Back To Lake Effect

Now that I've proven to myself that I can do hard things (heh-heh), I have returned to the 10-year project Lake Effect. It has languished fall, winter and spring in a pile on the quilting room floor, and I've just decided that enough is enough. I've had a stern talk with myself.

Look at that wrinkly mess! I do not exaggerate when I say it has spent 6-8 month heaped in a corner on the floor. 

It appears that all I need to do is make a long border of hexies, then attach it to the quilt, then finish the corners where the applique vine was interrupted. It may or may not look like the pattern. At this point, I'm going for nothing more than a finish. It is fine with me if it is not an exact replica of the original. 

This bottom border is not yet attached, so add that to the to-do list. The top and right side borders are attached, thankfully. It was rather simple to accomplish, as I recall.

It is somewhat surprising that it is as big as it is. I had no idea I was making something big enough to cover a queen-size bed. I rather like that it does.

I refer to this as a 10-year project because I was new to both applique and EPP when I began this journey in 2017. I was allowing myself the time I figured it would take me to master all this hand stitching.

Since I made Grandmother's Flower Garden mostly January through May, I have proven to myself that I can do this faster than I realize. So on with the needle and thread! Queue up a good audio book (or two or three) and let's get to stitching!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

A Proud Reveal

Yes, today I am proud to bring you a completed center panel for a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Little did I think that something like this would ever come from my hands. 

What began with a curiosity about English Paper Piecing and related techniques has resulted in this. Almost exactly 10 years ago this was all totally new to me. After quilting friend Jan shared two of her incredibly impressive quilts, I fell into the EPP rabbit hole. 

That was in March 2015; by May 2015, I had bought a glue stick and made some hexies. I played around with Lucy Boston blocks and fussy cutting as well as hexie flowers. Some of those early flowers are in this quilt.

Dabbling in a new technique has resulted in a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Never ever did I think it possible! My thought back then was that all this endless handwork was probably the most daunting quilting task one could ever undertake. 

I guess I have learned never to say never. 

My quilt has 9 rows of flowers with 9 flowers in each row for a total of 81 flowers. Above, it is spread out on the king-size bed, which gives a bit of perspective on its size. My final stitches taken on this were adding path hexies to fill gaps around the outer edges. See below for one such gap.

I wanted the white/neutral hexies (paths) to completely encircle the quilt so that the flowers would stand out better when a border is added. My plan is to applique the quilt edges onto a border fabric to square it all up.

All along this journey, I knew I would select a solid fabric from my stash. I also envisioned that I'd use green. Wouldn't you know - I had no green with sufficient yardage to make a border. I did find this purple, however, and the more I look at it, the more it grows on me. 

Have you any opinions?

I will close today with a few more shots of the finished quilt center. I can look at these flowers and show you ones that I made in the very early efforts; I can show you which fabrics were scraps of other quilts; I can tell you where I bought certain fabrics and which fabrics came from Grandma's remnants; I can tell you on which vacation certain ones were stitched. Such stories stitched into this! That's one of the beauties of quilting.

I've been eager to share this with the quilters who participate in Kathy's weekly Slow Stitching party. I invite you to click over there to see what all the other folks have in store for us this week. From cross stitch to crochet and applique to quilting, all the needle arts are represented.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

My Hands Have Been Busy

While my fingers have not been clicking away here on my laptop writing blog posts, my hands have been super-busy with a couple of projects.

I have a whole lot to say about my Grandmother's Flower Garden, but I will hold that for the next post. Today, I will quickly share a fast and super-easy layer cake project.

Sharon inspired me when she made this pretty throw-sized quilt from a layer cake of French General fabric. She created this beauty so fast - like in two days! - and the result is so pleasing that I just knew I had to make one, too. 

Of course I had many options, as my supply of layer cakes is bigger than I care to admit. I selected the newest one in the stack - one I bought in Daytona at the AQS Quilt Show. This is Lydia's Lace by Betsy Chutchian/Moda. With little to no effort I had mine completed.

I know there are patterns you can find on the internet, but one is not needed.  It's very easy; beginner friendly, for sure. And there's absolutely zero waste. That's almost as good as having a super-fast quilt.

Step 1: A layer cake has 42 fabrics in it, so match up 21 pairs consisting of a light and a dark. From each pair, cut in fourths. You'll have 4 stacks of  5" squares. Take out a light and dark square for the center of the blocks. 

Step 2: Cut 4 light and 4 dark of these sizes: 2.5" squares and 2.5" x 5" rectangles. Refer to the pictures if you need a visual.

Step 3: Working with the predetermined pairs, put all the dark squares with the light rectangles; put all the light squares with the dark rectangles. Stitch like you would any 9-patch block.

Step 4: Arrange the blocks to suit your eye. Sew rows for a quilt that will be 6x7 rows total.

Now, let me tease you with an update on Grandmother's Flower Garden. I have the center portion all together! I began stitching the flowers to the paths in January and have worked on it in earnest ever since. Here we are in mid-May and I have it all together. Now on to borders.

This is the very last flower to be sewn into the quilt top. I am now searching the stash to come up with a pretty solid to use as a border. And one more thing - I have a gazillion hexi papers to remove, too. *grin*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

April Wrap-Up & Current Hexie Progress

Once upon a time, it was hard for me to narrow down my options to 9 pictures for the collage because there were too many quilts to report on and document. Since two darling granddaughters have entered our lives, I can barely locate quilt pictures for the collage. 

Such is life, and isn't it grand!?

April offered up lots of opportunities to love on Cate and Reagan, plus it was a memorable month for some milestone reasons. 

TOP ROW: The first pic is my joyful reunion with the babies after having spent three months in Florida. Even after a long drive home, it was no trouble at all to go another hour to Columbus to see these two. Next is Emma's family. She took a position with the same company at a new location which shortens her commute significantly. The folks at her previous place had a little party for her. Last, I'm entering the home stretch on hexie flowers for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt; I have just a few more to make.

MIDDLE ROW: A quilt retreat gave me the time needed to finish a flimsy. This was supposed to get done in Florida, but I just couldn't stay on task. The middle picture is from Easter. My mom, Cate's Great- Grandma Jeannie, admires the bounty from Cate's Easter egg hunt. And, there is sweet Reagan getting some loves from Pappaw Kevin.

BOTTOM ROW: Erin's family had a milestone, too, when they purchased a new home. Here they are pictured on the front porch step. Move-in will be late May or early June. Sweet Reagan is all smiles, sitting on her newly-delivered quilt. Last, my scrappy Kaffe Fasett 4-patch quilt top is finished and ready for either borders or quilting or both.

An additional milestone this month involves our son Adam. He's moved back to Ohio and after staying here for a couple of days, he's settled in with his Aunt Kellie to assist her as she recovers from some recent surgeries. I've not been up to visit them yet, but DH has and it seems to be working well. 

The last of the hexie flowers are prepped and ready for stitching. Soon I will be adding paths and flowers to finish off the remaining rows and edges. Some mighty big celebrating will take place when I have this baby done.

 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Welcome May! Scrappy Kaffe Flimsy

May! It's a pleasure to welcome a new month!

 

April ended on a super-high note as I finished a flimsy! It feels so good to have a finish to share. Feast your eyes on this Kaffe Fassett beauty.

Last November, I  began sewing my collection of 2.5-inch squares of Kaffe Fassett scraps. A block even easier than the 9-patch, I opted to keep it really basic with a 4-patch. The collection of random fabrics collected here in this scrap quilt date back a whole lot of years. I did some serious reminiscing with some of these beauties.

All the while I was making the 4-patches, I had absolutely no plan for them. I trusted that when I had a while giant mess of them made, I would know what to do next. I knew that an idea would come.

 With my best sewing bud Sharon's input, we came up with the easiest and (as I see it all together now) the very best option. Keep it super simple and use just one fabric for setting squares. Let the 4-patches be the star of the show. And they truly are. I love-love-love this quilt top. 

The nature of scrap quilts - at least in my experience - is that piecing small bits is acceptable as is making blocks with 'near matches' when necessary. Using the scraps is the main goal, so improvise as needed.

Pertinent details on this quilt: Blocks are 4" (finished); 4-patches are made with 2.5-inch squares; it is 18 x 22 rows and measures 72" x 88"; it contains 396 blocks; 198 pieced and 198 setting. It does not have borders, but I may add some. We shall see...

Are you a fan of Kaffe Fassett fabrics? When they first began appearing on the scene, I was not a fan, but they grew on me. And then I sorta' became obsessed. I have a way-too-big stash, and even though I've made quite a few KF quilts over the years, I really need to get crackin' on making more.

Maybe sometime this month, I will devote a post to sharing all my KF makes in one place. That'd be fun.

I'll try to be back tomorrow to do the April collage and share some plans for May.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne