Original Log Cabin Triangles Finished

Whoo-hoo! No longer a UFO!

The blocks for this were made about a year and a half ago, and the top center was assembled at camp. But it was a not-very-useful size, 54" x 63" and I didn't have any more of the colors to make more blocks. So it sat in UFO status for awhile.

I finally found the perfect fabric for a border to make it larger, while I was in Florida in September.

Perfect! The addition of the borders brought the top up to 66" x 75" which is a better size for a throw. 

Some spiral quilting, around and around...

I used the same border fabric for the binding.

The back is a remnant of grey Wide Screen. It was too long and narrow so I pieced it to the right size along with a piece of another grey print to fill in the corner. 

Nice to be able to add this to the finished pile! And I get to cross it off the UFO list - Whoo-hoo!

If you're interested, the Log Cabin Triangle block pattern is available as a tutorial here. 

Link ups:  Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Crazy Mom Quilts, My Quilt Infatuation

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and your family a happy turkey day!

We'll be visiting my sister-in-law and her family. By popular request, we're once again bringing party mushrooms* and candied sweet potatoes and wine. The quilt above, Maple Leaf Star, was given to SIL for Christmas last year. Here's another seasonal quilt:

Hoping you'll be enjoying good food and great company -

Happy Thanksgiving!

*No, not that kind of party mushrooms. Recipe for sauteed mushrooms & pearl onions in America's Test Kitchen 2007 cookbook (no affiliation).

Spiraling Around

Last week I mentioned that I want to get my original Log Cabin Triangles quilt finished. It languished in UFO status for over a year until I finally found border fabric for it. I pin basted it last week.

I ran out of pins, but after getting more I finally got the basting finished and started quilting. I'm quilting it in a spiral starting at the center of the motif. 

Around and around and around...  Just keep going...  I do think this style of quilting suits this piecing layout, but it sure is tedious. Music helps!

I used Connecting Threads (no affiliation) 50 wt. cotton thread in a pale grey called Silver. It's nice for quilting but a little thick for piecing. I have a lot of trouble with thread breakage with some types of fine threads on this machine, but much less breakage with CT thread, so for continuous quilting like spiraling around, CT was my preferred choice. 

There are plenty of wobbles and bobbles but overall the quilting looks fine. 

Maybe I'll be able to get it trimmed and bound this week. 

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt

He Likes It

DH really likes his birthday quilt. As he was opening it he saw the back and said "I know where these fabrics came from!" I had to tell him that was the back, then he looked at the front. He really, really  likes it.

He says it's warm. It should be, with flannel front and back, and wool batting.

Murphy likes it too.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Original LCT

About a year and a half ago I worked on this original block and quilt layout resulting in a small top which has remained a UFO. This block is called Log Cabin Triangles, or LCT for short.

The block design, in patriotic colors, became the QOV block for the 2016 block drives hosted by Alycia in Colorado, Dar of QOV-Eastern Missouri, and others. Click on the 2016 QOV block tab above for more on that and a link to the tutorial.

After I sewed the blocks together, I never did much with this top because it isn't a very usable size, 54" x 63".  The dark fabrics were random fat quarters and I used them all up and couldn't get any more. I thought of adding a third color, maybe teal, but by then I had used up most of the extra light "logs" and couldn't replace some of those fabrics either.

I have a trunk show coming up and I no longer have the QOV I made from this block design, so I want to finish up this quilt so I can talk about it. I've been searching for something to use as a border to make it larger, and while I was in Florida in September I found the perfect print.

This week I added the borders, bringing the size up to a more usable throw size, 66" x 75" (here shown sideways on my design wall).

Now I'm in the process of pin basting it. Ran out of pins, need to get more...

I will spiral quilt this the same as I did my QOV verson. But I learned from that one and this time I'm pinning closer together, and facing the pins so I can easily remove them as I spiral around. Here's what the QOV looked like with its spiral quilting:

My goal is to have the original LCT version quilted by the end of the month.


Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

Propeller Block Layouts

I handed out propeller block instructions to my bee mates at guild on Saturday (see Friday's post below) and someone asked me how I plan to lay the blocks out. I'm thinking of staggering them with some negative space in between. This way the darks will create strong diagonal movement.

Here's how this layout would work going both directions (the center would be a pale background similar to the other backgrounds). There would be lots of partial seams if I use this layout.

Or I could stagger them in vertical columns, which still gives me diagonal movement but also creates some interesting shapes in the negative space. No partial seams here, just columns. 

As long as I stay away from a plain boring straight setting, I think I'll like whatever I come up with. I'll figure it out when I get the blocks back from my friends and see how many I have/need and what size it comes out to. This will be a donation quilt and my plan is for it to be suitable for an older boy. 

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

Propeller Block for Sew Bee It

This month is my turn to hand out the block for my bee in STLMQG, called Sew Bee It. I'm posting the instructions here for the girls in the bee, and anyone else who's interested is welcome to use this tutorial to make their own blocks.

I'm asking for Propeller blocks:

Color palette for Sew Bee It:

-        Background: Any pale low volume, as long as it reads neutral. Nothing feminine.

-        Feature color: Any bright hue in the lime/green/teal/turquoise/blue/indigo range, again nothing feminine. Please use the same fabric for all the colored pieces in the block. 

Cutting:

-        Background:

o   cut (2) two 5” squares

o   cut (4) four 2-1/2” squares

-        Feature color:

o   cut (2) two 5” squares

o   cut (2) two 2-1/2” squares

o   cut (1) one 2-1/2” x 6-1/2” piece

Assembly:

-        Mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of each of the 5” background squares.

-        Place 5” background and feature color squares right sides together and sew 1/4” on each side of the marked line.

-        Cut on the marked line, press seams open, and square up the HSTs to 4-1/2”.

-        Sew a 2-1/2” background square to each end of the colored strip. Press seams toward the color.

-        Sew a 2-1/2” background square to each of the small colored squares. If your print is directional, sew the background squares to the top of one and the bottom of the other colored squares.

-        Lay out the parts like the block diagram; note which way the HSTs rotate. Sew the top row together and the bottom row together.  

    -    Sew the three rows together, making sure the seams line up so the center plus shape doesn’t look crooked. Press seams toward the center row. 

Thank you for making blocks for me!