More of the Same Only Different of Course!

Well, finished this last one.  The fabric in the border  is the one used to make the blocks which are octagons.  It is a very dark purple in the background.

This is the last top I finished before the first half of my cataract surgery.  It is Day 5 and I am still blurry when I wake up in the morning but better by the end of the day. Old age is not for sissies!!  Going to get some temp glasses next week but can finally do some sewing again.

I had some blocks left from the mushroom fabric.  I had already made two quilt tops from it but still had 27 blocks left so decided to do this configuration, a version of which I saw on Pinterest.  I like that the blocks stand out more and it is fast.  After making this one with 15 blocks, I still had 12 blocks left which I wanted to use.

Decided that I would put spacers between the blocks.  Quite  amount of math in all these quilts.  I am trying to keep the width to low 40 inches and the length to somewhere between 50 and 60 inches so I am always measuring the blocks which are all different sizes and calculating border widths or spacers.  I am also keeping a journal with the sizes of all these tops so I can maximize the use of the batting and backing fabrics.

This is the finished top which is the same size as the one above.  It is  only about 44 inches long and about 40 inches wide.

Still Whacking the Stacks

Columns are almost all sewn and I really like the looks of this one.  Now to decide on the borders.

I ended up going with the green border, then a thin white one and then this purple which matches the purple in the outer blocks perfectly.  It isn't obvious from the picture however!  This quilt ended up being about 44 x 60 and I used all the blocks.  Not sure i I can give this one up!

Although it may not be obvious, I turned the blocks for this one so that the narrower part is left to right instead of up and down.

I had always liked this fabric and thought it would make a nice stack and whack even though the repeat is very small.  I only cut up half the fabric.  With stack and whack, you cut the fabric down the middle and stack each side separately so it isn't too unwieldy.  I had two yards which was plenty for the eight repeat block.  However, after I cut the blocks up and played with them a bit, I was sure I wasn't going to like the results but you never know!

I finished the first 11 blocks out of the 21 I had and was extremely pleased with how they looked so finished up the rest.

Here are 20 of the 21 blocks.  I left out my least favorite and moved them around until I liked the arrangement.  Now to decide on the backgrounds.  Will I do two colors or one.  Hmmm....  Stay tuned!

One thing I did notice was that some of the blocks were bigger so I will be trimming them all to one size.  I didn't do that with the last bunch of 8 sided ones and the top is a little wonky although I am sure I can quilt out the differences.

Different Color Stack and Whacks -- One Oldie and One Newer

These blocks had been sitting around for some time and I think one of the reasons I never finished them is that they weren't cut very accurately so there was a lot of adjusting when sewing them together.  

I finished it today and got to use the fabric that made up the blocks in the border which was nice.  The first border is a very dark green.  This one is pretty good sized.

I had cut and sewed these blocks before I left the beach.  They are made from pretty small triangles (3 inches) so needed lots to make a top.  I also needed to orient them different like the top above which is different than what I had been doing.

This photo shows them sorted to the final arrangement -- darker blocks on the outside and lighter ones in the middle.

I decided to go with this light green mottled fabric for the main background with white stars in the middle.  I have only finished sewing the first row on the left.  Hopefully I will get the rest done in the next couple of days.  I already picked out the border fabric from my stash.  It is nice to have my whole stash here and be able to find about any color I want!!

This is the fabric that was  used to make these blocks.  The repeat was only about 12 inches so it only took two  yards to get these blocks.

These are some of the 102 blocks I did at the beach also.  Looks like I can get two or three quilt tops.  I really love these blocks but it is too much putting them all in one quilt.  I still have three or four more bags of cut up triangles and then I will give these a rest and work on the QBTS mystery quilt challenge as well as the kaleidoscope quilt I was looking forward to making this summer.

Of course cataract surgery is coming up and I am trying desperately to do some downsizing although I won't be able to lift anything after the surgery for some amount of time.  So we shall see what the next couple of weeks will bring!

The End of the Hawaiian Stack and Whacks

This is the finished first Hawaiian stack and whack.

This is number 2 which still has the same configuration as the first one.  I tried to have the primarily green blocks on the outside with the reddish blocks inside on both of these.

This is number three and I will put a fuchsia binding on this one.  There are five of the bright reds in the middle here and this is the 3/4/3/4/3 configuration.

These were the remaining blocks which were much busier with  lot more red in them.  I did spend time trying to get pleasing arrangements.

Found this bag of 3 1/4 inch triangle hexagons that I put away some time ago.  There were 33 done and I did the remaining 12 today.  I will use this 6/7 arrangement and there will be no blocks left over (a goal!).  I will turn the quilt however so that the sides will be the top and bottom.

I decided to do red stars in the middle surrounding some blocks that didn't have red on the sides.  I was fairly successful.  Off-white will fill in the rest.  As the top is almost square, I will add a healthy amount extra of the off white on the top and bottom of the turned shape.  

I have sewed the across blocks on three rows and hopefully will get the remaining four rows done tomorrow as well as sewing them all together.  Then to add the borders.  Haven't quite decided on those yet.  I have a bit of yardage of the fabric that made the blocks so it may play in the border.  It will be my pretty consistent 40 to 44 inches wide and 50-55 inches tall.

I found another bag with 102 blocks done!!  Oh my, I thought I had gotten all my partially done projects done last summer.  Still have two more of the mushroom quilts to do as well -- I have a pretty efficient way of doing them now!!  

With my first cataract surgery scheduled for next week, I want to get as much done as possible as I don't know what my vision will be like in the interim between getting both eyes done (second one not scheduled yet).  I am looking forward to getting my vision back!!

Progress on the Hawaiian Stack and Whacks

Well, finally sewed all the "Hawaiian" blocks together.  This is bunch one and bunches two and three follow.  I decided against the "one-block wonder" arrangement.

I decided to use white to make inner stars and then a nice orangey batik to fill in around the blocks.The next steps were to figure out what to fill in on the sides.  I thought that this dark green might work.  Didn't think it did.

Then I decided to try a light green.  Hmm.  Didn't work either.

I then decided to try this pretty green splotchy fabric that matched the various greens.

No, didn't work either.

Finally decided on more of the golden orange.  I literally had just enough to finish this up and a little left over (not wide enough for triangles) to do small borders.

 I decided to do a thin white stripe and then the dark green border.  Now just to sew them together.  I have enough to make three more small quilts -- one more like this one and then two that are 3-4-3-4-3.  I will have used up all the blocks then.  They will all have different backgrounds.  I think that there will be white in most of them.  I have lots of white cotton sateen that isn't good for dyeing.

This is another fabric that I really liked and which I will make into hexagons (not enough or an eight sided block).  The repeat on this one was 24 1/2 inches.  I only cut up half the fabric.  I really like this one and  may use some in borders.

Two More Tops Done and Starting with Another Fabric - the Fever Rages

Very frustrating that this quite pretty quilt doesn't photo well because of the gold in the background fabric which just reflects.  The colors are pale green, pale blue, cream and a purple/brick and some darker green.

I just note that I had been accumulating fabrics that would work as  stack and whacks for years.  I stopped doing this type of quilt years ago but am trying to use up some of these fabrics which I really like too well to just give them away.  Because of impending cataract surgery, I just can't motivate myself to get into something a bit more creative. I am giving away many that I just am not interested in finishing.  I like a little challenge!  Some of these are big enough to work as backs.  I have relegated some of those originally picked to be stack and whacks to be just that!

The second one from the fabric is done also.  I decided to just do more of the cream color for the border.  

I changed my mind and did a table runner or wall hanging with the remaining four blocks, putting them on point.  It gave me an idea for using the background fabric in the corners instead of the green I did here so that may come with a subsequent one although I don't have too many prints with enough for 8 repeats.

I took advantage of a great sale on batting yesterday at Joann's (60% off the by the yard stuff).  Now to baste all these finished tops!  I have eight currently in the backlog that are finished tops from the past couple of weeks!

I decided to delve into another bunch of fabric that I had cut up.  (I have about six different ones in the backlog now.  Doing the pinning you need to do to align the fabrics is a good task to do while watching the tube at night.)  I wasn't sure how this one would work but think it will be nice and bright!!  The fabric was not the most attractive -- looked like it was supposed to be a Hawaiian print and the repeat was 24 inches so I have 70 blocks like I did with the mushroom fabric.

This is the fabric used to create the above.  You can see there are large areas of green and light fuchsia so thought it might work as a "one-block wonder".  Of course I sewed them altogether forgetting I was going to do this!!  With the one-block wonders,  you don't do the final seam sewing the two three piece sides together which makes it simple to sew together.  I have only done 6 so far just to see how they would look as I feared there was just too much of one color in many of them.  Was pleased to see they are very graphic.

I placed them in a configuration for a one-block wonder so haven't discounted this arrangement yet.  Won't sew that final seam in the remaining blocks and will see what I come up with.

Stack and Whack Fever Continues....

It is almost impossible to get good pictures of this quilt top as there are flecks of gold both in the main fabric and in the green that I am using.  It really is a lot nicer looking in person than in my pictures -- it looks lacy almost and the green is very subtle.  It was almost impossible to find a green that would work just like the last fabric I used.  I started deciding I would do one with 24 blocks in a 4 x 6 arrangement resulting in a quilt that is about 48 x 70.  

I just didn't like the proportions on the above arrangement so decided on a 4 x 5 arrangement which is more pleasing to my eye.  Here it is all sewn together but without the borders.

Here I have added the first border around the whole quilt.  It is just an extension of the pattern I used for the sashing.  

I wanted a darker fabric to border the whole quilt and this one fit the best.  It again has gold flecks in it nd multiple shades of green.  This closeup shows the blocks more closely and you can see the colors more closely.  I haven't decided how wide to make that final border though.

I had decided to keep
the first one for myself and to make the remaining 16 blocks into a quilt to give away and decided on this arrangement.  I decided that I wanted it narrower even though that left me with four orphan blocks.

This felt more pleasing to me and also simplifies the backing as I can use just one width of fabric.

The four remaining blocks I will make into a small quilt.  I haven't decided which blocks will be in this vs. the previous quilt.  Hopefully, they will get down tomorrow.

Again, you can see how pretty these blocks are in this closeup.