Circles BOM: first look

My inspiration fabric

Oh, Boy: it's time to start advertising for a new Block of the Month!

Theme for this BOM, which starts the first-Saturday-after-labor-day, is CIRCLES.


I have about eight circle ideas so far--out of 12 months, that's not a bad start.  I really want to explore a lot of different techniques, and I have found so many ideas in the blogosphere.

I love learning new techniques!


Here are the samples I have made up to advertise the BOM, along with the inspiration/tutorial that got me started

 

Not a circle, you say?  But this is clearly the place to start: if one is afraid of curved seams there are circle-like things that can be done using only straight lines.  In fact, there will be many months in this BOM of no curved seams, to honor those fears; then we will push past them.

Instructions for this particular log-cabin came from Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  Bonus points for the fact that she uses scraps, as this tutorial is part of her Scrap-A-Palooza series.  Her finished quilt using this block can be found here.

Mmm, I love this technique: reverse applique!  Again, no curved piecing: a little freezer paper and glue stick make this one work.  I previously tried this technique at a retreat, as part of Block Challenge, and knew it would become part of my Circles BOM.

The freezer-paper-assist technique was shared by Barbara at Cat Patches after she learned it in a class, and she is very clear with her tutorial.  I am so thankful to all the bloggers out there who write good directions!

Finally, a slew of Orange Peel blocks.  Many of the circle techniques I am investigating look best when repeated.  This block definitely falls into that category; I love to see a sea of orange peels stretching across a quilt top.

I saw this technique in person done by my friend Joey at a retreat and just thought it was so clever: make little football shapes by stitching the focal fabric to a fusible lightweight interfacing, then carefully turning the whole assembly outside-in so that all the raw edges are encased. 

You then fuse the sucker onto your background fabric and stitch a decorative edge.  This was my first use of the blanket stitch on my new-to-me fancy sewing machine.  I would previously have just used a narrow zigzag stitch, and it would have been fine.

Free template for this block, in multiple sizes, along with a clearly written tutorial for the turn & fuse method is from the SewCanShe blog.



Well, those are the blocks on display in the shop, tempting people to start signing up.  We start circling our wagons in September.  Let me know if you have a favorite circle block or technique that I might add to the mix!

Do you like my fabric choices?  After black-and-white BOM this past year, I agonized over choosing a colorway...

Fabriholic: More is more

I have a confession to make: I bought fabric.

Kinda a lot of fabric, actually.

I think I should just come clean and declare it all here, and then make yet another a vigorous pledge to not buy fabric for the rest of 2016.

I knew I had been on a bit of an untethered acquisition mission lately.  I had been stashing my purchases hither and yon--hiding them even from myself, it seems.  But then this happened

June 19-25 Weight Watchers focus

Yup, even Weight Watchers conspired to tell me to clean up my act.  And then Sweetie, who moonlights as the Tidy Fairy at our house, encouraged me to tackle the clutter on display in some parts of my sewing room.  Starting with the flat surface that is supposed to be the guest bed.

It was painful, but I am pleased with the results.  "Current" projects [How does one distinguish between WIP and UFO?  Do you have a method for categorizing?] are now stored in the drawers below the guest bed.  Older projects are punted back to the basement.

And in the process, all this fabric came to light.

FQ overload!!!

All these fat quarters were bought in 2016.  (Hmm, looks like 6 yards to me; ouch.)

This is what 39 yards looks like--Gah!

And all this yardage has walked in the door.  Not all of it purchased, but every inch of it acquired this year.

Drat!  Because, you see, I already have enough.  In fact, if you consider my sewing output, I really have too much.  I'm in no danger of using up my stash--especially at the rate I keep adding to the booty.

we're outta here!

It is with great pleasure, then, that I present the Going Away Pile.  Far from perfect.  Far from complete (in terms of ruthlessly going thru the fabric monstrosity).  But it is a start!

Do you have a stash to die for?  What keeps it under control?

Christmas in July anyone?

It's July!  Already?!  Am I the only one who said, "Wow!" to this flip of the calendar?

Much busy sewing is happening this month, for various outside purposes.  The one that's got me most excited?  A blog hop: sharing ideas for Christmas sewing projects.

I will be one of the participants, so I'm getting going on my super-secret sewing right away.  No spoilers, but here's a picture to set the mood

Is this style dated?  Didn't think so...

Check back for the big reveal after July 14th.  There are 25 participants to this blog hop, so there will be lots of inspiration to get you in a holiday mood, with plenty of time to actually get some handmade Christmas sewn this year.

And if anyone reading this has Christmas-y things they have blogged about in the past, I'd love to come visit! 

I leave you with a previous Christmas-in-July blog hop post from 2013: made a new outfit for a fancy Santa.

Guild Block + new technique

Haven't been to quilt guild since April.  And, to be honest, I'm not really attending this month either; but I am stopping by to leave my block.  Which I just finished today.

This block is called Wild Waves.  The instructions can be found at Quilter's Cache.  The block finishes at 12" and is made up of sixteen identical 3" blocks.

So, since each square within the block is the same, why not use speed piecing techniques?  Not something I have tried before, but I love learning new things!  Here's an overview of the technique.  More details, including cutting information, available at the Quilter's Cache link.

Put one square of the black and one square of the white right sides together.  Draw in both diagonal lines.  (I secure everything with pins; I know some people don't.)

Stitch 1/4" from one of the diagonal lines--just to the place where the drawn lines cross.  Then pivot and stitch on the drawn line until you are 1/4" away on the other side.

Pivot again and continue stitching to the opposite corner.

Use the same stitch-pivot-stitch along the other diagonal.

Cut the black/white block apart along the drawn lines.

This creates four identical units; each is a two-tone HST.  Press each seam toward the black portion.

Two of these units will combine with one medium-value b/w square to make two finished blocks.

The basic building block.

I kinda see a curling ribbon effect in this block.  Wonder if a single row from the block would make a good border or sashing...

My good deed for the week.  What have you been up to?

Stitch-in-the-ditch foot = Magic!

I finished a wallhanging for the shop this week.  Wanna see it?  Of course you do!

Coffee Rocks! an adaptation by me

It's a bit ironic, actually, because I don't drink coffee.  So I thought I might explain the genesis of this piece.

Here is our shop's entry for 2016 Row by Row Experience, which starts June 21.  Each year Row by Row has a theme; this year's theme is Home Sweet Home.  Our block is titled "Earth Rocks!" and it was designed by shop employee Janet McDonald.  Being in Berkeley, California, we often conceive of home in a more global, earth-embracing way.  Plus, being in the Bay Area, we live on a major earthquake fault zone.  Thus, the fractured Earth nature of the block.

Look at those steam-y swirls!

I saw the fabrics that Janet had used in her sample--swirling Stonehenge patterns from Artisan Spirit--and thought of swirling fabrics I had in my stash

Specifically, fabrics from the Have a Latte line, that I used in making a coffee-themed wallhanging when I participated in a latte blog hop in 2015.  (See?  Precedence for sewing items that declare my secret nonexistent love of coffee.)

 Janet's pattern was for a 9" tall row; but the four individual blocks could be joined into a circle.  A circle?  Yes!  An entire planet of coffee beans and steamy swirls: how else to show off the Love of Java that these fabrics and this pattern evokes?

Embroidery anyone?

FMQ coffee cup

A little embroidery embellishment, a little quilting: big stitch (love me some Finca Perle cotton #8), straight-line-with-walking-foot, and the tiniest FMQ scribbles in the center.


And something new for me: MF&B!
MF&B is the shorthand we use at the shop when a customer wants to use our quilting services to attach binding to their quilt and finish it by machine, rather than handstitching (machine front and back).  Can't believe that I had never bound a quilt this way: always, always I have blindstitched by hand.  (Or had Ginger-the-Binding-Angel or Linda-the-Marvelous-Mama do it for me.)

And to help me with this MF&B adventure?  A stitch-in-the-ditch sewing machine foot!  What IS that, you say?  Why, a feat of modern engineering that will absolutely change my life.

Behold, the extra piece of metal nestled up against the binding seam, right where it attaches to the quilt top.  And the needle follows that piece of metal so very smoothly; the stitching becomes lost in the ditch where the two fabrics come together.  Invisible from the quilt front.  Magic, I tell you!

Okay, so I've never stitched down my binding by machine before.  Like, ever.  Even the nobody cares what it looks like bindings on all the Sew Together Bags I have made.  (Even Oakie's luggage bag.)  But this is a game-changer.  You can bet that this sewing machine foot and I will be making beautiful music together many times in the future.

Are there sewing machine accessories you can't live without?  Brag to me about your fave!



I haven't linked up a finished project in awhile.  Might as well show off a bit with TGIFF and Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

Stash report: used 1/2 yard of coffee-themed fabrics from my stash for the front & back; the background fabric on the front was a new purchase (but it was from the sale table!)

Retreat: overabundance of confidence

The List: too much?

This is me preparing for retreat:

dig

dig

dig

thru the many piles, drawers, bins and bags of WIPs to determine what I might work on for three days.

Three days = not a lot of actual time, but a great deal of imagined time.
And that statement pretty much sums up The Story of My Life.

quilt top

My must finish project was to complete the borders and piece a backing for the 1930's scrap quilt that I last worked on at retreat in February.

border close-up

This was a scraps-only project, and I had run out of the soft yellow used for the X blocks.  Which implied some fiddly piecing would be needed for those borders.  Also, I wanted to make the quilt rectangular (I have a general distaste for square quilts).  Needed to piece an inner border to finish off the central design.  Boy, can things get fussy and complicated in a hurry!

the back: scraps a-plenty

The Back: I won't say I'm totally fond of the pieced backing.  I was going for cute.  Not sure if I succeeded; but I did use up all of the cream chicken-wire print and the blue dots & checks (from Moda: a single fabric with four designs on it)

Asian BOM sample

Finished!  The top, backing and batting went to the long arm quilter the day after retreat ended.  Mmm-hmm, that feels good.


Other retreat accomplishments

• Participated in Block Challenge (blogged about previously)
• Made two sample blocks for the upcoming Asian Block of the Month at my home shop
• Made a sample block for the Circles Block of the Month that will start in the fall (again at my home shop)
• Hand tacked down the bindings on yet another Sew Together Bag; I will teach this class again in July.

Circles BOM sample

•  And...transported nearly an entire suitcase full of fabric (see The List, above) up to Oregon and back to California.  As checked luggage on an airline--what is wrong with this picture?

Challenge block 2016

I like a challenge.  I love learning new things.
And so it is that I participated in the Block Challenge at a recent quilting retreat.  The challenge this time was: make a 12" finished block, using any technique, on the theme of fishing or the outdoors.

What would YOU make under those constraints?

I bought some cute fishy fabric at New Pieces, and attempted a type of block I had never tried before: a wonky churn dash.  I consulted some online tutorials (primarily here and here), then went ahead and did things my own way.

I drew out a full-size pattern.  Made my own templates from this pattern.  I ended up using the focal fish fabric for the background, and a white-on-white for the churn dash bits.  Seemed like a different fabric placement than I had seen before, but I really wanted the fish to show up... they are larger in scale.


Made use of a new-to-me notion while making this block: Alpha-bitties, by It's Sew Emma.

I had thought these were pin-able when I ordered them; but using my Clover Wonder Clips (love them!), I ended up clipping the appropriate letter (from my self-drafted pattern) to each cut piece of fabric as I constructed the block.  Worked great!




The block turned out stunning.  I may have to make more of these.  And that is one reason for participating in Block Challenge: to test out a particular block or technique.  (Made my first house block, my first reverse applique block, and my first snail trail block this way.)

And then, because I had more fish fabric, I went ahead and made a second block.  Just a little rail fence, but I like how that one turned out, too.

Are there any blocks on your Challenge list?  What's stopping you from making one?