Right Turn

The “Banner Quilt” in progress was looking less than exciting in the original layout, which at one time had looked fresh and new. All the blocks in the same alignment. 40 different fabrics, 4 each. Then I came across a layout for a quilt online that used the same alignment of half-square triangle blocks, and something dull became more interesting.

Original layout:

 

New block:

 

Wall-o-stars or Star Dance:

 

Quilting is fun again! On the wall I have used two colors per star, using the sets of 4 of the same fabric, mixing a dot with a stripe. I may change it before sewing them together.

My son recently asked me if I would be interested in the book “Crafting with Cat Hair” for Christmas.  Um, no thanks.  I’ve heard of the book “Knit Your Own Cat”, which I also don’t need.

Christmas projects are piling up – son asked for a pair of warm knitted socks (I checked, he was not running a fever), husband asked for a waterproof bike helmet cover and a tool roll-up for a set of chisels.  I’ve yet to make any of the cute folded stars, or dust off the snowflake kit from several years back (I made quite a few snowflakes on my own before purchasing the kit, making some forms of my own with wire and glue gun, then found pre-formed wire forms.) I think the kit just intimidates me, it should be fun, I love snowflakes. Today I found a new tutorial for small crochet stars, They look like TV crocheting, if I can make the conversion from English to American stitches.

Big and Small Quilts

It's been a long while since I've piece a queen-sized quilt. My friend J asked if I would be interested in looking at a quilt that her sister started and didn't finish. From the receipt, it looks like it was started in 1992. 34 blocks were finished, alternate sawtooth stars and 9-patch with a large center. Lots of fabric: soft blue with stars, navy with small roses and a white-on-white background. J thought she would like the finished quilt, as her favorite color is blue. I had her measure how large she would like it to be, drew up a layout in EQ7, and started cutting.

65 more blocks later, and the challenge of pressing the seams open to match her sister's blocks, I had her top put together with a 9 x 10 layout and a double border. We discussed patterns, thread color and backing and batting over the phone, and as I had an open date, was able to quilt and bind it less than three weeks after she brought me the project. I do work more steadily if I have a deadline, in this case the unexpected quilting opening.

Also in the box of fabric she gifted me were 64 4 ½” squares of three different green fabrics. I found a forth green fabric in stash, and a new charity quilt project is ready to sew.

The twin-sized quilt in progress is the Banner Quilt, consisting of half-square triangles sewn in sets to resemble flags or banners. 40 different bright prints from a long-ago online sale of fq’s with my favorite white-on-white swirl fabric that I’ve been hoarding saving for the right project.

The small quilt is Baby Owls made from drunkard’s path blocks. I originally saw it on Cindy’s blog, and she included a link to the tutorial for it. All the fabrics are from stash, including the border with owls. I may do a combination of hand and machine quilting on it. I finished the assembly at a local weekend quilt retreat.

And finally the fabrics for the Diamond 4-Patch have been cut. I’m trying to avoid cutting off the points per the EQ7 templates for alignment, and think I’ve found another way to get good alignment for the seams. I’ll post pictures if the test pieces work.