Thursday, March 14, 2024

How Many Projects in a Week?

 I mention working on multiple projects often on this blog. I don't think I've ever given an example of how many projects that could mean. Since last week, I took photos of every project I've touched in the past seven days. I'll start with the basting/quilting/binding projects first, because that list is shorter. 


Project 1- I finished FMQ and bound this baby quilt. That's finish #9 for 2024.


Project 2- I basted and started FMQ this deadline quilt.


Project 3- I prepared a backing and laid out another quilt for basting.


Projects 4 & 5- I'm not sure if I actually sewed on the project on the left, but I did take the time to count the blocks and make a plan to use them all. I have 100 blocks, and I could make a king sized quilt or multiple smaller quilts. I don't need a king right now, and I have several king sized quilts on my docket, so I've decided to make two quilts set 5x7, and one set 5x6, which will use all the blocks. The blocks on the right I absolutely sewed on this week, and I have 72 of those. I could make one queen sized quilt or three throws, and I'm going with the three throws. So these two projects will actually become six quilts.


The first throw I got up on the design wall and sewed it into rows. 


After I was finished those blocks with the black background, I still had quite a few solid squares left, plus I had a few solid strips left. Rather than put all of that back into the Scrap User System, I decided to use up as much as I could in another project. I made more 16 patches, strip piecing as much as I could and adding in squares to keep up the variety. I was out of the black background, but I had extra WOW strips that I had cut for the other scrap fabric. 


Project 6- I'm going to have enough of these blocks to make another throw.


Now only these squares and two strips will be going back into the scrap user system. 



Project #7- The pieced neutral strips have been done for ages, but I cut the blue/green strips and sewed up all these blocks as leader/enders this week. This is already sewn into rows too. 


Project 8- This lego quilt for Mr.T was started this week. I made all the blocks in a day, and now I need to start assembling it with black sashing. I have enough fabric left for at least two throws for Project Linus. 


Project 9- I ran out of leader/enders, so grabbed another cut project to use as leader/enders. I need to add another round of printed strips outside of the black, so these can be my leader/enders for a bit longer. 

That's it, in the last week I've worked on nine different projects! 



Thursday, March 7, 2024

Using the Same Fabric Twice

 The grandtwins are 13 now, but once upon a time DD#3 and I were decorating their nursery. With boy/girl twins in mind, DD#3 wanted a samurai/geisha themed nursery. I bought some fabric from Japan, and made some curtains for the nursery. When we took the curtains down, I put them aside because the fabric was in great shape, and eventually I cut them apart and put them in a couple quilt tops.


I just finished sewing the binding on this quilt top a few minutes ago. It's finish #8 for the year. Without looking, I think I made a smaller quilt top from the leftovers of this one. This one is twin sized, the other I think is a baby quilt. Like I said, I didn't look through the quilt closet to check, but if my memory is correct, those curtains went into two quilt tops. 

Originally I wasn't planning on using sashing, but the quilt was much too busy without it. There is actually quite a bit of black in the novelty fabric, so black was the obvious choice. I used a solid black, which looked rather stark against the busy print, so to soften the black a bit, I quilted with a pastel variegated thread. 


The thread mostly looks white in the photo, but it's not white at all. I took several photos, but I couldn't get the thread colors to show up. A pastel thread on black is not an intuitive choice, but I wanted to soften the solid black, and I knew if I quilted with a strongly contrasting thread, the black wouldn't look solid anymore. I could have just chosen a solid light colored thread from one of the colors in the quilt, but I happened to have a variegated thread with all the colors in it. The black and white gingham binding was another choice meant to soften the look of the black. 

I'm happy with how the quilt came out. Quilting flowers on a twin sized quilt was not quick, so my next quilt will be a simple baby quilt I'm just going to meander on. I switched my Janome over to FMQ as soon as I had the binding for this quilt sewn on, and it's threaded and ready to go for the next quilt in the queue. 

As far as piecing goes, I finished a quilt top for a deadline quilt today too, and I'm planning to baste it this weekend. That quilt needs to be finished this month, so it will jump ahead in the quilting queue, but I think I can get the baby quilt quilted first without any risk to getting the deadline quilt finished in time. 

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Finish #7, Five Of Which Were UFO's

 I'm starting to think of this year as Operation Clean Slate. I won't finish the year with no UFO's, I have too many to catch up in one year. If I had a longarm, maybe, but I don't so I'm not going to stress about it. Quilt tops don't stress me out as long as they are hanging in the quilt closet, BUT, I now have more quilt tops than I have hangers, and I refuse to buy more hangers. What I'd love to have is some empty hangers at the end of the year. Two empty hangers, if I get enough quilts finished to have two empty hangers I'll count it as an epic win! 


DH took this photo for me, and he was standing on a chair holding the phone way out in front of him. The quilt is rectangular, not wonky like it looks in the photo. This quilt used up all the leftovers from a quilt I made back in 2016, plus the leftovers from a baby quilt I made a couple years ago. That fairy fabric and metallic star fabric is gone. Well, I might have an odd square or strip in the scrap user system, but there is no yardage left. This quilt is twin sized. 

I'm quilting another twin sized quilt now, but I'm quilting flowers on it so the quilting is taking quite a bit longer. I'm hoping to finish it by the end of next week. 

On the piecing front I've got piecing projects going on two different machines. I'm assembling the men's shirt version of Indigo Way, and I'm using a UFO as my leader/ender project than can use the same light colored piecing thread. 

My vintage machine had dark gray piecing thread, so I'm making One of the deadline quilts for a grandson on that, with a UFO that can be pieced with dark thread as my leader/ender project on that. 

One of the reasons I have so many quilt tops right now (aside from the fact I made 18 quilt tops while living in a hotel for three months last year), stems from my decision to try to use only UFO's as my leader/ender projects. 


These blocks are a great example of this. I have had the colored pieced strips done for at least two years. All that needed to be done to finish the blocks is to add the three WOW strips. This project languished because I never prioritized it to be the main project, BUT, finishing the blocks as leaders/enders while having another main project, THAT works for me! I assembled the colored strips as leaders/enders too, and I think I'll have enough blocks for two quilts. I don't plan on adding borders, so making two quilts from scraps, while never having either be a main a project until assembly is a good way to be more productive. 

Today is the last day of February, and I've finished 7 quilts so far. If I can keep this up, it will be a really good year, but I'm not going to hurt myself trying to reach a big goal. So far my plan is working well, and I'm able to keep my RSI from complaining. It feels good to see projects getting to the step, parts into blocks, blocks into quilt tops, quilt tops to basting, basting to FMQ, quilting to binding. If I can keep things moving along, I'm not going to stress about UFO's. 

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Finish #6 for 2024

 It's not a big finish, but it is finished!


It's a baby quilt, about 45" square, and it's the last of some fat quarters I used in three quilts, this being the smallest. 

I'm almost finished quilting another quilt, a twin sized one, so once that one is bound I'll have another one to show. 


I had four blocks to make for the Greek Murder Mystery quilt for February, and here they are all finished. I put them side by side for the pic, but I don't know how they'll be set in the quilt, it is a mystery after all. I'm very happy that I had swapped out a couple of my blues before the mystery started. These blues have better contrast than my original choices. 

I'm having a little bit of trouble getting back into a routine after the family reunion we hosted. I'm fully recovered from the hubbub, and I got my house back to normal the next day, but my original thoughts for what I'd work on after the reunion have changed a little bit. We will have out of town company for a week next month, and I decided it probably wasn't the best time to get neck deep into my strings. I LOVE string piecing, but it really makes a mess!

I decided it's probably best to put the strings on the back burner a bit longer, and go back to working on deadline quilts. The next deadline quilt I need is a really quick quilt kit. It starts with two different panels and I had cut it out before the reunion. I started piecing it today, and I'm really thinking I can get this twin sized quilt pieced in three days max. Tomorrow is a no sew day, I'm going to the zoo with some of the grands since they don't have school. You know you live in the west when school kids get vacation days for rodeo. 

I also finished two quilt tops I had started assembling before the reunion. I have a third ready for borders, and I just cut those, so almost another top done! 

I guess when I list it out, I've finished more than I thought. I think it's just not as much as I had hoped. 

DD#1 told me Miss A wants a sewing machine for for her birthday in the fall. I was debating whether or not to give her one of mine, or buy a newer one for her, when a sewing machine fell into my lap for her. 


When my oldest sister and I went up to see our new great nephew last week, our nephew told us he'd like his mom's machine to go to a family member. I told him I had a granddaughter asking for a sewing machine, and he said his mom would have liked it going to the next generation, and my sister and I agreed. I want to take it in for servicing before I pass it on. Our sister passed five years ago, so I'm betting that machine is bone dry and the grease in the gears should be replaced. It should be a solid machine for my granddaughter though, and it having a cabinet is a nice perk. I was leaning towards a vintage machine for her anyway, and this way she'll have her great-aunt's machine which is pretty cool! 


My nephew even gave me my sister's sewing box with all the accessories and notions, so it's a good start for a new sewist. I'm going to keep her and her sister soon for a couple nights, and we are going to make some simple skirts for them. Miss A is nine, but her sister is only five. Of course the five year old whom I've never sewed with wants to start out by making a dress, but I talked her down to a skirt. Miss A seems to have a natural aptitude for sewing, so I probably could make a dress with her, but since we'll be trying to make two matching garments in two days, I'm thinking elastic waist skirts are a safer choice. Once I know how patient the five year old is with sewing, I'll have a better idea of appropriate projects. 


Friday, February 16, 2024

Go-To Block Sizes for Scraps

 I love a good scrap quilt, and for scraps, my go-to block size is 6" finished. Why 6" blocks? Here are just a few reasons.

Novelty prints-


This particular novelty print is fairly small scale, but some novelty prints are huge. I've found that when I cut 6.5" squares (to finish at 6") even the larger prints have enough of the design to tell what it is without fussy cutting. I know some quilters LOVE fussy cutting, and if you do, kudos! When I'm busting scraps, I'm trying to get rid of fabrics, and I've got no desire to spend a bunch of my time fussy cutting, which just makes smaller, weirder shaped scraps. 


These are all 6" finished blocks. All of them can be made with either 1.5, 2, 2.5, or 3.5" cut strips. I use the EZ angle and Companion angle rulers for HST's and QST's, so I don't have to cut huge squares then trim down to make those units. Some of these are scrappy, some are not. I have dozens of other block patterns I use to make 6" finished blocks. The thing about sticking with a consistent size, is that you learn different ways to set the blocks to make the quilts look different, but you can bust lots of blocks even if they are different if the block size is the same. Got a bunch of random 6" blocks? Sash them with cornerstones. Use them as the centers of sawtooth stars and push them up to 12" blocks. Frame them with alternating colors and set them next to each other. Make matching QST's and use the scrap blocks every other block and you'll have a quilt that looks on point but it was easier to make. Use matching nine patches as an alternate block and you'll get an Irish Chain look. 

I see a lot of quilters who like 12" blocks. You don't need as many blocks to make a quilt when your blocks are that large. There are advantage to large blocks too. BUT, my preference for SCRAPS is smaller blocks. A lot of blocks need matching fabrics in certain placements. When I'm using up scraps, I may not have enough of any particular fabric to do repeating units. I like blocks where I can use up the smaller bits, strips that aren't WOF, maybe not even half that much. 


Go, Chiefs! Superbowl champions 2024! For this block I needed 2- 2.5 x 6.5" pieces, then 2 matching 2.5" squares. You can get that from 18" of a 2.5" strip. So if you have strips from a fat quarter, you're good. Have half a jelly roll strip leftover from another project? That's plenty of fabric for this block.


For this 6" block, I needed 4 scraps 2" x 3.5" So, when I'm tackling the Scrap User system, the bits that are more than one square wide, but not quite two squares wide can go into this pattern. 

What about scraps that aren't strips? Crumb blocks? I make 6" blocks. String blocks? I usually make 6" blocks. Six inch blocks help you get rid of the smaller stuff. If you want to make 10 or 12 inch string blocks, you need pretty long pieces, especially if you are piecing them on the diagonal like I usually do. To make large crumb blocks I usually end up having to use a bunch of longer pieces so I'm digging into my strings when I want to be using crumbs. 

Another reason I like 6" squares? The math is easy. Sew four together and you've got a 12" block. I tend to make baby quilts around 48" square. That's 64 blocks set 8x8 if I don't use sashing or a border. An 8x10 setting gives me a 48 x 60" quilt which is a good size for a kid. 10x12 setting is a 60x72" quilt, good for a adult throw. 12x15 setting gives me a twin. Most of my scrap quilts aren't going to be larger than a twin. 

I'm not saying everyone needs to make 6" blocks out of their scraps. I don't even care if you toss your scraps, it's not my business. What I am saying is that IF you WANT to make good use of your scraps, making consistent sized blocks from your scraps will make them easier to use in quilt tops. Choose whatever size blocks you like. I like pre-cutting my scraps, and all the sizes I cut can be used in 6" blocks, so for me, this makes sense. Whichever size blocks you like to make, find several block patterns that are good for scraps, then find several setting options for those blocks. 

If you have some Go-to options, you can just make scrap blocks as leaders/enders, or just for fun in between big projects, and when the stack is big enough, make a quilt top. Scrap quilts don't have to be a chore, and they don't have to be the main project. With a little planning, they can happen organically, and then you'll be making more quilts than ever, without even trying.