I Couldn't Resist

I made myself work on Must-Do projects before allowing myself to start another Diabolical Jane, but the DJ design process is calling me. So after I checked off a Must-Do item and made progress on three others, I pulled fabrics and started playing again. 

Here's my first layout attempt. Meh, kind of dull. 

After a few tries, I swapped out the camel and amber accent colors for coral and pushed the greens more teal. Not happy with this yet, still too dull and not enough value contrast. 

Some fabric purchases, much tweaking, many layout revisions, and I think I've made progress. Building out the sides and cropping the photo is helping. 

I've gotten smarter about visualizing the layout. With the photo cropped, I can pop it into a document, copy and rotate it, and see a mockup of the top. My table isn't wide enough to go all the way to the edges on the sides, but this gives the general idea. Here's the current layout:

As always, I look at the photos in greyscale to see if I'm happy with the contrast. 

Maybe. Comments and suggestions? 

And now I have to get back to those Must-Do items....

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 5/11, Alycia Quilts 5/15

April Stash Report and Goals Update

April was a fun and productive month! I got a lot done at retreat, had a wonderful time with friends, and replenished my stash of white-on-whites, low volumes, and blenders. The big accomplishment this month was getting my Diabolical Jane top pieced. There was a minor hiccup due to all the bias, and I've learned a few things I'll do differently with my next one, but it was so satisfying that there will definitely be a next one. 

Also at retreat I was able to assemble a pastel and white16 patch baby quilt. Many of the colors were leftover strips from my Opal-Inspired baby quilt. The blocks were already made; I just had to add sashing and cornerstones. 

With tops finished and fabric purchased there were certainly some changes to my stash report this month. 

April Stash Report: 

IN this month: 17 yards (4 yards from Edna for DJ back. 9-1/2 yards from Ritter, includes FQs won. 1/2 yard from Hobby Lobby. 3 yards from Prickly Pearadise.)
OUT this month: 8-5/8 yards (Diabolical Jane top, est. 5-1/4 yards; does not include unused cut pieces. Pastel/white baby quilt top, 3-3/8 yards.)

IN YTD: 52-1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 43-3/8 yards

YTD Net Change: 9-1/8 yards IN

That's okay, there's still a lot of time left in the year to use up more than I add. My yearly goal is always to reduce stash or break even. 

Goals Update: 

April Recap: 

1. Participate in long arm learning and playtime event on Apr 4th. Yes, FUN! Got over my fear of deviating from my go-to meander. 

2. Attend retreat Apr 9-13 and have a good time. YES!!!

3. Assemble Diabolical Jane at retreat. Yes, completely finished the top.

4. Prep the confidential project for quilting: pick paper bits out of the back, wash and iron the backing fabric, get batting.  Done. 

5. Quilt the confidential project on April 17. Done. 

6. If time permits, assemble the other pastel and white baby quilt. Yes, completed the top at retreat. Also found backing fabric in the club's stash and prepped the backing. 

7. If time permits, assemble the purple Nine Patch and Plus project, now called Amber and Aubergine. Progress, worked on it at retreat and at home, top almost complete.  

8. Work on the Mary's Triangles project at social sewing. Yes; only one day of social sewing this month.

Other: started pulling fabrics for another Diabolical Jane.

May Goals: 

1. Prep for teaching X and Plus class; teach on May 30. 

2. Square up the confidential quilt and prep binding. 

3. Start planning and cutting for Eric's Christmas tree project to work on at retreat in July. 

4. Quilt and bind white and pastel 16 patch baby quilt. 

5. Prep backing for purple Diabolical Jane top. 

6. Finish assembling the Amber and Aubergine top.

While it looks like just a few simple goals for May, there's actually quite a bit of time and work involved in some of them so I'm limiting the list to just these. 

Amber and Aubergine

The extra project I took to retreat featured leftover purple strips from my DJ project, additional purples, and soft gold/orange/camel tones. I chose warm ivory and cream shades for the background. Here's the photo from retreat: 

The blocks were already made. When retreat ended I had added the vertical sashing to the rows. Since then I've put the rows up on my wall, and placed the cornerstones and horizontal sashing. Careful arrangement assured that the same fabric is never next to itself.

With the cornerstones in place, you can see the chain effect. I've started sewing the sashing rows to the block rows. The bottom row is not shown because it's at the sewing machine. I hope to get this top finished this week. 

So why Amber and Aubergine? Because purple and gold sound like sports team colors, and amber and aubergine (eggplant) are more poetic. I spent several years of my career naming colors, so why not? 

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 4/27

Eye Candy: Design Walls and More from Retreat

I had a wonderful time at retreat last week with seven friends old and new. We all accomplished so much! Here in no particular order, some photos:

Debbie's Snowball quilt

The blocks were already made and she was determined to finish the top!

Paula's Fabric Weaving, successfully completed 

under Eleanor's tutelage

Judy's Burp Cloths for Great-grandbabies

After cranking out numerous king-sized wedding quilts for her grandchildren,

she was glad for smaller projects. 

Edna's Disappearing Nine Patch with a Slant veteran's quilt.

She's been working on blocks at social sewing

and she has enjoyed this pattern.

Eleanor's complicated and challenging project 

She nailed it!

Linda's charity quilt featuring fabrics donated by Julie 

(Thanks, Julie!)

Paula's finish, binding and all

Jeri's veteran's quilt from a panel

Eleanor's top featuring her treasured floral print fabric

Jeri's 3 yard charity quilt, embellished with daisies

because she thought it was boring and needed something

Edna's quilt for a soon-to-be Air Force Academy graduate.

Blocks from patterns, but layout is her own design.

Paula's small improv project, from a class on a recent quilt cruise

Debbie's first improv project, with coaching from Paula and Linda

My second baby quilt in opal-inspired colors, because I had leftover strips from the first.

Blocks were already made, just needed sashing and rows assembled. 

My extra project in case I ran out of projects, glad I brought it. 

Blocks were already made; here the vertical sashing has been added. 

My finished Diabolical Jane top

A great time was had by all and we're already looking forward to the next trip in July!

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 4/20, Alycia Quilts 4/24

Opal-Inspired Baby Quilt Finish

Before I left to go on retreat, I was able to quilt and bind the Opal-Inspired baby quilt. I's a finish, and it's intended to be donated. But I will hold onto it and submit it for PCQ's display window in the creative arts building in October, when the opal birthstone will be the featured color theme. It will be donated afterward. 

Because of the small size, I was able to pin baste on my tabletop and quilt on my domestic machine using a serpentine stitch along the seam lines. 

The backing, from the club's stash, is peach flannel. Couldn't be more perfect!!! And to top it off, I had a matching peach geometric print, used elsewhere in the quilt, for the binding. 

One sweet and cuddly little finish.

Link up:  Alycia Quilts

A Patriotic Pattern: Scrappy Nine Patch Stars

I've been seeing quite a lot of interest in patriotic quilts in the quilting world lately due to the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. I thought I would share again my Scrappy Nine Patch Stars pattern, which has been very popular. There's time to make one before the Fourth of July! 

Because I've used the flimsy as a teaching sample, I've never quilted it, but I suppose I finally should. Here's the flimsy: 

The size is 60 by 84 inches. It's beginner-friendly, made up of 6" half-square triangles and nine patches. Great use of scraps, too. 

The tutorial is available for free. Just leave a comment, but you must include your email address in the text of the comment (otherwise if you're a no-reply commenter, I have no way of sending it to you). 

Linking up with Alycia Quilts 

March Stash Report and Goals Update

March was a productive month; it seems like I accomplished a lot more than I thought I would. The top priority was getting ready for retreat next week, and I was able to jet Diabolical Jane and a second project prepped. Then in order to use up scraps I added a third project. 

Diabolical Jane Layout

With time on the long arm I was able to quilt and finish Positively Scrappy (tutorial here). I quilted the Opal Inspired baby quilt on my domestic machine, so that project is finished, too. It's rare that I have two finishes in one month! 

Positively Scrappy

Opal-Inspired baby quilt

These finishes helped my stash report, but I had some acquisitions, too. Living in a retirement community, unfortunately quilters pass away and their families usually contact the quilting club for a quilting estate sale. There was another one this month, and I brought home some yardage and a duplicate of my favorite 12" ruler to keep in my travel kit. 

March Stash Report

IN this month: 14.5 yards (1/2 yard from Hobby Lobby and 2 yards from Bernina Connection for Diabolical Jane. 4 yards low volumes from online order. 6 yards from estate sale. 2 yards low volumes from 35th Ave.)
OUT this month: 10.5 (Positively Scrappy top and binding, 8 yards. Opal inspired baby quilt, top and binding, est. 2-1/2 yards.)

IN YTD: 35.5 yards
OUT YTD: 34.75 yards
YTD Net Change: O.75 yard IN

Another March accomplishment which does not count in the stash report was getting the confidential project to the finished flimsy stage. I still need to clean up the back to get it ready for quilting, and wash and press the backing fabric. I'm booked on the long arm April 17th, so I'll quilt it then. The fabrics were sourced from a friend's collection of thrifted shirts plus other fabrics from several friends, so this project is exempt from the stash report. But I have to say, I'm thrilled with how the flimsy came out and I'm excited to get to quilt it soon. 

Goals Update:

March Recap:

1. Participate in PCQ's quilt show on March 7. Yes, displayed two quilts and helped with take-down. 

2. Prep projects for April retreat. Includes fabric shopping, layout and cutting. Yes, Diabolical Jane is laid out and two other small projects are ready to go. 

3. Quilt the X and Plus top. Done, also bound and finished. Separate post to come.

4. Take the Bernina 770 in for repairs. Yes, they said it only needed a Clean-Oil-Adjust treatment. It's working better, but it still occasionally shreds very fine thread like So Fine or Aurifil 50 wt. It's doing fine with Connecting Threads Essential 50 wt. (I've tried many different needles.)

5. Work on next steps of the confidential collaborative project. Yes, got the top squared up and ready to quilt. 

6. Work on the Mary's Triangles project at social sewing. Yes, the pile of finished blocks is growing.

7. Continue searching for sashing fabric for Crossroads Wheel blocks. Yes, still no luck but I haven't exhausted all local resources. 

8. Assemble the Opal-Inspired blocks - OR - the 16 patch blocks made from the leftovers into a top. Yes, finished the Opal-Inspired blocks to a baby quilt flimsy. Quilted it on my domestic machine; bound, labeled and finished it. 

Other: Planned a project to use up leftover purple pieces from DJ; cut 2-1/2" squares and started piecing blocks.

Purple and gold Nine Patch and Plus project

April Goals: 

1. Participate in long arm learning and playtime event on Apr 4th. 

2. Attend retreat Apr 9-13 and have a good time.

3. Assemble Diabolical Jane at retreat

4. Finish prepping the confidential project for quilting: pick any remaining paper bits out of the back, wash and iron the backing fabric, get batting.

5. Quilt the confidential project on April 17. 

6. If time permits, assemble the purple Nine Patch and Plus project, possibly at retreat.

7. If time permits, assemble the other pastel and white baby quilt, possibly at retreat.  

8. Work on the Mary's Triangles project at social sewing.

All of that should keep me busy for the month, but I also need to do some cleaning up in the sewing room. That will have to wait until later in the month. 

A New Project, or How to Use Up Purple Scraps

I had some partial 2-1/2" strips of purple prints left over from designing Diabolical Jane. Rather than put them in the scrap drawers, I decided to use them in a new project. I so rarely work with purple that I knew if I put them away, I'd never use them. Looking through my scrap drawers and stash, I decided on amber golds and soft oranges to complement the purples, and ivory low volume prints for the background.

I decided on a Plus and Chain layout, 6" plus blocks and nine patch blocks framed by sashing for a chain effect. Easy sewing for a quick charity quilt. Since my design wall is still occupied , the tabletop will have to suffice for a quick layout check:

It's hard to see with bad lighting, so few blocks, and too much contrast between the tabletop and the blocks. The sashing will be the same cream and ivory prints used in the blocks. Squint, and the chain effect becomes clearer. 

If I get the blocks assembled before I go on retreat in April, I can pack this up and take it as my extra project in case I finish everything else. My priority will be assembling Diabolical Jane, but I have four days, a lot of sewing time, and I would hate to run out of projects to work on. 

Link Up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Diabolical Jane: Final Layout on the Wall

 After much tinkering, I've decided on the layout for my version of Diabolical Jane. 

My version repeats some of the fabrics more than the original, but I'm satisfied and I don't feel the need to find a couple more prints just to increase the fabric count. 

I will carefully transfer this to the flannel side of a vinyl table cloth, roll it around a pool noodle, and take it to retreat in April. The construction is log cabin-like, starting from the outside center and building in to make each quadrant. 

I'm seeing an optical effect that's interesting. See the shadow along the right side of the folded border fabric? It looks like a narrow inner border. I kind of like it. What do you think? When I get the whole interior sewn I can decide if I want an inner border and purchase fabric for it while I'm there. 

I've been having so much fun with this project. It's hard to put it aside to save it for retreat! But there's four days of sewing and I need projects to keep me busy. I'll have to be patient, put it aside, and save it to work on there. 

Link Up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts 3/23, NTT 3/26, Alycia Quilts 3/27

Opal-Inspired Baby Quilt Flimsy

I wrote about being inspired by the colors of opal gemstones in this post. This was my color inspiration:

Opal gemstone, screen capture from Google image search

I pulled a palette of aqua, orange and yellow along with white-based low volume prints with a lot of color in them. This is what I ended up with, for a baby quilt.

The blocks are small, 6", and the top finished at 36 by 42", so I'll be able to use one WOF for backing if I quilt it on my domestic machine. I have a lot of small to medium pieces of batting on hand, so I'm sure I have or can piece a batting of the right size. I was able to find peach flannel for the back in the club's stash - perfect! When finished, this quilt will eventually go to a young family at Luke Airforce Base. 

I love this palette for a baby, and I'm pleased with how this top turned out. 

Link up: Alycia Quilts

Designing Diabolical Jane

Diabolical Jane is laid out in quadrants that are built like half log cabin blocks. 

I'm laying pieces out on my cutting table, and when I get one quadrant I like, I'll put tall four up on the design wall.

I swear, I'm obsessed with this project! Every time I walk past it I have to stop and move something around. It's like doing a jigsaw puzzle - just one more piece. No wait, how about this? no...

I've already edited out all the solid fabrics I thought I was going to use. This project needs prints, prints, prints! 

Since I'm laying out only one quadrant to start with, I pulled out my hinged mirrors to try to get a sense of what four quadrants would look like. 

Not really very helpful. The mirrors aren't big enough to go far enough out to show more of the whole layout. 

I'm thinking of eliminating the light and bright aqua prints, too distracting. I may actually repeat one or two of the other prints already used. We'll see. More cutting, playing, and rearranging to come. And I'm sure when I have one satisfactory quadrant and put all four on the wall, I'll need to tweak some more. 

Link Up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Positively Scrappy: A Finished Quilt and a Quick Tutorial

I'm calling this latest scrap quilt Positively Scrappy. 

It's a donation quilt going to an agency that assists victims of sexual violence, mostly teen girls (think trafficking, stepfather issues, etc.). We learned a couple years ago that their teen clients gravitate to quilts that have black in them. This quilt has a variety of black and charcoal prints, but also a lot of color in the low volume background fabrics. Whenever I can include Plus motifs I think it gives the quilt a subtle hopeful and positive vibe. 

For what is essentially a black and white quilt, Positively Scrappy is amazingly colorful. I love how this quilt turned out, so much so that I wish I could have kept it. But I intended from the start for it to be a donation quilt and I used club-supplied batting and backing. It's already on its way to offering comfort to someone. 

The block is super easy to make and is a great scrap buster. It would work as well with Pluses of any color, or a rainbow of colors in the whole quilt. 

Here are the instructions for one 8" block. 

From assorted low volume prints, the more variety the better:

     - Cut 4, 3-1/2" squares

     - Cut 4, 1-1/2" by 2-1/2" pieces

From a dark color:

     - Cut one 2-1/2" by 6-1/2" piece

     - Cut 2, 2-1/2" squares

Note: if you use a directional print, be mindful of how you want the pieces to go in the finished plus. 

Sew a small low volume rectangle to one side of each dark square and to each end of the long dark piece. Press toward the dark. 

Lay out the pieces and sew the top and bottom rows; press outward toward the light squares. 

Sew the rows together; press toward the center. 

By pressing this way, you can turn the blocks 90 degrees and the seams will nest when you sew the columns together. 

To make the blocks for the ends of the alternate columns, cut two pieces 3-1/2" by 4-1/2" and one piece 2-1/2" by 4-1/2" from low volume prints. Sew them together with the narrower piece in the center. Don't press until you sew them to the ends of the columns and you know which way you need the seams to go. 

I made my version 7 blocks wide by 9 blocks long for a 56" by 72" quilt, a good size for a teen. 60 Plus blocks and six end blocks. 

I will definitely make another version of Positively Scrappy. This ended up being a fun and cheerful quilt. 

Link up: Alycia Quilts 3/13, My Quilt Infatuation 3/19

Planning and Cutting for Diabolical Jane

Recently a quilt image popped up in my Pinterest feed that looked intriguing. It's called Diabolical Jane, and several clicks later I found the source, a tutorial by Jessie Aller. Her version is a copy of a 200 year old quilt she saw on a museum tour with the DC Modern Quilt Guild. Check out their images at the link.

I printed out Jessie's tutorial and studied the images, both of the antique original and her version. Her tutorial uses 4" wide pieces and makes a huge quilt, but I wanted something smaller using 2-1/2" strips so I refigured the cutting sizes. 

The quilt looks so complex, and the diabolical part of the name is a reference to the challenge of fabric selection. So I did what I advised the students in my color classes to do: view the pattern in greyscale and note the value placement. Also note the scale and character of the prints. 

Image from Jessie Aller tutorial, printed in greyscale

To help choose fabrics, I laid out the ones I'm considering in light, medium, and dark values. Apparently I saved the photo to greyscale and didn't save a color version. Most of the prints have purple and/or teal in them. 

I've started cutting some of the fabrics that I know I'll use, but I need more options. No problem, I'm going shopping with friends later this week. 

To keep track of what fabric is planned for where, I'm using the handy coloring page included in the tutorial, along with a lightened copy folded to see one quadrant, and a page for logging my fabrics.

I'm sure I'll end up collecting several more prints so I can audition them on the design wall. I want to give the palette my own spin, not just copy the inspiration image. 

Wish me luck - this could be a colossal fail or it could turn out to be something. I need to get it cut and ready to assemble at retreat in April. 

Link Up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts