An epic finish

 It feels like an epic finish.  I started this quilt in 2004 maybe at least that is when the Kim Diehl book was published.  I made this with a group of friends, we each made our own but most followed Kim's directions for half square triangles in the spools.  I did them with the y seam. (click for step by step how to)  I started hand quilting this because that was the overwhelming consensus to hand quilt.  So I did until a couple moves ago when it ended up in a box and then on the top shelf of my art materials closet.  I pulled it out this winter and studied it for a while.  Finish hand quilting this or just finish it?!?!   Only 3 spools left to quilt but all those geese.... .....and then somthing traditional in the plain borders. Will it ever get finished if I hand quilt it? In all honesty, probably not, then it will end up on a rummage sale when I am gone.  I really love these colors and the pattern.  Its my quilt..... finish it by machine and finish it.  So I did and I feel so go to finish a quilt that I started 17 years ago.  --Ann--

out of the cupboard

Out of the cupboard,  actually off the roller.  This quilt has been rolled up on a cardboard tube for a very long time.  Its fun to see it again.  I don't know why it was banished for so long.  I completed this in 1993.  I remember the piecing was challenging because those narrow trapezoids in the squares did not want to match up with the green around each flower.  I machine quilted in the ditch around each flower segment and I was not doing free motion quilting at the time.  It was stitch stitch stitch and lift the presser foot and turn the quilt and stitch stitch stitch some more.  I quilted a vine and leaves in the border the same way.  Stitch and pivot and I did a double line for the vines and veins.  My quilting has come a long way since then.  The sunroom is the perfect place for this quilt.  --Ann--

Bow Tie Blocks

I have been cutting and cutting and cutting strips of fabric for a couple different quilts.  Now I am sewing, sewing and sewing.  And its a good day to sew as temps have dropped to real fall temps and the wind is blowing from the north.  A good day to stay in and sew and I'll share my method for sewing bow ties.

 Cut 4 inch strips into 4 inch squares and cut one corner off using  the easy angle, line it up like shown, bottom edge on the fabric edge and the 2 inch line on the fabric edge and cut.  Cut a 2 3/4 inch square for the center of the bow tie.

I tried every possible way of sewing this block together including sewing the 4 bias edges to the center square then sewing the Y seam. That works nice if you mark 1/4 inch from the edge for the stopping point. All those short seams and no way to chain piece.  I'm a speed demon on the sewing machine; this is my no marks, no pinning method and can be chain sewn so I can sew faster!!!!

First sew opposite sides to the center square  either the tie fabric or the background but always in pairs.  They can be chain sewn!!!

Press the seams to the center I tried pressing them out.  In worked better.

Line up the edges

Sew the seam.  I hold a pin where I can feel the seam.  Then stop!

Lift the foot, check the seam turn and pivot.  I slide my finger between the fabric to get the little kink out then put the foot down.

Line up the bias edge with the square edge, slide your finger between the fabrics to get the kink out and sew the seam, again feel for the seam with the pin.

Stop! Lift foot, check seam, turn and pivot, slide finger.

Line up the edges, put the foot down and sew.  Repeat with the next set of block parts. I can chain sew!!!

Repeat on the other side.  

Doesn't that look nice!?!   

I'm making progress but I need to cut some more I need some purples to transition the reds to the blues and there will be a lot or rearranging with these blocks.  Its a good day to sew.--Ann--

Bow Tie Quilt

My work space was clear last week as I started this bow tie quilt. Then I got ideas in my head for a couple other quilts using the same fabrics so I began cutting more strips for those quilts, why cut pieces for one when I can cut pieces for 2 or 3 at one time which put me in the if you give a mouse a cookie scenario.  Once I started pulling fabric out of the stash the piles started falling over and out of the closet.  Putting my stash in order is something I really need to do every couple years,  I found some really wonderful fabrics that I had forgotten about and some quilt parts I need to finish.  It just takes to much time to fold and pet each piece of fabric then stack it by theme and color.  I have brights in a stack and plaids in a stack, a really big stack, and pastels in a stack or two and a stack of background fabrics and stacks of longer yardages for backs and borders, and hand dyed and batik stacks and blue stacks and green stacks and brown stacks and mostly moda stacks and all the other color stacks. I'm up to my ears in stacks. And I can't even see the top of my table there are so many stacks.  Maybe tomorrow I can cut fabric again but easily distracted by this summer like weather here on the prairie.  --Ann--

The Erin Quilts VII

 Erin's Fish and Aquarium  When Erin was 3 I took a sampler class with the intention of making a pastel quilt for her big bed. As I was looking at the pinks and yellows she was tugging on an Alexander Henry print with tropical fish. I finally said what about these fish!??!! She completely pushed me out of my comfort zone. I learned about using orange in this quilt. I love orange now. A little orange goes a long way but it is like turning the lights on in a quilt. With the left overs I made the attic windows quilt my philosophy at the time was why buy a little fabric when you can buy a whole bunch. The red sashing is the back of the feather fabric I used up in the August color challenge quilt. Why did I buy so much of that? I was using the folded accent strip in the border back in 1995  I was free motion quilting back then on my Elna, I did a lot of stitching in the ditch I quilted around each of the fish in the borders.  I learned many techniques in the sampler class, curved piecing, Y seams, hand applique, and formulas for triangles.  Wow I mitered a lot of corners for both these quilts. --Ann--

Y seam tutorial spool block

 Mitered corners, Y seam, spool block          I just love spool blocks

 I cut 2 inch wide strips for this spool and a 2 inch center square. Using leftovers from previous project.  Use the Companion Angle (CA) designed by Darlene Zimmerman to cut the spool ends and background  pieces.

Cutting both strips at once here







For a 2 inch center square line up the strip with the top dotted line on the CA and cut, flip over and cut another.

 The five pieces of the block   the short edge of the spool ends and background pieces are a tiny bit shorter than the center square but it works better that way.

 Mark a 1/4 inch seam for each corner. I made a template from template plastic with a 1/4 inch square cut out. other angles don't mean anything for this block                    Center the square on the background fabric

 and sew from dot to  dot
1/4 inch mark to 1/4 inch mark  sewing second piece to the center square

 sew background, sew spool fabric, sew background then spool fabric  1,2,3,4      
sewing the last piece to the center square

 It looks like a spool sorta but it will background fabrics across from each other and spool ends across from each other so far so good even though they are getting in each other space right now.  ha ha

 Fold square in half diagonally from the corner of the square, match edges carefully. Very important to match edges and fold in half and finger crease.

 Sew from stitching line 1/4 inch seam

 first seam so good so far whew............ wipe brow and on to the next.

 Fold center square exactly in half again match up diagonal edges and sew from the seam to the edge.  We are on a roll here repeat with the last 2 corners you will be an expert by the 4th corner.

Drum roll please                        there should be an X in the center of the spool

 back side pretty messy but its the back side

 Press 
 I like to press the background over the spool fabric so the spool stands out a little and the square flat.

front side
trim all the dog ears and sew a bunch more.

Happy sewing spools,
Ann

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2012

 Pink and green, pink and yellow two of my favorite color combinations.   A couple moves ago I was part of a small group of quilters; we met every week for conversation, coffee and stitching. We worked on our own projects but we also did some round robin quilts and sometimes chose a pattern and we each made our own inturpertaion of that quilt. This quilt is from Kim Diehl's book Simple Blessings we each made our own quilt with our choice of fabrics. Kim's directions use half square triangles for the spools. I used the Y seam because it isn't that difficult come back again for a tutorial next week.  There are 100 spools I used more than 50 fabrics, there are pairs of some spools but not all.  When I am old and feeble and curled up in this quilt I will play brain games and try to match all the spools.  I puzzled for a long time over how to machine quilt this and a couple years ago I took a machine quilting class and asked the instructor, a professional quilter, she said I really should hand quilt it in each of the spools. So I am hand quilting. Last winter I hand quilted every Tuesday night during NCIS and White Collar but some nights there was just too much action to get much quilting done,  it is amazing how much I can do during a commercial break. I only have 18 spools left to do but then I wonder if I should quilt the background fabric and I have all those geese to stitch inside. I will probably do a chain design or a rope in the borders.
Linking up to  http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/05/18/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2012/
Happy Quilting,  Ann