Go Four It Quilt Top Finish

Go Four It progress! Some quality time in the sewing room has resulted in a finished top.  First there was a lot of MATH to see if the yardage I wanted to use for the border was big enough. 

Kansas Troubles fabric--I do love Moda fabrics. There was a lot of measuring and figuring and refiguring but the fabric was big enough to cut the border size I wanted, 5" wide.  I cut the strips  lengthwise so there was a lot of time with the cutting mat on the floor, as the cutting table was covered with the Bookshelf quilt pieces--I'll show progress on that project tomorrow.

Although I didn't plan this, the border fabrics from stash are very traditional in color.  I think that complements the center--they are "everything" blocks: pastels, batiks, prints, solids, traditional and modern. All the four patch blocks were assembled over several years as leader-enders, from 1.5" squares with 2.5" squares cut diagonally to put them on point.

I did have to seam together the borders strips for length, but I am not too fussed about that.  So glad this is a finished quilt top.  Stash fabrics will be assembled for the backing, and I will send this out for quilting. 

Go Four It Quilt

Nearly three years ago I finished a quilt top based on the Go Four It challenge in APQ magazine, inspired by another APQ magazine quilt by Edyta Sitar, with a final setting based on a Bonnie Hunter quilt, Daybreak. How's that for a winding road :)  

Goals this year being more finished quilts, I pulled out some magazines to look for border ideas.  The top is 51 x 66 or so.  The setting fabric is a Jan Patek fabric I chose as it was fairly non-directional.  I made the side setting triangles large so that the pieced blocks would float.  While perusing magazines, I saw a quilt that used a border design that extended the floating look even more, and sketched it out.  I cut  2.5" border strips with my GO cutter, and 4.5" corner squares. 

Liking it! I set the color blocks and light blocks to make chains in the quilt.  Can you see them?

All four sides attached.  I liked the way the corner square extended into the floating center. 

Closeup of the corner square fabric, a remnant left over from another scrappy quilt.  One of the grandsons toybox cars appeared when I moved the recliner to lay out the quilt :)

Considering this yardage from stash for a final border but will have to do MATH to determine if I have enough of it. 

Some of the first border fabric is in one of the pieced blocks.  I  love all the scrappiness!

Go Four It Wrap Up--Three for March

Go Four It sewing occupied many hours this weekend, lots of pinning and ironing and rearranging...I wish the aerobic efforts offset the chocolate I ate!

I sewed another grouping to add the large first section finished on Day 2.   So far so good...

There was surprisingly little ripping necessary on this entire quilt top, fortunately. I did run into one row where I had duplicate dark square in squares next to each other and had to switch one square in square out.  There was some break time before the remaining corner was completed.

It was so nice to get to the shorter rows and by 9 pm I had the top all together.  One long last seam...

Hooray!  All done save the four corner triangles, which I have not yet cut.   The top measures about 51x68" currently, and will require borders at a later date.  This first pick for my Three for March challenge would never have gotten done if chosen during a regular weekday.  So glad I had the time to devote to it on the weekend.  Next Three for March pick tomorrow...

Three For March--Go Four It Progress

Today is the third day for working on the first pick of my UFO busting self-challenge.  Yesterday I sewed and sewed, cut and cut.  I started the assembly much later in the day than I planned, due to my husband wanting to go out to breakfast at one of our favorite spots.  It was raining and the outdoor patio was closed, so the wait was long.  Before we left home, Grant had texted our youngest daughter to see if she wanted to join us. We had been sitting there (luckily snagged an inside spot!) for more than 20 minutes when he received a text back from her.  She had just woken up and, thinking it was too late (30+ minutes after he texted her), wrote, "This is the saddest news I have ever woken up to.  I wanted breakfast!"  After laughing, Grant wrote her back that we were still waiting and she was welcome to join us.  Her boyfriend was with her and though it turned out we waited about 45 minutes total for a table, it was fun to have some time with just the two of them. 

I started in on the setting triangles, which were easily cut from strips with the Essential Triangle tool--so much easier than making the bigger squares.  The strip is cut to the finished block size listed on the tool.  Thankful for brainy people who make these shortcuts!

Before long I had assembled the bottom left corner, without getting anything out of place, thankfully!  Here are some block closeups.

I took several breaks but by 10:00 pm had assembled up to the longest diagonal row, which was a good stopping point. 

Nothing has turned or twisted out of place and I am happy with how everything fits.  Making the square in squares a little large and cutting down was tedious but sure helps with assembly.  I have been pressing the seams alternately to one side on each row so they nest.  Now to get to it after I slept in this morning!  Hope to have a finished top by bedtime tonight.  

Three for March--Go Four It Layout

 Three for March--working on one quilt UFO for three days at a time, all month.

I spent several hours with the Go Four It pieces and parts yesterday--I have only a design floor, so got lots of exercise crawling around, with intermittent jaunts to the cutting table for more setting squares.  The setting square fabric is a Jan Patek fabric called Hawthorne Ridge. 

Here is half the quilt top laid out.  I was happy with the setting fabric as the print looks fine turned any which way without particularly forming a secondary pattern.  The blocks are busy enough by themselves.

And here is the whole top--minus the edge setting squares.  Bonnie Hunter fans may notice I used her Daybreak quilt setting for my four patch arrangement, grouping five square in square blocks.  Funny that she is just teaching this quilt! She used a pretty warm solid blue for the background and then sashed with neutral string borders and four patch cornerstones.  My layout eliminates the thousand tiny setting squares and sashing, and I alternated the dark and light centers/outer squares. 

Next I'll use Bonnie's Essential Triangle Tool for my side triangles and corner triangles.  I will have to cut a couple of sample sizes to see which fits best, MATH not being my strong point.  My finished block size is 3" for the square in squares which by Bonnie's helpful online guide means a 5.5" setting triangle.  It may be that I end up cutting larger squares and slicing diagonally twice, but I'd rather not!  Especially since I have limited fabric, only about a yard and a half left of the setting fabric. 

Three for March--first pick, Go Four It

For my WIP/UFO busting self-challenge, working on one project for three days at a time this month, I drew a number randomly from a jar. 

#5 is  my version of the APQ challenge quilt by Edyta Sitar, Go Four It quiltalong.  I have made more blocks since this project last appeared in my Three for September challenge. 

I found the background fabric at the vendor mall of the Santa Barbara Quilt Guild show last fall.  There will be some trimming of blocks before I start laying out my design.  Background fabric will be cut to 3.5" squares and setting triangles.

Blurry photo but shows my basic layout of light square in squares alternating with colored square in squares set diagonally. I plan a 6x8 setting and will assemble in diagonal rows.  My three day goal is to get the top together.  That is a lot of sewing but should go fairly fast--fingers crossed!

Three for September Wrap Up

The September challenge I set for myself, working on a different WIP for three days at a time all month, has been a great motivator and I have gotten some finishes that were long desired. I chose 10 projects and either moved along or finished 8 of the projects.  

#1 was the placemats for my nephew and his bride.  Goal was met of finishing the four placemats and mailing them to the happy couple.  

This photo shows the colors truer than the final shot with the aqua floral binding.  Nice to check off that fast finish for the first project, as I was already working on it, lol!

#2 was Garden Pinwheel, a quilt made from bonus triangles from the Rick Rack Road quilt here.  

I was stuck on the applique border.  Using the GO cutter after applying Steam a Seam2 fusible to the leaf fabrics was a big help in moving this quilt top along. 

Since I already had completed the back and binding, it will be next in the quilting queue. 

#3 was Jewels in the Curio.  I started this last year on National Sew a Jelly Roll Day, from a  Civil War Homefront Jelly Roll my mom and dad bought me years ago.  It is a Moda Bakeshop pattern. Goal was to assemble the finished Jewel Box Blocks into a top and work on the three borders. 

I finished the top and reassessed the border pieces that I needed were cut.  I also chose a neutral from stash to use for two of the borders instead of trying to cobble together scrappy ones, a decision that had stalled the quilt. 

#4 was Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient.  Sue had stalled a number of times, having been started about 4 years ago with bonus triangles from this quilt I made in 2006.

After a cutting error when trimming Sue's linen background meant I had to add coping strips that looked like a doorway to me, I added the oriental lantern embroidery.  She is all finished now, with a facing on the back made from Japanese fabric my sister in law brought me from a trip to Japan. 

Simple quilting was all that was needed.

This sideways pic shows how the top facing covers the shorter side facing, eliminating bulk in the corners.  I made skinny channel to hold a bamboo skewer or knitting needle for a hanging sleeve.  So happy to have Sue finished at last, so many years after the original idea struck.

#5 was Zig Zag 9 patch, a quilt started from a block swap with an online Yahoo Group.  I assembled the top a couple of years ago...2012! (cough) a la Bonnie Hunter's quilt Rick Rack Nines, and it went to the quilter in 2017; the binding was machine sewn on in June this year and it has been waiting since then to have some missed stitching repairs and get a bath. I took it to the laundromat today and it is a finished quilt at last. 

Our CalKing bed is too wide for the zig zags to run vertically, but I still think it looks good.  The Baptist Fan quilting was my choice, and I love the texture.  So pleased to have made a bed sized quilt for US at last. 

#6 was Go Four It, a Leader-Ender I've been working on for a few years, based on Edyta Sitar's quilt in APQ magazine, with a twist.  Quilt MATH finally being worked out meant I needed to find a setting fabric for my layout.  Luckily I have found one.

The Jan Patek fabric I found at the Santa Barbara Quilt Guild show a few weeks ago is now washed and ready to cut.  I can finally turn this Leader Ender into a real quilt.  

#7 was two unplanned "squirrel" project tablerunners from a Kim Brackett book.  Inspiration struck to use charm squares instead of yardage and I assembled two tops before running out of steam.  Both are now finished. 

I chopped off the corner in this pic, but you get the idea.  This is from her Cross My Heart quilt in Scrap-Basket Surprises.  I had fun with the specialty stitches on my machine to add detail to walking foot quilting.

Above is the larger tablerunner, and below is the mini, from the same Prayer Flag charm pack that had languished in a drawer for years. 

#8  was the Medallion Star rescue quilt.  I inherited this early 90's top from my former boss, whose now ex-wife was clearing out her old craft projects.   I had chopped off some of the dated background fabric and made a new pieced border of my own 3 years ago.  

It became a sandwich and stalled during the quilting stage in 2017.  It has been stuffed under my cutting table waiting for more quilting for over a year.  I had spray basted the quilt and needed to iron it flat again before adding more quilting today.  While still not finished, it is very close to becoming a real quilt at last. 

 Walking foot quilting in the border chains...

...and surrounding the star points.  I have the four corner squares left to do in the burgundy, and a plan for the remainder of the borders.  Now September is over and I feel great about all the time I've spent in my sewing room this month. 

The two projects that didn't get touched were Barefoot in the Park, a Christmas quilt which is a layout, switcheroo and assemble the top job, and the other is framing the Mason Jar embroidery I recently finished.  I'll get to them :)  

I plan to revisit this "Three For a Month" idea in the future whenever I get overwhelmed again.  It was fun to touch each of these quilts and finish a few. 

Things are Perking

It was a busy weekend and week so far, two family birthdays and a trip to a quilt show, then evening appointments two nights this week.  While it seems I have suspended my Three for September project, actually I am still working on several at once. 

My sister, sister-in-law and I snuck off on Sunday to attend the Santa Barbara  Coastal Quilter's Guild show. It was very well organized, with many volunteers and good vendors.  We had lots of fun shopping and signed up for some of the prizes.  My sister played on a new longarm machine and is contemplating upgrading.  I didn't take too many photos, but loved this quilt.

Yes, this is a quilt of a reflection.  The Santa Barbara Mission is a beautiful active mission and the site of many events through the year.  I loved this smallish quilt, measuring maybe 24x30.  We had a fun couple of hours seeing everything and bumping into guild members.  I found some bargains and a possible contender for one of the Three for September WIPs.  And my sister Kathy later received a call saying she had won the Singer Featherweight drawing prize!  How about that?  She is so excited.  I hope to get my hands on it occasionally too. 

For the Go Four It quilt I bought this Jan Patek fabric from The Rusty Crow.  She packages up yard size cuts and discounts them, $8 each.  My layout calls for 3.5" setting squares and also outer setting triangles so I bought three packages.  I did not want to have too small of a print in the background, but also not one too distracting that would overshadow the pieced blocks. 

I think this subtle colored print will work.  Opinions welcome.  Have I mentioned quilt MATH in awhile?  I have counted and recounted and recalculated the numbers for the square in squares yet again, to find that I have over a dozen extra of the colored sort, and am short by about a dozen of the neutral.  Jeez.  I'm very pleased to have found a background fabric at last, though, so this WIP will move along.  

Sunbonnet Sue Goes to the Orient got more attention too. I found this quilt facing tutorial on Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio site (terryaskeartquilts.com).  I cut the facing strips two inches wider for the top and bottom, and two inches shorter for the sides as suggested.  The tutorial included cutting out a very small piece of ONLY the batting from the corners, this is about a 5/8" square (I forgot to get a picture before I sewed on the facings so it is laying on top)

The pieces are stay-stitched to aid in rolling the quilt front to the back a smidge.  The top facing will overlap the side piece when  folded to the back (this pic shows the top piece on the right).

Look how sharp that corner turned out.  I cut my facings wide and will trim them down a bit before handstitching to the back. Getting close to calling this a finish!

I spent a couple of hours today sewing a binding on another Thomas  Fire Quilt.  We still have people requesting quilts.  At work we had a patient today who lost their house in the fire.  He was very excited that their house plans have been approved by the City and soon they may start new construction.  Grant and I took a drive up into one of the worst hit neighborhoods the other day, and while there were lots cleared not much new construction has been going on.  We saw dozens of lots, many of which are for sale; most of the neighborhood went up in the 60s and original owners now in their 80s are not rebuilding.  I'm sure it will be years before the hundreds of homes lost are replaced and insurance settlements satisfied.  We will keep giving out quilts until no more requests come through.

Three for September Twofer

Three for September: I am choosing a to work on a different WIP every three days this month. 

 

I was out of the house most of the day yesterday, errands included going to the pharmacy, fabric store, and I snuck in a lunch out with DD Erica.  I had intended to get in the sewing room in the late afternoon but succumbed to a nap and missed dinner.  Not being tired, I got stuck into sewing Jewel Box blocks into rows, with the Twofer part the leader-ender square in squares.  

 All the rows are completed and I have the first pair at the sewing machine for assembly.

These square in squares were sewn and trimmed before the night was over. Lots more  bright triangles are cut and ready to sew on.

I picked up a Thomas Fire quilt to bind, and did a little shopping at Superbuzzy for more neutrals.  

The length of Kona Snow I hope will be sufficient for another new project.  A couple of jelly rolls are on their way from Etsy to be sewn into Happy Tiers quilts for my cousin's granddaughters for Christmas.  I'm aiming for National Jelly Roll Day sewing (9/15).  This will interrupt my Three for September, but I will find a way to fit in a less work intensive WIP.  According to my schedule, the 15th will be the third day of whichever project chosen. 

Now, off to sew!

Three for September: Garden Pinwheel Top Finish

Three for September:  a WIP is chosen and worked on for three days, all month.  

Late last night I carefully toted the Garden Pinwheel quilt top to the ironing board to fuse down the leaves on the border.  I only lost one leaf, which was a thin fabric that didn't want to stick, but fused just fine once I found it under the ironing board!

If you can tell, I decided to graduate down to the smaller leaves from the corners.  The applique really adds a lot to the simple patchwork, I think. 

Lots of green scrappy leaves in all shades. Oh, I am so happy I didn't abandon this idea in favor of a finish years ago!  The top was placed back on the hanger with the backing and binding and hopefully it will come out to play again before the end of the year.   I have plenty of green threads to chose from when it comes time to stitch down the edges with a fancy stitch. 

The next Three for September WIP is going to be a two-fer.  I've been making square-in-square blocks for several years, and after an hour of playing layout on the floor, am nearing the total I need for my self-drafted quilt plan, originally inspired by Edyta Sitar's Go Four It project from APQ magazine in 2015. My blocks are 3.5" unfinished; hers were much tinier as she started with 1.25" squares for her four patches. 

I am going to keep sewing the triangles to my four patches as leader-enders while I finish assembling the rows and top for the Jewels in the Curio quilt (a Moda Bakeshop pattern).  I have another five rows to assemble for the 8x8 setting.  Cutting and assembling the borders may follow before the three days are up.

Now I've got to get out of the house for a few errands, there are more Thomas Fire Quilts to give away and they need binding. A VERY generous long arm quilter has just returned 12 quilts she did for our guild project.  They are tagged for recipients so need to be finished right away.  I'm off to Superbuzzy!

A Decision and a Squirrel Project

I hope all the dads had a great Father's Day.  We went to a BBQ at my Mom and Dad's and all my siblings were there, lots of nieces and nephews, for about 30 guests.  Boy does it take a lot of set up and clean up, but we sure had fun.  The grandsons had a great time being spoiled with attention as they were the youngest in the crowd.

Now that Narragansett Browns is a finished top, I need a new leader-ender project.  A few years ago, American Patchwork and Quilting magazine had a sew along they called Go Four It, based on four patches.  I fell in love with Edyta Sitar's design, a bar quilt with braids of four patches.  However, her design called for 1.25" pieces for the four patches and I don't save pieces that small, so resized ito utilize my 1.5" and 2.5" precut strips and squares.  These I have used as leader-enders for quite some time and I have made hundreds of four patches.  Last year I showed a possible alternate layout , and have made lots more of the 3.5" square-in-squares. I revised my plan to make a larger quilt and did the MATH again.  I now only need 70 each of light and dark square-in-squares. 

I'll lay out all the little blocks individually in diagonal rows and then use 3.5" setting squares of a print or solid.  My design eliminates one bazillion setting triangles, which I am happy about!  It feels good to see this leader-ender closer to becoming a quilt top.  

A squirrel jumped out of a box while I was looking for something else in the Hoosier cabinet that houses my precuts, project boxes, and pattern books.  Oh, they are sneaky, those squirrels! 

Some Broken Dishes blocks made from a Turnover of Frolic fabric I won on Sandy Gervais' blog years ago.  I trimmed all the HSTs to 5.5" inches.  Some Grunge fabric would look great as a border, I think.  There are still MORE pieces left of the Turnover to do something with.  I need to sew faster!