Block 4 and 5 - More Simple Blocks

This next block looks like a 9 Patch but it isn't. Look closely, the center is one long rectangle (but it could be pieced as a 9 Patch). I found this block called Red Cross - just image it in red and white.

I would have made this block 2 but the block is 10 inches square and 3 does not divide evenly into 10. The squares were cut 3 7/8 inches which is not an easy number to deal with and I usually try to avoid.

As I'm progressing in the blocks I'm having more fun with the modern versions (after all, the traditional colors are a bit dull).

How's that for an explosion of color? I love the different circles crashing up against each other.

Now, back to the traditional colors. The next block is a variation of the traditional Shoo Fly block and it is a 9 inch block so no 7/8's to cut!

Both of these blocks (and many others) are made of brown and tan stripes. I had the hardest time finding stripes in these colors resembling the stripes in the original quilt. I basically took what I could get. Dealing with stripes can be fun. For the most part I'm trying to match the way the original was pieced. Here all the stripes went in the same direction but I accidentally put the center of the Shoo Fly going the wrong way. It's hardly noticeable and I tend not to get to stressed about details like that.

The corners of this block are half square triangles (known as HST's). There are tons of these in quilt blocks (in general) and many more will be coming up in this quilt. They are essential skill to master and there are instructions in almost any quilt book and countless online tutorials. One here is a tutorial for this block. It calls this colorway the Big O Block. I cut my squares 4 inches to yield blocks that will finish to 3 inches.

One thing to watch for is the corner triangles if you are using striped fabric. You are making 4 units so 2 need to lean to the left and 2 need to lean to the right. So, when you mark the diagonal line on your squares pay attention to the direction of the stripes. I was super paranoid when I made this block and I got the stripes lined up the way I wanted.

And again I went wild with the modern versions and I didn't have to worry about stripes. I love the dark fabric. I've seen different colorways of this fabric peeking out of quilts in books and magazines. I have it in pink with bigger circles that showed up in one of last weeks blocks.

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More Wildflowers of America

Since I have framed the stitched Bleeding Heart from Curtis Boehringer's Wildflowers of America I decided to track down the other 3 wildflowers that had I stiched earlier. I chose these flowers because they reminded me of the forests of Ohio where I grew up - Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Wake Robin and Bloodroot. The Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Wake Robin where both finished with fabric frames. This was a favorite finishing technique of mine for a long time. On the back they are dated 1999 - that was a while ago. I remember the quilt store where I purchased the fabric, but not its name. It's gone now but it was in an old Victorian house in Old Colorado City. The turrets where lined with bolts of fabric and hey had a great selection of plaids. I had never heard name Wake Robin before and it means nothing to me, but the flower is definitely a Trillium. Back then, I dutifully followed the pattern. Now I would have used the name Trillium ...

Diverted by Dorset Buttons

I learned how to make Dorset Buttons yesterday at our monthly EGA meeting . These little buttons are so much fun to make! We only got three rings so that's how many I made. If I would have gotten more I'd probably be still making them. One nice thing is that they are very forgiving. I made countless mistakes on my first one and you can't tell. A quick google revealed lots of websites with historical information and tutorials on how to make them so I'm not even going to try to describe the process. Some people made their buttons with yarn, others used perle cotton. One of the examples had beads on it, so once I got home I had to find some beads to sew on. That's it for now. I'm going to be keeping my eye's open rings to use. I'm also going to have to go through my yarn stash. Using yarn gives a totally different result and I want to try some yarn ones too.

It's about time - the big reveal

My bright quilt was finished in June but I wanted to wait until both were done before sharing the pictures. Quilting the blue quilt didn't take long but finishing the binding sure did. I did procrastinate a bit as it was too warm to have a huge quilt on my lap for most of the summer. After this, I'll probably do all the binding on my sewing machine (and stick to smaller quilts). Notice the cut-out corners? That was a challenge. I found instructions here and it looked easy enough but I wished I had practiced some. After a lot of finessing I finally got good miters but I could have done much better. The cut-out corners allow the quilt to hang nicely over the edges of the mattress and it's a perfect match for a full sized mattress. But, the top edge isn't even close to the pillows. I wonder how the quilt fit on the bed it was made for. Here, at last, is the original quilt that I was copying. I just...

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