Quilt Reveal: Five Minute Quilt

 I thought it would be fun to try out the AI trend, so even though I have lots of ideas for quilt videos, I asked AI to give me a title, a description and a script for a viral YouTube video and waited to see the results.

I have to admit that it took me five minutes to stop laughing, because the title said "How to Make a Quilt in Five Minutes".  Since making a quilt is so much fun, why would anyone want to make one that quickly. Wouldn't you want to make the fun last as long as possible?

Also, I don't think it is possible to make a quilt in five minutes. My spreadsheet says my average speed to make a quilt is one year, but that includes the time it waits while I think. Start to finish, I estimate my minimum speed to be eight hours for a simple quilt.

It makes sense though that someone might just want a quick explanation about what quilting is about, to decide whether they would be willing to do those things, or maybe to understand why someone else is so interested in quilting.

I started reading the script and it is definitely about making a quilt in five minutes. I think I might be able to make a quilt in five minutes. Maybe a 3" x 5" whole quilt, sewn around the edges to batting and binding and turned right side out. A line for quilting. I'm not sure, but it would only be five minutes of my time, so I accepted the challenge. After all, if I meet the challenge, I am a winner, but if I don't, I can say "I told you it wasn't possible".

Then I read more of the script, and it talks about cutting five inch squares, and making rows and sewing rows to each other. It didn't say how many squares, so maybe a four patch would work. It definitely ups the challenge, and makes it less manageable, but I was committed at this point and decided I would try to make it anyway. Just five minutes of my time, after all.

I made a video about this five minute challenge. I'll let you decide for yourself if I managed to meet the challenge. You get to decide if I wound up with a quilt, and whether I cheated.

I also made a video about explaining how to make a quilt in five minutes. I already had most of the video done, so I figured it would be pretty easy. I am still under the delusion that a five minute video will only take an hour to edit. It still takes me hours to edit even a five minute video.

I had a lot of fun with this challenge.

Quilt Reveal: Pajamas Doll Quilt

 

It's time for another Project Quilting reveal! The challenge of this week is Wearables.

Your project must be wearable, or have been made from previously worn items, or have another connection to clothes, shoes and fashion accessories.

I gave myself two choices: 

1. Make a blouse that I have been planning to make for a very long time. I already have the pattern and the fabric chosen.
2. Make a quilt out of all the pajamas I have been saving to make a quilt.

Since I hadn't made a blouse since high school, I didn't think I could handle the pressure of making it in a week, even though the pattern says it is easy to make. I am keeping it downstairs and hope to make it this year.

Making the pajamas quilt will help me reduce clutter in the sewing room since these flannel pajamas take up a more room than flat fabric would. 

I had seen a quilt in a show I watched recently that was a scrap quilt made entirely out of squares but it was set on point, which added a nice interest to the squares. I decided to do that.

So I cut up the pieces and laid out the blocks on the design wall. I am trying to use up all the fabric as I can and make a nice big lap quilt. Even though these girly fabrics would make a good gift for a girl, I don't feel comfortable giving a gift with my used clothes so I will have to use it or maybe I can give it to my dog Zoey.

I recorded videos as I was making this quilt to give instructions on how to make a quilt on point. I need to learn to be better about taking photographs as well as videos.

Cutting pieces out of clothing, even simple squares, takes longer than cutting them from a flat fold of fabric. Some of it is stretchy, and some of it is faded and I had to decide which part of the fabric to use. I soon realized that there was no way I was going to be able to make a big lap quilt, quilted and bound, by the Project Quilting challenge deadline, so I decided to make a small one out of the fabric I saved in case I needed to piece a block.

The smaller quilt also makes it easier to show in a video as I move pieces around for a tutorial. The squares finish at 1".

I pieced the smaller quilt, and then somebody stole an hour from me. Daylight Savings Time.

This meant I had only 15 minutes to finish it, so I quickly trimmed it and the backing, and sewed around the edges. I turned it right side out and didn't really take the time to carefully poke out the corners. I secured the edges and called it done.

The teal fabric in the photo above in the top left corner is the start of the Pinwheel quilt I will show you on March 21.

15 Minutes to Stitch 2024

I have been quilting every day this year.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7 days

15 minute days this year -- 70 out of 70 days

Success rate  = 100%

Linked with: Life in Pieces 15 Minutes to Stitch

Quilt Reveal: Boundless

Here is the formal introduction of Boundless. This quilt was started as a part of the Dust Off An Old Book blog hop. I started almost a month before my post day, but I ran out of time. I presented an unfinished quilt on my blog hop day.

I started with a jelly roll, some background fabric, and the book 100 Quilts. Although I could make a bigger quilt, I wanted to have a quilt that is a good size for my rotating display behind my couch.

I added some applique in the diamonds because it was a a fast and easy quilt to make and I wasn't finished working on it. It adds a little extra to make my quilt a little different.

 

Since I like to put interesting dates on quilts, when I realized it was April 1st, I decided to make a little push to get it done on 4/1/23.

 

Quilt Exhibit: Square Quilts

 

 

Hello! Welcome back to the Musee de la Grande Route. There are two types of quilts that can be called square quilts. One is quilts that finish to a size that is square. The other is quilts that are made out of squares. Our current exhibit is showcasing quilts that are made mostly out of square blocks (and a few rectangles). I have enough quilts to show you the square ones that I have omitted the ones that are made only with rectangles.

 

I believe this is my only finished quilt that is made only with squares.

 This quilt is made with squares and rectangles that are close to squares.

This quilt uses 10 inch blocks that are primarily pieced using squares of smaller sizes.

This one has pieced square blocks made mostly of squares and rectangles.

This quilt uses squares, most of which are pieced.

This quilt uses square blocks, some pieced, and some appliqued.

This quilt uses square blocks with more complicated piecing.

This one has more complicated piecing, but there are four square blocks.

 Another quilt made with square blocks with more complicated piecing.

This one doesn't start out with squares, but does result in square applique blocks.

 

This quilt has a border of squares around a panel.

 

I've made a lot of quilts with squares, and since I already have a lot on exhibit, I will refer you to this Trunk Show post from 2015 which has some more square quilts.

 You can see all of our Musee de la Grande Route exhibits or click on the links to see a specific exhibit:

Square Quilts (you are here)

Animal Quilts

People Quilts Exhibit

Holiday Quilts 

Elephant Quilts 

Scrap Quilts

Tree Quilts 

Red Quilts 

Quilt Reveal: Blue Shirts Quilt

 

I put the last stitches on the shirts quilt this week. It is strange to give you a quilt reveal without showing it all to you, but it is a very large quilt and  I will need help to show the whole thing to you. For good lighting, the photo has to be taken outside, and I don't want to get it dirty by laying it on the ground.

Maybe we will take the quilt for a walk so you can get a complete picture.

The quilt is made out of shirts that my brother-in-law wore until they were declared unsuitable for wear. We both like the idea of extending their life by turning them into a quilt. He isn't a lounge under a lap quilt guy, so I had to make a bed quilt. It has a 8 x 8 block layout, so it is approximately 80 x 80 inches.

Did you notice the row of one inch squares on the bottom left?

I made the quilt by cutting different size squares that would become ten inch blocks. There are a few rectangles in there too. I quilted it with an all over simple pattern meant to disguise the blocks.

I even used a shirt to make the label. I used shirts that had stains on them and I was looking for something to explain why. Mostly, I just wanted to tell the history of the shirts and show how well-loved they were.  This was the best I could find:

 

We leave a stain. 

We leave a trail. 

We leave an imprint.

 

2021:  Weeks 17 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

This week, using only 15 minutes at a day, I stitched the rest of the binding and label of the shirts quilt.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 115 out of 115 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

I was at 95% at this time last year, because I slipped this week last year. I haven't made a small quilt this month, but am trying to think of a quick one I can finish before the end of the month.

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

 

Quilt Reveal: Pinwheels

I have finished my latest quilt. It is relatively small 12" x 36" so it a mini quilt or a table runner.  It is my mini quilt of the month for the month of July.

The blocks were started in October 2010. While some quilts are delayed because of some problem, this one was delayed because I thoroughly enjoyed making the blocks. Once the components are made, they can be switched around and placed in different ways to form blocks that look very different from each other. I planned on making even more components to find more ways to form these blocks.

In May, I pulled out the blocks again. I decided to finish these blocks off into a quilt and experiment with more blocks at a later date.

The original plan was a 2 x 2 layout, but once I saw that a 1 x 4 layout let each block shine on its own, everything fell in place and it was easy to make the quilt top.

Then some things happened and this quilt top waited for me to finish it.

Sandwiching it was easy, since the backing fabric and the batting were already cut to size.  I haven't used the sewing machines in a while, and I still had post traumatic shock from the last time I used them. I broke needles, and a needle holder, and when I took the one machine to the shop, it got waylaid in the coronavirus store closing, and then I had to pick it up from another town quickly. "Come today because we might shut down tomorrow and then we don't know when you will be able to get your machine back."

The quilting is simple to let the quilt blocks shine, and since the busy border wouldn't show the quilting much anyway.  Straight lines to avoid any trauma.  I was originally planning on quilting horizontal lines on the longer borders, but I was afraid that there might be some puckering where the lines crossed, and I wanted this quilt to be as stress free as possible. Straight vertical lines did mean more turning (since I didn't quilt through the pinwheels), and more rows to quilt, but it is a small quilt so it wasn't a big deal.

I didn't have enough of the backing / border fabric for a separate double fold binding, but I did have enough for a fold over binding. I haven't done that very often, but I did write a tutorial the last time I did it.  Since it wasn't planned, I did have to rip out some parts where I had sewn past the quilt top, but it wasn't very much. Since I quilted all the way to the edge, I trimmed the quilt slightly past the quilt top to avoid cutting the backing and kept the binding wide enough to cover that gap. Since it is the same fabric as the border, it looks great!

Linked with:

Finished or Not Friday

Quilt Reveal: Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop

Hello! Welcome to Dust Off an Old Quilt Book Blog Hop!

Once upon a time, I went out to dinner with two other people. The restaurant was in a shopping center, and as we were walking back to the car, there was a thrift store in the center that pulled me in magnetically.  The others in my party had no choice but to follow me in.  The magnet drew me straight to the books section where I found this publication.  I was so thrilled with finding two publications with patterns I had not seen before. The other people in the party wondered why I would want a dusty old booklet when I could buy a new one.  I told them that there were patterns that you did not find in new books. Patterns that involved templates and methods that weren't used any more.

I was excited about this find, but I didn't make anything out of either of the publications.  But when Bea told me to dust off an old book, the time had come.

How old is it? Let's see, it is copyright 1978. I do have older books, but this one is old enough for me!

Do you remember the denim cathedral windows quilt I showed you in a previous post? The concept is similar.  You cut a shape, which this book calls a pocket, and wrap it around another fabric that the book calls a pillow.  The book tells you to cut a lining fabric as well as the pocket so that you do not have any raw edges. Both this quilt and the cathedral windows have batting squares underneath the fabric squares.

I decided to use the same fabric for the shape and the lining, so cut 18 of these shapes, figuring that nine blocks would make for a good small size quilt.

The booklet has many choices of shapes to cut, and I chose this one. It looked more intricate than the others. It wasn't a good choice for my first project. I had the same trouble I had when I made the cathedral windows quilt.

The pocket encloses the pillow. Sew the pockets together, fold down the pockets over the pillows, then sew down into place.

Then a thought occurred to me.  "A smart person would make this raw edge." I'm not sure I am a smart person, but I am a lazy person and the solution works for me.  Since the denim cathedral windows is made raw edge, I decided to modernize this pattern by using raw edge.  I am making enough pockets for the yo-yo quilt, and do not want to make any more. In 1978, there would have been shame and humiliation in showing raw edges. But it is 2020 now, and there is no such thing as shame and humiliation.

Do you see a problem yet?  Those corners are very finicky and have to be sewn down exactly right. Too loose and the batting shows in the corners, too tight and the center square is not aligned properly.  I thought about using glue to baste them down.

Although the pattern is for a full size quilt, I think nine blocks would be good and look like the picture. But I had cut 18 shapes, so I decided to make mine bigger to use more of those shapes. A 4 x 4 instead of a 3 x 3 grid.

I sewed the blocks together, and layered the batting and pillow fabric.  I used enough pins to maim a small adult.

I have sewn a lot of these shapes down, but time slipped away from me and I did not finish by the time I went to bed on March first.  I had the option of waiting to post this until I finished or to show you my progress so far. So I am showing you my progress and will edit this post later today to show you the finished quilt.

Warning! I am going to show you the finished quilt  now. When I took it outside to photograph, the birds stopped singing and it became very quiet. This is your warning that you may lose your ability to speak for the rest of the day if you look at this quilt full on.  I recommend getting on a galloping horse, scrolling by as fast as you can and only use your peripheral vision to look at the quilt.

Are you all right? It's over now.  Each block had to have four passes of quilting to sew down the ovals. I did it in diagonal rows, down one way, flip it around and go back the other side of the oval. Finish all the rows, and then go down the other side to the other diagonal. And then back to finish the other side of the oval on that diagonal.  I will probably be adding some ribbon or trim to cover up the intersections and edges, but I don't have the proper ribbon or trim right now.

I think it looks all right from a galloping horse. It is supposed to have a casual, improv look to it.

I told you earlier that we don't feel shame in 2020.  That's not really true.  I can't really call myself a properly smart or even lazy person. A smart or lazy person would have still made that quilt as a nine patch or maybe even a one patch. A truly smart or lazy person would have used the other book I got at the same sale and made a simple nine patch or four patch.

That book was made in 1935.


Thank you, Bea, for allowing me to participate in the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop.

Please visit the other participants of the blog hop to see which book they have dusted off.

Here are the links to the other bloggers participating in the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop – do click on their links, check out their books and projects, and leave them a comment or two!

March 2

• Pieceful Thought of my Quilting Life
• Quilting Gail
• High Road Quilter (that's me)
• Beaquilter

March 3

• Cynthia’s Ark
• Lemontree Snippets
• Anja Quilts

March 4

• The Darling Dogwood
• A Quilting Reader’s Garden
• Becky’s Adventures

March 5

• Quilting Jeanne
• Karrinn’s Crazy World

March 6

• Quilting at the Farm
• Kathy’s Kwilts and more
• Quilting Patchwork Applique

Also be sure to visit Bea's Blog, Beaquilter.https://www.beaquilter.com/2020/03/dust-off-an-old-book-blog-hop-day-1.html  She has lots of opportunities for fun prizes. Thank you, Bea, for the opportunity to participate in this blog hop.

Quilt Reveal: Heart Quilt

When I learned that you could make a heart with squares and rectangles instead of triangles, and saw the sweet quilts that were made that way, I wanted to make that quilt.  But every February, when I saw a quilt that was made that way, I resisted.  I already have enough heart quilts. I need to work on some other holiday quilt, if I make a holiday quilt at all.

But then this month, I came across a quilt tutorial from Sew Can She. I was about to resist again, but then Project Quilting made it their challenge to make something with a heart on it. I can make this quilt and break out of my cycle of desire and resistance. How long can it take? One week max.

So I made it, adapting the pattern to make a small quilt. It took less than a week.

February 2, 2020. 02/02/2020 was the first global palindrome day in 909 years. The next will come in 101 years on 12/12/2121 and after that there will not be another until 03/03/3030. It was the 33rd day of the year and there are 333 days left.  The date is so special, wouldn't it be nice to have a quilt with a finish date of February 2, 2020 on it?  I started this quilt on that date, knowing there was no way possible I could finish it that day. I figure I can use that as a start date. Who said you can't put a start date on the quilt?

I decided to make a quilt with 20 blocks on it. I made the 20 blocks. I made the setting blocks. Then I realized there isn't a way to make a quilt on point with 20 blocks (If it is possible, please let me know how).  This meant I had to make the quilt with a straight setting.

While you are still close enough to the picture above, did you notice how perfectly the quilt sits on the batting scrap? The batting scrap is just exactly the right size.

Unfortunately, I had already chosen a border fabric when I took that picture. To finish it within a week, I birthed the quilt. I carefully cut the backing in two and pressed down the edges so that I could piece it like a pillow without having to sew any edges. The quilting would seal in the space where the pillow would be inserted.

However,  I made a mistake with the layers. I had the top on top so I could see the edges, the backing under it, right sides together, and the batting at the bottom. This meant that when I sewed it together, the top was upside down on the top and the batting was at the bottom. I had no access to the backing.  It is good that I had to piece the batting, because I had to cut into it to turn the quilt.  I was afraid that I would have to rip out sewing the edges, but once I had access to the back, I was able to turn it again to make everything be in the right  position.

I lightly quilted it so it would retain the sweet, minimal look.

Since the Project Quilting challenge is Put a Heart on It, let me show you the quilt on point so you can see the hearts! See, there are 20 hearts to represent 2020!

Quilt Reveal: Drunkard's Path

It's not called Drunkard's Path for nothing. The drunk took a long time to find his way home. Year's in fact. This quilt was started sometime in August of 2003. I don't know the exact date, but counting from August 1, it would be 5,960 days.  I was using low volume backgrounds before the term "low volume" was coined.

I called it Drunkard's Garden then. It is a rectangular lap quilt, but not as rectangular as this picture shows.. It is rainy out so not a good day for a photo shoot, although it is better than yesterday when there were lots of shadows everywhere.  The backing is blue, similar to, but not exactly the same as, the binding fabric.

I'll have to take it out for a walk and get more photos but I wanted to share this finish with you.  It changes the quilt stats significantly.  Before I enter the finish date on this quilt, I have finished 77.37% of my quilts, taking an average of 229 days to make a quilt.  After I enter the finish date of this quilt, I have finished 78.10% of my quilts, taking an average of 282 days to make a quilt. The average number of days to make a quilt didn't increase as much as I thought it would. My small quick quilts this year and throughout the years helped a lot with this average.

I'm not sure what is next on the quilt list.  I would love to work on quilting another top, but there are lots of scraps that need taming.  I might do a little bit of both until one or the other takes over.

Linked with:
Off the Wall Friday 
Finished or Not Friday 
Oh Scrap!

July Mini of the Month Quilt Reveal: Fuschia Fairy

  Can you handle two quilt reveals in a row?

Initially, I was going to skip making a mini quilt this month.  After all, I have a huge backlog of  quilts I started earlier this year (not to mention previous years), and a huge list of quilts I want to start (alphabet quilt, postage stamp, circa 1880).  But I realized that I would feel bad about not making one this month, and I didn't want to rush through making one just to say that I did. I started this quilt last week.

I started looking for ideas of a mini quilt, and realized that I didn't need to look for ideas because I already had plenty of ideas from previous projects. I thought it would be best if I took an orphan block and made a quilt out of that. That way, it isn't technically a new project, and there is some progress in the overall quilt lineup.

I was thinking about pretty fabrics in general and I remembered that I had received a panel a long time ago. So long ago that I think it was before I moved to this blog in 2008. I got it from a blog friend who said something to the effect of "I look forward to seeing what you do with it." Sorry, friend, for making you wait so long.  This panel is just so pretty, and I wanted to do it justice.  Over time, I saved pieces of leftover fabrics that I thought would go well with the quilt. They were my favorite pieces then and they still are! The panel came with three small squares, so I just cut the other scraps to the same size and added them around the quilt.

 I realized I had everything I needed to finish off this panel.  The fabrics I have with the panel were ones I especially liked for one reason or another, and went well with the panel, but they were on the small side, so they didn't lend to themselves to much piecing. Which is good, because I wanted to keep the piecing simple and let the focus stay on the panel.

I added in some other current favorite bits, and made this quilt, like some sweet 30s fabrics and two kinds of lace. I also added embroidery stitches in the form of wavy vines in the borders. If you deliberately make it wavy, it doesn't have to be straight! The picture above shows the truest color.

The darker pictures were taken earlier in the day when the sun was out.  I left them here because they show the texture.

Linked with:
RSC19
Slow Stitching Sunday I hand stitched the binding, and took the time to add embroidery stitches and lace.
Monday Making 
Friday Foto Fun