First Quarter Report

All in all, I had a successful first quarter.  I finished all the the projects that I listed as goals in my First Quarter Goal Setting post. 

This lovely Mystery Stars quilt is my most recent finish.  It's a modified version of Sheila's (Bluepatch quilter) Mystery Quilt, and I blogged about the finish in my Three for Three post.

I also finished my Sea of Squares.  This was a quilt along organized by Christa, and it was a lot of fun. I blogged about it here.

Finally (actually this was the first finish, but I seem to be going in reverse chronological order), I finished this Hexagon Star baby quilt that I blogged about in February.  It's just about the last item in the box of unfinished items from the late 70s and early 80s.  Really, opening that box after it had been lost for so many years was like opening a time capsule. 

So, I finished everything that I planned to and a bit more besides, but it wasn't a particularly onerous list.  I think that I may have to up the ante for the next quarter.

Some progress on the Mystery Quilt

I think that I've done enough foundation piecing to have overcome my mental barriers.  The final foundation pieced star is the Lone Starburst (tutorial here).  I love this block, and I'd like to make an entire quilt from it, but I doubt that will happen.

Since I was also trying to resurrect some long-dormant quilting skills, I decided to spend a bit of time on geese.  Here I did two blocks.

The Ribbon Star block  (tutorial here)...

and the You Are Here block (pattern here)...

Then, since I hadn't included any English paper piecing (not for lack of trying), I thought I'd squeeze in this circle of six-pointed stars that I adapted from an All People Quilt table runner pattern. 
I'm glad that I did this one.  I can see a hexagon quilt in my future. 

Now, I just have to decide whether this is sufficient or if I've totally screwed up the proportions and need to make more to balance it out.  The process is much like sawing bit of chair legs off to level them, but in reverse. 

Fourth quarter plans

Well, it's time to link up for the fourth quarter of Rhonda's finish along.  So far, my track record hasn't been great.  No finishes the first quarter, only one in the second, and two in the third.  But maybe, if the trend continues, I'll be able to finish three this quarter.  But which three?

I'm still working on the dresden quilt I started back in the 80's.  It's a fairly large quilt and all the hand quilting is taking a fair bit of time.  I'm about half done.

Then there's Sheila's Mystery Quilt along that I'm completing after the fact.  It's taken a couple of sideways turns and I'm not sure that Sheila would recognize it any more.  But I'm making slow progress. This is where I was in July ...

 

and I've since added the ET Phone home block created by Lynne.  There are 84 pieces in this block!  84!  If I'd stopped to count first, I might have selected something a bit less challenging, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I also have two little girls who would like quilts for their beds.  I've started on eye spy type quilts. Each square is duplicated so they can also play matching games with them.  I've cut out most of the charm squares and this is the last of the lot.  Then I'll sash them with pastel strips from a couple of jelly rolls that have been sitting here long enough. I'd really like to get these done before Christmas. 

And, speaking of Christmas, a while ago I won some very pretty Christmas fabric from  Gail, who blogs at Hand Quilter, and I've started to make it into a lap quilt.  Nothing fancy--just something to add to the seasonal decor.  So it would be nice to have it done before the season passes.

So, all in all, I'd say this is pretty well impossible, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

Measure twice?

As I noted previously, I decided to think of Sheila's Mystery Quilt (http://bluepatchquilter.blogspot.ca/p/mystery-quilt-long.html)as a skill building activity.  Becoming proficient at foundation piecing was incredibly satisfying, so I figured that I'd also incorporate some English paper piecing.  But where to put it?  In the spirit of "go big or go home", I decided to replace block 1, the big 18 incher...

 with this...

The sharp angles were challenging, but in general, I was quilt pleased.  Until, I tested it in the layout and discovered it was too big.  By a full inch.  And, it's not the type of block where there is a wide border that could be trimmed.  The points of those deep blue triangles are pretty much essential.  So, back to the drawing board.  Maybe I'll stick with the original block one, and try EPP in a smaller section instead.

On the plus side, though, I've definitely built that skill.  And I really like this block.  I'll have to think of something that I can use it for.

Second Quarter Finish Along

I didn't participate in the First Quarter FAL, largely because I was more into starting than finishing, and partly because I didn't want to set any deadlines for myself.  Now that I'm dealing with so many more commitments, a little external motivation may help me to get a few things done.  Rhonda's (Quilter in the Gap) Finish - A - Long comes along at exactly the right time.

The first thing I'd like to finish is this quilt that I started about 40 years ago--might be closer to 45 (that makes me feel so old!) .  This has been carted from pillar to post since then, and when I recently came across it while looking for something else, I decided that it's now or never if this top is ever going to turn into a functioning quilt.

Since I had the good fortune to inherit a large bag of scraps from a lovely 90-year-old woman who was moving to a smaller home, many of the fabrics greatly pre-date the time that the top was sewn -- as far back as the 20s -- but some are definitely scraps left from clothes I made during the 70s ;-)  Even then I was fond of solids, and I like to think that I was ahead of the aqua and red trend.  I've made a start by basting it, but since hand quilting is going to be my only option, there's a long way to go before this ends up on anyone's bed. 

Then there are the two recent projects that I undertook to help me ease back into quilting.

The first is the Mystery Quilt from the Mystery QAL that Sheila Bluepatch Quilter designed and organized.

In random order these are 1. Starry Path; 2. Block 2; 3. Clay's Choice; 4. Ohio Star; 5. Mariner's Compass; 6. Tippee Canoe blocks; 7. Friendship Stars; 8. Block 1

This one may take longer than expected.  I'd originally decided to make this as a skill-building activity, and I think that I'll carry on in this vein.  I've really enjoyed learning a range of new techniques, so once I've finished a few more of the blocks Sheila provided, I think that I'll continue with the star theme and add more blocks that use different techniques--perhaps applique, maybe a lone star, some wonky stars, some tiny stars, and definitely more foundation pieced stars.  I'm feeling adventurous.

Finally, I really want to finish my Stained Quilt that I'm making with Sarah and crew in the Stained Pink Quilt Along.

I was doing so well with this, then I ran into a few obstacles, and had to regroup when I realized that my plans for quilting this were going to need a total revision.  Since my machine it totally and completely useless for quilting anything that exceeds the dimensions of an average magazine, and since I have no intention of quilting 17 separate blocks and then assembling them, I'll have to come up with a plan B.  It will no doubt involve hand quilting as well.  Perhaps some utility quilting with perle cotton.

So, three things in four months.  Not a hope ;-)  I'll be quite happy if I finish one, and make decent progress on the other two.

Mystery quilt progress

I've managed to accomplish quite a bit on my mystery quilt along.   It's not a lot in absolute terms, but in terms of time and learning, it's quite remarkable.  I can finally get my brain around foundation piecing.

These Tippee Canoe blocks nearly did me in.  I ripped out about three times as many seams as I sewed before the penny finally dropped. I swear that I made every mistake possible--many of them more than once.  Of course, as a result, I managed to run out of the blue fabric, so I had to piece two of the triangles.  Fortunately, the geometric pattern was matchable, so the seams are virtually invisible.  Not quite sure why I bothered though, since the dotted centres look so strange.  Pin dots were definitely not a good fabric choice here.

From there, I moved on to the Mariner's compass.  Each 8th went together perfectly, as did each quarter block.  I didn't have to rip out a single seam.  The difficulty arose when I went to put the blocks together and they simply wouldn't match.  I tried easing and that looked terrible.  Finally, I contacted Sheila and she sent me the corrected pattern.  Then I had to choose between redoing the block or using the faulty one.  Sheila also sent a link to the same block made by Catherine.  She just sewed the four quadrants together and ignored the fact that the seams didn't come close to lining up.   And it looked great.  So, I gave up on the easing and did the same.  The centre seams are perfect and I'll settle for that.  I just can't bring myself to waste that beautiful fabric, and only another quilter would ever see anything amiss.

 As for the Stained quilt along, I've run into a bit of an issue, and I've put it aside for the moment.  I decided to quilt it in sections, so I assembled the top, batting and backing in thirds.  When I went to quilt them (straight lines in the sashing using a walking foot), I had to rip out all six attempts.  It simply isn't possible to manouver even a section of the quilt through that small throat.   So I could have left it as a single piece after all.  Now I have to deal with putting the thirds back together.  A bit of a break is in order.

Busy Week

I've had an unusually productive week, for me.  I consider it a good week if I make steady progress, but this week I have some finishes.

First, on the sewing front, I completed a 241 Tote.  This is a great pattern, and since this one is destined to be a gift, I may have to make another for myself.  The pink and brown Robert Kaufman Pimatex prints have quite a bit of body that help to give the bag shape.

Then, I finished this little biscornu needlepoint pin cushion.  It's adapted from a pattern in the Aug/Sept issue of Stitch.  I wanted to use up what I had around the house, so my canvas was a bit bigger gauge.  That meant that I had to use 9 strands instead of six.  And instead of the beautiful variegated silk threads, I used cotton from a project completed about 30 years ago.  There wasn't enough of to make the sides match, but  the colours are the same.  I've just used different values on each side. Because the gauge was larger, I omitted one of the stitch patterns to keep it from becoming too large.  And I left off the bells.  I'll probably be using this one on my loom and the jangling bells would drive me nuts.

On the quilting front, I redid block 4 of the Mystery Quilt.  I couldn't live with the unintentionally wonky stars, so now I have balanced stars.

 I also finished block 6....

and block 7.  Yes, I realized that I've missed block 5.  That block is huge and fairly plain.  If I were using more elaborate fabric it would be fine, but my fabric is kind of low key, so I may have to punch up the block a bit.  I'm still thinking about it.

Finally, I completed all of the blocks for the Stained Quilt along.

Now to start joining them.  I'm debating whether to quilt it in sections.  It's not a particularly large quilt, but I have a very small machine.  I'll have to think about it some more while I put the pieces together.

More quilting progress

This week I managed to complete another pair of small blocks for the Mystery Quilt. They're not as wonky looking as they  appear in this photo.

And I've also been working on the blocks for Sarah's Stained Quilt Along.

Block one was the largest, so I thought to get it done first.

I needed to make three of this block, so in an attempt to be efficient, I chain-pieced all of the individual pieces together until I reached the point where I would have crossing seams before I stopped to press the seams.  It was then that I realized that the needle on my machine had moved, and all of my seams were fractionally too wide.  How much too wide?  About 1/16 ".  Per seam.  That's 1/8" per sashing strip.  When you look at the number of sashing strips in this quilt, those fractions really add up quickly.  So, out they all came.  I was getting much faster at ripping out seams by the time I finished the last seam in the last of the three blocks. Unfortunately, all of this sewing, ripping, and resewing resulted in a bit of stretching here and there.  Oh well, it's mostly flat.

Blocks 2 and 3 went together much more quickly.  Each of these was repeated five times.

And that leaves just one set of four block 4s.  That will be next week's project

Blocks 2 & 3

I'm making steady progress on Sheila's Mystery Quilt

This is the second block.  There were no tricky bits, so it went together quickly.  I should have posted this last Friday.  Oh, well.

The third block, on the other hand, was nothing but tricky bits.  Frankly, I'm astounded that I finished it at all.  This mirror image, back-to-front business is harder than it looks.  Still and all, the last quadrant went together much more easily than did the first, so I must have been getting the hang of it (although, I must confess that I probably could have been more frugal when adding each layer of fabric). 

Since one of the reasons that I decided to make this sampler quilt was to build my skills, I guess that I shouldn't moan when I'm called on to learn something new!

Block 1

I've started to work on Sheila's Mystery Quilt Along.  Though it's more in the nature of a not-so-mysterious-quilt-after-the-fact.  All of the beautiful photos posted in the flickr group mean it's no longer a mystery, and I'm not sure how many are still quilting along.  No matter.  I love the quilt, and I'm going to learn a lot completing each of the blocks.  I've finished the first one already.