Tricky Curves & Batch Processing

Four pairs of petals build out into a beautiful blossom in each block of this quilt and choosing which four prints to use in each block was a lot of fun.

I started out making one block at a time to ensure that I got things right but after a considerable stall, and needing 42 completed blocks, around 15 blocks in I moved to batch processing to get things moving along faster, first four at a time and at some points, eight at a time.

As more and more blocks were sewn it seemed a good idea to decide on all of the colour combos for each block to ensure that I had fabric mixes that suited rather than doing that as I went, so eventually I did that.

It was a great way to visualize how much was left to do and also helped serve as an incentive to keep moving (not that the box didn't often get set to the side).

You can see where the colours in Roberta's blocks were much stronger than for the wall quilt she had made.

And she didn't seem to have as much of an issue as I did with integrating those darker backgrounds.

Sewing that long curve is actually very forgiving. Thanks to a little help from the bias cut, it felt almost like a straight line when the pieces were matched up.

It was when you went to match the two pieces that the fretting set in. I am a pinner so I worked very hard to make this seam work, but there was often an inevitable fractional slide. 

Initially, I was very concerned when they weren't absolutely perfect, but eventually I realized that they were close enough. Once it is quilted it will be even more difficult to tell if there is a slightly bigger gap between some of them....M

Getting Things Going

I'd be fibbing if I said that I just jumped in and started sewing the blocks for Miss P. The block has a number of steps - 5 pages, to be exact - and I spent more than a little time pouring over them before finally taking the plunge.

There's also an excellent video tutorial from Sew Kind of Wonderful and it too got several views just so that I was comfortable with the process before starting anything.

Both Roberta and I made each of the four quadrants of our blocks from four different fabrics and that mixing and matching part makes for SO much scrappy fun!

Add in selecting the strips and corner triangles and it's a little piece of scrappy heaven in every block.

That little 1" centre square was just the icing on the cake.

Where I struggled a little was using the slightly darker backgrounds for a block as I tend to use a soft neutral most times.

But once I saw them combined with the lighter blocks I could really start to see how they provided depth and interest (there might have been a few little squeals of delight happening at this point...).

The thing that really makes this quilt special for me is that it combines fabrics from both of our stashes, creating something truly wonderful. Interestingly, this phrase from a selvedge was tied around a bundle of neutrals that Roberta had wrapped up for me: Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower. How apt....M 

Miss P: The Early Days

It wasn't until I started digging into my Posh Penelope pics that I remembered that Roberta had started one in the spring of 2022 and then convinced me to join in, which I did in July.

She has such a fabulous stash. Lots of time was spent trying to figure out what her colour palette might be, borrowing a lot from Lori Holt and then adding in her own touches. 

This was a trial run - a wall hanging - to see if she was prepared to make a full sized quilt. Very soft and dreamy.

And after it was quilted it took on another layer of softness.

A summer quilt if I ever did see one....M

Say Hello to Miss P

Not only do many of my projects take a long time, I also seem to have a genuine knack for dragging my heels on sharing them. Case in point, Posh Penelope by Sew Kind of Wonderful, or Miss P as she is known to Roberta and I. Like we did for Holiday Forest, we decided to work on this one together hoping that the buddy system would keep things moving (I need all of the help that I can get!).

Believe it or not, we started this quilt three years ago and I don't think that I have shared anything about it with you. It is made using the Quick Curve ruler but 'quick' is a bit of a misnomer for me (Roberta's a different story) as my blocks are all sewn but still need to be sewn into a flimsy.

Wanting to have as much variety in our fabrics as possible because we needed 168 assorted fabrics for the petals, we decided to each cut and then swap pieces; three years ago today was the date of our swap. We had more than enough variety so each of our final fabric choices were far from identical.

This was my fabric pull.

And this.

And these are the neutrals/low volume, mostly solid prints that I used for the bands that cut across the corners.

It was like klepto quilting (basically 'shopping' in someone else's stash for free) but even better, because everything was cut to size! These are some of the 1" squares needed at the centre of each block.

Where we differed in our approach was how we treated the narrow strip that runs across each corner - Roberta went with strong prints...

and mine were more neutral/low volume. It's interesting to see the difference in the final product.

More to come in the next few posts...M

The Borders Make All the Difference

Autumn Leaves is not a pattern that I would have chosen for myself, but once the borders were attached it really came into its own.

A narrow brown border and a wider multi print piano key border finish it off. From the fabric bits that came in the box it appears that the brown print on the left was intended for the narrow border but it just seemed a little flat. There was a piece of the orange that you see in the upper right, but it wasn't going to work either, so I dug into my stash and found the brown in the bottom right corner. It was warmer than the first option and went nicely with all of the prints.

The pattern shows that brown border as being 2" finished but I narrowed it down to 1" and was happy with the effect - no so clunky. 

Little or no thought was needed when sewing the slabs for the outer border together, which things along nicely.

And the corners required no special treatment which was another stroke of good luck. Soon it was all together.

I took it back to the gals at the church before taking a shot of the flimsy, but apparently it's all marked now and ready to be quilted so it's time to make the backing. I'll have photos of the entire quilt for you later, but this beautiful Jacobean print is what I will be using for the backing, which was also provided. A sticker is still on the bolt and it looks like she paid $7/metre for it - bargoon!

All in all, I think it's going to be a great raffle quilt for the Holly Bazaar later this fall....M

A Little More About Autumn Leaves

Back to my leaves...

Organizing all of the pieces for Autumn Leaves proved to be a lot of fun (I like systems). I got to see which fabrics from the stash had already been used and which units and blocks were already sewn and then was able to easily assess what was left to do.

This fabric is gorgeous and really suits the pattern.

Here's an illustration of how the fabric is cut and assembled using the Thangles to make the 2" and 4" HSTs. You cut two strips of fabric, a light and a dark, the same width as the Thangles paper strip and lay them out right sides together. Pin the paper to the strips, sew along the dotted lines and then trim along the solid lines. Pretty easy, and the HSTs come out perfectly.

I kept my head down and sewed the remaining blocks as quickly as I could and in about a week they were all finished. Soon all of the blocks were sewn together and I had much of the flimsy together. On to the piano key border....M

Anna Levens Comes Out of Hibernation

After a very cold and miserable spring we finally seem to be into summer weather, and that means hand stitching on the deck, which also means that Anna Levens has resurfaced. I think the last time I posted about her was the August long weekend of 2024, so it's been a while.

I had picked it up very briefly over the winter and recently managed to get enough hexies together to sew another 42 to one long edge, so I'm hoping to keep the mojo going. I'm loving revisiting all these prints!

I still get a kick out of the basting papers that I use and the messages that they seem to send me. I punch my own papers from business reply cards that come in magazines and mailings so there's some interesting reading...

And some I take as prompts. There's still rhubarb in the garden so me thinks that it's time to bake a little something from them - scones, muffins, cake?....M

Autumn Leaves Falling Out of the Blue

You don't expect a quilt to fall into your lap, but recently one did just that. Helgard, one of our church quilters, showed up with a small box a few months ago and in it was a partially completed quilt called Autumn Leaves. Her daughter had started it but lately it had been going nowhere so she passed it on to us to finish, with the proviso that whatever we did with it would benefit the church.

We eagerly dug into the box and did lots of oohing and ahhing about both the fabrics and the workmanship, but nobody jumped in to say that they would finish it. So, into the cupboard it went. Fearing that it would never be touched again, I later took it home to see just how much was still left to do.  

Something that had given us pause was that it was made using 'Thangles' and only Jan had ever worked with them before so I wanted to get a bead on that too. 

It turns out that Thangles are preprinted papers with sewing and cutting lines designed to ensure perfect HSTs every time. The quilt pattern looks like it was created in 2007 so I'm thinking that is about when Thangles came to market; they are still available for sale. I'll say more about them in another post.

There were 14 completed 12" blocks of two different types, one with a single large leaf...

and a second similar block with two smaller leaves.

In addition, there were various components, including lots of stem blocks. 

These were the blocks that scared me most because from what I had seen in the first viewing they were impeccably made and I couldn't imagine trying to match them, especially without the matching thread. I couldn't believe our luck when I realized that they were all made. Whew!

We still needed to make 7 more pairs of blocks - 14 in total - so I pulled a selection from the remaining fabrics and decided to get those cut....M

A Diversionary Tactic Guaranteed to Work

Whether it's hand piecing or machine stitching, I much prefer working on projects when they are small and relatively close to 'block-sized'. As they grow larger and approach the flimsy stage I tend to get a little antsy, despite the fact that continuing to work on them would get me that much closer to a finish. Just don't like dealing with all that fabric!

Sooo, rather than stick to finishing up what might be on the design wall, I often go into squirrel mode: let's start something new! Works every time. 

That would explain this lovely star. It would also help explain the number of projects that I have on the go at any one time and the mess that is my sewing room.

I have a Happy flimsy on the design wall waiting for the sashing to be finished, and more recently a second star flimsy that needs 2 - 3 more blocks made (I'll share that in a bit) but instead, I scratched an itch and started digging through scrappy neutrals and creamy pinks to try out a block that I've been eyeing from afar. Luv, luv, luv!

Originally, I thought that this one would be for Quilts for Survivors, but it turns out I'm really not that generous after all. This one is hitting all the right buttons so me thinks it's going to stay with me. The idea of digging up and incorporating the last remnants of special fabrics to make this work is so much fun.

I haven't cut any more piece or made any more stars but that doesn't matter right now - I'm loving staring at this one. I think it's going to be called Strawberries & Cream....M