LaVieEnRosie

Channeling Emily...

Litella.  

As in... never mind.  

It appears as though you're stuck with me.  

I really had worried that continuing to blog as La Vie En Rosie might be a conflict of interest, or at least a conflict of purpose, but after thinking about it and discussing it with others, I decided that I could make this work.  The truth is that there are things I would like to share that really aren't suited elsewhere - recipes, silly stories, goofy stuff, non-work related stuff I'm working on, etc.  So for the foreseeable future, La Vie En Rosie isn't going anywhere.  

Since you're sticking with me, you get to see this first...

My American Patchwork & Quilting Quilt-along Go Four It quilt.  Except it really isn't that.  I was inspired by ModaLissa's quilt to make four-patches... and then I was inspired by April Rosenthal's Buried Treasure to make a little bit different block.  Add in a little Lori Holt - her Scrappy Crossroads setting - and then still make a few changes.  Yes, it's been pointed out to me by several friends that I have a deep-seated inability to follow rules, directions or instructions.  I am compelled to change something - anything... as much as possible.  

Guilty as charged.  (In my defense, it probably relates to how / why I got into this business.)

Instead of cutting my strips at 2 1/2" so that the blocks finished at 8", I cut my strips at 2" to suit the small-scale and tone-on-tone prints I was using.  I wanted to use multiple backgrounds, I decided to piece the blocks as 16-patches and "X" blocks because random-placement of the background prints was probably going to make the background a bit choppy-looking.  I have to admit that it didn't occur to me to align the blocks so that the black/gray squares would make a directional chain - with the orange squares going in the opposite direction.  When I was laying out blocks, I decided that I didn't want like-corners together.  Six of one, half-dozen of the other, right?

My quilt finishes at 72" x 72" - or it will after it's quilted, trimmed and bound.  

And I really love it.  (Since Lucy wasn't mine to keep, this is the next best thing.)

As for the rest of "life", it's all good.  I still love the challenges of work, all the new things I'm learning, commuting and adjusting to a new, different kind of schedule.  I won't pretend that I didn't prefer my old commute - 25 feet to walk in my pajamas vs. 25 minutes on the tollway - but I won't complain.  I still wish I knew everything there was to know right NOW - RFN! - but I also know that isn't realistic.  (Yeah, I'm still working on that patience-thing.)

It's also a huge factor at work because there are so many things that I'm seeing that I can't talk about.  It's excruciating.  All this gorgeous, fabulous fabric is in the works and I.  Can't.  Talk.  About.  It.  For a chatty, excitable girl like me, it's agony.  Texas Fabric Torture.  Even worse, I can't cut it up and sew with it!  Strike-offs are evil - fabric that you can look at but not cut up.  So near and yet still so very, very far away.  

That's all I can think of for this Sunday evening... 

Have a good week and I'll be back soon.  Okay, at some point.  

 

Just a moment ago...

Did you ever see the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance"?

As movies go, it's probably never going to be regarded as highly as "Citizen Kane" but I've always liked it.  The point of this is that there are a couple of times in the story where Rannulph says "it was a long time ago" and he's told "it was just a moment ago".

I've always loved how time feels that way...

So really... it's only been a few minutes since I was last here.  

:::snort:::

Okay.  It all sounded pretty good in my head.  

I know.  I know.  I didn't think I'd been quite so lax about checking in, and it wasn't like I hadn't thought about you.  I'm just a twit and I'd think of you in the middle of the night - it's after 11 pm now - and then I wouldn't have any pictures I could think of.  But when friends started asking me if I was ever going to blog again... and when friends were checking in via e-mail to make sure we were okay... here I am.  

Rosie is good.  I'm good.  Really.  It's been hot - too hot.  But I think that's mostly because we're both "getting up there in years" rather than anything dramatic happening with the mercury rising.  Still, it's hot enough that we're both enjoying staying inside to sew.

And I have been sewing.  A lot.  

I've had some bindings to attach as a couple of quilt tops have been quilted...

Shower Shuffle.  Miss Cupcake and I made these quilts over the Christmas holiday last year using Camille-Thimbleblossom's video 25 Half-Square Triangle Blocks and her April Showers fabrics.  Abby Latimer did the beautiful quilting, a design called Three Tours Wavy Stripe.  

 

And Cleone Levos quilted my Nested Churn Dash using a design called Modern Curves or Modern Eccentric.  I just call it "that one I really love".  

Oh!  The last time I was here, I said I'd check back in when my single block Nested Churn Dash was quilted... well, voila!

"Organic" Straight Lines.  My favorite kind - it's a polite way of saying "they're not even or straight, and no, I didn't intend them to be that way, thank you."

I finally decided on bindings for both so they're also on the stack of "quilts to finish binding".  As you can guess, sitting under a quilt isn't exactly the most appealing way to spend a summer evening in Arizona.  But they'll get done.  

As for the sewing... some of it has been "just because I felt like making that".

Purple Letter Day.  (Red Letter Day pattern by that Thimblegirl.)  I bought these Art Gallery Rock 'n Romance FQs a few years ago and I kept hanging on to them because I really liked the collection.  They're not "me" in any way - they're purple.  It isn't that I don't like purple, I just like it best in other people's quilts.  Then it's perfect.  But  I really liked this fabric.  And this quilt was perfect for it... I mean it still is, but it would have been more perfect but for a little "oops".  I learned that I really shouldn't do my cutting late at night.  You see, I had two stacks of FQs - one for the HTSs and one for the Nine-Patches and Rails.  And I mixed them up and reversed my stacks.  Oops.  The funniest part is that even with the goof, I really love this quilt.  Go figure!  I promise a better picture - yeah, yeah, hope springs eternal - when it's been quilted.

One last thing - I love this Red Letter Day pattern.  I know I'm going to make it again.  Soon.  Maybe over the Christmas holiday.

I finished my "Project 48" quilt - the one I was supposed to work on an hour a week until it was done.  I didn't really keep to that schedule but who cares?  It's done.  It measures about 66" x 74" and I used a big stack of Daiwabo FEs I bought years ago.  Because I wanted the fabrics to be the star of this show, I went with a simple-ish kind of design.  While I made my quilt all-scrappy and changed the size of the diamond, my inspiration was Zipper by Miss Thimble - again.  How do you say Zipper in Japanese?    

Do you remember these blocks?  They've been an ongoing project for about a year and I finally got them all finished - all 210 of them.  This is what they looked like on the design wall.  The quilt is finished and it won't be published until next year, it's going to be included in a book that's in the works.  (More on that soon - I promise.)

Have you been hearing about the Cotton & Steel fabrics?  They debuted at Spring Quilt Market and are finally arriving in stores.  I'd managed to get some at Sample Spree in Pittsburgh and after deciding that I really loved the way it looked all together, I decided on something a little different...

I'm calling this quilt Ten Penny.  

This is as far as this project has gotten - but since I can't show you the quilt I made for my very last Quilts 'n More Scrap Lab project, these will have to do.  

And because I do have to occasionally do something that might possibly resemble "work"... I've been finishing patterns.  The writing part. 

The big patterns are done.  

Seven Letters - Crop Circles - Freddy - Sugarboo.  You can find them here.

And the four new Schnibbles patterns are almost done... they should be ready next week.

Zoom - Double Dutch - Harvey - Gertie.  And they're all big - at least 68" x 68".  

So life is good.  Life is busy.  Life is life.  

I just wish it wasn't so hot... and no, cool weather is not just a moment away.

Over under...

If it's today here, is it tomorrow there?  (As I type this... yes, it is.)

If that's the case, I'm already late.  Jane!  Did you mean the 9th here?  Or the 9th there?

Can I split the difference?  It's 1:38 Sunday afternoon here - the time, not the temperature - and it's 6:38 Monday morning there.  So here goes...     

Do you know Jane?  

Jane Davidson - Brisbane, Australia.  QuiltJane.  QuiltJane.  QuiltJane.  (Those are links to where you can find her... she gets around... in a good way, of course.)

I "met" Jane through the American Patchwork quilt-along earlier this year.  I loved - okay, still do - her quilt.  

Photo shamelessly "lifted" from QuiltJane.

I follow - sounds better than stalk - Jane on Instagram because she makes and quilts all sorts of gorgeousness.  It just sort of flows out of her - in a counter-clockwise sort of manner because that's how it works "down under".  The end of April, Jane made a beautiful quilt that she called a Nested Churn Dash.  

Ditto.  See above photo reference.

Genius.  She "nested" four Churn Dash blocks to make a large 24" x 24" block using lots of Bonnie & Camille fabric.  A girlie-quilt for Jane.  (If you don't have the pattern yet, you can find it  here.  It's $2.00 for the PDF download.)

I figured a girlie-quilt for Carrie should follow.  And because lots of other quilty-types figured they needed nests too, a quilt-along was suggested, organized and has commenced.  So in my usual fashion, I invited myself to the party.  Hi everyone!  

It's official!  I'm in!

For now... it's entirely possible I might be asked to leave.  One block, that's all anybody had to make - a mini-quilt.  But even before I arrived, I realized that there might be a problem... that I wasn't going to be following the "dress code".  I wanted a big quilt.  Okay, I wanted both.  So that's what I did - I made both.  There's just one problem right now, my "mini" isn't quilted.  Or bound.  (I see an update coming soon.)  So I invited myself... didn't arrive on time... didn't follow instructions... and then didn't finish.  

I don't get out much.   

It's going to be a pillow - after it's quilted.  My big quilt is with the quilter now.

This is what I did.  The first thing was to decide on fabric - that was harder than I expected.  First, I love Jane's quilt.  And I have some of that fabric... and could certainly get more if needed.  But I have a compulsive need to do something differently.  That's especially true for sew-alongs.  Not because I think I can do it better - as if?!? - but because half the fun is seeing how different two "like" things can be.  After considering all sorts of options - those already in my possession and those still at a quilt shop - I came across a stack of fat quarters of Botanique by Joel Dewberry.  I'd bought them who-remembers-when because I loved the colors - especially the navy and coral - and the big prints.   

Image found on Pinterest - there wasn't a link so I'm not sure who took this picture.

 I decided to put these prints with a solid White background so that the colors would "pop" and the finished quilt would have a clean, fresh, summer-y kind of look to it.  I also decided to mix the colorways and the values, using each print at least once.  Oh, and I decided to use a single fabric for "each" Churn Dash - the half-triangle squares and rails would match.  

So I picked ten prints - 9 blocks for my quilt and 1 for my "mini" - and cut a 2" x 21" strip.  That was enough to make the pieces I'd need for the block centers - the 4" blocks.  I also cut a 1 1/2" x 21" strip and set that aside for the border - more on that in a bit.

I tried to mix the colors and values but I think it's obvious I really liked the navy prints.  When it came to pressing, I pressed the seams toward the "rail" part of the block - away from the center square and half-triangle squares.  But when I joined the three rows to complete the block, I pressed those seams open.  For whatever reason, my blocks just layed better that way.    

I then picked ten different prints for the second round and made the parts.

 Nesting.  Finally.  I tried to mix values and prints - light with dark or medium, and tonal-ish with big-and-bold.  

One piecing note - I have a teeny tiny issue with seam allowance.  As in, I'm a teeny tiny bit off... so my blocks are always just a tiny bit smaller than they should be.  (Sort of like some clothes...) It can be a big problem for a block like this if you don't measure.  It's also a hugely simple thing to fix - cut the side rail pieces to the size of your block!  In my case, the side rail pieces were cut a sliver less than 4 1/2" - but more than 4 3/8".  About 4 7/16".  And remember to do that at every step - every nest.    

Like this.  I made the parts and then started putting the parts with a block.  I loved some of the combinations... others... not so much.  But I also didn't worry about it because the next round was going to completely change the way it looked again.  

When my blocks were done, I layed them out.  

I had two reasons for doing this.  The first is obvious - so I'd know how I wanted to arrange the blocks.  The second reason is so that I would know where to sew my little connector corners for my cornerstones.  

Serendipity.  That little Churn Dash is the same size as the one in the center of the block.  It isn't a separate block - the pieces are sewn to the adjacent blocks and sashing strips.  I used the same 2 1/2" cut / 2" finished sashing strips that Jane includes in her instructions but I added to it - and adjusted the length of the sashing strips accordingly.  It's easily done - really.  I wrote it all down.   

Nested Churn Dash - Cornerstones

Because I wanted a quilt that would fit nicely on a queen-sized bed, I figured I'd want my quilt to be at least 86" so I added borders.  In addition to the 2" finished sashing strips, I added 2" finished strips on the outside edge - sashing or inner borders - to make my quilt 80" x 80", not including seam allowance.  Then I added one more Churn Dash.  Four half-triangle squares - 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" - for the corners and pieced "rails" for the sides.  

Remember those 1 1/2" x 21" strips I cut from each fabric?  Using those and a few more from my leftovers, I cut the strips in half to measure 1 1/2" x approximately 10 1/2".  I pieced those using a straight seam to make a really really really long strip.  I cut lengths approximately 86" long and then pieced two strips together - off-setting the seams - to make a pieced strip measuring 2 1/2" wide by approximately 84" long.  The off-set gobbles up a few inches.  I pressed all of these seams open.  

I made four of them.  I also cut 8 strips from my white background - 2 1/2" x 42" wof.  Those were pieced - on the diagonal - to make background strips that were cut to the same length as my pieced strips.  They can be cut to the size of the quilt but I wanted to piece first - trim second.  The pieced strips were then joined to the white background strips to make a border strip measuring 4 1/2" wide by approximately 84" long.  I pressed that seam open too.  The four strips were cut to the size of my quilt top.  The corner half-triangle squares were attached to two of the borders and badda bing badda boom... one last nest.

I debated whether to put the border right up against the blocks, nesting them as they are in the blocks.  But because the blocks weren't next to each other in the body of the quilt, I decided I liked the continuity of each block being surrounded by the white background.  My quilt finishes at 88 1/2" x 88 1/2"... okay, it's a skosh smaller than that.  I didn't measure it but I was shaving off just a bit less than an 1/8" by the time I got to the sashing.  (Proof that even a teeny tiny little difference in seam allowance adds up pretty quickly.)

Thread!  Jane wants to know what kind of thread we like and use - Aurifil, anyone?  I started using Aurifil when it first started showing up in quilt shops more than 10 years ago, and it was one of the first things I shopped for when I started going to Market.  

There was a noticeable difference between Aurifil and the thread I had used before - how fine it was, how well it "nested" into the fabric, and how much less lint there was in my sewing machine when I cleaned it.  Several years ago, I started using cones of thread and "strayed" from Aurifil because "other" threads were easier to find.  But a query to a distributor - "how come you don't carry Aurifil cones" - changed that.  I now have cones of my three go-to Aurifil colors on hand at all times.  They are - 2021 - White / 2324 - Beige-tan / 2600 - Gray - and they are all 50 wt. Cotton Mako.  Those are the three I use for piecing - I find they work for 99% of what I'm piecing.  

For the Nested Churn Dash, I used 2324 for most of the quilt... mostly because that was in the machine when I started.  I had plenty of wound bobbins and I was itching to start sewing.  But I did switch to white when it came time to assemble the quilt, especially joining two white strips for the borders.  Two white strips sewn together with a diagonal seam, seams pressed open... shadowing can sometimes happen.  So I switch.

As for keeping lots of other colors on hand... I tend to stitch with basic colors too, also in the 50 wt.  The same white, gray and beige-tan work for most of my binding, the occasional applique project, and any other hand-stitching - if I'm using gray thread and my stitches aren't showing, I'm not going to worry about having red thread for a red binding.  And since I don't do much machine quilting, I buy the colors I need when I need them.  Because that pretty jar of thread... at this point, it's mostly that.  Decorative.  Alas, even the very best thread doesn't "keep" for more than a couple years. 

So here's what else you need to know:

If you'd like to quilt-along with Jane, she did a terrific blog post about fabrics, sizes and everything else you might need or want to know about making this quilt.  You can find that here.  

If you'd like to see pictures of what other folks are making, you can find those on Flickr at The Want It, Need It Quilt Gallery.   I love this one.  If you make a block or a quilt and post your picture to this Flickr pool, you could win a prize at the end of the month.  

If you're on Instagram, you can find more Nested Churn Dash pictures at #nestedchurndash.  

And if you want to know even more about Nested Churn Dash blocks and quilts, machine quilting these blocks with Aurifil thread, hanging minis and who knows what else, you're going to have a busy week.  Places to go and people to see - blog-style.  

• Tuesday - June 10th - Kim Niedzwiecki 
• Wednesday - June 11th - Pat Sloan
• Thursday - June 12th - ModaLissa
• Friday - June 13th - Fat Quarter Shop
• Monday - June 16th - Frances Newcombe  
  
• Wednesday - June 18th - Sherri McConnell
• Thursday - June 19th - Sara Lawson
• Friday - June 20th - Amy Smart
• Saturday - June 21st - Katy Jones

Regular check-ins with Jane are also advised because (1) you know she's also working on other amazing stuff, and (2) she knows everything you'd ever want to know about making a Nesting Churn Dash quilt.  

• Monday - June 23rd - Making a quilt using the Nested Churn Dash block.
• Monday - June 30th - Finishing the quilt.
• Tuesday - July 1st - Winners will be selected and announced from the Flickr group.  

 

So are you going to "nest" too?  

 

I think you should.  It's a lot of fun.  

Passion Project? Project Passion?

They're trying to confuse me on purpose.  

I saw something on Instagram about the ladies at American Patchwork doing something called "Project 48".  Because I'm a naturally curious - as opposed to nosey - sort, I investigated.

I could find Passion 48... okay, that sounded very interesting.  Forty-eight hours of passion?  Is Sting involved in this somehow?  No, but it was what I was looking for, that was the original title.  Though can I just say that in their effort to really confuse me, the URL calls it Project 48.

Whatever it's called, here's the gist of it - For one hour each work week, "we" all work on a project of our choosing.  "We" get four weeks off in case of vacation, sickness, or just being too busy. 

That's not the royal "we", it's the "we" that means Carrie's invited herself to join the ladies at APQ on their neat little idea.  

I've had this fabric for years and years... Daiwabo Taupes.

I love these fabrics.  I have seven packs of Fat Eighths, 8 pieces in each pack.  Each pack has a combination of printed fabrics and textural wovens.    

The hitch for me has always been trying to figure out what to make with them.  I knew I wanted something relatively simple, something that wouldn't detract from the gorgeousness of the fabric.  A "charm" sort of quilt was what I had in mind.

Something like this...

So this is my "Project 48" quilt to start the year.  

I am going to commit to working on it one hour a week until it's done.  I'm including my "prep" time at the start - I'm going to starch the fabrics before I cut them.  

The biggest challenge is seeing if I can make this without changing something... well, other than making it completely scrappy.  Since I'm cutting strips from a Fat Eighth... I may cut my strips a skosh wider...

Any guesses on how many weeks it will take me to finish?  

I'm hoping to have a nice lap-quilt by next Fall... wish me luck.  

Still quilting along with APQ...

I had a plan when I started this quilt.  I really did.

Rosie thought I did too.

My thought was to make each block with a single background fabric and assorted reds and pink-reds for the "chains" in the block.  So far, so good, right?  So I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a stronger contrast between the red and the pink-red, I still loved the blocks.  That was what mattered.  The gray in the sashing would be the perfect finishing touch...

Except it wasn't.  

My original plan was to make the sashing using the gray prints.  I had several options.  I could use one gray print for all the sashings... except that's not really "me".  And with my color scheme, it would also make that print the most dominant aspect of my quilt.  I could use different gray prints for each sashing piece - I've done that sort of thing before and I always love the results.  Or I could piece them - been there, done that too.  There were multiple options for piecing the sashings but when I put up the gray pieces... the beautiful soft creaminess of my blocks disappeared.  Completely.

Okay.  Plan B.  Make the gray part of the sashing smaller.  So I added 1 1/2" cut - 1" finished - strips of the same background fabric to each block, making my "blocks" measure 19 1/2" x 19 1/2".  The gray sashing would finish at 1" wide.  Sounds good, right?

Not really.  I tried straight strips.  I tried pieced strips.  I even tried really pieced strips.

The squares in the sashing shown here measure 1" x 1" finished.  

(Just so you know, this is the best picture of my blocks as they "finished" with the extra row of background.  I added a straight strip of the background to each side of the block, and there are 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" red squares in the corners - assorted, of course.)

I wasn't in love with this so I put up more strips and "lived" with them for a few days...

I liked it - mostly - but I didn't love it.  It was that simple.  

It finally dawned on me that there were two things "bothering" me.  First, after looking at the creamy soft  blocks for a few weeks, that was the "look" I had fallen in love with.  Second, I'm going to blame the holidays.  The red, pink-red and cream color scheme seemed very Christmas... adding that bit of gray just didn't fit "the season".  It was totally a "mood" thing - a whim.  That's how "crushes" go.  So out with the gray, in with the ???

More cream background.  But which one? 

All of them.  I strip-pieced 1 1/2" x random length strips to make the sashing strips.  It would "continue" the scrappiness of the red and pink-reds of the blocks.  Or at least that's what I hoped it would do.  

My hope was that it would keep any one fabric from becoming too dominant - and keep a little bit of a "make it do" quality to the finishing.  

For those sashing strips, I did two things.  First, I didn't use a 45-degree angle for the join.  I used a 60-degree angle.  Porquoi?  Because I felt like it.  

Really.  It was a purposeful choice - perhaps even a design choice.  Using a 45-degree angle is standard, as is a straight seam.  Both work fine - and there are really good reasons to use one or the other.  But when joining different fabrics, even those with the same background color and value, I think a 60-degree angle is "softer".  Sometimes the straight seam or the 45-degree angle is still fairly noticeable - more noticeable than you might want.  The 60-degree angle is still noticeable... but for whatever reason, it seems to be less sharp.  And it's my quilt so I can do what I want, right?

The "quilt police" can... well, you get the idea.  Just so you know, I love rules... because it makes me happy to know I'm doing what I'm not supposed to.

After the sashings were added and the rows joined, I finished the quilt with a 2" cut "border" or more pieced background strips.  I also put 2" x 2" squares in the four corners of the quilt.  Porquoi?  Again, because I felt like it.  It also made my quilt a rather nice size - 78 1/2" x 78 1/2".  

It's at the quilter now so I'll have another picture to show of it soon.  

One last thing, I was asked about how I clipped the seams on the wrong side of the block.  

This is a slightly lopsided picture of the horizontal seams joining the rows of the block.  Do you see how all four seams on the pieced units are pressed toward the plain background pieces?  After stitching the long seam, I clipped into the seam allowance about a 1/4" from the seam junction.  I do this any time I'm sewing rows together with alternating blocks - it means I can press toward the plain square most of the time.  Does that help?

The one thing with clipping seams - use only the tips of very sharp scissors.  If the scissors don't cut at the tips, find another pair that does.  Do not try to clip the seam with the fabric deep in the "v" of the scissors!  You only need to clip to within a few threads of the seam, the iron and pressing will do the rest.

Don't forget to see how everyone else is doing - they're all getting close to being finished too.

 

• Lissa Alexander ~ ModaLissa
• Jennifer Keltner ~ Jennifer Keltner
• Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side
• Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs
• Jane Davidson of Quilt Jane  (I'm really in love with Jane's quilt.)
• Kimberly Jolly of It's Sew Emma, the Fat Quarter Shop & The Jolly Jabber
• Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms
• Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life

 

I only have one problem now... what am I going to quilt-along to next?

Sewing with friends.  I'd forgotten how much fun that could be.  

Quilt-along little Rosie...

That would be moi.  Rosie mostly naps while I sew.  And snores.  

Do you remember this?

Lissa Alexander's gorgeous Tone it Down quilt from the February 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting - on newsstands now.  

There's a whole group stitching along.  Lissa is leading the way... Now Jennifer, now Camille!  Now Sherri and Jane!  On Amy!  On Kimberly! On Anne and Lisa B.!  

Since I'm bringing up the rear blog-wise, that would make me the chubby and plump, right jolly old elf!  It would also make Lissa A. "Rudolph" as she's leading the way... except she's also "driving the team"... hmmm...     

While greater minds than mine try to figure that all out, let me get back to the quilt.  This is what I started with:

An assortment of French General fabrics - mostly Rouenneries and Rouenneries Deux, with some Christmas collections thrown in.

It might surprise you to know that while I love the reds and pink-reds in these collections, it is the gray prints that have always been my favorite part of the French General collections.  They're unusual, dramatic, subtle, elegant... and they are an amazing accent for the red and pink-red prints.  So I wanted to highlight the gray - make that a focus of my quilt.  

My second objective was to take a different approach than Lissa by reversing the "scrappy" parts of the block.  Each block would use a single background and the chains - the mediums and darks - would be scrappy.  An assortment of the darker red prints would be used for the "X" across the middle of the block and the lighter pink-red prints would be used for the "O".  Except I would reverse that on a few blocks... just to be different.  The gray prints would be used for the sashing - either in large pieces or pieced, I would make that decision when the time came.    

This is one of my blocks - one of those with the pink-red prints for the "X" and the darker red prints for the "O"...

As you can see from the block above, there wasn't much difference in the two shades when the block was finished.  At first, I was very disappointed by that and I considered making a change - starting over again - to use the gray in the block.  But as I looked at my block - blocks... plural - I decided not to.  I really liked them the way they were.  

So I made more.

Even though each block uses a single background, I am using eight different background fabrics.  And because I love the "make it do" aesthetic of old scrap-quilts, I am not using the same amount of each one.  There are three blocks each of two background fabrics, and two fabrics are used only once.  The remaining four fabrics are used twice.    

I'm also getting a little bit ahead of myself.

Getting Started.  Some of you already know that I like pressing with steam.  Lots and lots of steam.  While Color Catchers can take care of dye loss and colors bleeding, they can't really do much for fabric shrinking due to the application of moisture and heat.  So I "prep" my fabrics before I start cutting.  

Any starch will do, or any sizing.  I prefer this Niagara Non-Aerosol because I like the scent.  The whole objective is to get the fabric wet - or damp - and press it dry with heat.  And steam, if desired.  It's a bit time-consuming but the end result is worth it - for me!  This is a personal preference - it works for me.  Because of the crisp, flat smoothness of the starched and pressed fabric, I am more comfortable stacking and cutting four-to-six layers.  If you'd like a "higher authority" for why this is a good thing... Lisa Bongean is a "starcher" too.  And she makes lots of spectacular quilts with lots of itty bitty pieces.  

Stripping.  Because of the scrappy reds and pink-reds, and the single background in each block, I could only strip-piece a little bit of each block.  Using short-ish strips - about 10" long, I strip-pieced the units for the four-patches in the corners.  The upside is that, with the addition of a 1 1/2" background or medium/dark print square, those pieced-segments could also be used for the nine-patches.  So while I couldn't do much strip-piecing, I did do a lot of chain-piecing.

I will tell you that while it might take a little more time to piece the parts - and blocks - this way, the blocks still went together fairly quickly.  It's the kind of sewing where you can be listening to music, a movie or a book while you work.  There are a few places where concentration is required - getting the squares aligned properly in the nine-patches - but most of the construction is easily done.  As a friend said, this is the perfect sort of sewing for this time of year as you can do a little bit when you have time and it doesn't require your complete, focused attention.

When it comes to making the block parts/units, I think it helps to keep in mind that you need four of everything - or a multiple of four.  That applies to the cutting, the pieced segments and the pieced units - except the center, you only need one of those.  Four four-patches, four nine-patches, four side pieces... four large background rectangles, eight small background rectangles, etc.    

In an effort to "keep it real"... I tend to keep "stacks" of pieces on my worktable.  There are the stacks of plain background pieces for three blocks - each separated with all the pieces for a single block.  The pieced units for the blocks are also stacked - not with any real plan in mind.  I try to keep the individual print fabrics somewhat distributed among the three blocks but I'm not obsessive about it.  

This means I'm ready to assemble three blocks.  

Block Assembly.  That's the easy part - once the pieces are done, there are five rows of five parts.  I do recommend laying the parts out on the table next to you - it's easy to get a four-patch or nine-patch turned sideways.  Yes, been there, done that... un-sewed that.  

Pressing is easy for the rows - to the plain background rectangle.  Pressing the seams joining the rows has three options - to one side.  Open.  Or clipped.  The first two work perfectly well but I prefer clipping seams because it lets me press each part of the seam in the direction it wants to go - toward the background rectangle.  

I clip right next to the seam allowance - a 1/4" away from the seam junction.  If you're not a "clipper", there are only a few cautions to mention.  First, use only the tips of the scissors.  It's better to have to clip a second time to go a little deeper than to have to re-stitch a seam or worse, replace pieces, because you've clipped too far.  Second, because of the first requirement, you need to use scissors that are sharp at the tip.  Test your scissors on something else before you try clipping seams.  Some really good scissors don't do a great job at clipping seams while some "cheapies" do a terrific job.

If you're wary of clipping seams, I understand.  Really.  I was very skeptical - it goes against everything "quilters" are taught.  The "light-bulb" moment for me was when Jo Morton reminded me that garment-sewers clip seams all the time.  Well, duh.  I clipped seams on collars and sleeves, and not once did I ever have a seam or fabric come apart where it had been clipped.  Given the more frequent washing and the wear-and-tear put on a collar or sleeve, I decided to start clipping seams.  In the five years or so that I've been clipping seams on quilts... not once have I ever had a seam or fabric come apart where it's been clipped.   

So there you have it... for now.

I'll give you a heads up though - I'm not going to wind up where I thought I was going.  While my blocks have not changed, my plans for the sashing has.  

But I'll tell you about that next year.  For now, let it suffice to say that I've made a change or two to the original sashing.  

Oh well.  It isn't like Lissa and Jennifer didn't already know that I make a habit of doing that sort of thing.  

 

 

Auxiliary Patchwork Queue?

That doesn't sound right.

Absolutely Pretty Quilt?  

That fits. But I don't think I've got the letters right yet.  

All People Quilt?  That also works and it's sort of related... but it's still not right.

American Patchwork & Quilting?  I'm getting close but like I always do in horseshoes, I can clank the post but I never seem to leave the horseshoes around it.  Close isn't good enough...

Amazing Patchwork Quiltalong!  (I'm with Lissa... I think it needs to be hyphenated - quilt-along.)

You've already read about this from people who are a little more timely on-the-ball than I am.  But if you've missed anything, here's the short-version of events... ModaLissa made a really gorgeous quilt that's in the upcoming issue.  If you don't have it yet, subscribers will receive it any day now, it will be on newsstands Dec. 3rd, and a digital subscription is available at www.allpeoplequilt.com/getdigital.  This is what to look for - 

It's the February 2014 issue... don't worry, if that doesn't make sense, you're not alone.  

Lissa and Jennifer Keltner - the Goddess Editor Divine of American Patchwork magazine - put their brilliant, genius heads together and came up with an entertaining idea on how to tie the amazing online quilting community - that would be you! - and the print media world together.  Lissa started inviting people to participate and when it came to me, there was much whining, pleading and carrying-on involved.  It wasn't pretty.  To make it all stop, Lissa said I could participate... even though I think she knows I'm probably going to have to change at least one thing.  Just to be annoying different.

So who is already at the party?

The hostesses are ModaLissa and Jennifer Keltner.

These ladies are already set-up and sewing are:

• Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side
• Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs
• Jane Davidson of Quilt Jane
• Kimberly Jolly of It's Sew Emma, the Fat Quarter Shop & The Jolly Jabber
• Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings
• Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms
• Sherri McConnell of A Quilting Life

But it won't really be a party unless you decide to join in.  To make it easier for everyone to share what they're doing, the brilliant minds have created a hashtag for Instagram, Twitter and Facebook - #APQQuiltalong.  That will let everyone see the pictures posted by everyone quilting-along.  

If you're on Instagram, new to Instagram or soon-to-be-new to Instagram, everybody is already there:

• ModaLissa - @modalissa
• Jennifer - @allpeoplequilt
• Amy - @amyscreativeside
• Anne - @bunnyhilldesigns
• Jane - @quiltjane
• Kimberly - @fatquartershop
• Lisa - @lisabongean
• Camille - @thimbleblossoms
• Sherri - @sherrimcconnell
• Moi - @carrierosieaz  

While you wait for your magazine to arrive, I'll share a few of the quilt details so you can start planning, thinking, plotting?  Lissa's finished quilt measures 75" x 93".  As for fabrics, the "background" is easy, you're going to need a lot.  Either 20 1/2-yard pieces or at least 7 yards.  The rest is pretty simple - 20 Fat Eighths and 20 10" x 10" squares.  Or a weird assortment of fat quarters, fat eighths, layer cakes, scraps and leftovers.  That's what I'm using.   

This.  A melange (a French word) of fabrics from various French General collections.

Red.  Pearl.  Gray - Roche.  

If this was supposed to be outside my "comfort zone"... uh, oops.  I love these fabrics and I've used them all in quilts.  But here's the thing... the beauty of quilt-alongs is that we don't all have to make exactly the same quilt.  Even when everybody starts with the same pattern or book, the results are always amazingly different.  Even when two people use the same exact fabrics for their quilts, the results are different because of the individual choices.  And the little "interpretations" they make.  (I know, it's a nice word for "ornery insistence on doing things their own way.")

The plan - schedule - is for everyone to check back in on December 3rd when the magazine hits newsstands to give you an update on their progress.  Then there will be regular - but not scheduled - updates through February 1st, 2014 on piecing the blocks, how each of us works with or without a design wall, piecing the rows, etc.  Why February 1st?  That's when the November 2015 issue hits the newsstands.  (I'm kidding!)

And that's it for now!

I will be back tomorrow with "other" stuff.  As in, this isn't the only quilt-along I've done this past month.  I've finished two big-ish quilts the past couple of weeks!  And the last new Schnibbles are coming... and a few kits.  And what else?  I don't remember but I'll make a list.  

I have to go press some more fabric and continue cutting... you didn't think I'd already finished this quilt, did you?  As if!