September Mini - and Other Things

 

Just under the wire ...

This little quilt is another “Frankenstein” meaning it’s composed of leftovers, reject blocks, and various odds and ends. (remember, Frankenstein wasn't a bad monster - just misunderstood.) Some of these are rejects from my Summer Sampler, and I dug others out of my “spare parts” box. I think they ended up playing together nicely.

It was initially intended to be my July mini, but I deliberated for weeks on my border fabric, to the point where I became practically paralyzed and I had to put it away and move on to something else. I finally settled on this Cocheco Mills piece which I’d been hoarding for years, which was not much bigger than a scrap. There was barely enough, and then I mis-cut one side and had to stitch it back together, leaving a nice Frankenstein scar down one side. Barely visible, but still. 

(is it just me, or is there something weird about these photos? not blurry - which is my usual - the details are crisp but there's something unreal about them. The one below practically vibrates!)

I did not deliberate long on the back. This is another old print I’ve hoarded for a long time. I’ve lately been using more and more of these “special pieces” for small quilt backs, because I know they will be appreciated and enjoyed with the rest of the quilt. 

I thought it would be nice to hand quilt this, possibly because I was too lazy to haul out my big Janome with the hand-quilt stitch, and clear off the dining room table to set it up. Marking the fans was an unanticipated issue. The Sewline white worked fine in the darker places, and a lead pencil was ok on the light fabrics, but the constant switching back and forth between the two did not make for a smooth line. I know from experience yellow chalk could stain the whites, and I don’t trust those blue things.  

I thought about free-handing it, but I had too hard a time seeing my previous line of quilting! Problem ultimately solved by marking said line with 1/4” masking tape. This was not a relaxing process, so it went very slowly. By the time I finished, it was the end of September. Anyway, here it is! Be sure and follow the link to Wendy's blog to see more of this month’s mini’s.

I also finished my Summer Sampler, making for two finishes this month!

Those things that look like bleach spots are actually sun rays coming through the trees.

Thank you to everyone who followed this process and encouraged me along the way.  

The back is another piece I've been hanging on to for several years, waiting  for just the right quilt.

 

Meanwhile, this top was still nagging me. I felt it needed something more.

A single row of triangle squares across the top and bottom I think will do the trick.

love,           

Sandy

Hello! I have reverted back to Legacy Blogger.

Yesterday it was 108 degrees at my house. No wonder I was in a foul mood when I posted. (could you tell? ;-)) We live about two miles from the beach on the central coast of California. I don't think it was much cooler on the beach itself. This might actually be a record high here. We do not have air conditioning, but rely on a few strategically placed fans around the house. One (rotating) in the living room, one in the bedroom pointed at the bed, and one about three feet behind my sewing machine, pointed directly at my head. You can probably figure out where I spent most of the day yesterday! 

Mostly I worked on machine quilting large fans across my Summer Sampler. In addition to pin basting, I went ahead and spritzed a tiny bit of 505 basting spray here and there, avoiding the edges as I was doing this on my dining room table. So far so good, everything is staying in place with no drifting, stretching or pushing. Which can be an issue for me, even with a walking foot. I'm using the stencil I got from Barb (Fun with Barb), and then extending the fans even larger with the guide on my walking foot.

I also used the technique (see arrows) where when you butt up to the prevously stitched fan, you turn and stitch down the one you are butting up to (directly on top of the previous stitching) for the width of your blades, about 1/2" in this case, then pivot again and sew your next fan blade going the other direction. This avoids having to end your stitching and start again, leaving all those loose ends to bury. It does take a lot of pivoting though, and could be challenging with a large quilt. I hope this makes sense.

Meanwhile ...

I've been looking at this antique quilt on Pinterest.

 I'm not the only one. Barbara Brackman featured it on her blog about Madder quilts a few months ago. Katy (katyquilts) was also inspired, and made a darling mini from her madders.

I happen to have a stack of madder prints begging to be used, and a few stacks of shirtings, many of which qualify more as scraps. Perfect for making four-patches. So away I went!

(btw in the photos my madders look browner than they are in real life. They're closer to the original, but maybe not quite as "orange".)

First I played around with an on-point setting with the idea of using this print for side triangles, but ass you can see, that wasn't going to work.

Then I laid them out in a straight set and played around.

Julie K had just sent me this cool cheater medallion. I love it, but I don't think it belongs in this quilt. (note: I also have a big stack of reds that are begging to be used, so you will see this again.)






 Meanwhile, I kept making more four-patches and the top grew.

I was trying to think of ways to make the quilt more interesting and engaging, so as I went along I increased the number of the more eye-catching fabrics.  Then I put them up using the "true random" (aka paper bag) method so that there would be random groups and lines of the same fabrics. This helped a lot, but I still thought it might appear somewhat ... boring?

Then I got the idea of adding a "rogue block"* which turned into several, which imo, was exactly what this quilt needed.

*"rogue blocks" being the brilliant idea of Janet Olson, the Rogue Quilter, when she used them in her 365 challenge quilt.

Voila!  Nothing like the original inspiration quilt, but my goal was to make it look "old", and I think I've accomplished that.  In keeping with that idea, I may do fans again, but meanwhile I'm waiting for a piece of fabric to arrive (a nice  vintage-looking shirting) for the back.

I had to revert to Legacy Blogger in order to manipulate my settings, but I believe your comments will again go to my email. I hope Blogger fixes the many snags with their new format, and in the meantime keep giving us time to figure it out - and to revert to Legacy when we need it. (are you listening, Google?)

love,
Sandyy

September

Blogger is being a real pain in the xxx this morning so this will be a short post
I finished my interpretation of Lynn Wilder’s “Lil Orphan Scrappy” aka what I’m currently calling “Orphan Scrappy’s Long Lost Cousin.” That name may change.  Its significantly different than Lynn’s quilt (there’s a link in my previous post - not goin’ there today.). The point being, you can use her pattern to make her version, or mix it up a little like I did (if you’re brave) and come out with your own unique quilt.

It’s looking  like yet another blurry photo. 

However it’s 95 degrees outside, and I really don’t want to repeat the process of staging and photographing my quilt in this heat. Which I do not do well with.

The detail picture is much better.

Good news is, now that I finally bought a new iPad, I am once again able to leave comments, but the bad news is I’ve fallen way behind, and really, I have no excuses. Maybe it’s my mood, which is finally reflecting the effects of all this sequestering, and addition of the fires. The horrible devastation, and the constant smoke.  The other thing is, your comments are no longer showing up in my email, so I don’t have a reasonable way to answer them. I apologize, and I still enjoy reading everyone’s blogs every day.

The first time I posted using my iPad, it was easy. This time it’s messed up. I wii go ahead and post this before it gets any more messed up. 

Love, Sandy