The Big Easy #1: 16" Blocks with Carrie Bloomston Fabrics

A perfect quilt sewing week for me is to have my blocks ready to sew together, layout determined, top made, backing and basting done, machine quilting and binding done without a hitch; a finally finish in the matter of a few days with no magical twitching of my nose involved. And it happened with my Big Easy #1 quilt.  I've been planning on making this quilt with my stash of Carrie Bloomston fabrics since April when I used some of it for my Beothuk Star Quilt.  After playing with this fabric and then deciding on the five fabrics used for this quilt, I knew I wanted to make another quilt with these fabrics soon. I've been buying Carrie Bloomston (Such Designs for Windham) fabrics for six years now starting with her first collection Collage and her subsequent lines; Paint, Story, Dreamer and her latest Wonder, some of each of these fabrics lines are in The Big Easy #1.  I just love everything about Carrie's fabrics, the colors, the patterns, the many texts, the big, medium and small scale prints and that each fabric line work well with each other.  

Coming up with the pattern was easy after looking at the prints and deciding big blocks were needed in order to show off the prints.  Once again I used my trusty graph paper after I decided that a variety of 16" finished blocks would be perfect for the Carrie fabrics with its different scales and patterns. I started with fourteen different blocks and added a few different ones later while I was assembling the blocks so the pattern shown here is not what The Big Easy #1 ended up being.

Depending upon the fabric, they were cut either in 8-1/2", 4-1/2" and 2-1/2" strips.  The 2-1/2" strips were sewn together for the different size of rail blocks needed.  After these strips were sewn and the 8-1/2" and 4-1/2" strips cut to size, the blocks were ready to be assembled. The rail strips were not cut until they were paired with the other patches in the block.

Each block was individually laid out on the design and the patches were not sewn together until all of the blocks were laid out.  I think this fluid way of assembling the blocks and doing the layout at the same time helped me to make sure the colors and patterns were evenly distributed and it was while doing this I came up with some additional block patterns.  

Once I was happy with the layout, surprisingly there were maybe one or two changes, the blocks were ready to be sewn  together and then the top.

I couldn't decide until the next day whether I wanted to do straight line or curvy line quilting and then came up with alternating the two and am very happy with the way it turned out.  I used Connecting Threads/Essential Threads in Parchment.

There was no question as to what to use for the backing which was the last yardage I had of Carrie Bloomston's popular and famous Newsprint, 108" width.  The binding, which is the only fabric that is not from her line, was also the last piece of Lakehouse Two-Tone Mini Check in black and gray which was the perfect accent fabric to go with all of the different prints in this quilt.  

The Big Easy #1 measures approximately 64" x 80".  If you're wondering about the name, I thought it was appropriate since the blocks were big and this quilt was so easy to make plus it's getting harder coming up with names. I know there are going to be other big easy quilts to make from my stash and just changing the number is so much simpler than coming up with a new name.  Now I understand why George Foreman named his sons George I, George II, etc.  I'm looking forward to curling up with this quilt, I won't need a book to read since there are so many texts and I keep finding new ones the more I look at this quilt.

Just a reminder that Tuesday, September 3rd is the start of the 2019 Online Quilters Meet & Greet hosted by Benita Skinner of Victoriana Quilts and I will be participating.  I will be posting on this day  to give you the links to Benita's website to you can visit the other quilt bloggers who are participating and enter into the drawing for some great prizes being offered.

The Baby Arturo Quilt and More

This is highly unusual for me to have three quilt Finally Finishes and two posts in one week.  I debated about whether I should write a post about this baby quilt which I abandoned back in July in order to play with the scraps I received from Mary which ended up being the two quilts I posted about earlier.  I was just going to post a photo of this quilt in my 2019 Quilt page in my blog, but I thought better to provide some information so that I have some sort of record of this quilt finish.

This quilt measures 40" X 45" and was made from the Ginger's Thicket Critter Panel along with some yardage from that collection and a few others from my stash.  Susan of PatchworknPlay also made a baby quilt using the same fabric collection and also used an accent of a minty green fabric which I liked.  I found this minty green fabric while vacation earlier this year and is one of the few pieces I purchased during my year of the Fabric Fast.

I have to admit I did not enjoy the quilting as much as I did with the earlier quilts I just quilted.  I always seem to have a problem when I combine straight lines with diagonal lines and there was more puckering than a kissing booth in the corners.  Like we quilters like to say, "finish is better than perfect".

As for why the quilt was named "Arturo", it's a little tongue in cheek.  My friend Mary had a grandson born in May/June and this is the third child of her oldest daughter and her first grandson.  I don't know what it is but this grandchild I know little about since info doesn't seem as much as the other two.  I don't remember the baby's name and only seen it once on FB and not as many photos.  I didn't even receive a birth announcement.  Knowing that the other siblings' names began with the letter "A", I decided to call it Arturo since I like to name my quilts.  Hopefully, I will see Mary at the end of the month being that's when her birthday is so I can give her this quilt and know more about this sweet baby boy.

Now that the baby quilt is a finish, I had the joy of deciding what my next project was going to be which I first chose another strippy quilt with the Carrie Bloomston fabrics which are on the right.  But lo and behold I got sidetracked with another project when my little stash of Downton Abbey fabrics  on the left caught my eye and I knew I wanted to make a lap quilt just for the movie which is coming out in September.  You've seen those ads on FB and IG haven't you?  The whole family is excited about seeing this movie, even Demando.  Sadly with the little fabric I have, this quilt is going to be too small to share so maybe the theater won't be so cold for the menfolk.

I'm posting this right before I'm going for another visit to see my precious granddaughter so I may not be posting again for awhile since these visits tend to take precedent over any quilt finishes.  I'm having the same problems again of not receiving notifications of comments left on my blog so I apologize for any delays in responding. 

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation NTT

A Pair of Finally Finishes: Scrappy Six Patches & Three Patches

It's been well over a month since I last posted and yes it's been that long since I've been able to finally finish one quilt, let alone two quilts, one being a DrEAM (totally unexpected make) and the other, an UFO from several years ago.  Between several visits to see my granddaughter and her family and dog sitting, there wasn't too much time spent on quilting plus several heat waves in the Midwest didn't help.  This past weekend, I was focused on finishing the DrEAM quilt and much to my surprise I was able to finish the UFO quilt which seems apropos seeing that these quilts share a common link of both being made with some Japanese Woven fabrics coming from the same source which I am happy to share the details.

Scrappy Sixpatch was the first finally finished quilt which came about courtesy of once again Squirrel Mail. Back in July when I was working on a baby quilt which needed to be made since the baby is now several months old,  I found out that my friend Mary of Country Threads was sending me a box of scraps which much to my surprise turned out to include some Japanese Wovens and Cottons.  Needless to say, I abandoned the baby quilt to play with the scraps which were like puzzles pieces waiting for a quilt to be made.  

After sorting through the Wovens and Japanese Cottons, I separated the large half rectangle patches and the 2-1/2"x4-1/2" rectangles which were already sewn together.

The half rectangles were sewn together and then trimmed to 2-1/2" to 8-1/2" and the rectangles were separated into two patches also measuring 2-1/2" x 8-1/2".  From there, four different six-patch blocks measuring 6-1/2" x 8-1/2" were made; three half-rectangle blocks pointing right, three half-rectangle blocks pointing left, six rectangle patch blocks which included a red print and another one which does not.

With a limited number of the half-rectangle blocks and way more rectangle blocks, this is the layout I came up after drafting it first on graph paper. When I initially laid out the blocks, I did not like the movement which I resolved by putting the half-rectangle blocks pointing left in one row and the ones pointing right on another row.  When they were mixed together on the same row, the movement made my eyes crossed which half rectangles does to me. Also, the rectangle blocks were laid out with the ones with red patches on one row and the ones without on the alternate row.  You wouldn't think by looking at this that much planning went into this layout.  There was a point that I thought these blocks were not going to play well with each other but I'm glad they decided to get along.

Machine quilting was a breeze, I think my Juki JuneBug was happy to be sewing once again and I think it shows in the 3/4" straight line quilting with Connecting Threads in Natural.  The backing and binding was from a Jan Patek collection which went perfectly with the top.  

While I was sewing the Scrappy Six Patch quilt, my Three Patch quilt was brought out since this quilt was also made with Japanese Wovens and Homespuns.  If some of these fabrics look familiar, I used them in my Kiwi and Mango Tango Bundle Buster Quilt made earlier this year.  Who would have thought I would have three quilts made with Japanese Wovens done in one year and the year is not over yet. The Japanese Wovens in this quilt was purchased four years ago from Mary when her Country Threads shop was opened.  The top was made over three years ago and was on my UFO List to one day finish.  I thought of using the top as a backing for the Kiwi and Mango Tango quilt but much to my surprise, this top was only 48" x 60" which was way too small.  I didn't think it was fair to finish the Scrappy Sixpatch and not the Three Patch, which if you're wondering why it's called this, it's because the 6" blocks consisted of two 3" squares using the same orange and gray fabrics with a 3"x6" rectangle patch.  Once the blocks were sewn together, alternating the block orientation, it looks like four patches with a rail block. Getting back to finally finishing the Three Patch Quilt, I was wondering why I made this quilt so small and then accepting that it was meant to be a lap quilt, I then had to figure out how I wanted to quilt it.  I wanted to do something fast and simple and thought diagonal quilting lines on the four patches would work but maybe would be too far apart.  I resolved this by putting fleece instead of batting in the middle which meant I didn't have to quilt it as much.

Juki JuneBug once again obliged me with some wonderful machine quilting done with me just eyeballing the diagonal lines with the Natural thread already loaded up.  Quilting with fleece in the middle, which I've done several times already, is no problem as long as you baste well which I did with basting straight pins.  I used yardage of a teal homespun from the backing vault and the binding was the gray homespun used in the top.  The other nice thing about using fleece besides not having to do a lot of machine quilting, is how soft and cuddly it makes the quilt, especially after it has been washed. I recommend this if you want to make a simple and fast quilt.

Now that these quilts are finally finished it's time to start quilting the Baby Quilt.  I like to give a shoutout to Mary for once again inspiring me to make another quilt.  I seriously can write a post of all of the quilts that "Mary Made Me Make".  Between her and the other mmmPetus, Sandra, these two keep me busy.  Last, but not least, I'm participating in  the 2019 Online Quilters Meet & Greet hosted by Benita Skinner of Victoriana Quilts which starts on September 3rd. Last year's Meet & Greet had over thirty bloggers participating and was an opportunity to meet new bloggers and be eligible to win great prizes.  This year's promises to be the same and I'm glad I am able to participate this year.  Now that I am back to writing posts and Hubby is back as being the Master Quilt Holder, I will be ready after another visit to see the granddaughter.

Linking up with MMMiQuilts DrEAMi, Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework, Oh Scrap!, My Quilt Infatuation NTT

Sandpiper Fling: Fun and A Finally Finished

I mentioned in previous posts that this year I am on a Fabric Fast with a goal of reducing at least 100 yards of fabric from my stash. So far, the stash has been reduced by over sixty yards. My Sandpiper Fling quilt is the first quilt I've finished this year, which includes some new fabrics purchased this year, the Sandpiper and the accompanying solid gray print by Michael Miller, as well as stash. Since the Sandpiper is the focal print, the name of the quilt definitely had to include Sandpiper in it.  When I checked online to see what a group of Sandpipers are called, much to my surprise they are a Fling. Another meaning for "fling" according to the dictionary, is a short period of enjoyment or wild behavior which I think I was experiencing when I purchased this fabric in April which, then, was only the third time I've indulged in some fabric buying.  So, I'm thinking Sandpiper Fling is a pretty appropriate name for this quilt. FYI: all of the photos are in color, they just look like they're black and white or monotone.

When I saw the Sandpiper fabric (upper left corner) in Bernie's Needle and Foot Shop on Etsy, (not an affiliate link) I knew it would go with some of the black,white and gray fabrics in my stash.  This is what I pulled as soon as the Sandpiper and accompanying solid great print arrived.

I was really tempted to make another quilt with my  Staggered Strips and Squares pattern but since I've made four of them last year and have not yet made one this year, I thought I should do something different with the 2.5" strips I die-cut.

I designed an easy quilt with Rail Fence blocks using three different fabrics, Nine-Patch blocks using the same gray solid and brown/black/gray Basic Grunge prints, and then solid patches of the Sandpiper fabric.  The design sheet also helps me to know how many of each blocks are needed but I always make extras.

The Rail Fence blocks are two different sizes:  6-1/2" square and 6-1/2" x 12-1/2" (cut), the Nine Patch blocks are 6-1/2" square and the Sandpiper patches were cut both horizontally and vertically   6-1/2"x 12-1/2".

Using my design sketch as a guide, the blocks were laid out as the same time as the top.

The 12" finished blocks consisted of three patches, one 6-1/2" x 12-1/2" and two 6-1/2" squares.  Since my Sandpiper Fling measures 54" x 72", there is a 6-1/2" x 12-1/2" vertical patch in each row of the quilt.

Once I was satisfied with the layout, i.e., making sure any patches with the same prints were not next to each other,  the blocks were then sewn together and then the Top. Yes, it was sew slowing since I did not want the blocks to get mixed up. Surprisingly, there was only a few times, Sir Seam Ripper was used.

Once the top was finished and I was wondering why I didn't just make this quilt 60" wide instead of 54" wide since I had enough backing fabric of a stripe print and leftover patches. I realized my subconscious or divine intervention was telling me that this top would be perfect for the 60" wide black and white IKEA print sitting in my stash which I've been wanting to use for just the right quilt and Sandpiper Fling was perfect. Doesn't this print look like feathers? I did toy with the idea of using the IKEA print as a guide for machine quilting wavey lines but really would have made me dizzy even though I could hear Roseanne telling me to put on my Big Quilting Gal pants on and just do it.  I opted instead to do my usual wavey lines, 1" apart, gray variegated thread from Connecting threads and the binding sewn by machine was the brown/black/gray Grunge Print.

Sandpiper Fling is definitely a lot quieter that the previous quilts finished this year which were more colorful and bright. It's hard to capture the true colors of the prints in my Sandpiper Fling quilt but there is a purplish gray cast which is quite lovely.  There are so many different shades of gray and I am particularly fond of the ones which I call lilac gray and am glad I was able to use the ones that have been in my stash for so long.  When I was looking for photos on my iPhone for this post, at first glance, I thought they were black and white photos.  It's a good thing I was able to take photos outside so you can see some color.  Otherwise, I needed to add a watermark stating that this is not a black and white photo.

These quilt photos remind me of a current TV commercial where the main actors are in black and white because they are disappointed with their cell phones and the surrounding store and other actors are in bright colors. Same effect in these photos but happy to say that I am not disappointed with all how well these fabrics worked well together and how Sandpiper Fling turned out. But, I am thinking the next quilt I make needs to have some color, bright colors. With next week being the start of the sidewalk sale at a local quilt shop,  I'm hoping I won't be tempted to go shopping. I know I have projects waiting with colorful fabrics and I am on a Fabric Fast.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation, NTT

Oh Sanada!, The Mission mmmPossible Quilt

I'm linking this quilt up with Sandra's (mmm! Quilts) monthly DrEAMi (Drop Everything and Make it) monthly party even though I now realize that this quilt may not meet all of the criteria since I made this quilt in stages rather than all at once like a true DrEAMi project is.  But I figured since Sandra was the main mmmPetus for this quilt being made since it involved sending me Squirrel Mail I'm sure she won't mind.

Since we became Blog Buddies back in 2017, Sandra and I have exchanged emails which included much laughter, Squirrel Talk and, of course, some fabric exchanges, which meant using the Drop-off Point Dayna because International postage rates are just so outrageous.  Last February, I received this brown paper envelope from Sandra which reminded me of the ones that Mr. Briggs or Mr. Phelps received their instructions in the beginning of each episode of the Mission Impossible TV series.  To protect the innocent, which would be me, I've covered up the addresses.  

Although there was no taped message in the envelope, I heard the Squirrel tell me that my  mission was to make a quilt with this lovely stack of Island Batik's Dear William 10" squares and the eight 2.5" strips of another collection which are on the left of this photo.  I immediately found some other batiks in my stash, which are on the right, some of which I received earlier from Sandra, so I could make a lap size quilt. After that, I didn't start making this quilt until the beginning of May because I wanted to finish some quilts the other Squirrels already put on my plate. I like to modify the DrEAMi criteria to include a quillt/project which wasn't planned but not made right away because sometimes you are surprisingly focused. One of the projects which preceded the Oh Sanada! quilt, was my Jolly Jinny Jungle quilt (you can read about it here) which was also a quilt made with mostly batiks and Sandra was also involved in my making of it.  It's funny that I don't work with batiks much and this year, I now have made two, both involving batik fabrics being given to me and both involving Sandra, the Master mmm-Nabler.

I purchased yardage of a Hoffman batik, black with sage green lines (lower right) to go with these fabrics since I knew this quilt was going to involve some rail fence blocks because of the 2.5" strips.

Based on the colors and the amount of fabric on hand, I came up with making four different 8"  blocks: Rail Fence blocks made with the black with sage green lines with the 2.5" strips and some of the 10" squares which went with these strips, Eight-Patch blocks made with the gold and navy prints, Boxed Squares made with either green or navy frames and Four-Patch blocks made with the gold and fuchsia prints.  I also made Eight-patch blocks with the black batik I had in my stash and gold prints but decided not to include them in the quilt since they look so stark next to the other blocks.

My original layout was to use a random layout of the different blocks but decided to do a controlled layout instead with the blocks which had gold placed in the center of the quilt surrounded by the green blocks.  I thought I need to contain the Four Patch blocks in one area since they did not look good when they were randomly placed throughout the quilt. You can see Oh Sanada! has an inner glow with the gold and fuchsia blocks which radiates softly towards the outside with the green blocks which has a touch of fuchsia in it. Surprisingly, I made enough of each blocks needed for this layout.

One of the nice thing about sewing with batik fabrics is that there's very little thread shedding which makes getting the top ready for quilting go fast. In order to back the quilt and there was no batik yardage in the backing vault, I had to buy yardage of a batik print which I found at Joann's.  It had most of the same colors in the top and best of all I had a 40% off coupon.  I quilted it with wavy lines around 1" apart and some of the wavy lines intersected along the seam lines. I used a thread from Connecting Threads in Cornsilk. The binding was machine bound with the black with sage green lines print. Oh Sanada! measures approximately 56" x 72" before quilting and I'm sure it's a little bit shorter now with all of the machine quilting I did.

If you're wondering about how I came up with the name "Sanada", it's the name I use when I have conversations with my Hubby involving Sandra and it's a combination of her name and Canada. It really is a lot quicker to say this rather than Sandra from Canada.  (Some of my other blog buddies had combo names also like Wendy, Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting, who lives in Minnesota so she is called Wendy-sota.  Believe me, these names help Hubby know whom I'm talking about.)  I included the "Oh" in the name of the quilt since I like to hum "Oh Canada" long before it was heard a lot lately thanks to the NBA Finals.

I had to include another photo of Oh Sanada! since the weather was so co-operative the morning I took photos.  Now that this quilt is finished or should I say mission completed, I think I'm hearing the Squirrel tell me that Sandra's beloved cat Bella should be my reward.  Doing this quilt, along with the Jolly Jinny Jungle Quilt and the Beothuk Star QAL so far this year, as well as the three other QALs Sandra hosted, I think my Get Bella Card has enough punches. With that being said, I'm sure I'm going to be receiving some lively email exchange from Sandra.  I'm sure if Bella had her way, she would be sending me Rufus, the dog, who may still be tormenting her.  Now that would be one big brown paper envelope for Drop-Off Point Dayna to handle. Seriously now, I would like to donate this quilt to a Canadian Charity/Cause so Sandra and I need to discuss options and to give Drop-Off Point Dayna a heads-up.

After I finished the top, Sandra posted her Luminous Layer which she made with, yep, a stack of Island Batik 10" squares.  And if she decides to do a QAL of this pattern, I most definitely will buy my own Island Batik fabrics, this time yardage would be nice.

Lastly, beware of Squirrel Mail!

Linking up with MMMiQuilts DrEAMi

Interference the Quilt is a Finally Finish

I'm having a pretty good year of making quilts with fabrics that I've been longingly wanting to use.  It helps that I put myself on a Fabric Fast and so far I am minus 58.5 yards from my minus 100 yard goal.  It was the Hand Maker fabric by Natalie Barnes which I paired with the most perfect pattern Interference turn to be used.

Interference by My Quilt Infatuation is the fourth My Quilt Infatuation pattern I've done. I just love patterns which are simple but look complicated and showcases the fabrics, especially large focus prints which is what Kelly's patterns are.  Also, it's nice that I can use my die-cutter for most of the cuts. If you check out her website, Kelly has free tutorials and her patterns are available thru bluprint (Craftsy). (This is not an affiliate link, I just like to share where I get my inspiration and resources.)

If you're wondering which patterns I've done, they are the Purse String Block (left, free tutorial),  Unruly (center two) and the Classic Meets Modern (right).

My Hand Maker fat quarter bundle was purchased first back in April, 2017 and when I saw the Interference pattern several months later, I knew the two together would be perfect. It's too bad that I have more projects than time and it took over two years to finally put it all together.  Once the patches were finally cut in May, the sewing was simple and fast, no matching seams. I just love putting together the combination of three different prints for each block.  There were 26 different prints in this group and I added another black and white print from another collection since I thought it needed another black print to offset the one lone black print in the Hand Maker collection.

The blocks were finishes the first week of June and were not sewn together until this past Tuesday. There were birthdays, celebrations and a QAL which "interfered" with the finish.

My normal hang-up in finishing a quilt because I can't decide on a backing did not happen this time. I had yardage of this multi-color print with the same colors as the top in my backing vault which I bought while on vacation several years ago.  The quilt was machine quilted with vertical wavy lines with a gray Connecting Threads variegated thread and was bound with the black and white print which was not part of the Hand Maker fabric line.  This quilt measures 55" x 66" which is a nice size for a lap quilt.

The Weather once again played Interference with photo taking.  It was cloudy when I hung this quilt up on my front porch with green Frog Tape. Sure enough, after taking photos and removing the tape from the siding, the Sun decided to make an appearance.  

Not to let the sunshine go to waste, I thought the quilt would look nice against the retaining wall in the back yard and fortunately the grass was not wet nor were there any mosquitos lurking around.  I just love the colors in this quilt which is perfect for this time of year, Supposedly Summer.

Normally, you think of interference as being a negative experience--either visually, physical or hearing.  Interference the Quilt is a positive experience, it looks lovely, sewed nicely and you just have to hum Interference like a celebratory chorus of  Hallelujah while machine quilting. And if that sounded like interference then it's because I'm a quilter and no Lady GaGa.

Linking up with:  My Quilt Infatuation, NTT