Finished: Made in Cherry (Echo) Quilt Top

Yesterday I finally finished sewing together my Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt top, and I have to say I absolutely love it! As a queen-sized quilt, it is also the biggest sewn project that I have made to date; once it's finished, it will be living on my bed. :) 

Since the weather was sunny and dry this afternoon; my husband and I decided to get outside for a walk, absorb some sunshine, and take a few photos.

I am really pleased with the way my fabric choices turned out in particular. The background fabric, being darker and more subdued, really emphasizes the bright, graphic colors and patterns in the star.



 The background print--also from the Echo collection--is a wonderful, sketchy crosshatch that feels very vintage to me, like 1960's upholstery fabric. ;) Overall I think the quilt top has a kind of mid-century sensibility to it, with the simple design of the overblown star and especially with the saturated color palette and graphic-meets-organic feel of the Lotta Jansdotter's prints.

I still haven't settled on how I want to handle the quilting, mainly if I want to try and tackle it myself or if I want to send it out, but I do like the idea of using straight-line quilting to emphasis the geometric, graphic quality of the design.

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FAL: 1st Quarter Mid-point Update

This past week was kind of "blah" for me. I think it's been a combination of the dreary winter weather, not feeling especially great, and having some extra stress creep up recently. I have been trying to stay positive by keeping my WIP going and sewing when I can, but for the most part I have been spending a lot of time sketching new quilt ideas, playing with mixing prints from my stash, and generally stalling on finishing anything! Netflix streaming may or may not have been to blame as well. ;)


Despite being a little less than motivated this week, I am actually finally ready to baste and quilt my Embroidery 101 (Just Wing It) quilt. I finished the quilt back a couple days ago and made up a label yesterday. I have to admit I am a little nervous to start quilting this, mostly because I am unsure of whether or not my sewing machine is up to the task. I have a pretty basic model Bernette that at times has trouble with tension, sewing over thicker areas, and speed control--especially on multiple layers. I can usually finesse it into doing what I need, but with such a large project, I am apprehensive about dealing with my machine's quirks while also wrangling the bulk of the quilt under my 6" arm space. I am planning on rearranging my sewing space a bit this weekend to make it easier by adding some more table space on the left side of my machine to help support the quilt. Hopefully that and sewing slowly will be the keys to success (any other tips are more than appreciated!). I certainly would love to finish this project soon and finally get a regular-sized quilt finish under my belt.

Now I have to finish it! It's etched embroidered in stone. ;)

I also wanted to check back in with my 1st Quarter FAL list and see what kind of progress I have made since it's right about the mid-point. Actually, I am pretty much right on target to finish most everything (yay!). Here is the run-down:

1. Just Wing It (Embroidery 101) quilt finish - Sew on border fabric, make backing, quilt and bind
Update: I decided not to do the border and I have finished the quilt back. Next is basting and quilting.

2. Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) quilt finish - Sew together the blocks with sashing, make backing, quilt, and bind
Update: The top is completely sewn together. I have the backing picked out, I just need to stitch it together then baste and quilt.

3. Bow-tie Blocks quilt top - Finish remaining blocks and sew together the top
Update: I haven't done anything more with these yet.

4. Secret Garden Table Runner for my Sister - Needs quilting and binding
Update: Done. :)

5. Figure-8 flannel and voile scarves - Making a few
Update: Done, although I might make a couple more since they are so quick.

6. Honey Cowl - Knit project
Update: Haven't started this yet, but should soon if I want to get any use out of it this winter! ;)

7. Cat Toys
Update: Done.

I am also languishing on finishing my Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt top although I do now have the extra fabric I need. There are only a few long seams left to sew on this one so I really have no excuse not to finish the top this weekend! If the weather is good I will also take photos. :)

Quilting at the V&A

You may not know this about me, but I happen to also be passionate about museums in addition to making. It's been something I have always loved, ever since I was a little kid staring up at my first T-Rex (happened to be the one at the Denver Museum of Natural History). :) I find the whole aspect of cataloguing and curating to be fascinating and I actually think that those skills are really essential to quilting, especially in the way colors and prints are selected as well as in building a working fabric collection.

Military quilt, possibly Francis Brayley, 1864-1877, image from the V&A collection

One of my favorite museums in the world happens to be the Victoria and Albert in London, largely due to the museum's amazing textiles and expansive design collections. I sometimes peruse museum sites for inspiration, along with the regular crafting blogs that I follow, and I was happy to discover on the V&A site recently a whole webpage dedicated to quilting and patchwork along with some pretty awesome interactive tools. There is a bunch of information about the history of quilting (the info about the prison rehab program is very interesting) along with some videos and links about contemporary quilting. There are also some interactive parts of the website including a place to upload images of your own quilts to take part in a massive digital exhibition they are hosting called the Quilt of Quilts.

My favorite interactive part of the webpage is this really fun tool that allows you to upload any picture you like, from your own computer or their collection, and turn it into a quilt pattern made up of solid-colored squares and HSTs. I had a blast playing around with it, taking a bunch of images and seeing what kind of patterns they would make, whether completely abstract or somewhat recognizable. The process of pixilation can be controlled by adjusting how simple or complex the pattern will be by choosing the number of colors as well as the size of squares. I decided to keep two of the patterns I made and I am actually thinking about quilting one them. :)

Here is an example of what they provide with the pattern. You of course get your pixilated quilt pattern layout, but they also give you all of the colors (I chose 20) and the number of squares or blocks in each color that you will need to complete the top. You could then take this sheet to your local quilt store or compare it to your favorite color card to find the right solids to use. I was very impressed with how much detail they included with the pattern, making it actually doable to turn the image into a real quilt.

 Let me know if you get a chance to go check out the website and even play a little with the tools. I'd love to see some of your patterns too!

Easy HST Tutorial and February BOMs

For February, both of the Craftsy BOMs are focused on working with HSTs (Half-square triangles). In the monthly lesson, Amy introduced two methods for creating these, the traditional hand-drawn method and the "magic" HST method (here is a video linking to both methods as shown by Jenny Doan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company).  Both have their perks and drawbacks. The traditional method is time-consuming but reliable and the magic method is quick but ends up leaving your bias edges around the outside of your squares. 

I ended up not using either and instead using a method that I worked out back in December, when I made this mini quilt for my mother-in-law. After playing with some fabric and doing a little math, I came up with a way to make a bunch of HSTs in one pass with minimal work. I am sure I am not the first to "discover" this, but I thought I would share a quick tutorial in case anyone wanted to see another take on making HSTs. The only tricky part of this method is that you need to do a little math in order to be able to figure out how big to cut your starting squares, but I assure you, if I can do it, so can you! 

 

For my HSTs, I needed to end up with unfinished 3 1/2" squares (3" once sewn into the final block). I started by taking that number (3 1/2") and adding 1/2" to figure in the seam allowance*. I then took this number (4") and doubled it (8") to figure out the side dimension of the fabric squares I would cut. Pretty simple, huh.

EDIT: Here is the actual equation to plug your numbers into:

A = your desired HST size (unfinished)
B = the side dimensions (in inches) of the square you will cut from your two fabrics (i.e. 8" x 8")

(A + 1/2") x 2 = B

Now that the math portion is done, here are the step-by-step directions for the rest:

1. I cut two 8" x 8" squares (based on my calculation) of fabric and layered them right sides together.

2. I placed a couple pins to prevent shifting and drew two lines diagonally, from corner to corner

3. I sewed on both sides (up and down) of these two lines

4. I then cut the sewn square in half length-wise

5. And then in half width-wise

6. Finally I cut the marked diagonals to create 8 HSTs ready to be pressed and trimmed to size

*Mathematically, you really only need to add 3/8" to your desired size for seam allowance, but I find that it is usually better to give myself some room to trim at the end rather than ending up too short.

 

Here are my trimmed and pressed 3 1/2" HSTs ready to be sewn. 

Chunky Chevron Block in Summersault, Prince Charming, and Kona Cerise

I used this method almost exclusively to make the HSTs in both of these blocks. The only ones that I used the traditional method on were the lighter triangles in the Chunky Chevron block, simply because I didn't need 8 of them, I only need 4. 

Balkan Puzzle Block in Summersault, Lotus (by Amy Butler), and Kona Cerise

I hope that you find this tutorial to be helpful! If you have any question or any other HST tips, feel free to leave me a comment. I'd love to hear what you think!

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WIP Wednesday: The Late Show

This post is a bit late and the only excuse I have is that I was sewing! ;) Since it is still Wednesday here, I thought I would do a quick recap of what I have been working on. This past week, I have been rotating through a handful of projects, sewing a little here and a little there on each. I am trying to make a dent in my First Quarter FAL commitments and also get caught up on my January and February blocks for the Craftsy BOM led by Amy from Stitchery Dickory Dock. The BOM is the first class that I have taken on Craftsy (it also happens to be free in case anyone would like to give it a try) and so far I am pretty impressed. The course runs the whole year, with a couple of blocks being introduced each month. Here are my January blocks: 

Asterisk block in Summersault and Kona Cerise

Wonky Pound Sign block in Summersault and Kona Cerise

I have also been getting my Embroidery 101 (Just Wing It) quilt ready for basting and quilting. Today I cut up all of the left-over scraps to make the backing and to make a scrappy border to go around the outside edge of the quilt top. Here are a few of the 2 inch border strips before they grew exponentially in size. I felt like Rapunzel today with these long strips of fabric stretched all across my sewing room, literally from wall to wall! I finally got them wrangled into one neat roll. :)

I also have been pulling fabrics from my stash to make a new quilt using a bunch of Anna Maria Horner prints. This is my tentative selection, although I know for sure that the charms, the quilter's linen, and the summer totem fabric on the far left are going to stay. This one will be made completely of HSTs. Hopefully I will have more to share soon.

     

And this is what my studio wall looks like today. I still haven't forgotten about those cute bow-tie blocks! I also just received my extra fabric for the Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt and will be able to finally finish the top, hopefully by this weekend.

New Projects

- AMH HSTs quilt 

Ongoing Projects

- Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt 

- Craftsy BOM

Completed Tops Awaiting Quilting

- Just Wing It (Embroidery 101)

- Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) Quilt

No Progress

- Bow-tie Blocks Quilt

- Daybreak Knit Shawl

- Honey Cowl

This Week's Stats

Completed projects - 0

New projects - 1

Currently in progress - 8

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Happy Valentines Day!

On this February 14th, I hope you are getting plenty of cuddling time with the ones you love! I thought I would post a couple of photos of my cuddle monster, Cleo, now that she is over her cold and feeling much better. :)

I'll be back tomorrow with WIP Wednesday!

Secret Garden Table Runner Finish

Part of the 1st Quarter FAL. My original post is here.

Last weekend I was visiting my sister in Portland, and since I had been woefully dragging my feet on getting her table runner finished (it actually started out as a Christmas present!), I decided it was time to stop stalling and just finish it so that I could finally bring it to her. I got up early on the day I was driving down and set myself to the task of quilting and binding her table runner (made mostly in Secret Garden by Sandi Henderson).

I thought a couple of hours tops, and I would be done, but I hadn't anticipated that the backing would not even come close to matching up with the top. See I thought it would be a good idea to make a border around the backing fabric in the same color and width as the border on the front, but it just wasn't. Nope, not at all! If one's piecing, for instance, happens to be off ever-so-slightly from front to back (or actually an alarmingly amount, as it was in my case), when you straight-line quilt using the top as a guide there just isn't a chance in hell that the back is going to be very forgiving. After some quality-time with my seam ripper, and about a half an hour later, I got back on track by ditching the original backing and pulling some fabric from my stash to make a solid backing with NO piecing. :) I believe the fabric is from Santorini by Lila Tueller.

 

I ended up using the central rectangular blocks as guides for the quilting and simply echoed their shape across the top in concentric boxes. I love the simplicity of this type of quilting and how it lends another layer of structure to the finished quilt. I used two colors of thread for the quilting, a green to match the border and a gold to use on the printed fabrics.

 

I also hand-bound the runner in a gold geometric print that I also used for the pieced top. It's from  Heirloom by Joel Dewberry. 

 

I am realizing now after seeing these photos that I should have ironed this a bit more and really opened the shades before snapping photos, but as you can see my sister also has cats (two adorable siblings) and it didn't take long before it had been "claimed" as the perfect napping spot. I hope my sister the kitties will enjoy it! ;)

Mr. Linus, an expert quilt judge

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Parterre Jardin Quilt Top Finish

A few weeks ago, I finished my Parterre Jardin quilt top made in Tula Pink's Prince Charming Fabric. I was finally able to take some photos of it this past weekend when we had a few days of exceptionally sunny, dry weather. 

I am really happy with how easily it went together and absolutely love the way the fabric ended up working out, especially the nice mix of light and dark hues. Since this was my first foray into pattern making, I am pretty excited with the final result, mainly that my math ended up being correct the first time!

 

This quilt top is essentially based on one block design, with a few variations, that cycle through across the rows and columns. I liked that putting together all of the finished blocks into the final quilt layout felt a lot like putting together a puzzle. The order by which the blocks and sashing were sewn was very important and kind of a fun challenge to figure out. 

I plan to make the backing using some of the left-over scraps and some Cloud9 aqua colored flannel from my stash. I also have set aside some Pellon wool batting for this quilt, so it should be kind of interesting to see how well it quilts in comparison to cotton and what the final feel and hand will be. I hear good things about wool batting in terms of its sew-ability as well as its superb year-round temperature control, so we shall see! 

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Made in Cherry: A Few Tips and a Mini-tutorial

I wanted to share a few tips and ideas that I discovered while working on my Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt. I thought they might be helpful for someone getting ready to tackle this pattern or maybe even someone currently working on on. Due to the fact that the pattern makes a larger size quilt and isn't actually based on a block (although you can, and do, break it down into smaller units) there were a few steps in making the quilt top that were a little tricky and required some creative brain power to figure out the best way to approach them. 

To start, the fabric requirements as written for this quilt end up being a little non-standard for the typical  increments of fabric sold in the U.S. This is of course totally to be expected as the pattern was created by Sarah Fielke, who is an Australian designer, for Lecien, which is a Japanese company. The pattern calls for a half-meter (or 20") of eight different prints.  The way that I adjusted my layout to allow for the use of half-yard cuts was actually very simple. Rather than choosing -8- 20" cuts, I chose -10- half-yard cuts from a bundle I purchased. When it came time to cut my fabric I knew that I needed a total of -180- 4 1/2" squares and -20- 4 7/8" squares, so I simply cut 18 squares from each print at 4 1/2" and 2 squares from each print at 4 7/8". The math actually worked out perfectly this way.

 

Once I had gotten all of my squares cut, it came time to divide the 4 7/8" pieces into triangles to go around the outside of the star points. Since I was working with directional prints and wanted to have them consistently running from top to bottom, I discovered that I need to cut these triangles in a very specific way to ensure that I would have enough pieces with prints running in the correct directions to fill in around the star points. This is because the angles of the star points shift as you move around the star.



I cut the two 4 7/8" squares of each of the 10 prints together, layered one on top of the other. For the directional prints I made sure to flip one of the squares, so that when laid on top of the other, the prints would run perpendicular to each other. After making the diagonal cut, this resulted in having four triangles, two with the print running top to bottom and two with the print running side to side, allowing me to use this print on any of the star points regardless of the alignment of their angle.
  

   

I then laid out my star and made sure that I liked the distribution of the prints overall. Everything looked great, so I began to carefully divide the star into smaller stacks based on Chelsea's recommendations. I labeled each stack with a color-coded post-it and drew a little picture so that I would easily be able to tell where everything went as I started sewing. This may seem like overkill, but for me, the most challenging aspect of making this quilt top was staying organized. Even with this system, I still made a few mistakes that resulted in needing to shift some prints around.

Finally, I thought I would briefly share how I tackled cutting the 43" background square into triangles using a rotary cutter and mat. After measuring and cutting the 43" square, which ended up being a very tight measurement on standard fabric, I folded the square in half and lightly pressed. I then took each corner (on the fold) of this new rectangular shape and brought them together in the center to create a triangle. After pressing the diagonal folds, I then unfolded the triangle, refolded, and pressed the rectangle in half lengthwise to mark the center. With the center and diagonals marked by these new creases, I then lined up a yard stick (or meter stick) from the center point of the rectangle (on the fold)  to one of the corners and cut. I repeated this step on the other side of the rectangle and voila! ended up with four precisely cut triangles. 

I hope this post ends up being helpful for someone and that I didn't put anyone to sleep with the amount of detail! I was able to track down some more background fabric, so I'll be back next week to hopefully share some photos of the finished top.