Happy Canada Day!

We're celebrating Canada today, and while I don't have any red and white quilting to share with you, I thought I would re-share a post I did a few years ago of a Maple Leaf quilt block. I see it every time I sit down at my machine perched on the small design wall just in behind my chair, and I enjoy it each and every time.

Vibrant batiks turned out to be a great choice for this block because the gradations in colour really evoke the way so many maples change colours in the fall. I put together a short tutorial together, if you are interested. It requires making a bit of a pattern for the longest point but it's very straight forward and really doesn't take that much time at all. I appliquéd my stem by hand but you could also attach it by machine.

One of the fabrics that I used is one that I've been using for the large Ohio Stars that I shared with you the last time. Of the three that I have left to make, two use this print; I made this one today. If I'm going to make more leaves from it I'd better hang on to what's left because there isn't that much. A few of them would make a nice autumn table runner. Then again, maybe my block is destined to be a party of one and greet me every time I enter my sewing room. Who knows?

If you are celebrating today, have fun. A nasty storm rolled through this afternoon and there is the potential for more tonight so our fireworks have been cancelled, which is a little disappointing. But we are still very grateful to live where we do. Happy Canada Day!....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

Ten Years Feels Like a Lifetime

The gals at the church were looking for another hand quilting project so the time seemed right to bring out Martha's Star. You may recall that this was a project that mom and were working on before she passed away. I finished up the stars and then made the Single Irish Chain blocks to finish it up,

and has been sitting in this bag, backing and all, for probably 6 - 7 years. Sheesh! I guess I could have asked them to quilt it sooner but they have done a few for me and I didn't want to monopolize their time because they only do a few a winter and their numbers are dwindling.

So I got busy and drafted out a pattern and then quickly got it marked. I was dreading the marking but it came together much faster than I had anticipated, which was a bonus.

The backing will be this cream floral, which will be a nice contrast to the geometry of the pattern. FYI, that blue fabric takes me waaaaaay back. It's a remnant from kimonos that we made for a high school musical, Tea House of the August Moon, and I still love it.

I've heard that the quilt went up on the frames earlier this week and yesterday they started to quilt, which was bittersweet, as it will be 10 years ago next month that mom passed away. It was quite sudden and a shock to us all. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her in some way and getting this quilt finished and ready to use will be another wonderful reminder of her in our lives....M

Danuta's Garden Sew Along

Over the last little while I've been asked by a few people if I would do a sew along for Danuta's Garden. Now I have to admit that I'm a total rookie when it comes to sew alongs - I've never participated in one let alone hosted one, primarily because I don't know what they are. But last week, thanks to Paulette, I discovered that Kaaren at The Painted Quilt was going to host one so I skulked over to her blog to see exactly what that might entail.

Kaaren provided a PDF of detailed instructions for how to sew a beautiful checkerboard quilt and then illustrated the steps with photos (I am soooo tempted...). She has also given rough fabric requirements. Mystery solved! So, here's my version of Danuta's Garden (aka The Civil War Quilt) given that the pattern is no longer available for purchase. There are no assembly illustrations but the blocks are very straightforward so hopefully the photos suffice and all of the essential details are covered.

Because I created the pattern from a photo and because I am making a scrappy version, the background fabric is the one that you will need the most of - I'm thinking maybe 4 metres. For the Four Patches, Nine Patches and Ohio Star blocks pull together a good mix of fat quarters - I'd say between 20 to 30. For the Four Patches I also raided my stash and scraps so there would be lots of variety.

I've mentioned before that, with the exception of the background, I started with the leftovers from the first version that I made with mom over 15 years ago and then added to that, focusing on floral prints, but you can choose whatever suits. My friend Linda is making hers in a gorgeous collection of soft blues, yellows and pinks.

Linda's sister Jane made her second version using Kaffe Fasset prints and called it Summer Frolic. I'll see if I can get a pic of the first one that she made - it's done in a green palette and equally beautiful.

For some reason when we made the first version we didn't go with a basic 3.5" block for the Nine  Patches - my blocks are 3 1/8" so the Nine Patches and Ohio Stars are 8 3/8" unfinished. Feel free to use whatever size works for you but be prepared then to figure out the math for the pieces needed for the sashing strips. Also, I am using Ohio Star blocks for my corners instead of four different blocks as shown in the original pattern.

There are five basic blocks/pieces:
42 Nine Patches
- cut 9 squares 3 1/8" x 3 1/8", five in one colour and four in another; 378 3 1/8" squares in total

30 Ohio Stars
- cut four squares 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" from the background fabric for and corners of each block
- cut one square 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" from your second print
- for the star points, cut four 2 7/8" squares from your second print and cut them again on the diagonal to create eight triangles; make four       3 1/8" Hourglass units

30 Solid Sashing Strips for between the stars (8 3/8" x 3" unfinished)

347 Four Patches made from 1 3/8" squares (cut 1,388 squares 1 3/8" x 1 3/8")
Use the Four Patches to assemble two different lengths of sashing:
- 48 short sashing strips made from three Four Patches and four corner triangles, and
- 7 long sashing strips made from 29 Four Patches and four corner triangles

402 Setting and Corner triangles
- cut 2 7/8" squares from the background fabric and cut those on the diagonal; the corners are slightly larger than need be but will give you room to trim


So that's it. I'm not at the point yet where I am assembling blocks and sashing, but as I get there I'll gladly share pics for you. Also, because I am sewing this by hand I have a scant ¼” seam allowance so if you are sewing this on a machine you may want to do a set of test blocks to make sure that the sashing strips align with the blocks.

Hopefully this is clear enough but let me know if you have any questions. I'd also love to see yours if you decide to make one....M

If One, Why Not Two?

I'm not sure if Pinterest is a blessing or a curse but trolling around on it got me thinking. That, and one lonely extra sashing strip from Country Charmer. If I had one Christmas quilt finished could I make a second one for the guest bedroom and get them both (machine) quilted before Santa's big day?

Long before I knew the name of this quilt - Nantucket - I had printed a tiny black & white version of it which has been kicking around my sewing room for a few years now. I came across it again last week on Pinterest and couldn't help but think that maybe its time has come. A red and white quilt has long been on my wish list and I couldn't resist the siren call of all of those 3-inch 9-patches.

This is the strip that started it all.

With my aversion to square quilts I'm going to add another row of stars, for a total of 12, and that means about 110 scrappy nine-patches. The Ohio Star blocks finish off at 12 inches so they will go quickly and I think once I get into the swing of things with the 9-patches they will too - at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Doesn't look like much, but soon this will be a beautiful 9-patch border.

So now to finish two quilt tops by the end of September and get them off to Roberta. The Official Cookie Tester thinks I might be becoming a crazy lady, but it's Christmas, right?....M

Resurfacing

The tiny 4-patch blocks that I ended my last post with have sort of taken over the machine sewing lately. They are for a Stars All Round table runner. I started it about a year ago and tucked the bag into a drawer until I had more head space for it. Cutting the little 1.5" remnant squares reactivated my interest so I figured that binding could wait and kept going.

This is what the centre panel will look like - 4-patches in red/cream/yellow alternating with green 2" blocks. I had found a speedy way to do tiny 4-patches but had already started with the 1.5" squares so I'll use that technique another time.

It will be surrounded by 4" stars in a variety of reds.

I found this tutorial for a 4" star on the Temecula Quilt Co.'s blog last week (great timing) so I roughed up a cheat sheet and sat down to try a few.

Despite the tiny pieces they do go together easier than I had imagined and I'm really liking how they work with the centre panel.

While I was pressing blocks I took a good look at my ironing board (I have it angled in beside my sewing table so that I can easily press as I go) and realized how sad my cover is looking. I've actually worn my way through one corner and baked the area around it! Time for a new one. Such a shame as I'm really fond of this cover and the majority of it is still in great shape, but this just looks ratty....M

Duh....

You know how sometimes you just don't see the obvious? Well, that happened to me lately. I've been trying to figure out how large to make Martha's Star and what to do about borders, if anything. I've decided to make it 5 stars wide by 6 long and not put a border on it because I don't think it needs one, but also because the quilt will be plenty large without a border.

Anyway, I was on a bit of a roll making the red & white Irish Chain blocks when I came to the realization that if I wasn't putting a border on it then it would be best to end the half blocks in the centre of the block rather than two thirds of the way through, like I had been planning (like the two half blocks on the bottom right as compared to the block on the left - like my slippers?). I was bummed out about having to rip out a portion of about 14 blocks, but it was doable, so I undid one just to see how long it would take.

Then I went back to sewing full blocks, which was a good thing, because my brain had time to process things and I realized that rather than rip out what was already sewn I just need to make the existing 2/3 blocks into full blocks and make all new half blocks. No need to rip. Sheeesh! Amazing how your brain works sometimes (or doesn't!), isn't it? Anyway, I'm back at it, and sewing rather than ripping.

And, since it is going to be a big quilt me thinks that I'll need to make more stars before this is all finished too. I do like the way it is filling in though, don't you? Still targeting Easter for completion but that might just be completion of all the blocks and not necessarily having the top sewn together since I've just realized that Easter is NEXT weekend. Yikes!...M

Stars In My Eyes

Lately I've been doing daily trips to Ottawa but before I get into the car I try and fit in a bit of this...














And then some of this...

As a result, Martha's Star is really filling in nicely. Happy, happy, happy! (If you want to see a larger photo just click on it.)

I really do need to get a design wall so that I can get a better perspective and take better photos, but for now this will do. My sewing room also happens to be the one room in the house with no natural light so all the pics come up dark. Who did that planning???

I had hoped to have this top finished by the time the snow melted but Mother Nature has pulled a fast one this year and the past week to ten days have been incredibly warm, sunny and beautiful - mid summer weather rather than late winter/early spring - so the snow left us a few days ago. Oh well. Maybe I'll target Easter. Either way I'm really loving the way that this is coming along. I need to do some measurements to see what the final dimensions will be; I suspect that it will be 5 stars wide and 7 long, but we'll see. I have lots of star blocks so I might make up a second small quilt with just blue stars but I want to work on something brighter between then and now...M

Stars Are Starting To Fill In

I've made some great progress on Martha's Star. Slowly but surely those strips and tiny squares have been sewn into a few Irish Chain blocks and I've now got enough to lay out several with the star blocks to see what things are looking like, and I LIKE it!

When I first laid it out it was looking good but seemed to be missing something. A quick peek back at my sketch showed that I had forgotten to lay out half blocks around the edge so that the diagonal grid extended beyond the stars. So, back to the sewing table.

What a difference! It just ties everything together nicely.

More 9-patches are starting to pile up and the more I make the faster they seem to come together, so that's been a bonus. It's like everything else - set up a system and before you know it you have several blocks made. I think I will try to keep the quilt laid out on the floor for a while so that I can keep seeing progress as more blocks are finished....M

Martha's Star Is Rising

Martha's Star

Remember Martha's Star that I had sketched out?

Well, I dug into my fabric bins and found the lovely turkey red that I picked up at The Quilting Bee in Fonthill when we were down on vacation last summer. I just love it - it's the perfect combination of red and coral and the little bits of taupe in it play nicely off the café au lait pieces that surround the centre block in the Ohio Star blocks that I am using. This photo is showing it a little pinker than it really is, but it's nice none the less.

Anyway, it's all nicely washed and ironed now so the cutting and sewing has begun for the alternating Single Irish Chain blocks.

I was a little concerned that I would need to go out and find a few more tone on tone creams but I found 2 or 3 in my stash so I'm thinking I should be okay. But I did have a bit of an episode with my iron when I was pressing everything...

I've been meaning to clean the iron for I don't know how long now and haven't so it finally decided to force the issue. See the brown streak that's running across this piece of cream? That's part of the entrails from my iron! Thankfully I was able to soak it out and no fabric was killed in the making of this quilt, but it did give me a little start. I really should get on top of these little things sooner. On the up side, now that I have cleaned the iron it is working much better than it had been :).








Anyway, since that bit of excitement there's been lots of cutting, with lots more to come...

And I'm loving the red with the colours in the stars...

Each Irish Chain block has 49 pieces to it so it takes about an hour to assemble one, but slow and steady wins the race. I am a list person so I track my progress on a little heart shaped stickie note from a pad that Lili brought me from a recent quilt show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. If you look really closely you can see two hash marks in the upper left of the heart. I've made a few more since this pic was taken - I think I might be up to 6 or 7 now. Depending on how large I make the quilt I need around 30 full blocks and then about 16 half blocks for the outer edges, so it's not like this one will be finished in a week, but it is worth the wait....M

Star Struck

Ohio Star

A few years back mom and I started working on an Ohio Star quilt together. She'd come over and we'd spend the afternoon working on it together - I'd sew and she'd press the seams and trim the corners - and then we'd head upstairs for a cocktail and dinner.














Well, I've been slowly sewing a block here and there lately and now have about 40 stars done so it was time to see what they might look like together. I played with several layouts but wasn't keen on anything that was showing up.

Each block has the same café au lait coloured fabric around the centre block and then a variety of tone on tone creams in the outer border. I think we had intended to make the alternating blocks in the café au lait fabric so I laid it out on a cream coloured sheet but was underwhelmed with the result.

So then I tried this...nice, but almost a little too predictable.







I pondered a bit more and decided to sketch out an option that made every alternate block a Single Irish Chain.







I was liking what I saw....

Martha's Star

so I kept going...and I love it! Of course it means that there's now tons more to do on it because each of those squares on the grid is 3" in size so it means that each tiny block in the chain will be 1" finished. Story of my life. Oh well. I'm thinking that the chain will be in a soft brick red that's in my stash.

Now that it's not a pure Ohio Star I think I will call it Martha's Star...M