Thursday, November 3, 2022

New Pattern Launch: mmm quilts/ Heading North

Surprisingly for me, I did not have a quilt finish for October for a number of reasons from working on reorganizing the house, doctor appointments, vaccination and booster shots, granddaughter time which included catching her cold, Fall decorating which involved hyper-extending my right knee,  but the most important reason of all is that my partner in  Quilting, Juki Junebug, needed to go the Spa for a much needed treatment. This meant there was no machine quilting, only piecing on the quiet sister of my trio of Juki sewing machines, Hazel which is a HZL F600 and used when a scant 1/4” is needed for certain blocks.
As I put it, I was innocently sewing Flying Geese Blocks with Hazel in mid-October, when I received an email from Mmmajor Mmmpetus (Sandra, mmm quilts) asking me if I would like to volunteer to make a quilt from her Heading North pattern which was published last year in Make Modern and would be released as a pattern this week. She stressed that it was not a “pattern test” since it has already been tech-edited. Sandra said it was an easy FPP pattern, which I admit is not my favorite technique, but since I made some Wensleydale Blocks last month and am pretty comfortable with the technique now and after a few moments perusing my stash for the right fabric, I told her I would be glad to make the baby size (36” square) version. As much as I liked the throw version, I knew there was no way I could machine quilt it as lovely as Sandra did.

Usually, I spend way too much time just choosing five fabrics but this time once I found my focus or inspiration print which is a 2013 Jessica Swift/Blend print named Geometriska I was able to find the other four prints, which are #30150 Grunge (white), Marcus Bros. Aged Muslin in Dapple Dots Magenta, Zen Chic Spotted in Citrine and AGF Indie Bohemia (blue). I prefer to use tone on tone prints rather than solids and was glad that these prints all from different fabric lines went so well with each other. Because I wanted to feature the Geometriska print more, I did change my fabric layout for the Heading North pattern by using it for the center, as one of the strip prints and the border. I’m glad to have finally been able to use the Geometriska print which I think was perfect for this pattern.
Here’s a collage of the block making and the Heading North pattern which gives the measurements for cutting the fabric for piecing. For any pieces involving HST I would cut the larger size to give you wiggle room to make sure it fits right. Like Sandra said, it is an easy pattern but FPP can’t be sewn fast. I can see why this pattern is done as FPP because you really need for the blocks to click together to show the lovely angles and lines. As mentioned earlier, Juki Junebug went to the Spa after my Heading North flimsy was finished and she so deserved a tune-up.
One pic of the Heading North Quilt taken outside. For a 36” square quilt, it seems larger, doesn’t it? I’m glad the Master Quilt Holder and I figured a way to hold the quilt up, otherwise he really would have had to do some deep stooping. I think Heading North might me the most enjoyable of the mmm mmmakes I did this year (this is my fourth one) even though it involved a little more time. There are five of us who volunteered to make this pattern and you can check out Sandra’s post to see their quilts. Here is the link to purchase The Heading North pattern which will be 30% off until Sunday evening, Nov. 6th (not an affiliate link). I think this pattern would look absolutely wonderful in Christmas/Winter/Holiday fabrics.
After the Heading North flimsy was a finish, I resumed the innocent sewing of the Flying Geese Blocks for my FALLoween Quilt #1, a flimsy, and is considered my October finish for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge. I am loving these Fall colors. I will write more about this quilt once it is machine quilted. Juki Junebug is going to be very busy upon her return. Right now, I feel like I’m FAlling behind.

12 comments :

  1. I love the Geometriska print that you were able to use for this quilt. It is such a fun version! Paper piecing can be a drag but sometimes I precut my pieces which makes it faster and then I can do all 1&2s and then the 3s which seems to make it a bit faster. Although some days it is more confusing! Hope your knee is behaving!

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    1. Hope it's okay I mmm-brace this opportunity to pro-mmmote this pattern here, because I have you precut ALL the pieces so you can chain piece a couple of blocks at a time ;-) and so that there is little waste. I also give a link to my tutorial on paper-piecing without sewing through the paper within the pattern!

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  2. So fun seeing your version of Heading North! I like the Geometriska print coupled with the other fabrics! Of course, I'm fond of that citronickle in there, y'know!

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  3. It's just so beautiful Rose! That Jessica Swift (thank you for introducing me to her) fabric is fabulous. I love how you brought the border into the centre too, so smart! And glad this was your favourite of the four makes this year, which makes me thank you even more for making all these patterns of mine. It means a lot to me as you always bring such a flair to your versions!

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  4. Rose it’s just a beautiful quilt with your fun fabrics. I do like the way you changed it up a bit. I had fun using both FPP and the wax paper methods (I prefer the wax paper since I dislike ripping out the paper and having to dig out my tweezers). Both were accurate and I was able to chain piece them. I do like Sandra’s patterns, and your version is just so cute.

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  5. That is a fun version of Sandra's quilt, Rose! I love the way that block can make such different designs. I would never have thought it was paper-pieced! I hope Juki Junebug enjoys her time at the spa and comes back raring to go!

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  6. Rose you always make adjustments to patterns and they turn out beautiful. I'm too scared to make changes. I have a hard enough time deciding on fabric without making adjustments. Hope Junebug is back home soon!!!

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  7. I like your version Rose! That Geometriska print is fantastic in it - all the colors are just beautiful. If you didn't want to do it as a baby quilt, that flimsy would certainly make a great center block for a full size. Your FALLoween Quilt is so pretty, love the colors.

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  8. Cool focus fabric, Rose!!! And oh my, Falloween--love that turq in there!!!

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  9. Changing the order of prints is how we all personalize our quilts when using a pattern. Well done.

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  10. These are both beautiful quilt tops. The fall one is my favorite. I love changing out quilts for the season. I hope you have a wonderful holiday

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I appreciate your comments but due to traveling and my ineptitude with typing on either my iPhone or iPad, my response may be somewhat delayed. Thank You for your understanding.