Turkey Tracks: “Bee Beauty” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: October 6, 2015

“Bee Beauty” Quilt

I finished the “Bee Beauty” Quilt.

I have so loved working on it.

You may recall that I spent the summer making light/dark 4-patch blocks out of my 2-inch square scrap bin. Here’s one use of those four patches. There were about 6000 squares in that bin, and I wound up with about 1600 4-patch blocks.

You may also recall that this block is a Bonnie Hunter block–as she designed a quilt using this block for the American Patchwork and Quilting 2015 scrappy challenge–using 4-patch blocks. (Bonnie’s web site is at quiltville.com.)

This pic of the quilt is not great, but I have fallen in love with it and will save it for a grandchild.

Here is a block. I quilted with limey green thread with the “Lovely” pantograph by Denise Schillenger.

The backing fabric I’ve had for a long time, and I’m pleased with how it worked with the front of this quilt. I chose the dark purples and limey greens from the backing fabric:

The backing has a strip of this block to make up for not having enough of the backing fabric.

Here’s a corner so you can see the binding and border fabrics:

It’s just such a fun, lively quilt:

I like it so much I’m going to make it with a cheddar background:

I can see red sashing, I think. Mercy!!

Turkey Tracks: Sailing and Quilting

Turkey Tracks: October 5, 2015

Sailing and Quilting

I LOVED my September sailing on the J&E Riggin this year.

September is sailing supreme in Maine. The wind was so good on our first day that we sailed all the way to Blue Hill Harbor–after leaving Rockland Harbor mid-morning. Word was that we were going 10 knots for part of the sail. We were skimming across the water like a giant bird sailing across the sky.

I signed up for next September. Of course I did.

Rhea Butler of Alewives Quilting will be on board and will teach interested passengers English paper piecing, using Lucy Boston’s honeycomb template. (I’ve written about Lucy Boston and her work on this blog if you want to know more.)

Rhea’s use of fabric is stunning, interesting, and fun. Here are some samples of her and other staff members Lucy Boston blocks. You can see they really enjoyed “fussy cutting” contemporary fabric patterns–as did Lucy Boston, but Boston did not have access to today’s amazing colors and patterns.

These blocks can be combined with other templates to make a whole quilt or floated on background fabric and appliqued–either singly or together.

One can also make plainer blocks–as I did as I wanted to contrast red and green in this block:

I used the templates (as did Lucy Boston) to make a background.

But I am so looking forward to making blocks like Rhea and the Alewives staff do–and I want to applique them to background fabric in some way.

Plain or exotic, quilting or not, Jon Finger and Annie Mahle will be sailing the J&E Riggin with me on board September 21-24, 2016, boarding September 20th.

Come join us?

Turkey Tracks: Quilty Update

Turkey Tracks: September 2, 2015

Quilty Update

…and time just keeps on marching on…

…it’s been a lovely summer…

…and I’m looking forward to fall.

So, as usual, I have a lot of quilting projects “in process.”

This quilt, as yet unnamed, is on the long arm:

You already know that the block is Bonnie Hunter’s block for the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine‘s four-patch 2015 challenge, AND that this is the first quilt using blocks from the sewing I did for most of the summer–making light/dark four-patches from the two-inch square bin.

The backing is a fabric I bought on sale some years back:

You can see part of the pantograph in the above picture. I’m using a limey green that goes well with the green in the quilt and in the backing:

I will finish with the long arm later today–“God Willing and The Creek Don’t Rise”–as my dad used to say.

I’ve been trying to make one of Bonnie Hunter’s most recent blocks from her column in Quiltmaker magazine every day or do…

Bonnie Hunter’s 2015 leader/ender challenge is to use the tumbler block. It so happened that I have a really nice tumbler template bought years and years ago AND a bunch of veggie/fruit fabrics also purchased years and years ago. So, I seem to have gotten a little side-tracked with this project, like making it a main project, not a leader/ender, and look what’s happening:

I added some fabrics to the collection to get more variety at the Pine Tree Quilt Guild state show in late July when I knew I’d use these fabrics with the tumbler block. Otherwise, I had way too many reds, oranges, and greens.

Using the dark prints together is making a nice border–something Bonnie suggested somewhere along the way.

Finally, Coastal Quilters issued a little challenge at the June 2015 meeting. The organizers gave us a brown paper bag with a collection of fabric, including a backing piece to indicate size. We were to create whatever we wanted, and we could add some fabric, but we had to use some of all the pieces in the bag.

I made a little quilt called spring moon:

I added the green polka dot background, the orange chicken legs, and the chicken’s neck fabric.

Here’s a close-up of the chicken:

(I may move her eye back just a hair. I used a picture of one of my chickens, and the bead is where the eye is in the picture, but it isn’t translating quite right here.)

I quilted with the domestic machine and by hand with pearl cotton.

Why this chicken?

I spent the summer looking at the fabric I got, and the black and white fabric looked like it wanted to be a kitchen or bathroom floor. Or, a foyer. And I just could not get excited about that idea. Eventually I worked my way around to the chicken. AND, one factor was that in an earlier challenge I made a black and white picture of my Copper Black Maran rooster, Napolean.

So now he has a sweet little hen named Spring Moon to accompany him in his quilty journey:

Turkey Tracks: The Two-Inch Bin is Empty!!!

Turkey Tracks: August 22, 2015

The Two-Inch Bin is Empty!!!

See?

Can I tell you that there were 6720 squares in that bin. And note that it’s a SMALLER bin (13 by 8 by 5 inches deep) than I usually use.

Who knew there would be THAT MANY squares in that bin???

Now I have what I think of as “assets”: 1680 finished four-patch blocks.

Note that I use Bonnie Hunter’s Stash Management system to manage my stash, and you can read all about that in any of her books and on her blog, quiltville.com.

One part of that system is to cut leftover fabric from making a quilt into useable sizes that work together mathmatically AND to do something with a bin when it gets full.

I have spent the summer sewing these squares into light/dark four-patch blocks. And that effort started with the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine‘s challenge to work with four-patch blocks this year.

I was inspired, also, by Bonnie Hunter’s quilt block, as she is doing this APQM challenge.

So, at first I made Bonnie’s block. (Bonnie’s background is aqua–which is so lively and pretty.)

AND, Bonnie’s sashing is AWESOME!! (I went ahead with my rich magentas BEFORE I saw what Bonnie opted to do.)

I can’t wait to see what she does with the cornerstones, to see the finished quilt, AND to buy whatever book into which she puts this quilt.

(To follow her progress with this challenge, go to her web site, quiltville.com, click on the blog button, and search for the APQM challenge.

I put the final border on my quilt yesterday–after sewing the LAST FOUR-PATCH BLOCK–and am working on the backing now:

And of course I will have to make Bonnie’s version since I love her strip-pieced sashing so much. That will take 150 of my 4-patch blocks. A drop in the bucket of my assets.

I have some of these already started–and the corners are from the 3 1/2 inch block bin–which has gone down considerably with the use of Bonnie’s block.

I am very excited about doing a Jacob’s Ladder in blue/neutral. I was able to carve out quite a few of those blocks:

And could not resist putting two together to see the result:

I have this great winter blue-jay fabric that I can use for a backing for a blue/neutral quilt.

AND, the mixed blocks would make up beautifully in a Jacob’s ladder with a constant setting for the half-square triangle blocks.

I also carved out some red and neutral blocks.

What if I turn this block straight? The lines would then be on the diagonal…

This block came from Lissa Alexander, whose quilt was featured in the APQM article on the four-patch challenge. I made a baby quilt recently using this block if you want to see a finished quilt: Happy Baby Quilt.”

I have some green and neutral blocks–but not a whole lot.

Could this green-based block fold into the red-based quilt???

And, somehow, I seem to have gotten started on Bonnie’s current block in the September/October 2015 issue of Quiltmaker magazine: Criss Cross.

They are fun, but I’ve had a little trouble translating directions to the Easy Angle Ruler AND with the given size for conventional cutting of a large square into four triangles. I’m wondering if there is a mistake?

I’ve solved it for myself however.

So far, there are a minimum of five quilts out of these blocks…

Turkey Tracks: Bonnie Hunter’s Quilts at Maine State Show

Turkey Tracks: July 27, 2015

Bonnie Hunter’s Quilts

At the Maine State Quilt Show

(Pine Tree Quilt Guild 2015)

It’s always fun to see Bonnie Hunter’s quilts at a quilt show.

Maine’s state quilt show, Pine Tree Quilt Guild Show 2015, is no exception. There were six that I saw.

(Bonnie’s web site is quiltville.com, and you can get to and sign up for her blog from this main site.)

There was one Grand Illusion, Bonnie’s 2014 Thanksgiving challenge quilt. It’s so interesting to me to see the color variations in quilts made with Bonnie’s patterns.

TWO “Celtic Solstice” quilts, Bonnie’s 2013 Thanksgiving mystery quilt.

First, one using Bonnie’s colors:

And one using red and green and creating an alternative block for some of the blocks in the center, by turning the green square pieces outward:

I love the use of wilder neutrals in this quilt. My version used fairly tame neutrals… I am slowly gaining courage.

You can see the two different blocks in this picture. Look inside the white diamond/star.

One Scrappy Trip Around the World:

Great use of the dark blocks to set off the edges. This quilt is much lighter than the one I made.

One Perkiomen Daydreams:

And one “Narrogansett Blues” with a fall colorway–which hung outside the show:

(Not a great picture here as this quilt is very vibrant.)

There is a Narragansett Blues in my future…

Turkey Tracks: Pine Tree Quilt Guild 2015 Show

Turkey Tracks: July 27, 2015

Pine Tree Quilt Guild 2015 Show

Yesterday was the final day of the Pine Tree Quilt Guild Show, the big state show in Maine.

I came off the windjammer J&E Riggin on Saturday and turned around by Sunday to get myself to Augusta to both see the show and to bring home our Coastal Quilters’ Challenge Quilts, which were hung in the show. (You can see those quilts on the Coastalquiltersmaine1 blog if you like.

My favorite quilt in the show as a quilt made by our own Sarah Ann Smith–which did win a blue ribbon. This winning quilt is a portrait of her son Eli, who is both a runner and a wrestler. You can see this quilt and one of her oldest son Josh on her terrific web site: www.sarahannsmith. Click on gallery, and then people. (Sarah is a nationally known quilter who teaches all over the country, including at Houston. She is one talented woman.)

But, not having Sarah’s artistic talent and being a scrappy quilter, this quilt by Kathy Boudreau drew my attention and is still singing around my head:

Look at the use of the selvages!!!

Here’s some close-ups of the birds:

Oh my goodness!

Turkey Tracks: Stash Obsessions

Turkey Tracks: July 17, 2015

Stash Obsessions

I have been obsessed with a quilting project for almost a month now…

…clearing out the 2-inch squares bin…

…it’s been about four years…at least.

And the whole purpose of cutting up all useable fabric after completing a quilt is that…one day…you need to use them.

Bonnie Hunter’s rule is that when the bin gets full, you have to slow down and USE THOSE SQUARES.

Well, here’s the project. (And I think I wrote about this before.)

This year is the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine‘s four-patch challenge–which Bonnie Hunter is participating in as well.

So I’m going to turn the 2-inch squares into four-patch blocks.

When I got obsessed, I had already gotten this far with the block Bonnie is using:

But, right in the middle of putting the gorgeous magenta sashing on these blocks, I have lost my mind. I have not attempted to make the four-patches as a leader/ender project.

No, I thought I’d just sew them all up.

Do you have any idea how many squares there were in that bin?

I am now counting them just for fun. There are 600 in the quilt above.

So, I realized as I sewed a light square to a dark square, that I had a lot of blue and neutral and red and neutral possibilities.

(These are NOT all the two-inch squares by a long shot.)

Here’s a larger version of the block Lissa Alexander used in American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine–which I used to made “Happy Baby Quilt.” Put on point, one gets a long chain of the red squares.

And what about a Jacob’s Ladder block for the blue and white?

Here are two of these blocks stacked together. Wow! I really like this block.

I have spent many, many hours now sewing the light/dark squares together and that’s all done:

So the bin is now full of the two-square strips.

I’ll move on to making the four-patch blocks next.

But first, Bonnie Hunter’s method of pressing open strips of blocks BEFORE cutting them apart really works. Visit her web site (Quiltville.com) for tutorials on handling your stash and tips like how to press FAST.

I am still loving the four-patches inside a square–and especially as I am using the 3 1/2-inch blocks to make the outer square. (Cut them on the diagonal.) So I will make more of these as I go along.

Quilt count from this effort? A red/neutral quilt, a blue/neutral quilt, the almost finished Bonnie Hunter block quilt, more of those blocks, and lots and lots of four-patches.

Yep. It’s good to slow down and create some “assets” from time to time.

Turkey Tracks: “Happy Baby Quilt”

Turkey Tracks: June 30, 2015

“Happy Baby Quilt”

What a good time I had making this baby quilt.

The design came from Lissa Alexander and her quilt was featured in the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine‘s four-patch challenge earlier this spring (April issue).

Lissa called her larger quilt “Rainbow Rows.”

You can follow how about a dozen nationally recognized quilters are using four patches if you go to the magazine’s web site for the list OR to Bonnie Hunter’s blog site (search for the American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine‘s four-patch 2015 challenge.)

I used Anne Bright’s 10″ “He Loves Me” pantograph with a cream-colored thread. The quilting is lovely if I do say so myself!

Lissa used different fabric borders around the edges–and I really liked showcasing some of the very modern “neutral fabrics on the market today.

You already know I am dotty over polka dot fabrics these days…

The block is actually pretty simple–a nine patch featuring a light/dark four-patch and neutrals. I am already thinking how this block would work with my stash strips–especially the 2 1/2 ones combined with neutrals. These little squares are 1-inch from 1 1/2-inch strips.

I fell in love with the little red lobster fabric. If I see more, I will be buying it. The bicycle comes from the backing for this year’s Bonnie Hunter Thanksgiving mystery quilt “Grand Illusion.”

So, there you have it.

* * *

Bonnie’s block for this challenge is so much fun. Here’s my version. I’m going to use a yummy purple sashing.

I was going to just sew the blocks plain and, maybe, quilt them in the more modern style. But I found this yummy purple fabric and I think the cornerstones will carry the eye down the lines of dark squares. Or at least I hope so. The next row will tell.

I bought this brown/green bee fabric some years ago for a backing at something like 40% off. The binding will be the dark purple on the left. The printed magenta will be the outer border; the tiny square an inner border, and the solid is my sashing. It’s not really solid as it has a lot of texture in the print.

Making these four-patches and setting them into a square is…addictive!

My 2-inch square AND 3 1/2-inch square bins are going down in size with this project.

Turkey Tracks: “Purple Delight” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: June 24, 2015

“Purple Delight” Quilt

“Purple Delight” ( #115) is another version of a quilt I did a few years back (#70) called “Nature: The Greatest Show on Earth.”

The idea of setting a traditional block on point and surrounding it with a striped fabric came from Susan McDermott. Her version appeared in QUILT Magazine some years back.

At the time I liked the quilt enough that I put together a purple and green version.

Here it is:

It’s kind of WOW!

The backing is kind of Wow! too. And I do like the use of the stripe in the border.

Here’s a close-up of some blocks:

Here’s an inside corner:

Combining purple and acid/spring green is a classic combo in many color books.

Here’s an outside corner:

I used a variegated thread, and I like the way it came out:

The pantograph is “Lovely” from Urban Elementz, by Denise Schillinger.

I have decided to make a “big” quilt for each of my seven grandchildren for when they are teenagers–in case for some reason I can’t do it. This one goes into that pile. The girls all love purple…

Turkey Tracks: Purple, Purple, Purple

Turkey Tracks: May 11, 2015

Purple, Purple, Purple

These fabrics have been bundled up to make a quilt for some years now. (I have been inspired by making the “At The Lake” quilt which has been hanging around for a few years too–like 12 years.)

I recently went back through these bundles and broke some of them up and put those fabrics back into the working stash.

Life moves on, tastes move on, quilting moves on, I am moving on with the flow.

Purple is not my first choice for a quilt usually. I seem to be more drawn to blues, greens, and warm colors–reds and the like.

Look at all these purples and magentas!

The strip also has some blue and some limey green…

Here’s what’s happening on the design wall:

Wild, huh?

I think this fabric will be the backing:

And maybe I’ll use the strip again in a border???

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