Another Black and White Top Finished

The Black and White Plus Brights top I've been working on at social sewing is finished. Once again, the fabrics were from the box donated by Quilt Diva Julie.  I had an EQ map of the layout but the real top looks so much better! I love how the bright colors sparkle and create strong diagonals. The concept was inspired by several things I saw on Pinterest, but I don't know whom to credit for the idea. 

The bright colors were mostly from several mini charm packs that were door prizes from STLMQG a few years ago, plus a few pieces from my scrap-loving friend. The four patches finish at 4".  

The (vertical) bricks used four different white ground prints and four black ground prints. I cut 12 of each print for 48 blocks. The bricks were cut 4-1/2" by 8-1/2" or 12-1/2".  24 of the short ones are two different white ground prints and 24 are two black ground prints. Likewise, 24 of the long bricks are two additional white ground prints and 24 are two more black prints. 

The blocks finished at 8" wide by 12" high. All the blocks were assembled with the four patch in the same location; the diagonal effect is from the orientation of the blocks when they're laid out. The top finished at 64" by 72". 

Did you notice the object in the lower right corner of the top photo? It was windy when I was trying to take photos yesterday. My husband was doing some garden work at the time and helped hold the fabric from flapping in the wind with the rake handle. 

I'll quilt this top when I get a chance, but now that the snowbirds are starting to come back it will be more difficult to book time on PCQ's long arm because so many more people want to use it. When the quilt is finished it'll be donated to the local family services agency. They occasionally have a need for a quilt for a teenage boy, and this quilt is both gender-neutral and six feet long so it could go to a boy if the need is there. 

Link up: Alycia Quilts

Black and White Plus Brights

 The latest black and white quilt is coming together quickly. The blocks have been assembled and laid out on the design wall. There are four different fabric configurations and four different alignments for the blocks, resulting in this layout:

I like the pops of color running through on the diagonal. 

I should be able to get the rows assembled at social sewing this week, maybe even get the top finished. 

Link ups: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts,  Love Laugh Quilt
 

Another Black and White Project

Several months ago Quilt Diva Julie sent me, for my club's charity quilts, a big box of black and white fabrics. Story here. I put together and set aside set aside several kits to assemble at social sewing, and put the rest of the fabrics in the club's stash. So far I've made Bolt of Lightning and Steppers, and I have two kits left to work on at social sewing.

The one I'm working on now was inspired by some things I saw on Pinterest, but I don't know whom to credit. It features colorful four patches and bricks of B+W prints that read either dark or light. Thank you, Julie, for the wonderful variety of prints you sent! 

All the four patches have been pieced and attached to their bricks.

The four patches are very random. I had a couple of mini charm packs and a friend gave me some additional scraps so I'd have enough, with a lot of variety. A few of the patches are Grunge or blenders, but they're mostly solids or read as solid. 

My only concern when making the four patches was not to have two of the same color side-by-side. As a result, each four patch is different. Totally by accident, some of them are actually very pleasing palettes that could work together in a quilt. 

These look better in real life than they do in this photo. The dark patches in the top row are actually dark plum. I really like the grouping at the lower left.

This week at social sewing I'll get the blocks all made. They all have to be assembled with the four patch in the same corner, so I'll have to pay attention to orientation when I sew them. Maybe I'll get to the point where I can put them on the design wall and lay them out. We'll see. 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Love Laugh Quilt

Another UFO Finish

Wow, two older UFOs recently finished... 

I posted about the first one last week, here. This one today is Winding Ways. Most of the blocks were hand pieced by my St. Louis CSQ Piecing Group friends back in 2018. 

I participated in PCQ's UFO support group, found the missing block - story here - and assembled the top earlier this year. Then someone in the group quilted it on PCQ's long arm. 

Finally it's a finished baby quilt, about 40" square. It's just the right size for tummy time, with enough contrast for baby to see. It will go to the local women's shelter. 

Traditional but modern. The print is a sweet rosebud floral with shades of aqua, pink, coral rose and pale yellow in it. The background is a pale aqua print - aqua has been a popular neutral for several years now. To modernize it for a young contemporary mom, some of the parts are colored aqua and coral to look like bubbles, some of them floating off the page.

It feels good to have this project done, especially since I thought one of the blocks was lost and I had no more of the fabrics to replace it. Whoo-hoo!

Link ups: Alycia Quilts, TGIFF

Quilting the Coral Snake Quilt, a.k.a. CandyLand

 Remember CandyLand? 

I'm working on quilting it on my domestic machine. Because of all the curves in the piecing, I want straight lines in a diagonal grid for the quilting. 

This quilt is big, 60 x 80, and the quilting is slow going. I started by marking and stitching across the diagonal in every block, breaking where the snake is. Then I marked and stitched halfway between the previous quilting. That's where it's at now and the grid is about 3-1/2". 

I will continue stitching between the quilting until I have about a 7/8" grid behind the snakes.  That's a lot of passes and a lot of stops and starts. I'm not burying all those thread tails, just shortening my stitch length and clipping threads. (This quilt is just for me and I don't care if it gets demerits from the quilt police.)

Now that the grid is about 3-1/2", I hope I can use the guides that attach to my walking foot so I don't have to mark the next passes; we'll see. So far measuring and marking has worked out well. 

At the rate I'm going it'll take another couple of months to complete the quilting. That's okay, no rush. No deadline. 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Love Laugh Quilt

An Old UFO, Finally Finished

One of the UFOs I brought with me in the move to AZ from STL was this one. The top was finished in late 2019. You can see it here; this photo of it with the sun glowing through is one of my all-time favorites. 

I finally finished this quilt. I quilted it on PCQ's long arm with a meander in the center and a leafy vine in the border. Let's just say I need a lot more practice trying to make consistent motifs like leaves freehand on the long arm. 

The top was pieced together race-style using 1-1/2" wide cut strips, with the black and white stoppers to break them up. The stoppers fell wherever they landed in the race construction process, like bits of confetti. This was a fun top to make because I had no idea how it would turn out so there was no way to predict what it would look like. 

The backing is a hot pink batik and I used pink thread for the quilting. The quilt finished about 51 x 61" and I'll donate it via PCQ to the local family services agency. 

I love this quilt if I do say so myself. I'm inspired to make another strippy race-style quilt, and I have a lot of already cut strips to get me started. 

Link Ups: Alycia Quilts, Wendy's Quilts and More, TGIFF

3D Project Progress

 Slowly and carefully, I'm adding the background to the 3D project on my design wall. Here's what it looks like today.

I'm adding the background strips to the top and bottom of the pieced strips, then stitching two adjacent strips together into a pair. This requires measuring for the background lengths, lots of pinning to match the seams, and carefully pressing the seams open to control the bulk of the seam intersections. Slow going! 

After all the pairs are made, I'll again join two of them together into columns, to work with manageable sections. Then the halves of the top, and finally the two halves together. This project is huge, about 98 inches square, and as it gets assembled it'll require some serious wrangling. 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Love Laugh Quilt

The Green Dresden Plate Medallion Quilt

 The Dresden Plate Medallion project I was piecing at retreat in July is now a finished quilt. 

The center Dresden Plate is quilted in a spirograph pattern. A friend is teaching me ruler work on my domestic machine, and after a successful test on a table topper, the ruler work spirograph turned out well here. 

This quilt is much prettier in person than it is in photos, partially due to the lighting and partially due to how my camera turns all yellow-greens brownish. Photographing quilts is such a challenge here due to the intense sunlight. Everything is either full harsh sun, like the two photos above, or deep shade like the one below. 

This quilt's palette was actually inspired by the backing fabric. The backing fabric was a gift from Quilt Diva Julie when she visited St. Louis several years ago. I pulled greens and teals from my stash to harmonize with the backing. I used every inch; I actually planned the top to fit the backing. The binding is a green bias stripe that goes with both the front and the back. 

In real life this is a pretty quilt. I don't have a specific purpose for it or a recipient in mind, so I'll hold onto it for awhile. 

Link ups: Alycia Quilts, Wendy's Quilts and More, TGIFF

August Stash Report and Goals Update (and July, too)

It seems I never posted a monthly recap for July, so I'll briefly cover both July and August here. 

Stash Report: 

July IN: 6-5/8 yards (Connecting Threads order, 2-3/4 yards. Ritter purchase, 3-7/8 yards)
July OUT: 8-1/2 yards (Dresden Medallion top, est. 6 yards. Backing for Natalie's House quilt, 2-1/2 yards wide backing.)

August IN: 2-1/2 yards (Durango shop)
August OUT:  6 yards (Backing and binding for Dresden Medallion quilt, 3-5/8 yards. Ruler Quilting test table topper, 1-7/8 yards)

YTD IN: 58-1/8 yards
YTD OUT: 63-5/8 yards
YTD Net Change: 5-1/2 yards out

Still moving in the right direction! 

Goals Update: 

Dresden Plate Medallion

July Recap: 

1. Cut for 3-D project to work on at retreat. Progress, triangles are cut and columns are being pieced. 

2. Plan and cut for Dresden Medallion project to work on at retreat. Done, top is finished.

3. Quilt and bind twin bed quilt for Natalie's House. Done, long armed by Mary H and me, bound, labeled, and ready for Mary to deliver.

4. Start quilting Candyland. Started.

5. Make progress on the Stack-N-Whack UFO. Done. Top finished, given back to Carla for quilting. 

6. Read through the new cross-body bag pattern and plan fabrics. Order stabilizers and interlinings. Started reading pattern but have not ordered any materials. 

7. Work on something from my own UFO list for No Shame Train. Didn't get to this. 

8. Have fun at retreat. YES!!! 😀

August Goals and Recap: 

1. Make progress quilting CandyLand. No progress.

2. Make progress piecing Cube Challenge. Good progress; all triangles are pieced and background strips are in work.

3. Quilt Dresden Medallion. Completely finished including spirograph quilting. 

4. Work on something from my own UFO list for No Shame Train. Yes, quilted the Bright Strippy Race top.

Other:    1) Made table topper to test and practice spirograph quilting and for a binding class teaching sample. 
              2) Bound Winding Ways, also for teaching sample.   

Spirograph Quilting Test

September Goals:

1. Continue quilting CandyLand.

2. Continue piecing the cube challenge project.

3. Work on a charity quilt from Quilt Diva Julie's donated black and white fabrics.

4. Write and post a tutorial for So Inclined.

5. Quilt something on the long arm. 

Several finishes including two UFOs occurred in August and they deserve their own posts. Stay tuned!