Hallowe’en 1904 QAL–Step Two

March 13, 2016April 10, 2016 Elizabeth E.7 Comments

STEP TWO: CUT!!

Happy March 13th! My friend Leisa and I got busy this month, cutting up our fabrics so we could show you this step. I’ve made some alterations to our Master Plan (below). If you’re not making this quilt–see you at the next post!

Yep, we got a little goofy on some of the cutting, but don’t worry! We made it through, and so can you. Remember that Leisa and I are doing only NINE blocks of the original twenty as we want wall-sized quilts, so if you are making the big one, your numbers and cutting time will increase (I know that’s a duh.)

HOWEVER, at the end of this post, I’ve included a smallerized version of this quilt, thanks to Mary Burton, one of my readers, who often “shrinks down” quilt patterns in order to make the full compliment of blocks. So you can make a smaller quilt, by also making smaller blocks. More, later.

As a reminder, we are following this pattern by Blackbird Designs, so of necessity, to protect the pattern designers, I won’t show complete measurements. But where I’ve deviated or made up my own pattern, I’m happy to share.

We started here. I didn’t have the pattern when we were buying, so we went a little overboard on some things, but amazingly, we ended up fairly on target for most of the fabrics. I would probably add another green, if I were doing it again. Download and print out the PDF of the cutting chart: Cutting Chart for Halloween Quilt

Here’s a part of it:

Across the top I identify the piece, then the color of the fabric and the number (#) of those pieces for one block. Then I added my column of number (#) for 9 blocks. You get to fill in your info on the last column. Keep reading. . . while you enjoy this wonderful quilt from Thelma, of Cupcakes ‘n Daisies:

*Thelma’s Quilt, of Cupcakes ‘n’ Daisies*

As you look at YOUR chart, you’ll need to decide how many star blocks you want, how many appliqué blocks you’d like to make. Then, further subdivide your appliqué choices into how many pumpkins? how many cats? how many moons/whatever? The pattern includes the pumpkins, stars and moons, but for the cat, you’re on your own (that’s what we have Google Image for–just type in silhouette halloween cat). Thelma’s owl is referenced in *this* post. Leisa and I are making 5 star blocks, 1 cat-on-a-pumpkin block, 2 pumpkin blocks, and 1 moon block.

We are doing the 8-way method of making half-square triangle blocks (HST)–more on this in the next post–but for the size of HSTs we need to go around the outside edge, we need to cut 7″ squares. Since there are 24 HST around the outside of one large block, you’ll need three sets per block of these 8-way HSTs–three of a dark (orange or black) and three of a light (tan/off-white). I couldn’t decide ahead what I wanted where, so I planned to cut 27 of each (dark, light) and I’ll figure it out as I go along, but then I’m okay if I have to mix orange and black HST points around the outside. Refer to the chart. Quickly, here’s all that we cut:

Cut seven-inch squares on this step, half in light and half in dark (orange/black) fabrics.

Then to make sure I was on track, I thought I’d better sew up one of these 8-way HST things and cut the triangles for the corners around the appliqué just to make sure it all worked. It does. I’ve put on the leaves on my pumpkin, but not the curlicue stem (that, and appliquéing them down will come later–I’m just testing). By the way, this block measures 19 1/2″ (finished)– just to compare it to Mary’s version of 9″ (her instruction sheet further down; keep reading).

ATTENTION: If you are going to appliqué down your stars onto the center of your background blocks, skip ahead to the next section. This next discussion (somewhat confusing until you start the actual construction, but I’ll do my best to explain it now) is for those who want to make wonky stars.

Let’s talk about the Wonky Stars. Here’s a sample (without the HSTs) to see how the fabrics are all placed around. There are four pieces for the star centers, and five pieces that make up the star backgrounds. Sew them together, trim and you have our block.

While this cutting-bigger-and-shuffling thing was big in the 1980s when we’d make wonky nine-patch blocks, it’s currently being taken to new heights by the Buggy Barn. But generally you make a pattern for the star bigger than you need, then sew it together after shuffling the pieces. I’ll give you this template next month, but above you can see one of the earlier prototypes.

The stars in the blue/light print are my first prototype and you can see I cut off the points. Re-draft. The next set (the lower green/white) just looked weird. Re-draft. I am pretty happy with the top two stars (green white) as their proportions look okay to me, and when I did them up in the fabrics of the blocks (above), they still looked okay. So, how did we figure out what to cut?

First, following Thelma’s lead, I made plastic templates for each piece, then divided them up by star-center and star-background. Leisa laid out the templates on the cutting board, trying to see how economically we could fit them onto a strip of fabric. She came up with a 4″ strip of fabric for the star backgrounds (and it will take 18″ of that strip for one background set) and a 3 1/2″ strip for the star centers (and you’ll use 11″ of that strip). So you can get two complete star backgrounds from one 4″ by WOF strip and three complete star centers from one 3-1/2″ by WOF strip.

The trick is, though, that you need a variety of prints to make the wonkiness. Since there are 4 pieces to the star center, you’ll need at least 4 strips, each of a different fabric. For the star backgrounds, you’ll need 5 different strips.

ARE YOU THOROUGHLY CONFUSED? Me too, and I already did it. Just download the chart, follow along how many we cut (or count the number in the photo) and get everything cut. Don’t give away your extra fabric, in case you need more, and tuck it all away in a box until April 13th, when we’ll start constructing the appliqué blocks, and I’ll show you how to do the 8-way HST blocks, too. Wonky stars are coming in May.

NOW, here’s Mary Burton’s measurements for her smaller quilt. She writes:

“The blocks finish at 8.5 inches with piano border finishing at 3″ so the quilt will be 40″ square. I love mine. I don’t usually make bed quilts so I reduce lots of patterns.”

I’ve purposely left this photo uncropped so you can use the outlet for a gauge as to how elegant this smaller version of the quilt is. Really fabulous, and I love the way her backgrounds in the star blocks go from medium to light.

She and I corresponded back and forth several times. She mentioned that:

“[Going smaller] isn’t harder when you are an experienced quilter. You just take your time. Take two squares, sew your seam and measure that piece to be sure you have the measurement you are supposed to have. Do that until you get the correct measurement. If you do that you should not have to pin. Also, you will always be able to use that needle position for all future projects.

The only part that I had to slow down for were the half square triangles because they are so small. If you use the easy angle ruler, they actually cut and go together fast. I just learned how to use it this year and it’s wonderful. Since I made this quilt last spring I just cut 2-inch squares in half and sewed my triangles together and then squared them down to 1 1/4.” The Easy Angle ruler leaves that step out and you don’t have any fabric waste. You do have to find your correct measurement though. You don’t measure your seam, you measure those 2 squares after you sew them.

I did press my seams open because of so many seams. You can use any technique you wish. I always use whatever works for me. If you have never use the Easy Angle ruler, Bonnie Hunter has a tutorial for it on her site. Don’t bother with the tutorial from the manufacturer.”

Download her instruction sheet here: Burton_Halloween1904 And if you want to thank her, leave a comment and I’ll forward it on to her.

By the way, I’ve changed some of the schedule stuff below. Just keeping’ things up to date. See you next month!

Revised Master Schedule:

Step 1 (Preparation): February 2016–buy all the fabrics and find the pattern. Mine was purchased from Common Threads in Waxahachie, TX (www.commonthreadsquilting.com). The quilt measures 90 by 90, which is too large for me, so I’m only doing nine blocks. Each block is 20″ square, and with the outer borders, that should come to roughly 65″ square. I may change my mind, but this looks good from here.

Step 2: March 2016–Cut out the quilt: the tan backgrounds of the squares, the border triangles, the smaller half-square triangles, strips for the wonky stars, but save the piano key border for later.

Step 3: April 2016–Assemble four blocks and add large appliques; use Thelma’s method (of Cupcakes and Daisies) for adding the curlicue stem. Make and add half-square triangeles (HSTs) around these blocks, using the 8-at-a-time method of HSTs, here and here. In the pattern, and in the photo from Thelma, they are mixed up and varied, but also harmonized (some have a mix of orange and black, some have just black, some have just orange.) Make your own rules and go with it.

Step 4: May 2016–Cut and make the wonky star blocks from templates and strips. We’ll be using Thelma’s method. I’m doing five blocks, so will need to make twenty wonky stars and true them up.

Step 5: June 2016–Assemble the rest of the star blocks, adding the large triangles on each corner and their HST borders. In the pattern, and in the photo above from Thelma, they are mixed up and varied, but also harmonized (some have a mix of orange and black, some have just black, some have just orange.) Make your own rules and go with it.

Step6: July 2016–Arrange the blocks on your design wall and stitch together. Cut the pieces for your borders. Make the four corner pinwheels.

Step 7: August 2016–Sew borders together and attach them to the quilt.

200 Quilts · Quilts

QuiltCon Prepping Fun

February 18, 2016February 16, 2016 Elizabeth E.12 Comments

Since I will taking a class from Lizzy House on Block Printing (see random sample from web, above), and since I decided I’d had enough of “have-to” sewing, I wanted to just whip up something fun. . . like a tool roll.

Here it is, fully loaded. I had some leftover canvas from making bags for grandchildren, doubled that, then stitched on wee pockets for my tools. Oh, plus a flap for rolling over the tools and a tie.

Empty. It’s in the bottom of my bags that are all packed up for QuiltCon this week:

I’ve been working backstage on a quilt to bring to the kind folks who asked me to make a further-backstage quilt for their market booth (pictures of that one coming in May). But I wanted to have something for them to show off their fabulous new line of solids, called Painter’s Palette, so I put together this smallish quilt for them to have in their booth at QuiltCon for everyone to put their hands all over to feel the nice hand of the fabrics. I call it Focus, and soon I’ll put up a free pattern on Craftsy for it. Just not this week.

Focus, quilt #158
Approximately 38″ by 42″

I quilted it lightly, because heavy quilting changes the texture of a quilt, sometimes obscuring the “hand” of the fabric. Since it can be hung both ways, I had to construct a rod pocket that could go both ways.

See you on the backside of QuiltCon!

Oh Christmas Tree QAL · Quilt-A-Long · Quilts

Oh Christmas Tree QAL–Step 1

February 2, 2016February 1, 2016 Elizabeth E.25 Comments

I’ve been busy shopping for wools, wool felts, felted wools and all combos in between. See below for an explanation of what they all are, although you’ve probably figured it out by now. For those of us just joining in, the first step we did was to prepare by purchasing the Simply Moderne issue #3, which has the pattern we’ll be using; we also purchased all our supplies of wools, threads and fabrics. It’s never too late to join, just look for the Oh Christmas Tree QAL tag at the bottom and click to locate all the posts on this blog (plus a wee giveaway to reward you for wading through all this). We are also on Instagram with the tag #ohchristmastreeqal.

Let’s talk about wool, specifically FELTED WOOL and WOOL FELT:

I found some 100% wool sweaters at the thrift store, threw them in the washer with three tennis balls and an old tennis shoe, then dried them. This process — using hot water, soap and agitation — is called fulling, with the result of felted wool. I did that twice. You can see in the top the difference between the two sweaters (they were originally the same size); however, one is called a “washable wool” so it won’t felt. Some felted more evenly and better than others, but all of them looked like they could fit a toddler, even though they started out as an adult-sized sweater. I plan to use some of this newly felted wool with my flowers and birds.

You can also do this with 100% wool woven fabric. You want it to felt down evenly so it is dense and won’t ravel. Many of you purchased already felted wool and are ready to go. Primitive Gatherings recommends using Steam A Steam 2 on the back to really stabilize the woven felted wool when you are working with it. If you have tips on working with felted wool, please leave comments on this post, where others can find the info. Many comments have already been left on the initial post on IG, if you want to look there.

I’m using what Wendy Williams recommended: 100% wool felt, which is that flat stuff your grandmother used to buy in the dime store to make toys, but is now available only in specialty shops (see previous Oh Christmas Tree post and the links below). Felt does not fray when cut and is extremely stable, although it does shed a bit on first cutting. It is wool fibers that have been felted together, and is not woven, nor knitted (as in the two examples above).

Try to keep these two terms separate in your mind: wool felt (which is what I’m using) and felted wool. There’s a few more links at the bottom of this post for more reading.

So these are my supplies (top) and some medallion fabrics (bottom). These fabrics have a circle pattern in them with fairly ornate decorative motifs inside. Wendy uses them with her wools to add some flair, especially when creating the circles.

I cut my background fabric, and I added about 1 1/2 inches to the measurements because I’m a chicken about these sorts of things.

I took the fabric to the ironing board and ironed in a soft crease. Don’t overdo it.

I labeled the crosswise branches on the feather tree in the right margin of the first diagram, which you can see in the red box, and following their directions, and put pins along that soft center crease to know where to place things.

I cut first one strip of blue (lighter) and then the dark one, and couldn’t decide between the two for my tree. So I laid out all my supplies on top of the strips. I liked the country French blue, but decided, finally, that the darker would bring more contrast to the finished quilt.

I cut the long center strip, using the measurements in the pattern. She asks you to taper the wool at the top, so I put a pin in the middle, then measured and placed others. I angled my 24″ ruler from that middle pin to the outer edge of the center and cut away that wedge. I didn’t cut enough on the first time, so did it again. I also cut the top a wee bit larger than she asked –just a bit–as I like the look of it.

I also cut these crosswise branches a scant 1/8″ larger, especially on the top branches (I have one more set to go up above) and I’m glad I did.

I laid them out on my fabric, using the soft crease and my rulers, in order to get them on the fabric straight. You don’t want a tipping Christmas tree! I also used the 24″ ruler as I pinned each set, as the wool will bump up against it, helping you get it on perpendicular to your tree trunk. I was able to get it on fairly straight that way.

Although I initially pinned them by putting the pins parallel to the crosswise branch, I soon found that it made the wool and the fabric buckle, so I shifted to this method of pinning. Pin a LOT if you are using felt. If you’ve used the wool backed with Steam-A-Seam, it will be tacky on the back and it will be easily positioned. The felted wool people will then go to their ironing board after the first pinning step and press it down. As Primitive Gatherings notes: “Keep your iron moving at all times so you will not scorch your wools.” Wool is a natural fiber and can burn and scorch, but you might try using a lightweight pressing cloth in order to protect the wool and not give it a “shine” from too much pressing. (That’s my college Clothing and Textiles degree being put to good use–thank you, Mrs. Dimas, for your tailoring class.)

Now start stitching. I put my ball of pearl cotton in this little holder and boy was that handy. You can buy one from Bird Brain Designs. (See below for how you can win a couple freebies for yourself.)

Start with the crosswise branches, and do a close backstitch on them. I did mine right close together along the branches, like the top example:

(from *here*)
You can do a search to find out how to do a backstitch, which is where I found *this* quick YouTube Tutorial.

I butted my ends of the crosswise branches together under the main tree trunk and stitched, lifting the “trunk” as I went underneath. I also tried it with the edges just under the edge of the trunk, leaving a space between them, but felt it was more stable with the wool tucked in further.

I did an expanded backstitch going up the side of the tree, leaving a space in between each stitch, using two separate threads (one for each side) as I went up. I decided to sew the tree trunk as I finished each branch, so it would feel quicker to me. The whole stitching down of branches and trunk took the better part of a morning.

I have this on high-power magnification on my camera. I promise you NO one is going to look at your stitches this closely, so if you make a mistake or it’s not quite right, don’t fret. This whole tree is in the folk/rustic flavor so an imperfection adds to the charm. You can see that I did a closer backstitch on the crosswise branches and an expanded, or open, backstitch on the trunk. It was easy to stitch.

Ta-DONE!

Since we always want to prep up for the next step before leaving our project, I’ve also added to this step the tracing-off the patterns for the flowers and the birds. I’m using freezer paper, as it can be ironed onto my felt and used multiple times. There are a lot of circles to cut out of your paper in order to prepare. I’m using Kay Buckley’s Perfect Circles, matching up to what’s on the pattern and tracing around them. (Yes, I punch holes in my bigger plastic circles so they won’t warp and buckle under the heat of the iron when I use them at the ironing board–the heat and steam can escape through the holes. I sometimes also mark the center, which is what you see here.)

I can use the inside of a Perfect Circle to trace those teeny circles in the middle (inside the green square in the first photo), or a spool of thread, if there isn’t a Perfect Circle to match up with what you are doing. I labeled each circle on my pattern with a master number and an inner number, as in 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4 so when I cut them apart I know which goes where. I placed them all in plastic bags.

For the birds, I labeled them, drawing a dashed line where it crosses the main pattern piece (or is tucked under), added another piece of freezer paper to it with glossy sides together, and stapled them once in each major piece. I’m not ready to cut them apart yet, as I’ll do that in April, when we do birds. Pay attention to where she says to reverse the bird patterns. If you want to, you can also start cutting your circles out of your wools and felts and fabrics (if you are using fabrics). I realize that things often change as we start stitching the flowers and birds (the under-tree scene will come later), but it’s helpful to get going on this step.

It’s all tucked away, waiting for next month’s step. Here are the steps again:

~~January, Step “prepare”: buy the magazine, gather your fabrics, buy the felt/wool, buy/find the pearl cotton. More about that in a minute.~~

~~February, Step 1: Make the tree on the background and stitch it down. If you use wool felt, she has an easy appliqué method. Prep up the circles by tracing them and organizing them together.~~

March, Step 2: Make 21 flowers.

April, Step 3: Make 10 birds.

May, Step 4: Make the scene at the bottom. Wendy’s pattern (IG: flyingfishkits) has two cavorting reindeer. I plan to switch mine out to a simple nativity. Your choice. (If I were you, I’d also start haunting her IG site as she has lots of great embroidery ideas for the flowers. I’d also consider buying her book, Wild Blooms and Colorful Creatures, for more tips and helps.)

June, Step 5: Appliqué down the flowers.

July, Step 6: Appliqué down the birds and the scene.

August, Step 7: Sawtooth border (reds).

September, Step 8 (finish up Quilt-A-Long): Make wonky star blocks, sew them together and attach border #2. Ta-Done! I just have to deliver you here. You are on your own for getting it quilted and bound.

We’ve done:

and now

I’ll post Step Two on March 2nd. The second day of the month will be our regular posting day from now until we finish, and I’ll also put a reminder up on Instagram.

Some blogposts that have tips for working with wool:

Fresh Figs

Black Mountain Needleworks

American Pie Designs

Molly and Mama

To enter the giveaway for TWO perle cotton bubbles, leave a comment below. I’ll choose someone by Friday and get them sent out to you by next Monday, just as you are ready to start sewing your trees!

200 Quilts · Four-in-Art

Friend and Foe: Four-in-Art Challenge • Feb 2016

February 1, 2016February 1, 2016 Elizabeth E.15 Comments

Friend & Foe
Quilt No. 156, February 2016
#1 in the Color Series: Microscope

We have a new year and new members (see below) and a new theme: Color.

And this quarter’s challenge was “microscope.” So of course, I started haunting microscopy sites, trying to find the right molecule to make for this challenge. And it had to be colorful, right?

I recently had two friends diagnosed with breast cancer, and one of my other friends, Heather, is a long-term survivor of Stage IV breast cancer. I knew Taxol was used to combat aggressive cancers; so wrote to my friend Heather (also a professor in biology) for her reaction to that drug. She went through all the sciencey stuff, but I kept asking “Friend, or, Foe?”

Finally she wrote: “Foe during the treatment. Friend for the result.”

For something that causes such horrible side effects in the treatment, the molecule is this lovely spherical shape, with the innermost parts looking like four petals of a daisy, or an airplane propeller:

Of course, I can use any color I want — right? — so I decided to use periwinkle as the background, with magenta and purple as the parts of the molecule.

I constructed the bit I wanted to by paper piecing, then plain-old-pieced the rest. I stitched it to a white square, then a chartreuse square, as the purple was just lost on the quilt, plus it imitated the circle around the molecule. I made different sizes of different fabrics, then finally, small circles. Then came the arranging:

Using a font like Simone used two challenges back, I printed it the words on freezer paper in my inkjet printer, then cut out each letter. I didn’t cut out the centers, but just free-handed that when it was time to quilt around them.

I first outlined the letters with small free-motion quilting stitches, then started stippling around them.

I mean, I had just taken a class with David Taylor and if I didn’t know how to stipple now, I never would. I decided to leave the edges raw on the white and chartreuse fabrics to bring a little organic texture to the process. All the while, I’m thinking about the women I’ve known who have breast cancer, and while I stippled I sent them –and continue to send them– good karma for a long and happy life.

The birdcage fabric reminded me of that upper drawing of the sphere of Taxol, plus I liked it.

I had originally planned to have the quilt go this way: with the “friend” part first, but then I remembered what Heather said, and I realized that the Foe was first, then Friend. So I switched it around (correct orientation is at the top of the post).

We went over to my husband’s work (he’s a professor at the local Big U) and I loved this picture of a real “science” hallway, with all the faculty’s posters of their results (shown at meetings) hanging along the hallway.

This is his office, and why he never cares if my sewing room at home is a mess. Thank you, dear.

Simone and I at church, holding our Four-in-Art quilts. I am happy to have found such a fine group of quilters to make art quilts with. Bet you are wondering what Simone made, right? Please visit the rest of our group, to see how they interpreted Color: Microscope. We also have a blog, Four-in-Art Quilts, where you can find us all.

Betty https://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2

Camilla http://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/

Catherine http://www.knottedcotton.com

Janine http://www.rainbowhare.com

Nancy http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com

Rachel http://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com

Simon http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com

Susan http://patchworknplay.blogspot.com

And Susan just announced next quarter’s challenge: Music. Reveal is on May 1st, 2016. Can’t wait to combine both music and color together.

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