William Morris Flimsy

Big reveal! Big freakin' deal! For whatever reason, finishing this quilt top became almost too much for me. Maybe it was knowing that my star points and triangle tips were "off" or maybe it was just so darn big - whatever, I really had to give myself a stern pep talk to get back to the sewing machine to finish it.

It has been laid out on the guest bed for most of this month. The troubles were many. First, I ran short of light fabrics, but determined to stay true to my promise to use the existing stash. Then, I found I hadn't made enough star blocks, so reverse myself and finish up 7 more of those. The outer borders which appear at the top and bottom needed to be made with lights and darks in specific order, so with limited lights, I managed to figure that out. Then the sheer size was daunting, too. 

 

Well, it is now done and hanging on the quilting room wall. I do love it, too. I see a lot of blue, which does not bother me in the least. I pick out some stars that seem pretty, and then I find others that are equally pretty. Gosh, I am glad I made this!

The pattern is Lil' Orphan Scrappy by Lynn Wilder of Sewn Wild Oaks. I bought it 3-4 years ago, and have listed it as a goal for most of those years. This year, it again appeared on my list as did a goal of using my existing William Morris stash. When it occurred to me to join those two goals into one, a great light bulb came on! What a beauty this would be. And, finally the goal is accomplished in 2022. Feels like a huge accomplishment.

Here are a few more random photos. And here are a couple of my earlier posts about making this quilt - here and here.

Can you believe I still have a lot of William Morris fabric left? How can a person make such a big quilt and not use more of this fabric? (I ask rhetorically, heh-heh.)

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hexies

Grandmother's Flower Garden has always been a favorite quilt design of mine, but making one sure does seem like it would take a whole lotta' time. And while I do enjoy sitting of an evening with these hexies in my lap and a needle in my hand, I don't think I am going to continue any further with making more.

So I have come up with another idea. I will take these 19 hexie flowers and attach them sorta' like what you see here. Once they are attached, I will applique them to a cloth and VOILA! I have a pretty table cloth.

Even this downsized hexie project is sure to take me some time, and I don't have any idea when I will ever finish. I guess that's the way with some quilt projects. Just like a gardener who plants seeds and saplings for future enjoyment and beauty, so it is with quilting. Those tiny 2-inch bits of fabric have slowly become my own little flowers, and my Grandmother's Flower Garden grows into a miniature, adapted version of the traditional one.

Before the day is out, I hope to have the William Morris quilt top stitched together. It is turning out so
very nicely. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Counting Counts

Welcome to the first day of fall!

 

Don't ask me how I managed to do it, but somehow I miscounted the number of stars I made for my William Morris quilt. I was blazing through the construction of this quilt top when I realized I was short by about 6 blocks.

I have the quilt laid out on the guest bed. I've been working my way from the foot of the bed to the top of the bed, and row by row, I am rearranging blocks and pinning rows and checking for the proper zig-zag around the border.

I have the bottom border and the next four rows sewn together. I have the next four rows pinned together.

This was all done on Monday and Tuesday. It was Tuesday night that I realized I was running short on blocks! What!?? I was sure I had counted correctly. But short, so apparently I messed up somewhere.

Initially, I was just going to leave off that last row, sew the border on and call it finished. But the more I thought about it the more I wanted it done right. I still have William Morris fabric in the stash. Just make the necessary blocks and get'er done!

So I spent yesterday making blocks. It was pretty straightforward work, but slow. I needed six, decided to make 7 just to have an extra one to plug in somewhere if variety warranted it. I got three made. Slow going, indeed.
 

This morning I made the other 4. Because I had them all planned out and trimmed, the sewing went so much faster. But going faster isn't necessarily good because if you study those 4 blocks in the photo above, a glaring error awaits my discovery. At the point I was taking the picture, I hadn't yet seen it.

I was preparing to show off individual blocks - some of the ugliest; some of the prettiest. Here's my nomination for ugliest.

This is what you get when you are using what has already been cut, and the supply is limited. Garbage blocks are easily hidden in a quilt as busy as this one promises to be.

This is my nomination for prettiest. I snapped the picture, then saw the mistake. Aaaggghhh! How in the world did this slip past me? Because I was speeding through with my chain piecing - a block got twisted the wrong way in the process.

I grabbed the seam ripper and took the block apart. It didn't take long to set things right.

 

Much better! Worth the extra effort to correct the mistake, but such an aggravation so near to the end of the quilt-making process.

I now have the final row in place. All the border blocks are arranged the way I want. Now I sew. Blocks become rows, rows become an ever-growing quilt top. I'm liking it!

It's not very likely that I will finish this top in time for show and tell tomorrow morning, but that's okay. It was a self-imposed deadline, and one that kick-started me to finish this quilt. Truth: I need a kick in the seat every now and then. 

Have a great rest of your first day of fall!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Plans for the Week

I've spent the morning watching coverage of the Queen's funeral. What a great show of respect. I was moved to tears more than once. 

And now I need to redirect my focus to figure out what will be my week's priorities. On Friday we have Frankfort Girls, so it is always nice to have a finish to share with those sweet gals. Maybe I can make that happen this week.

If I find myself being super-industrious, I could have this William Morris top put together.

I haven't touched this green/cream snowball project in about a month. This would be super-easy and fast to stitch together.

Any available stitching time over this past weekend was devoted to hexies. I am really motivated to make more of these, yet I don't have a precise plan at this time. 

Rather than to work on any of the other starts I've made in recent days, I think I MUST focus on William Morris and Snowball.

Check back in with me through the week to see how effectively I maintain my discipline. I really will try!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jelly Roll Day

 

To honor the creative genius that is THE Jellyroll, and since I won't be working on a JR quilt this time around, I will share some of my previous creations made with jelly rolls.

Jelly Roll 2019 - French General fabrics

Jelly Roll 2017-18 - French General fabrics

Jelly Roll 2021 = Roman Holiday fabric

1/2 Jelly Roll 2015 - baby quilt

Jelly Roll 2015 - gifted

I still have several Jelly Rolls in the stash upstairs, but I will hold off on getting a JR quilt started for now. If inspiration strikes, though, you know I can do a sharp about-face with little notice. 

Have a great Saturday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Another Diversion

Because one always needs another project, I dove into a new one this week. On Tuesday, I had a wild hair (hare?) and pulled a big armload of Kaffe Fassett/Westminster fabrics and began the creating process.

The Kaffe/Westminster tubs desperately need to be sorted and straightened out, as I have forgotten about half of what is in them. But these bits, above, were pulled and brought into some semblance of order. (That sorting and straightening business can wait.)

Folded and pleasingly stacked, I could begin envisioning some possibilities. One early thought was to use that blue/cream fabric on the left as a background for the quilt I was planning. However, the next couple pictures will show the different direction I eventually took.

Instead of the light print, I dug into another tub - the one filled with solids. These are mostly quite old fabrics that have been given to me, and not all of them are 100% cotton. But I keep them for 'just in case' purposes.

The block above is my prototype. I'd been noticing some quilts on line recently that featured these clean lines and thought I'd give it a whirl. I like this, so I made some more. 

I really like this for a baby (!) quilt. The size would be (roughly) 45"x57". I have not sewn these 9 blocks together yet as I am considering making a different center block. In my eye, that center one is too dark to be included. I am letting this marinate for a bit longer; soon I will make a move.

And so, the wild ride continues - starting new stuff one project after another. I do like this helter-skelter method. I have never been one to work exclusively on one project start to finish; having a dozen or so irons in the fire suits me just fine. 

(from a Google search)

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

William Morris

Don't forget about William! 

Yes, I am still plugging away on my scrappy William Morris quilt, and it has been really tricky since running so low on light/neutrals. I must just accept that this quilt will look very little like the Lynn Wilder quilt Lil' Orphan Scrappy, and I must be okay with this! I am okay with this. My quilt will be lovely, and I am using a big ol' collection of scraps. Win-win.

In the photo above, you see several things I will note. First, some blocks have outer triangles that are dark, some have outer triangles that are light, and one has a mix of light, medium and dark. I will attempt to place the blocks in such a way as to make them look evenly sprinkled throughout the quilt. 

Another thing to note is the outer border - that pointy, zig-zag look. I am trying really hard to maintain this around the entire quilt, thus keeping at least this one feature true to the original.

I've made bunch of border units with the 3 neutrals I still have. They are in short supply! Now I am beginning to stitch the quilt top together. I have it laid out on our guest bed and move blocks around to get the look I want. 

More than likely there will be a gazillion little 'tweaks' as I sew the top together, but I vow that this quilt will be finished with the existing stash. And it will be a beauty. These fabrics are just so freaking luscious!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Froggy Baby Quilt - Quilted!

Earlier this summer I made this baby boy quilt top purely on a whim. A couple of things motivated me - I'd just been told of a couple of pending male births and I still had leftover suitable blue fabrics on the cutting table. Click back to this June post to read a bit further on my decision-making process (such that it was).

Quilting took place on Friday afternoon, complete with all the requisite grumbling and fussing. The issue continues to be the tension, and I suppose I need to just resign myself to applying a small practice piece onto the top/side of each future quilt for testing purposes. Anyway, this one is done, and it will suffice.

The backing is made from leftovers of two pieces used in the quilt - the stripe and the geometric print. I like getting rid of fabrics I will have no further need for yet could not bear to throw away. 

 

Rather than hand-tack the binding, I opted to machine stitch it. Being a baby quilt, it is likely going to be laundered regularly and the machine stitching will be much more sturdy for rough and tough treatment.

I've even attached my little label, so it really is done. The only thing left is to decide which of the new baby boys will get this quilt. I have one more awaiting quilting, and the other little lad will get it. The two quilts offer up entirely different vibes - this one is is fun and playful; the other one is precious and sweet. 

It's hump day! Peak of the week! Hope your Wednesday is fantastic!

Happy Quilting, Friends!