All the things... little by little

Sometimes just choosing the easy block makes for some quick and simple sewing.  The next 12" block in the Summer Sampler 2017 series... Plaid Star.

Joining the sew-along for Sugar Bowl Crafts scrap blocks during lockdown... I may be the slowest participant ever... finally my two blue blocks have been joined by a purple one and you can kind of start to see the finished effect of those lovely variations of depth of colour.

This purple block has a few fabrics from the second ever quilt I started (and did eventually finish)... so many memories!

My goal for this month was to get a few more rows sewn together on The Proverbial Quilt.  I managed to get all but the last row of text attached!  It is such a cherry project... especially on gnarly rainy days like today.  AND I managed to cut out the rest of the strips!  So close!

I made some progress on my Starburst Cross Quilt.  I had always intended to attach plain borders.  I was so glad that my organisation skills from all those years ago meant I had the rest of the fabrics, leftover backing and the half completed final block all in the same box!  After finishing that last block and sewing together the top, it reinforced the fact that a 5 x 5 layout of 12" blocks makes a pretty petite 60" quilt!  Adding 4" borders still wouldn't add enough area, so 8" borders were on the agenda.  I realised that this matched the size of the centre star... and new star cornerstones were created... allowing me to showcase that troublesome red print in a third location.

Finally balance... and while I had initially thought those large plain borders might need a bit of applique to busy them up... the plainness has grown on me.

YAY... a finished top!

The sixth block for the Happy Cloud Sampler was another simple sew...

And I've slowly been adding a variety of black and white prints to the design wall for the background sashing.

I've still got plenty to keep me busy for the last part of the month... fingers crossed that as many goals as possible can get ticked off.

Wild and wet start to June... Starburst Cross Quilt

June has started with a wet and wintery beginning... a change from the drought conditions during summer and the still hot and somewhat humid autumn.

Wet does not entice me to enter my sewing shed, which is in a separate building to my house.  But today I disappeared into my ME space (which is long overdue a clean and sortout), pulling out an old project and making some final decisions regarding it.

My Starburst Cross Quilt has sat in a pile of blocks for years... and years.  It is made from fat quarters... each pair of FQ makes two blocks with opposite colour placements.  I started with a bundle of 18 FQ, part of a range plus some coordinates which I added to allowing the creation of 25 blocks to make a 5x5 layout.

Upon laying the blocks out I discovered the three different yellows I'd used clashed... and the two blocks of each fabric meant there were only two red blocks... where 3 blocks would create a more pleasing balance.

This one?  Hmmm, no... too many heavy looking fabrics in the top right.

Hmmm... still not happy.

Finally I came up with this layout.  Bonus was it used all the blocks I'd made, even though I thought they didn't all go together (particularly the yellows).  The florals are spread out evenly... as are the soft greeny/blues.  Although I realised after there is a strong dark stripe down the right hand side... I am determined it shall be sewn together.

On the one hand I am quite cross with myself... these fabrics are so delicious, I feel like I haven't showcased them due to the pattern choice... and/or using too many similar fabrics and clashing yellows.

On the other hand I am just glad to finally be sewing this one together.  I think I have missed the One Monthly Goal link up, but this is my chosen goal for this month.

The benefit of hindsight

Thanks for all the suggestions and commiserations regarding my Starburst Cross quilt block placement.  Of course, I know it is a balance issue... and maybe just a little bit too much going on all at once. 

I know the cause of some of my problems... firstly, the original bundles I started with were from a single range.  This can cause problems because the designers didn't always intend for all the fabrics to be used in one hit, and didn't necessarily design it as a balanced group. 

The second problem is that the quilt I chose to make used all of those fabrics in identical proportions.  So each fabric appears as one star... and one background.  That magic theory of using odd numbers of things because it creates a better balance... yeah, nah... wasn't going to happen. 

Lastly, I know that as I added fabrics to the starter bundle, I didn't worry too much about the group as a whole... I just knew that each fabric I chose to add "went" with the starter bundle.  OK, that is a big mistake... always look at your collection as a whole.  Seems obvious, but somewhere that logic was missed this time.

So, I tried all kinds of placement.  Susan suggested placing the strong red background block as the centre block, and then place the other blocks around it.  This worked surprisingly well, as it drew your eye to the other blocks that have red in them, such as the florals and the weird stripey background.  But, I just couldn't do a quilt with that strong block as the centre.  It just went against all my irregular design principles.  So I did the next best thing, and took some of the blocks out... particularly the murky block that doesn't read as a star or anything else, and also the yellow/green blocks that just didn't go with the other yellow blocks.

I found a different brown fabric that will be OK, to add another dark block, and will make the remaining three block backgrounds quite light.  I'm thinking I will make the top block a red star, and maybe the others a brown and a blue/green star.  I am still not sure whether I will leave the bottom centre block there... (it's companion block with a green star and grey background was cut already), as it sort of lets the site down in the contrast department.  Maybe a crisper, light background star would look better.

So... it's been a long process, with lots of looking and thinking... not much in the way of doing.  But sometimes quilting is like that, isn't it?

Things to do and think about

We have been having absolutely disgusting weather the last few days... or is that weeks... so it has been very conducive to sewing shed activities.

After work I like to piece... and piece... and piece... I finished another Starburst Cross block

I also finished up one of the Block P's from my March RSC project... 1" squares.

And since I'm two months behind with starting the RSC, I figured I should try to catch up with those months, because they are pretty important colours.  Somewhere between blue and green is the Feburary colour selection.  These squares are cut 4 3/4".

And I've got plenty of smaller scraps for one of the blocks with smaller pieces.  When I say it is a scrap challenge... it really is scraps!

January was purple, and look... purple scraps!

For my dedicated weekend sewing, I figured I should concentrate on the blanket stitch for My Tweets before it got out of hand and I found myself three years down the track with nothing done [like that's ever happened before :o)].

Block 10 had those pesky little circles to get finished.  DONE!

And Block 11 needed the works.  DONE!

I'm already thinking about sashing and setting designs... but more about that later.

Now that there are only THREE blocks left to piece on the Starburst Cross quilt, I have laid out all the completed blocks and started to consider placement and setting.  The pattern has the blocks set with no sashing.  So first I tried alternating dark and light.  Lets call this Version A.

My black and white version shows that really, there is not a huge amount of contrast in a lot of these blocks.

Then I tried graduating the background colour from a light/light in the top right, through to a dark/dark in the bottom left.  Lets call this Version B.

Again, the black and white version throws up some booboos, but it is an interesting experiment.

Then I just tried mixing them up so that the yellow and dark blocks were spread out... and the florals given a bit of space to breath.  I'm still not sure whether there is any improvement.  Lets call this Version C.

Another setting option would be to use grey sashing between the blocks.  This would allow the fabrics a bit of space, and emphasize the "cross" part of the design.  Unfortunately, without cutting all the sashing strips, there is a bit of creative visualization required!

So what do you think?  Version A, B or C... or grey sashing?

New Scrappy Project - Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Since succumbing to the rainbow side... I have been eagerly awaiting the new month to find out what colour this months blocks would be.  You can read more about So Scrappy's rainbow scrap challenge here.  Basically, following the colour of the month, you complete whatever scrap project you have chosen, although she has some great ideas (along with a whole heap of linky inspiration).

I have chosen this particular quilt as my rainbow challenge.

It is a design by Weeks and Ringle, and appears in the 2017 Modern Quilt Calendar.  Although I desperately hate the quilt, am not fond of the fabric aesthetic...  I am confident of the basic quilt design and layout, and I'm sure with a little bit of "all the good ones" magic it will all turn out perfectly.

I decided to stick with a selection of black/grey prints as the alternate square in all the blocks...

 ... and worked my way through a pretty meager selection of red scraps.  I must admit, red and yellow are my least purchased fabrics... hence the decision to chose Block P which consists of 1 1/2" squares.  My red selection went from a very brown rust, and something a bit coral like, right through to a solid barn red.

So all ready to start sewing!

This week has been a bit cruddy as far as sewing time goes.  But I have set aside time for cutting new blocks, and choosing fabrics.  So I still feel like progress is being made.

For the Tillies Lane large applique block this month (the watering can)...

I've set aside this interesting selection of fabrics.

And the mini block...

Will be sunglasses required eye popping.

While sorting through the red scraps, I cut a few more of the hourglass blocks from those fabrics large enough to cut 2" squares.

And I've cut up the remaining Starburst Cross blocks.

So now I am all ready to start sewing over the weekend!

End of Month Goals Achieved

I can't believe it is almost the end of February!  I'm not going to bombard you with all the photos of the achievements this month... because it was only the last post that detailed the rest of the achievements this month, so after reading... please scroll down for further photos if required!

My Tweets: applique block 11 achieved.  My March goal is to get this block blanket stitched, plus the little bit left of the previous months block.  Just two bunches of these little circles need the blanket stitch finished for Block 10 to be all done.

Adornit Starburst cross quilt: several blocks sewn... leaving me 3 fabric combinations to sew, meaning 6 blocks left... well, actually that's only 5 blocks because I'm doing an odd number of finished blocks.  Next months goal... I suppose getting these remaining blocks pieced would be nice.

Another finished block

I have definitely had fun adding my own stash into this fabric collection

Those combos still left to cut

I ordered some backing fabric, from a different line from the same designers... not quite the same colouring (I had hoped for more grey in the background), but I'm OK with still using it.  I was also slightly disappointed with the scale of the print... I had hoped for bigger, but this is the problem with ordering online :o(

And also a binding fabric... 

Sugar Club Blocks: yeah, I got all three of these blocks added to so that they are just waiting for their final round of triangles.  Goal for March... not sure how to split this up into manageable chunks. I have four blocks in total that are unfinished... these three plus another one with nothing done to it. The triangle production line always seems like so much sewing... not much progress.  So maybe get one whole block finished?  I already have some of the triangles pieced so I'll have to see how this pans out.

Vintage Quilt Revival: this exploding star block went together quite nicely.  I took the plunge and pieced it using templates instead of foundation paper pieced like the instructions.  It was great for using up odd bits of fabric... I did end up using starch and was very careful to avoid stretching while sewing and pressing.

And Monika's block.  I didn't check her blog for progress until after I had sewn my version... I had to laugh that we obviously had channeled the same colour palette.

March we are planning this block: yay, another pinwheel! (she mutters sarcastically!)

Tillies Lane: hourglass blocks just finished today... but finished on time!

And March will be Month 4 with a large applique, small applique and 24 more hourglass blocks to piece.

Does that cover all of last months goals?

I have also been plugging away at the Stack, Shuffle Slide quilt.  Just a few more seams on the fourth chunk and the bulk of it will be sewn.  I still need to decide what is going to go into the hole in the middle, around which the chunks will be sewn with a partial seam.

Then in the being lead astray section, there are a couple of blogs I follow that have been doing monthly rainbow scrap challenges... and I think I might be getting suckered into starting that too.  Do I actually have time to do it... no, probably not.  But, it would be a good way to get motivated into doing something with the never-ending mountain of scraps... and, I have found a quilt that could lend itself to this monthly challenge.  We shall see what happens.