What has kept me busy?

It's not the 30th because there are only 29 days in February this year but here is my end of the month progress on my Alice Jane Blue quilt.

This block shows tumbling furniture as Alice goes down the rabbit hole.


Check out the other people that are participating in the Celebrating Mary Brown SAL
Karen at Log Cabin Quilter
Jennie at Over the hill and running
Julie at Julie K quilts
Cathy at Big Lake Quilter
Nanete at Do it right quilter
Jan  (Nanette posts Jan's pictures on her blog)
Rebecca at Quilting in a Polar Bear Garden

I finished my French Quilt.  It is just such a dainty little thing.

I can use it for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and all summer long with the red, white, and blue theme.

Here are 5 blocks showing what the quilting looks like using Aurafill #12 in red and a small big stitch.

It almost looks like a crocheted/tatted edge on some of the blocks.

I used Rouenerries Deux fabric by French General, Red Grunge, and Nina's Wedding by Anna Griffin from Windham.  I used a piece of the Wedding line for the binding and an old Robin Pandolph floral for the backing.

I also finished the Swoon 16 quilt top made out of Blitzen - picture later.

Robin

Why do we do these things?

I was looking forward to the 12" block on the Cheddarback quilt this month.  It is so playful.

But, it was way too hard to draft a pattern that would fit on an 8 1/2" X 11" sheet of printer paper.  So, instead we got a pattern for the inner wheel enlarged.

I was a little disappointed but I understood why.  And I don't blame Gay for giving us this alternative.  It's a great block.

But, I wanted to see if there was a way to figure out how to make this block.  Believe me,  this isn't the easiest way to make a block.

I had a pad of graph paper that measures 12 inches.  I asked my husband if he could figure out a way to draw the pattern for the block on this pad of paper.

He enlarged the picture of the block from Sentimental Stitches Blog on the printer somehow and then through measuring and summing things up  he was able to get straight lines and equal increments,  although some of the dimensions aren't exactly square.  And, thankfully, he came up with the graph above.

I traced the pattern on to freezer paper and then numbered each section (really important).

 I cut out the pattern on the drawn lines and then ironed it on to the back of the two fabrics.

I trimmed 1/4" seam allowance on all the pieces.

You can see that the squares aren't completely square.  But, it all works out if you make sure that you match it up to the exact piece that goes next to it.  (That's why I numbered everything).  I pinned the freezer paper on the fabric to secure it because sometimes it gets loose and I used the freezer paper as my sewing line.  Sometimes I had to re-position the pins as I sewed.

Using the numbers as a guide I made a layout of the block with the freezer paper side up so I could match each of the pieces together with the right mate.  I sewed the right and left outside border sections, then the top and bottom border pieces, then center wheel section, and then sewed them all together.  It was a little tricky but well worth not being in a hurry.

I put a pin in from the corner on the top piece to the corner of the corresponding piece below.  I left the corner pins in and secured the seam with 2 pins and then took the corner pins out and sewed the seam.

I put my needled down right at the corner of the freezer paper and sewed right next to the paper.

Ending at the next corner and careful not to sew beyond it at all.  I made sure that I backstitched at each corner so they wouldn't unravel.

I didn't press any of the seams until I was all finished sewing it together.  It took me quite a while and I had to be patient butting up all those corners to each other but it all came together just as I had planned.

Here is the block before it was pressed.

I pressed the inside triangles all toward the outside pressing the squares into the center hexagon and then it was easy to figure out the rest of the pressing pattern.

And here it is.  There are some gaps between some of the points but overall it turned out great.  Would I do it again?

I hope I don't have to.
Robin

Gay has now produced some printable template pieces on her blog for a free download.  Go to the very bottom of the post.

It's the 30th

Well. . . . .

One of the things Alice found as she fell down the rabbit hole was a map on one of the shelves along the sides of the hole.  I thought that might be fun to include in the quilt.  The only map fabric I had was of the United States in a muted color.  I decided to use it anyway and choose fabrics that might accent it.

I used the flowers and leaves from Block #4.  I embroidered the narrow vines instead of appliqueing them.

From the get-go this block had a life of it's own.

I'm not sure it really goes with the rest of the Alice Jane Blue/Celebrating Mary Brown blocks but it's done and I'm moving on.

Be sure and check out the others that are participating in this Celebrating Mary Brown SAL.  And if you'd like to join along just contact Karen at Log Cabin Quilter.

Karen at Log Cabin Quilter
Jennie at  Over the Hill and Running
Julie K. at Julie K. Quilts
Cathy B. at Big Lake Quilter
Nanette at Do it right Quilter
 Rebecca at Quilting in a Polar Bear Garden
and Jan who also shows her work with Nanette.

Until next month,
Robin

Swoon 16, Blitzen, and the best news of all

I had a 2-day retreat with my quilt group.  So I decided to cut up a Swoon 16 quilt that I've had the fabric for since the winter of 2013-2014.  I'm always scanning the computer for the upcoming fabric lines.  This is Blintzen by BasicGrey and I just couldn't get it out of my mind.





So I ordered a FQ stack and had it sent to my daughter (I was away from home in Wisconsin at the time).  When I returned home she had spread it out on my ironing board in the sewing room and petted it while we looked at it.

She loved it because of the colors and the fact that there are snowmen in it - her favorite thing.  You can see a sliver of the dark gray and green colorway of the snowmen above.

I cut out the 16 blocks but only got one made at the retreat.

 *Note to self - if I decide to start another quilt at a retreat, make up one block at home to familiarize myself with it's construction.

It's a 16" block so it's a little forgiving in the construction.  Thanks goodness!

Here is my stack so far.  I have been working on it all week.  There are 13 in the stack and I've made one more since the picture.  That only leaves 2 more blocks to make.  I'm hoping to do that this afternoon.

This is one of the completed block.  I hope the sashing I have picked out will make these blocks shine.

I saved the best for last.  We have a new grandson.  He arrived three weeks early   The above picture was taken a little while after he was born.  Mom had a rough time getting him here.  He only weighed 5 lbs. and was 17 1/2" long.  It's easy to see how small he is in the arms of my youngest son below.

What a blessing,
Robin

Definitely a squirrel!!!

I have had this group of fabrics stacked in a corner for a long time.  I keep thinking I am going to make an applique something out of them.  They are subdued a little and some of them are kind of ugly but I like them anyway.  Not my usual palette at all.

Yesterday I went to the Friends of Cheri facebook group and saw that they were having a January SAL and the chosen quilt by Cheri Payne is called January Quilt Sharing.

I couldn't stop thinking about it and so I gathered my little stack and sewed this sweet quilt together today.  It measures 24" X 27".  It's interesting to see how the solid squares stand out in the photo because they fade into the background in real life with the plus signs being more dominant.

I'm glad I could experiment with this fabric pull before I committed to a larger project.  I like it.  But, I think I would get tired of it if I made a bed sized quilt.

Hope you were able to stitch today,
Robin

Whew!

I love this cricket playing pool background fabric

I finished making the January blocks for the Cheddarback quilt.  It was quite a feat because some of the blocks were really time consuming.  I had to be so careful.

The 5/8" border is sewn on but not attached to the sashing.

And then there was the above block that went together beautifully and was exactly 5 1/4" square when I was finished.  It supposed to be 5 1/2" inches.  I didn't want to make it again so I cut four - 5/8" strips to put around it.  Then when I sewed it to the sashing, it left 1/8" border all the way around.  It isn't noticeable at all unless you're looking for it.

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I chose this background.  I love the background of the original block but I didn't have anything like it.  This quilt is going to be eclectic for sure.

The fourth small block went together easily, thank goodness.

Then I made the large block for January which included a lot of paper pieced flying geese.  It would have been so much easier to have cut it and sewed it individually but that wasn't what the instructions were.  I sewed and sewed and guess what?  It wasn't the right size either.  It was too small.  Now, you may say that I took bigger 1/4" seams and perhaps that is the case, but why do all my other blocks for the past year turn out okay and it is just this month that they are too small?

I stretched the block to fit the sashing.  The sashing ripples now.  It will quilt out but for right now it doesn't look good - hence no picture.

It makes me nervous about what the next months blocks are going to be like.

I love this quilt and I will slog through regardless how the next few month's blocks turn out.

I still appreciate Gay doing this BOM.  I'm sure it's frustrating to her too.

Robin

Merrily we roll along

#1   I finished this quilt in early January 2019.  I had almost finished it by Christmas 2018 but not quite.

On my bed

So, after waiting 11 months I excitedly put it on my bed at the beginning of December and it just wasn't right.  I couldn't sleep comfortably under it.  I loved it but something was amiss.

I offered Christmas quilts to my youngest son and this is one of the ones he picked out.  It went where it was supposed to go.  He was thrilled.

On my son's bed

#2   I finally quilted this little quilt.  It is so simple but still quite festive.  It is a pattern by Cheri Payne.

#3   After removing the top and bottom border I finished quilting this quilt started in 2015.

It had that wide red border on all four sides and it was just too much

                                                     It was given to one of my DILs.

#4   I made a universe quilt for the only one of my grandchildren that didn't have a quilt made by grandma.  He was lucky, he got to pick out the fabric - the rest had to just take what they were given.

#5   I quilted this bunny quilt from 2014.  It is a pattern by Jan Patek.  I quilted it in time for Easter and it went up on the wall.  Such a cute springy quilt.

#6   Here is my map challenge from AHIQ.  It is a map of the a mile square in Logan, Cache, Utah with buttons on it for each Swiss/German speaking family from the 1910 Census.

#7   I quilted the wheel of fortune quilt for a friend.  Wish I had a better picture of this quilt because it really is a pretty one with the broderie perse around the outside.

#8   I finally quilted my Baskets, Berries, and Leaves quilt.  The pattern is by Jan Patek and Alma Allen.

This has been hanging around in my closet for a long time.  I love the way it turned out.

#9   I repaired and finished quilting this Grandmother's garden quilt for my SIL.

#10   I quilted the Zip a dee doo dah quilt and donated it to Quilts without borders.

#11   I finished quilting this cute little star quilt that has been waiting since 2008.  It was given to another one of my DILs. (I have 5 of them)

That is eleven quilts completed last year.  I usually only get about 6 done so this feels good.  Many of them were vintage UFO's.  That felt good too.

Robin