Dancing and Disappearing 9 patch quilts

Life changes quickly.  Just when I was thinking that it would be really nice not to have to get up each morning and go to work, my position at work disappeared and I was terminated.  I truly believe that God has a plan and I can't wait for the next chapter in the book of my life.

I've had some time lately to work on a few projects and get some sewing done.  This week's project has been 3 quilts for a family of boys in our church.  I wanted to make it easy on me, so I used the same block - a disappearing 9 patch block using 5 1/2" cut squares.  I had planned for a regular sashing and a border.  I found this dancing arrangement while surfing and decided to go this route.

Why I started with 5 1/2" squares, I have no idea....but they did make nice big blocks and they sewed up quickly.  The math may have been a bit easier if I had cut them at 6", but too late now.  The tops are done!

I started by cutting my fabrics into 5 1/2" strips, then each strip into 5 1/2" squares.   Now, I don't have, and never really had a lot of scraps in my stash.  So, yes, I did go out and buy fabrics for these "scrappy" quilts!  Now, I do have a stash and will probably make more blocks/quilts for future give aways.

I didn't pay attention, just sewed groups of 3 units together. Then I sewed 3 sets of 3 together.  The only rule was that adjoining squares could not be the same fabric.

Once the block was sewn, I cut the block in half horizontally and vertically.

Then I took the top left and the bottom right and rotated them 180 degrees.  The block looks good....but, if I took 4 units from different blocks, I get a really great scrappy arrangements

 

 
All the units were sewn into pairs.  The pairs were sewn into blocks.  Again, the only rule was that I didn't want 2 adjoining pieces the same fabric.

I added sashing to two sides of the blocks as per the info on the Quiltville blog.  I added the sashing to the same two sides of the blocks.  Once the blocks were together in the quilt, the blocks were rotated....look at the little squares in the corners of the blocks.  They aren't all in the same position. The quilt does "Dance" a little more.
 

I wasn't sure if I liked it that way, so on the 2nd quilt, I took my time and made sure the blocks were the same way round once the sashing was sewn on.  I am not sure that it makes that much difference.  In the future, I will probably not worry and do the first arrangement as it is faster and there is less chanc of me making a mistake!

I needed to do 3 quilts for 3 little boys.  The youngest is a new born, so his quilt is smaller with only 6 blocks.  As I had made enough quilts for 3 quilts with 12 blocks each, I now have two smaller quilts with 6 blocks.  Woot, Woot!  I have an extra quilt ready to finish and give away.

 

I have  more 5 1/2" squares cut, not too many.  I have scraps left over from cutting the squares from the strips.  I need to find a project that I can sew to use up these scraps.  Maybe I should have cut 6" squares, so they can be cut down into 2" or 3" squares. ....hind sight is 20/20!   I'll come across something perfect one day.  For now, they'll go in a clear plastic tub and be put on the "TO DO" shelf.

 

Design Wall

I have a small piece of flannel pinned to my wall and to put up a block or two, is OK.  But trying to lay out a whole quilt or a larger number of blocks, is not OK.   Pinterest reminded me that I can create a cheap and perfectly usable design wall with a flannel backed table cloth.

Dollar store to the rescue!  For all of $2 I was able to get myself a design wall that is perfect for the projects I have.  I pinned the table cloth to the wall with the flannel side out....  I will staple it to the wall when I find my box of staples for my empty stapler....The blocks will stick to the flannel and I won't have to worry about them falling down during the night!

Now, all 9 blocks are easy to see and I don't have to worry about them being too crowded.

 

The blocks are almost all stitched and now I need to choose block layout and sashing.  I had originally planned to use the dark brown block background for sashing and have the flowers "float" on the whole background.  I found this piece of batik yesterday, and now I am changing my mind.  The original plan was to do lots of flower and leaf quilting on this wall hanging.....mmmmm.

Fabric Wrapped Bowls

What do you do when you wake up at 3:30 in the morning and you can't tell if the clocks in your house have already been moved forward for daylight savings time?  Waking up at 3:30 when you went to bed early (9 ish) is ok, but 2:30 is not!  So, I laid in bed and played on Pinterest on my smart phone.  I like the DYI and crafts section.  There is always something interesting to look at and find inspiring.  Some projects are a little too far out there, but I often find something to really get my creative juices flowing. 

Thread bowls were the inspiration this morning.  There are a number of pins and I'll post a few of the links later.

It starts with inspiration.   I have a bankers box with hand dyed fat quarters and scrap pieces.  Many of these fabric pieces were discards, pieces that didn't dye well, or the fabric looked Yuk when they were rinsed and pressed.  I couldn't throw them out, so into the box they went.  I also had a roll of cording.  Not the official clothes line that many use, but thick enough to do the job.

Next up is thread.  The thread shows on this project and it can make or break the finished look of the bowl.  I have seen some bowls stitched with what ever thread was on the machine.....not nice.  So, out comes the pink/red thread box.  One of two actually, to see what will work.  

I have chosen this red/pink/white variegated Silco thread from Wonderfil threads.    










 
Set up the machine with a fairly wide and long zig zag stitch. For this bowl, I used a stitch width of 4mm and a length of 3mm.  Best to experiment with your machine before you start.

Latest Projects - new socks finished and pattern ready to post.

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks.  We had our staff Valentine's Potluck and sock gift exchange.  A lovely lady "won" the socks.  My boss originally had them, but as in all of these Gift Exchange games, they were stolen from her.  I hope to make a new pair and put them on her desk for her. 

I finished a pair of hand dyed blue socks for myself.  This yarn was dyed before I started knitting....

I started these last summer after watching Donna Dracunus' Sock class.  This toe cast-on is called the moccasin cast on.  They have been the perfect cold weather socks and have kept my toes toasty this weekend.

The next project is getting one of my quilting patterns ready for sale on Craftsy.  It's a little machine quilted wall hanging.  It's quick to make and uses a very unique method of fusible applique.

I have a friend who has just moved back into her home after being forced out for 4 months due to a house fire.  I have just finished this early sample of the "bless this house" wall quilt and dropped it by her house last week.  

Sock Adventure #1

I have set myself a challenge for this year to complete a number of quilts in 2014.  I also want to knit a few pairs of socks.  I saw a picture on Pinterest a while ago with a drawer full of hand knit socks.

I am inspired.  Socks are a great take along - always with you project.  I try to keep my socks simple and usually use natural coloured yarn and then dye the socks when done or sometimes I'll dye the yarn before I knit it.


Let me show you what I have just finished.  These will be handed off to someone at work on Thursday.  We have a annual potluck lunch and gift exchange.  The theme is always socks with red or pink on them.

I always do a toe up sock.  I now use a figure 8 cast on and increase till I get to the required number of stitches then just knit away.

I've been knitting at work.  We've had a couple of weeks of cold weather and my dear hubby has driven me all the way to work instead of dropping me off at a bus stop along the way.  The down side is that I get to work over an hour early!  So, I sit at my desk and knit.  I've got a lot of knitting done.

Although the weather in Calgary has been quite cold, it has been very bright and clear.  We will often take a drive on a sunny Sunday afternoon out to Canmore.  If I don't have anything to do in the car, I fall asleep quite quickly...its a good thing I'm not driving. So I knit on the way out, an often do nap on the way back!

A Sunday afternoon drive to the mountains is the perfect get-away. 

I have never attempted a heel flap.  I have always done a short row heel.  I watched Donna Drachunas teach the perfect short row heel in this craftsy class.  Super easy and fast!

By the way...I highly recommend all the Craftsy classes.  The are fairly in-expensive and the instructions are pretty good.

I stitched a extended Crosshatch pattern into the leg portion of the socks.  A very simple pattern that looks pretty good.

All that's left to do is finish with a Stretchy Bind-ff The socks are done, but kind of boring and they don't meet the criteria for the Valentines Sock Exchange.....I'll need to dye them.

I soak the socks in a vinegar/water solution before I add the dye powder.

The socks are squished and smooshed in the dye solution until I get the dye saturation I want.

I cover the dish with plastic wrap and microwave for 5 minutes at a time (usually 3 times).  Let everything cool.  The water is usually clear.  

The socks are then rinsed and dried.....


Perfect!!!!!    

Quilts to give away - Quilts #2 (x2) done

I like having the challenge of working towards a goal.  This year's goal is to finish all the projects on my QUILTS TO DO IN 2014.   This month I've been busy. I completed the Aussie Stack n Slash earlier this month.

My 2nd challenge this month has been to quilt two smaller quilts to give away.  One is going to a lovely lady who is living with Cancer.  The other, I'm not sure....more about this quilt later.

 

This quilt I'm calling Thorn Patch.  I wrote a series of patterns a few years ago based on the disappearing 9 patch block.  In the process of closing my business, I misplaced the files for this series of quilt patterns  I know this was a sample made for me by one of my staff to test the pattern instructions.  I am hoping that as I continue to clean up and organize this year...the patterns will turn up.



 This Disappearing 9 Patch quilt was made with only 2 fabrics.  Two lovely purple and blue batiks have created beautiful diagonal lines.

The diagonal lines were the perfect space to try a new quilt pattern.  I saw something like this on Pinterest.  Other than having to continually roll the quilt back and forth, it was worth it.


The dark blue rectangles and the small squares were quilted with an all over large meander pattern.

It's always nice to have a look at the back of the quilt to have a closer look at the quilting.  I quilted this with a very dark blue invisafil thread.


Now on to the other quilt.  This was probably a sample of the Simple Strips Pattern....again, another pattern that is carefully stored with the other quilt patterns!

The Block pattern is made with 3 strips in light to dark values of 2 different colours.  The strip sets are sewn together and then cut on the diagonal.  This quilt is a bit of a challenge because the outer edges of the blocks are cut on the bias.

I was able to quilt this quilt with minimal rolling on the frame.  The pink "blocks" and the borders were quilted with an all over swirl pattern.  The green "blocks" were quilted with a flower and leaves.  The actual block is made of pink and green strips.  Check out the bottom right hand corner...that shows the block clearly.  Putting 4 blocks together creates the green "block" in the center.


I was exploring Pinterest a while ago.  I found a site for machine sewn binding that I thought I would try.  Pat Sloan gives a good demo.  My sample is not so great.  For some strange reason I added a wool batt on top of the cotton batting.  I thought that I would add a bit of extra loft for interest, but forgot to split the wool and the quilt was very thick.  

Back to the binding. This binding is sewn first to the back side of the quilt and then rolled to the front and machine stitched in place with an applique stitch.

The problem with my binding was that I had a very think and lofty batting that I probably should have trimmed away.  It was quite thick for the width of the binding.  I usually cut my binding 2 1/2" wide and fold it....the instructions were for 2 1/4" cut width.  That extra 1/4" would have made a world of difference.  Oh, well.  I'll probably use it as a teaching sample at some point.

The binding is sewn to the back of the quilt.  Then it's folded over to the right side and stitched down with an applique stitch.  

The straight part of the applique stitch is supposed to follow the original stitching line.  On the back of the quilt the straight stitch should sit right in the fold of the binding.  

I'll have to try this again some time.

Aussie Stack n Slash - Quilt #2 Done

Wow, the 2nd in my 2014 year of quilts is done! 

This is the Stack n Slash that I started a very long time ago.  My mother was visiting her brother in Australia and brought me back some Aussie prints.  I used some coordinating hand dyes from my stash and stitched the blocks.  I used the left overs to create a border.  The quilt is 70" square...perfect for cuddling under while watching TV.

   

 

 

I stitched the binding to the back of the quilt and folded it to the front to machine stitch it in place.   I moved the needle as far to the left as I could and stitched close to the folded edge.



 
 Done, nice and neat.  No unnecessary stops and starts.

 

Now a quick tutorial on how to make the stack n slash blocks.

1. Start with a stack of 3-6 squares of fabric.  Cut them 1-2 inches larger than the desired finished size of the block.

 

 2. Stack them evenly.  Make a cut through all layers.  Slide this cut section away from the rest of the stack.

3. Make a 2nd cut and move that section away from the rest of the stack.

 

 4. Make another cut and move it away.

 5. Make the last cut. 

 
6. Place the cut sections onto a scrap of batting to keep them from sliding around.  Now comes the hardest part.   On the first cut, don't do a thing.  On the 2nd cut section, move the top layer to the bottom of the stack.  On the 2nd cut section, move the top 2 layers to the bottom.  On the 3rd cut section, move the top 3 layers to the bottom and on the last cut section, move the top 4 layers to the bottom.  You'll notice that each section has a separate fabric.

 7. Sew the last 2 cut pieces together.  Finger press the seam allowance flat.
 

 8. Sew the 3rd section to the first 2 sewn.  Finger press the seam allowance.  Don't worry about matching the top and bottom edges of the seam.  I usually try to make sure the bottom edge of the seams match closer than the top edge of the seam.

 9. Continue adding the pieces in the reverse order of the cuts.  Press the seam allowances flat.   Trim the block to the desired cut size.  I started with an 8" cut block and the finished block is trimmed to 6 1/2" cut.

 10.  Repeat these steps with the remaining 4 stacks.  

11. Try making cuts in different directions.  Use only 4 fabrics or more.  Each block will look different.  Each column of blocks comprises blocks from the same cut set.  Even though the layout is the same, the blocks look different because they are "scrappy".

 11. A simple re-arranging of the blocks makes the quilt top sparkle.   Not sure what will become of this top......