Frivols 1 Is Finished!

January 23, 2018January 4, 2024 Elizabeth E.10 Comments

Caitlin’s Baby Quilt • Quilt #192
40″ (approx) square

I finished the first Frivol and I finished it early — before the end of January, so I was pretty happy with THAT deadline. As I was making it, I was thinking about my friend Caitlin, who is having a girl after two boys. I decided she just needed this feminine quilt that isn’t so fussy, that it couldn’t be thrown down on the ground when the family has a picnic.

It’s my first finish in this year; 2017 saw sixteen finishes, but a lot of them were smaller quilts, so it’s nice to lead off with a good-sized quilt.

I used Carolyn Friedlander’s white-on-white cross-hatch design (from her Architextures line) for the sashing and accent, and then used another white-on-white heart print for the borders.

A lot of contemporary quilters are notorious for not owning up to the traditional name of the block, and this group was no exception. The block has several names, the most common being “Chimney Sweep,” and it was first published in 1929 by Ruth Finley (I get all my info from Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns). It’s also known as “Christian Cross” (from a book published by the Shelburne Museum that listed all their quilts).

This backing is from a fabric from about a decade ago.

I quilted it in an overall lazy large meander, and bound it with a fabric that was a nice companion to the Bonnie and Camille line, interspersed with bits of the fabric from the leftover squares, as I don’t plan to make an extra block for a sampler quilt (one feature of the Frivols tins).

My review: if you are a Bonnie and Camille fan, this box is for you. I haven’t ever sewn with their line, and part of why I’m doing this is to learn about other styles of fabrics. I found the repetitive blocks easy, once I learned about the misprint measurement. Resolved: I’m going to look up any errata (errors) first, before I start cutting. But overall, it didn’t hold my attention, nor was I fascinated with the fabrics or the block. I guess I’ve spent too much designing my own quilts as well as working in highly saturated colors and splashy patterns. But, like I said, good to have a change.

It will be perfect for Catlin’s little baby girl. On to Frivols #2 in February.

~~January 2018 • No. 1 – Hello Darling by Bonnie & Camille~~ DONE!
February 2018 • No. 2 – Polka Dots & Paisleys by Minick & Simpson
March 2018 • No. 3 – Eliza’s Indigo by Betsy Chutchian
April 2018 • No. 4 – Windermere by Brenda Riddle
May 2018 • No. 5 – Petite Prints Deux by French General
June 2018 • No. 6 – Strawberry Fields Revisited by Fig Tree
July 2018 • No. 7 – Songbird Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings
August 2018 • No. 8 – Bread ‘n Butter by American Jane
September 2018 • No. 9 – Little Miss Sunshine by Lella Boutique
October 2018 • No. 10 – The Cookie Exchange by Sweetwater
November 2018 • No. 11 – Sew & Sew by Chloe’s Closet
December 2018 • No. 12 – Blue Barn by Laundry Basket Quilts

Gridster Bee Begins 2018

January 19, 2018January 9, 2018 Elizabeth E.8 Comments

Carol kicked off the Gridsters this year, doing a little throwback to fall, for she said she wanted to make herself a quilt for autumn. She asked us to use this tutorial from The Cloth Parcel. I had fun finding orange fabrics that would work, and picked up some bold orange Grunge dots to work into the pumpkins. She had mailed us the navy Grunge for the background, and after I finished my first pumpkin, I found I had enough for another, so I sent two. These come together quick and easy, so if you are thinking ahead…or behind…it would be a fun quilt for fall.

Quilts

Frivols! (Time to Do Another Undone Project)

January 12, 2018January 4, 2024 Elizabeth E.6 Comments

I think I mentioned somewhere along the way, that I had collected a full set of Frivols tins, shown above. Two other quilters, Kelley and Karen, mentioned that they had a full set, too. I wrote back and forth with each of them, wondering if they wanted to liberate their Frivols from their tins and make 2018 the year that we finally get them done.

There is this temptation to leave them fully entombed, I realize. They are so cute in their little boxes, and what will you do with all those little quilts? (Well, some aren’t so little.) But I can think of many places that you can donate these quilts, if you want (try starting with the Preemie unit at your local hospital, or a Domestic Violence Rescue shelter, or your granddaughter’s doll crib, just to name a few). The point is to have fun, to free up space in your sewing room and to get rid of Another Undone Project.

If you want to join in with us, too, we’re going to try to tackle one a month until all twelve are finished. If you want to work ahead…well, you have the instructions and the fabrics. You can still find Frivols tins if you do a search, so you can join in the making.

Here’s January’s: “Kindred,” using the Hello Darling line by Bonnie and Camille. The quilt finishes at 40″ by 40,” a perfect table-topper size. And here is the Mode blog announcement for how the cutting directions are wrong. It’s true–the quarter-square triangles should have been cut a bit larger; more on that later. I’ll always try to link over to Moda’s blog so you can update any errata/changes in your Frivols.

I love how each tin has a little treasure inside. This tin has some woven tape with Handmade with Love written on it.

And here’s the fabrics. I started with their lovely diagrams, cutting the blocks into pieces:

I stacked up two stacks of “twin” blocks–the instructions say to cut using two of the same fabric blocks, and no I don’t know why I have extras (on the left). In every Frivol there is a “bonus” block that you can make so you’ll have a sampler quilt. I’m not doing that, so instead I’ll keep the extras in my stash.

I cut them according to the sketch. So far so good.

I stacked up the pieces of one block, with the exception of the Half-square Triangles on all four corners. Then I kept going:

But I should have checked the Mode blog first, as I cut some of the white side triangles too small. You can see the problem here:

I will simply true them up a little smaller when I finish all of them.

Six down, ten to go. I’m making good progress while listening to the sixth book in the Maisie Hobbs series:

I’m hooked on this series!

If you want to join in, dig out your Frivols tins and let’s get going. If you leave me your name and blog address or Instagram name, I’ll start making a list at the end of each final monthly Frivols post, with links. Lisa Bongean, of Primitive Gatherings, has a great write-up about “her” tin with her fabric line. Have fun hunting your tins down, getting ready to join up with us. I’ll do an introductory post near the beginning of each month, as well as a final post, on the last day of the month.

I would like to commit to getting the quilt top finished each month, with quilting, if I can. As I mentioned, the quilt tops are not too big that you can’t finish them on your domestic machine, and that will give us all a chance to practice our quilting. I’ve got a good start for January’s block, but I’m taking a break to go to Road to California, where I’ll have two quilt tops hanging in the show. I’m also taking three classes, so it will be a busy week.

January 2018 • No. 1 – Hello Darling by Bonnie & Camille
February 2018 • No. 2 – Polka Dots & Paisleys by Minick & Simpson
March 2018 • No. 3 – Eliza’s Indigo by Betsy Chutchian
April 2018 • No. 4 – Windermere by Brenda Riddle
May 2018 • No. 5 – Petite Prints Deux by French General
June 2018 • No. 6 – Strawberry Fields Revisited by Fig Tree
July 2018 • No. 7 – Songbird Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings
August 2018 • No. 8 – Bread ‘n Butter by American Jane
September 2018 • No. 9 – Little Miss Sunshine by Lella Boutique
October 2018 • No. 10 – The Cookie Exchange by Sweetwater
November 2018 • No. 11 – Sew & Sew by Chloe’s Closet
December 2018 • No. 12 – Blue Barn by Laundry Basket Quilts

Free Quilt Pattern

Winter Pines

January 9, 2018November 30, 2024 Elizabeth E.21 Comments

It all began here, with a visit to Gardner’s Quilt shop in Utah, where I saw this quilt. I realized I had many fabrics that would work, so purchased only the pine boughs and a couple of other coordinates:The two fabrics on the left are from Amy Sinibaldi’s latest line, Little Town, and the two on the right are from Lori Holt’s collections. I decided my brain hurt from some other projects, so went with the pattern they had at the shop. It’s called Rustic Pines, from Amber and Amanda and you can get it free online.

But…I didn’t really like the way they made the pine tree. Yes, they strip-pieced together some fabrics, cut out the trees, but they raw-edge appliquéd on the trees. Yeah, okay. I didn’t want my quilt to look old before its time, so I drew up a pattern in Quilt Pro software (RIP), that is really very much like the tutorial I already have for Christmas Trees.

The big difference is the size. I drafted this second pattern to match the size the pattern makers had for their trees, and you can download a PDF version of this tree here:

Winter Tree Download

The usual requests apply: don’t download billions for your friend and neighbors, but instead send them here to get their own. The tutorial runs about the same as Christmas Trees, with a few different measurements.

After making the tree add the right side by matching up the bottom edges of the piece. A teeny triangle will overhang the edge, as shown on the left bottom corner in the photo above. Stitch and press toward the tree (you’ll want your trees to look like they are in front of the background).

Match up the left side, again letting that teeny triangle overhang the background fabric (lower left corner in photo above). Stitch, then press toward tree.

Stitch two background pieces on either side of the tree trunk; press toward trunk. Line up the tree trunk with the tree’s top point, as shown. Stitch seam. I trim off the little triangles, too.

Because this pattern has you add an extra piece, I cut that too, and kept it to the side (but it’s shown, above).

I like to streamline my cutting. I cut two rectangles 6″ wide by 7-1/2″ tall, placing right sides of fabric together.

NOTE: This only works if you have TWO of each fabric, and place them right sides together. Layer up a couple of these rectangle sets — in units of two-right-side-together — then make marks roughly 1-1/8″ inches in from each side.

NOTE: It’s a FAT 1-1/8″ or a SKINNY 1-1/4″ measurement. Aim for something in between. Cut a diagonal line, as shown. Now you’ll have backgrounds for your trees.

But the deal is, you’ll have to trim that sticky-outee triangle shown above, which really is no big deal.

This is how I kept track of trees, backgrounds, trunks and bits-and-pieces. I layered them up, stitching a bunch of right backgrounds onto the tree, then right backgrounds onto the trunk. Head to the iron, then back to the machine to stitch on the right backgrounds onto the tree, then right backgrounds onto the trunk.

PAUSE, to slice off the bigger triangle, as I mentioned, then to the ironing board to press. Stitch the tree trunk unit onto the tree.

Time to true up the block. My tree blocks were slightly smaller than the pattern’s, coming in at 7-1/2″ wide by 9″ tall. Really, it just doesn’t matter — true yours up to your smallest tree and move on.

Arrange, and re-arrange until you like your trees, then sew on the extra strips, following the pattern’s instructions (shown below).

Stitch the sashing in between the trees, cutting that strip to the measurements of YOUR tree (mine was 11″), yielding strips of forest. Then lay out the shorter sashing strips (mine measured 7-1/2″) for the horizontal sashing, making sure to distribute your background prints evenly, then add the sashing square (as per pattern) and sew.

I had a bit of the pine branches fabric and the darker one with the berries, so used them to add two 3″ borders around my quilt. I just ran it up to the quilter’s and hopefully will have it back to enjoy before our Southern California winter disappears (it’s really only about 15 minutes long these days, given the effects of climate change). Today is a deliciously rainy day, and I can hardly wait to use my Winter Pines quilt on days like this!