Puzzle quilt home when they visited last week, and here you see it in use. What could be better!

I finished the scarf.  The color combination in this outfit is not the best, but you get the idea.  This was fun, incredibly fast, and satisfied any knitting urge I may have had.

And finally, I learned that my joke quilt has been accepted by Road to California.  Entering this seemed like a long shot to me; I thought the quilt's uniqueness would be in its favor, but the quilting isn't up to the super level that seems to be expected everywhere.  So the email was a happy surprise.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I did lots of cooking yesterday, and am cleaning today, but not too strenuously.  

What I've Learned Recently

1.  Sometimes less is more.  I like the way this charity quilt turned out with minimal quilting.  With the polyester batting, it should be enough.

2.  How to make an ugly quilt:  Throw in too many, too bright "accent" blocks.  Oh, well on a dark and stormy night it will be just fine.

3.  I can still knit.  I just discovered this novelty yarn, called Marina Glitz, and thought I could manage a scarf that requires only eight stitches.

You pick up the loops on the top of the web and knit them, and the result is this ruffly scarf.  Although it's a bit trickier than I expected, I have finished half of the skein in two nights of TV watching.  It might be tempting to make more for gifts, but most colors seem to be out-of-stock in all the web sites I checked.

Ho Hum

Must get motivated.  Must get motivated.

This will not help much.

Here's the latest Hoffman Challenge fabric.  First off, fabric with roses is not my style, but the other problem is the disappointingly sleazy quality of this fabric.  It looks more like a Walmart knockoff than a Hoffman--the weave is coarse, and the colors don't have the usual sharp definition. At $10.50 a yard the high cost of cotton is really hitting home.  To be fair, there seems to be a white over print over the images which may have something to do with the blurred look, but the general effect isn't very successful.

I do have an idea, but I'll need to get motivated to start.  That seems to be the hard part for me lately.