Paper Piecing Chevrons

Happy Sunday!

I sort of got sidetracked with my Bonnie Hunter Celtic Solstice when I kept making the same last 20 (of 167).   Here is what a Chevron block looks like.  I pinned it to a wallhanging that is on the wall right in front of me as I sew so I wouldn't sew the yellows together instead of the whites.

 Although this one is perfect, not all of them were even though I measured twice, cut once, used a scant 1/4" seam, and pressed them.  They seemed a little "wonky", and I wasn't happy.  I probably could have squeezed and stretched them into my quilt, but I want my quilt to be straight in the end.

One of the Celtic Solstice Mystery Facebook group members posted a paper piecing method in the files  for making the Chevrons.  I printed out how many I needed, and avoided paper piecing.  To be honest, I love paper piecing and the look of perfect points.  However, it is something I have to wrap my head around many, many times before I get it right.  It is sewing backwards to me, and I'm backwards myself, so it takes me a while.  I also know that no one can be talking to me, no TV, and no music until I get it straight in my head.

I finally took the plunge this weekend and set aside time to re-teach myself how to paper piece after being inspired by Sarah at Sew What Sherlock.  Sarah is a new to me blogger that I met on Instagram.  She suggests the best tutorial/video about paper piecing is at Connecting Threads, and I agree.   You can see the video here (and, by the way,  their books are 40% off this week; free shipping if you spend $50 or more.)

This was one of my  first successes before I trimmed seams trimmed all the way around.  I did press as I went, but I also suggest trimming the seam allowances as you go.  I was too excited to stop and trim.

These were ones that the green fabric wasn't large enough, so I had to rip them out.  I definitely had to have patience for this. At first I thought about just starting over, but it would have taken more time to cut everything again.    Thanks to my favorite seam ripper from Clover.  I was able to rip the threads without ripping the paper.  

So, here they are!  All 165 (I did two of them wrong).  

This post is linked to:

Scrap Basket Sunday at Kim's Big Quilting Adventure

Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times 

If you read my post below you can see that I have had a hard time with blogger lately.  I lost my blog for a while, and now it's back, thank goodness.  During that time, though, some things have changed between blogger and google, and to be honest, I'm a bit confused.  I did read on some blogs (from bloggers who have wordpress) that they aren't able to post on blogspot blogs because of the settings they have as far as commenters.  I changed my settings to take anonymous commenters so that people can leave comments.  I thought about taking away the word verification, but to be honest, I am hoping it will help keep the spammers away.  We will see how "anynomous" works and go from there.

Do something quilty every day!  

Amanda

Busy Little Quilter

I'm Sewing Every Day in July

I have been challenged by Pat Sloan to sew every day in July.  It can be a few stitches to sew  on a binding, cutting out a quilt, sewing for a few minutes, or all day, by hand or machine.     You can read more about Pat's Sew Every Day in July Challenge here.

My first day was spent straightening up my sewing room.  I had fabrics that needed to be folded, and I did some rearranging.

I can't believe I'm showing you this photo.  I have some decluttering to do. It's always a work in progress.  This isn't all of my fabric, by the way.  I keep my seasonal fabrics (Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, Easter, Patriotic, Halloween, and Christmas) in other places because I don't use them all the time.

Back to the Challenge...

While straightening up my sewing room, I started looking through some of my UFO boxes.  I found a Bow Tie quilt that I had started about 7 years ago.  I already had all of the pieces made, and all of them were sewn together except for the final seam that joins the top part of the bowtie to the bottom part. I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't finish.  I am wondering that, as well!

In the meantime, I was reading in Bonnie Hunter's book Leaders and Enders that you can sew two quilts at the same time by using blocks in one project as a leader (instead of a fabric scrap) and as an ender (instead of another fabric scrap).   I thought this would be a great idea for the project I have been working on for Kim's Scrap Basket Sunday.

 I put my half completed bow tie blocks beside my sewing machine and every time I sewed a seam  on my Quick and Easy Pinwheel scrap quilt,  I picked up a bowtie block and completed it.

I am almost finished sewing all 80 of the bowtie blocks, and I have more blocks to sew in the Quick and Easy Pinwheel.  

I really like the idea of sewing two quilts at the same time.  I'm sure I have more unfinished projects that are almost put together like this bow-tie.  There is no telling how many UFO's  I could sew at the same time.  I'm too afraid to look!   Hopefully, with Pat's Sew Every Day in July Challenge will result in several finishes!  After all, a few minutes here, a few minutes there, and voila!  you have a finished quilt top (or two).  

Have a great day!  

Amanda 

Scrap Basket Sunday

I am linking this post to Kim.  Please be sure to visit Kim and all of the other Scrap Basket Sunday participants.  

It  wasn't my intention when I started to blog, again, that I only posted on Scrap Basket Sundays!  I have been a busy little quilter getting a quilting  class together, and I have been out of town teaching classes for a quilting club in Illinois.  

My Scrap Basket Sunday project features a class that I hope to be teaching at a quilters retreat called Runaway Quilters.  It depends on whether or not people sign up for my class as to whether or not I will be teaching.  Registration closes soon (it has to be postmarked on July 1).   Either way, it's one more fall themed quilt to add to my collection!  

The quilt is called "Feels Like Fall".  It is designed by the Joined at the Hip girls, and was featured on the cover of American Patchwork and Quilting, October 2008 issue.

This quilt consists of scraps from my collection as well as scraps from Avis and Tammy's (the joined at the hip girls).  How fun is that?  I used a few homespuns and Civil War fabrics  from their stash,  and added in some of my Civil War scraps.  The darker pumpkins came from my stash.

Tonight I will be sewing the back together so that I can take it to Terry (bff with a long arm quilting machine) for her to quilt for me.  As always, she will do her "magic" and make it even more beautiful.

I'm still busy unpacking my bags from my teaching trip.  It's such a rewarding experience to share the love of quilting with others.

Take care!

Amanda 

Edited:  I previously stated that this quilt could be found in the October 2008 issue of Fons and Porters Love of Quilting Magazine.  My apologies for the confusion if you were looking for it.

Scrap Basket Sunday

It's another Scrap Basket Sunday at Kim's blog! 

 I look forward to seeing what Kim and everyone else doing with their scraps.

This week I was busy working on my June wallhanging.  I layered my backing, batting, and top together, and used the machine applique as part of my quilting.

After I was finished appliqueing, I was ready to machine quilt, which is something I rarely ever do.  They say you should relax, drink a glass of wine (I would fall asleep), take a deep breath, and go for it.  I am an over thinker, and, to be honest, I was ready to pick up the phone and call Terry (bff with a long-arm) and ask her to quilt it for me.  Instead, I put on my big girl panties  went to my library of quilting books and pulled out Pat Sloan's book, Learn to Machine Quilt with Pat Sloan.

The book has step by step instructions on how to set up your machine, how to get your top ready to machine quilt, and there are diagrams of different quilting designs.  She even has projects that you can make to practice your machine quilting skills.

Practice...now that's a powerful word.  It's one I heard often when I took piano lessons when I was younger.    The more you practice the better you get, and it's the same way with machine quilting.

 As you can see, I need more practice!  Oh yes I do!

I finished quilting it, but I think I need more.  I put it back on my design wall in my hall to see exactly what it needs.  I really like the idea of quilting in the center of the flowers, like I did above.  The fence area is a little puffy, so I think I am going to do some straight-line quilting in the fence area, and maybe veins in the leaves, and more quilting in the centers of the flowers.

I took a break from quilting, and made a few more blocks to the scrap quilt I started.

I'm anxious to see what this quilt is going to look like. It's the first time I have used scrappy prints in the background.  I think it's going to be pretty!

Now I'm ready to see what Kim and everyone else worked on this week!

Take care!

Amanda

Scrap Basket Sunday

Happy Sunday!  It's a beautiful day here in KY, especially after having rainy weather all weekend.  Thankfully, the storms weren't as strong as what our weather forecasters were predicting.  My thoughts and prayers are with those who were affected by tornadoes, again, in Oklahoma, and in Missouri, as well, and it continues today in the northeast.

It's another Scrap Basket Sunday!   

I'm linking up with Kim and the rest of the creative Scrap Basket Sunday quilters.  I look forward to seeing what everyone has done with their scraps this  week.  

I worked on my June Button-Up wall-hanging, in between shopping with my grand daughter, working in my flower beds, and painting my picket fence around my little garden.  Although I don't like strong storms and all that it can bring with it, I do welcome a nice rain that helps  saves me time from having to go out and water twice a day; that leaves me a little more time to sew! 

I really like the way this is turning out.  I love that I was able to find pinks in my scrap baskets to use for the hollyhocks.  The pink and brown stripe was just sitting on my shelf; leftover from using it as a back of a graduation quilt I made a couple of years ago.  I bought the little check for the background, a couple of years ago, because I needed something with small checks to give texture and interest to whatever I was making.  For this wall-hanging I couldn't decide if I wanted the check or a blue (for sky), but I'm glad I chose the check because it looks like a great day with a little bit of cloud coverage.

This week I will spend time appliqueing everything.  It is June, afterall, and I need to get this quilted fast.  I plan to use the appliqueing as my quilting (I layer everything, and applique as it quilts it at the same time.   It's sort of a two-fer.) with a little bit of quilting in the open spaces.

My soil may not can grow Hollyhocks, but it can grow Sunflowers.  The ground is nice and wet; perfect for planting seeds (and pulling weeds).  

Have a great day!  

Amanda  

Be sure to look at the quilt I finished in May and posted in my One Project a Month. You can see it here.   It's perfect for scrap quilts.  

Scrap Basket Sunday

I am linking up with Kim for another Scrap Basket Sunday!

I missed last Sunday because it was Mother's Day.  We celebrated all weekend, which made it really special.  Every once in a while I would sneek in into my quilting studio to dig through my tubs of scraps to find enough dark fabric prints  to be able to cut (2) 6 1/2" squares for a workshop I was taking.   You can see my post about it here.    What I thought would take a little bit of time here and there, ended up taking me more time that I expected.  Cutting quilts from scraps takes a lot of time, but in the end it's worth it.

You can see my stack of 6 1/2" squares I was able to find in my fabric cutting frenzy  here.  You will see fabrics I use in every scrap quilt I make.  Maybe it will give you an idea when you make scrap quilts.

Heidi had a Friday Night Sew-In that she does on the third Friday night of the month.  My Friday night was spent appliqueing the seeds on the watermelons that I have been making during Scrap Basket Sundays.   Saturday, I sewed rows together in between working in my flower beds.

It's looking pretty!

Well, maybe not!

This is what happens when you get excited about almost getting a project completed.  

This are the blocks I completed in the workshop I took on Thursday.  

I have never used a variety of little prints for backgrounds.  There are shirtings, little flowers, stripes, and I love the polka dots!  

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on in Scrap Basket Sunday.

Have a great day!

Amanda

Scrap Basket Sunday

It's another Scrap Basket Sunday!  I'm linking up with Kim at Kim's Big Quilting Adventure and sharing what I have worked on this week from my scraps.

Last week I showed you bits a pieces of my shoo fly blocks for the watermelon wall-hanging that I started a year ago.  This week I sewed them together, and they look so cute!

Shoo fly blocks are my favorite.

I have two fabrics I could use for sashing:  the black and white polka dot or the black and cream check homespun.  I'm not really sure which one will work, so it's best to audition them with the watermelon blocks.

I like the way the black and white polka dot works well with the darker Civil War scraps that I used in my Shoo Fly blocks.

However, when I fused the watermelon seeds onto the watermelon, it was too much black.  

I then added the black and cream check homespun, and I really like the way it adds just the right touch of black and doesn't take away from the watermelon or the Shoo Fly blocks.  The black and cream check was what the designer used in the magazine, but, I had to try out the black and white polka dot, just to see.  

This week I will spend the entire week appliqueing the 55 watermelon seeds. I think I will satin stitch them, instead of using the button hole stitch.  Hopefully, I will have time, too, to put the top together.  It's almost time for watermelon season, and I have the perfect place to hang the quilt.  

Have a great day!

Amanda