I’m sewing these blocks into rows and sewing rows together.
This quilt feels like a monster project right now, LOL. But, slowly and surely. And I do love it! It is so colorful and interesting. Boy has it eaten up stash fabric.
“Big Slice” is on the longarm with one pass done–and is waiting for me to finish her and put on her binding (which is cut).
I’m still drawn to the “prickly” version of this block–I made one and posted about it when I turned it into a stretched canvas piece.
Tara Faughnan made a quilt with the “Big Slice” block that is very engaging and interesting. You can see that on her Instagram or on her newsletter page. I hesitate to reproduce it here as that probably isn’t legal.
Meanwhile, I’ve been distracting myself by playing with two other projects as kind of “leader/ender” projects.
“Gradations” is the 4th and final quilt in my half-rectangle triangle series, using Latifah Saafir’s Hurty Ruler. I am so happy with this quilt. It was so fun to make. The center sat on the design wall for some time until I saw the fabric I used in the outer border. Then, poof, I was off and running.
I used that fabric for the backing and binding–and cut it so that the strips ran sideways rather than up and down.
I made another block to go on stretched canvas. This block is from Tara Faughnan’s Blocks 2 class and was one of the choices for her Big Slice wedding ring block–which you can see further down in the quilt top I made.
These blocks are kind of hung “willy nilly” but they also work just fine in my sewing quilt room. They all make me smile. The middle piece is a quilt and is not on stretched canvas.
My 4-inch Cat’s Cradle ruler quilt top is coming along. I can see the end. I like making this block a lot, so there’s no pain involved here. Each block makes TWO blocks.
“Tunnels to Towers,” my donation quilt is off the longarm and has had its binding installed. This is the 8-inch version of the Cat’s Cradle block. It’s now downstairs getting its binding sewn down at night.
Next up on the longarm is “Big Slice.”
It’s kind of funny how lots of projects come together all at once. Funny and Fun.
It is a bit cold for us right now, but my red roses are spectacular. They curve around the porch, which I just cleaned as the deluge of pine pollen seems to be over.
The Asian jasmine vine has really taken hold. It’s not a true jasmine, but it will bloom in weeks to come. I’ve been told the blooms are very fragerant.
The white azeleas on the side of the house are so, so pretty. I transplanted them from the front of the house as it was way too hot for them in that spot.
The little yellow rose, gifted by a neighbor, is full of blooms. I put a weighted bucket over it for protection in the worst of our snow and ice last winter.
And in the front, the Drift roses have…drifted…and are now twice as big as last year when I planted them. The hollies are also thriving, and the local bees love their blooms, which will eventually turn into bright red berries.
Speaking of bees…
One of our homeowners has a huge bee hive in this dead tree trunk. They won’t bother walkers on the sidewalk, but neighbors are freaked out about their presence. There is no telling how much honey these bees have inside that trunk!!!
I don’t know whether or not our HOA will try to poisen them. My DIL just told me a man she knows who rehomes bees and saves swarms might be able to get this hive to relocate via using a pheromone bait.
I’m thinking about if I should contact this man to see what he thinks. Otherwise I’m sure poison will be used…
You’ve seen pics of this quilt off and on, I know, but I do like to do a final photo when a quilt is all completed. “Scrap Cabin” is a Rachel Hauser (Stitched in Color) design, and she held an online sewalong in January to make her second “Scrap Cabin”–this new one, meant to have more color combinations than just two. I also chose to use two color families in each of the nine blocks. I fell in love with the border she designed.
And I’m still in love with that border. I especially love how she designed the border’s corner blocks. So clever…
This quilt used up A TON of my stash strips. I even had to cut some strips out of bigger pieces of fabric in my stash to get the colors I wanted. ***If I make this quilt again, I will keep the neutral pieces very light and not use the lighter greys in my stash as the lighter neutrals look a lot more lacy. I did figure that out by the border as I had not seen the full impact of the lacy border effect until I started making it.
I kept the backing plain–and did buy that fabric. The panto is “Check and Chase” by Hermione Agee. I love the texture and the curves this panto added to this quilt. I used a parchment colored 40 weight Cotton thread (Signature).
This six-month online class taught by Tara Faughnan started in October and ended in March. Each month Tara encouraged us to take time to “play” with that month’s block idea.
I thought it might be fun to review my own “play” time and to show you one of my favorite pieces from each month.
“Hourglass” was the first month’s project. I was drawn to the half-rectangle triangle version–and here’s where I learned to diagonally cut a half-rectangle triangle block and recombine it to make a whole new block–which eventually wound up in my half-rectangle triangle series made with Latifah Saafir’s Hurty ruler. But more on that series later as the final and 4th quilt is now getting its binding sewn down.
Here are some small pieces I made with that half-rectangle “hourglass” block. I had fun with playing with hand-stitching and with trying a facing on one.
“Log Cabin” was the second month’s project, and here’s where I started learning how to put a project on stretched canvas. Tara gave us MANY variations of this narrow log cabin form, including triangles and hexagons in all sorts of sizes. I had to make myself STOP.
I hung this one in my quilt room, but all the rest of this month’s work have been gifted.
“Abstractions” was the third month’s project, and again, I made many different blocks with this method, plaing with density and color combinations.
I hung this one downstairs, and I smile whenever I see it.
“Wayward Arcs” was the fourth month project. And predictably, I had a lot of fun with this improv curve method and hand stitching.
“Big Slice” was the fifth month project–a new Tara Faughnan “wedding ring” block. I had made her older version years ago. I loved her fabric palette for this project, so ordered those fabrics and added a few more colors from my stash. This one is waiting in line for the longarm. It is 60 by 60 inches.
“Grid Work” was the sixth and final block idea.
I had made a type of grid work project last year in our Charleston Modern Quilt Group’s Sit and Sew, taught by Cathy Beemer, so after viewing projects shared on our online Community page, I moved to this idea of a city scape installed on stretched canvas. It wound up being 24 by 30.
Here’s the gridwork type of work I did last year and a picture of my recent treasures on stretched canvas hanging alongside.
After a lot of thought, I hung my Grid Work project, now called “City Scape” in my tv sitting room. It really makes the space next to my tv come alive. Here’s the view from my seat. The improv quilt on the chair is made from all the blocks I did in Blocks1.
Blocks3 will sign up in September. I’m thinking of doing it again. These past two years have been rich in experiences and new methods learned or old lessons expanded. Go to Tara’s web page to get her newsletters.
It’s April, and Tara Faughnan’s online class Blocks2 is finished for this year.
The 6th month March project block was “Grid Work.” I was late in the month starting to play with it, but while being late I checked into our Community page several times and got inspired by the kind of city scapes people were making. Some made whole small quilts of this kind of “grid” block–some even tried the funky blocks and made whole small quilts by joining their many blocks.
My project took me about a week to make and wound up being stretched on canvas that was 24 by 30 inches as I needed more room at the top for a big, orange moon.
I did not try to add in hand stitching as I just wanted this piece to be really graphic.
I am very pleased with this project and now am not sure where I want to hang it. It will probably wind up in the upstairs quilt studio.
What a fun class this year’s Block2 class has been!
“Gradations,” the 4th and final quilt in my half-rectangle triangle series, using Latifah Saafir’s Hurty ruler, is on the longarm.
I am sewing the colorful polka-dot binding on “Scrap Cabin” at night and have almost finished the 3rd side. (Rachel Hauser’s online sewalong in January, Stitched in Color blog.) Sewing binding is soothing, but for me, slow. I must sew tinier stitches than other people do??? I shared this quilt with Patchwork Gals this past week. Boy did it eat up stash fabric in my strip bins.
Here’s my design wall yesterday. “Big Slice” is folded on the left as it is all ironed and is waiting for its turn on the longarm. These two in-process quilts are being made with the Cat’s Cradle ruler. The left-side one is a 4-inch block made with the smaller ruler. The right-side is made with the larger ruler and is an 8-inch block, so will finish at 64 by 64. All the large blocks are done, but I’ll let this big-block quilt simmer for a few days before sewing the blocks together–in case I see something I want to switch.
There are many ways to set this Cat’s Cradle block, including one that makes a star. But I fell in love with the diagonal rows of little blocks and the rows that form with this setting and with this color placement in the block.
This big-block quilt is going to be a donation to the new Tunnel To Towers project here in Charleston, SC, that will house 98 local homeless veterans. (Tunnel to Towers started after 9-11 in New York city for those first responders who were injured. Now it is a national project for mostly homeless vets. (https://t2t.org/homeless-veteran-program/). They have asked the local quilt community for quilts for each bed, and we will do that work with pleasure.
Here is the smaller 4-inch block quilt. The 40-inch center has been webbed, leaving the horizontal rows unconnected, but so that the blocks stay in proper order. Now I’m adding blocks to the top and sides. I will need 16 by 18 rows in total to make this quilt a rectangle at 64 by 72.
When I pulled fabric pieces from my stash, I cut blocks from each piece of fabric for both quilts. The big blocks are done, but I now have to sew the 4-inch block parts I cut. And I will need to cut more along the way. It is a fun block to cut and sew though, so I don’t mind. And, again, ALL of these winter projects have been made from my stash fabrics–exept for some backings.
I am feeling really good about using up so much stash fabric this winter. It feels like making the fabric load much lighter. There is a balance for a scrappy quilter between keeping a stash of many colors and prints/solids and having an overload of fabric.
I’m taking it slow and wearing a brace, but the knee is ok for walking again! I’m so happy about being outside again.
Here’s “Big Slice”–made from block 5 in Tara Faughnan’s Block 2 online class–finished. Now I need to find a backing for it. I’ll use that midnight purple for the binding, and it is already cut.
This quilt had to be either 60 by 60 or 80 by 80, so I stopped at the smaller size. I’m intrigued by how circles form around some of the checkerboard squares depending on what colors surround them. I added the light blue and the brighter pink to Tara’s palette as I needed more variety.
I used the same paper templates for ALL of the curved pieces–which is a method Tara Faughnan teaches. You can use regular printer paper and a bit of glue–and you have no trouble with the templates sticking to the fabric–unlike what happens with freezer paper now that the formula has changed for the sticky side.
I’ve put the leftover fabrics back into my stash for the moment. I do love the scrappy forms of this block though…
The Scrap Cabin quilt came off the longarm Wednesday and got trimmed yesterday. I’ll put its binding on today. Recall that this quilt came from an online quiltalong hosted by Rachel Hauser of the Stitched in Color blog. I guess I’ll also call mine “Scrap Cabin.” The quilting texture in this quilt is awesome.
“Improv Sandbox” is totally done now–the binding is finished. I know you’ve seen this quilt many times now, but I do like to post final pictures when I finish a quilt.
These blocks are handmade–and were done over the winter when I ran out of handwork. Then I set the squared-up blocks in an improv arrangement. I just pulled existing scraps and made “funky” squares–many with a log cabin focus, but not all of them. I started with the grey square in the middle, as I had a lot of grey scraps in various sizes and strings.
A lot of the squares have some sort of fabric print focus that is…fun…like the ice cream cone in this square.
I’ve had this lime green fabric for many years in my stash–not used because I could never find the right use for the 2 yards I had. The print features peanuts, and I bought it as it reminded me of a cherished memory from my childhood. I was at my grandparents in Georgia–a small rural town–and my farmer uncle dropped in mid-morning with a bag full of freshly boiled and salted peanuts. The family women were sitting on the “north porch,” a screened porch that was cool in the morning–probably shelling peas or snapping beans for the noon big meal. My aunt, married to my uncle, LOVED boiled peanuts, and we stopped our work and enjoyed the treat he had brought to us. I can get teary-eyed even thinking about this special moment–one of many from my childhood days spent at this family compound of multiple houses.
The 2 yards was not quite wide enough, so I cut it and used this neutral fabric to create the back. I don’t like to see a thin strip of fabric located at the center of a quilt back–as that means two seams right at the center back. I prefer this method, which spreads out those seams more. For whatever that is worth…
It has been a productive week in the quilt studio.
The 4th quilt top in my series of 4 using the Hurty ruler designed by Latifah Saafir is done. AND, the math on the final border MATHED. I’m calling it “Gradations.”
The backing should come in the mail today. But I have to quilt the quilt presently on the longarm, the yet as unnamed “Scrap Cabin” from Rachel Hauser’s recent online sewalong.
Grandmother duties took me over to Bryan and Corinne’s, where I got a picture of the white camellia now blooming in front of their house. I think a white camellia is in my future. Their pink camellia has been blooming for some time now.
One of our new neighbors stopped by with a little gift for me. They bought a house here some months ago and are exploring this region.
This new neighbor’s mother sews quilts, and my neighbor follows my blog. She made the covering for this mug using a Cricket machine. That’s new technology for me. I can’t even…
What a sweet and thoughtful gift!
It is bright and sunny and cold here, after a big storm front went through earlier this week–significant enough so that they closed the schools. But we got some much-needed rain and escaped the possibility of tornadoes. There have been big fires north and west of us as the state is–or was–very dry. BIG fires.
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