A Few Bits from the Holly Bazaar

Though it seems like the Holly Bazaar was ages ago, its just been a few weeks but prep for it kept me even busier this year because I was asked to co-convene it. I was patting myself on the back for having started my sewing early because something would have had to give if I had left it all to the last minute.

This is one of the holiday-themed runners that I made. It's a Kim Deihl pattern called Double Dipped and was lots of fun to make; I particularly like the little red pin dot background with all of those Christmas prints. 

Roberta quilted it with a swoon-worthy holly and berry panto.

It looked great as a runner, but the blocks could have been a little bit smaller if it were for my table. That said, someone bought it so it obviously works for their table. 

It has a lovely argyle feel to it and is scrappy to boot; the pattern would make up into a beautiful throw.

I got all five Christmas stockings finished...

And remember these placemats that I'd found on 'the chair'? (I made a set last year from remnant HSTs.)

With so many prints in the HSTs I opted for a subtle red check for the binding so that it didn't compete for attention.

And they are quilted in the same beautiful holly and berry panto that Roberta used for the runner above. It would be great to use the reverse side of them sometimes so that you could enjoy that quilting to the fullest.

I really debated giving these away but fear not, my partner in crime came to the rescue. When they proved to also be a favourite of The Official Cookie Tester's, he bought them. They never made it to the craft table 😉.

There were still plenty of Christmassy HSTs left to play with so I whipped up a pair of cute potholders  - love that candy cane binding - and managed to give them to the cause. I can't keep everything!....M

Look Out For That Rabbit Hole!

You didn't really think that I could toss all of the beautiful trimmings from the sew and flip angles in the Holiday Forest blocks, did you?

When I sew each diagonal seam, I automatically sew a second parallel seam a very scant half inch from the first seam before pressing and trimming, ending up with this little pile of lovelies. There are eight in each block, so they do add up.

Not wanting to lose too much momentum with making the tree blocks, they sit to one side and are slowly being pressed and trimmed to HSTs that measure 1 7/8". A fresh blade really helps get a crisp finish.

They would make sweet little basket blocks or scrappy little Bear Paws. I haven't really had time to play with them yet but I'm certain that there's a bright future for them. 

Lots more trimming to come. 

Waste not, want not is an adage I live by, though these little diversions down rabbit holes do help explain the speed at which some of my projects advance. Or don't....M

What To Do With The Leftovers?

Three HST blocks remained from my Sugar fix, two blue and one green, so I decided to enlarge them and add them to the pile of 16" blocks that will go to Quilts for Survivors with the quilts and flimsies. I could hang on to them and work them into a Kitchen Sink-type quilt but I have yet to make one so this way I know that they will get used, and quickly.

What to do? There was some thought to adding a border of smaller HSTs either around the entire centre block, or possibly two sides, but the math wasn't taking me easily to 16 inches so I opted for something simpler.

That mauve and green print that I had originally thought would be the light in the flimsies was still out, so I looked at it for a while, but something with a little more punch seemed to be calling my name.

I landed on a bright pink and mauve floral, as it would go with both the blue and the green...

and then found the purple for the corner stones. It's a very traditional looking block and something about it reminds me of a ribbon skirt; I think it's the border print.

The same colours were used for the green block.

It's nice to see the block pile growing as the list of quilts and flimsies grow. I think we'll have a terrific bundle for them to unpack later this fall....M

And Then There Were Two

Both of my Sugar flimsies are now together and looking almost like identical twins.

The mix of fabrics is very, very similar in both, but that's okay. These are for the Quilts for Survivors project so they will go to two different recipients.

They are bright and fresh and just varied enough to keep them interesting.

This was a great way to use up a few scraps that have been hanging around for a while.

I would definitely make another of these but I think I'd make the HSTs smaller - these finish off at 5” but I’d like to try a quilt where they are closer to 3”, still in groups of four but on point. I have a thing for small pieces so these blocks are a bit of a stretch for me (literally!); I've seen a red and green version and really liked it. Didn't do that this time around because I was too lazy to make the setting triangles. Sad.

It feels good to have a couple more flimsies to add to the pile as we are aiming to ship in early October....M

Sweet As Sugar

With all of the trimming finished, HSTs have been running through my machine at almost record speed. 

Because I was planning with one eye on the Sugar Quilt pattern, I realized well into my cutting spree that I had enough for about 1.5 quilts (my blocks will be larger so I didn't need as many as it calls for) so I just kept cutting so that I had enough for two. Why not?

I had toyed with using this mauve and green print as the light throughout the quilts but decided that the blue and green were on the contemporary side so I stayed with Kona Snow. It would have worked, it just would have had a more traditional feel.

Of course, there's one in every crowd. 

It's amazing how long it took me to figure out that this block was put together wrong. I kept rotating it thinking that I had just laid it down wrong. Didn't figure it out until the next day. Sheesh!...M

On A Lighter Note...

Despite the saturated colour that seems to be the order of the day for all of my quilty friends lately, I have been playing with a much softer, almost monochromatic palette - lots of blues and greens with a little mauve and aqua thrown in for good measure. All will be paired with Kona Snow.

I have long wanted to make a quilt with tons of HSTs in sets of four so I decided to make one for Quilts for Survivors. Then Came June's free Sugar Quilt pattern was my starting point but I made a modification or two. 

I wanted the HSTs to be relatively large so I started by cutting 8.5" squares because I have one that width (and because I was feeling a little lazy) and then made four at a time. 

There was a fair bit of time spent trimming them down to 5.5" HSTs (they will finish at 5") but I was in no hurry, and it makes such a difference when it's time to sew everything together.

The payoff is when you start seeing the blocks....M   

Maybe I'll Try Just One...

One of the things that the gals at Quilts for Survivors have requested are 16" blocks (16.5" unfinished), and seeing the blocks that some of the quilters were making made me want to see if I could add to that pile a bit. It would add to the variety of the bundle that we are preparing and would be much faster than making another flimsy.

I seldom, if ever, work with blocks this large, so it was also sort of a personal challenge to find a block that I liked and maybe make one or two. This Ohio Star was my first effort. 

It ticked all of the boxes quite nicely - a 4 x 4 grid that got me to 16" and was a little interesting to boot.

So I tried another one.

Okay, how about one more.

What the heck, let's try another one (I think you can see where this is going).

I was making eight HSTs at a time starting with two 10" squares and once you got into the rhythm of them they came together quite quickly. Slowly they kept adding up.

In my mind's eye I imagined a narrow sashing with a tiny dark cornerstone, but when I laid them all out they looked pretty good together just as they were. Three more and I would have a lap quilt that met their specs. What the heck. 

So, I've got three more pairs on the cutting table and ready to go. Guess I'll need to find another pattern if I'm planning to add to the 'blocks' pile 😉....M

A Sea of Blue

This Ocean Waves is the second 'blue' quilt that I had quilted last fall. It was one of those forever projects but now that it's close to being finished I can't wait to get it on a bed.

It's all hand stitched so it took me ages to finish the flimsy. My niece Julia was convinced that it would never be a quilt 😏.

I found a receipt for the yellow strawberry fabric showing that it was purchased in 2001, so that's a hint as to how long it's been kicking around.  Check out the price - three metres for $27! Now you pay almost that for one metre.

I'm not sure why I waited so long to get it quilted because it has been together for some time, occupying a spot on the back of the chair outside the sewing room. When I gave it a good pressing before sending it off to Roberta I noticed that there was a seam that needed a little tending to, but other than that it was ready to go.

Picking a panto for this one was a little tricky because I wanted something that would work with all of those small HSTs and I love the one that I found. There's lots of texture without overtaking the pattern; I'll show you more of it once I have it bound.

There are several blue bindings kicking around so I'm going to start with one and if I run out I will add a second. It's so scrappy that a scrappy border will work just fine....M

I Got A Little Lucky

The gals who run the Holly Bazaar like to browse the craft table before the doors open, which means that the inventory is a little thinner by the time folks come through the gates, so I was thinking that maybe one more table runner wouldn't be a bad thing. Something that would come together quickly and add to the variety. 

Well, I got lucky. While I was digging through my sewing table for something else I came across this bundle of HSTs that I had made last year, including a suggested layout for them. Problem solved.

As I started with the layout I drifted towards simplifying it and just randomly placing HSTs all pointing in the same direction.

The more I played with it, the more I liked it, so Plan A was moved to the side.

It came together nicely and I was just a little giddy finding one lonely HST in this cream holly and berry print. It was like hidden treasure; I pine for more of that fabric. 😏

This red pin dot looked like it would make for a great border...

and then I played with a few binding options, starting with green.

Maybe this red with the large dots? Or maybe darker red? I think I might go with the green but we'll see what it looks like when it's quilted.

I knew that there was also a stack of silver and gold HSTs from a year or two ago hanging around as well, and it didn't take long to find them. I laid them out according to the pattern that I'd found with the first stack and it was looking good, so I kept going.

The ends of the runner are slightly different than the original layout but I managed to figure out something that worked.

The little bit of metallic in these prints gives this one a very different feel to most of the pieces that I've made - very festive. 

Anyway, two more runners for the bazaar ready to be quilted, and with a fairly quick turnaround. Lucky me....M