Quilting in Maine – Page 41 – Louisa Enright's Blog

Turkey Tracks: March Quilty Update

Turkey Tracks: March 7, 2016

March Quilty Update

Well!

I’ve been distracted with all the political hoopla of late and suspect some of you have as well.

But the distraction has not prevented me from quilting.

The “mother ship” is coming along. Since this picture I’ve filled that hole on the left and am almost done with the right side piece that will fill below the red and purple flowers.

This quilt is from Edyta Sitar’s Handfulls of Scraps.

“Crayon Box Crumbs” is on Lucy the long arm. I’ll likely finish her up today.

I’m liking the teal border a lot and will go out to a violet/purple binding. Teal, violet/purple, and red orange are a “triad” on the color wheel. (Thanks Janet K. for seeing I needed a border on this quilt.)

And now there are FOUR of Bonnie Hunter’s Wild and Goosey blocks.

Friend Becca Babb-Brott, who has an Etsy store, Sing Me A Song, helped me find a background fabric for these blocks–which will be set with a 3 1/2 inch wide sashing and as-yet -undetermined cornerstones. Maybe the Wild and Goosey corner block or maybe a small nine-patch. The sashing fabric is a pale grey tiny polka dot–which we think is in keeping with the black and white narrow sashing in these blocks.

What to do with more of the crumb bag–which seens to be breeding in the night?

These blocks, which have 4-inch crumb centers:

It’s easy to cut the surrounding “square” with the Companion Angle ruler. Use the Easy Angle ruler for the half triangles. Quick and easy and no loss of fabric or fiddling with tiny triangles with the flip and sew and trim method.

Becca and I chose a modern, mottled blue kind of fabric for the narrow sashings see in this block. These blocks are inspired by a Bonnie Hunter quilt, “Nine in the Middle,” as seen in her book Adventures with Leaders and Enders. Bonnie used a nine-patch where I am using the string/crumb center.

At some point about two weeks ago, I realized I would need at least 7 1/2 yards of fabric for the outer triangles for the Farmer’s Wives blocks and that the cream I was using wouldn’t be large enough.

Again, Becca helped me choose a new fabric–and I really love it. The soft aqua/teal is just making ALL the blocks sing. Having to take the triangles off of the 16 completed blocks went faster than I would have thought and was well worth the effort. (Still struggling over how to set these blocks.)

I’ve been working on the March allotment of 8 Farmer’s Wife blocks–we are trying for 9 a month to complete the 99 blocks. Here are the ones I’ve completed so far:

Bride:

Carol–the darks are a dark, soft charcoal grey:

Carolina:

And, two of Caroline as I did not like the first one so much–not enough contrast between two of the fabrids:

Granddaughter Mina’s quilt is taking place on the design wall. Pics when more blocks are done. AND I’ve got all the units done for a blue/neutral Jacob’s ladder quilt made from the blue/neutral four-patch project of last summer.

Turkey Tracks: Carroll Rhodes Risk’s English Paper Piecing Project

Turkey Tracks: February 25, 2016

Carroll Rhodes Risk’s English Paper Piecing Project

Carroll Rhodes Risk is a Bellevue High School, Bellevue, Nebraska, classmate.

She’s a quilter too!

She saw my blog posts on various English Paper Piecing projects–especially the exciting millefiori projects.

She’s working on tiny circles–and has promised to send along pics of her progress.

Here’s what she has now:

Aren’t these FUN!!!

(Thanks Carroll, for staying connected and for being a quilter.)

Turkey Tracks: Snow Day Quilting

Turkey Tracks: February 24, 2016

Snow Day Quilting

It’s a kind of a snow day.

We had wet, slick snow early, followed by ice, followed now by rain–and temps are rising.

The Coastal Quilters Sit and Sew cancelled for this morning, wisely. People come from far away here in rural Maine, and the early roads were not good.

I did get out for my haircut, but am now hunkered down with the pleasure of sewing to my heart’s content.

These 30 quilt blocks are ready to sew together:

Is this wild or what?

Here’s a close-up:

I have not decided about a small border yet. It seems wild enough. What do you think???

I have a great backing fabric for this quilt.

These are Bonnie Hunter’s block from the 2015 “American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine” four-patch challenge.

This is my second quilt using this block. This one is set in cheddar fabric and surrounded by sashings made from my “crumb” bag.

(I don’t think the crumb bag is going down in size; I’m pretty sure those crumbs are breeding during the dark of night. But I adore sewing them into something fun.)

I had to make fourteen more sashings, so I found my self organizing the crumbs into piles that stopped all the mindless pawing through off of them.)

I pulled off fabrics that I thought would work in Bonnie’s Wild and Goosey block:

I now have TWO of these. And I’m thinking they will make a third “bright” quilt for Bryan and Corinne’s youngest. I’ll put up pics of the first two “brights” after they have been gifted.

I’ll use sashings to surround each block–maybe a bit wider than the cross sashing in the block’s middle. It will be one fabric, not scrappy. That will make these little blocks pop out nicely.

I AM PUTTING THE BINDING ON “ALLIETORE,” and it’s glorious. Bonnie hit this one right out of the ball park.

Turkey Tracks: Megan Bruns’ English Paper Piecing Projects

Turkey Tracks: February 6, 2016

Megan Bruns’ English Paper Piecing Projects

Some of us at Coastal Quilters (Maine) have gone quite mad over EPP.

But the projects are so intricate and gorgeous–way more involved than my simple hexie project.

Megan Bruns is an EPP “star” in our quilting group.

And an inspiration!

Just off the top of her head, she started making hexie placemats out of modern fabrics. As she has colorful fiesta ware, I asked her to take some pics for me for the blog.

A placemat:

…in use:

Megan is now trying to decide how to back these little gems. Or whether to “float” them on a rectangle or larger hexie…

Time will tell…

BUT, Megan has also taken on the VERY challenging “Millefiori” quilts as shown in Willyne Hammerstein’s book Millefiori Quilts.

Here’s the start of her first “rosette”:

Some progress:

And the finished first rosette:

WOW!

Note that the hanging “flags” on the outer ring disappear when those blocks are attached to others–they just go underneath the quilt.

These “rosettes” of various sizes attach to each other to make the “millefiore” look.

Note: We are using fiber glue pens with refills to put the fabric onto the EPP templates BUT we keep the glue away from the crease edge–as that makes it hard to get your needle through the fabric and the glue.

Another good source for millefiore projects is Katja Marek’s The New Hexagon Millefiore Quilt Along.

The English Paper Piecing Company carries card stock templates, acrylic templates, and can facilitate delivering monthly block projects–such as this year’s project being designed by Katja Marek.

Marek has a nice web site if you want to take a look at completed projects, etc.

Turkey Tracks: Quilting Update–February 2016

Turkey Tracks: February 6, 2016

Quilting Update–February 2016

Yesterday was our first real “snow day” of winter.

Finally:

I sewed all day–and the day just flew by.

Here’s what my design wall looks like now:

Yep. That’s SEVEN active projects, if you count “Allietore,” which is waiting on the long arm to be loaded and quilted.

Note how the hexie project has grown. (From Edyta Sitar’s HANDFULS OF SCRAPS.) I’m using my 2 1/2-inch scrap blocks to make this quilt. The top right side shows the top and right borders–with relation to the center blocks. I’m working on the top left part now.

The blue blocks are waiting for me to finish more of the large half-square triangles–they are going through the leader/ender process–I only need about 70 more of them. That’s a Jacob’s Ladder nine-patch block.

On the far right are more Farmer’s Wife blocks–see earlier posts–and I will do a separate entry on those blocks. They are so fun and pretty. And, addictive.

I will need to make more of the sashings (from my crumb bag) for the cheddar quilt. I have a lot, but not enough for 30 or so blocks. But I like how this quilt is going to look. Lively and full of energy.

These blocks are the start of a quilt using a collection of Kaffe Fasset prints that I got at the Norfolk Mancuso show some years back. There was a demo quilt using these fabrics and the pink polka dot fabrics in a snowball block. I fell in love with it. I’ve got some wild fabric out of that collection for the back and borders. AND, there are darker prints in this mix as well. Not all are ironed and cut yet. This quilt will be very feminine, but with some wild twists–and it’s for a granddaughter.

I’ve longed to try Bonnie Hunter’s Wild and Goosey block for some time. So, guess what else is coming out of my crumb bag? I couldn’t resist. I have two of these blocks finished after yesterday’s snow day.

I really like the black and white neutrals in the cross piece. Will likely stick to that idea. Probably this will be a quilt for my newest granddaughter–as it will match the bright nature of her sisters’ recently finished quilts for their new bedroom. (Pics on these quilts after they have been delivered.)

I still have over a thousand 4-patch blocks from last summer’s work, but I have ideas about those blocks…

Will the winter be long enough???

Turkey Tracks: Making Selvage Blocks

Turkey Tracks: January 20, 2016

Making Selvage Blocks

At our last Coastal Quilters’ meeting, member Linda Satkowski showed us how to make blocks using selvages.

Her method is SUPER!

She sews the strips straight down, leaving the edges.

The first thing I do with new fabric coming into the house is to wash it. I then fold it without ironing. When I go to use a piece, I tear off the selvage and iron it. Sometimes I cut it in to strips on the spot–between whatever writing is there. I also always tear off at least an inch of the colored fabric.

So, how to incorporate that fabric into the mix.

With Linda’s method, it’s simple. No more flip and sew and guessing how if I’ve caught the edge of the selvage, which is often on the under side of what I’m sewing.

Here’s my first block–sewn onto muslin for stability. It’s trimmed at 6 1/2 and will finish at 6 inches.

A few years back I made this quilt, “Ain’t This Fun?,” but also used strips of fabric that were too odd to cut into useable squares or strips. I “flipped and sewed.”

BUT, if one surrounds a plain strip of fabric with two selvage pieces, no flip and dew would be needed. Yes!!

Thanks so much Linda!

Turkey Tracks: First Eight Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Turkey Tracks: January 19, 2016

First Eight Farmer’s Wife Blocks

Along with a group of Coastal Quilters members, I’m making the 99 Farmer’s Wife blocks–as detailed in an earlier post. We’re doing eight blocks a month, or about two a week. The 99 blocks will make a queen size quilt.

I am foundation piecing mine as these are pretty complicated blocks for the most part.

Here are the first eight–which took me some time, though I am getting faster as I do more of them.

I am LOVING the modern/contemporary fabrics I’ve chosen in these blocks.

Here’s how I’ll set them–and you can see that I’m putting on the outer triangles now–mostly as a protection for the very bias edges. I remove the paper backing to stitch parts together as I get more accuracy that way.

This is the setting used in the book: The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt, Laurie Aaron Hird:

Here’s an alternative setting:

Or, one could do sashing with cornerstones. The cornerstones could add a measure of coherence to a busy quilt.

Here are the individual blocks up close–each is named–and each is accompanied by a letter written to The Farmer’s Wife Magazine back in the 1930s.

“Augusta”

“Alice”

“Anne”

“Aunt”

“April”

“Addie”

“Aimee”

“Ann”

There are two more “A” names, and then it’s on to the “Bs.”

February is a SHORT month…

Turkey Tracks: Some “Allietore” Colorways: Bonnie Hunter’s 2015 Mystery Quilt

Turkey Tracks: January 18, 2016

Some “Allietore” Colorways

Bonnie Hunter’s 2015 Mystery Quilt

One of the really fun things with regard to Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt is the different colorways people will develop.

This year has been no exception.

You can see how people have developed this quilt with colors different than Bonnie’s on the Facebook page feed “Quiltville’s Open Studio.”

Meanwhile, here are just a few that I pulled off over the last day or so.

To remind, here’s Bonnie’s version:

The one below is made “mostly from men’s shirtings.”

Look at this string border!

There are many, many more examples, of course, including lots of pinks and purples. I just grabbed a few to give you an idea.

If you are a scrappy quilter and do not know about Bonnie’s Facebook page for those of us who like her work, take a look at Quiltville’s Open Studio.

Turkey Tracks: Quilty Update January 2016

Turkey Tracks: January 11, 2016

Quilty Update January 2016

I am happily enjoying my winter quilting time.

The “mother ship is growing.”

The center is done and I “m moving out to the side flowers. This project is from Edyta Sitar’s Handfuls of Scraps.

I am using my box of 2 1/2 inch squares and, when needed, 2 1/2 inch strips for this quilt. I am addicted to English Paper Piecing.

The second of the two granddaughter BRIGHT quilts is on the long arm, and is about 1/3 done.

I cut the top and bottom borders down to the size of the purple and blue borders–and I like that better. The center block is one of Bonnie Hunter’s–Criss Cross. The rest are my invention using leftover blocks from other projects and ones I made to go with this quilt.

“Allietore” is growing on my design wall…

I am really loving this quilt. I found a black fabric with little red wiggles, almost like polka dots but much more widely spaced for the outer border. I have a nice gold for the inner border. I want to quilt it in an “old gold” thread–so am thinking of a medium grey for the backing… The binding will be red.

I’ve finished the first two Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt blocks. They are so intricate that foundation piecing is the way to go. I have not foundation pieced in a few years, so there has been a reminder learning curve. Here’s “Addie” and “Aimee.” Each one took at least three hours as I struggled along… Hopefully that will get better. LOVE these blocks in contemporary fabrics.

The camera is distorting “Aimee”; it’s perfectly straight.

We are to do two blocks a week in our little group who are participating…

Thursday will be the monthly “sit and sew” from 9 to 3 or so with Coastal Quilters’ members. I’ve gotten out my Bernina from the attic, test run her, and boxed her up in her carry case for the day. I’m going to spend the day playing with the “crumb” bag–making sashing for the cheddar quilt that is in pieces on the spare bed in my office.

This kind of play is fun, creative, and relaxing for me.

I hope January is bringing such joy to each of you!

	celiamalm on Happy Birthday Soup
	celiamalm on Spring Garden Time
	louisaenright on It’s A Sunny Sunday
	Tracy on It’s A Sunny Sunday
	Andrea R Huelsenbeck on Yeah! The Improv Quilt Is Off…

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