. . . on my current 4-Patch Wonder quilt. The second set of sashing strips has been added to my blocks, and here the blocks are arrayed in their final position ready to be sewn together in diagonal rows:
I moved only two blocks — switching the second and third ones in the third row — before proclaiming the setting complete. Now the big decision is what fabric to use in the setting triangles — the ones that go around the entire quilt to make it rectangular.
My two top candidates are the yellow fabric I initially chose for the wide sashing, which I think may draw out the yellow background in the 4-Patch Wonder blocks very nicely, or the royal blue used in the wider sashing strips. My fear is that the blue will be too strong. I’m going to sacrifice a 15″ square of each fabric and cut them into four triangles to audition them side by side, and then I’ll report back. Do come back to see what I chose!
It didn’t take very long at all to lay out all 32 blocks for my current 4-Patch Wonder quilt made with the blue colorway of Lakehouse Dry Goods’ “Raspberries and Hydrangea” fabric line:
Back in 2011 when I was working on Framboise, my version with the pink colorway, I spent hours and hours moving the blocks around on my design wall before settling on a layout. What was different this time? I had the pink version as a reference! The blocks are not the same in the two quilts but there is enough similarity that the process of sorting blocks with differing levels of value and pattern and then arranging them on the design wall went very smoothly the second time around.
Here are the first four rows with the second set of sashing strips added:
Now you can really see it taking shape.
Once I have all of the sashing strips added, I’ll review my block placement choices. There will be opportunity to make changes before sewing the blocks together.
Here are five of my final eight 4-Patch Wonder “faux-kaleido” blocks, bringing me up to the 32 blocks needed for my current Work-in-Progress:
The other three blocks got mixed into the ones I had already made and I didn’t want to take the time to identify them. You’ll see them soon enough in the final layout.
All 32 blocks now have the first set of sashing strips around them:
I have to determine the final layout of the blocks before adding the second set of sashing strips because 12 of the blocks are sashed with one fabric and the remaining 20 with another. If you look at Framboise, the pink version I made in 2012 . . .
. . . you can spot the 12 blocks sashed in that bright pink fabric and see how they are surrounded by the other blocks sashed in pale green. Essentially the odd rows have four blocks sashed in one color and the even rows have three blocks sashed in the other.
Now comes the enjoyable (but somewhat nerve-racking) task of arranging the blocks on my design wall. You can see that some of the blocks have very little light background color and others have a lot so I’ll be looking for that perfect balance as I arrange them.
This is really where my obsessive-compulsive nature kicks in. Not only do the blocks in each horizontal row have to look balanced, I also have to be pleased with the way the blocks look in the diagonal rows. Am I up for the challenge? You bet!
Here’s another group of 12 faux-kaleido blocks, set on point as they will be in my finished 4-Patch Wonder quilt:
I’m going to make one more set, even though I only need eight more blocks. I can then pick my favorites and put the leftovers on the back.
The fabric I ordered online for the outer borders has arrived and it’s just a skosh darker than the piece I had in my stash. The larger piece in the picture below is the darker:
Can you even tell?
I’m still pinching myself over my good luck in finding this 2½-yard length of fabric. I’ll be able to cut my outer border strips on the lengthwise grain, avoiding the necessity of seams which would be unavoidable with border strips cut on the crosswise grain, i.e., from selvage to selvage.
The fabric came quickly from an Etsy seller in California. It was neatly wrapped in tissue paper and sported this cute little sticker:
I’ve already decided on a name for my current Work-in-Progress: Berried Treasure.
Just my luck . . . as in the good kind! If you read my last post, you know that I’m playing around with four-patch kaleidoscope blocks (what I call “4-Patch Wonder” blocks) in the making of another quilt from my pattern of the same name, using a different colorway from one of the versions I’ve made from the pattern.
Instead of making the next set of 4-Patch Wonder blocks, I started playing around with possibilities for the narrow and wide sashing strips that surround the blocks. My pattern calls for two variations. I had already decided on the first combination of a medium green leaf design for the narrow sashing and a vibrant dark blue dot (“Spin Dot” by Timeless Treasures) for the wider sashing. I made a couple of test blocks.
For the adjacent blocks I was considering the same green leaf for the narrow sashing and a pale yellow blender that matched the background yellow of my focus fabric. Here are the two blue test blocks with the yellow test block:
Okay, the yellow blender is very pretty . . . but it’s not sensational. I was hoping for something with a little more pizzazz, especially because the yellow background of the focus fabric is slightly metallic with a lovely subtle scroll design. I looked at my pink version, Framboise . . .
. . and thought, “Wouldn’t that pale green print in the wider sashing strips be sensational in the blue version?” Of course I had no hope of finding it after all these years. After all, I made Framboise way back in 2011.
But wait! Didn’t I have a bit of that pale green fabric left over from the pink version? I started digging in my stash and was amazed to find a large remnant measuring 32″ x 54″ — enough to make the wider sashing strips. Oh, but wouldn’t it be nice to have enough for the outer border, too, like I did in Framboise? Just for fun, I made a test block. And I loved the combination:
The product info was on the selvage; what did I have to lose? With very little hope in my heart, I googled “Sweet Dreams by Robyn Givens for SSI Quilting” — and was absolutely astounded to see a 2½-yard piece for sale on Etsy. Friends, what are the odds? Of course I bought it on the spot and am eagerly awaiting its arrival. Even if the dye lot is somewhat different from the piece I have, it will be enough to make the outer borders without having to piece them.
Although it was my plan to have these two versions of 4-Patch Wonder share the same focus fabric in two colorways, I didn’t expect to use some of the other companion fabrics as well. It will be fun to compare them when they are done. Fraternal twins! I can relate.
Perhaps I should have titled this post “An Oldie but a Goodie.” You see, I’ve started on a quilt made from a pattern I wrote 15 years ago using fabric that has been in my stash for 10 years — and I’m duplicating a quilt I made 14 years ago from a different colorway of the same fabric that most likely was first released during the first decade of this century. Whew!
Anybody remember the beautiful fabrics designed by Holly Holderman for Lakehouse Dry Goods? How about the fabric line called “Hydrangeas and Raspberries?” It came in a pink version and a blue version. I initially bought the pink-hued fabric and created this quilt:
Framboise, 69″ x 84″ (2012)
As you can see, I named the quilt Framboise (the French word for raspberry). Out of all the quilts I have made, it remains one of my favorites.
The pattern was 4-Patch Wonder, one of my own:
It features a four-patch “faux-kaleidoscope” design made by stacking four fabric repeats, cutting them into squares, and rotating each set of four squares to create a pleasing symmetrical design. The contrasting sets of sashing give the blocks an elegant mat and frame effect, and setting the blocks on point adds visual interest.
In 2015 I was the lucky winner of a large piece of the blue version of Hydrangeas and Raspberries at a meeting of my quilt guild, the Metropolitan Patchwork Society:
When I say “large piece,” I mean over five yards. Seriously!
Over the last 10 years I’ve often thought about making another version of 4-Patch Wonder with the blue-hued fabric for the simple reason that I already know it would create striking faux-kaleido blocks.
See for yourself! Here are my first six blocks:
Check out what these squares look like set on point:
Aren’t those spectacular?
Here’s my second set of six blocks . . .
. . . and here they are on point:
Right now I’m auditioning fabrics for my narrow and wide sashing strips. And I’m getting ready to stack my next set of four fabric repeats to create some more faux-kaleido blocks. Am I having fun? You better believe it!
When I showed a picture on my blog a couple weeks ago of a stack of six quilts I had donated to Hopewell House, a hospice care facility in Southwest Portland, some of my readers asked to see pictures of the full quilts. Three of the quilts pictured above were made before starting my website/blog in 2012 so I thought it would be fun to do a “Throwback Thursday” post and show you these early quilts as well as the more recent ones.
We start with the the quilt at the top of the stack — Swinging on a Star, the quilt I pieced in 2005 under Billie Mahorney’s tutelage in Quiltmaking III, the third installment of the Quiltmaking class she taught for so many years at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop in Lake Oswego (current home of the Lake Oswego branch of Montavilla Sewing Center):
Swinging on a Star, 46″ x 58″ (2006)
In this class Billie taught us how to draft blocks (including some from Quiltmaking II) that finish at 9″ square, and how to set them in a “Twist ‘n Turn” technique described by Sharyn Squier Craig in her 1996 book of the same name. At the time I started this quilt my focus was on using up cottons I had accumulated in the 1980s while making charity quilts for babies. Little did I know that setting foot in a quilt shop 20 years later would cause me to abandon all hope of using up that old fabric as I quickly began accumulating a much larger amount of new fabric that would become known as “my stash.”
Swinging on a Star was the first of my quilts that included free motion quilting (FMQ). Billie insisted that we learn how to do that. I stitched in the ditch around the star blocks and did free motion quilting in the borders. Happily the ditsy print in the borders hid a multitude of FMQ sins.
The fourth quilt I am holding in the first photo is Starry 9-Patch, finished in 2007. I took Billie’s Quiltmaking series out of order, starting with the second class. I learned so much in Quiltmaking II and III that I decided to take Quiltmaking I when she offered it again. The basic design was a combination of 9-Patch and Rail Fence blocks but I threw in some Sawtooth Stars to jazz it up a bit:
Starry 9-Patch, 56″ x 63″ (2007)
The bottom quilt in the stack pictured is based on Billie’s original design called Maisie’s Garden. She taught this class at the Pine Needle in 2007 and I happily jumped in, using a palette of blues, greens, and yellows, a combination I still love to this day:
Star Garden, 44″ x 62″ (2007)
The next quilt in chronological order is V8, a quilt I designed to highlight my discovery of kaleidoscope blocks and inset circles:
V8, 55″ x 64″ (2010)
Every circle is a revelation! You don’t know what a block will look like until you have sewn eight 45-degree triangles together. I named my quilt V8 because the colors reminded me of the vegetables that go into the making of the vegetable juice blend.
One thing I can definitely say after posting these photos is that digital photography has certainly improved over the last 15 years!
Number 5 in the grouping of quilts is Simply Dashing, also an original design, this one focusing on four-patch kaleidoscope blocks, the ones I call “4-Patch Wonder” or “faux kaleidoscope” blocks:
Simply Dashing, 55″ x 64″ (2010)
In this quilt the centers of the Churn Dash blocks (on point) and the alternating blocks (also on point) are 4-Patch Wonder blocks.
The final quilt I donated to Hopewell House is a recent one, Tea Time on High Street, finished in 2021:
Tea Time on High Street, 55″ Square (2021)
Was it hard to part with these quilts? To be honest, yes. The first three have a lot of sentimental value because of their association with my teacher and mentor Billie Mahorney. The other three represent steps I took in trying out my own designs and/or moving outside my comfort zone. The hospice patients and their families who become the recipients of these quilts may never know their significance in my quilting journey but the fact that they are helping people on a different kind of journey makes it all worthwhile.
If you’ve ever wondered about the timeless appeal of pink and green quilts, you have only to look to Mother Nature:
I snapped this photo on May 24, the day the first peony on our three bushes opened up. Since then all three bushes have exploded with blossoms.
This peony is from the darkest of the three bushes:
It’s the Dear Husband’s favorite but it’s the lighter shade I’m swooning over:
The dogwood trees this spring were the loveliest in recent memory. Everyone I’ve spoken to agrees. This shot was taken from our front porch one recent morning when the sun lit up the dogwood belonging to our neighbors two doors down:
Even the lilacs in our backyard, which are actually light purple, looked pink the morning in late April when this photo was taken:
Then there is this unusual succulent — update: identified by a reader as Lewisia — growing in a pot in our backyard:
I’m reminded of the most recent pink and green quilt I finished, the one for Baby Isabella . . .
. . . and this kaleidoscope quilt, made for a great niece in 2013 from a fabulous hydrangea print:
This is the back of the quilt, so you can see what the focus fabric looked like before I turned it into kaleidoscope blocks:
And this is my first pink and green quilt, completed 10 years ago, made from my pattern Four-Patch Wonder:
I named the quilt Framboise, the French word for raspberry. You can read more about the making of it here. Here’s another shot of Framboise au naturel, surrounded by even more green:
Speaking of raspberries, the vines in our backyard will be producing those small deep pink edible jewels in a month’s time, adding to my continuing enjoyment of pink and green.
Do you find the combination of pink and green as irresistible as I do? In nature as well as in quilts?
This is the third and final pair of queen-size pillowcases made from a lovely toile fabric from Timeless Treasures that’s been in my stash for a few years:
The first two pair were made last year, the first pair as a gift and the second for my own home. I made these pillowcases last week as a hostess gift, planning to deliver them to my twin sister Diane when the Dear Husband and I make our annual Thanksgiving trip to Georgia in November. (Of course we will be taking every precaution while traveling during the coronavirus pandemic.)
I made the mistake of telling Diane about the pillowcases and she cajoled me into sending them in advance. I’m glad I did because she promptly put them on the pillows in the main floor guest room and sent me pictures. Here’s a close-up of the cases:
There’s something special about toile. I was really sorry to use up the last of that fabric. I actually searched for more on the Internet but came up empty-handed.
I did not make the accent pillow on the bed; Diane had it made at a specialty shop using fabric left over from the bedskirt. But I do spy four things in the photo above that are “me made”: the pillowcases, the quilt at the foot of the bed, the bedskirt, and — hard to see but look at the reflection in the mirror in the bathroom for a glimpse — the shower curtain, made in 2011 and embellished in 2012. You can read about that here. (There’s one more thing I made that you can’t see in the photo: tailored valances. I wrote about that project in this post, also from 2012. By the way, the pillowcases were made using my photo-laden Perfect Pillowcases tutorial.)
The DH and I will be sleeping on these pillowcases soon! This year’s trip is a very special one as Diane and I will be celebrating an important birthday, one of those big ones ending in a zero. Here’s a hint: we will become septuagenarians.
Who knew that playing around with computer-generated quilt labels could be so much fun? Well, not everyone’s kind of fun, I suppose. But I was delighted to learn from comments on my last post that my accidental method of making labels with fusible-backed fabric worked for other quilters using different fusibles and printing their labels on different computers. As promised, I will work on a tutorial for my website to show the method step by step.
One quilter, Marge, noted that she starches her label fabric and sends it right through the printer. No interfacing, just one layer of fabric. Of course I had to try it! I decided to make a new label for Ramblin’ Rose, another kaleiodoscope quilt from 2009 that needed more information:
Ramblin’ Rose, 53″ x 59″ (2009)
I’m happy to report that Marge’s method worked beautifully. Marge did say she “starches the heck” out of her fabric so I made sure I did too. As a matter of fact, I spent more time starching the fabric than I would have just fusing interfacing to fabric. You really have to iron the fabric after each application of starch until it’s completely dry. The weight and feel of the “page” of starched fabric felt almost identical to the fused layer I experimented with earlier.
Unfortunately, when I printed my starched page I realized that the top line of the label was too close to the top of the page, not allowing enough room to draw around a compact disc for my preferred round label. I had to prepare a new one. Instead of starching a new piece of fabric, I went back to my method of fusing interfacing to the label fabric.
Here’s the old label still on the quilt and the one I just made:
In my last post I described how I used a piece of quilter’s cotton for the back of my label. My friend Arden suggested I try using fusible interfacing instead. That’s what I use for my label backing when I make hand printed labels. With those I have only two layers: the label fabric and the interfacing used for the backing instead of fabric. With a computer-generated label, though, I have three layers: the label fabric fused with interfacing and the second piece of interfacing used as the label backing. Would two layers of interfacing plus the label fabric make the finished label too stiff, I wondered?
By the way, here’s a look at the back of Ramblin’ Rose (with the old label still in place — and the hanging sleeve so it could hang in a quilt show):
Update
Ramblin’ Rose has made her trip through the washer and dryer, and I’m delighted to report the label turned out beautifully: it has body but is still supple like the rest of the quilt:
I moved only two blocks — switching the second and third ones in the third row — before proclaiming the setting complete. Now the big decision is what fabric to use in the setting triangles — the ones that go around the entire quilt to make it rectangular.
Can you even tell?
