Prepped, Packed, and Ready to Go

 Crazy busy week here, so anything I can do ahead is good. Cherie flies in Wednesday and we leave for retreat Thursday. I have all the sewing stuff ready to go. 

I have all my projects prepped, cut out, and ready to sew. The white project box at the right is my Christmas Tree, per my son's request. This is a priority but it's a have-to project, nor a want-to project, so I will reward myself for working on it by working on my other projects. 

The tray with cut parts is my X and Plus project. Several of the girls who are going are making X and Plus quilts after they took my class in May. I'm going totally out of character for an X and Plus quilt and making it featuring pastel floral prints. So unlike the Modern X and Plus quilts! It'll be a donation quilt for Hospice. 

The project bag at the left contains the blocks for my second Mary's Triangles quilt. It's all laid out and clipped together, and it's small, so it'll be a quick finish. 

Under the tray with the X and Plus parts is my extra project, a double four patch, also a donation quilt. I always bring an extra project because I would hate to run out of things to do and still have retreat time left. I really don't expect to get to this, but just in case...

The blue project box under the Christmas Tree project is my tool kit, same as I take to social sewing. I cleaned it out and replenished what was missing, so I should have everything I need. I also put the 3 FQs and 3 dollar bills I'll need for game nights in there so I'll be sure to have them. 

Since Cherie is flying in, she'll use my spare sewing machine, in the floral case. I made sure it's running as it should, so it's ready to go. For myself, I'm taking my Bernina 1090, the one I use all the time at social sewing. She's a workhorse! 

All the sewing stuff is packed and ready to go. My project boxes are in the red bag, and my smaller projects are in the tote. There's also room in the tote for a bottle of wine and snacks to share. The blue bag is the confidential project Cherie and I have been working on together, and she'll hand sew the binding and the label. 

I haven't packed my personal stuff yet - still doing laundry. Cherie and I will have a third person in the car with us who also has a sewing machine case like my big black one. And we'll all have our personal luggage. No worries, we'll manage to fit all of us and our stuff in. 

Do you go on retreats? How much stuff do pack? Have you ever forgotten anything essential? 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 

DJ, We Have a Problem....

And a Fix. 

Somehow I miscounted when laying out the parts for DJ2. When I sewed them all together, I ended up with this. Look at the top and the sides. Should be straight, not dip in. 

If I square up the edges according to the current placement, as indicated by the horizontal line on the wall at the top and the plumb line at the right, I'll lose most of the dark fabrics in the corners and the quilt will be much smaller than anticipated. 

The solution is to add to the light sections and build it out further. I pulled all the previously rejected light colored fabric pieces to see if I could use any of them. Yes, in my frustration I was less picky and decided many of them are good enough. I still had to find more options in my stash, but I found fabrics that work. Above, you can see the additional pieces laid out in the bottom quadrant to fill in. Below, three sections are laid out.

DJ is built like a giant quarter log cabin block, starting at the middle of the edge and adding bands (logs) to build it up. That means I have to carefully take this partially apart, rebuild the light sections, and insert them. Much seam ripper activity is required. 

The center X out to the dark corners is fine. The light sections will have to be taken apart and rebuilt. Everything needs to be kept in order, hence the labels, batches of pieces to insert, and the Post-it with notes. 

The triangular units at the far left above are the new, additional edge segments. The larger triangular units need to be taken apart, replacement segments added to the bands, and added onto the units at left. 

Below, one replacement segment is reassembled and ready to be inserted. 

One down, three to go. Carefully taking apart and reassembling the first section took about half a day, so it'll be a few days until I get the whole top back together. 

This will work. When the top is rebuilt and the edges are squared up it will be about 54" square before borders. 

Surprisingly, this second Diabolical Jane has been much more challenging to design and construct than the first one. 

Update: for those who are interested, here's where you can find the story of the Diabolical Jane quilt, and there's a link to the tutorial. Diabolical Jane — DC Modern Quilt Guild

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 7/6 and Alycia Quilts 7/10

Mary's Triangles: a Small Donation Quilt

You might remember, I've been making Mary's Triangles and sewing them together at social sewing. After assembling the rows on point, I now have a small quilt top. 

One of the charities PCQ supports is Hospice and they want wheelchair quilts, quilts that are lap size but small enough to not get hung up in the wheels. Their preferred size is between 42 and 48" square or oblong. My top came out to 45" square with this on-point setting. My blocks finish at 4". 

PCQ's long arm committee prefers small quilts for training, so rather than quilt this myself, I'll put it in the queue for them to quilt. For training they use a panto that looks just like my usual free motion meander. I had a leftover piece of wide backing that's big enough for the back plus the binding. It's white with red, mostly light, so no worries about a dark back showing through all those low volume prints. I'll package the top and backing up and put it in the Needs Batting/To Be Quilted intake. 

As usual, I cut too many pieces when I was cutting for this project. That was partly because I thought I would make a larger quilt, but I changed my mind. Rather than make another quilt just like this, I made some more Mary's Triangles using black and white prints for the large triangle. I have enough blocks for another wheelchair size quilt, totally different layout, and it's all kitted up to take to retreat as an extra project. If I don't work on it there, I'll work on it as social sewing when I get back. 

Link Up:  Alycia Quilts

June Stash Report and Goals Update

It's indoor season here in Arizona. With temps over 100 degrees and sometimes over 110, we stay inside in the air conditioning as much as possible. That means lots of time spent in my sewing room, and it shows in my accomplishments and my stash report. 

I have a retreat coming up in mid July, so I've been prepping projects to take. I have a bit more cutting to do for one of them, but I think I'm in good shape. 

The first priority to work on at retreat is a Christmas tree wall hanging, a shorter version of this one, and it's all cut and kitted up in the large project box pictured. 

I taught an X and Plus class at the end of May. Several of my students are going on retreat with me and they were inspired to make X and Plus quilts to work on at retreat. I know of one person using all Kaffe fabrics and another using black for the background color, and possibly another in patriotic colors. So I cut out another one to take with, totally different, using pastel florals and greens for a hospice charity quilt. It's all kitted up and ready to sew when I get there. 

I had planned to work on a second Diabolical Jane at retreat, but I got carried away and started working on it at home. It's partially sewn now. Scroll down to the previous post for progress. 

I was able to finish the Mary's Triangles top I've been working on at social sewing. I decided to make it smaller than originally planned. It's 45" square, wheelchair size, and will go to hospice. I found backing for it from my stash and I'll turn it in for someone else in the club to quilt. They like to have small projects like this for long arm training. 

Because I made it smaller, I had leftover Mary's Triangles. I made a few more and I'm taking them along for another retreat project. The new one will also be small and will not have the low volume alternate squares. 

I had time for piecing this month, and I had purple fabric that I wanted to use. It was originally Edna's but it didn't work for the project that she had in mind for it. She had four yards of wide goods, a lot of fabric! I bought it from her (thanks, Edna!) and planned to use it for the back of my original purple Diabolical Jane. Then I found something I liked much better for Jane, so I wanted to use Edna's purple print for something else. Some of it was used for the back of Amber and Aubergine last month. I used some of it to piece two more simple wheelchair quilts this month, and there's enough left to back them both. They will fit side-by-side on 108" backing with enough left over for binding. 

Speaking of the original purple Diabolical Jane, I was able to quilt it last week. When I get it bound I'll post final pictures of it. 

I feel like I accomplished a lot this month. But like I said, this is the time of year we stay indoors, so I had lots of time for sewing. 

So, with all that cutting, kitting up, and sewing, how does my stash report look? Well, I can't count the kits yet, not until they're finished tops. Likewise the second DJ. I can count the first Mary's Triangles top and the two purple wheelchair tops. I'm sure I'll have plenty I can count out after retreat. 

June Stash Report: 

IN this month: 3-7/8 yards (1-1/4 yards from Hobby Lobby.  2-5/8 yards from Mulqueens.)
OUT this month: 10-1/8 yards (Diabolical Jane back, 2 yards wide backing. Mary's triangles top, est. 2-1/2 yards; back & binding, 1-5/8 yards wide backing. Two purple wheelchair tops, est. 2 yards each - 4 yards.)

IN YTD: 66 yards
OUT YTD: 65 yards
YTD Net Change: 1 yard added.

Still slightly in the red for the year but so close! We're only halfway through the year so I have plenty of time to use more. I'm sure I'll add more too, especially from the little shop there at the retreat. 

Goals Update: 

June Recap:

1. Finish prepping the collaborative project to hand off for my partner to do the hand stitching. DONE.

2. Quilt Amber & Aubergine. DONE and donated. 

3. Finish designing DJ2 to take to retreat in July. Finished designing and started piecing. (Changed plans for retreat in July)

4. Plan and prep an extra project for retreat. DONE, pastel floral X and Plus.

5. Make progress on the walking foot quilting on the Kaffe Gradient project. Progress, all the diagonals in one direction are done and I've started the other direction.

6. Make progress on the Mary's Triangles social sewing project. Yes, first top completed, second top kitted up for retreat.

7. Piece a simple charity quilt top using purple print. DONE, made two tops. 

July Goals:

1. Finalize and print the label for the confidential project.

2. Go on retreat and have a good time. Enjoy Cherie's visit before and after. 

3. Piece the Christmas Tree top.

4. Piece the pastel floral X and Plus top

5. Finish piecing DJ2

6. Quilt the two purple wheelchair quilts. 

7. If time permits, assemble the second Mary's Triangles top

8. Look at parts previously cut and rejected for DJ 1 and 2 and figure out something to do with them. 

9. Make progress on the walking foot quilting on the Kaffe Gradient project. 

That looks like a lot for one month, but a lot of it is planned for retreat where I'll have four days of sewing time. I'm looking forward to a busy and fun month! 

DJ2

Over a month ago I posted that I'd started a new version of Diabolical Jane. Here's what my progress looked like then:

You may have noticed, I haven't been posting much lately. Instead, I've been playing with Jane behind the scenes. 

31 iterations later - I won't bore you with all the photos - I have the tabletop layout I was happy enough with to put all the pieces on the wall. Mirroring the tabletop photo helps visualize the layout.

I took out some of the duller prints from the earlier version and added a few brighter ones, and changed the value placement a bit. A few more tweaks on the wall, and here's where I ended up. 

I'll check this to make sure none of the pieces are in the wrong place, kit it up, and I can work on it whenever I want. I probably won't save it for retreat; I'm having too much fun playing with it. 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 6/22 and Alycia Quilts 6/26

X and Plus Class Recap

You've seen this project when it was a finished flimsy, but not since it's been quilted. It's my serene green X and Plus quilt. 

When I was making it I had a request to teach a class for it, so I recently taught an X and Plus class to several members of PCQ. Understand, the block has been around for many years and there are dozens of tutorials out there. My students could just as easily have found a tutorial and proceeded on their own. But what I can give them - and what they expect from me - is a little more perspective on color and value than just a tutorial. 

My plan was to start the class by looking at examples of X and Plus quilts on Pinterest and talking about color and value placement. I also had a handout illustrating different effects that changing the value placement could achieve. Then the students would make a block. 

Pivot, last minute change of lesson plan: The projector was supposed to be delivered in time but the person who had it forgot and her phone was turned off. So we started the class by making the 12" block. Then followed, after the projector arrived, with looking at examples. 

Many - most! - of the X and Plus quilts out there are a riot of color. Some are group or bee projects where multiple makers each made a block and then they were all put together. A few X and Plus quilts are more curated. My serene green version was inspired by one by Zen Chic. Here's the Pinterest board we looked at in class.   You'll recognize Zen Chic's halfway down as you scroll. Scroll all the way down and you'll see an interesting version set on point with a black background. 

I asked my students to think about their taste in color and design: do they like scrappy, all colors crowded together? Do they like more breathing room? Do they like something in between? 

I made a handout for them illustrating the different effects of value placement, in the same layout as my serene green version. Here are the images I used, created in EQ8. All of the X prints are Kaffe and are the same in all of these images. 

1. Bright X

    Dark Plus

    Medium extensions at the ends of the Plus

    Light (low volume) background

    Result is Balanced diagonal and straight grid.

2. Bright X same as original. 

    Dark Plus same as original. 

    Dark extensions. This is the only change from the first image. 

    Light (low volume) background same as original. 

    Result is strong vertical/horizontal grid. 

3. Bright X same as original. 

    Light Plus.

    Low Volume extensions. 

    White-on-white background.

    Result is stronger diagonal grid. 

4. Bright X same as original. 

    Dark Plus, same as original. 

    Medium extensions same as original.

    Black background.

    Result is Bold: Balanced grid and colors that pop.

The class was well received. Some of the students were particularly taken with that on-point black version at the bottom of the Pinterest board. Several of the students are going to Ritter (retreat) in July with me, and are planning to make X and Plus projects there. Me too! I'm cutting another version to take with me to sew while I'm there. Like my serene green version, it will have some breathing room but it'll be scrappier. 

Have you made an X and Plus Quilt? Your own or with a group as a bee project? Do you prefer a riot of color or a curated palette? Crowded together or breathing room? 

Linking up with Alycia Quilts 6/12 and Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 6/15

 

Social Sewing Project Progress

I haven't been able to make it to social sewing much lately, but I did go on Wednesday. I have a project that I only work on at social sewing, so it's moving along very slowly. That's okay, it's a donation quilt with no deadline. 

It's a very simple design of Mary's Triangle blocks alternated with plain blocks and set on point. It took months to make all the blocks. While away from social sewing I laid out all the blocks on my design wall and clipped them in rows to sew together. 

On Wednesday I got 7 of the rows sewn. I think this is half of the quilt, or close to it. It will be a baby or wheelchair size when finished, about 44 inches square. 

All of the fabrics are scraps from my stash. Did it diminish the overcrowded scrap drawers any??? Low volumes yes, colors no. 

And now that I see the photo, I see there's one block turned sideways. I'll have to fix that. 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts 6/5. Definitely not finished, but progress! 
And Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 6/8.