Design Wall Monday--Mini Mod Swap

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

Some hours Saturday and Sunday were spent on the Mini Mod Swap blocks, Warm and Bright/White group.  These are 2" unfinished and templates were included with the signup and $5 donation. Before the templates came out, I had already sewn up a bunch of different blocks on my own. I was able to use some of them for my guild swap partners. 

The three columns on the right were the first blocks I'd sewn.  I made a ton of the yellow blocks before I got the guide and templates, so have lots left over to mix in the final setting of whatever they will become.  The hot pink HSTs were already started, as well as the coral checkerboards.  Which is a good thing, because I mistakenly believed mailing day was March 8, when it was actually March 5... Saturday I spent many hours paper piecing the tiny ochre diamonds and orange arrows.   I made a full set of six drunkard's path blocks in a warm purple--but that color was not in the Warm and Bright group, so I started over with the deep pink. Those DP blocks were hard, even though made slightly oversized and trimmed down! 

The top row are blocks I made before getting the rules.  I do like the purple DP blocks and will mix them in anyway, most likely.

Sunday I drove around dropping off the finished blocks, it was good to get out of the house on a nice day.  I found I had actually miscounted blocks needed and made an extra set that I kept.  One of  my guild swap partners did the same thing-- Tisha joined so many color groups that she ended up making 108 blocks total!  Her blocks in the Warm and Bright group are on the right.  Chris's blocks are on the left.  Chris contributed two sets of blocks for the color group, and even included 3 extra in her sets, an unexpected delight.

One more partner's blocks are on their way to me.  I don't know what I will make with the blocks, but have seen bags and mini quilts, pincushions and buckets on Instagram #minimodswap.  It has been a popular swap and over $10,000 has been collected by Berene at Happy Sew Lucky to donate to social causes.  That's a good thing!

Weekend Doings

I spent more time on the Mt. Hood Abstractions Quilt by Violet Craft.  Once I got more of a rhythm with figuring out the coverage for the sections, folding the paper back and lining up everything just so, things moved along. 

I completed three small sections and sewed them together.  The new moon section will not get to join its companion until later.  Violet's pattern is very clear in what order in which to join sections.  I'm eager to complete the mountaintop so may jump ahead to that section before finishing the sky pieces.  So far, so good, but lots more opportunities to mess up!  If I keep at it, perhaps I won't dread it so much :)

Barb's Oh My Stars Swap for 2020 is due on January 11th.  I had not yet finalized my selection for the stars, wanting to find the muslin first, and then do all the figuring as to exactly how much yardage will be required to cut out all the pieces needed.  I scored a two yard remnant of muslin today for $4.98 at Kmart, of all places, that has a nice tight weave and hand without too many specks.  I'm in the Repro group, so pulled out all my larger pieces from stash and, with help from my hubby, chose the fabrics for two-color stars. 

The Judie Rothermel red print I have hoarded for a long time.  The mustard print is a more recent buy, I think I found it on the Central Coast Shop Hop this year; it will be the center square since it is directional.  I'm going to use my GO Cutter for the muslin 2.5" corner squares, and plan to make the flying geese star points the No Waste 4-at-a-time way, as Barb demonstrated in her tutorial for swappers.  The count is 40 stars and that doesn't seem too bad for a month's sewing time.  I aim to have all the pieces cut during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. 

Meanwhile, as the next door neighbor was putting up his Christmas lights, I decorated my house for Thanksgiving. Fall is my favorite season to decorate for, though I'll only get to enjoy it for a short time.  We will host a small group of 10-12 this year, which luckily will include two of our kids!  Three of my siblings and their families will not be here, and our married-with-children daughter is going to her in-laws but will stop by afterward, hopefully.  

My folks are bringing a ham, there will be Turkey and stuffing and all our usual favorite accompaniments.  I am going to make a couple of pumpkin pies this year, and my special cream cheese pie everyone loves.  Clearing out the sewing room will be the hardest chore to make room for guests, lol!  I may just shove it all into the garage instead of traipsing up and down the stairs endlessly--heck, I could fill up my car in the garage--though that seems pretty hoarder-like:)

Design Wall Monday: Seattle Sewtopia--What I Worked On

On my design wall is what I worked on at Sewtopia. See more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

It was hard to make my choices for Sewtopia this year--the two previous events I worked solely on one project at a time.   I finally settled on three different options for Seattle: blocks to assemble, a child's dress, and a paper piecing project. 

Having recently finished all the individual blocks for Beach Cottage (Kim Brackett design), I brought them along to assemble into sets of four and play rearrange.  Having a design wall is a luxury for me--no space in my converted family room!  I stacked up the rows to assemble at home, and got to cutting out the dress for my daughter's best friend's little girl, who turns two this week.  It had been a long time since I sewed for a little girl.

New Look pattern, size 2.  I chose View A with the darling ruffle on the straps and hem. Of course, it was the view with the most pieces and pages of instruction :)  Cutting out went fairly smooth, but the bodice was pretty fussy, the ruffle being extended beyond the yoke and requiring a lot of stay stitching, clipping and pivoting, and lots and lots of pinning! I resorted to hand basting at one point. Laying the bodice aside,  I assembled the skirt including the pockets and bottom ruffle before stopping for the night.   

It wasn't hard, only time consuming, to gather the skirt and stitch to the bodice.  Having sewn many clothes for my girls growing up, I used my favorite method of stitching the gathering rows at 4/8" and 6/8", leaving the 5/8" seam allowance to be easily sewn between the gathering lines.  This makes pulling out the basting easy too.

I stopped at this point, with the zipper and lining finish left to complete at home.

My final project was the Mt. Hood  pattern by Violet Craft, who was actually sitting at the table next to us working on a new pattern!  She came to our guild last year and I got a small portion of the wallhanging done.  I didn't bother her, but had my seatmate help me when I got stuck--every five minutes!  I find paper piecing very difficult with its inside out and backwards fabric placement.  I had to rip out several sections more than once, especially after I sewed two sections together on the trimming line NOT the stitching line, making the moon wonky. 

My sister had bought me a set of Add A Quarter rulers.  The rulers are so helpful with trimming.  Hopefully I will not wait another six months before touching this again. I sure hope I have enough of the sky fabrics since I wasted some with my mistakes, yikes.  

Many others were working on making bags, Christmas quilts, lots and lots of blocks were being stitched, and there were plenty of design walls, cutting tables, and ironing stations in use.  So many repeat attendees were  present, a whole contingent from Canada, and from all over the US.  Next November's location was announced as Orlando, Florida.  The events sell out almost instantly, I think the Las Vegas one next spring took 4 minutes! 

Design Wall Monday--Abstractions Violet Craft

On my Design Wall is an FPP--a foundation paper-pieced project.  Our Ventura Modern Quilt Guild was graced with the talent and artistry of Violet Craft for a workshop over the weekend.  She graciously allowed any of her Abstraction patterns to be used in the class.  I chose Elevated Abstractions Mt. Hood and took my color inspiration from Mr. Domestic's version of Violet's quilt. 

My goal was to use only stash fabrics and I selected solids and prints.  I think I got in about 200 steps going back and forth from my fat quarter stash chest to the cutting table choosing and cutting fabrics, 200 more from the sink to the dryer to the ironing board prepping the fabrics, 200 more to load everything into the car, and 200 more for two trips from the car up to the meeting place, lol.

The design I chose has 46 templates, each template has a different number of pieces.  Violet demoed her method to our group, then walked around helping individually as needed.  We required a second group demo to fully grasp her method, some were newbies and others experienced but with a different method.  My sister was doing the Wolf Abstraction and piling up parts very quickly with her large templates, whereas I was much slower to get mine going.  Nevertheless, by day's end I had completed the first four template sections and sewed them together.  

At home, I sewed the top two mountain templates and when I laid them out for final assembly, I discovered a mistake.  The tan fabric on the bottom left template was the wrong color!  Thankfully it was an outside piece and easy to remove.  Violet advises not tearing out the paper templates until the quilt is completed, and that tip saved me tons of time, as I had the pattern and stitching lines to go by. 

A couple of hours later, all the sections had come together.

Yay!  All my seams matched up the way I wanted them to and I'm liking my colors and prints.  Only 39 more to go....:)

See more Design Walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts. 

Kite Flying

Though I wanted to play with the kite mug mat idea for my friend Toni's daughter Rachel since last weekend, I didn't get back to it until this morning. During the week I did some studying up on technique since paper-piecing is not my strong suit--you have to think upside-down and backward and sew from the blind side. Yikes!  Since Rachel picked the fabric for her sorority colors of yellow and black, I didn't want to take the chance of ruining what she sent, so I made a sample with scraps.

As the pattern instructions I'm using from the Uncommon Threads Guild  website detailed, I first drew a 6" square and then added the lines for the kite sections.  The first stitching line was a bit nerve wracking!  However, it went just fine so I proceeded on.

Doesn't look like much yet!  Although I did manage to sew on piece 4 before piece 3, it didn't matter since they were exactly the same and I'd cut identical background strips to cover the sections. 

Paper piecing uses up more fabric than you imagine, so it was a good thing I pulled larger scraps from my stash drawers.  The sample kite turned out just fine, and the paper came off pretty easily.  Next, I turned to the "tail" section, which I altered from the Uncommon Threads pattern from squares to bow shapes.

I cut the background pieces as instructed, two 3.5" squares and eight 2" squares, then pulled three matching pairs of 2" squares from my precut bins.  I folded these into triangles since I wanted a 3-D effect, and stitched them up. There was some bulkiness due to the three layers created by this method, but some pressing with the iron seemed to tame it pretty well.

 I think I'm ready to move on to the real fabric.  What do you think?