Color audition

Hello, everyone. Today I started working on a small quilt. I pieced a few squares and found some more pieced squares, then raided the (many) charm packs to find some compatible squares. This is just an allover collection of 5" squares. 

I'm auditioning fabric for narrow sashing between the squares.

This is the color shot.

This is as close as my phone gets to plain old black-and-white. (To look at values of the fabrics) Somewhere during updating, some idiot decided that I REALLY need about 8 different color variations but only 2 that are at least close to B&W. And at the end of the row there's a little arrow. I tapped it to see if the B&W option has been hidden in the corner. NO-O-O!  The arrow leads to some pitch that involves Samsung membership update. Or something. They don't even tell you why you want to do that.

Way to go, Samsung! That was pure genius. (Not, for the sarcasm impaired!)

I might move or change out one of those dark purple squares. They're both batiks. I'm pretty sure there is a milder shade of purple available in the stash. 

New Sewing Club Project

Hello, everyone.  We're in normal summer weather in this region: partly to mostly sunny, and if it doesn't rain, the day's high temperature will be in the 90's F. 

In this weather, what we call "air conditioning season" we enjoy indoor hobbies during the afternoons. Like sewing.

This large quilted bow was our meeting project at Sewing Club. I finished the ladt topstitching and assembly after getting home. This purchased pattern required tons of 4" squares to make the bow pieces. It also involved fusible fleece batting for the support of the "ribbons." 

In the execution,  I discovered that maybe the seams of the piecing should have been pressed open, instead of to the side for nested seams like I did. The seams did nest, but they were very thick. Also there was a lot of bulk in the bow tails; maybe leaving out the fusible there would have been wise. 

Topstitching the edges meant stopping to walk the needle over almost every seam. 

After completion, though, the bow came out pretty. I suppose I could see doing another in a different color assortment. It does clear out stash fabrics.

A hint about the latest project

Hello, everyone.  Today's photo is a little tease about the latest work in process.

The squares of this item are chosen, trimmed to size as needed, laid out, and labeled for sewing into rows. 

All from stash, too! More later.

The second little fabric tree is done

Hello, everyone.  When I posted about the fabric table top tree a few days ago, I mentioned that the pattern makes two trees. The areas between the pieces of the bigger tree provide also three more triangles for a companion tree.

It's about half the size of the first tree.

Decorations are once again sequins, pailettes, and beads from stash. There was a little mother of pearl butterfly which got tacked onto the center panel (the "front") for a bit of an accent.

It's nice to have finished one of the "gonna-do" projects in the sewing room.

A new Christmas craft project

Hello, everyone. As promised, a picture of the latest Christmas craft project.

As you can see from the pattern photo, this makes two fabric trees. The first is done enough to stand on the table. It lacks a seam or closure on the third side. If I do a seam as called for in the pattern, I have to find a place to store it standing up. The tree is around 15 inches tall, so this is a little bit difficult. 

If I do a closure on the third side, like maybe some little snap tabs made of ribbon, the tree can be stored flat with such larger objects as the Nativity scene.

The second tree has been pieced and cut out. It needs the binding on the three triangles, decorations, and the seams. (Plus closure?) 

The decorations on the tall tree are sequins, in stash, and #8 seed beads, also from stash.

Speaking of stash, all of the fabric and batting was in stash. I do think that my scrap batting was a bit too thick. If I make this again, I'm going to either cut the batting strips narrower than the fabric strips or buy a craft pack of the extra thin cotton batting for potholders and potato bags.

This is what needs to be done with the batting. 

The curved-ruler pieced tree is decorated

Hello,  everyone.  It's been busy around the home place, but we're in a calm spot for a few days, so there's time to make a post.

Last year I made a wall hanging Christmas tree. It wasn't decorated--no time, and no plan! This year, a plan grew for decorations for the little tree. First rule of the decorations was that they have to be light weight. The gorgeous rhinestone brooches would make the tree too heavy to be held up by tape on a door. Fortunately, there were a lot of little Free Standing Lace mylar light bulbs left over from the Kimberbell Christmas quilt project a few years ago. I also have a cute little Starlight Mint coaster/ornament pattern from Designs By JuJu. They're about 4" and the free standing applique is very light weight. A couple of FSL ornaments turned up in the Christmas boxes, too.

Now it really looks like a Christmas tree.

Working out a new skill

Hello, everyone. As y'all might remember,  DH was really interested in a modern art painting at the Museo Thyssen-Bournemisza (spelling guessed from memory here) that was essentially a "color play" painted and modified version of a log cabin style quilt block. I think it was by Mondrian, and the general effect was a square spiral in a collection of similar-mood colors. He asked me to make a quilt like that.

the first try at getting the idea together.

There are about 22 squares that have the accent strip going diagonally down the middle, with each half a different color.

Today the trial divided square: 

and the size, without trimming

Pretty much right on!

Whoopee!

One more pair of the Hemingway pouches

Hello, everyone.  The slant-zipper pouches are so much fun--when the zipper cooperates!--that I made another pair. I used most of a fat quarter of ocean-themed fabric for the face and part of a blue, speckled one for the lining. Zippers were from stash, this particular pattern only uses one half of the zipper for a bag, leaving the other half in inventory to be combined with a zipper pull on another one. As witness, the larger of these pouches has a "pickup " pull and the maroon zipper tape that was also on a different pouch.

Now that there are three sets in the house, they will need to find a purpose to fulfill. The smaller ones are just the right size for coin purses. Phones would fit in some of the larger ones. 

A break from the history (edited to add link)

Hello, everyone. This is a little update on sewing projects.

This baby quilt went together very smoothly. I used some of the squares in a layer cake and 10 inch squares of panda fabric, plus jelly roll strips and scrap 2.5 inch squares at the corners. (These little squares are sometimes called mini charms; some of them are small four patch squares.) 

One of the bags from the Ripstop By The Roll sample DIY kit. This was HyperD300 fabric, so it didn't turn into a stuff sack. It's too stiff for the drawstring closure. It did work well with a zipper. 

The other two bags from the kit, both in ripstop fabrics and using the provided drawstring and cord locks. The black one is a  really thin and slick ripstop, so it would do great with managing socks and lingerie on a trip. The green one is also ripstop, but it has a brushed feel rather like Taslan.

I tried to embroider on a scrap of the HyperD300, but the fabric drew up a lot. I did something wrong, but I don't know what yet.

That's all of the projects that have been photographed. Some others haven't posed for the camera yet. 

The parrot is finished

Hello, everyone.  I might have put up a project progress report a few months ago on this bird. It's from a quilt pattern by Quilt Fox Design. The wall hanging version was a class project at RGV Sew and Quilt, a little ways down the road. The class was a lot of fun.

I was so excited to have this finished that I hung it up even before ironing the rumples out. (Sorry) Much of the quilting was basically echoes of the fabric shapes, with a couple of areas done in straight lines. I did change the thread color to go with the fabric substrate so that the bird would remain the focus of the project. 

The pattern, in case anyone wants to make a pieced parrot.

A small project to relax with

Hello,  everyone.  After the big quilt, I was a little tired, mentally,  and wanted to do something that's not such a HUGE commitment of time and energy. 

A piece of scrap from the vinyl sided zipper bag we did in Sewing Club a while back looked a little bit like a boat...one thing led to another and it turned into a fidget mat.

There was a satin triangle that had been a stitching test piece, so now it has stitched texture, and a triangle also left from that zipper bag, a piece of solid blue left over from making a different zipper pouch, some more of the shiny, blue "fur" in the stash...I embroidered a couple of fish in the blue water and added bead "bubbles" and some decorative stitches from the sewing machine to imply currents and seaweed, more scraps to make a hillside building with a little path and some button shrubs...it was all very relaxing until it was time to stitch onto the fur. Then the texture was getting into the presser foot of the machine. I ended up covering all of the fur with Sulky Solvy to hold it still.

At the end, I  used solid golden binding that was left from the big quilt. (I had cut about 10 yards and connected them all together. It wasn't a surprise that there was some extra.)

It was a nice break from manipulating huge piles of fabric. 

Detail photo on the quilt

Hello, everyone.  The other day when I posted about the quilt, there was a detail of the center panel that I wanted to post, but the Blogger app insisted on turning it sideways. Even after cropping to get it wider than tall. A couple of days later it appears that the revised shape of the image has settled in.

The silhouette of the cowmen and their horses is what I think attracted DH to fall in love with the wall hanging in the store. This detail also shows most of the star blocks.

The white frame around the panel is linen from the stash. The prints, while I love them, are very monotone and the highlight really helps punch it up. IMHO.

The quilt is finished

Hello,  everyone. The quilt that was begun before the baby quilt, and set aside temporarily for it, is now completed. 

Overall view, on a bed:

This is the quilt that began when we saw a quilt using the center panel hanging on the display wall at the quilt shop in Hannibal, Missouri. The six side squares were another panel in the fabric line. The various horses prints and the cattle print, plus a number of semi-solid browns, tans, and golds, worked with the panels. The fourteen star blocks used a hats print that was in stash for the center squares.

This was a pretty big project, but it's the right size for a bedspread. I like making things that can be used and enjoyed.

Quilt in progress: Cowboy Culture (edited to correct spelling)

Hello, everyone.  This is just a short "catch-up " on the queen-sized quilt that's been a Work In Process since before we left on our Camino walk this spring. 

The genesis of this quilt was a really cool display quilt we saw in Hannibal,  Missouri, on our way from Denver to Alton, Illinois, a year or so back. I'm reasonably sure that the quilt display was mentioned in a blog post about Hannibal. It was quite a while after that road trip before work commenced, beginning with sketching on graph paper, construction of star blocks,and piecing. At this point, the whole top is assembled,  the back is assembled--used up a lot of spare blocks in the bargain there-- and the quilting is done. The binding has been constructed and now it's ready to be added. 

The binding strip is about 10 yards long, so I used a piece of scrap fabric to prevent tangles. 

The angled pin is to mark where I will stop sewing at the corner so it can be mitered.

A finished quilt, plus bonus from scraps

Hello, everyone.  There has been all kinds of activity around the home place. Particularly there has been sewing.

The baby quilt, draped over the sofa. (Nobody else was available to hold it up.)

Y'all might recognize the color scheme here.

This is the Quiltsmart Midi bag. The squares finish at 2 inches, the pattern comes printed onto fusible interfacing which makes the corner matching easier. I followed the directions to add a pocket, but I'm not excited for it, as the fold a pocket into one lining piece methods they use leaves one with a pocket on a 45 degree angle. (Oh well, I have now tried that idea out.) If I make another I'll either skip the pocket or use a more sensibly aligned method to put one in.

More color play with the parrot

Hello, everyone.  In between working on the cowboy quilt, I have been working on the parrot wall hanging. This is the photo that turned sideways in the last post. (Bad Blogger!) I'm thinking about the binding now.

And this time it's right side up.

Both the purple batik and the assorted oranges speak to me. There is some question whether there is enough of the oranges. I estimate needing 10 feet plus miters for the length of this binding. 

I do think that a little flange of orange would look nice with the purple batik binding. The orange in the eye, the gold in the wattle, and the golden spirals in the wing would play with it, and the varied shades in the batik would work with the perch and the greens.

New project, and color play

Hello,  everyone.  I went to a class at a quilt shop down the highway a ways (RGV Quilt and Sew) and have gotten the face of the class project put together.  But, before putting parts together,  we all took turns working out a fabric palette, different for each student, and did practice layouts of our chosen prints. 

This was mine. Of the pieces here, two were already in my collection.  (The yellow and purple grunge fat quarters) The greens, the Kaffe Fassett fungus, and the brown speckles were pulled from the shop shelves. Likewise the peach-colored marbled print which will be the background. 

Here is the assembled face of the wall hanging:

Sadly, the Blogger app turns this photo on it's side. The parrot is having a little  nap, I guess.

 I have the fabric clipped onto the cabinets in my sewing room, using some photographer's clips, because that's what I have for a try-out wall. And the old chip clips just didn't grip the melamine doors like these ones do.

I do like the way the cabinet doors hold up the pieced fabric. As long as the quilt is not bigger than a short twin-sized, this system works fine.

Color play: baby edition

Hello, everyone.  Today's post is looking at colors for a baby quilt. 

The little paper square in the middle is the concept. I'm thinking of the pinks as background and the teals as main color, with a central block of the turtle print.

I tried putting it into black and white: 

Some of the prints are interested in being the star of the show. That daffodils and Easter eggs print isn't sure if it's a pink or a teals!

A closer look at the idea. It's from the Moda Chains quilt, making only one quadrant and adding a couple top and bottom borders to get the blanket into a more oblong shape.

Color play: reverse side edition

Hello, everyone.  Today's color play is a test layout of the reverse of a queen-sized bedspread. The yardage alone isn't big enough to get the job done, and an assortment of blocks are posing with it here.

This isn't going to be the final, but it's looking good as a start, in my opinion. Here is the black-and-white version:

It seems like the values are reasonably spread out. 

Study of the small blocks reveals that they're not 4.5 inches, mostly, they're 4 inches. This calls for either switching them out or adding sashing strips.

As these are all orphan blocks, this counts as a stash festival. 

Starting a new quilt

Hello, everyone. It's a chilly, wet day in South Texas. Fairly typical for this time of year.

As the title says, a new quilt is in process. The design is sketched out on graph paper requires 14 star blocks. Here are the first few.

Thanks to the advice on the internet from Mr. Appel! These sawtooth stars are 4.5 inch unfinished. 

As y'all can see, the theme will be Western. I was able to make the centers of the whole set of stars from one print, a few strips of 2.5 inch fabric that was in the stash.