My quilt and I went for a quilt in the wild shoot this morning at Seacliff Beach in Leamington which is a mere ten minute drive from my house. I am blessed to have this beautiful spot so near.
I am so happy that the sun was shining and the wind wasn't too crazy to take this beauty off the design wall where she was being blocked,
and on a little trip to Windsor for a glamour photo shoot. The Canadian Coast Guard ship was docked at the riverfront, and boy, did it make for a great photo.
I am also pleased that I got it done with a couple of days to spare before the linkup opens for the final parade of finishes! That linkup is tomorrow, but I did have the quilt done on the weekend. However, it was horrible weather: gale force winds on Saturday and January weather on Sunday! Today Spring is back, 13C and sunny, so I am a happy camper.
This was one of a few secret sewing projects for Christmas. My eldest daughter, Brianne, who does not like quilts (I know right?!) requested (again...just sayin') that I make her some placemats to match her dining/kitchen décor.
"Not all quilty."
Translation: minimalist, modern aesthetic. I think I've got this:
It is HERE and it is as good as Christmas IMHO! Oh the eye candy on Instagram! The teaser posts, the artful shots, the sheer joyous colour out there! Much needed on these recent grey, gloomy, rainy, and in a lot of cases, snowy, days. We even had snow flurries from time to time here this morning and about 1/4" (yep, I know that measurement well) on the patio table and deck rails, like what??
The linkup is below, but first let's visit my most generous sponsors. (note that I am not affiliated with any of the sponsors, but I am an affiliate of Craftsy). Sponsors! I never dreamed when Helen and I started talking about making this quilt together, and I said,
me: Maybe we could put it out there if any others want to join us?
Helen: Oh, that's a good idea!
me: We could host a QAL!
Helen: You're a good organizer; you can put out the word...
Here are my blocks for January's step for the Meadow Mystery at Meadow Mist Designs. Cheryl has me mystified, as I played around a bit with all 25 blocks, but can't seem to get a design that says, yup! She's a great mystery quilt writer!!
This is SUCH a pretty block!
We had to make 4 of those and 8 of the others. I am loving the fabrics and colours I chose.
A few of the 25 blocks arranged...so many possibilities!
Twirling Seams
I like to press my seams to one side. I like to stitch in the ditch to stabilize a quilt before doing FMQ or ruler work on it, whether I am on my Bernina or my Avanté. With seams pressed open, there is no ditch, and the stabilizing stitches sink between the seams. I guess one could say you are stitching the batting to the backing then, but the point of ditching is to stabilize all three layers of the quilt.
Problems arise when there are multiple intersecting seams. A needle can get broken when hitting a lump like this. You can get a nice a flat intersection, just as you would had you pressed seams open, by doing this cool little trick. I first saw it on Alex Anderson's "Simply Quilts" show on HGTV, and then later in Carrie Nelson's Another Bite of Schnibbles book.
Here is what it looks like on the back, and on the front, nice and flat. All you do is gently push the seams in opposite directions right at the intersection. Sometimes I push them in both opposite directions, one way and then the other. This will make a stitch or two loosen and open and you can then lie the opposing seams flat. You will get a little 4-patch if you have just sewn straight seams, little pinwheels if you have sewn any HSTs together at the intersection. Too cute!
Here's a great YouTube video by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts that shows you how to do this. I didn't spin the 4-patches in this block, but easily could have. Something Edyta says in this video was a lightbulb moment for me: "Whatever direction your first two seams are pressed in, twirl the just-sewn seams that same direction." Like a pinwheel! Snap!
Cutting Backwards
I've talked about this on the blog before, but it's worth mentioning again, another cool trick I saw years ago on "Simply Quilts". Actually, this is two tips in one.
First of all you can cut two segments at a time for 4-patches by simply laying two strips sets atop each other with the centre seams opposing.
Here I've cut two 10" segments off my strip, destined to become 2.5" segments for 4-patches.
Lay the two on top of each other with seams snugged up against each other. You can feel the ridges. I've offset the ends slightly just so you see they are on top of each other, but seams are going in opposite directions.
Place your ruler on the double layer strip set. We have 10" here and I am cutting 2.5" segments, so the first cut you will slide your ruler backwards, i.e. towards the left, 10 - 2.5 = 7.5, so to the 7.5" mark:
Cut
Move the ruler backwards (to the left) again, this time to the 5" mark.
Cut once more.
Make the final cut on the 2.5" mark.
Voilà! Four pairs ready to sew into 4-patches. If you do not separate them as I have here for photo purposes, you can take them directly to your machine and piece since the seams are nicely abutted.
I am finished the January Honey Pot Bee blocks. This is a bee hosted by Molli Sparkles, where certain quilters give instructions for a block, and you as the little maker bee, decide to make the block or not. Remember my modern tree blocks that yielded an entire quilt top? That was a wild card he threw at us.
One of my goals for 2017 is to make a quilt of entirely solids. I made all solids placemats for practising FMQ in a class with Angela Walters a while back, but never an entire quilt top. So this bee is a great place to challenge myself to do that. Unfortunately, I did not bring very many solids with me, just a few for working on The City Sampler 6" blocks, not a stitch done there yet, so my first fabric pull of a mere 5 solids did not lend themselves very well to the January blocks, drat! After yoga one day I had to make a pit stop at a big JoAnn's in Sarasota, where I found two more greens (might've got a third because I wanted to be sure they would work with my pale green), and a pale pink. I am pretty sure I have Baby Pink at home, but alas, I didn't bring it with me. So I picked up a half yard of these four and well, four others kind of jumped onto the pile. So I now have some Kona black, Primrose, Buttercup Yellow and Turquoise joined Baby Pink, Chartreuse, Grass Green and Basil Green.
Did I mention these were 40% off?
And then...
In the remnants, which I always check (thank you Preeti, for this terrific tip!) I found this:
Remember remnants are half price so this was $9.44
I nearly left it when I saw the price and what? 108" wide? I don't need a wideback in this colour. But then I thought, wait, I do need grey. Outside of Kona Silver, I have no grey Kona. But it seemed expensive. However, with the help of the calculator on my iPhone, because my menopausal melon is not so reliable these days for math in a hurry, I determined that the price per yard, when converted to 43" wide fabric, worked out to be $3.71!! Score! Sold! Three quick reminders:
1. If you are thinking about taking a Craftsy class, or like me, put them on your Wishlist, now might be a good time to buy it as they are BOGO. Buy one, get one free! With all that's going on, I still haven't finished watching Natalia Bonner's "Free Motion Motifs for Classic Blocks" but as soon as I do I will write a review. So far it's very good. (affiliate links)
2. If you are part of our 30 Quilt Designs Challenge 2017 or #30quiltdesignschallenge2017 on Instagram, be sure to get a design in today for another chance at three prizes. I will be drawing this evening for the first bi-weekly winner in our Challenge! There is a $15 gift certificate to The Red Hen Shop, and two prizes, one each from me and from Lisa. If you aren't on Instagram, consider joining us! It's a great and quick way (unless you get sucked into the vortex) of seeing what people are up to throughout the day. Also you do not have to be on Instagram to look at stuff there; that's a clickable link with some very cool designs. 😉
3. You might want to hop on over to Sew Fresh Quilts to check out her newest free QAL! Lorna is getting a jumpstart on helping everyone have a lovely Christmas quilt for this year's Christmas! 🎄
It's hard to believe that 4.5 months have gone! Dayna says to stay until May 1, as the spring is very slow coming this year after the worst winter in recorded history in the Windsor/Detroit area. However, we have already put the wheels in motion, so to speak, so departure date is April 16.
I finished another book two days ago, and when I entered my usual book summary in my Word document I keep on books I've read, I decided to count up just how many I'd read since we arrived here Dec. 1. Seventeen!!
Here are most of them; two I gave to Goodwill as they weren't worth keeping, one was a neighbour's, And the Mountains Echoed, and that same neighbour has another, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I was pleasantly surprised. I also read several quilt magazines (love getting them secondhand at guild meetings for 25c and less) and browsed through two quilt books I bought. I'm well into Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and really really enjoying it. I am going to keep a notebook handy from today's reading on, as he mentions so many places that I hope to see in Savannah next week.
On one of my favourite blogs I follow, and a favourite online quilt shop where I have helped clear some shelf space this winter, was a final giveaway of her year of giveaways. This is Christa Quilts! a blog I've mentioned a few times over the past few months. She had 14 prizes!!! I was winner #3 (3 is my favourite number, and my birthdate) and I won a Kona solids layercake! I am SO EXCITED about this, as it's my first win, and I have entered a LOT of giveaways over this winter, all to no avail.
Last night I dreamed this! In my dream I was telling someone that I never win these blogger giveaways, and I finally won someone's but it was a prize I didn't want. LOL!! This is most definitely a prize I DO want!! I've noticed, in my discovery of Modern Quilting this winter, how the use of solids has become very popular. I have, like none. So thanks to Christa's great deals on Kona solids with her old online store (she's now moved to selling precuts through Amazon.com) I have been able to gather, a few a lot of solids:
Confession: I have a few more coming from her store in the mail!
My birthday was actually April 3, but I have been a little remiss in writing my blog. This year I treated myself to a few prezzies, as they say in England. Ha! Great opener! I love it when my brain is ahead of myself. Look!
