Sunday 31 December 2017

PEI Mystery

Slipping this photo in just under the wire. I acutally finished the blocks for both versions of my mystery quilts a couple of weeks ago, but blogging has been slow to happen, so here is a quick photo of the December clue for my dark quilt, before the clock strikes 12.

I'm enjoying this mystery process, but hoping desperately that scrappy is the way to go here.  I've again substituted some of my fat quarters for 2.5" squares that I had on hand.  And the light quilt (not shown here) had a small assembly error which resulted in even more scrappiness in that set of blocks.

Linking up with the mystery crew over at the PEI Modern Quilt blog.

Saturday 30 December 2017

Guild mystery - step 3

I've been working away on a few mysteries these past months. This is one of them, from the Ottawa Valley Quilt Guild. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with my colour choices - the yellow is really not right. But I'm stubborn and determined to push through anyway.  If I totally hate it in the end, maybe I'll remake the yellow squares - but probably not. 

The blocks are fun though, and when you are also doing Bonnie Hunter's mystery, a REALLY nice break. These pieces finished at 4". Bonnie's tend to finish at 1.5".  It's like working in giant-land when you switch directly from Bonnie to this one :)

Friday 29 December 2017

Mini Trifecta

I saw this pattern - Trifecta - a couple of times recently. Once at a quilt show in May, and then a couple of months ago when a customer brought me one to quilt.  I absolutely love it, and knew back in May that I was going to make that quilt.  And that was reinforced when my customer dropped hers off. But it is so big -about 90" square - and I just don't need another giant quilt in my house.

So, rather than give up on the dream completely, I decided to downsize it and see what I could do from some precuts in my stash.  The original pattern uses strips that finish at 1". I originally considered using a jelly roll, and cutting each strip in half. But those would finish at 3/4", and it was still going to be a pretty big quilt (about 70x70" and my jelly roll would obviously not be enough fabric for it). So, a bit more thought, and I decided to cut each jelly roll strip in 3 pieces, 3/4" each. The resulting strips would finish at 1/4".

Never one to shy away from a challenge, I packed up my jelly roll and a bunch of white fabric and headed to a retreat.  Some further math suggested I only needed 1/2 of the jelly roll to make the miniature version of the quilt - which was perfect, because my jelly roll included 2 of each strip.  I spent the first morning at retreat cutting itty bitty strips. And then sewing them all back together again, in sets of 5.  Using a techinque I learned recently at class - to follow the previous stitching line, rather than the raw edge, when sewing a 1/4" piece - I managed to keep the strips all relatively straight and even.

Cut into the cutest little equilateral triangles you have ever seen (about 1 1/2" on a side), and from there, assembly was pretty straight forward. Simple in-the-ditch quilting was perfect for this quilt - which finishes at 20x22".

Sunday 24 December 2017

Ruler Bag

I'm working on a bag to carry all of my rulers. I am tired of trying to juggle the big cutting board and my 24" ruler into retreats, so I've been pondering a bag for some time. It's been redesigned several times in my head, and now it's finally seeing light of day.

Of course, the redesigning hasn't stopped just because I started sewing. A few corrections as I go (always measure the actual cutting board, don't assume it's the same as another one you happen to have), but it's starting to take shape. Hopefully the final result will come close to my vision. And if I didn't miss anything, it will have a pocket for every ruler I own.

Tuesday 19 December 2017

UFOs

Do I dare count my UFOs this year?  I think I missed last year, and the closet has certainly changed its contents since then, so maybe a look-see is worthwhile. Then I can link up with Judy's UFO challenge and see if I get anything done this year :)

Tops in progress
  1. Winding Ways
  2. Kaffe jacob's ladder
  3. 150 Canadian Women
  4. spinning star
  5. small bulging checkerboard
  6. mini houses
  7. purple/olive quilt (needs borders)
  8. mini one block wonder
  9. squedge stripes
  10. ombre quilt
  11. 3-D cubes quilt
  12. Richmond guild mystery
  13. Patchwork Year 
  14. Gardener's Alphabet
Tops to quilt
  1. Labyrinth
  2. Row by Row (Water theme)
  3. Edge of 17 shop hop
  4.  yellow triangles
  5. Toes in the sand (?)
  6. Tell it to the stars - Patchwork Times 2014
  7. Border Creek mystery
  8. Peace, Love, Quilt mystery (hearts)
  9. scrappy swoon
  10. Kaffe Handkerchief 
  11. recipes wall hanging
  12. paper pieced houses
  13. paper pieced stars
  14. Easy Street - Bonnie Hunter 2012
  15. Block of the week
  16. Modern plus quilt
  17. One fabric quilt
  18. modern abstract quilt
  19. en Provence
  20. Triangle log cabin table runner
  21. diamond chain
  22. Blackford's Beauty
  23. Rainbow explosion
  24. hexies
  25. jar quilt (?)
  26. reflections of the north
  27. Kaffe stripes

Plus current projects (not yet UFO worthy)
  1. Bonnie Hunter mystery
  2. PEI Modern Guild mystery (times 2)
  3. OVQG mystery
  4. birthday quilt 
  5. string star
So, that's 41 UFOs, plus all my current projects.  I guess I have to pick 12 for Judy's challenge this year.  Let's aim for these completed in 2018:
  1.  150 Canadian Women
  2. small bulging checkerboard
  3. Kaffe jacob's ladder
  4. purple/olive quilt (needs borders)
  5. Richmond guild mystery
  6. Winding Ways
  7. en Provence
  8. Blackford's Beauty
  9. hexies
  10. Labyrinth
  11. Peace, Love, Quilt mystery (hearts)
  12. scrappy swoon