...doing good stitches in January

It feels like ages since I last made a bee block, and I guess in a way it is. In the Cherish circle we take December off so I last made a block in November and I made it the first weekend of the month so it has bee about 10 weeks. Ages!

This month Kim asked for star blocks in blue and white.

I chose to make Another Star by Beth Gutcheson using the tutorial from Fresh Lemons Quilts. I constructed mine a little differently by sewing the first strip on the center square using a partial seam and the finishing it off after the other three strips were sewn.

I also chose to make the Evening Star block using the tutorial by Swim, Bike, Quilt published as part of the Summer Sampler series. I also changed this one up a bit by using a single piece to make the star points.

I can't wait to see how this quilt turns out!

...finally finished - A bee Quilt

I have been, at different times in four different bees. One of them is the do. Good Stitches bee and has very clear guidelines in the due dates to finish quilts for which you have been responsible for the design so have finished the three quilts I have been responsible for in that one. 

That leave three bees for me and until earlier this week the total of finished quilts I had for them was zero. To be fair two were in the late quilting stages but had languished in that phase for ages and had been in various stages of construction for nigh on two years. The other is a spring chicken at only about a year old but still at exactly the same form as when the blacks arrived back in my mailbox. 

But thanks in part to the Olympics and the cold nights I have finished off the hand quilting on this one. And in a rare display of some good solid forward planning and because of the placement of the machine quilting I could hand stitch down the binding right away instead of waiting for the interest in getting it done to outweigh the laziness of needing to change to the walking foot because I attached the binding at the time of the machine quilting.

The blocks were completed by the lovely ladies of the Bee Seam Piecing Downunder bee with a theme of 'Circles'. I also asked that each sign a siggy block that I later embroidered and pieced into the back with a couple of blocks that didn't make it back in time to be sewn into the front. 

The sashing and borders took a few different forms before this final version - 2" finished sashing in Kona Coal and scrap 2" finished squares for the border. 

The backing in this Aqua print from Spotlight (with the extra blocks, siggy blocks and some sashing) and the binding in yet more scraps from the feature fabrics. 

Machine quilting in the sashing was with some 12wt Aurifil 1/4" inside each seam and then the border squares each had an X quilted inside with a 40wt Aurifil. An echo or feature circle was hand quilted inside each of the block in DMC Perle 8 in a light grey.

Finishing at about 58" by 71" this one is a little wider and shorter than average but great for the couch at night. 

Thanks to Pam, Bec, Emma, Erin, Kelly, Kelly, Rose, Sue, Liz, Nicole and Abby for the blocks and for a wonderful year of patchwork and an another year of quilting!

...making links

When I posted about my vision for the May do. Good Stitches quilt by the cherish circle I was thinking the block would be a good scrap buster for the bees in the circle, would make a decent sized quilt and the blocks would look like little chain links, hence the name. 

When I went to think of a title for this post I also though - hey, it links us all as well. I'm not too quick with things like that sometimes. 

The top came together really quickly thanks to the 12 oversized blocks it is made up of and basting was completed over the weekend when I scrounged enough basting pins from the already quilted sections of the other 4 I am currently quilting (3 hand, 1 machine - yes I know, I'm crazy). 

I've been working on practising my free motion quilting for a little while now, mostly on smaller pieces and I felt ready to tackle a larger project. In the centre of the links I FMQed some lines, Amanda Jean style, and then in the larger white squares went back and made some spirals to soften some of the lines. I'm pretty darn pleased for a beginning effort. I'd like the spirals to be a little more round and a little less egg shaped but I can't draw that well with paper and pencil so I don't think I can expect miracles with thread and fabric. 

I used a Gutterman Sulky 30wt in white cotton and I found it really good to use with only a few breakages (which I really think was down to my technique and not the machine). 

It's bound in a white solid from my stash which I think frames it nicely and blends well with the Little Things fabric used on the back. 

It measures about 59"x 78" so it is a good size and it will be off to Needy Stitches later in the week when I head down that way for work. 

...crafty time

While I'm not a teacher I work in schools and with students so when school holidays come around I don't have to leave for work so early in the morning or work quite so last. This weekend marks the beginning of two weeks of this quieter, less frantic work time and in just my style I have a long, long list of crafty plans.

This weekend saw me have a very crafty themed weekend with a fun Sit and Sew evening on Friday night (with the start of my Hexy MF after my papers arrived and I finally decided on my fabrics - but more on that later), a very sad craft show on Saturday with some not sad at all company and lots of sewing and other things. Let's hope I haven't burnt myself out too early!

Top of the list was the blocks for June for the Cherish circle of do. Good Stitches. Melissa had asked for Granny Squares with and extra rounds and pink as the last one (she had sent us the spots to be used for one of them). Given the larger size someone had dubbed them Great Granny squares - a good name I think!
It was good to be able to put some of the 2.5" scrap stash I cut up ages ago to good use.

She has asked they be sent back untrimmed but I folded some of the sawtooth edges over to see how the pinks will look together - OK, I think and I love the concept - looks much more like a 'real' Granny Square!

The other was also to get the top together for the May do. Good Stitches Cherish quilt - for which I was responsible for the design. I posted about my plan here and I am so please it has come together a lot like what I had in my mind. I have the backing and the batting ready to go - I just need to do the next thing on the list and finish quilting one of the quilts I have on the go to gather enough basting pins for the basting and quilting!

I hope to have this one quilted and bound in the next couple of weeks!

...bee quilt update

 Earlier this month I posted a tutorial for my fellow bee makes in do. Good Stitches bee Cherish circle. The other ladies in this bee are so efficient two blocks have already arrived in the postbox and others are on the way.

As this bee only has 10 people per circle I made two extra blocks this morning so the final quilt will be a 3x4 layout and measure almost 60"x80".

Laid out in the front hallway with the door open to let in some light for photos it brightened up a dreary and cold Melbourne day although the air coming in with the light was quite brisk!

...quilting, quilting, quilting

It has come to that time of the year when getting pictures is difficult, it is dark when I leave for work in the morning and get home at night... and the weekends are often gloomy and rainy.

The upside? It is wonderful to sit on the couch in the evening under the quilt and wield the needle threaded with the perle cotton. 

I'm having a great time enjoying the the little frames fairytale friends. 

...planning stitching and crackers (do. Good Stitches March Cherish Quilt)

This post is about the quilt I have designed for the next month of the Cherish Circle in do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}


I make no claims the that following block design or colour choices are my own. I have taken ideas and inspiration from this design on the Moda Bakeshop by Mary from the Tulip Patch and this block by Angela from Cut to Pieces. A colour plan came from the Warm and Cool quilt along hosed by Jeni from In Color Order. I have chosen to revise the block tutorials highlighting the measurement of block components and colour placements for clarity and the ease of use by my bee mates. So here goes!


This month we will each be making one larger than average block that is constructed in four quarters (two warm and two cool in this design). 

To construct the whole block you will need


(4) 6" square of white (any will do but please avoid creams, light greys and beige) 
(2) 6" warm colour squares (or 4 triangles cut from 2 6" squares) 

Cross cut all of the squares into triangles

(2) 6" cool colour squares  (or 4 triangles cut from 6" squares)  
(4) 2 3/4" x 7 1/4" cool colour rectangles
(4) 2 3/4" x 7 1/4" warm colour rectangles 
(4) 2 3/4" x 7 1/4" rectangles of white (any will do but please avoid creams, light greys and beige )
Note: As part of the Quilt Along Jeni had a great primer on Warm and Cool colours, worth a read here. Like her, I am looking for colours that are medium value but on the warm or cool spectrum. Sticking to the medium value should help the blocks to fit cohesively together. 

This would be the time to raid your scrap box to get a huge variety of fabric colours and prints. The hardest to include variety in will be the squares (to become the corner triangles) because of the way they are cut but if you have some off cuts from large HST this would be a great use for them. 


Constructions
1. Make the centre units 
Sew a warm (cool) strip to each side of the white strips. You will end up with four units, two warm and two cool. Press seams towards the coloured strips. 

2. Sew on the coloured triangles

- Find the centre of the centre white rectangle and the centre of the long side of the triangle. To do this fold the units in half and finger press the centre, be extra careful when doing the triangle so as not to warp the bias edge.

 - Match the crease marks and sew triangle to the centre square. Press the seams towards the coloured triangle on the warm blocks and the centre unit on the cool blocks. 

- You will end up with something that looks like this. 

- Repeat with the other three units. 

3. Sew on the white triangles

- Using the same method find the centres again. 

- Match the crease marks and sew on the white triangles. Press seams towards the triangle on the cool blocks and the centre unit on the warm blocks. 

- You will have one quarter unit completed!

- Repeat with the other three units. 

4. Trim your units

- The units have been deliberately oversized. They will be trimmed to 10" square. I find having a square ruler really helps me do this and this is how I have done it in the pictures but there is not reason is can't be done with a straight ruler. 

 - Place the ruler over the completed block, matching the mark 1/4" from the edge of the ruler with the spot where your centre unit and triangles meet. This will ensure you are left with a seam allowance that will not cut off your points when you join the units!

5. Sew your units together to make a block!

 - Lay your units our with the coloured triangles meeting in the middle and the units forming an 'X' of sorts. 

You will want the warm units on the top left and bottom right. 

 - Pin the units that form the top row together matching the points and sew. Press towards the 'Warm' block. 

 - Repeat with the bottom row, again pressing towards the warm block. 

 - Sew the two halves together nesting the centre seam and matching the triangle points. 

Your block will be about 19.5" square and finish in the quilt at 19"

Success! Thanks so much 'Cherish' Bees!

...fine for ducks...and quilting

When I was 15 my family and I went on our first (and to date, only) overseas trip as a family travelled the massive distance to New Zealand. Come to think of it it wasn't such a short trip, we were coming from Perth and had top stop over in Sydney making the travel time quite awhile.

But I digress, sort of. At the time my brother must have been about 11 and had a little travel diary that he filled in. At the top of the page were spaces for a whole lot of information that the printers of the diary though essential for the traveller to record but the only stat I remember specifically is where you had to record the weather. I can't remember all the descriptions now but the one for rain was described as 'fine for ducks'. There were a lot of days that little box was ticked.

Today in Melbourne has been wonderful for ducks....and sewing.

So I have made my November blocks for do. Good Stitches Cherish circle. We had free rain this month on the block design but an aqua, orange and grey palette.

This block is Potager by Yvonne and featured in Modern Blocks.

The second is a Cracker Jack rip-off. The centre section of the block is actually a quarter of a block designed by Angela in this tutorial. I was all set to make the whole block until I came to the part where you trim the quarter and confirmed my suspicion that what I had was too big to be trimmed to 6.5". Note to self, read through the whole tutorial before starting in future.

I added the border to my 10" unit and am still quite pleased with it, and also quite sure I might put this tutorial to use for a quilt in the not too distant future.

...do. Good Stitches - the local connection

Last year sometime I joined do.good Stitches, it was/is another Flickr based bee but instead of participants requesting blocks to be made into a quilt for themselves the resulting quilts donated to various charities or to individuals who are going through difficult times.

Earlier this year I was given the opportunity to form part of an Australian based circle, I jumped at the chance, charity beginning at home and all that.

The second month with this new circle was my chance to design a quilt, or the second time. I had previously been given special dispensation to make this quilt for Claire after the floods in Queensland but prior to the beginning of the interbational circle all the quilters (and quilt donations) were made in the US.

I had been inspired by blocks published here, here, here and here on the Lark crafts blog and after gaining permission to trace and send the templates for various blocks I went out and bought the book, spent a lot more time than I expected would be necessary tracing them and then sent them off to my other bee mates.

I asked that all blocks be made in solids or nearly solids and that the animal blocks that finished at various sizes accoring to the templates, be sashed in primary or secondary colours to a 12.5" unfinished block.

The blocks were not 'easy', when I originally planned the quilt I thought they were paper pieced and I wasn't until I was fully committed to the theme I realised they were all cut from templates. I came to realise many of the bee mates were not so familiar with pieces of fabric that small cut with templates and embroidery or with the applique that about half the blocks included - but without fail everyone gave the challenge a try and the blocks all turned out wonderfully!! I appreciate their effort all the more with the little added challenge.

Sewing the top together was ver straight forward. The sizing borders on each of the block meant their was no need for sashing and I think the whole exercise only took about 20 minutes!

Backing was 2/3 Lizzy House Red Letter Day ducks that I found in the cupboard having bought for a steal at spotlight and a Spotlight Solid in yello mustard colour.

Quilting was 1/4 inch inside each of the frames and 14inch outside the animal blocks. This seems to have kept the whole thing stong enough without needing to sew all over everyone careful piecing.

It has been delivered to Needy Stitches and will soon been delivered to a little girl who is jest beginning her chemotherapy journey. Hopefully this will add a little brightness to a drab time.

...Sew Australia - A Bee Block Tutorial

My month in the Sew Australia bee has less snuck up on me, rather arrived with no smaller pile of things to do and little planning for the bee being done until recently. My thinking went something like this. I want a block (and a quilt) that is not the same as all the others (don't ask me to explain what I mean by same and others - I don't know). And I had fabric already chosen and bought so whatever I came up with had to be something that would suit, and feature, the novelty prints. The fabric is Circa 50 so I was thinking a 1950's design. Google couldn't help me with that but I did spy this quilt.


The description suggests that the block is called 'Stacked Hex' or 'Running Hex' but for the life of me I can't find the hexagon unit in it. If you can please tell me, it is driving me insane. But in the absence of such sight I drafted myself a block and will add the setting triangles between it and the sashing for a twin size quilt when they all return.


I'm calling the block 50's Crystal for a lack of knowledge as to the real name.  
***EDIT*** Lisa has pointed out that the finished block has six sides, and is therefore a hexagon. There might be some goemetry experts out there that would argue the case and point out the six sides are not equal in length but I think they would be nitpicking. Maybe I should be calling it a Stacked Hex block afterall.


Apologies for the dark, rubbish pictures. No matter what I do I can't seem to get a good picture at night and that is when I get to sew.
 50's Crystal Block Tutorial


For each block you will need
1x 6" square of dark print
2x 5" square of light print (I used a print and solid)
1x 4" square of light print cut on point.
I have described where I used the dark and light print - my sashing will be reasonably dark and that has impacted my placement but switching them would give an effect more like the inspiration quilt.


Construction
Step 1: Making the end units

 Place 5" Squares right sides together and draw a line corner to corner. Sew 1/4" each side of this line.

Cut along the drawn line, press seams to set and then press seam towards the print.


Trim these units to 4" square. Place your ruler with the 45 degree mark on the seam line ensuring the edge of the block extends beyond the 4" mark on your ruler.

Trim the two sides and then turn the block, line up with the 4" line again and the 45 degree line and trim the final two sides.


You will now have the 3 centre squares that are sewn into the block on point.

Step Two: The setting triangles
The 6" square will be cut into 4 triangles like you are cutting a sandwich.
First cut corner to corner diagonally.

And then cut the resulting triangle in half again. It helps to position the 45 degree line on the side and the ruler on the point to ensure your halves will be equal. I find cutting one and a time makes this more accurate.

 Lay out your setting triangles with the square units you made in the previous step. The blocks will be orientated vertically in the final quilt so please orientate the squares in this way when laying it out. The solid white triangles should be on the outside.

The triangles will extend 1/4" beyond the square on one side. Match the top corner (right angle corner) of the triangle with the corner of the square as shown in the picture above.

Sew a one triangle to each of the end squares and two to the middle square.

You will end up with three units as shown above.

Press to set all seams and then press seam allowances towards the setting triangles.

Step Three: Joining the units.
The last step is joining the three units.

Nest the seams as shown in the picture above and pin on the seamline. Your prints and whites will be right sides together as shown in the picture above as well.
You want the seams to match and that 1/4" tag at each end of the seam as shown below.

Sew both joining seams and...

You're done!

There are a lot of pictures in this post spelling out what might seems to be really basic steps but they do help make a precise block. The blocks actually don't take that long to make either but I think they will look pretty effective on mass!

Bee Seam Piecing Downunder - Quilt Top Mark II

A while ago I sewed this top together but I stalled at the basting stage - I have come to realise that I didn't like it and I think it was the sashing. 


So I have changed it. 


I used the squares for the outer borders and sashed each of the blocks in come Kona Coal. 

I like it much better now.

Next step, choosing a backing and basting.