Snowed In!

by Dawn Posted on January 13, 2017

Local pundits are calling it “Snowpocalypse” — the epic snowfall on Wednesday that pretty much shut Portland down. We can go years in Portland without snow in winter but this season it has already snowed four times. The temperatures aren’t rising enough to melt the snow so we are stuck with it for a while.

What a great excuse to hunker down and get some sewing done! This is what I’ve been working on:

windmill block 1

windmills block 2
Aren’t those pretty blocks? They remind me of windmills. The pattern is A Mid-Winter’s Night by Deb Eggers of the Cottage Rose Quilt Shop:

a-mid-winters-night-quilt-pattern
The pattern is a reworking of the classic Winding Ways block with a pinwheel in the center. If you look carefully at the quilt pictured on the pattern cover you can see overlapping light and dark circles. The circles are illusions, as all of the cutting and stitching lines are straight. I believe the Winding Ways block is traditionally made with curves resulting in a four-patch block. The method I’m using here results in a nine-patch block.

Working strictly from my stash — I couldn’t have driven to a fabric store in this weather even if I’d wanted to! — I pulled out some red tone-on-tone prints that read as solid and a couple of white-on-red prints.

Now I’m making my way through my little piles of V blocks:

V blocks
The pattern calls for the Tri-Recs rulers, which I own, but I am getting great results from the V Block Trim Down Ruler by Deb Tucker. I resized the block from 9″ to 12″ so the units you see above measure 4½” square. With the V Block Ruler you can trim down blocks for 11 different sizes ranging from 1½” to 6½”.

I may add another red for more variety in my darks. With the exception of a few small pieces in my scrap bin, I’m limited to the vine and toile prints for the lights. I’ll save the smallest pieces for the center pinwheels.

While I am happily ensconced in my sewing room, Coco is keeping tabs on the weather from her perch above the plantation shutters in the master bath:

Coco Jan 2017

The icicles start to melt in the morning sun but refreeze when the sun moves out of sight.

This is our back yard as seen from the kitchen door:

Jan 2017 snow backyard

This is the view from the front porch:

Jan 2017 snow out front
You can see why I have no desire to drive anywhere. And freezing temperatures are expected for the next four days!

 

 

 

Posted in cats, update, Winding Ways quilt block, windmill block | 14 Comments

Back on the Scene: My Little Neighbor

by Dawn Posted on January 8, 2017

It’s been a while!

When last we encountered My Little Neighbor on the pages of this blog, she had finished piecing the back of her scrappy 9-patch quilt:

2013-10, MLN with quilt back
That photo was taken in October 2013. A few weeks before she had completed piecing the top:

2013-9, MLN with her 9-patch

The 9-patch blocks were sewn by hand in the summer of 2012 when MLN was 10 years old. She was recovering from a broken foot and needed something to work on while keeping her foot (which was in a cast) elevated. Click here to read the very first post about her project.

The sashing strips and borders were sewn by machine after My Little Neighbor was mobile again. The plan was for her to quilt and bind the top herself. To that end I asked Nancy Stovall of Just Quilting to baste the layers together on her longarm machine using water-soluble thread. I knew it would be easier for MLN to guide the quilt under the machine if she didn’t have to stop to remove safety pins; the basting thread would vanish the first time the quilt was washed.

The basted quilt sandwich came back from Nancy but MLN was busy by then with school and other activities. A year passed. Then another. Then one more.

I waited patiently, knowing that at some point My Little Neighbor would come back to her quilt. Sure enough, there was a knock at my door a few weeks ago. By this time I had discovered the joys of having someone else quilt my quilts so I suggested to MLN that we send hers off to be quilted.

My friend Sherry Wadley, a professional longarmer, loaded the quilt onto her machine (even though the layers had already been basted) and quilted a charming floral motif that echoes the flowers in the quilt. I took out the basting in this one block to give you an idea of what the overall design looks like:

mlns-quilt-detail
Here’s a glimpse of the back:

mlns-quilt-back-detail
I sewed the binding on the quilt so all that’s left for MLN is to hand-sew the folded edge of the binding to the back and add a label. She came over a few days ago for a lesson. I showed her how to pin the binding to the back to cover the line of stitching and how to navigate the corners:

mln-binding-detail

She got the hang of it right away:

mln-binding
My Little Neighbor is now 14 and in high school. She’s also 5’6″ tall. I think My Young Neighbor is a much more accurate descriptor, don’t you?

 

 

 

Posted in My Little Neighbor, update | 5 Comments

Plus-Sized Pineapples

by Dawn Posted on January 3, 2017

My favorite quilt teacher Billie Mahorney always encouraged her students to make the backs of their quilts interesting, incorporating leftover blocks or fabrics from the front. I took Billie’s lesson to heart.

This is the back of Baby Selene’s quilt:

selenes-quilt-top-back

In case you missed my earlier post, this is what the front looks like:

selenes-quilt-front
The design, made of 16 identical pineapple blocks, is from Karin Hellaby’s book Pineapple Plus (Quilters Haven Publications, 2010).

I had four blocks left over that couldn’t be used because the prints were in different positions. Apparently they were destined for the back. I supersized one of the leftover blocks by adding two more rounds, then set that block and two more on point. I floated the three blocks on a soft green background printed with drifting leaves.

The result looks rather modern, doesn’t it? It would look even more so with different fabrics. I may have to test that theory by making another quilt incorporating a plus-sized pineapple block or two.

After this one is quilted, I’ll add a label in the lower right-hand corner that echoes the larger blocks. It may be as simple as a square in a square or I might add another round or two to make a mini-pineapple block. I think Billie would approve.

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, family, Quilter's Affair, update | 4 Comments

Baby Quilt #4

by Dawn Posted on December 29, 2016

One of my goals this year was to make four baby quilts. I finished three by the middle of the year and then got sidetracked by other projects. With one week left in the year, I realized I needed to get back on track. Quickly.

I remembered a fun pineapple block quilt I had started in a class with Karin Hellaby at Quilter’s Affair 2015 in Sisters, Oregon. The prints are perfect for a little girl’s quilt. Here’s one of my blocks:

selenes-quilt-1-block
Isn’t that a delightful combination of fabrics? They are all from completely different lines but they go so well together.

I had already made 12 blocks but for some reason only eight of them were identical. I had changed the position of the fabrics in the others. Why? I couldn’t tell you but I did know right away that they wouldn’t work in the layout I had in mind.

It didn’t take long to make the remaining eight blocks I needed for a 4 x 4 layout of 16 blocks. Here they are in my newly finished quilt top, destined for a special great-niece:

 

selenes-quilt-top

The blocks finish at 10″ square. With two sashing strips added, this top measures 50″ square, a good size for a toddler quilt.

The design is from Karin’s book Pineapple Plus: Sew Simple Techniques for the 21st Century (Quilters Haven Publications, 2010). This is the “four triangle method” she describes in her book, which results in the center squares (the red ones in this quilt) positioned on point. (Karin’s books are published in Great Britain but are available in the U.S., sold online and available at many quilt shops.)

The red fabric has a cross-hatch design that looks great on the diagonal. Take another look at the single block at the top of the post and also notice the tiny red squares in the green fabric and the tiny red ladybugs in the blue leaf fabric. I knew immediately that I wanted to bind this baby quilt in the red cross-hatch fabric.

Alas, I only had one little piece left measuring about 8″ x 14″ — and nothing in my stash that exact shade of red. A quick search of the Internet revealed that the fabric — Mixology Woven 2143 by Camelot Fabrics — was still available. What’s more, I found it on sale. Result: I ordered two yards instead of one.

What about those leftover blocks? They’ll go on the back, of course, along with the leftover pieces of the other fabrics from the top. I’m going to start working on that right now.

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, family, Quilter's Affair, update | 6 Comments

Where It’s @: Finished!

by Dawn Posted on December 19, 2016

When I finished piecing Where It’s @ last month, I looked at all the batiks used in the quilt and wondered what color I should choose for the binding. Green, orange or purple?

where-its-recropped

As you can see, green was the winner . . .

where-its-binding-detail
. . . and when you look at the back of the quilt, you’ll see why:

where-its-back-recropped

The back just had to be framed in green, right?

For a touch of whimsy I made a wonky Greek key block for the label and appliquéd it to the back:

2016-12-019

Finished size: 57″ x 72″
Pattern: Rewind by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts
Quilted by Karlee Sandell of sewinspired2day.com
Fabrics: batiks pulled from my stash

This quilt was started in July in a class with Karla at Quilter’s Affair, the week of classes in Sisters, Oregon that precedes the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

 

 

 

Posted in Quilter's Affair, update, wonky Greek key | 3 Comments

A Handy Caddy Stand

by Dawn Posted on December 16, 2016

The sewing tool caddy I made last month sits in a special acrylic stand. It’s actually a brochure rack that one of my students, Becky B., gave me a couple years ago to hold the first version of the caddy that I had made.

caddy-closed

The stand measures about 7″ x 7¾” x 2½”. The sewing caddy measures about 6½” x 9½” when closed so it fits nicely in the stand. When I travel to class, I take the caddy and the stand with me.

I usually have the flap of the sewing caddy turned back so that all of my tools are visible and easy to access:

caddy-open

Having the caddy vertical rather than flat on a table surface makes it so much easier to see and use the tools tucked inside.

If memory serves, Becky got the acrylic stand at TAP Plastics in Portland. I believe most office supply stores have acrylic brochure racks in stock. If you make this pattern (Travel Case by p3designs.com), I suggest that you add another pocket as I did to hold more tools. I also highly recommend that you get a brochure rack to keep your caddy in. It’s incredibly handy!

 

 

 

Posted in sewing tool caddy, update | 1 Comment

How Suite It Is!

by Dawn Posted on December 15, 2016

I started with this . . .

scissors-case-1

. . . and ended with this:

scissors-case-2
Any idea what it is? I won’t keep you in suspense: it’s a scissors case made to hold the 5″ Gingher scissors I take with me to quilt classes.

Here’s what the case looks like closed:

scissors-case-3
It’s part of a set that includes a rotary cutter coat made in June, a sewing tool caddy made over Thanksgiving, and a fabric box made somewhere in between that  serves as a threadcatcher:

ensemble-2
With the exception of the fuchsia and white dot, the fabrics in these pieces come from the same line used in the Junior Billie Bag I made at the beginning of this year:

Dawn's Jr Billie Bag 2016

The fabric line is “Paradise,” designed by Alisse Courter for Camelot Fabrics. I am as charmed by these fabrics now as when I first saw them last year. I didn’t really plan it but I wound up with a matched set.

 

 

 

Posted in Billie Bag, Junior Billie Bag, rotary cutter case, sewing tool caddy, update | 4 Comments