Boxed Hourglass from a Tube

Found a nifty Missouri Star Quilt Co. tutorial a while back and worked up a block to use as practice for free motion quilting. The practice block stayed with all my other quilting helps, but eventually I forgot where I had found the pattern and how the block was cut and sewn! Aaaargh! Happily I ran across the tutorial tonight. Click here and see what you think of it.

       Use two strips of 2.5 inch WOF (width of fabric) strips sewn togehter. Then lay a 4.25 inch WOF strip on top and sew using 1/4 inch seam to form a tube. Use 45 degree angle line of ruler laid on the 1/4 inch seam of tube at one side of tube; make cut, then move the angle line to other side of the tube (on 1/4 inch seam line again) to make cut. Do for four cuts and you get the pieces of the double hourglass set on point.

Salvaged by the Sashing

Unfinished, a photo by Jane-Ace on Flickr.

one of my favorite tutorial sources has been the videos posted by Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company. (Quack.) ;o)

   The blocks pictured here were thrown together using five strips of 1.5 inch widths along the lines of her posted tutorial for the "Three Dudes'" block. I was not especially careful with my quarter inch in stitching these, and ended up (somehow) with three sets of three different sizes. So, I had nine blocks, but each set of three was incrementally larger than the last. If I cut them to size, I would lose some of the corner color. I finally decided to "fix" it by cutting sashing in the odd sizes needed to end up with a square. I would be more specific, but honestly, I don't know how I did it. 

I tend to like downsizing patterns, but this one would be more effective had I stuck with the 2.5 inch strips suggested in the tutorial. I nearly lost the effect of the framed mid-section due to the smaller size strips I used. Also... this won't work unless each strip is equal width as the other strips.


[See Nov. 12 "Scrappy Quilt" post for photo of completed quilt.]

  

Scrappy Quilt

Scrappy Quilt, a photo by Jane-Ace on Flickr.

  This was just going to be a throw together piece for me to practice free motion quilting, but I wound up using only "stitch in the ditch" stitching, after all. My class instructor had shown me an article about how, even for free motion quilting, it is good to stabilize a quilt with "stitch in the ditch"stitching...so the free motion does not make the quilt wonky. 

Some of the fabric in this came from stash dating back twenty-four years! My daughter saw it and laid claim for her hope chest, since she recognized some of the fabric as having been from outfits I had made for her when she was preschool age. 

Nice that she will treasure it, even though I had to make some of the sashing narrow to get the less-than-accurately stitched blocks into a square for the borders. [See "Salvaged by the Sashing" post for more about that.]The finished size is about 30" square.

 

Binding a Matter of Connecting Threads

Binding the Scrappy Quilt of the post by the same name was pretty straightforward. The backing fabric was this yellow and brown print I found on the summer sale table at our local Hancock fabric. I loved the little terms of endearment scattered across it: "sweet pea", "sweet heart", "pea pod", etc. I used a beautiful pink floral print both for the front border and the binding. It was a remnant found at Hancock's, as well. Anyway, there was just precisely enough of it to do what was needed. I went back to the shop, because I liked it so much. I would have bought a few yards, even though pink is not what normally attracts me. Apparently the remnant was the very last of it, though.

   When I get to the part of joining the binding, I like the method used by Connecting Threads in this binding video:  Bumpless Binding. It was first illustrated for me by our local quilting instructor. (Yea! Sandy!) But since I seem to need to look over someone's shoulder every time I get a quilt this far, I was glad to find the video. Do be careful, in using this method, when you get to the actual cutting of the overlap, only cut the top strip. If you cut through both, you'll end up having to piece more binding on to the truncated lower strip. Ask me how I know. ;o)

Afternote: Check on this video from the 8:25 minute mark for a clearer picture of the lining up of the end pieces.

Mini "Them"s

The scraps from the three "Buddy" quilts for my kids were just too few for a new project unless I were to make three mini versions of the lap quilt I had done. While the pattern was still fresh, I reduced the measurements for these three mini quilts. My intention was to practice some free motion on them and possibly group them as a wall display. That way, when the kids and their families come, they will see a little taste of what now is in their homes. Not sure yet how I'll mount them.Whenever I see them, though, it will be a reminder of each of them and their households, and unlike photos, I'll not need to update them every few months!

Focused on the love(er) of Red

IMG_4961cropped, a photo by Jane-Ace on Flickr.   Our first challenge in "Quilting 101", or at least in "Shopping for Fabric 101" was to choose a focus fabric. I knew my first quilt would go to my daughter who told me in no uncertain terms after learning I had gifted a baby quilt to someone other than her, that the next quilt I made would be for her hope chest. So, one factor of fabric selection is thinking about who will receive the quilt. Even as I thought of this, I began to think that giving my youngest a quilt, would likely be followed up by presenting her two older brothers with a quilt of equal value and possibly improved skills. So, I'm perking up three color schemes not having found even my first's focus fabric from which to select the other fabrics. Well, the daughter has a vital connection to Japan, loves the color red and received her marriage proposal at Tokyo Disneyland. The fabric selection came together quickly enough once I found the Asian inspired print with Chinese characters for LOVE, DREAM, PEACE, and BLESSING. How fun to find the Mickey Mouse sillouette in red for one of the complimentary prints. She knew when she saw it why it was there. The backing print looked to others like a little old lady's choice, but it, too, is definitely inspired by Asia...and maybe Japan specifically. So, of the three quilts done for my three children's households, this one was pieced and quilted first, and bound second due to some simultaneous quilting combined with a Thanksgiving visit from the second son and his wife. Their quilt was so nearly done, that I went ahead and did a "rush" for the binding of it.

A Salute to Sweden ... Cool & Calm Colors

Quilt 2, a photo by Jane-Ace on Flickr.  Though I said, "A Salute to Sweden", I suppose it was more like a "nod" than a "salute". The colors used were inspired by preferences I've noted in my daughter-in-law's interior design choices. She is of Swedish descent and I have noticed that there seems to be a calmness in the colors related to that nation's designs. Swedish fabric, though, was difficult to track down, so I used some Japanese prints again, as my son needed also to be represented in this quilt. The pattern is the same one I had used for my daughter's quilt, but the end product was quite different in tone. This made for an interesting discovery into the importance of fabric selection and how it contributes to the finished product. 

         Funny sideline was that just as I had made a grandiose explanation of how it was I was presenting my son and daughter-in-law with this "baby" size quilt with no intention of rushing them into a commitment to make me a grandmother any time soon, they presented my husband and I with a Happy Thanksgiving card, the signature of which is pictured below: 

  How fun is that?