Still Quilting!! And a Couple of Birds!!

I had a day of sewing off site and managed to put together four tops for charity -- 3 baby quilt tops and 1 larger one.  This one is a bit of an I Spy and is 40 x 40.

I was going to combine the next two for a large quilt and then decided I would just make 2 baby quilts instead.  These tops will need to have some border fabric to make them 40 x 40.

I definitely think this one which is 40 x 80 needs to be a bit wider so probably will add some borders as well.

This is the back of a Quilt as You Go quilt which is 60 x 80 -- bigger than I usually go.  I have a ton of 10 squares as well as all my strip scraps.

I like this one but will make the yellow center smaller the next time'

T.

 This is my latest interest and I haven't managed to conquer it yet!!  This block uses half rectangle triangles which are super tricky to get the right size and I still havent succeeded.  This piece has 36 blocks which you group together to make 9 big blocks.  These are not sewn together yet but when they are, I am afraid a lot of points will be blunted.  Haven't decided whether dI should make 7 more so that it is 4 x 4 and 44 in x 44 in.  I have used 2 different techniques so far to make these triangles the right size.  I finally bought two tools which should help but it is too late to change "horses" on this top!  The blocks were supposed to be 6 x 6 finished but are 5 1/2 x 5 1;2 finished.  I really like the effect of this block whch is easy except for those pesky half rectangle triangles!

It was nice to see something other than mallards in the local water.  Here are two ibis which were with a larger group.

And finally saw some Lesser Scaup down at Carolina Beach Lake.  I used to see lots of different ducks down there and was glad to see some of my old favorites back.

 

Last of the Quilt as You Go For a Bit -- 8 Done!

I finally finished the last of the  QAYG quilts before I head back down south.  The next few days are dedicated to straightening up my sewing room a bit and gathering some things to take with me.

This is the back of the quilt shown next utilizing all those 10 in squares I cut up.  I have used 196 altogether in the past few weeks and it did make a very small dent in the pile!!!

This is the front.  I have already donated this one!

This is the back of the next one.

This is the front of my very favorite one.  I had a ton of yardage of blue strips and saw a quilt on Pinterest that used this general layout (although without the sashing).  I still  have quite a bit of yardage of blue strips left but much is paler so we will have to see what I do with that.

This is an example of the block.  A 3 1/2 in strip of the blue stripe with 1/2 inch (finished) black around it and very,  very random scraps.  My only criteria was that the strip had to be long enough and a different color.

This one was going to charity but a member of my quilt group asked if I sold any of my quilts so I gave her this one!  It used a bunch of my 5 in squares.

Quilt as You Go (QAYG) Again!

This is another version of QAYG.  I had tons of the 2 1/2 in strips in these colors so just used them.  This is not my color pallette and I will be happy to give this one away.  It is 40 x 50 instead of my usual 40 x 60 in as I just didn't like working with the colors.  I may do a more random one the next time as I have a ton of scraps and won't attempt to arrange it.

This is the back of the quillt.

This is the beginning of another quilt.  I showed my  EQ8 image a couple of days ago.  There will be black sashing.

There will be three more rows making it my usual 40 x 60 inches when finished.  As hard as I have tried, I never seem to get that center block exactly in the center or maybe it is my trimming that is at fault.  Close enough I guess!  I do like this pattern.  I have an idea for another variation too. 

You would think after using over 100 of my 10 in square pieces of fabric, the bin would look just a little bit emptier but no...

There is no hope for the bins of 5 in squares as I have 100's and 100's of them!

 

Quilt as You Go Continued!

This was my first thoughts about how to arrange the blocks and here I am testing 3 different sashing colors -- black, red or green.  I decided to go with the black.  All the blocks are complete here but not sewn together as it looks awfully busy and nothing seems to unify it.  Each of the blocks is of course 10 inches!  The middle blocks are 5 inch squares.

I decided to try the more traditional arrangement to help unify it a bit more and I think it works better.  If I had been consisted with one of the sets of strips in each block, the previous arrangement might have worked better.  This is okay.

Here I started to apply the sashing which is black on the front and the back.

All sewn together except for the binding which will be black as well.  Quilt will measure 40 in by 60 in and will go to one of the charity groups.

And, of course, here is the back!


 

A Different QAYG -- In Fact Three different Ones!

This is one of the alternate ones in process.  Here I am testing what I will use for sashing.  I also tried red and green but think I will probably go with the black.  This has been a challenge as I need 2 1/2 strips and the color selection up here in NY is not all that great!  I will be incorporating more yeillow and red and will try to find some more blue somewhere.  After I did the

first two blocks, I was convinced this wouldn't work but with a little tweaking, I think it will be okay.

This is one of the quilts I tried out in Electric Quilt 8.  I have used this software since buying EQ1 directly from the designers in Houston in the early 90s!  It has gotten more and more sophisticated over the years!  This is totally out of 2 1/2 in strips but could use miscellaneous size strips as well.  I think it is wise to be consistent with the middle strip though to kind of bring it together which is why the above quilt has been so challenging -- no unifying element which I think is important in scrap quilts.

I was trying to find some ways to use all those 5 inch squares I have and decided on this one -- again 10 inch squares like the above.  The white stripe is 1 3/4 inches wide finishing 1 1/4 inches. The outer strips will again be 2 1/2 in strips.

Here I substituted the black for the white strip.  May try both!
 

    

Second "Quilt As You Go" (QAYG) Almost Done and How I Do them!

 

1.  Place the one inch strip of the sashing for the right side on top and a folded 1 5/8 in strip of the sashing for the back on the right hand edge of the first square, making sure the open edge of the back sashing is at the edge of the square.  Pin in 3 places.

2.  Sew through all the pieces 1/4 inch from the edge.

3. Take the second square and arrange the top sashing along the edge, again placing three pins and then sew in place a 1/4 in from the edge.  This leaves 1/2 in of sashing on the front all finished.  Now to finish the sashing on the back.

This is how it should look at this point with the second seam in the front sashing completed.

4.  Now open up the two squares and pin down the back sashing in three places and sew fairly close to the right edge making sure you have matching thread on the back and the front.

This is what the back looks like finished.

If you are really likely, you can get the sewing right in the ditch but here it is on the front sashing and sometimes it sits on the finished part of the block.  It really doesn't show too much if you use thread that is a neutral on the front.

Once you have all the rows completed, do the same steps to sew the rows together.  The only additional thing to be mindful of is that try your best to get the vertical sashing lined up, both front and back.  I am sometimes more successful at that than others but again, it is a little annoying but probably not too bad!

Here is the front except for the binding for QAYG2.  I used blue sashing for this one and will use the same fabric for the binding.

This is the back of QAYG2 and I used all different squares for this one but still didn't arrange them in any kind of order.

"Quilt as You Go" Fun! Really, Really Scrappy!

Well, sitting there with bags of strips and leftover smaller squares, I decided to again attempt a "Quilt as you go" quilt.  I had found the last one I did to not be too much fun but thought I would try again.  I had a large bag filled with scraps of batting that were too narrow to even sew together for a larger quilt so took it all and cut it into 10 in squares.  I really utilized it as if I didn't have 10 inches, I pieced batting together to make it 10 x 10.  I chose 10 x 10 as that was the size of those random 10 in squares I had cut out as referenced in my last blog!  I had about a 6 inch high pile of them!  The strips were the leftovers from cutting those 5 and 10 in squares.  They include hand dyes as well as failed marbling fabrics where there was not enough to really do anything with.  They were all different size strips and the ends were chunks from another bag of small pieces. 

Here it is done and measures 40 x 60.  I had originally intended as a baby quilt but it didn't feel babyish enough for me.  Of course, it will be donated to one of the charity groups in which  I participate. 

And here is the back!  There was no way I could keep the front and back organized the way I wanted at the same time so there are a few blocks I would move around on the back if I had been able to figure out a way to do it!

I must say this second time went a lot more smoothly than the first and it is probably because I learned some things doing the first like making the back sashing strips 1 5/8 inches wide instead of the one inch wide in the front.  I also stitched that second block to the first with the sashing side on top which seems obvious but don't think I realized it before.  There were a few "gotchas" but went pretty smoothly.  I think the whole quilt only took a week of my afternoon 2 hour sewing sessions.

I discovered that I had a lot more scrappy 2 inch strips in bags on my sewing table which is pretty much a mess at this point!  So I decided to do another QAYG using just the 2 in strips.  

I also have designed another block which will use my 5 inch squares and will be QAYG but that will have to wait until I get this second quilt done.  

I spent a good deal of this afternoon piecing together batting to make 10 in squares.  Where I don't have enough, I cut 7 in squares which I use to make pot holders!  Only had a few of those.

Here is the beginning of that quilt.  To be continued...

 

Quilt as You Go Quilt is Done!

This and the next post are in the wrong order!Well, here it is done except for the binding..  I was going to go with blue but have since decided that green is a better choice!

My method was modified a bit for putting the rest of the rows together for this quilt.  I had already decided to add another 1/8 of an inch to the back sashing but it was still not quite getting all the stitches to fall outside the sashing on the front.  I finally decided that when I sew down the first piece of the sashing on front with the folded piece in the back, that I will make that first seam very slightly less than 1/4 inch -- more like 7/32, just a 1/32 of an inch less than 1/4.  I also decided that ironing that back piece of sashing in half made things go easier as well.  Before I was just finger pressing.  Attaching the front sashing on the adjoining piece, I still go with the full 1/4 inch.  When I make that final stitching down of the back sashing, I pull it so that it no longer sits on the bump (the seam on front) and sew it down.  It takes some concentration but it really worked almost 100 per cent of the time.  It is also important to line up those vertical pieces of sashing when sewing the horizontal seams which I missed on a couple of rows but too much fussy stitching to take out and do again!  

It really went together very quickly once I got going and it is nice to not have to baste and machine quilt.  I would definitely make larger blocks if I was doing it again however but that will have to wait until I get south where those bags of strips reside.  If I never see these particular strips again, it will be too soon!!
 

Just a Short Post to Show the Finished Quilt

Well, it is all done and I am pretty happy with the results.  The back is kind of boring as I used the same fabric for all the squares and used a matching green as the sashing on the back.  All in all, I will do more of these but with bigger blocks.  These were 7 inches as that is what I was doing for the potholders.  I am also contemplating doing a whole baby sized top, sewing strips of blocks down and if the blocks are big enough, doing some machine quilting after the whole thing is put together.  I haven't pursued this yet.  

This was an unfinished piece from a Jane Sassaman class I probably took 25 years ago when she was just beginning to teach and had no books yet!!  The center part on the brown was completed back then and decided I would square it up to 24 inches so maybe I could have a second entry in our quilt challenge.  The squares on the outside were square but it was just too much so I am trimming them down.  Still not crazy about it but pretty much committed now.  I always liked the iris as it was one of my favorite flowers growing up as we had probably 50 varieties in our yard.

I am continuing to try to destash and had a very successful sale at my local quilt club a week ago where I sold a lot of my hand dyed fabric and many books -- some of which were very hard to part with.  Unlike previous years, where I gave away everything i didn't sell, I kept the remaining hand dyes.  I had originally intended to hold some out that I really liked but decided to let the quilt club members cull my stash as I had so much (3 of those large totes filled to the top).  I only brought home one. 

This photo shows a bunch of 2 1/2 strips I cut from this random fabric I found while doing the above destashing.  It was all fat quarters and in this

palette.  It was all 80s fabrics and pretty ugly and not colors I ever use which is why I cut them up into the 2 1/2 strips.  I took the picture hoping to inspire myself to do something with these!  I have no idea where these came from or why this palette...

This is our neighborhood doe named Eloise.  She noshes frequently right across the street when the neighbors are quiet.  Both husband and I think she is pregnant so hopefully we will see the fawn in the future.  Our next door neighbor is not a fan (although he named her) as she devours his roses and other veggies he grows!
 

Trying Something New - Quilt as You Go Technique

I was inspired by the slew of potholders I recently finished to try to do a "quilt as you go" baby quilt just to see if it was any faster or easier.  I don't have as many scraps here as I do down south but dumped what I had on my sewing machine table.  These are the first four blocks I did using a more select palette than I eventually chose!  

This was the end of day 2 and you can see that there is more color.  I am using my phone for photos so not as evenly exposed as I do with my camera -- just keep forgetting to bring it upstairs!

End of day 3 -- it is getting there and I am getting faster and faster.  I only need 10 more blocks so I spent a little time picking out the middle strips for those last ten blocks.  I make the blocks by first putting a strip down the middle and then adding strips to the sides.  Then I iron and trim.

This is the end of Day 4 and all the blocks are done and the quilt will measure 42 x 42 as the sashing will not add to the width or length and I am not adding borders.  I got the timing of the blocks down to about 9 minutes each.

The sad part is that the pile of strips looks as big as it did when I started which just confirms that those scraps breed at night when the lights are off!

I decided to go with yellow sashing on the front and a green on the back that matches the backing fabric pretty well.  I tried to have a little yellow in each of the blocks on the front.  I cut 7 in x 1 in strips for the front and 1 5/8 in strips for the back which I folded in  half.  I figured that a little extra on the back would insure that when I sewing the back strips down, the stitching on the front of the quilt would fall outside the sashing.  I was moderately successful but will today increase those strips to 1 3/4 inches in width and will also change the bobbin thread color.  Putting them together went more smoothly than I thought it might but did require some careful pinning.  We will see how it goes today!

If I ever do this kind of quilting again, I will do much much larger blocks which I think would be more time effective.  These blocks are 7 x 7 which is the size of my potholders.