Saturday, January 28, 2023

Something Old, Something New - And We're Starting With Something New!

Hi, all!

Well, finally, as promised, today starts this year's tutorial series.  I thought this year I would go back and revisit some of the most-loved tutorials from past years, plus add in a few new simple designs too!  I think we'll call this year's series Something Old, Something New.  That seems appropriate!  For those of you new to the blog, these quilts will be simple designs that can be easily worked up for charity or comfort quilts.  We'll have one each Sunday for the next five or six weeks, depending on how many designs I end up with, and immediately after that, this year's Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge will begin.

So let's get started with the first tutorial!  I saw this quilt on Pinterest...


...and my initial thought was "Wow! Gorgeous, but that's a LOT of piecing."  Then I remembered a technique I learned and thought that it would be a lot easier that way, making it a good choice for this tutorial series.  I popped over to the blog for Doodlebugs and Rosebuds Quilts, where I read that she did not have a pattern for this quilt, so I decided to mock it up in EQ8.


Once the quilt was graphed out, I counted and found that it uses 541 print 2.5" squares and 100 white 2.5" squares - and I have tons of those already cut out, so hooray!!  

Here's the simple technique that will take this from tedious traditional piecing to quick, easy, and perfectly pieced blocks.  You will need to get sheer weight fusible interfacing (with the fusible on one side only).  If you are like me, you have tons of the stuff stashed away somewhere; if not, it's easily available at your local Joann's or equivalent.  You want the lightest weight you can get, because it will remain in your blocks.


Lay the interfacing on your ironing board with the fusible side up.  Arrange your squares, with edges touching but not overlapping, on the fusible interfacing.  For the 9-patch blocks in this quilt, you should use four white squares for the N-E-S-W squares, and prints for the remaining five.


Next, you will trim close to the squares on the interfacing.  This is before you iron them down, so if they shift, just put them back in place. 


Now press the nine squares down to the fusible interfacing.  I use a very hot and very steamy iron to do this and merely press the iron down, then lift it up and move it to another section.  I don't recommend moving the iron side to side as you would if you were ironing clothes, as it may move the squares.


After ironing the block, if you hold it up to the light you will be able to see very narrow lines between your squares.  This is normal and good!


Now fold the block on one of those lines and take it to your sewing machine.


Sew a 1/4" seam just as you normally would.  Repeat for the parallel seam.


Your piece should now look like this.  Grab a pair of scissors.  Ones with tiny blades will be the easiest for this purpose.  I like my curved embroidery scissors!


Put one of the blades inside the fold of the seam you just stitched and clip that seam open.  Repeat for the other seam.


Press the seams open.  Repeat for the seams that cross your first set of seams, folding, stitching, cutting the seams open and pressing.


Once pressed, the back of your block will look like this.  But wait!  Flip that baby over....


...and you will see that every intersection on the block is perfect!  No pins, no patching, no nesting of seams. And it works every. single. time!

Now that you know the technique, make twenty-five (25) of these 9-patch blocks.  Using the same technique, make sixteen (16) 16-patch blocks.

You will also need sashing blocks.  These are simple - sew four 2.5" squares together in a line.  Then, on each long side of that strip, sew a 2.5"x8.5" strip of white.  Press the seams toward the white strips.  You will need forty (40) of these sashing blocks.

Once you have made all of the components, it's time to lay it out.  Here's the layout I used...


There's a little bit of matching in the sashing rows, but you will find that it goes together really quickly.  The finished quilt measures 62" square, and can be easily adjusted to a different size by either using a smaller square (i.e. 2") for the blocks or increasing or decreasing the number of blocks used for the quilt.

Here are the fabric requirements:

    1 3/4 yards of white fabric at least 42" wide.
        From this, cut: 100 2.5" squares and 80 2.5"x8.5" strips

    Approx. 6 yards of 20" wide sheer weight fusible interfacing

    541 2.5" squares of assorted fabrics

    For backing: 3 2/3 yards of fabric

    For binding:  approx. 1/2 yard depending on your choice of width

       
Once you've assembled your quilt top, you'll have something that looks like this....


Isn't that a lovely riot of scrappy goodness?


Bree was keeping a close watch on this photography session to be sure I did it right...


...and even stepped over to put in her two cents worth!

I hope you'll find this a useful technique and design!  It's certainly a great way to use up lots of small squares without a lot of nitpicky seam matching.  Can you tell I'm a lazy quilter? LOL!

See you next week with another quilt tutorial - and this one's going to be super simple - so simple you could make it in an afternoon!

Hugs!

Sarah

Friday, January 27, 2023

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Another Mixed Bag....

 

Hi, all!

Wow! This week has absolutely flown by, and guess what?  It's Friday!  And we all know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?  Me too!  Let's go!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

This week has been full of a lot of secret sewing, as I went from this...

...to a quilt top I can't show you for a few more days!  It was a marathon of piecing, but so much fun - you guys are going to love this one!  

I'm also really whooping about this one - I got a new light!  It's been so gray around here this week, and I was having trouble seeing much past 3 pm to sew!  So Amazon to the rescue, and I found this desktop light that illuminates everything wonderfully!  It has five intensities AND five different light temperatures so it's easy to get whatever light works best at the time.  And it clamps to my table so if I don't need it in the summer, I can put it away.  Hooray!

And after I finished the secret project, I cut out the next project - a quilt for a new great niece!  I can't wait to get started on this one!

And in a random moment on Instagram, I spotted this wonderful version of one of Kelli Fannin's quilt designs and knew immediately it would be what I make for Nathanael's quilt for next Christmas!  PS he corroborated my choice by going nuts when he saw the picture on my phone, reminding me that he LOVES penguins!


And just in case you think I've been neglecting Bree, she's been up in the studio, mostly being good and playing.  But she did have two times this week when she decided she had just had enough.  The first time, she came up behind me and jumped, putting her paws hard on the middle of my back.  Then she sat down and GROWLED at me!  So I stopped and played with her.  And then Thursday, when I was collecting the blocks off the design wall for the last row of a quilt top I was assembling, she STOLE the last four sashing strips, which were laying on a table top waiting to be sewn in, and ran off with them.  Which of course started a chase scene (the whole purpose, I'm sure!) that ended with a squirt of whipped cream and the retrieval of my hopelessly mangled and chewed strips.  Fortunately I had enough fabric to cut more, so all is well and Bree is still alive!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?


What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah


Monday, January 23, 2023

Make-A-List Monday - Best Laid Plans and All That...

 

Hi, all!

It's been a busy week around here - although I did several things that weren't exactly on the list, but it's all good!  I'll tell you about those later, but first, let's see how last week's list went....

1.  Quilt a couple of ministry quilts.

I only got to one of these, but isn't it pretty?  And it turns out it was exactly what was needed for a specific request...

2.  Write the tutorial for the first prototype.

It's in progress!  Hallelujah!

3. Finish the blocks for the second prototype and decide on a layout.

I finished the blocks I was originally working on, but found that it was a very finicky quilt to assemble - NOT what I was looking to put in this series of easy tutorials.  So I re-grouped, put together another super-simple top and here's a sneak peak of what is coming!

4.  Start writing the tutorial for the second prototype.

It's started!

5.  Five days on the treadmill.

You bet!  I'm actually starting to enjoy my time on the treadmill, and I'm learning a lot about Majorca and Menorca!

6.  Get started with yoga!

That crazy yoga instructor tried to KILL ME today!  Seriously, I hurt in places I didn't know I had muscles.  But as my husband (so sweetly) says, no pain, no gain (yes I thought about hitting him when he said it!)  So I will be back at it, if not tomorrow, then Wednesday!

7.  Keep up with the Italian lessons.

My Italian is coming right along!  Having been fluent (once upon a time) in Spanish, it's sometimes confusing, but I feel so accomplished when I find myself naming things I see!

I also started a new project, testing a pattern once again.  And unfortunately, that's got to bump a lot of things because it needs to be done ASAP and we are going out of town on Saturday.  So it will be my focus for this week!

And I did some much needed clothes shopping so I have some nice things to take with me on our trip.  It's a work trip for my husband and I have to appear by his side at some work functions.  My wardrobe has degenerated to jeans and t-shirts since COVID, and it was time for a refresher!  

So here's my list for this week....

1.  Finish the pattern testing quilt top.

2.  Finish writing the first two tutorials.

3.  Graph out a fourth quilt for the series.

4.  If time permits, cut out the third quilt.

5.  Keep up with walking, yoga, and Italian!

Short and sweet this week, and some of it is stuff I can work on while on vacation, too - writing and designing is easy if I take my computer. 

So now, my big question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Friday, January 20, 2023

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? The Little Things Count Too!

 

Hi, all!

Well, Friday has rolled around once again, and that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Are you ready?  I am - - - so let's go!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*


It's been a productive week!  My "to be quilted" bar is starting to fill up....



While quilting Thursday I played thread chicken, and WON! (Whew!)


And this quilt is now finished and ready for gifting as a comfort quilt to someone in need.  I sure was glad to make it to the end of the quilting before I ran out of thread!


And Bree, God bless her, has finally chilled out in my studio and actually took a nap while I was quilting!


And for this week's icing on the cake, look what I found at Hobby Lobby!  Of course it had to come home with me....

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?


What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah


Monday, January 16, 2023

Make-A-List Monday - Where Did My Week Go?

 

Hi, all!

Monday snuck up on me this week - do you have that problem with long weekends, too?  But we did have an enjoyable day today - we went to see A Man Called Otto!  I really loved the book (A Man Called Ove) and Tom Hanks did a great job with the movie version.  I highly recommend both the book and the movie!

That being said, I didn't do very well on my list from last week.  I made the mistake of starting a puzzle, which dragged my attention away from almost everything I was supposed to be doing.  So let's see how it all went...

1.  Quilt a couple more ministry quilts.

I haven't done this yet.  Supposedly Monday will be my ministry quilting day, but between my usual daily Monday chores and the movie, today slipped away from me.  So that project is moved to tomorrow!

2.  Keep working on the second prototype quilt.

It's coming along - I've changed the orientation of the blocks on my design wall, and I think I like it... maybe.


3.  Write the tutorial for the first prototype.

Does it count if it's written in my head? This one will definitely have to be done this week, though...

4.  Nail down the final design for the third prototype.

Done!  Now I'm just waiting for some special fabric to arrive...

5. At least three days of yoga.

I didn't get to this.  My TV upstairs isn't cooperating and I don't have the whatever-it-takes to mess with the technology right now! I need to get my hubby up there one day this week, or move my yoga DVD downstairs!

6.  At least five days on the treadmill.

I did do this one, though!  My husband introduced me to a great program on the iFit done by a world-class runner who had a serious bout with cancer and Covid during 2020.  He recorded a series of "road to recovery" videos that are easy walks in beautiful places, and it's been just the right speed for me.  I got a lot more out of shape than I thought last year!

So, as I said, I didn't get a whole lot done, but I am having fun!  I do love working jigsaw puzzles, and couldn't work on them while the house was decorated for Christmas, because the nativity scene was set up on the top of the piano, where I usually work my puzzles.  But I think I need to set a timer to limit how much time I work on them each day!

I've also been working hard on learning Italian.  Every morning after I check my email (early early!) I spend at least half an hour on Duolingo.  It's going well - I find myself practicing in my sleep, and I can recall the Italian words for many everyday things!

So here's my list for this week....

1.  Quilt a couple of ministry quilts.

2.  Write the tutorial for the first prototype.

3. Finish the blocks for the second prototype and decide on a layout.

4.  Start writing the tutorial for the second prototype.

5.  Five days on the treadmill.

6.  Get started with yoga!

7.  Keep up with the Italian lessons.

So that's my list for the week, and hopefully I'll stay a little more focused this week!  

And now I really want to know - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!


Sarah

PS Bree says hi....    


Friday, January 13, 2023

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? It's Still A Finish....

 

Hi, all!

Wow!  It's Friday again - can you believe it? - and we all know what that means!  It's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Let's go...

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

I only have a picture of one true finish this week....


...because puzzles are addictive, don't you know?  If I have a puzzle started, it's so hard to not say 'just one more piece' and stand working on it for ages.  But I did actually quilt and bind two quilts for the ministry...


Here's one of them on the frame.  I failed to get pictures of the two quilts, unfortunately, so you'll just have to take my word for it that I finished them!


And while I was doing all that, Bree learned how to be a good dog and let me work!  She really did amazingly well, bless her.


And I've been working on the blocks and layout for the second tutorial prototype, too!  Who knows if this will be start of the final layout - but I do think it's interesting!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?


What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share! We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah


Monday, January 9, 2023

Make-A-List Monday - Getting Back In the Swing!

 

Hi, all!

My how time flies when you're having fun!  It seems like just a couple of days since it was Monday, but no - it's time to make a new list for the week.  But first, let's see how last week's list went!

1.  Keep working the first prototype quilt for this year's tutorial series.

The top is finished!  Now for the tutorial...

2.  Pull fabrics for the second prototype quilt.

Pulled, and I'm working on my idea.  Here's what it looks like so far!

3.  Quilt several ministry quilts.

Done!  It's tough getting back in the swing, but also fun!

4.  Clean off one of my sewing tables.

I can clean, or I can sew - and this week I chose sewing!

5.  Write three blogposts this week.

Done!  Once again, tough, but fun!

6.  At least three days of yoga.

I didn't get to this one...

7.  At least two days on the treadmill.

But I did do this!  Hooray!

So things are rolling along, if a little less ambitiously than I had hoped for.  But that's ok - progress is progress!  Here's this week's things I hope to get to...

1.  Quilt a couple more ministry quilts.

2.  Keep working on the second prototype quilt.

3.  Write the tutorial for the first prototype.

4.  Nail down the final design for the third prototype.

5. At least three days of yoga.

6.  At least five days on the treadmill.

Totally do-able, and I may even get a chance to chase some squirrels!  Who knows?

And now the big question I have is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!


Sarah

Friday, January 6, 2023

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Not a Finish, But Progress!

 

Hi, all!

It's Friday once again (the first one of 2023!) and that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!!  Are you ready?  Let's go!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

I don't have a finish this week, but I did make some good progress on a new project!  I started out making these...


...Then I moved on to these....


...and lastly, I made a whole bunch of these!


Yesterday I laid them all out on my design wall (all that would fit, anyway!) and started sewing them together....


Isn't that pretty?  And it uses a TON of 2.5" squares!  Win/Win!

And on another front, I thought I had lost my calendar whiteboard - I went to change it to January, and it had disappeared off the wall!  I looked to see if it could have fallen down and slipped between the cabinet and the wall, and it looked like the top of the worktable was too close to the wall for it to slip between, plus I didn't see it beside the cabinet.  I even stuck a ruler back there to see if I could feel it, but didn't.  I checked with my grands to see if they had taken it down to play with - they swore no.  My husband and I looked everywhere to see if we could find it, and couldn't.  Then my husband said that it had to be next to the wall, because there wasn't anywhere else it could be.  I said no, he said "bet", and I bet him it wasn't, loser to cook dinner.  


Well, dang it if it wasn't between the cabinet and the wall!  It was thinner than I remembered, which is why it just disappeared back there.  So I ended up cooking supper that night - but I do have my calendar back and now I feel super organized! Or at least, I don't feel like I'm going to forget something now....

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?


What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah