Cobalt Stars Quilted

In attempting to boost my long-arm activity, I pulled a quilt top out of the closet. Many were the options, to be sure, and I considered several.

This blue and white quilt top is one I made in 2021 called Cobalt Stars. The stars chaining across it were inspired by a picture I saw somewhere on the world wide web. I searched several of my books for star patterns and came up with the two featured in this quilt.

I detailed much of this quilt top in this post from November 2021 when I finished it. As I reread my account, I am glad I showed the two individual blocks. I used blues from my stash of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I had in my stash the white-on-white background, and the two solid blues used in the corner units of the two blocks. One star has polka dot star points, which gives some unity to the design.

So, yes, I pulled this top to put on the Tin Lizzie and set to work quilting it over the weekend.

Do you see that polka dot backing that is rolled on the upper bar? I bought it off a sale table soon after finishing this quilt top specifically to be used for backing this quilt. 

The navy backing fabric brings me to the interesting part of working on this quilt. It was necessary to use a navy bobbin thread and a white upper thread. I had more than a bit of apprehension about this because it would require my tension to be nearly perfect. I didn't want white to show on the back nor navy to show on the top.

And if you've followed my long arm journey for any length of time, you know that tension issues have absolutely plagued me in my attempt to master the long-arm.

Mostly, I did just fine. I am hoping that once I launder the quilt, the crinkling will hide the tell-tale bits that did end up showing through. It's minor, so even if the washing doesn't hide it, the issue won't trouble me.

I decided that I would hand stitch the binding, and I have a good start on that. It's good for evenings when we are watching baseball or a tv show. With only a 60-inch square quilt, it will be quick work.

Perhaps my plan for a year of quilting lots of quilts can be as fruitful as I'd hoped. I have now quilted 3 in the first 5 months; how many in the remaining 7 months?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sewing With Sharon

 

On Tuesday Sharon was here to sew. We'd missed sewing together the week before, so we had a lot of catching up to do. She brought her tub of Roman Holiday (3 Sisters/Moda) remnants, and was making Tag Sale. This fun quilt is a pattern by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie Quilts. Both of us have made Tag Sale before.

And I do not have a picture of Sharon's work. We get to talking and sewing, and I never think to go over to her table to snap pictures. She was making 9-patch blocks, so imagine, if you will.

I worked on the second set of blue stars using Kaffe Fassett fabrics. To say that I had been procrastinating would be an understatement. I need the motivation of having Sharon here to get me in gear and keep me focused. Holds me accountable!

My sewing plan was to make about 10 more of this version of blue star for the project I aim to complete. I made two individual stars to check my measurements, and then cut all the remaining parts for the remaining stars. Some super-efficient chain piecing would soon begin.

While we talked and sewed, and since I was digging around in my Kaffe Fassett stash, we got onto the topic of what we might make with our KF material. Both of us have quite a lot, and we always enjoy the opportunity to use these beautiful, colorful pieces. Some question we posed caused me to grab a couple of books off the shelf to check something (heaven only knows what we needed to know!).

Oh the dreaming and planning that ensued! We could spend the coming year working on quilts made from these two books alone. So many appealing patterns. I have already made several from the Kaleidoscope of Quilts, and you can see how many tabs are sticking out of the top of Quilts in Burano representing quilts I am considering making. Yikes.

We just had the very best kind of day, talking nonstop, planning future beautiful projects, looking ahead to a few special events coming up, and making routine block units like 9-patches (Sharon) and 4-patches (me).

Yesterday, before putting those two books back on the shelf, I decided to take out all my KF books. I might have to spend a cold evening this week looking through this inviting stack.

I don't have all his books, but I have enough, wouldn't you say? It's safe to say that I could remain busy for years on end working through all the potential quilts represented in the pages of these books.

Since Tuesday, I have finished all the stars, and am now ready to begin putting the quilt top together. You know what I plan for my next post, right?

Hope you come back to have a look!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Assembly Line Piecing

One way the quilter has streamlined piecing is by employing an assembly line methods of quilt construction. Since I have begun working on the blue stars quilt, I've been looking for ways to make the units in as streamlined a way as possible.

By using the book I mentioned in the previous post, Patchwork Math by Lynn Wilder, I have my 12 blocks finished. Here are the simple steps.

In the previous post, I shared how I finished the corner square triangle units. This post shows the process of making flying geese, the points of which will be the points of the stars. I started by referencing the section of the book for no-waste flying geese. The picture above shows the first part of the process that I photographed. The actual starting point requires a large white-on-white square and 4 smaller squares which will yield 4 flying geese, enough for one star.

After pressing the blue sections open, the remaining squares will be added.

I needed to make star points for 7 stars; the parts for those very points are all ready for the next round of stitching.

And here are the finished flying geese units, all trimmed and ready to be sewn into stars. 

Ready to be joined to those flying geese are these parts - the center squares, and the corner square triangles. Now for the assembly line. I lined up all the star parts and stitched 'em up lickety-split.

I had 5 made earlier, individually. The last seven went together easy-peasy using the book and chain piecing.

These 12 stars will need to have 13 coordinating stars, and you can bet that I will be chain piecing those as well.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Stars of Blue

At the beginning of each year I make a goals list of quilts I most want to make by year's end. It's my quilter's version of new year's resolutions. The quilt I am working on now is from that goal's list, and it makes me very happy to be delving once again into the Kaffe Fassett tubs of fabrics.

For the longest time, this star and three others similar to it, lived on my design wall - like from January through June. Then my attention focused on our sew along, and then on Irish Chains, and all manner of other projects that crossed my radar. Here is a reference post from when I made the earlier blocks.

The "blue Kaffe" as I referred to it was never far from my heart, though, and this week I have returned to it with my entire focus! As excited as I was back in January to make this quilt, I sure have delayed in returning to it - 10 months!

The longer I spent away from this project, the more my angst grew concerning all the units needed for making more of these blocks. Sometimes, when I know there will be a lot of unit preparation, I tend to allow the task to become daunting. The units on the corners were particularly worrisome, as the measurements for all those smaller parts would be tricky. The units that make the star points are flying geese, and I knew I could locate directions for chain piecing those using a no-waste method, but still that was yet another 'chore' - it's like I expect these units to magically appear from my sewing machine or something. I definitely made it a bigger deal than it was. 

Lynn Wilder of Sew'n Wild Oaks blog came to my rescue. A purchase I made from her Etsy shop earlier this year included her book Patchwork Math. This handy workbook-style manual helps quilters figure sizes for units just like those needed on my star block. A title with the word 'math' in it doesn't seem like something I would ever buy, but most likely, Lynn wrote the book for quilters like me who have a general aversion to math.

With careful study and careful measuring and cutting, I am proud to report that the corner units have been completed successfully. 

I cut all the required pieces for 10 blocks, then proceeded to make just one set - the instructions make 4 at a time, which is nice since 4 are needed for each block. Once that trial effort was finished and measured accurately, I went about chaining the rest. Whew! finished like a dream!

I learned that this unit is called a Corner Square Triangle. The size I needed for my star blocks was a 3" square unit, and her example instructions were for that exact size - so I really didn't do any 'patchwork math' - but we will trust that I can do the required math next time, right?

I will be testing my formula conversion (math) with this next unit - flying geese, which is also covered in this book. My size does not match her example. Oh well, here we go! Wish me luck!

Happy Quilting, Friends!