Patchwork Breeze: May 2018

5/29/2018

Scrappy Hearts Blocks

Mary, June's Gridster Bee "Queen Bee" asked the members of the group to make a scrappy heart block following the pattern from Sophie's blog.

The 8" finished block was so fun to make. Mary told us if we wanted to share more of these blocks with her, she would accept them. I had a tote drawer full of red scraps and sent her 4 blocks. I can't wait to see her quilt completed.

I have so many more red scraps that I am going to work on some hearts for myself!

How many scraps do you have?

5/24/2018

Random Thursday Moments

FedEx delivered the two 1/2 yard cuts of Northcott Fabric this morning. These are the colors I chose to use in the row I am designing for My Happy Place Row Along. Seams To Be Sew is hosting another row along in September. I am busy working on the pattern. I have tested it with fabric from my shelves, but NOW the Northcott fabrics will make the final row!

On my walk to the mailbox at the end of the driveway, I had to take a photo of these flowers growing in the gravel of the driveway! I guess the rain of the past week helped plants in the most peculiar of places!

And outside the front door:

Iris (that I brought from my mother's garden years ago) that are the tallest, largest, and brightest I have ever seen them!

Years ago my father-in-law planted pansies by our front door and I am sure this one must be popping up from those, because I haven't planted any pansies!

I am waiting for the furnace repairman to find out why the auto pilot on the furnace would not ignite the other day. With temps going into the 80s for the next 7 days, I am not too concerned, just want it fixed!

5/21/2018

Community Quilt Project

In mid-April, a newsletter announcement from While She Naps told about a community quilt project happening through ace & jig. I emailed Ace & Jig to sign up to participate. Today a bundle of their custom fabric scraps arrived. These were really cool scraps, since they are used in clothing.

The goal for ace & jig is to create a jumbo quilt highlighting their amazing ace&jig community and their custom fabric scraps that come from the cutting room floor.

For every three completed quilt squares, they will donate one project night night bag! Project night night is a non-profit organization that gives out comforting night bags to children experiencing homelessness, which include a tote bag, a blanket, age-appropriate book, and stuffed animal.

The quilt blocks have to be 16" square, unfinished, a 1" seam allowance is figured in to the measurement.

I got right to work so I could get it into the mail to meet the June 15 submission deadline. (One never knows how long the mail might take.) This past month or so I've had houses and buildings in the works, so why stop now? This is the block I created:

This was a fun project to make. I hope ace & jig achieve their goal of donating 100 project night night bags. (The email they sent telling me the bundle was coming said there were over 380 quilters participating.) I will also mention that ace & jig were kind enough to send a pre-paid postage sticker for us to return the blocks!

Have a quilty day!

5/17/2018

Escher Inspires Quilt

Yay!

My new pattern has been released by Cut Loose Press this weekend at Quilt Market.

I can show you the entire project and write more about it.

While exploring possible ideas for the Transformation/Change theme of The Endeavourers group in March and April, I thought of creating a tessellation with M.C. Escher's art in mind. Escher experimented with repeating patterns and geometric mathematical concepts, as well as optical illusions, metamorphosis, and impossible worlds.

I found an over-whelming amount of information on the internet about how to construct graphic art in Escher's style. I knew I was beginner and this would be sewn rather than drawn; so what to do?

I read about reflection, translation, and rotation. This was pretty interesting, too. I remembered I had a Jinny Beyers book on Tessellations that I hadn't looked at in years! Tessellations create interlocking pieces that tile the same shape over the surface (in this case fabric).

I worked on this little quilt - simple crane shapes. I decided I would design a pattern and submit it to Cut Loose Press. They accepted it. I worked on fixing and simplifying the directions to fit the 2-page format of Cut Loose Press Press. (Of course, that meant I had to sew up a different design for The Endeavourers Challenge.)

As other quilters have found, quilt ideas can come from so many places that it pays to keep our eyes and minds open. What sights have you turned into patterns?

5/15/2018

Projects This Week

Another busy, creative week has ended.
Monday was a sewing day at the home of my friend, Marilyn. Another sewing friend joined us in the afternoon. I took the Schoolhouse Friendship blocks to finish adding the last row and sashing. I am excited to send it off to the longarm quilter!

On Sunday, my husband and I delivered the t-shirt quilt to the young man graduating from high school this week. We can't attend his party, and we wanted him to have the quilt early. He was amazed and very happy to have it. I made the quilt from start to finish (quilting it on my friend's longarm). My husband was my rooting section and helped with placement of the blocks.

And between Monday and Sunday, I sewed

3 of 7 letters for a Row Along blog hop I am part of in September, 2018,

Approved the Cut Loose Press pattern "Cranes Wallhanging" after sewing up another example to make sure the directions were correct. The pattern will be released at Quilt Market in Portland this weekend. This is a teaser photo for now.

Began another quilted item and worked on the directions to submit to Cut Loose Press patterns,

AND. . .

I made my first YouTube video--a tip on how to steady a wobbly thread spool on the sewing machine peg. I definitely have a bit to learn, but one has to begin somewhere!

Thank you for visiting. Remember if you leave a comment, I always respond--but only if I have a way to contact you.

5/09/2018

X-Block Blog Hop & Giveaway

Welcome to my day on the X-BLOCK Blog Hop!

Amy, of Sew Incredibly Crazy, posted on Instagram that she was hosting a hop for her friend Doris, of Quilting Queen Online, who is the new owner of the X-Block Templates.

The simple requirement was that we had to use the Xblock Rulers/Templates. I purchased the 6 inch X-Block template about 8 years ago and hadn't used it yet. This would force me to use it. I emailed Amy right away to tell her I wanted to participate!

I chose to work with some bright fabrics that coordinated with a stripe. I wanted the striped fabric to be prominent and form a zig-zag on the quilt top. The pamphlet that came with the template gave the directions for cutting strip widths and seam allowances (not a scant 1/4" but a full 1/4"). There was a coloring sheet that could be copied for designing one's quilt.

I chose to use what was the simpler block. All strips were cut the same width. Three strips were sewn together on the long edges. (These are some leftovers.)

These were subcut into units using the same cut width as the strips. The units were sewn into 9 patches.

The designs of the quilts are created when the grid on the template is aligned with the seam lines of the 9 patches. The trimming of the 9 patches creates skewed blocks. When half of the 9 patches are cut with the template facing up and half with the template facing down, more quilt designs become possible. I used my revolving cutting mat which made it much easier to cut.

I definitely recommend coloring the design patterns. I placed the striped fabric in the corners which only gave me a bit of that fabric in the quilt design.

I played with the block placements. Glad I took photos of the arrangements. I referred to them for the design I would make. Believe me, one can get in a real tangle to remember which arrangement was the favorite.

I even thought about making matching table runners for my 2 daughters and myself.

In the end, I selected the second layout above for my 36" x 36" quilt. Here it is on the deck outside on a sunny, warm day (finally).

And the backing is the stripe fabric that I wanted more of on the front.

The pamphlet suggested keeping the cut offs as they can be used for borders or other projects. I can't toss usable pieces. I sewed the triangular cut offs into rectangles. Trimmed them all to 2-1/2" x 5" and played with a layout.

sewn together:

Below is the table runner I made with them. You can see that the striped fabric is predominant in this small project--maybe a little too overwhelming! But I like that I have bright table runner.

I had fun with the template and will use it again. I have many ideas to try using striped fabrics. And what if I use 4 different 9 patches? What about surrounding solid 6 inch blocks with the X-Blocks? I am sure there are nearly endless possibilities!

A GIVEAWAY!

X-Blocks is offering this great prize package