Wart Fix, New Projects

 I fixed the Wart in the Easy Breezy quilt top...

Much better swapped out for this block with the light prints around the center 4-patch!. Another squirrel popped up while I was taking care of this fix, however...

I have so many four patches in baggies,  and remembered an idea I'd had for another of Bonnie Hunter's quilts, from her More Adventures with Leaders and Enders book.  I liked her Four Patch X quilt (photo below copied from her blog post on the book release) and sketched out a portion of the design for a small quilt.

However, I want to emphasize the Churn Dashes a bit more in my version, so will be using red for the corner triangles in the X blocks.  I liked the yellow setting triangles, so cheerful. However, I only had a partial fat quarter of solid yellow.  So I drew out the square from the pattern directions and used washi tape on Bonnie's Essential Triangle Ruler, so I could cut the right sized strips for the QST. 

I did get all the setting triangles I planned, however will need more of the yellow for the pieced border.  That may happen during the Sewtopia Shop Hop :) I will take along two choices to audition for the striped sashing, in case I get that far along in the construction. I had fun cutting up red scraps for the sets of 4 corner triangles.  More red scraps will be needed in the pieced borders, but that is a future job!

Here's a cartoon that made me smile: 

Easy Breezy, Windham Challenge

 A combo post of the last few days...

I completed sewing the two quilt halves of my version of the  Easy-Breezy leader-ender and laid it out on our CalKing bed. Easy-Breezy by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville was the leader-ender that ran September 2020-2021.  I wanted a less busy setting so used 3.5x6.5" light bricks in place of Bonnie's neutral sashings and cornerstones. 

I've wanted another quilt for our bed that was lighter in color and less traditional.  This is certainly nice and light! However, there is a wart staring at me...

This block with dark rectangles stands out way too much.  I have leftover blocks so will audition them to replace this one.  It will be annoying but the placement is just too distracting!  There will have to be borders all around in order to fit this big bed.  The quilt you see under it did shrink more than anticipated once quilted and washed, which was disappointing, so I will make this one bigger.

My next project to ponder is the Windham Challenge for Sewtopia Palm Springs in November.

Pretty collection of prints in blues.  I am considering using a block from this Kim Brackett book.  It is called Triple Star.  If my sister gives me her fabrics, I think I can make four blocks for a small quilt. I drew an alternate woven block for variety. The retreat is in the early part of November so just over a month away. So glad travel will be by car for us!

Last year I made this pillow cover: 

It was a finalist and I got to pick out a prize :)

Design Wall Monday--August 22, 2022

 Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

Not much stitching going on here--I am stalled out on the bookshelf quilt.  As an alternate project, I sewed more rows for my setting of Bonnie Hunter's Easy Breezy blocks--last year's leader-ender.  

I chose to set mine with a rectangular 3.5 x 6.5" light print.  So far, I am liking it.  My plan is 8x13 Easy Breezy blocks, so six more rows are needed--this will be a big quilt.  To fit our Cal King bed (72x84), borders will be needed. 

This stuffed toy was a Fair Prize our daughter's boyfriend won for our grandson--it's a GHOST Pepper,  So silly! It's about 20 inches tall in real life :)

Youngest grandson Dane corralled and rearranged all the objects on the coffee table for us when he was here recently.  He turned 2 and there will be a party next weekend.  

Another great sunset from a few days ago.  Love these late summer days. 

Design Wall Monday--Easy Breezy Blocks Play and a doll quilt

 Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Bonnie Hunter's Easy Breezy Blocks, a leader-ender from 2020-2021, have started being sewn together.  She did not give any particular setting for the leader-ender, but set hers with scrappy sashing and cornerstones. I'm using only a rectangle between my blocks for a lighter look.  I tried to figure out a way to make the blocks nest row to row but that did not work out on my first try and I had to re-press all the seams, ugh.  

Two rows of 8 EB blocks are completely assembled--13 rows are planned. Love all the scrappy colors and chains. 

A lovely 1/2 hour was spent at the local fabric store over the weekend.  I needed batting to move along more quilt tops, including one that's been hogging one end of my cutting table for a couple of months!  There were 20 and 30% off tags on many bolts and I picked up this dark red/maroon that would be a great binding fabric.  A couple of remnants also jumped into the basket.  How could I resist the under $2 prices?

I'm going to have to break down a lot of my sewing room this week when the new windows we ordered a couple of months ago finally are going in!  Not sure if they will start upstairs or down.  Either way, it is very exciting to change the northwest facing picture window to a functional one in the sewing room to catch a breeze!

Easy Breezy Blocks Status Change

Last year's Leader-Ender project, Easy Breezy Blocks from Bonnie's Quiltville.com, need to get to quilt status.  I made my own setting plan and have had the fabric ready to cut for some time.  That day came!

One of the reasons I chose the setting I saw online was because of this Accuquilt die I own, 3.5x6.5" rectangle.  Bonnie's blocks were the same height size unfinished, and a plan was born.  

I'm making a large throw size and will have  8x13 EB blocks with the sashing between.  Some single rows of EB pieces will finish off some of the rows.  I did end up adding back in some of the blocks I made in reverse fashion, with prints for the rectangles instead of light fabric.  It will all go!

The setting fabric has these tiny blue circles.  It is a Windham fabric called Adele by Whistler Studios. Looking forward to seeing all these scrappy blocks creating a riot of color!  

Design Wall Monday--Winding Ways and Winding Up

 Design Wall Monday--see more great quilts on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I've again reached maximum density in the sewing room and need to thin out the overload.  Soo many baggies with leftovers from quilt tops and HSTs/leftovers I hate to waste!  

Purple block left over from My Lupine Heaven quilt top  got some borders and quilting  to become a tablemat (Bonnie Hunter's My Blue Heaven pattern).  My sister/sales rep marketed this to Dad for $25, lol.  I'll need to deliver it soon and collect the fee. 

This should be the last batch of Easy Breezy blocks for the layout I chose for another Bonnie Hunter design--this was her 2020 leader-ender project. 

This container holding leftover Accuquilt die cut Winding Ways block pieces has been sitting here for years. In 2015 I finished a commissioned quilt for a family friend's relatives as an anniversary quilt. I got out the die cutter and, amazingly, found a leftover strip of the turquoise print in the fat quarter dresser big enough to cut more shapes.

They are fiddly blocks but the notches and precise die cuts really help.  The hardest seams are the last ones joining the two sections. 

Well hi, Skinny Mini!

--here's a cat-free version :)  That copper color was--and is-- difficult to find.  

I made a clip cushion by request for my sister for her birthday, from some other solid scraps, but couldn't help throwing just a little pattern in the mix.  I cut the cushion pieces 6 x 7.5" and the clip holders 2" wide, as per the pattern instructions I found on thesewingdirectory.co.uk.  I again used scraps of fusible batting to give them body, and for cushion stuffing thriftily sliced up and pulled apart more leftover wool batting cutoffs that have been hanging around for ages.

Kathy put it right to use :)  It holds a lot of clips and hopefully is large enough to keep from getting buried on her cutting table too often!

Easy Breezy Detour

It is time to finish up last year's leader-ender, Bonnie Hunter's Easy Breezy block on Quiltville.com.  For my alternate layout, I am planning a 3x6" rectangle spacer block in a light blue.  This makes the rows wider, but does nothing to increase the quilt's length.  I had originally thought to do an 8x10 block layout --counting only the EB blocks, that is--but increased it to an 8x13 layout to balance the width to length ratio.  There will be borders added to the quilt top when the center is complete. 

There are a couple of rogue blocks in the pic, where I used dark prints for the rectangles instead of lights.  Time to cut more pieces!

Plenty of choices in the blue-green-purple scrap drawer. The red-orange-yellow drawer also provided many options.

I'm hoping to get all these blocks sewn up as leader-enders during Sewtopia.  There will be a lot of use of the GO die cutter this week for the main project I want to make.  

There is more to do for the Windham Fabric Challenge but I have finalized my design choices and will get lots done on that tomorrow.  I'll be adding faces to the cat blocks for Slow Sunday Stitching. 

I've severely depleted this drawer of precut 1.5 and 2" scraps since this pic a year ago!  The scrap kitty always needs to be fed, right?

Design Wall Monday--Double Plus and Lupine Heaven

This Design Wall Monday I have three finished tops to show.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

The two-sided quilt with a deadline is moving along. Double the Plus is an Emily Dennis pattern. 

I had to move my sewing desk, lamp and chair out of the way to get this large throw size laid out.  I used spray baste on this part of the sandwiching, after doing a lot of cleanup of loose threads on the back--the white fabric frayed more easily than the grey. 

I'm hoping not too lose too much of the border when I have to even up the outer edge.  I tried hard to make all the sides match of this two sided monster!  That was a lot of pinning. Daughter Erica wanted  simple diagonal quilting  I decided to quilt through the crosses diagonally both ways. That should be plenty of stitching to hold it together.  

Ready to wrestle this monster through my domestic sewing machine!  I'll have sore arms by the end of this job for sure.  The binding has already been made and will be attached by machine.  I have until Thursday night to get this done before Erica and her boyfriend, who is the best man at the wedding, head up to Carmel. Wish me luck!

The other finished quilt top is my version of Bonnie Hunter's My Blue Heaven pattern (free pattern on Quiltville.com).  I took a class from her in 2017 with the Camarillo Quilt Guild and finally have a finished top.  When last seen, I was debating about the outer border hourglass blocks, to which I had added a lot of teal/aqua pieces and wasn't sure I liked them.  However, I had decided to finish the borders in progress and once I did, there was no turning back.  

Pardon my toes :)  Some of my favorite blocks are in this pic.  

The teal is less distracting, I think, now that it completely surrounds the center.  I'm happy with the finished top and glad it didn't get abandoned after all that cutting and sewing.  My Lupine Heaven is my version's name.  Hopefully it will rain sometime in California again and these greens and purples will return in Spring.  

Design Wall Monday--My Lupine Heaven

 Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts. 

Well I don't have a design wall, so my design floor will have to do.  It's been occupied by the same quilt top for the past couple of weeks.  

This is my green and purple version of Bonnie Hunter's "My Blue Heaven", a free quilt pattern on her Quiltville website.  I cut the borders and got them sewn on easily. 

I liked this fabric the best of the several choices pulled from stash--I wanted to stay more white than ecru.  No recollection at all where I picked this up, but I had about 3/4 yd and have leftovers.  Then I sewed together a row of the green hourglass blocks already completed for the outside border. 

I am not really liking the teal/aqua blues in these blocks--they seem very distracting as there is no teal in the star blocks.  So here it sits until I overthink/decide whether to continue the borders or make more hourglass blocks without the teal.  Opinions welcome!

There is another quilt sandwich waiting for quilting so perhaps I will work on that and get it off my cutting table this week!

Design Wall Monday--Purple and Green

 I'm a little late to the DWM party, but have something to share.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

There was no sewing at all during the week, but I got busy on Sunday sewing the rest of the rows on my version of Bonnie Hunter's My Blue Heaven (free pattern on her Quiltville website).  All the block rows got sewn with only a couple of mistakes needing to be ripped. 

I'm liking it!  It was a very purple and green day--at one point I looked down at my outfit and my leader-ender blocks...

That's a purple and green Easy Breezy leader-ender by my hand, a purple and green quilt block row I'm holding, and my purple shirt and green khaki pants, lol!  I'm happy with the two color version and all the scrappy goodness. There will be some auditioning of a neutral for the plain border, then the scrappy green hourglass blocks will be added.  

I have a blood donation appointment this week, and while I'm out I will pick up some batting for the quilt tops taking up a lot of space in the sewing room.  The year is nearly half over and there are lots of finishes to aspire to!  This time last year I had just finished up a bunch of baby quilts for guild donation. 

There is still a need for more, as well as placemats, and I sure have plenty of leftovers and scraps to sew up. 

Design Wall Monday--June 7

 Design Wall Monday is here.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

My sewing room having no closet, the Hoosier cabinet stands in for storage.  While looking for something to piece, I pulled out numerous boxes with aging projects.  A blast of stitching ensued to move them along to the next stage. 

I sewed together these leftovers set aside from a quilt I made almost 10 years ago for our daughter and now son-in-law. It is now a good sized runner and will be backed with the rust print. I expanded a quilt featured in the Winter 2010 Quilts and More magazine called Natural Beauty, for the wedding quilt, so had lots of leftovers.  Time for them to move on.

Binding was made from the multicolor leftover batik fabric too. There was another baggie with this small runner I made from bonus triangles from two different quilts--I had recently even cut a black and white piece of yardage to add, and the binding pieces.  These got sewn up quickly into a top. 

Then I pulled out the box of finished blocks for my version of Bonnie Hunter's My Blue Heaven quilt.  I had taken a class from her through another local quilt guild three years ago.  The pattern is free on her Quiltville website.   All the blocks having been completed, it was time to layout my two color version I'm calling My Lupine Heaven...not that it rained enough this past Winter or Spring in SoCal for us to actually see any local lupine!  The block with the blue paper in the middle was the sample block I completed in the class.  

Mini helped, as usual.  Oh my, these are very busy blocks--but I do love the two color families together. There will be a neutral border and then a final border of green hourglass blocks.  I've sewn a couple of rows together so far and the rest are stacked and numbered. 

My version is fewer blocks than Bonnie's.  It will be a large lap quilt size at about 54x70.  I'll need a lot of batting to get all these quilts finished!

Block Redux Squirrel

Squirrel!  A quilt in the June 2021 APQ magazine caught my eye--it's actually the cover quilt. It features flying geese in two versions.  I decided a cropped portion of the design would make a great baby quilt. However, I did not want to cut the large number of 2.5" squares required for stitch and flip corners and corner squares on the small flying geese--8 per block.  There would be a lot of extra sewing to try to save the small waste triangles as HSTs. So pencil and graph paper planning ensued. 

As you can see, there were a lot of seams in the pieced smaller flying geese (does this block have another name--maybe pyramid geese?). My thought was to use HSTs for the smaller triangles and assemble it in two rows, as laid out below.   I cut those from print 2.5" strips I had on hand, and cut larger corner triangles from white. 

You can see a bit of the pattern in the corner of the pic.  I sewed the small geese rows together first.  Who has already spotted what happened next?  Give yourself a pat on the back if you correctly noticed the inner geese pieces were too small. 

Yeah, way too small!  I used Bonnie Hunter's Essential Triangle ruler to cut the geese pieces from my precut 2.5" strips, not wanting to cut a size square I do not have in my scrap system to cut in half--or waste 5" squares--for the inner geese.

I assembled the pyramid geese and added the corner white triangles. The larger geese were also cut with Bonnie's Essential Triangle tool.  This exercise took a couple of hours, but I'm glad to eliminate assembly seams while using up lots of scraps.  I'll continue using prints for the pyramid geese and solids for the large geese, a bunch of which I cut yesterday.  My cropped portion of the quilt design will have 16 blocks and I'll add a narrow border or two to make it about 36" square.  Another new project to add to the list, but I am so happy when I can use up a lot of these scraps I save, and use as leader-enders. This is about the fourth leader-ender I have going now :)  

Design Wall Monday--New Setting Idea

It's Design Wall Monday.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog.  

I got out of the house the other day for some sanity shopping, which included a stop at a local fabric shop.  The sale room had some good neutrals--always need to stock up on those, don't we all?  The Easy Breezy blocks make a nice pile, but need to get in a quilt. The pattern is Bonnie Hunter/Quiltville's current leader-ender.  She already made a quilt from hers, much more complex than I am aiming for.

There are over 50 blocks here, which finish at 6".  I wanted to use an alternate neutral for a setting block, but didn't want to cut them the same size square--that's just too much neutral for me.  While poking around on Pinterest, I found an idea that fit the bill.  At first I was thinking about this for the 16-patches I've been making, but I only have a small pile of blocks--they also finish at 6".

Nice neutral for the alternate piece--just a hint of a blue print.  The setting idea was on the Patchwork n Play blog--who found it somewhere else on Pinterest, lol. She started with 2.5" squares so MATH was required to determine the rectangular setting piece size for my blocks made from  2" squares.

As you can see, I sketched for the 16 patches but will try it first for the Easy Breezy blocks.  I like the skinnier setting rectangle and the way one row overlaps of the pieced blocks.  This will make a nice top to donate.