Design Wall Monday, 18 January 2016

Last week was all about my "Black Tie Party" of scrappy bow ties on a solid black background.  I've progressed no further than getting a feel for where I am with that project and making sure I have the unit sets needed.  I was missing a piece or two, and couldn't find a match in my scraps or precuts so those pieces became scraps themselves with other fabrics replacing them.  I've put the bow ties away again for now.  

Bow Tie sets

After reviewing Scrap O' Nine Tails and having worked on the strip sets as of last week's post, I also recalculated how big I wanted the quilt and proceeded to prep the fabric for, and cut, the alternating plain blocks.  I calculated that I needed 336 plain blocks, and 336 pieced 9-Patch blocks.  

336,  2 3/4" neutral squares

Sampling of 9-Ps and alternating squares.

The finished size of each 9-P and of each plain square will be 2 1/4".  Using neutrals as the background (alternating squares) and also in so many of the 9-Ps, it seems a bit blah, but warm in overall tone.  Some of the fabrics are pretty bright (note the blue & red in the upper right corner) yet so many of these fabrics are from the '80s and '90s with their Americana hues and patterns, as with the red and tan stripe near the center and the small red and tan plaid in the lower left corner.  This is truly a scrap-tastic project and has at least 190 or more different fabrics in it.

This has now been packed away as well with a much clearer record and plan put on paper. 

I'll be pulling out and reviewing my Spools project next.  It was also begun as a Leader/Ender project.

Another thing I did last night, so I would know where I stand in my projects, was to review my Excel spreadsheet as to what stage my projects are in, and how many are in certain stages.  I discovered:

• 4 are pinned and ready to quilt
• 17 are flimsies and could be pinned
• 5 need borders to become flimsies
• 1 has completed blocks ready to be sewn into rows
• 5 have all pieces cut and some sewing has been done on them
• 3 have all pieces cut but nothing sewn
• 3 have been chosen to do and assigned a project number but nothing has been done on them other than some fabric selection

I have my work cut out for me.  I'll be doing busy work this week most likely.  So many new projects keep calling to me, but from looking at this list, I really need to get some of these done and 'out the door'.  

Don't forget to head over to Patchwork Times to see what else is happening among our quilt/blog friends.

Design Wall Monday, 11 January 2016

Seems I've been, and still am, a bit disjointed lately.  I'm scattered, here, there, bouncing off the walls if you will, and totally unsettled with my projects.

First I pulled out my Black Tie Party bow ties, and showed them a few days ago. 

I rearranged grouping identical blocks, and sets yet to becom blocks.  Now I know what I have.

Before that, I had cut and prepared the pieces for Allietare (mystery quilt that's no longer a mystery).  My friend gets back around the 24th so we can plan on getting started on it then.  

You all know from my last two posts about my quilt room issues - perhaps more than you ever wanted to know.  I at least decided to start somewhere so pulled out a small bin from hiding underneath the small desk/cutting table hidey-hole.  It contained some fabric pieces that needed to be stripped and put away.  Somewhere along the process of doing that, I came across my Scrap O' Nine Tales.  I started that as my Let's Book It project two years ago in January 2014 @ Vrooman's Quilts . 

9-Patch blocks, finished size will measure 2 1/4" square.

I reviewed where I left off, and planned where I wanted to go with the project, and determined I still needed to cut a whole lot of scrap fabric.  

6 1/4" strip will give 5 squares, 5" strips will 4 squares for the 9-P blocks.  The strips are cut at 1 1/4".

Well, I'd been cutting scraps anyway, and this fit perfectly into that plan, so that's what I'm working on today.

Head on over to Patchwork Times to see what other projects are out there.

Design Wall Monday - Week 21, 2015

On my design wall...still..just..this:

Tiddly Winks

With no further progress.

It's been paperwork, lots of rest and laziness relaxation, every day chores, and just other distractions keeping me from sewing.  I played with organizing my flannels - hadn't touched them in so long, I forgot what I had, so they got to see the light of day and breathe some fresh air while getting refolded and re-organized before going back into their bin in the nether reaches of the guest bedroom closet.  Yeah, they don't fit in my stash closet, hehe.

I have only a little over a month before I return north, and then a week and a half after that is quilt camp so before I leave, I need to plan what I'm going to take to work on.  I have a couple of projects still in the works, one that I started while at camp last year. 

There's this one (above), Subtle Charm.  This is the only block I finished at camp last summer.  All the pieces are cut and ready to be sewn.  I think it will travel with me.

And there's this one...the one I had SO much trouble with that I just packed it away to not be dealt with until my brain could focus better.  And I've determined that if it still comes out wrong, I'll just trim each block to a consistent square and be done with it! I may be 'twisted' to take this one along.

Sister's Choice still needs to be sewn together.  May have to determine the layout beforehand, but it could be a good traveling companion too.

Tumbler could use some more work, as could Pyramids.  And I need to do something with all those Bowties, and Spools I've made as leaders and enders.  Scrap O' Nine Tales still sits as finished blocks.  Lots I could work on, whether here at home or away at quilt camp.

I have so few projects remaining to be pieced unless I start something new.  I'm thinking maybe I could use quilt camp to practice some free motion quilting.  I have far too many quilts that need to be quilted, I almost hate to start anything new.  I could pre-layer some muslin and scrap batting pieces to practice on.

Let's go see what shows up on others' design walls at Patchwork Times.

It's Starting To Come Back To Me

I don't know about you, but when my life gets disrupted, as it has over the last few months with my Mom's illness and passing and being away from home so much, I can forget what was in motion prior to the disruption.  That was evident with my Design Wall Monday post where I couldn't remember the what and why about the tiny 9-Patch units that were pinned to my wall.

Scrolling back through my blog to the end of January I discovered that the project was actually my Let's Book-It  project for January (check here) and was not part of a leader/ender project.

Last night after I re-discovered this, I pulled the book and the container of parts-in-works and sewed for about two hours.  Aside from hemming a pair of my dad's pants in March, this is the first machine stitching I've done since about 1/31.  It was good, but I have to admit, it's taking some time to really feel like I'm totally back.  That may be because I know I'll be leaving again towards the end of the month.

An array of 9-Ps without the 2 3/4" 'solid' alternating squares

For this project, I had determined I need to make 312 9-P units in addition to the solid squares to make the size of quilt I wanted.  I have 82 blocks done, a good start, but that leaves a lot left to do.  

For the summer up north, I will have to decide if I want to, and can afford to, take part in Quilt Camp like I did last July.  Part of that decision involves figuring out how much time to spend there and here between trips.  And if I do go, I need to start planning projects and getting myself organized with my supplies. 

Let's Book It ... to the 9-Patch!

The project I chose for January's Let's Book It, hosted by Sharon at Vrooman's Quilts, is from 101 Nine Patch Quilts by Marti Mitchell.  The book was published in 2000, which would put it within the first couple years of my quilting journey.  However, I have no idea if I bought this book or if it was given to me, but I suspect I purchased it myself.   

Scrap O' Nine Tales is the pattern I'm following, well, sort of.   

The above photo is from the book.  That little paragraph is pretty much it other than a brief statement underneath that includes an arrow pointing to one of the single squares in the 9-patch block saying that if that square is 1" (finished size, so 1.5" cut square), the finished quilt size is 45" x 57" (doing the layout as shown).  

There are no specifics given for fabric quantities with each project, though there are directions in the front of the book with detailed instructions for calculating how much is needed based on your layout and fabric choices.  Putting it in other words, it's a book you actually have to read if you're not familiar with how to calculate your fabric based on a picture and your personal measurements.  The author also provides blank grids so that you can work your own project.

The box of 1.25" wide strips.

This is yet another scrappy quilt project for me, and while poking around in my stash closet, I found a small tub and a small box of strips which are not the sizes I now use. The largest quantity of them was already cut into 1.25" widths, so that's what I chose for these 9-patches.  There were also some 1.75" strips  that I trimmed down to 1.25".  And believe it or not, I even had strips that were only 3/4" and 1" widths.  THOSE are going straight to the strings bin.  I suspect I was cutting these many years ago, before I became acquainted with Bonnie Hunter's methods.  I've since been reformed!

After Celtic Solstice I was ready for something a bit easier and simpler or so I thought.  Hah!, so what do I do?  I pick a project with 9-patch squares that finish at 2.25"!  You read that right, the finished 9-patch block will be only 2.25".  Easy but small.  And I need a gazillion of them! 

To do a slightly larger quilt than shown in the book, I have figured that I need something like 313 9-patch units plus about the same number of solid squares in order to get the size quilt I want. I'll recalculate that once I reach the point where I actually have to go back to my scrap strips bin and cut additional fabric.  I may change my mind by then.  That number also was assuming a square quilt, which this will not be but I'll have to think about what actual dimensions I want.  In the mean time, I'll keep working on the little 9-P blocks. 

I've given you a sneak preview before of the sets I've clipped together.  These are now all in various stages of progress to becoming 9-P units.

You saw this layout recently too, although I don't plan to use those yellow squares.  They worked as filler to show how the 9-Patch units will be set.  I've not decided what color I'll use for the 'solid' squares, but I'm thinking I like the scrappy look but I'll stay within one color family so I may have to audition some groupings of squares in order to decide what color works best.

This is the sum total of completed blocks for this project to date.  So far, 35 9-patch units are done. 

I had a lot in the works in January starting this project, another project as a NewFO and also finishing my Celtic Solstice top.  Hoping to keep up with my project decisions and to keep progressing on the starts and eventually get some finishes in as well.

Off to find a Let's Book It project for February!  Come join the fun :)