Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Pattern Adjustments

Although I am liking this...sort of...

 I followed the pattern, but I don't like the bottom of the heart. It looks off-center and distracting to me. 

You can see in the picture of the cover of the pattern that I did it correctly, but I feel like I need to change. The bottom of the V is not off-center and I like that much better. 


I'll spend a dew minutes ripping and fixing tonight and I know that I'll be much happier! 
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Monday, January 28, 2019

Design Wall Monday

I've got a couple of secret sewing projects going on right now, but I did start my January Rainbow Scrap Project and that's what's up on the wall.

I know, I know. I can hear you saying, "It's almost the end of January and you're just now starting the project?" 

 When red was the color chosen for January, I knew that this was the project I wanted to do, so I pulled some of my red and cream colored scraps and set them aside until I had time to work on it. I've had the pattern (A Scrappy Kind of Love, by J. Michelle Watts) for over a year and just never pulled fabrics for it. This was just the kick I needed to get it started. 

 I knew I wanted to make the wall hanging (37" x 45") and I didn't figure that it would take me long, so I wasn't worried about not starting it at the beginning of the month. I never thought that I'd be starting it on the 27th though.  :-)

 Anyway, I'm happy with the progress and that all of the fabric, including the backing will be coming from my stash. Since I'm making the small version and the strips are only cut 1 1/2", I'm not using up a bunch of stash, but I'm ok with that.

Unless something comes up, I should have this top completed by the end of the month. My goal is to have it quilted and hanging before Valentines Day.
What are you working on today?

Check out the quilter's eye candy at

and
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Sunday, January 27, 2019

Black and White Winner


The Black and White Blog Hop ended Thursday, and since I wanted to be sure everyone had the opportunity to read all the wonderful posts and see all the awesome projects, I decided to wait and pick the winner today. 


And the winner of the two charm packs is.... (there is a drum roll happening in my head right now!)

Blogger Beth said...
              Forest green would be my choice, I think. Thanks for the tutorial; your point about watching so that the points aren't cut off is well-taken.

Congratulations Beth! An e-mail has been sent to you.

 Thanks again to Carla over at Creatin' in the Sticks for a fun hop, and for helping me reduce some of my black and white stash.  😁
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Saturday, January 26, 2019

I Heart You Quilt

My I Heart You Quilt top is complete, as per the pattern; but I think I want to add borders.



I'll play over the next few days with options and then make a decision. 

I love taking pictures outside, especially by the ravine. I'm happy that this quilt fit in the area, but if I decide to add borders, that won't work. I like the contrast of the white snow and the orange (technically it's paprika; but yes, it's orange). The high temperatures we had mid-week caused a thaw and much of the snow if gone, but I like the look of the ground coming through too. 

If you've been following my blog for any real length of time, you know that I like taking pictures on our wood pile too. 


Another favorite picture spot is our balcony, especially for  large quilt. Of course I need Jack's help with that.



He likes to help and mess around while doing it. Here he's looking out and surveying the vast grounds.  :-) 


We have a couple of tress that work well for pictures too.




I have some wonderful friends that allow me to use their barns too. 






What's your favorite quilt-taking picture spot?
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Thursday, January 24, 2019

More Black and White Quilts

It's the final day of the Black and White Blog Hop. 


Here are today's participants!


There have been some really fun projects created and I've even added a few to my "To Do" list.  :-)

Yesterday, for a chance to win two charm packs, I asked what color you'd to see me add to my next black and white quilt. It's been fun reading all the answers and quite honestly, I don't think I could go wrong adding any color. There's still time to answer the question and grab a chance at winning. Click HERE to read the post and comment. 

I spent a little time going back through some pictures of my black and white quilts, and I'm kind of surprised at how many I've made. I kind of forgot about a couple of these. That's mostly because they've been given away.  :-) 

Just for fun, here are some pictures of those quilts/projects. 

This is the only one, besides the one I made for this hop that is just black and white. This is a variation of the Crazy 8 pattern and I made it way back in 2008.


This one was fun! It's my version of Mad as a Hatter. I love the little blue frames! I bound this in solid black because I thought adding more blue would be too much. For some reason, I don't have a picture of this finished. I have to correct that. This was made in 2016.


Here are a couple of blocks I made for an block swap a few years ago (2015). These were fun to make and the recipient was quite happy with them.



You can add just a little or a lot of color to a black and white quilt and it always seems to look good. I called this quilt 4 Patch Deception because of the way it was constructions. Hint: I didn't make four patches and sash them with yellow fabric. Can you see Lynn's toes sticking our from under the quilt? I should have had her paint her nails bright yellow or black. :-) 


There is a lot of green in the Diamond quilt, but I love it! I made this in 2011, but I'm looking for the right green fabric to make another one for my son-in-law. He's a tall guy, so I'll be making this much larger. 


Way back in 2010, I made a variation of the Weaver Fever quilt that is predominately black and white. I love the purple and lime green in this. Like the Mad as a Hatter quilt, I don't have a picture of the finished quilt. I still have this quilt and will get a picture when the weather is better. I added a flange type binding that was lime green and black. 


There are a few other black and white quilts that I've made but the pictures are pretty bad. Nevertheless, it seems pretty apparent to me that I love this color combination and I'm sure that I'll be making more.
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Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Black and White Blog Hop and a Giveaway

It's my day for the Black and White Blog Hop! 


Thanks Carla (Creatin' in the Sticks) for organizing this hop and keeping us all on schedule. Be sure to check out her blog to see about her awesome giveaway! 

In case you've missed a day, here's the entire schedule for the hop. Be sure to check out all the wonderful projects by some very talented people.



So, why did I decide to join this hop? Perhaps this picture will answer that question.


Yes, I have a black and white fabric stash! 

When I took a look at my stash and saw all this black and white fabric, I knew right away that I needed to make a scrappy quilt and that I was going to try to work exclusively from stash and not buy anything. I was successful and even had fabric for the backing. (It's a grey instead of black and white, but I like it.)

So what did I make? A lap size (60" x 72"), scrappy quilt that reminds me of barbed wire.


The wind made getting a good picture virtually impossible.


Of course the sub-zero temperatures didn't make it very fun either. 


These pictures aren't great, so I'm going to share one when this was just a flimsy on my design wall.


While I am not going to provide a tutorial for the entire quilt, I will tell you that the key to making this quilt work, is to be careful when sewing the half square triangles so you don't lose the points. Here are a couple of close up pictures to show you how I do that.

As you approach a point, know where you need to sew in order to keep it sharp. Make slight adjustments to the seam allowance as needed.. (Don't sew over your pins!)  


I pressed my seams open, which makes it very easy to see where the needle needs to hit to be perfect. (You don't have to press seams open. You should be able to see a similar point with a seam pressed to one side.)


Nice crisp point!


When sewing the rows together, it's natural to simply want to fold the top row down on top of the two previously-sewn rows.  


If you do that, you can't see the HST point for which you need to aim to get perfect points. 


Simply flip the entire set over so the single row is on the bottom and the two previously-sewn rows on are top. Now, you can see the point! 


I pin carefully to ensure that there is no movement and that the seams meet exactly. 


This was a fun quilt and I figure that I have enough fabric to make another one. I decided to go with a simple black binding for this quilt, but perhaps with the next one I'll incorporate a little color. 

Remember when I did this black and white quilt and added a simple punch of color in the flange binding?



I mentioned a giveaway earlier, didn't I? 


For your change to win these two charm packs of black and white fabrics (each pack contains 42 - 5" squares), comment below and tell me what color you'd like to see me add for the flange binding on the next black and white quilt I do. 

The winner will be randomly selected on Sunday, January 27th. That should give everyone plenty of time to check out all the posts. Be sure that I have a way to contact you. The easiest way to do that is to leave your e-mail address in your comment.
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