Hand Pieced QAL Update

I'm cutting it close for the link up party but I did finish my Hand Sewn QAL top. It's a very bright and sunny day here in Florida so it might not be the best picture. I used a textured white fabric and the rest is all batiks. I love batik fabric. 

I really enjoyed working on this project. I've wanted to try hand piecing a quilt for several years and it's nice to be able to cross that off my to try list. I will be hand quilting this quilt also. I find hand quilting very relaxing so it will be fun. I like working on this project early in the morning before I start my day.

A little bonus picture of one of my mini flower beds. When they tore up our road to put in city water and sewer I found a bunch of sea shells. These are a handful of them. Both bunches of orange flowers are marigolds that I planted from seed. They're supposed to be dwarf marigolds. The flowers that are only green leaves right now are dwarf sunflowers that I started from seed. I bought both seeds from The Dollar Tree. I wonder if they have a thing for dwarf flowers??

My 50th time around the sun and how I plan to spend it

I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog yet so my apologies if this is a repeat.

I've recently turned 50 and since it is such a big year, like all zero years,  I've decided to do something just as big. I've decided to make and donate 50 items to charity. Pretty big huh? If you think about it though 50 items is just one item a week with a two week buffer built in just in case. 

This little preemie diaper shirt is one of the things I will be donating. You can find out more information about the organization and ways to donate on their Twenty-five and Four website.  I've recently been certified so now I can start assembly line sewing these little shirts. 

I've also decided to make 50 or 52 baby quilts this year. I have no immediate plans but they will most likely be donated to Project Linus. 

The greens is this top are a bit darker. My craftroom doesn't always have the best light.

These greens are muted also. This top turned out beautifully. Perfect for a sweet little princess.

This top was donated to me and I added the blue borders to make it a bit wider.   

I've been having fun not only making the quilt tops but also finding fun and quick patterns to try. Sometimes I just wing it and I'm always surprised to see the finished quilt top. 

Robin

Hand Pieced QAL Block 5

Block 5 in the Hand Pieced QAL is an Ohio star block with HSTs in the corners and it has been named Dorothy. Kristen explains why they named this star block Dorothy over in this blog post.

Each week's block builds off skill we have learned in previous blocks. While the individual blocks become more complex/detailed each week I've noticed that stitching them has become easier for me. While this block still took me three days to stitch they weren't full days. I think I had about an hour or so each day to sit and work on this block. That includes cutting and marking the lines.  It takes a bit to figure out just how to hold your hands, move your fingers, and obtain muscle memory. I also needed to find the right needle for me and the project.

These are the needles that Kristen uses. You can see what's in her hand sewing bag over here.   While watching some of her tutorial videos she mentions how very sharp these needles are and I noticed that she could load a bunch of stitches on her needle. I've been on a quest to find the right needles for me and for each type of project that I like to work on. These needles are great for hand sewing. The only thing that could be problematic is that the eye is so small.  Some needles have an elongated eye no matter the needle size and some have basically a small round eye. These have little round eyes. It is worth occasionally using a needle threader 

I'm also getting my seams under control. This block lays flat (without numerous blasts of steam lol) and it looks relatively tidy on the back.  After stitching each little unit I stopped and pressed the seams. While doing the actual stitching I like to hand press the seams but once all the little units were stitched I hit them with a nice hot iron and gave them a blast of steam to set everything in place. I spun the seams where I could and I only had to flip one or two seams in the final block. That was where the HST corners met up with the hourglass blocks. 

The last four blocks are all star blocks and we can only guess which one will be next. We won't have to wait very long because the new block comes out bright and early Monday morning. 

Hand Pieced QAL Block 4

Week 4 of the Hand Pieced QAL is an hourglass block. As I'm sure you can tell I have not trimmed this block yet. I've decided to wait until I've made all the blocks before trimming them up. We will be adding sashing between the blocks so I'm not too worried if they are a bit off in size from each other. I'll just adjust the sashing width to accommodate any discrepancies.

I think I've created muscle memory for hand stitching at this point. Last week's block went fairly well but this week's block were much faster to stitch. Of course the process of hand stitching blocks is still slower than by machine but that's part of the point really. You spend more time with each fabric and block not to mention the portability and relaxation that comes with slowing down and hand stitching.

This is the back of the block. This is the part that I'm still working to improve. I need to remember to stop and press and trim each smaller block before I stitch them all together into the final block. 

The block lays nice and flat now. I was able to spin the seams on the little blocks and I sort of spun the center of the big block lol.

Hand Pieced QAL Block 3

I spent today stitching block 3 of the hand pieced qal.   This block took me awhile to get it all stitched together. My stitches are getting better but I'm struggling with the multiple seams. Stitching through the seams is no problem it's just how to press them to get the block to lay flat.  No big surprise there since I struggle with that when machine sewing blocks too.

I did go back and press all three blocks and they lay nice and flat now.  I like that we can link up our blocks each week. It gives me a deadline and a little pressure to get each week's block done. I know I can go at my own pace but I also know if I don't link up each week then I won't finish the project. It's only 9 blocks over 9 weeks which isn't that big of a commitment so I should be fine. 

Hand Pieced QAL Block 2

Block 2 for the Hand Pieced QAL came out on Monday. This week's block was all about the half square triangle (HST). 

I've always enjoyed machine sewing HSTs so I was looking forward to learning how to hand stitch them also. Yes, they are a bit fiddly with all the seams but the seams are easily manipulated.

I haven't pressed these seams either. lol  Well, I did finger press them but it didn't "stick". You're supposed to be able to spin these seams and get everything to lay nice and flat. I'll probably order the little hand roller for the seams next week. That should make pressing the seams much easier.

Due to appointments and stuff I didn't get to sit and sew this block start to finish but I don't think it took me too long to stitch. I stitched in three sessions and I'm sure it took less than 3 hours for the actual stitching. Of course it takes a bit more time to prep these blocks but once they are prepped it becomes a portable project.

I've enjoyed hand stitching both blocks and I'm looking forward to next week's block. My guess is that it will either be the flying geese block or the hour glass block. We'll get to all of them eventually ;) 

Hand Pieced QAL Block 1

When I heard that there was going to be a Hand Pieced QAL this year I knew that I wanted to participate. There are only 9 blocks so I'm hoping I can keep up (fingers crossed).

When I first found out about this QAL I couldn't wait to get started and I decided to make a little test block to see if my eyes and fingers could coordinate and actually do a little hand sewing. My little 4 patch turned out pretty good.

Then we waited....and waited... but while we waited our wonderful hostesses gave us some helpful tips that would help us in our journey. If you're interested in joining us you can find all the information at either Simple Handmade Everyday or Elm Street Quilts.

I'm going to make my little wall hanging using white as my background and these Bali 6" charms as my main color. 

I made my first block. I gave my desk lamp to my husband for his room and I think these old eyes need some more light to work on projects like this. I ordered myself a new desk lamp and it should be here in plenty of time for next week's block. A couple of my seams are slightly off but I'm okay with that. This is a learning process and I'm interested in seeing the difference between my first block and my last. 

I haven't pressed my seams yet. I need to pick up one of those rollers for hand pressing seams. For now, I will finger press them the best I can and worry about the seams later. 

Are you hand piecing with all of us? I've always wanted to hand sew a quilt from start to finish so I was very happy to see this QAL.

Quilts for Babies and Giants

I finished Rob's Giants lap quilt. Sometimes I have to wonder if a quilt was meant to be made. For instance, this quilt fought me every step of the way.  Cutting the squares were a breeze and sewing them into 9 patch blocks went smoothly as well. Everything after that was a struggle.

After I cut the 9 patches I was supposed to turn, flip, and otherwise switch up the 4 smaller blocks and stitch them together. I chose to stitch them back together as a 9 patch. THE ORIGINAL 9 PATCH DESIGN!!!   UGH!!  So out comes the seam ripper and I get it all figured out and sewn together the way I wanted.

Then I chose a basic red thread to do a little free motion quilting. I've heard time and time again that instead of always dropping the feed dogs that you can just shorten your stitch length to zero. Cool. I do just that. Well let me tell you my Juki did not like that at all. I stitched an area probably 18" long and about 12" deep. Pulled the quilt out of the machine to check the back and....... eyelashes!! Yes Ma'am/Sir that little trick did not work for me. I picked out all the stitches, dropped the feed dogs, and tried again. Wonderful! It really is a dream to quilt on my Juki HZL-F600.

Did I have problems with the binding? Sure, but just the normal kind. I did a serpentine stitch down the "center" of the binding and a few times here and there I ran off the binding on the back. A little white thread on the backing fabric won't be noticed after it's been washed a few times.

No matter how nice the thread, red thread also seems to be extra lint-y.

There, that's better. Now, She's ready to start another quilt. I wonder what quilt will pop out next??

Disappearing Baby Quilt

After making Hubby's D9P quilt top I decided that I wanted to make another version. A couple of months ago I made a bunch of bibs and burp cloths for a friend/customer. She always sends extra fabric so I don't have to worry about running out. Then she tells me to keep the fabric :)  I made many, many bibs and burps but there was still a decent amount of fabric leftover so I set it aside to make a baby quilt.  I cut the smaller scraps into 4.5" squares and set the larger pieces aside for the backing.  Because I was working with a set amount of scraps some of the original 9 patches had repeat fabrics in the block. Since I knew I was cutting the 9 patches I was just careful and kept the repeats in the corners. That way each section wouldn't have any repeat fabrics.  I really like how it is turning out.

Have you  used the disappearing 9 patch block in a project? There are so many fun variations that you can make several quilts and they won't look like they came from the same pattern.

New Year - New Start

I received a wonderful package from a fellow crafter in December last year. She knew I loved to hand embroider and she had these designs that she wasn't going to make and she thought I might like them. There was a Santa and a Snowman in the package. I did a little poll and everyone decided that I should start the Snowman first.

It's a bluework design which is basically redwork but you use blue floss instead of red.

I chose to make mine using DMC floss instead of pearl cotton. I really like pearl cotton but when I use it for back stitching it tends to look chunky and choppy to me. I'm sure I'm just using the wrong weight floss but I actually like DMC floss so I don't mind switching. 

I traced Mr. Snowman on a piece of muslin that was included in the package. I managed to get his face done while chatting with a few friends over on my YouTube channel. He's so much fun to work on so I plan on adding him into my weekly rotation.

We're Stripping This Year

I love participating in swaps of all kinds but I don't always have the time. Each year the ladies over on the TTMT (Talk To Me Tuesday) blog do some type of swap. I haven't joined in yet until this year. This year's swap is more about your own creativity. We are cutting 2.5" WOF strips from some of our fabric fabrics from our own stash. Then we send them into our creative leader and she will mix them all up and send each of us our own TTMT jelly roll. It is going to be fun to see what each person makes with their fabric strips.

I don't always have yardage in my stash but I've recently struck up a barter agreement with someone who has inherited her mom's and another quilter's stash. My part of the barter is to knit several items that are going to be fun to knit.  In return I receive some fun fabrics. These fabrics will come in handy for my charity project this year.

I grabbed some of the brighter fabrics and added in a black and white fabric. I thought that maybe someone might need a contrasting fabric for their project. I chose 10 fabrics and then cut 4 strips from each fabric.

Rolling the fabric strips up neatly is near impossible.

While I had the fabrics out I decided to go ahead and cut 1 strip from each color for myself. That way I can add to the strips that I receive.  I haven't decided on a pattern yet but it has been fun looking at different designs. I might just go ahead and do the jelly roll race since I may be the only quilter who hasn't made one yet. 

Do you participate in swaps?  Have you made a jelly roll race quilt?

First Charity Quilt Flimsy of 2019

 

I stitched together my first flimsy of 2019. Following the suggested layout for The Road Trip Quilt  by Cluck Cluck Sew I randomly chose fabrics for my first charity quilt top of 2019. As I was choosing fabrics to use in this quilt top I noticed that I was choosing fabrics geared towards a younger boy so I tried to avoid the fabrics for the older boys. A five year old may not want skulls on his quilt. Or at least his parents might not appreciate the skulls. ;)

While cutting the fabrics I was too excited to get started that I didn't pay close attention to the directional fabrics. That's okay because this quilt finishes at 36" x 40" so it's not too big of a deal to just turn the quilt so the fabrics are pointing all the same way. Once I realized my little slip (there are no mistakes, just creative challenges right?) I just made sure I flip flopped some of the fabrics so they point in a variety of directions. 

I was chatting over on RsIslandCrafts, my YouTube channel, about binding. I would like to buy a yard or two of a couple different fabrics to use on as many quilts as I can. I know white is a good neutral but it isn't necessarily good for kids' quilts. Then I thought maybe grey? I had a couple suggestions to use some stripe fabric for the bindings. Brilliant! I think I'll do a little window shopping and see what I can find online. I have several yards of solid to semi-solid fabric in a couple different colors for the backs so I should be fine for a bit with backing fabrics. JoAnn's has batting on sale quite often so I'll just grab it as I go. I used to buy one of those giant rolls of batting every few years but I don't think that is in my budget this year. 

Now I just need to come up with a fun and simple hashtag for Instagram. While I'm the only crazy person who wants to make 50 quilts this year there are a few others who would like to join me in my charity sewing.  

Are you planning any charity quilts for 2019?