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. 

Go Four It Quilt Top Finish

Go Four It progress! Some quality time in the sewing room has resulted in a finished top.  First there was a lot of MATH to see if the yardage I wanted to use for the border was big enough. 

Kansas Troubles fabric--I do love Moda fabrics. There was a lot of measuring and figuring and refiguring but the fabric was big enough to cut the border size I wanted, 5" wide.  I cut the strips  lengthwise so there was a lot of time with the cutting mat on the floor, as the cutting table was covered with the Bookshelf quilt pieces--I'll show progress on that project tomorrow.

Although I didn't plan this, the border fabrics from stash are very traditional in color.  I think that complements the center--they are "everything" blocks: pastels, batiks, prints, solids, traditional and modern. All the four patch blocks were assembled over several years as leader-enders, from 1.5" squares with 2.5" squares cut diagonally to put them on point.

I did have to seam together the borders strips for length, but I am not too fussed about that.  So glad this is a finished quilt top.  Stash fabrics will be assembled for the backing, and I will send this out for quilting. 

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!  

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--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.

Greenpiece Progress

Today was an All Sew Day, with the pleasure of assembling the last blocks for this well-aged Greenpiece BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop.  Looking back to 2011, December seems to be the theme with this UFO!

I laid out the blocks according to the finished image and placed my marked squares, taking them by rows to the sewing machine.  

All the pieced blocks have opposite layouts and are cleverly placed in opposing sets in the sections.  The same block in four colorways anchors the corners of the medallion center opening.  Such delicious colors.  Since this pic I added the corner squares to the last three wool applique blocks in the bottom row, and assembled the remaining sections.  A lot of leader-ender blocks got finished during this job. 

Feline QC was present for this stage.  Lots of scrappy variety in these Easy-Breezy blocks (Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville free pattern). 

The final section to finish the center is a tree trunk with grass appliqued on to a background, and more wool applique for the leaves. 

Fortunately I had left the fabric in its labeled month package kit.  I'll need to check if I have a large enough piece of fusible web to use for the tree and grass appliques.  The background fabric is the same cream as in all the wool applique blocks, but is reading very blue in this pic. The fabric on the left is two borders for the center section.

Blessings fabric for the grass...all fabrics are Moda. Perhaps by the end of January I'll have a finished top-there are two outer borders to add as well.  I'm starting to think about the quilting--I'll be sending this out for custom work.  I'll check with my fellow guild members for slots in their calendar. Backing will also need to be purchased.  

Tomorrow we will finish out 2020, saying good riddance for most of it!  Our newest grandson is, of course, one of the bright spots of the year!  I am going to reset my UFO list and consider another self-challenge in the new year.  Lots of quilt tops need finishing and there always new quilts being added to the list :)

Piecing for Peace

Piecing is my favorite part of quilting, like most quilters, I think!  Lori of Humble Quilts is having a quiltalong that is short and sweet, called 50 Shades of Brown.  My Civil War scrap box had a thorough rummage for browns and lights, with a few colored pieces of blue and pink for this recreation of an antique. 

It was a fun little diversion and I await the final border instructions next week.  

Months ago I cut out pieces for a Plaidish Quilt (free tutorial on Kitchen Table Quilting here) and turned to that project box for some scrappy happy play.  My version is a 6x8 setting.  I started with just a few of the light blocks.

 Sew much fun!  I needed 12 of these for my setting and sewed them up between telemedicine visits. 

It was so fun to see the blocks come together.  I moved on to the dark blocks right away. 

I need 12 for my setting so have another set to sew tomorrow.  The last set is 24 medium blocks and I can look forward to plenty of piecing time with those. 

Leader-ender Easy Breezy blocks are slowly building as well (Bonnie Hunter/Quiltville). 

About 30 are finished and I have multiple sets of precut scraps ready to go under the needle.  The scraps never seem to stop being generated--I'll keep piecing them for my sanity :)

Cutting the Day Away

The overflowing scrap bin and piles of fabric set aside after cutting was reducing my useful space on the cutting table to smaller and smaller acreage, necessitating a long session of reduction efforts on Friday.  Fat quarter sized chunks were returned to their dresser and precuts to the scrapbooking tower drawers.  For several months I have just been chucking the 2.5" squares and strips willy-nilly in their drawer and it got to the point where the lid would not close without effort.  

Sorted once again into color families--but so many 2.5" colored squares and strips meant moving the white/cream/beige to another drawer. 

The 1.5 and 2" drawer is fairly full too, though I have also been cutting a lot from the 2" lengths for Easy Breezy leader-ender blocks.

The big stack toward the back of the box above is of Easy Breezy sets ready to sew.  It was fun to choose from the scrap drawers for the color combos.  As usual, neutrals are the hardest to keep stocked. I'm anticipating needing a lot of leader-enders while piecing two quilt tops ready to layout and assemble.

2.5" squares and strips on the left, and neutral strips still to cut down on the right.  All these precuts--plus another drawer with 3.5" squares and strips, and a drawer for solid precut squares/strips, live in the scrapbooking tower under my cutting table.  I basically follow Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's Scrap User's System, on a smaller scale than the full-time quilter that she is!  She just showed a storage rack holding clear shoe boxes full of her fat quarters sorted by color.  I haven't nearly that many fat quarters but envied the space and ease of her storage shelves!  Someday I may have an actual sewing room with four walls, a door and a closet, and then perhaps my storage methods can change :) 

Design Wall Monday--Labor Day 2020

Happy Labor Day to all!    Design Wall Monday is here again.  See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog.  

I selected 6 alternate blocks for my Log Cabin Loonies quilt from these modern churn dashes with low volume backgrounds, swapped several years ago through Barb's blog.  I made the dark purple one on the lower left.

Happy to have a cooler day today here in SoCal--it was 100 degrees in our area yesterday, and 88 degrees downstairs in our non-airconditioned house when I was cutting and sewing these sashings.  Unfortunately, due to MATH, the sashing had to be recut as I didn't account for two seam allowances and were too narrow.  My revised plan for the Log Cabin Loonies blocks shown last post is to add an additional row of Log Cabin blocks all the way around and call it done. That will make an 8x11 layout finish at 60x82", a nice sized throw.  I likely will not add any borders but can decide that later.  

That's better!  The top will get put together in the next month I hope.  I also spent a lot of time cutting and mixing/matching pieces for Easy Breezy leader-ender blocks.  These are so fun to sew, and triangle free (Bonnie Hunter, Quiltville).

Our son and daughter-in-law brought their 2 week old son to meet his cousins and aunties over the weekend.  

I think they were impressed with how little newborns are! Auntie Erica got first dibs.

The boys' mama, our other daughter Elaine, also got an Auntie cuddle in with Dane.  We'll make another trip up to visit the new family again soon.  Meanwhile, photos and videos give us updates on his growing and changing!

Design Wall Monday-Piecing and Upholstery

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

First, the most recent piecing, a couple of Easy Breezy leader-ender blocks (free pattern on Quiltville.com). These are so fun to stitch, and triangle free.   They were a welcome break from the ongoing upholstery task.  

I've got a lot of scraps precut for 6" finished blocks, and a few sets matched up for further piecing hours. The next piecing project will be assembling my version of Bonnie's My Blue Heaven quilt, started in her class in 2017. I got the last of the outer border hourglass blocks cut and made.  

I have mostly used green and yellow-green in the quilt so decided to add a little teal and mint for variety in the outer border. Lots of layout and switcheroo for this quilt, another free pattern on Quiltville.

Most of my stitching time the past week--and a lot of my stalling time--was devoted to the glider cushion covers for our daughter-in-law.  Now that grandson Dane has arrived, she'll be spending a lot of hours sitting there--and so will son Nick, I imagine :).  I finally took the last stitch in the seat cushion late Sunday afternoon--it's in the middle of the three below.

They are not the most professionally finished cushion covers, but I used enough stitches to hopefully make them last a long while. The seat back has the ties, the seat bottom is in the middle, and the ottoman cushion closest to the camera. I ended up having to add another lined strip to the seat bottom cover, as my pieces were too short to allow turning under for the Velcro closure.

The gusset on the tall cushion turned out a lot better than the added strip on the seat cushion, but that end of the seat will be against the chair back always so I won't worry too much about it!  We got a free COVID test at a drive up County site over the weekend and will get flu shots this week so we can someday hold our grandson! We got some cute videos of him opening his eyes and he may even have a little dimple like his Mimi.

It was very hot and humid Sunday in our non-airconditioned house.  I stepped outside in the early evening when it began to cool off.  The sky was amazing. I don't know what kind of clouds these are.

The sliver moon was still visible between the clouds.  Can you find it in the top third of the pic?

To the South, smoke appeared to be drifting low, out to the ocean. This was maybe from the Hughes Lake Fire about 50 miles northeast of us. 

I went outside about 10 minutes later and got this pic looking southeast.  If you look closely, there is a tiny black speck of a plane above the house on the right.