February Block of the Month You Are My Sunshine This block was inspired by the month of February—Valentine’s Day, anniversary of my parents marriage and of several of their siblings and probably many others out there. It is named for my parents song, “You Are …
How did you make those branches? On a wall hanging that I posted recently there was a question about how the branches were made dimensional. It is a very simple technique. I cut brown toned batik into bias strips. Length really doesn’t matter …
When people view my more artistic quilt designs they sometimes ask how I got the idea or how I knew to use a particular technique. Usually I shrug my shoulders and say “it just came to me”. And that is the truth—but causes me to question why did it “just come to me”? I think to expand your quilting expertise you have to develop your curiosity. First, you have to be willing to try new things—new skills, new techniques, new fibers and fabrics–even if they don’t work out quite like you planned you have learned something that you may be able to use later. And, for heaven’s sake, do not throw it out. Six months from now it (skill, technique, fabric) may be exactly what is needed to complete a masterpiece.
Secondly, fire that inner critic that judges before you’ve had time to really step back and assess your work. Each of us either spontaneously appreciates or spontaneously critiques a work in progress. Get feedback from both viewpoints to help you form a more credible assessment for your project. (I know which friend to ask when I want the critique and who to ask when I want the appreciative response.)
And third, ask questions. Ask questions of yourself. Not “how” questions but “what if” questions. What alternatives are there? What if I did it this way? What if I used my least favorite color instead of my most favorite color? Ask questions of others whose work you admire. What made you decide to use this technique, this quilting pattern, this color, this fabric?
And do you see? You are right back to the first step—testing the “how”.
The use of linen and lace has become obsolete for most dinner tables and few make their own fresh flower bouquet to grace the table but somehow both continue to hold a place in my heart. (At least the romance of the …
I still like to thread baste to prepare my quilts for quilting, especially when I am in my small space at our winter home (I make mostly small quilts). I made a hard foam folding board (48” x 13 ½”-54)” that hides under the …
Many years ago my father-in-law chided me for having three sewing projects all in various stages toward completion but none finished. It was his belief that one did not start a new project until the last one was finished. How could a person work on more than one project at a time? That was his way. I enjoy the finishing of a project. It feels good, a real sense of accomplishment! However, I enjoy the starting of a new design, the use of a new fabric, the challenge of a new technique, even more. So, I have started more than I have finished in my lifetime. As I age I am becoming fearful that I may not finish all that I have started (I am hopeful that someone will enjoy rummaging through my stash at the estate sale when I am gone.). I am working as fast as I can on finishing and to that end I brought 37 started projects to occupy our winter months in Texas. To date, after four weeks here, I have finished 3 throws, 2 teddy bears, one blouse and one tablemat. In January I will quilt the 7 quilts that were basted. Tomorrow I will baste the 6 projects that were sewn. I spend my evenings hand stitching the three applique projects (one of which was started almost 10 years ago). Next week I will finish the three summer tote bags for my nieces. Too soon I will change my plans and start that art quilt that is percolating in the back of my mind. I have no intentions of finishing 37 projects by the end of March but I do intend to make progress and I do intend to enjoy the process!
We have been in Texas for almost a month. The weeds are under control again. The mosquitos are fewer and the cutter ants have been subdued for a while anyway. And my temporary sewing room is set up in the camper— in fact …
Yesterday was the hardest day of work I have put in for a loooonng time! While Craig was under the park model (crawl space) wrestling with wires to get the electricity hooked up for the sewing room I was in and out of the 18” …
I have titled this small quilt “Circle of Prosperity”. It may be recognizable to readers as Burgoyne’s Quilt but was also identified by other names one of which was Wheel of Fortune. It seemed a likely candidate for sending a prosperous new year wish to all.
Things I like or would change: it was fast; the color contrast makes the design obvious (love those Grunge fabrics from Moda); quilting motif was easy to develop (draw) by dividing a square into 8 parts and then free form drawing flower petals in each section; border would have better proportion if wider by about 1 ½ inches each side. Below are the general directions for making the block with borders.
Fabric:
Block: ¼ yd dark; ½ yd light
Border and binding: ½ yd if horizontal stripe, ¾ yd if vertical stripe (I cut my binding 1 7/8” wide, if you use different width you may need more)
Backing: ¾ yd
Batting: 28” square
Cutting Dark:
3 strips 1 ½” by width of fabric (wof), cut one strip into 3- 13” pieces;
4 squares 2 ½”;
1 square 1 ½”
Cutting Light:
3 strips 1 ½” by wof, cut one strip into 3- 13” pieces;
3 strips 2 ½”, subcut into 4 pieces 15 ½” x 2 ½”, 4 pieces 1 ½” x 2 ½” and 8 pieces
3 ½” x 2 ½”;
1 strip 3 ½”, subcut into 4 pieces 5 ½” x 3 ½”
Cutting mitered border and binding:
4 pieces 3” x 24 ½” (or wait and measure finished edge after block is constructed);
3 strips 1 7/8” by width of fabric.
Construction:
Use ¼” seam allowance; press seams toward dark or toward the larger unseamed piece
Sew each dark 1 ½” x wof strip to the corresponding light 1 ½” x wof strip; cut into 20- 1 ½” x 2 ½” sections and 8- 2 ½” x 2 ½” sections. Sew 16 pairs of 1 ½” x 2 ½” sections to make 2 ½” square (figure 1). Sew 2 ½” x 2 ½” to either side of remaining 1 ½” sections.
Sew 13” strips together to form a dark, light, dark strip set and a light, dark, light strip set; cut d,l,d set into 8- 1 ½” sections and the l,d,l set into 4- 1 ½” sections. Sew 2 d,l,d with one l,d,l in the center ( figure 2). Make 4
Make center square using the four 2 ½” dark squares, four 1 ½” x 2 ½” light sections and one1 ½” square as shown in figure 3.
Use four 9-patch and four 3 ½” x 5 ½” rectangles to add the second round as shown in figure 4.
Figure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4
Follow finished photo to complete the third and fourth round. Add mitered borders by stitching each side from corner to corner but stopping and starting stitching ¼” from edge of block. After stitching all four borders line up two adjacent sides of border pieces (folding excess fabric from block out of the way), mark and stitch a 45 degree angle from stitching line at inner corner (block) to outer corner. Check for accuracy before pressing and trimming off excess. Baste backing, batting and finished block together. I quilted a flower in the center and then did a meandering stipple. Geometric quilting lines following the block design could be used. This is also a good time to practice any design you would like.
Circles are a part of our quilt life but they played quite an important role in the progression of life. Just a few photos from the past year to reflect upon the role of circles from our past..