Three Finishes For Sharon

 

It always feels good to have a finish to share, and today I am sharing three recent finishes from Sharon. We have had our usual weekly sewing day the past three weeks, and on each of those days Sharon has finished a quilt. They are beautiful, of course, and I think you will be quite impressed.

The most recent finish is this gorgeous blue beauty. It is the Turning Twenty pattern which is a super-fast finish. Sharon had started it earlier and brought it to finish on Tuesday. Is this some dreamy loveliness or what!?!

The week before Turning Twenty, Sharon finished her version of Scrappy Irish Chain. You may recall that we worked on this pattern together - mine with bright yellow and hers with soft peach. Here is Sharon's finished quilt top.

The scrappy squares are largely leftover bits of various 3 Sisters fabrics which all work so well together, and of course the peachy-pink plays nicely with them, too. This is a simple quilt to make, yet we both felt that it was quite a ginormous undertaking, mostly because of the size. Those blocks are 18 inches and with all the seams in the pieced scrappy blocks, it is quite heavy.

And, if we go back a week before the Scrappy Irish Chain finish, we have Sharon's jelly roll challenge quilt which was finished in a snap. This was a fun quilt to work on (yes, I made one, too) and it broke the labor-intense focus on the Irish Chain. Sharon used more of her 3 Sisters stash to make this very gorgeous - and very simple - 9-patch and snowball quilt. I love the combination of those two blocks together. What a super finish.

We are getting stuff done around here, aren't we??? I love feeling so productive! It's funny how frequently our conversations always drift around to "what will we work on next?" That eagerness to start a new quilt never fades. Thankfully! I suppose all quilters do it to varying degrees.

What fun we have when we sew together, and we are finishing things! This weekly sewing date has worked out well for us.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

See Sharon's Progress

A couple months or more back, Sharon and I decided to make Scrappy Irish Chain quilts. We then proceeded to get super busy with other activities and goings-on. If it wasn't one, it was the other who had to cancel for about 4 weeks in a row. Yesterday, we finally had a sewing day together, and Sharon is nearing the completion of her Scrappy Irish Chain. Boy-oh-boy, it is a beauty!! 

Take a look at her gorgeous quilt. Is this not a feast for the eyes!? The pastel-laden scrappy blocks blend so beautifully with the coral pink solid fabric. It will be so scrumptious when finished! More pictures!!

So far, the horizontal rows are coming together, but gosh, the blocks are so doggone big, we needed to lay it out to see 'the big picture.' Drooling, right?

The layout is only 5 blocks by 5 blocks, but with 18.5-inch blocks, this is one huge quilt! The bed is queen sized, and the overhang is significant.

Most of Sharon's scraps are from 3 Sisters and all their various lines in recent years. Some minimal additions have been made. They all work so well together, and that salmon/peach/coral solid plays up the pastels wonderfully well. 

This final picture shows my quilt alongside Sharon's. My yellow solid plays up the brightness of the scraps, a direct contrast to the effect of Sharon's fabric choices. Either way, this quilt uses LOTS of scraps. 

I want to make another. 

As Sharon finishes hers, I will be sure to share here. Such a lovely quilt - luscious and restful for any bedroom.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

First Flimsy of August!

 My title makes it sound like I plan on many more flimsies this August, doesn't it? Well, we shall see. That is always the goal, don't you know. *wink*

So, yes, I do have a flimsy and I am so happy to see it done. I have wanted to make this quilt for such a long time. What a good feeling it is to have finally done it! 

This is Scrappy Irish Chain, a big, cheerful quilt measuring roughly 90" square. It makes this queen size bed look very small, doesn't it? Several years ago, I saw the pattern on Pinterest, discovered that it was a free download, so I have had this on the list for awhile. I read that the pattern came out in 2014, and I have to think I must have seen it very soon after. Stay with me; I share all the pattern info below. 

And now it is done. Yay!

I really went deep-stash diving for all the scraps required for this quilt. It has been rather like a reunion for me as I revisited some bits that were from early memorable projects. 

For the solids, I also used from the stash. The yellow has been waiting in a large tub of solids given to me by fellow Frankfort Girl, Sheryll. That tub of solids has a bit of a story, which is a tangent I will address in a bit. Stay tuned. 

For the white, I am guessing that it was in with my grandmother's fabrics, but I cannot be sure. She did like to use white-on-white for her backgrounds, and this was a large enough piece. I do not recall buying it, but that is no surprise. My stash is generously populated with fabrics I don't remember buying! Regardless, I am saying it was from Grandma's things, and that's all I have to say about that. *wink*

So, I began. The first block took me forever. I sewed individual 2.5-inch squares together, row by row. Not only was it time consuming, it wasted a lot of thread. After a couple done this way, I knew I needed to find a better system.

I got the bright idea to lay out all 81 squares on the table beside my sewing machine, and then use that tried-and-true Eleanor Burns method of chain piecing. What a stroke of genius! It really cut down on both my time and my thread waste. Next, I saved even more time by pressing less frequently. I became a well-oiled assembly operator. About the time I was making my last block, I was really quite efficient. Hah! Isn't that the way of it?

Above, the horizontal rows are all sewn and seams pressed open. From this step, I pinned every-other row, matching each intersection, stitched and pressed open. Finally, I pinned the remaining seams, stitched and pressed. Cutting down the pressing after every little step saved a ton of time. I don't know why I was being so anal about pressing so often. Maybe I thought I'd have better success with accuracy? I don't know...

Here's a picture of the back of the flimsy. I have to say that I only actually worked at easing the fit in one or two places. For so many little parts, it matched up remarkably well. And no, I did not use starch. I know that is standard practice for a lot of quilters, but my spray bottle is empty, and who has time to refill??? (good grief)

Like I said, the pattern, Scrappy Irish Chain, is a free download from Jessica Fincham. You can find her several ways - Pinterest or her blog or Instagram. From reading her blog, I learned that she is a small shop owner in England, and offers quite an abundance of free patterns and tutorials. And from IG, I realized that I was already following her without even connecting her to the designer of this pattern! How cool?!! I really must like all her stuff, not just this one quilt.

I like how her quilt looks with the pink containing chain. My yellow chain is great, a bit garish and loud by comparison, perhaps. Gosh, her soft and hushed pink is so appealing with its gentle subtlety. I wonder if I would consider making another one? It could be that I am talking myself into it, for sure.

Now, back to that tub of Sheryll's solids. It all belonged to her mother. Knowing she would never use it, Sheryll generously donated it to any takers. (How could I pass up free fabric?) I am pleased to report that this is the third quilt made with Sheryll's solids. I have shared the wealth with Sharon P., who selected a peach/pink for her Scrappy Irish Chain, which she is currently working on. And before that, Sharon pulled a piece of blue for a single Irish Chain (below) which she finished up just a few months back.

On to other projects! For every one I finish, it seems I discover 3 or 4 more to start!  Is it that way for you, too?

 Happy Quilting, Friends!

Progress on Scrappy Irish Chain

I have not been here blogging, you may have noticed, but I have been sewing, and I can share the proof in today's post.

At last I have finished my Scrappy Irish Chain. The quilt is made with 12 setting blocks (top pile) and 13 scrappy blocks. These blocks measure out at 18.5 inches, and the quilt will be 90" square. In other words, a whopper!

Making this quilt was on my goals list for 2021, and I am happy to say that it is a completed flimsy. Item #12 in the list above is this quilt, even though on my list I misnamed it. It's definitely an Irish Chain, not a Trip Around the World.

Every single one of the intersections in these blocks was pressed open and then pinned to ensure that they matched as perfectly as possible. This has made the construction process take a bit longer than I'd like, but as I watched it come together, I knew it was worth the extra effort to have matched intersections.

Pictured above is an in-progess shot. It might look finished; trust me, it isn't. Daylight was getting away from me, so I snapped this picture of only the horizontal rows attached. By the time I finished the vertical rows, it was dark, so a picture of the completed flimsy will be coming soon. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Making the 81-Patch Block

Streamlining the construction of this 81-patch block has resulted in a bit of efficiency for me, I believe. I was not too happy sewing this big block together 2.5-inch square by 2.5-inch square. I had to figure out a better way.

First, I cleared off the end of my sewing table to make room for laying out this 18" block. Then I carefully laid out the 81 squares, placing them as randomly as possible. Off to the side, my pattern diagram helped me to be sure I placed my yellow and white blocks correctly. All the rest is just personal preference.

The next step is sewing it all together. I went about it in Eleanor Burns' method - chain piece all of the first and second vertical rows. Go back to the top, begin chain piecing the third vertical row and so on across the 9 rows.

The photo above shows the blocks all chain-pieced one direction, seams pressed open, and ready to be pinned and sewn the other direction. Pinning intersections takes a bit of extra time, but keeps my points crisp. So far, the results are satisfying.

I have 4 of these blocks finished along with 2 setting blocks, so I'm getting there.

The picture of my design wall looks strange with the wall decor competing for attention, but I think it is becoming evident what this quilt will look like. The blocks are very scrappy, which is the intent, and the yellow serves to contain the explosion of scrappiness, also the intent. I am liking how it is coming together.

I hope you are having a wonderful Monday! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Beginning My Scrappy Irish Chain

Never in my life have I made a quilt block with 81 squares. Yet here I am beginning a new quilt - Scrappy Irish Chain - and the main block consists of 81 2.5-inch squares. Since it's a scrap quilt, you know I have plenty of 2.5-inch squares from which to choose!

Here's a pic of the pattern, which I found browsing on Pinterest years ago. Turns out the pattern was a free download from whatever site, and I have been planning to make it for a good long time. Click on the picture to be taken to the Pinterest link.

While I love the pictured quilt, and think this would be great in pink, I had big piece of yellow that I decided to use. I also had a nice white-on-white for the background.

And this is my first block. Notice where the solid yellow squares are places as well as the white blocks in the middle of each outer edge row. I quickly realized that I needed many, MANY more 2.5-inch squares so that I would have adequate variety. I also realized that making 13 of these will take awhile! Sewing individual squares is lots slower than sewing and sub-cutting strips.

You may recall that Sharon and I each made blue Triple Irish Chain quilts this past spring.  Those were a breeze to make since the two colors easily lent to the convenience of strip piecing. Here's Sharon's Triple Irish Chain.

And here's mine; we both chose to use blue, but mine is bright blue, whereas Sharon's is more a true navy.

The main pieced block in these two-color Irish Chains quilts consists of 25 blocks - it is 5 x 5. The block in the Scrappy Irish Chain is 9 x 9. It turns out to be a whopping 18.5-inch block when finished. The quilt requires 13 main blocks and 12 setting blocks.

So I have been cutting  scraps like crazy for a few days into 2.5-inch squares. I am opening storage bins and tubs that have not seen the light of day for decades! I am definitely building variety into this scrappy quilt.

Stay tuned! It is gonna' be a beauty!

Happy Quilting, Friends!