Secret Sewing

I'm participating in a challenge project that I can't show here. 

I'll just show a sneak peek: 

A variety of low volume pieces. What will become of these? 

String Progress Continues

I've been having fun with this project ever since I took the string piecing class with Kevin the Quilter. It's a variation of his pattern "Goodnight, Darleen!" made smaller. In my last post about it, I had the center medallion of blocks assembled.

In order to measure the lengths needed for the pieced strips that make up the corners, I put the center medallion on the wall and roughly marked the size needed on the wall with strings. Then I laid the string-pieced strips up to make sure I had the right lengths, and also to make sure I didn't have the same right next to itself.

Some strips are more than long enough; a couple need to be a few inches longer so I can adjust them slightly.

Once measured, I built the corner assemblies and attached them to the center medallion. Then I put the whole thing back up on the wall to figure out the size needed for the corner triangles. I had two 7" squares of green Grunge and I was hoping they would be enough to manage all four corners. Just barely, whoo-hoo! You can see one of the squares folded in half in the corner here, and it'll be just big enough. (Because I'm making my version smaller than the pattern, the size specified in the pattern is larger than I need.)

Before attaching the corners, the whole top needs to be squared up. Using the top/bottom and side blocks of the center medallion and my largest rulers, I marked where to trim the corner assemblies. Measure and mark all four corners, make sure the diagonal for sewing on the green corner triangle measures the same on all four corners; measure the length and width of the quilt; adjust, measure and mark some more; measure again; and finally trim.

The green Grunge corner triangles were just big enough so I could add them and then square up and trim off.

Because of all the bias edges, Kevin recommended stay-stitching all the way around the outside edges of the top. After stitching I put the top back up on the wall to admire it. My version finished at about 53" square.

I auditioned a few fabrics from stash for binding. The fabric I chose is the one on the right in the photo above. For backing I have a light green print in my stash, leftovers and off-cuts from backing something else, that I can cobble together. This bias stripe will go nicely with the backing as well as the front.

If we ever get some nice enough weather to take outdoor pictures, I'll get a better photo of the flimsy. meanwhile, I'll put this away to focus on other projects for awhile. I'll quilt this one myself, but there are other projects in the to-be-quilted queue first.

Although I still don't consider string piecing my thing, it's definitely another skill and design element I can add to my arsenal. Thanks, Kevin, for gently pushing me out of my comfort zone!


Link Ups:
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Em's Scrapbag
Love Laugh Quilt

Merciful Plus - Finished!

Finally, after the delay caused by the jigsaw puzzle, Mercyful Plus is finished, bound and even labeled. This quilt came about thanks to the Blogger Bundle provided by Bernie at Needle and Foot. 

After I finally got Mercyful Plus basted, the quilting went quickly. I just gave it simple diagonal lines across the squares, using medium grey thread. 

The backing is pieced together from two text prints, a very large one and a small scale one, both from stash.

Mercyful Plus will be donated to Bernie for her hospice effort called Mercyful Quilts.

Mercyful Plus, 60 x 76" 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Peacock Party, My Quilt Infatuation

February Color BOM for STLMQG

This year STLMQG's color BOM challenge is to pick one "spoke" of the color wheel and use only that color, neutrals, and possibly one accent color for all nine months of the challenge. Each month the challenge features a different skill or theme. This month the theme is Triangles. My color is yellow-green.

This month I played with value, ranging my yellow-greens from light to dark and my neutrals from dark to light. I'm using only black & white prints, of all densities and values, for my neutrals.

My block for this month is 12" finished; here it is with some small Economy blocks that I'll use as fillers when I put this whole top together later.

January's theme was nine patch, so my new block will join my Card Trick block and await future developments.

I wonder what next month's theme will be?

Quilting Pickle Dish

Slowly but surely it's coming along. The arcs and rings are all finished.

Now what's left is to stipple the background. This is a pretty good size quilt and wrestling it under my domestic machine is a real effort. Wish me luck!


Link ups:
Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Em's Scrapbag
Love Laugh Quilt

Strings, Continued

I'm on a roll with Kevin the Quilter's pattern "Goodnight, Darleen!" featuring string piecing. As a reminder, here's what the pattern looks like:

Image courtesy of Kevin the Quilter

In class, we made square neutral string blocks to set at the end of each row, which are later trimmed off to form the diagonal sides of the center medallion. I didn't want to end up with excess leftover triangles, so I pieced oversized squares and cut them in half before setting the blocks into rows. 

I'm liking this! Here are the rows on my design wall: 

Next up, those sparkling diagonal borders. In class, we pieced strings onto phone book pages and cut them to the width needed, then joined them into long strips. Rather than piece onto paper, I'm just chain piecing short strips. 

Twosies, foursies, etc. When I had a bunch of them, I squared them up to the correct width so I can join them together into the lengths needed. 

They required a bit of trimming to square them up. Therefore, Mount Snippet has grown.

As you can see, it's twice as tall as my project box, and about 10" in diameter. That's a lot of trimmings! 

I'm making my version of "Goodnight, Darleen!" smaller than Kevin's so I don't know the exact lengths of border strips I'll need. I'll know the longest ones when I finish sewing the rows of the center together, then I can figure out the rest from there. 

I'll be seeing Kevin again at the end of the month, and I'm hoping to have a finished flimsy to show him. If you're interested in his pattern, you can contact him via his blog, Kevin the Quilter.

Link Ups:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Wendy's Quilts and More

Off the Wall

Now that the puzzle is no longer occupying the dining table, I moved the table out to layer and baste Mercyful Plus. This top has been on my design wall for weeks, waiting....

And now I can pin baste it and get it ready to quilt. I'm hoping to get it finished this month so I can send it to Bernie at Needle & Foot. It was inspired by this Blogger Bundle I won from her in November, curated by Sandra from MMM Quilts.

This is so not my usual colors, but I like it, and I hope the eventual recipient family does too.


Meanwhile, as long as the dining room floor space is available, I may baste another quilt. Or maybe a couple more, if I have enough pins. It'll be nice to have them ready to go when I'm in the mood for quilting, and not have to wait to get them layered and basted.