Jumbled Spools Quilt, with pattern for Quilt Along

Jumbled Spoon Quilt,   54 x 60 inches

My Jumbled Spools Quilt is done!  I had so much fun designing this quilt, sewing it and doing the quilting.  There were some bumps in the process but that's just part of designing.

I used Robert Kaufman's solid Kona Cotton 

New Bright Palette

 for the "thread" on the spools.

There are only 41 colors in this collection. I added a yellow from my stash to make the 42nd spool.    This would also be fun to make using 2.5 inch x 4 inch scraps from your stash.

Here is the inspiration for my design!

I inherited my mother's sewing table a number of years ago.  It's a lovely piece of mid-century Modern Danish teak furniture.  It has a drawer for notions and a pull-out basket to store clothing that needs to be mended.  I love having it, but it doesn't really function well as a sewing table for my needs so I've never cleaned it out and claimed it for my own.  I raid it for buttons, needles and the occasional notion but it's essentially the just way it was when it arrived at my house.  Well, actually it has gotten a bit messier!  My niece was visiting recently.  She pulled open the drawer of the sewing table.  I was working in the kitchen but I could see what she was doing.  I heard her say "Oops!" and quickly shut the drawer.  I cracked up!  What a great reaction!  Well deserved too, I might add!

I searched for spool quilt patterns and found lots of them on-line and in quilting books.  The spools are usually all lined up in neat rows.  I wanted something more true to (my) real life!   So that's why I designed my quilt with the spools all jumbled!

Jumbled Spools Quilt showing the backing. 

The quilting continues the jumbled theme.  I did free motion random loops for the body of the quilt which creates a "bad thread day" feel.

Some of the spools have tight parallel rows of quilting but the majority of them them have a zig-zag pattern on the body of each spool.  The two quilting patterns on the spools represent the two ways that spools of thread are wound during manufacturing.

In the border on the right side of the quilt I did straight linear quilting 1/2 inches apart using my walking foot.

 I made this quilt with rotary cut pieces.  Some of the spools tops and bottoms don't match up the the body of the spool as neatly as I thought they would.  I rather like them that way--it looks like some of the thread on the spools has been used.

There is a pattern which you can use to make your own Jumbled Spools in the next post.

Jumbled Spools Quilt Pattern

Jumbled Spools Quilt

   54 x 60 inches

Materials:

Quilt top:

4 yards of a solid color cotton fabric. I used Robert Kaufman’s Kona White.  This is a generous estimate of what you will need.  You’ll probably be fine if you only have 3.5 yards.

1 charm pack of varied colors (you will need 42  5 inch squares, if the pack has fewer than 42 charms, repeat one or more colors or add something from your stash), or 42  2.5 x 4” scraps from your stash

½ yard of fabric to make the tops and bottoms of the spools (I used a variety of grey

fabrics)

1/8 yard of extra fabric(s) to make the border “stitching”

Backing:

 3 1/3 yards of fabric using a horizontal seam OR 3 ¾ yards using a vertical seam.  If you need the backing to extend more than 4” beyond your quilt top, add another ¼ yard.

Binding:

1/2 yard of coordinating or contrasting fabric

Batting:

60 x 68 inch piece of batting

Cutting instructions for rotary cut pieces:

Note:

 WOF means “width of fabric.” Quilting cotton usually is 40-42 inches wide.

Colored body of spools:  Cut 42 pieces of you colored fabrics:  2.5 x 4 inch rectangles

Background of block adjacent to colored body of spool

1. Cut 9 strips of your background fabric:  WOF x 1.25 inches wide

2.  Cut these strips into 84:  1.25 x 4 inch rectangles

Tops and bottoms of spools:

Cut 9 strips of you spool fabric:  WOF x 1.5 inches wide.

Cut these strips into 84 pieces: 1.5 x 4 inch rectangles

To make the angles on the tops and bottoms of the spools:

Cut 7 strips of background fabric:  WOF x 1.5 inches wide.

Cut these strips into 168 squares: 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares

Background of each block:

1.  Cut 12 strips of background fabric:  WOF x 3.5 inches wide

Then cut these strips into 84 pieces:  3.5 x 5.5 inch rectangles

2.  Cut 21 strips  background fabric: WOF x 2.75 inches wide

Then cut these strips into 84 pieces:  2.75 x 10 inch rectangles

For “Stitching border”

1.

Cut 21 pieces (one color or several):  1 x 2.5 inch rectangles

2.

Cut 20 pieces of  background fabric:  1 x 1.5 inches

Outer background border:  

Cut this border after your quilt top is done

Cut one strip of background fabric:  2.5 x 61 inches (or the length of your finished top)

Sewing Instructions for Rotary Cutting piecing:

Make the tops and bottoms of your spools first.  

1.

Draw a line diagonally across the WRONG side of each of the 168 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares of your background fabric.

2.

Match right side of the white square with one short edge of the right side of a 1.5 x 4 inch rectangle which will be the top of the spool.  

3.

Move your needle  position on your sewing machine one to two to notches to the RIGHT on your machine. You want to be sewing just on the INSIDE of the line you drew on the wrong side of the white square.  Sew the square to the rectangle.

4.

Fold the square over the diagonal line you just stitched.  The edges of the folded square should match up to the corner of the rectangle.

5.

Press, trim the excess under the triangle you just created to ¼ inch.

6.

Repeat on the other side of the rectangle.  

7.

Continue until you have made all 84 spools tops and bottoms.

Assembling the Spools:

1.

Sew a 1.25 x 4 inch rectangle of background fabric to the side of each 2.5 x 4 inch colored spool body.  Press.

2.

Now attach a top and bottom piece to each end of the spool.  Press toward the spool ends.

Add the background to the spool blocks

1.

Sew a 3.5 x 5.5 inch background rectangle to each side of the spool from the last step. Press.

2.

Sew a 2.75 x 10 inch background rectangle to the top and bottom of the spool block.  Press.

3.

You will now have an UNFINISHED block 10 inches square

            Spool Blocks before trimming to skew them

Creating the wonky block

1. Trim down the blocks to an UNFINISHED 9.0 inches square.  Make the first cut at the top of the block.  The cut should only be a slight angle. MAKE CERTAIN THAT you have at least 9.0 inches on all 4 sides of the block.   I recommend that you use a large square ruler to trim these blocks. (See illustrations of the trimming).

First cuts to skew the block. Note that the ruler is tilted to be higher on the LEFT side than on the right side of the block.  Trim off the fabric on the top and right side that extends beyond the ruler.

Now trim the block square to an 9.0 inch square.

This measurement is the UNFINISHED block size.

 Squaring up the block to 9 inches.  Note that the ruler is squared to the first two

cuts you made.  Trim off the fabric extending beyond the ruler.  

2. On the next block tilt your ruler the OPPOSITE direction so your spools don’t all tilt in the same direction.   Then trim the block to 9 inch square.

Note that in the first cut on this block, the ruler is tilted to be higher on the RIGHT side.

Continue trimming the blocks, making sure to cut the blocks so that HALF are skewed toward the left and half toward the right side.

Two blocks trimmed to tilt in opposite directions.

Making the Border of “Stitches”

Sew the  1 x 2.5 inch colored rectangles short sides end to end, alternating each colored block with one 1 x 1.5 inch rectangle of the background fabric. This will make a long narrow strip a bit longer than 60 inches.

Set this aside for now.

Assemble the Quilt top

1. Lay out your blocks on a design wall with one block having the spool upright and the block next to with the spool horizontal.  Make sure that each new row starts with a spool positioned the opposite way from the first block in the row above it.

2. When you are happy with the  color distribution and layout of your quilt, sew the blocks together in horizontal rows.

3. Then sew the horizontal rows together.

4. Attach the border of “stitches” made in the last step to the left side of the quilt.  Find the center of this line of “stitches”. Position the center point of the strip of “stitches” at the center point on the left side of your quilt.  The top and bottom stitch will be cut off as this strip is a bit longer than the finished quilt top.

5. Finally add the outer border 2.5 inch x length of your quilt to the outside left edge of your quilt

Quilt backing:

Cut the fabric you purchased for the backing in half.   Sew the 2 halves together either horizontally or vertically, depending on the amount of fabric you purchased and/or the design of the backing fabric.

The finished backing should extend 4 inches beyond the edges of the quilt top if you plan to quilt it on a sewing machine.  It will need to extend 6+ inches if you plan to quilt it with a long-arm machine.

Quilting:

If you are quilting on your sewing machine, assemble your sandwich, top, batting and backing.  Baste the layers with pins or thread.

           Quilt as desired.

If the quilt is to be quilted by a long-arm machine, follow the directions given to you by the long-arm quilter if you are sending it out.  

For those of you doing your own long-arm quilting you know what to do!  Have fun quilting!!

Binding:

Make your binding per your favorite method.  Attach the binding to your quilt.

Label:

Make a label for your handiwork!  

Congratulations!  Enjoy your Jumbled Spools Quilt!

Design and pattern created by Judith Tucker, 2014.  SleepingDogQuilts.blogspot.com

This pattern is for individual use only. You may sell your finished quilt(s) if you wish.  This pattern is not for commercial  or large volume use.

Project Updates

I've been spending a lot of time in the past couple weeks finishing up projects.   And I've received several reports back on some quilts and sewing projects that have gone off to friends and new places.

First off,  the 40 inch square baby quilt made from Tula Pink's Fox Field fabric is done.  I put the binding on it this afternoon.  I like how the binding echoes the inner border.

40 inch square baby quilt

Here's a photo showing the back fabric.  I used the same fabric on the queen size Tula Pink Fox Tails quilt I made and have posted about several times in the past.  The backing came from the discount fabric store.  It's not Tula Pink but I think it is in character!

My niece loves the pink and grey cat quilt I made for the baby who is due any day. She tells me the quilt is on the rocker so now all they need is the baby!

Detail of the pink and grey cat baby quilt

I also heard that Zoe, the Golden-doodle, loves her Flat Bear.  The bear is already missing a chunk but I'll take that as a sign that the dog loves her new toy!

And speaking of dogs, a member of New England English Springer Spaniel Rescue  NEESSR, Inc. is thinking about using my Dog Training Apron pattern to make some to sell at the English Springer Spaniel Agility Trials in the fall.  They are a great group.  I've adopted all my Springers from their Rescue.

Taffy and Tipper--The Sleeping Dogs!

I finished the Jumbled Spool Quilt today too.  I still need to test my foundation pattern and write up up the pattern instructions.  I hope to get that all posted later this week.

Number of quilt tops still sitting in the UFO pile:  Two.  The batting is cut, the backs are made.  I just need to get them sandwiched.  Both are queen size quilts.  That might just have something to do with why they haven't gotten quilted yet!   One of these days…but maybe not until the Fall when the cool weather returns.

Apron for Dog Training: Pattern

Make your own dog training apron with pockets for treats, clicker or other equipment, bags and a hidden pocket for your cell phone.

The finished size is 18 inches long, 8 inches wide.

Dog Training Apron with hidden cell phone pocket

(Photos were taken from 2 aprons I made--one blue ticking with green polka dots and the other grey home dec fabric with grey quilting fabric. I've used the photos interchangeably).

Supply list:
1/3 yard of mid-weight home dec material or bottom weight fabric
1/4 yard of quilting weight cotton
1 fat quarter or scraps to make the small patch pocket
1.5 inches of sew-on hook and loop closure
1/4 inch elastic, 8 inches long

Cutting instructions:
Body of apron:
   From mid-weight fabric:
Cut 2 rectangles, 8.5 inches wide x 19 inches long
   From quilting cotton:
Cut 2 rectangles, 8.5 inches wide x 19 inches long

Take one of the mid-weight rectangles and one of the quilting cotton rectangles.   Cut both ends of each of the rectangles on a diagonal approximately somewhere between a 60 and 45 degree angle. You can get this slant by placing your ruler at the 2 inch mark at the top edge of the rectangle and line up the edge of the ruler with the bottom corner.  I recommend that you cut both pieces, wrong sides together, at the same time so that the angles are identical on each piece.

Angle for cutting slant on large front pocket

Ties:
   From mid-weight fabric:
Cut 2 rectangles of mid-weight fabric,  5 inches wide x 21 inches

Small front pocket:
   From Fat quarter or scraps:
Cut 2 squares, 6.5 inch x 6.5 inches


Here are all your pieces cut, ready for sewing:

Pattern pieces for the apron all cut out

Directions:

1.  Place right sides together  of the two 8.5 x 19 inch rectangles.  One will be of mid-weight fabric and the other quilting weight fabric.
     Sew top and bottom of the rectangle, creating a tube.
     Turn fabric right side out. Press.
     Turn under and press about 1/4 inch of the raw edges of the sides of the tubes.
     Sew these two seams closed STARTING 2 inches below the top edge of the panel to leave an opening for the ties which will be inserted later.
     Set aside for now.

Tube that will form the back panel of the apron.

2.  Place the right sides together of the 2 trapezoid pieces of mid-weight and quilting weight fabric which will make the large front pocket.
     Sew around all 4 sides, leaving open 2 inches on the bottom (wider) edge.
     Turn right side out.
     Press.
     Sew closed the opening on the bottom edge by sewing about 1/8 inch from the edge of the pocket.
     Top stitch both the diagonal sides about 1/4 inch from edge.

Large front pocket ready to be sewn to the back apron panel

3.  Sew the soft side of the hook and loop closure at the midline of the back side of your large front pocket, about 1/2 inch below the top edge.

Soft loop closure sewn to back side of large front pocket

 
      Sew the stiff loop side of the hook and loop closure at the midline of the front side of back panel of the apron, about 1/2 inch below the top edge.  Make sure this strip will line up with the strip on the large front pocket.


4.  Place right sides together of the two 6.5 x 6.5 inch cotton squares.  Sew top edges together.
     On one side, start sewing 1.5 inches BELOW the top seam and that side, the bottom edges and the opposite side but STOP 1/2 inch from the top edge.
     Turn right side out.
     Press.
     Now sew a straight line 1/2 inch below the top edge of the small front pocket. This will make a tube with an opening on both sides.
     Run the 1/4 inch elastic through the tube, leaving 1 inch out of each side of the pocket.  Sew one side of the tube closed 1/8 inch from the edge of the pocket, leaving 1 inch of the elastic hanging out.
     Now gently pull the other end of the elastic so that approximately 1.5 inches of the elastic extend beyond the margin of the pocket.  There should be gentle gathering of the top edge of the pocket.
Sew closed the other end of the tube 1/4 inch from the margin of the pocket, securing the elastic at the same time.
    Pull the exposed pieces of elastic taut and cut right at the edge of the pocket. The ends of the elastic should disappear into the 1/4 inch seam.

5.  Sew the small front pocket onto the large front pocket, using a 1/4 inch seam on the 2 sides and bottom of the pocket.  The small pocket should be placed centrally, about 1.5 inches below the top edge of the large pocket.

6.  Sew the large front pocket to the back panel, using 1/4 inch top stitching.
     Place the large front pocket on top of the back apron panel.  The pocket will probably be about 1/4 inch narrower at the bottom than the back panel.  That's fine.  Pin in place.
     Now sew across the top edge of the large front pocket, sewing through all the layers, until you are parallel to the small pocket. STOP and backstitch a few stitches.  Restart sewing across the top on the other side of of the front pocket.  This will be the opening for the cell phone pocket.
     Then sew down the bottom of the large front pocket. Start the stitching on the diagonal,  2.5 inches from the left lower corner of the large pocket. sew down the 2.5 inches of the diagonal, sew across the bottom of the pocket and then sew up 2.5 inches of the opposite diagonal on the right side.
This will create a pocket on both sides of the apron. Sewing down the bottom 2.5 inches of the slant gives the pocket a corner to keep your things inside the pocket!

7.   Now sew 2 straight lines from the top edge of the large pocket to the bottom edge through all the layers of the apron, starting at the point where you stopped sewing in the first part of step 6. The sewing line should be at least 1/4 inch away from the sides to the small pocket. Make sure to check that your phone will have enough room in the pocket.  You can adjust these vertical sewing lines as needed.
This step creates your "hidden" cell phone pocket.  The hook and loop closures close this pocket so your phone won't fall out if you lean over.

8.  For the ties, fold the 5" x 21" rectangles in half wrong sides together and press.  Open.  Now fold BOTH  edges of the long sides of the rectangle, wrong sides together, meeting the raw edges at the center line you just pressed.
Press again.
Fold the tie in half again along the length of the tie. This will give you a sturdy 4 layer tie.
Sew the edges of the tie closed on the 3 open sides.

9.   Insert a tie in the opening of the back panel on one side---put a good inch inside the back panel.  Now sew it in place, at the edge of the back panel of the apron, closing the opening at the side time.  Sew back and forth several times. Then sew again 1/4" away from the first seam to securely attach your tie.
Repeat for the other tie.


That's it!
Enjoy training your dog(s)!

Copyright--Judith Tucker 2014.  This tutorial is for home use only.  You may make dog training aprons for yourself and may make and sell them at craft fairs or other similar small venues.  Your may NOT use this pattern commercially without permission.

Please have your friends visit the blog to print their own copy of this tutorial if they wish to make the apron.  Thanks!








   



   
   

EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along: With Block 4, it's a Quilt!!

"Rolling Stone" block

This week we got the last  

EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along

 lesson.  Block 4 is "Rolling Stone."  This lesson was focussed on designing a quilt.  I wasn't expecting to get a quilt out of 4 blocks, but we did!

Jenny taught us how to set up an EQ7 grid on the Quilt Worktable for a square quilt with sashings and a border with corner blocks:

A quilt set on point:

And a Modern Quilt with vertical panels which create negative space.

After seeing all these options, I decided I wanted to set the blocks in a diagonal across the quilt.  So I also explored setting up the quilt with horizontal panels.

I liked the design  but I decided I'd rather quilt the negative space when the blocks were set in with vertical panels.  So I went back to the Quilt Worktable and did the finally designing for my quilt.

I wanted the quilt to be large enough for toddler nap quilt. The 4 blocks lined up in a strip was only 36 inches long. I wanted to add another 9 inches.  So I increased the number of setting blocks on the EQ7 Quilt Worktable from 4 blocks to 5.  But that left me with a blank block at the top or bottom of the row which was not what I wanted.

I was going cut the block in half when I made the strip but knew there had to be a way to alter the row in EQ7.   We had been experimenting with various options for setting the blocks in a drop down list.

I decided to just give them all a try and see if there was an option which would work.  The second option in Strip Style and Size is "Half Drop Blocks."Just what I wanted.  This option creates a half width block at the top and bottom of the strip. So that's what I used for my quilt.

Part of this 4th lesson was about naming the quilt on "Notecard" in Sketchbook, and adding any other information we want in the "Notes" on the card.  I typically put in a date, who I was making the quilt for and any quirks about making the quilt that would be helpful if I want to make it again.

Finally the the last part of the lesson was about printing the Fabric Yardage. In this feature, the program looks at the quilt you designed and provides an estimate of the yardage for each fabric used in the quilt.  Because this is done mathematically, I usually add a bit extra to allow for the human factor (me!) in quilt making!

Here is my EQ7 Jump Start quilt!   I love the bunnies in the center of each block.  The quilting in the negative space is vertical lines--close together on the right, further apart on the left. It's going to have great texture when the quilt is washed and dried.

EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along Finished Quilt

EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along has been so much fun!  I learned about some features I hadn't explored before and I'm a lot more comfortable using EQ7.   Now that I've used "Strip Style and Size" and the "Border Style" on the Quilt Worktable I know I'll be working with them a lot.  I'm sure I'll also be using the blocks in the Block Library and the tools in the Block Worktable to change the Library block to make a new block design.

Thank you

Jenny

 at Electric Quilt's blog,

http://doyoueq.com/blog/

for this great Quilt Along!  Great job on the lesson content, the printable hand-outs and videos!!

I really hope Jenny and the Electric Quilt Blog will make follow up Quilt Along that builds on the skills in these four lessons.

Rabbits in the Garden Quilt: Using up the Tula Pink Fox Field 2.5 inch strips

I had a significant amount of fabric left over after I completed my Tula Pink's Craftsy Mystery Quilt to make 2 more quilts. I've already blogged about the first of those quilts:  Fox Field Reprise Baby Quilt.  I had a bit of fabric left for one more quilt.

On my way home from dropping by dogs a the training center, I stopped in at J.P. Knit & Stitch, a great little knitting and sewing store in Jamaica Plain.  I had the 16 patch block (see above) with me and was looking for a fabric to go with it.  Genevieve, the shop's owner, and I looked a several options but nothing caught my eye.  Then she went off and came back with a bolt of sea green voile which she had just received and wasn't yet on the shelf.  It was perfect!  (I just love it when that happens)!  We both agreed that a solid bone grey solid cotton quilting fabric she had would be perfect on the back of the quilt.

Arizona Triangle Tokens by April Rhodes for Art Gallery Fabrics Fabric is sea foam green with white and gold triangles

I had a design for a very modern quilt in my mind, but wasn't sure how I was going to handle the all the negative space.  

Tula Pink's Fox Field Fabric line has rabbits with large polka dots and then a collection of complex designs with hidden rabbits, foxes, horses and birds.  There are parts of horses in the 16 patch block but no rabbits anywhere.  It was the rabbits which drew me to this fabric line so I knew I had to get them into the quilting somehow.

Because this is a great size for a baby quilt I decided to hide the rabbit.  It would be visible on the back of the quilt but you would have to look hard to see it on the front side.  The obvious place to hide the rabbit was in the 16 patch block.  

The rabbit is lower middle on the left You can clearly see his back foot in the sea foam block with the star

But 3 rabbits are more fun and 1, so I partially hid a second rabbit in the 4 patch block and put the 3rd rabbit in front of the 2.5 inch single block.  

Where would 3 rabbits be?   In the vegetable garden!   With a bit of free motion quilting a garden appeared.  I loved showing the vegetables that the rabbit can see and  then what is growing under ground that he can't see.  That just nicely seemed to mirror the idea of the rabbits hidden in the blocks.

Back side of the quilt--rabbit contemplating the carrots

Front of quilt with lettuces, radishes

Back of the quilt--Rabbit looking a the beets with marigolds in the lower right corner

This was so much fun to make.  It was the first time I had quilted with a voile fabric.  It soft, thin and a bit slippery.  It has a lovely hand and the quilt is soft and light.  However, it was definitely more challenging to sew than regular quilting cotton.  Voile is not something I would use for quilting on a regular basis but it was fun working with a novel fabric.  And it was the perfect choice for this quilt.

Apron for Dog Training Pattern

A puppy class was coming into the dog training center yesterday just as I was finishing up a lesson with my dog, Hazel.

Hazel 3 year old Mystery Black Labrador Mix!

A couple of the puppy people noticed the dog training apron I was wearing.  

They really liked it. 

One of the puppy parents is a friend who sews and I realized she might want  to make one for herself.  That was the impetus I needed to get around to writing the pattern for the apron.  

The pattern is done and is posted in a tab at the top of the blog page. 

It looks like it's complicated but it goes together quickly.
Here is my post about making the Dog Training Apron.   After using it for a while I made a second apron.  I increased the slant of the large front pocket so it is a bit steeper, from a 60 degree cut to about a 50 degree cut.  That gave me two deeper more secure pockets.  They work much better now.
I wear my apron constantly because I'm actively training 3 dogs.  Two of my dogs are working on obedience and manners. The third dog competes in Canine Scent Work with the National Association of Canine Scent Work.  Scent work is so much fun!  The dog does all the work. I'm just along to make sure she covers all the search area so she doesn't miss anything.

Updates on WIPs and UFOs:

I now have a stack of unfinished quilt tops. I started doing the quilting on the first of them yesterday, a baby quilt with some of the left over blocks from the Tula Pink Craftsy Fox Tails Mystery Quilt. This quilt top is almost entirely negative space, so it is up to the quilting will make the quilt.  So far 3 rabbits have materialized and it looks like they up to no good in the vegetable patch.  I'm having a blast doing this free-motion quilting.  To be posted soon!

Designing Notes: Jumbled Spools WIP

The Jumbled Spool quilt top is done and the quilt is all set to be sandwiched for quilting.

Jumbled Spools Quilt Top

Getting the spools jumbled turned out to be a bit of a challenge.  The first couple blocks I made tilted in the same direction even though I was certain I had alternated them.

Here are the blocks before trimming them to make them asymmetric.

Trimming the blocks to make the spool tilt:

 

First cut to make higher upper right corner. Note the ruler grid is skewed in relation to the block.

Second cut to complete block. Note ruler gird is now true to the lower left corner of the block

 

First cut with lower upper right corner

Second cut to complete block

Completed pair of blocks

The other thing I found I needed to do when I was assembling the top was to pay close attention to the block pairs.  The first spool and last spools in each row are in opposite positions.  On one side the spool is upright and at the other end of the row it is sideways.  Since the spools themselves have no specific up or down, it was really easy to flip a row in the wrong direction. After a couple rows I decided to take a photo of my design wall so I could check to see if I was sewing the blocks together the way I intended to!  

I find it is always worth the time to stop to get a photo of the blocks in the final lay-out before starting to sew the rows together.  It's saved me from major un-sewing on more than one occasion!

Finished blocks on the design wall

The last thing I added to the quilt was the border of "stitching" on the left side of the top.  I made a quilt last year with lots of tiny pieces and I still have a "quilter's block" about sewing with very small pieces!   But I really wanted to show some "sewing" using the threads from my spools.  The row of "stitching" actually went together really quickly and I'm so glad I did it.

I am working on writing a pattern for this quilt.  I made the blocks with rotary cut piecing.  Some of the spools aren't as true as I'd like them to be.  I think the blocks will go together better with paper piecing the spools.  I plan to have the pattern completed so I can include it with the post of the completed quilt.  Hopefully I'll have everything done in a couple weeks.

Long Arm Quilting Adventure: Somerville Homeless Coalition Quilt

While I usually do the quilting on my projects on my domestic sewing machine, sometimes it just makes more sense to quilt it with a long-arm quilting machine. It's fast, the quilt is flat and stable on the quilt frame and using a computerized design, the quilting is high quality and very consistent.

Janet, just starting the quilting with the long-arm

My friend, Janet, (chief quilter on this project), decided that she wanted quilt the raffle quilt for the Somerville Homeless Coalition on the long-arm.  She just felt it was a bit too large at Queen size to quilt on a domestic sewing machine.  So off we went to one of our favorite quilt shops, Bits 'n Pieces Quilt and Fabric Shoppe, in Pelham, New Hampshire.

Liz, the shop owner, rents the Handi Quilter long-arm machines.  (She'll be happy to sell you one too, if you so desire)!  The first time you use the long-arm, a lesson is included.  But even when you have been a number of times,
the staff is always there to help you with the set up, re-setting the computer when the bobbin runs out in the middle of a section or any time if you have questions or concerns.

Liz is a wizard when it comes to the ins and outs of the Handi Quilter Long-arm machines. She can solve problems that look impossible so that your quilt comes out looking fabulous.  It is just so much fun to work with her.   Her daughter, Alyssa, is often there to help as well and she is great too.

They have two large binders full of computerized quilting designs.  I've used pantographs which are linear and run across the body of the quilt and designs that just fit in a single block.  They have a design that will be just right for your quilt.  They also have a huge collection of quilting thread.  Both the thread and the quilting design are included in the cost of the quilting.  I love looking at all the quilting patterns and then finding just the right color thread.

The staff is happy to help you choose if you don't know what might work best.  This time we were just quilting the center of the quilt and stopping at the borders. Alyssa looked a the first design we picked out and showed us that the pattern was going to leave a number of empty un-quilted spaces because of the way it started and stopped each line.  So we went back to the patterns and found something at worked perfectly.  They had an example of the design we decided to use on a quilt in the shop and she sent us off to look at it before we started.  That was really helpful.

If you prefer, you can also do your quilting on the long-arm manually with whatever design you want to create.  I've always chosen to use the computer driven designs.

Pinning the lower layer of the quilt to the long-arm frame

With long-arm quilting, the quilt top and bottom are pinned to fabric that is on the rollers of the frame and the batting is then slipped in-between the two layers.  It is nice not to have to sandwich the quilt by crawling around on the floor with a container of safety pins!

Backing is on the frame, and rolled tight.  It's ready to add the quilt top.

Ready to quilt!  The quilt top is rolled on the 2nd front roller and the batting is draped over the first roller.

I down-loaded these two video clips from my phone.  I don't think the start arrow in the frame will work on the blog site, but you should be able to see a couple seconds of the long-arm in action.

The computer on the long-arm can stitch a design itself--"Look, Ma, No hands!"

Close-up of the quilting process.

Is this not seriously cool??

If you live in the greater Boston area or Southern New Hampshire and are interested in trying long-arm quilting, I highly recommend you try it at Bits 'n Pieces!  (They also take quilt tops and will quilt them for you).

PS--The shop has a huge inventory of fabric on bolts and pre-cuts.  Just visiting to shop for fabric and supplies is totally amazing!

The quilt is almost finished.  The binding just needs to be completed.  I'll post again when it the quilt is totally done.

Cats in the Garden Quilt and Update on the cheddar background color poll

Update on the Cheddar vs Orange or Grey background for a quilt block.  Sorry the poll gadget didn't work last week.   And informal poll of readers had cheddar and grey in a tie.  Folks liked the cheddar but said the grey really allowed the focus colors to sing. Readers felt that the orange background changed the character of the focus colors in the blocks.   Thanks to everyone who voted.  

                                                 Garden and the 2013 Cat in the Garden Quilt

I've been enjoying my neighbors window box.  The magenta flowers with the  lime green margins are incredible. This collection of flowers looked so familiar to me.  Usually my neighbor puts nasturisiums in her window box so I knew I wasn't remembering a previous planting.   And then I got it…. 

My neighbor's window box

        Last year I made a quilt for my godchild's little girl.  She wanted a purple quilt.  I had a stack of fat quarters in a collection from Connecting Threads and some yellow and lavender fabric with a cat motif that was waiting in my stash for the right project.  Here is her quilt, "Cats in the Garden."  It amazing how the flowers in the flower box echo the fabrics in the Garden Quilt!  

Cats in the Garden

The pattern is from Tula Pink's book,  City Sampler:  100 Modern Quilt Blocks.  The block I used is "No. 4".  

The cat fabric in the center of the block and there is a 4 patch flower garden that is formed when the bright purple strips in each corner of the block form a secondary square. 

Tula Pink's book is a lot of fun.  She numbers all the blocks but lets you name each block!  On the cover flap of the book Tula writes " Name your blocks, write in margins, cross out the ones you don't like, draw hearts around the ones that you love.  In a perfect world, everyone's book would end up looking like a journal…."

I love that in this digital age, Tula has created a book that is intended to be interactive.  Very cool.
You can read her whole note on the cover flap on Tula Pink's website and see some sampler quilts she made.  You can see the individual block I used in her rainbow sampler quilt. The No. 4 block is on the outermost row, magenta color and 7 down from the top.

It's a great book of blocks.  It would be a great addition to any quilter's library. 

Update on the Charity Quilt for the Somerville Homeless Coalition: It's coming right along!

Janet got the blocks for the charity quilt for the Somerville Homeless Coalition all sewn together while she was up in Maine at the Proper Bostonian Quilt Guild spring camp!   Here is a photo of quilt on the design wall.  Janet, thanks for spending part of your time away at Quilt Camp working on this project. Much appreciated by all!   Thanks also goes to all the PBQ Guild members who helped with the arrangement of the blocks!  It looks great!

Yesterday Janet started work on the borders.

Janet, happily sewing on a rainy June day

Here is the quilt is with the first border.  That bright turquoise border really brings the quilt together beautifully.

PBQ members, Janet (left) and Ginny (right) with the quilt

One more wide border to be added, then the it will be ready to be quilted.  This is very exciting!

EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along: Block 3

Yesterday we got the third lesson in the EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along.

Twin Star Variation

This week was a lot of fun.  Jenny taught us how to take a block from the EQ Block Library,
Twin Star this week, and edit it to create a new block with the EasyDraw Block Worktable.

Twin Star block from EQ Block Library

I had done some block designing with EQ7 on my PC.  This is the first time I tried to design with the new EQ7 version for Mac.  It worked beautifully!   No mouse needed, so I find the program is actually easier to use. It's more like drawing using a finger vs. using a mouse.  Yeah!
We added 4 lines.  Then we took out 4 lines which made the center square larger and the block slightly simpler.

Twin Star variation created in 3rd lesson

The first week we were asked to print from the Rotary Cutting Pattern.  Last week was template week.
This week we used the Foundation Pattern.  EQ7 orders the pattern with letters for each section and numbers indicating which order to sew the pieces to the pattern.

The program allows you to re-section the block and re- number it manually if you want to.  I have found that it usually does a pretty good job automatically.

More importantly, EQ7 allows you move around the Foundation Pattern pieces for printing.  My experience has been that I usually can move a pattern piece so it will fit on a piece of 8x11 inch printer paper. This which saves trying to tape pages together to make block section.


This week I  echoed peachy pink stars in the center bunny block in my polka dot peachy pink star points.  I auditioned the red orange in this week's bunny's vest for the star points but it was just too bright next to the blocks that were already made.

Here are the three completed blocks altogether.

One more week to go in the EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along.  I wonder what we'll do next week?

Cheddar: The Color, not the Cheese!

Left: Quebec 3 year old cheddar,  Right: Cotswold Cheese (not a cheddar) Front Center: Irish Vintage Cheddar

The quilts in the Pilgrim Roy Collection at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have me thinking about color again.  The first 2 quilts as you enter the "Quilts and Color" exhibit are a red, green and orange Carpenter's wheel on the left a red, green and cheddar Ocean Waves on the right.  Here is the quilt on the right with the cheddar orange.  

Ocean Waves, Mennonite. PA 1880s. On exhibit at the MFA, Boston in the "Quilts and Color" exhibit

Cheddar was a popular color in the early 1800s before aniline dyes became available.  One of the articles I read about the color said that at the time, it was considered a "neutral" color.  Wow.  Some neutral!!   The dye was made from Lead Antimony powder so the dyeing could be done at home.  However, both the lead and antimony are heavy metal which are poisonous.  So the process of dyeing fabrics cheddar color was potentially dangerous, something I'm not sure they appreciated much at the time.

Cheddar yellow seems to have made a come back in the past several years. Bonnie Hunter has a Bow Tie Pattern  which has a Cheddar yellow background and the fabric companies are making yellow orange solids which they have named "Cheddar".  Both Moda and Kona have a version.   Kona's cheddar is a much softer color, and it's the one I prefer.  Neither of them is really the color of cheddar cheese, though my brother did hunt down a cheese from Wisconsin that is a much deeper color than anything I found at my local cheese shop here in Boston!  (Sometimes it takes a team effort to make an interesting blog post…Thanks, Bill)!

          

"Goldenrod" 

Wisconsin Cheddar found in Michigan Cheese Shop

I decided to make a couple blocks with the colors used in the two quilts in the show at the MFA. One block has orange as bad the background and one has the Cheddar Moda Bella Cotton.  (I have a couple yards of the Kona Cheddar so I'm saving that for a larger project).

And I also made a block with a grey print since grey is frequently used as a background color quilts being made now.

The pattern is a variation of Mill Wheel which I found in the book, 500 Quilt Blocks, by Lynne Goldsworthy and Carrie Green.

Cheddar background

Orange Background

Modern Grey Print background

I got a good chuckle when I was sewing the block with the cheddar background.  Something about it was just so familiar.  Then I realized the yellow orange and green were the colors of the Crayola Crayon boxes of my childhood.  Color bringing back memories!

Vote on in the poll (see top of side bar on the right) and let me know which of these three backgrounds is your favorite!  I let you which was the most popular color combination next Monday! 

UPDATE: Sorry folks.  Blogger Polling crashed last week.  Google is working on a fix, but at the moment, the poll feature it isn't working.  Thanks if you voted.  We can try again in an up-coming post. 

Designing notes: Jumbled Spools Pattern WIP

I recently got this great Kona Cotton "New Bright Palette" jelly roll.   I really like this combination of colors.

Kona Cotton "New Bright Palette"

I haven't seen a design for a jelly roll that I am really want to make, so I started thinking about what else I could do with 2.5 inch wide strips.   This set of fabrics reminded me of the thread cabinet in a fabric store.  How about a modern spool quilt?

A quick Google possible patterns brought up the great piece on Craftsy's blog:  Spool Quilt Patterns.

What a fun collection of modern spool quilts.  But none of them were quite what I wanted. 

So I decided to make a maquette (a sample), a design technique I learned about in Weeks Ringle's fabulous Craftsy course Designing Modern Quilts.  (I highly recommend this course.  Weeks is a brilliant teacher and she has a lot to share about use of color and design in Modern Quilting).

Here is my first maquette.  It's all right.  But is it a spool?   If I worked in a cotton mill in the 1800s and used large wooden spools,  I would say yes.  But it's not the 1800s anymore.  So I think it looks like a bit of a mystery.

Adding an extra step makes the design recognizable as a spool.  Something my mom would have had in her sewing basket, but definitely a spool.  

The block is off kilter on purpose. I want the quilt to look like a jumble of spools.  Most Spool Quilts are super tidy looking.  I'm looking for something closer to the end of a busy day of sewing!

I grabbed the brown and tan from my scrap bag to make the maquettes. I was looking for a grey but didn't find any in the 2.5 inch scrap collection. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to use a greys for the spool or a collection of tans.

Will keep you posted on my progress!

Dog Toy: Night TIme Flat Cuddly Polar Bear

Night Time Flat Cuddly Polar Bear Dog Toy

Five years ago, when Taffy was an 8 week old puppy, I put a flat Polar Bear cuddle toy in her crate at night so she would have something to lie on that would feel soft and snuggly.   I had a back up Pink Pig but she never needed the second toy.

So when my niece and her family adopted a Golden Doodle puppy a year ago, I sent her the Pink Pig. 

Apparently Zoe has loved it to bits and they were hoping for a replacement. 

Sadly, the dog toy world had moved on.  Now the flat cuddle toys have multiple squeakers sewed into squares in their tummies.  Not quiet for sleeping and lots of dogs will rip apart a toy containing a squeaker.  The small round plastic squeakers are a choking hazard so a toy with 12 of them is potentially bad news and big vet bill.

I have access to a couple independent pet stores which stock unique toys.  Neither had any toy remotely like Pink Pig or the original Polar Bear.  Nor have I seen anything on-line for years.

I picked up a couple toys today but they weren't really what I wanted.  Then driving home from the pet store I realized I'd had the solution at home all along.  I could make just what I wanted with some berber fleece I had purchased to make dog mats (and haven't yet!) and left over polyester batting.  The toy would be soft, flat, cuddly, squeaker-free and (hopefully) not interesting enough to rip apart.  And replaceable!

I drew out a half a bear on paper from a grocery bag which I had folded in half.  I added a 1/4 inch seam line.   I cut out 2 bears from the berber fleece and one from a scrap of polyester quilt batting.

Then I embroidered eyes and nose on one of the cut berber fleece pieces.

I layered the fleece right sides together and added the batting on top of the wrong side of the top bear piece.  Then I sewed all 3 pieces together with an overlocking stitch, leaving a few inches open on one side of the abdomen so I could turn it to the right side when I was done.  The bottom layer slipped a bit so I had go back and re-sew couple places where the stitching hadn't caught all 3 layers.  I think I could avoid that then next time by making the over-lock stitch a bit wider.   I could have used the serger to assemble this toy but the sewing machine was set up and ready to sew and the serger wasn't!

I used quilting thread and decorative stitches to add a mouth, ear details and claws.  Then I sewed lines across the abdomen in several places to discourage the dog from shredding the bear and will keep the layers together. 

From start to finish this project took me about an hour and a quarter. 

Taffy gave it her stamp of approval.  I hope Zoe likes it too!

Tula Pink Fox Field reprise: A baby quilt from the left-over fabric from the "Fox Tails" quilt kit

Baby Quilt from Tula Pink Fox Field fabric

The kit I got from Craftsy for the Tula Pink Mystery Quilt, "Fox Tails",  came with 3 sets of 2.5 inch strips, 1.26 yards of cream print, and about 1/4 yard of 3 additional fabrics.  They were very generous with the strip sets.   I had enough to make setting triangle in place of the cream print triangles in the pattern and I still had some full strips and a big collection of short pieces left over.

This fabric is so unique that I just couldn't put the left-over fabric in my scrap bag.  I started making blocks and ended up with 26…one more than I needed for this 40 x 41 inch baby quilt.   Here is the completed top. I have enough of the backing from my Fox Tails quilt to back this piece too! Sweet.  I'm looking forward doing the quilting on this.  It's small enough to move around easily so it's a good chance to try out some new designs.

But this isn't the end of my adventures with the Fox Field fabric collection.   I still have almost a yard of the cream print fabric, a block made from twenty-five 2.5 inch squares, a four patch, thirty 2.5 inch squares, and parts of four 2.5 inch strips!   I can see one more, very modern quilt with lots of negative space, yet to come!

3 quilts from one kit. Now that's incredible!

Hexagons! WIP

If you had ever asked me about quilt patterns I thought I'd never use, one would be hexagons and the other would be crazy quilting.  My mom always told me to never say "never."

I'm still holding out on crazy quilting but this week I started making hexagons.  I have a friend who quilts who hasn't been feeling well.   I thought that hexagons might be just the thing for her to work on if she was feeling she needed to do something handy.  It's easy to make one, some… or none.  All good.

So I fussy cut some dogs from Riley Blakes Design "Puppy Park" fabric.

  and some 2.5 inch squares from the SeaBreeze inspired Fat quarter bundle from JAQs Fabrics.

(Their bundles are 10% off until May 26, 2014, if you want one too)!

I'd never made a hexagon block so I thought I should do a couple to put in the bag as examples which I did.  But then I was hooked...

I have stash of left over 2.5 inch squares from an assortment of projects.  I pulled out a selection of yellow greens, yellows and greys. One hexagon has lead to another.

I had jettisoned some solid dark teal Kona from a project so that was sitting on my table. It looks like the perfect background for my hexagons.  After trolling the internet for ideas, I decided to make 12 inch finished squares with a varied configuration of hexagons in each block.  I'm going to appliqué them on by machine.

Here are a couple of blocks I have laid out to think about.

The hexagons remind of organic chemistry class.  I keep thinking I ought to be making molecule diagrams with them!!

I'm using card stock 1 inch hexagon templates which which are free for the printing from
Incompetech.   The 1 inch hexagons were just the right size for my 2.5 inch squares of fabric.

Here is the back side of several hexagons.

I have to say, they are a lot of fun to sew.  This project is probably going to be a WIP (work in progress) for a while. But then, that's the beauty of hexagons.

EQ 7 Jump Start Quilt Along: Block 2

This week we are making the second block in the EQ 7 Jump Start Quilt Along.  This block is called  Eccentric Star.

The lesson this week is about using fabrics and colors available in the program, on-line and by scanning in designing a block.  It's great if you can get the fabric on-line but if not, it's fun to be able to scan the fabric you have in-hand that you think you might want to use.  Or maybe it turns out that a particular fabric isn't you want--Scan once, Cut never!!

Jenny provides information about Resolution, pixel size,  and using Descreen (or Magazine) so the weave of the fabric doesn't interfere with the scan.  Files are saved as JPG files.
Full details on how to do this are on the post for EQ7 Jump Start Quilt Along: Block 2.

Each month EQ offers a free download of a set of current fabrics which you can find on Electric Quilt's (EQ) website in the Fabrics of the Month feature.

I had fun moving the colors and a fabric, a lot like my dark teal, which I found in the EQ Fabric Library, around on the worktable.  I finally decided to add another Kona solid in a slightly different blue.  I wanted the star to shine in the block rather than the rays.

Here is my finished block.  I am using the 9 inch block which is a good size for my fussy cut center block.

And Block 1 and 2 together.

Pyramid String quilt

I just finished my Pyramid String quilt.  This quilt was getting something amazing from (almost) nothing.

I keep a bag of strings (strips of left over fabric) between 3/4 inches and 2 inches wide.  From time to time I will piece them on 2 side-by-side pages of an old book.  (Sometimes it takes a bit of tape to keep the 2 pages together.  That's OK because the paper is torn away after the pages are covered with fabric strips).

I had save up a stack of pages which were primarily yellows and blues with some orange accents.  I had a pyramid ruler (two, actually as it turned out!) and this seemed like a great way to try it out.

2 brands of 60 degree triangle (pyramid) rulers.  Re. the purple smiley face: I put stickers on my rulers when I take them to sew in a group setting so that I know which is mine!

I cut the sheet of string into two 4 inch strips.  (If the sheet had more than 8 inches, I saved the remaining strips and they went into a border strip).  I cut the pyramids out of the 4 inch strips.

2 pyramids: I didn't take the photos while I was cutting the  pieces so these are not consecutive cuts.

Then I cut out pyramids from white cotton for the alternating pyramids.
When the quilt was assembled, I cut sides straight, leaving half pyramids down each side.

I used my walking foot and quilted just out of the ditch in a diamond pattern.  I also marked out some larger pyramids, made of multiple blocks, of varying sizes and did some half inch wide diagonal quilting in those pyramids.  Sometimes I filled the whole space with quilting.  Other times I just put in 3-4 lines of quilting.

There is a free motion chain of daisies around 3 sides of the inner border and a wavy double line of quilting in the outer border.   The free motion quilting is a foil to the sharp edges of the pyramids.

The binding is a collection of left over binding from other projects with a couple strips added to make it long enough.  This really is a quilt of left over bits!!

Here is the back.  You'll see there is a tiny strip of the left over bits on this side too.

I've used up my stack of sewn strings.  But the string bag keeps collecting more pieces so I'll need to make some more soon!

EQ 7 Jump Start Sew Along, Block 1: Greek Cross

Electric Quilt (EQ) is hosting a Sew Along on its blog, "Behind the Mouse" called EQ7 Jump Start Sew Along.  This Quilt Along provides basic instruction on the use their quilt designing program EQ7.  The Quilt Along is free, no registration is required, but you do need the EQ 7 program to participate.

Jenny, the instructor for the course, has chosen 4 quilt blocks for the participants to work with.
The first block is the Greek Cross.

The other blocks are Eccentric Star, Rolling Stone and Twin Star.  All the blocks share a central square,    4 corner blocks and 4 middle blocks.

The course has an accompanying YouTube video and printed instructions. You can use just one or both.  I had an easier time following the instructions with the video. Well, actually I was watching the video on my iPad and working out the steps on my computer, so I didn't need to toggle back and forth.
I found the written information helpful for reference when thinking about the blocks.

This course assumes you are starting from scratch with the EQ7 program, so it's great for a novice user.
I expect the designing will become more complex as the Quilt Along progresses.

Today is link up day.  I was so excited when I saw Jenny's post from today.  She showed 6 different ways the components of this block can be put together. I wasn't sure I was going to make the block, but when I saw all the options I made a dive for the stash and started cutting!

Here are some of the options.  I picked a variant for my block because it looked more nocturnal for the Rabbit who is sprinkling Sleeping Dust from the Crescent Moon!

Here are some of the other variations I laid out before I sewed the block together.  You'll see this becomes the Churn Dash block and another one that looks like saltwater taffy in its wax paper wrapper.

There is a link up to post the block every other week and a prize for one lucky person.

I'm looking forward to the next lesson which will be posted Monday, May 19, 2014.