The Positivity QAL link-up 1

Recently I made a quilt to use up all my blue fabric. Okay, I'll wait until you finish laughing. Who uses up all their blues? The quilt was intended for donation to Mercyful Quilts, a project near and dear to Bernie's heart at Needle and Foot. The quilts are donated to a hospital hospice program to comfort patients and their loved ones. Well, my quilt ended up instead in my blue-loving husband's hands for his birthday, so I knew I needed to make another for Mercyful. At just the right time, enter Preeti at Sew Preeti Quilts to encourage us to participate this summer in The Positivity QAL to benefit Mercyful quilts by making a plus block quilt. You can read all about it in her post about her original quilt and in the related tab at the top of her blog. There is a lot to read, including block options/instructions, layout ideas, a schedule for making/linking up and tips.

So, of course, another opportunity to use all of my blues. Ha Ha. Again. I chose a bunch of tone-on-tone dark blues that read solid from far but have subtle designs when viewed from a lap. When Preeti posted the possible blocks, I knew the one with snowball corners was the way I wanted to go. 

I used my Quiltography app on my Ipad to plan the color layout, with mostly blues for the pluses and some turquoise and lime green sprinkled in, and the green and lots of assorted yellow scraps for the snowball corners. (For the darkest teals in the plan, I used a dark blue fabric with teal dashes in it.) I made 6 different colorations of blocks, some with 4 yellow corners and some with 2 yellow and 2 green corners on the diagonals. I had a fat quarter of a neutral that I bought recently, and guess what the design was. Pluses!! I ordered four more yards of it, and that became the background and overall inspiration for my colors. 

Preeti generously gave us the whole summer to make this quilt, figuring that quilters would have lots of other activities occupying their time. (Especially this year!!) The early part of my summer was uncertain with Federal jury duty for a month and then possible need for lots of daycare help for my son and DIL due to my son's nasty softball knee injury. Thankfully, I was never called for a jury, and my son did not need surgery, just a long recovery period. But I had started working ahead on the quilt just in case I needed to take a break, and once I got started, I couldn't stop. So this project kind of turned into a squirrel. I threw the schedule out the window. By the time Preeti shared the optional layouts I was well on my way to a quilt. Good thing, too, because if I had followed the schedule I would have been still dithering over all the possibilities Preeti shared with us. 

I put the main pieces of the pluses on the design wall curtain to plan the placement.

Corners in progress:

It was really hot for several days, so I moved my pressing station to the basement. Aaah.

The only thing I don't like about snowball corners is the waste. I sewed the extra seams on this project, so now I have a bunch of HSTs that I'm going to challenge myself to actually use. Maybe in placemats? With more blues? Ha!

Placement was random and easy for putting up the snowballed corners on the design wall, probably because I had so many different yellows.

Arms of the pluses waiting to put it all together:

Because I chain pieced this, it was really easy to make the blocks quickly. And because I get bored--or maybe it's impatient--sewing a whole quilt together after the blocks are all done, I did the joining as I went. As you read this, the binding is made and the quilt is more than half quilted. But in the spirit of a relaxed-pace QAL, I'm going to stay with the schedule for linking up, and I'll just share the top half of the quilt for now. 

How about a few close-ups?

Okay, I'll stop. If you haven't decided whether to participate in this QAL yet, I strongly encourage you to. It's really doable, whether you spread it out summer style or chase that squirrel. (I've seen that even Preeti has thrown out the schedule for her quilt.) And it's for a wonderful purpose. I'm linking up with Bernie on Sunday for the first linky party to share our progress. Thanks to Preeti and Bernie for getting this all together! 

We interrupt this post for a weather statement. I'm sure I'll have lots of time to quilt over the next few days. We are in a non-stop rainy weather pattern, so there really isn't much else to do. I've had to move plants from my deck to my covered front porch to keep them from getting water logged, and I've tented the ones I can't move. 

This afternoon I took the tents off because some storms were predicted, and I didn't want them to blow away. While writing this post (Saturday) we had to go to the basement for awhile for a tornado warning. I did cut some zinnias for our table just before the storm hit. Aren't they cute? Anyway, spending some time in the basement and in rainy weather just reminds me once again: I really need some hand work to pick up at odd times. Any ideas? (Other than EPP)

In my last post, I mentioned that I'm going to use follow.it for people who want to follow my blog by email. So if you have been following me through email notifications with the old service in the past (or want to follow me in the future) please sign up in the box at the top of the right side bar to continue getting emails. (I hope I set it up right.) I'll also put a heads-up on Instagram when I write a new post. I'm still mulling over how I will find you to keep following your blogs if you also are losing the old notification system.

Okay. Bye now.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)  

Purples

Before I get to Purple, I want to draw your attention to the top of my sidebar on the right. There's a new widget there to follow this blog by email. If that's how you follow me, please take a moment to sign up again. By now you may know that the old email service for following this blog is going away. I'm going to try follow.it instead, but I'm not tech savvy enough to transfer subscribers myself, so thanks for helping me out. You've probably seen posts by other bloggers about this. I plan to also put a note on Instagram when I put a new blog post up, so that might be helpful to you, too. I'm most concerned that I will have trouble finding your blog now that my email notifications are also going away, and am still mulling over how to approach that issue. Change is not fun, but I'll figure it out. I've adjusted before...

Anyway. Purple. 

Purple was a challenge this month. My goal for Rainbow Scrap Challenge and 52 Weeks of Scrappy Triangles is to use as many scraps as possible from my multicolored scrap bin. And there just wasn't much to pick from with purple or with the sizes I needed. So the combinations in these blocks might seem a bit odd. One thing I do like, though, is how each block sort of has its own personality. And there is purple in every scrap.

And when they get together with all their friends from the other months--ooh, I like a lot!

My purple stash has been pretty poor for a long time, so I knew an infusion was needed this month. Now it just so happened that we noticed a quilt shop we hadn't seen before in a strip mall while we were on our way from our son and DIL's home a few weeks ago. The shop wasn't open at the time we passed by, but we knew we'd be going that way again in a few days. In the meantime, I looked the place up online and discovered that their whole inventory was on an etsy site. It was fun seeing what was available, and that made it easy to make a quick stop on our way home after our next trip to the kids.

The top two groupings of fabric are from that store: Hartland Quilt Shop and Sewing Studio. My favorite purples have blue tones, but I did buy reddish ones, too, because I liked the prints. I'd like to find a few more bluish purples with a little more figure in them, but I can collect them gradually. Oh, and the three purples at the bottom of the photo? Impulse buy at my local quilt shop the other day when I was buying something else. :)

So that's purple There are still a few days of June left. I could make one more purple block--or I could wait and do a block in the color for next month. We shall see...

Until next time, have fun with your scraps. And if you can, please check back here tomorrow for a post related to a QAL for a purpose. Yes, two blog posts this weekend!!

I'm linking this up today with Angela at So Scrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday and on Sunday with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

Oh, and don't forget to sign up for the email notifications.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)  

Clearly Red

I'm late, I know. We'll just pretend it's Saturday. I'm going to sneak in here real quick to share my Rainbow Scrap Challenge/52 Weeks of Scrappy Triangles blocks for May. These days I prefer clear reds, and my supply of them is a bit thin. But I made it work, using as many of my multi-color scraps as possible along with the reds. (That bin is still jam packed, though.)

I'm loving the dark blue triangles with the colors. These blocks were fun to put together if we forget about how long it took to get the ladybug almost all the way on the block. Lots of do-overs, but I think it was worth it to get that scrap in kind of the right place. 

Here's how the year of RSC/Triangles looks so far. (Fuzzy photo, I know, but I was in hurry and the light was dim. I'll get a better one next time.) 

Still crazy, but in a good way. I will definitely have to supplement with additional blocks at some point or continue the project into next year to have enough blocks for a quilt of a decent size.

It's time for a red infusion, so this time I bought an already-put-together bundle from Winter Creek Cloth. I don't usually care for bundles as I'm picky about what's in them. But this one was perfect. The fabrics are from all different lines and are just the kinds of prints I'm trying to build: perky, but still reading as a single color. 

So that's May. I've been occupied with a whole lot of non-quilty things lately, so I'm happy to have just this much to show for now. I'm excited to begin the Positivity QAL with Sew Preeti Quilts this month. I'm glad she is making this a leisurely sew. I do have some of my plus parts cut and am planning to cut backgrounds today so that I can hopefully keep up. (Yes, really. I'm on call for jury duty this month and have some other things going on, too, so I need to kind of work ahead while I can in case I'm needed elsewhere.) Do go over and check out her blog. She has a tab for the QAL to follow the parts after you read her post about her quilt. This will be a fun project with lots of layout options. And it's for a great cause. 

I'm linking up today with Angela at So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)  

Squirrels for Safelight

I was relaxing and reading through some blogs a few days ago, as one does, and suddenly a big squirrel popped up in the form of the annual collection of bags for cosmetics and sunglasses (and now, tissues, too) that is happening this month by Carole of From My Carolina Home for Safelight Domestic Violence shelter . In my fogginess of last year, I totally missed it, and it seems that might have happened again this year if not for the blog post. Actually, it was one bold squirrel. Then her shyer, more elegant sister ventured out after I responded to the first one. 

Anyway, here was my project this week. It should have only taken an hour or so, but because I can never make a set of these bags without complicating the process, it took me a few days. 

I had some lovely fabric that I won maybe three years ago in a giveaway through Sandra at Musings of a Menopausal Melon--mmm quilts!. Wonderlust by Paula Nadelstern for Benartex. I had used some of it in other projects, including some bags for Safelight. I still had some of these marbled pieces. I loved the look and luxurious feel of them, but they had never quite fit with other projects, so I knew it was time to use them. I didn't have large enough pieces to just cut and sew, so I decided to do some improv piecing. I had to also piece one of the linings, but it all worked out well. I quilted with free motion flowers, stipples and wiggles using several different colors of threads. Here are the outsides of two of the bags before the final construction. 

And the linings.

Fronts

Backs

Peeky lining

I was pleased with the set and was ready to package it up and send it. But then that shy squirrel whispered, "Why make only one set, when two sets are just as easy to send?" Well, yes, I could do that. I searched through some other fabrics that I had won in a Fenceline Fabrics giveaway through Rachel Hauser last year. There was a lovely fat quarter of leafy fabric with a metallic sheen that I really liked, but also knew that it might never really fit in with the fabrics I usually use in quilts. It needed to shine on its own. It would have been so easy to just pick a lining and sew it up. But I noticed that the design was directional (I probably am the only one who would have noticed this, but I did), so I made some additional cuts  with added seam allowance to shift the fabric so that it would all be facing the same way when folded into a bag. In the same batch of giveaway fabric I found a sweet tiny plus peach fabric that picked up on the copper metallics in the main fabric, and thought to use it as a liner. The only place it would show was on the tissue holder where it would make a piped edge. I thought that was a shame, so I decided to add a strip to both of the other bags. See, this is why these bags take me longer. I just can't stop fiddling. I had to first measure carefully to make sure I had enough fabric in my fat quarter to do this. I did--just barely. I was going to slice and insert the strips, but that would have required lining things up carefully, so after stitching a 1 1/2 inch strip diagonally across main pieces of the bags,

 I folded the strip up to the stitched line, pressed it, 

and then folded it up again and stitched along both edges. 

That looked so much better to me. I think it makes the bags coordinate with each other more. Then I free motion quilted wiggly lines back and forth. 

A little crease-y--I've been folding these a few times.

I fiddled more, sewing the hook-and-loop closures on. I had been using blue thread, but didn't want it to show on the peach strip, so I changed thread colors part way through. Fiddle, fiddle. 

These were a lot of fun to make. Someday I really have to make a set without all the little changes. But I work with the fabric I have on hand, and it tells me what it wants. (Or maybe it's those pesky sweet little squirrels that tell me.) 

These projects are so satisfying (and probably usually really quick). Each set uses two fat quarters with little waste, and are a great way to use up those cut-offs of batting that don't work easily for other projects. Plus, they are a wonderful way to fill the tote bags that Carole puts together for Safelight every year to brighten the lives of people going through a really tough time. If you haven't made any, go check out her site. Yes, I do complain that they take me more time than they should, but they are also a neat way to try something a little creative and to practice quilting motifs. I have to say one thing, though, to quilters who quilt with lots of colors of thread to match their fabric: As a person who usually quilts with one color (mostly off-white), I have extreme admiration for your persistence in thread-changing. It was so time consuming for me to keep changing colors, and I really had to keep on my toes to remember to do it. New appreciation here for people who use multiple colors of threads!

I'm linking up today with Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty and on the last Saturday of this month with Sandra at mmm quilts for DrEAMi (Drop Everything And Make it). I didn't want to wait to link up because maybe some of you will still want to make some bags this month, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to draw them to your attention. You can get the info you need at Carole's site here. 

Have fun with your squirrels!

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)  

I've got the Blues

It all started with the Chain Linx quilt pattern I got in a giveaway from Karen at Sugar Free Quilts through KaHolly in a Blog Hop honoring the legacy of quilter Paula B about a year ago. My plan was to make a quilt to donate, and when I looked through my drawers, I challenged myself to "use up" my blues. And only blues. I thought I might make a quilt that would appeal to a man--although, I really don't like to stereotype people that way. 

The design of the quilt I chose to make is unique in that it's constructed from four big rectangles arranged around a square. I first shaded in the link parts to get some idea of how they might look and to help me keep things straight while cutting the fabrics. 

I had two fairly large solid blue fabric pieces that were leftovers or rejects from other quilts, and my idea was to use the grayish blue for the links and the darker blue for part of the background to appear sort of as a border. 

With that in mind, I made the rectangular blocks first, choosing tone on tone fabrics.

 I made decisions about which fabric to use based on how much fabric I had available for a particular sized patch.

I wanted all four of the rectangle blocks to be alike. 

Always good to match your outfit to your project

As I cut, I pinned sets of four patches together and then bagged different sections up to keep things organized as I sewed.

After making the rectangles, I laid out other fabrics to decide how to make the center square. I had enough of the solid blue that I used for the border to make the whole center. So that's what I did. it kept everything symmetrical-ish. 

Everything went well, until I took photos of the top. And. I didn't like it. At all. There was one fabric I had used that was a sort of bubble pattern in blue and grayish blue, but in the quilt it looked dead gray. And it was one of the bigger patches. Do you see it there? 

Actually, there are two, but the big one is what was bothering me.

Times four. Yuck! I could not unsee it. So out came the seam ripper and I performed four surgeries. And replaced that patch with three smaller, darker ones. Four times.

Do you see them? (Never mind the stray thread.)

It really didn't take that long and made a big difference in how the whole quilt looked. More depth and vibrance. Even in the bad indoor light.

I thought I would use up all my blues, but we all know that didn't happen. Sigh. For a few minutes I thought of piecing all the leftovers into a scrappy back. But there were a lot of seams in the front, and I wasn't looking forward to quilting through those and a bunch of seams on the back. So, being fully vaccinated (Yay!), I ventured out to a local fabric store I hadn't been in for more than a year and found the perfect navy. And at another store around the corner, I found a good medium gray blue thread that wouldn't stand out as much as my usual off white on the quilt. 

I dithered for awhile about how to quilt. At first I thought I might like to highlight the links somehow, but everything I considered would have required lots of stops and starts and thread burying and I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted simple. And what's more simple than stipple?? (It's so relaxing--almost trance-like--for me. I know stippling isn't for everyone and that some people struggle with it. My tip is to go slowly, picture jigsaw puzzle pieces while you quilt and try for gentle swoops. It probably also helps to have the pressure light on the presser foot.) I had considered using a kind of turquoise-y blue thread for the top thread, but in the end I used the same thread that I had chosen for the back. I knew I'd probably lose at playing thread chicken, so I did run out part way through quilting to buy one more spool of thread. I almost did win at thread chicken, but I did need that second spool for the last bit of quilting. (Maybe 5 to 10 yards?) 

Early on in the construction process, I set aside a bandanna print for the binding. It worked really well for a subtle edge on the front and good contrast on the back. If you have a treadle machine, or another machine that doesn't show you guidelines for making sure your width is consistent when you turn the corner while sewing on binding, here's a little tip. I fold a square sticky note on the diagonal and then line it up with the edges of the quilt when I get near the corner. I sew up to the diagonal edge of the sticky note and then out to the corner. That always gives me the same measurement no matter what seam allowance I use when sewing on the binding. It's really helped me to have sharper corners. 

The quilting pulled everything together, and I finally decided that I liked the quilt after all. And there was someone making complimentary noises the whole time I was making the quilt. Someone who loves blue a whole lot more than I do. (He still misses his old navy blue car.) When it was almost done, he finally came right out and said he wanted the quilt. Well, who was I to say no to my husband? After all, I have never in all these years made him his very own quilt. Our other quilts have always been for us, not him. So, this quilt that was going to be donated to an organization is staying right here. 

Here are the stats:

Pattern: Chain Linx by Karen Chase at Sugar Free Quilts I really liked following her detailed instructions, which worked fine even though I was using a lot few colors. I appreciate it that she noted how to press important seams and left it up to me to decide how I wanted to press others. 

Fabrics: Prints are scraps from many years of quilt-making; solids are Kona Cotton in Prussian and Delft; backing is Moda Marbles (I'm not sure of the color--maybe Indigo? It's a dark navy.) Nautical.

Batting: Fairfield 80/20. First time I've used this. My machine loved it.

Thread: Superior Masterpiece in Granite for piecing; Mettler Silk Finish Cotton in Smoky Blue for quilting. (I haven't used this before, but it was what my local store had, and it worked out well--a slight sheen), Old Coats and Clark black cotton hand quilting thread for hand sewing binding to back

Binding: 2 1/2 inches cut, double layer, machine sewn to front and hand stitched on back. 
Size: 60 1/2 inches square before quilting; 59 1/4 by 59 1/2 inches after quilting. Since this quilt is staying home, I haven't washed it yet.

Machines: Singer Featherweight for piecing; Singer Treadle 115 for free motion and for machine work on the binding.

I knew I would need to make a replacement quilt to honor my pledge to make a donation quilt, but although I still have blue fabric, it's not enough to make a similar quilt without a lot of hassle. What to do? And then I read Preeti's blogpost about her upcoming Quilt Along to make quilts for the same organization this quilt was originally meant for. Perfect!! What a great solution to my dilemma! I don't think it will be another blue quilt, but it will be fun. And of course, I'll keep the Chain Linx pattern for another time.

But I'm not done yet. Oh no. April was blue month at Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and since there were 5 Fridays in April (my self-imposed due dates for 52 weeks of Scrappy Triangles), there were 5 blue half blocks made. Here they are: 

And randomly with most of their mates from January through March (my, this year is moving fast!)

How about that navy corner on the upper left? Yup. That's leftover from the Blue backing, How neat is that? I will need to buy a bit more to make sure I have enough for a whole quilt worth of triangles, but I think it will pull all the colorful bits together. 

Whew! that's a lotta blue. Oh, just a little more. Here are the blue fabric bits I ordered to enhance my stash this month. 

This time I ordered from Winter Creek Cloth. I know it's weird complaining about not using up all my blues and then ordering more. But I'm really trying for a more modern vibe, and this is such a fun purchase this month. Now that we are more free to move about the community, I might purchase my next colors locally. But maybe not. I know there will always be backings and such to buy nearby. And maybe some fabric for Preeti's project...Stay tuned. 

I'm linking up this week with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday, Wendy at Wendy's Quilts and More for Peacock Party, Michelle at from Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant, Angela at So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and Cynthia at Quilting is more Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap.

Happy Quilting, whether you've got the blues or not. (homage to Buddy Guy)

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)