What else I've been doing with my time

After a flurry of novelties, I found myself doing a number of "not novelty" quilts this fall.  Here is a summary

Wedding gift - I discovered I really missed working with color so to compensate I used a wonderful minky-like backing.  The pattern is farmhouse stores by Needle in a Hayes Stack from Connecting Threads.  I liked the secondary pattern but it was pretty fiddly.  I don't think I'll do it again.

Some patriotic quilts for Roll Call - fun patterns but discovered I really did not like being limited to red white & blue.  This first pattern is called Nova by GE Designs.  I did like this one and I think it would work for novelties.  I might give it a try down the road.

Most of the stars in this quilt were made by another member of the guild.  I added a few more to fill in and made the sashing.  The block is nice and easy, no risk of cutting off points since the star floats inside.  I think this is my new favorite way to make easy stars.

This patterns was much more difficult than anticipated, and with the busy fabric the details got completely lost.  I got the idea from facebook and don't know the name of the pattern.  I liked the secondary design between the blocks.  However the fabric that was donated really didn't work with the pattern.  So after making six, I changed and made some easy stars like the quilt above for every other block and you cannot even tell.  This was a lesson in fabric choices.  I should not have used such a busy red or blue for a detailed pattern.  It kind of makes my eyes hurt a bit, soo much going on. 

After the gray, and then the patriotic quilts, I definitely felt the need for some serious color.  A couple of years ago I had seen a scrappy quilt made from little stars & string blocks arranged by color.  So I had started making the little stars (4.25 finished) to use up a bunch of  little tiny triangles, trimmed from all those folded corner novelty quilts.  However my stars were much smaller than the original idea, so my string blocks were much simpler than the original idea.  I added the black diagonal and sashing which changed the look of the quilt significantly.  Very dramatic.  Using strings and crumbs from the scrap bin made a serious dent in my scraps.  This one is much bigger than my usual wall quilts at 72" x 82" so I guess it will go on the twin bed.  It sure is BRIGHT - whee!  But as my son who has taken up painting pointed it, it is not technically a rainbow quilt.  Oh well.  I think I arranged the colors based on how many stars I had made in that color.  And yes, I did fix the one block that is turned.  But It was so big on the design wall I didn't put it back up to re-photograph.

This was the result of a guild workshop with J. Michelle Watts.  It was fun to meet her and show her my Talevera Medallion made from her pattern.  And the workshop was fun and very well done.  I  even got to use a specialty ruler that had been in my stash for 15 plus years.  I took the opportunity to work on my custom quilting skills.  I definitely got more comfortable with ribbon candy in all the pastel sections.  And I was able to use only fabric from my stash.  The color inspiration was the Aurora Borealis paintings that my son has been making.

 

A few new patterns and some old favorites

I recently ran across this fun pattern called Open Options by Material Girlfriends.  The pattern includes so many fun layouts I had to try a few.

Colored circling triangles - this one the circles aren't as obvious in person as they are in the photo but it was fun to make.  It only uses a 4.5" square, a 2.5" x 4.5" & a 2.5" x 6.5" rectangle and lots of triangles.  Oh, and that Simple Folded corners ruler I mentioned in my last post - so Easy - love it.  I did pay attention to my pressing so that I could nest the triangles where they meet between the blocks - I didn't want that seam to be obvious.

This black and white version only uses novelties that read as black or white to try and keep the integrity of the pattern.  It does make your eyes jump around a bit, but it was nice using up some of those black and white novelties that never seem to make it into a quilt. I used that fireworks fabric for the border to add some more color but I didn't get a photo before it was donated to a local charity.  I don't think this one is as successful as the colorful version but still a good trial.

Beth's scraps - this pattern was taught as a workshop by a friend who also collects novelty fabrics.  The pattern works very well with novelties.  Each block uses two 4.5" squares and two four patches.  A design wall was helpful as you need to get the fabric placement laid out before sewing those four patches.  There are lots of layouts possible with this block.

An old favorite - I call it X's & O's or Hugs and Kisses.  Previously I've added sashing to make the X & O patterns more obvious, but this time I just set them together.  It is made with a 4.5" square with the opposite corners cut off in a semi-snowball.  I've made it multiple times through the years but that new ruler sure was helpful - though I did have to experiment a bit to determine how much to trim but still leave a large portion of the novelty.

This next block pattern is called Radiant.  Similar to a log cabin block, it can be used to make many fun layouts.  I have made it once before using a square layout which I really like.  But the zigzag is fun also.  The block is constructed by sewing two full blocks (one with a yellow center, the other with white outside) and cut them in half on the diagonal.  Then pair it with the the alternate block and sew back together.  Last time I just lived with there being a repeat of the fabrics in another block.  This time I just made a second quilt in a different layout - two quilts for the price of one (well sort of).

Radiant Squares

Radiant Zigzag

Large Pinwheels is a simple pattern but very effective with the novelty fabrics.  This is an instance where the piano key border is perfect.  I forgot to get a photo before I gifted to my college roomate for her first grandbaby.  Fortunately she still had it and sent me the photo below.  

Initially this quilt was going to be smaller (see below) but I just was too uncomfortable with the partial pinwheels so I added the additional columns at top & bottom to even things out.  I like it much better though it did make it a very large quilt.  I also experimented with using batting with fleece.  The fleece seemed kind of thing but with the batting it is VERY puffy and snuggly.  I think the quilt will be loved and used for a long time - and it is going to Oklahoma where it gets colder than here in North Texas.

The border makes the quilt - and a few new patterns

 

I decided recently that I really needed to add borders to the tops before I hang them in the closet.  Doing the borders is definitely one of my least favorite parts of making a quilt.  I get excited with the pattern idea, selecting and cutting the fabrics.  And I love watching the blocks come together.  But then.... what to do with the border.  Ugh.  And even once you decide, sewing borders is soooooo boooooring - like driving I10 between Las Cruces & Deming (my home town).  Sigh.  The result is I end up with a closet full of tops that I can't quilt because they need a border and I'm stymied with how to finish.  I've got to stick with the tops until the borders are done so I don't have a bunch to deal with. New years resolution - ha!

This top was finished several months ago but I like it much better now with this border.  The narrow inner border adds the right amount of contrast.  And the fireworks fabric is a great match to the fun novelties.  I have found that part of the difficulty with borders for novelty quilts is finding that balance between contrast to the center and overwhelming or underwhelming the novelties.  So I'm always looking for good candidates for novelty borders.  This one works pretty well.  (Pattern is Rick rack by MSQC)

I always have LOTS narrow scraps left from fussy cutting.  So for several years I've been making them into piano key strips.  Frequently they get used in the body of a quilt but they also make great borders. After my recent push to add borders to all the unfinished tops, I now am officially out of piano keys.

Sometimes piano keys are too busy if the center is especially busy, but on this one with all the white space, I think it works exceptionally well.  

One other thing I want to note on this pattern is how easy it is with a ruler I purchased last summer.  I have made a large number of patterns that use what is called a folded corner triangle.  The typical method to construct this uses a background square, draw diagonal across the corner of the square, sew & trim.  But I've never liked the wasted background fabric, plus I never seem able to get it lined up properly.  For years I've been using oversized triangles & trimming, but still drawing the line on the base fabric.  This new ruler, called Simple Folded Corners, takes out that drawing a line step.  Instead it is marked with the seam allowance so you can just cut off that corner & sew a regular seam.  I still like sewing an oversize triangle then trim - but that's my perfectionist side coming out.  That new ruler made sewing the above quilt so quick and easy.  Some specialty rulers get used once then put away.  But this one I've already used multiple times. It is also great for snowball blocks or any block where you are sewing a triangle across a corner.

Back to borders. This nested friendship star is a repeat pattern, but still a favorite.  It works pretty well with the piano keys, but looking at this picture, I wish I had made the inner border larger or white or something.  Or maybe the chopped off stars just bother me.

This quilt is such a fun pattern.  And it is just a standard attic window block, but with half the blocks turned to form a secondary pinwheel.  I really love secondary patterns, they are like little surprises.

As a contrast, this quilt really didn't need a border at all.  It looks great with just a simple matching border, anything else would detract from the pattern.  This layout called Floating Squares is one I've made several time and one of my favorites.