New Blog Home for Modern Monday & Traditional Tuesday

Jenifer Dick has launched a new updated fancy-schmancy blog.  It's bright.  It's cheerful.  It's got quick links to all the blocks for the two samplers currently underway - Modern Monday and Tradtional Tuesday 

 

42 Quilts: Welcome to the new 42 Quilts!

 

If you follow her old blog, you'll want to sign up on the new one, cuz a little birdie whispered in my ear that when she's done transfering her files, pics, patterns and tutorials - the old blog is going to slowly fade away...

 

 

Meanwhile.... back in the mess that is the distracted quilter's home (and fat cat too), I am anxiously getting my crap act together to skedaddle out of town for a job interview (blogger really should have a sound effect - something dramatic or angelic would be appropriate here).  I'd love to be sewing, sorting, quilting.... but I need to land a job or I, my cat, and my fabric will all be homeless soon.  I have no illusions as to Lucas's fidelity.  He may be affectionate, but his priorities are food, some place warm to snooze, and catnip.  So I've been studying, drinking gallons of coffee, biting my fingernails and alternately laughing with excited joy and crying with anxious terror.

 

I'll be back next Tuesday, and will have time to do a little catch up then, while waiting for the results of the first round of testing.

Modern Monday - Week 9

Jenifer's Modern Monday Block 9 has been posted.  Hooray for string blocks!  They are so quick and easy to piece.

Some quilters use the pages ripped from the Yellow-Pages phone book to sew strings on.  It stabilizes the thin fabric strips as you sew and press.  I personally don't like having to remove the paper when I'm done.  Others use dryer sheets after they've gone through the laundry cycle.  Those have the benefit (so I'm told) of being alright to leave attached and becoming part of the quilt.  But, as a single, I don't have a lot of spent dryer sheets saved up.  Presumably I could haunt the local laundro-mat and dig through the garbage cans, but that just feels wrong to me in so many ways, not the least of which is people would see me doing it.

What I do have, is a stack of thin cotton squares (all cut from a cheap bed sheet).  This was one of my less than clever purchases.  They were advertised as Egyptian Cotton, but so cheap I should have known there was something very wrong with them.  These are so thin you can literally read through them.  The fitted sheet just shredded down the centre (while in use) after being washed a couple of times.  Ah well, you get what you pay for and hopefully learn your lesson.  I sliced the top sheet into a stack of 8.5" squares for string blocks.  I starched a couple and cut them down to 6.5" square.  My modern monday string blocks were done in no time at all.

This is the view from my living room this afternoon.  First, to the West.

And then to the East.  I feel like I'm living in a snow globe.

And the temperature has really dipped (which is noticeable if you live in a building as old as mine) - Lucas is hiding under the quilt on my bed.  Change of plans.  It's too miserable to go out for groceries (I am without car, so generally walk) so I think I'll just stay in, make a sandwich out of whatever I can find in the human food cupboard, and start chain piecing my Great HST Caper blocks.  I have them all laid out in piles of 30 next to my sewing machine.

When I stacked these up last night, not once did I have to move a component because it was next to another of the same fabric.  Now that's scrappy.

Weekly Samplers - Week 8

The Traditional Tuesday - Week 8 block and the Modern Monday - Week 8 block have been posted on Jenifer's blog.

I didn't even try to press my seams open this time, but I did twirl my seams on the back, and that really worked so slick.  I don't know why I've been so reluctant to try twirling seams before.  It sounded like courting disaster by cutting through a few stitches, or maybe like it would be more work.  Hah!  It took a couple of seconds with a sharp seam ripper and that time was quickly made up when the pressing went so much better than trying to press 6 layers of fabric flat.  I've been thoroughly won over.

I've been making two sampler blocks a week rather than just one, so after 8 weeks, I have enough to lay them out on the design wall and get a feel for how these quilts are going to look.  Here are my blocks to date on the Traditional Tuesday sampler.  I'm already thinking of what I'd like to use for sashing and will look for a pale greyish blue fabric to match the blue that appears in the flowers in my neutral fabric and see if I like it.

And my blocks to date for the Modern Monday sampler.

Bet you're sorry now you didn't join in on these quilt-along samplers.  Well, the good news is that the block patterns are all still available, and at one super quick-to-piece 6.5" block per week, you can easily catch up.  Just jump in now and make one of the past blocks every week until you're caught up.

I've got all the links posted on my Traditional Tuesday Page and my Modern Monday Page.

I had to peel all those little 2.5" HSTs off my design wall to play with my sampler blocks today.  The box has been moved to my sewing table so I can start sewing the components together for my Great HST Caper or modified depression block project.

I made serious headway on the scrap trimming this morning and will soon need to iron a new pile of scraps for my daily trimming.  I've got a couple of movies taped on the PVR that I'd like to watch, and will haul the ironing board and iron into the living room sometime this week.  Oh, and I've been meaning to trim a quilt and make bias binding too... not sure why that didn't get done... maybe tomorrow.

Other things I want to do this week:  deciding on a backing for Shady Lanes (do I want to piece one or use 108" wide muslin?); adding borders to the one-a-day 9 patch; maybe a little crumb-piecing and the dreaded of all....housework.  Yuck!  It's getting very hairy and dusty around here.

Scary Scary Day

I'll admit it, I am one big scaredy cat.  Not about the spooky things Hallowe'en... but about applique.  Anything applique just scares the scraps right out of me.  I've been meaning to sign up for an introductory beginner's applique class at my local quilt shop... for quite some time... years, if truth be told.  And you know what they say about good intentions, don't you?

Today's MM block is a really fun spooky one, and it's so perfect since I'm making my Modern Monday sampler in Hallowe'en colours, but it's applique (sez I, in a rather timid and whiny tone) and I am seriously applique challenged.  You have no idea how pathetic my applique skills truly are.  I printed out the applique pattern and stared at it for quite a long time.  Sigh.  Now I will definitely have to learn how to applique, if only to make that block.  I'm going to try going it on my own.  Yeah...well... we shall see how that works out for me.  In the mean time, inspired by Jenifer's block and the eeriness of the day, I've made two blocks of a Hallowe'en theme using up some of the fast growing pile of itty bitty scraps in my project box.

A crumb pieced pumpkin

A Hallowe'en Kiss

I feel like such a wimp... 

I have some borders to cut out and attach on my Shady Lanes quilt.  That seems like a good way to avoid the applique attempt for a while.

Running out of roosts for my chickens

It was bound to happen... all my chickens coming home to roost at the same time and that day being one in which I have about 1.5 hours of sewing time.  (I'm actually supposed to be eating, changing my clothes and getting out the door again, but I can do a lot with a cheese sandwich in one hand, and they've all seen me without make-up on before anyway.)

I'm making twice the number of 6.5" sampler blocks for both of Jenifer Dick's samplers, Modern Monday and Traditional Tuesday .  I've gotten into the habit of sewing two blocks for both these sampler blocks on Tuesdays.  I rather enjoy comparing the two techniques to make the same block.  All I had time for today was the Modern Monday blocks.

Tuesday is also the day Jo posts her latest Crumb-Along instructions, which I started out sewing on Tuesdays and eventually moved to later in the week because I like to include sewing string blocks for my String Quilt project and found I couldn't do it all on the same day as the weekly sampler blocks.

Today is the 25th of the month, so the Bloggers' BOM block has been posted.  And I was planning on getting it done right away and making more bright scrappy nine patches for a Sister's Choice project I'm making with strips from the same bin.  Yeah...well...so much for planning.

And today is also the start of 12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt-Along .  The first block has been posted.  It's really cute, but it's paper pieced and fussy-cut... which has me doing the ol' take one step back and melt into the crowd shimy.  I've decided, with regret, that I really do have too much on my plate so will probably not be doing this one afterall.

Got to run now.

Weekly Sampler Blocks

Modern Monday and Traditional Tuesday blocks have been posted at Jenifer Dick's blog and this week we're making sawtooth stars,  one of my favourite block patterns.

I am really having a lot of fun with the modern sampler blocks - the block designs and piecing methods are so revolutionary for me.  I feel like a rebel.  More interesting, modern methods and colours are really growing on me as I visit blogs of modern quilters and admire their work.  The other day I actually caught myself browsing through solid grey fabrics at some of my favourite online stores.  Oh no!  Say it ain't so!  I know I've gone on the record before as actually saying yuck with regards to grey, but I'm coming around - I can't believe how many different shades of grey are available.  I don't think I will ever be the same lil ol' traditionalist again.

As for the traditional sampler, I started with yardage of three fabrics - brown, pink and background, but decided in Week 2 (that was when we made log cabin blocks) to include a wider range of browns and pinks, so began fishing through my strip bins for brown and pink strips to add to the mix.  I have a lot (and I mean dozens of each) to choose from in those two colours, so that should keep the blocks interesting for me and use up some strip stash.

I have a much more limited selection of oranges and blacks, not enough to make all the sampler blocks without finding (or buying more),or including more colours.  I've already added green to the mix, and a bit of red.  Considering how much fabric I already have, I'd like to try keeping this an all stash project and so was pleased to come across a few scraps in my untamed scrap bin that seem perfectly suited.  These were from a bag of gift scraps from one of my quilting friends.

Having made the decision to tackle the big scrap bin in 15 minute cutting sessions, I dragged the ironing board into the living room last night and started ironing scraps so I'd have something to trim while I wait for the morning coffee to brew.  That daily 15 minutes of trimming polished off 1200 HSTs in less than 40 days, so I know it can move a mountain of scraps seemingly without effort.  My intention was to iron a small pile, but I got carried away, as evidenced by this pic.  There's enough in this pile to keep my daily trimming assignments fueled for a month (at least).  I hope I find more orange, red and black as I go along.

Some of the gift scraps were dumped out of friends' scrap bins and I discovered many old poly-cottons in the mix as I ironed.  I didn't even need to put them under the hot iron to figure it out by smell.  Just the feel of them under my left thumb as I pulled from the scrap bin was unmistakable.  I'm not sure when I developed this new sense (and in my left thumb of all places), but I found the discovery that I now had this new super-power rather diverting.  I'm putting those directly into my fling-it bag.

Week 4 - Blocks for the two samplers done

I was going to treat myself to a marathon sewing session today, to catch up on some sewing and because I was in withdrawal.  But then, I decided there were a few things I should get done, like unpacking, laundry, sheet changing, processing the garden vegetables I brought home... maybe vaccuuming (a home with a cat always seems so much hairier than a non-feline home).  I did get my blocks of the week sewn up before I made myself address the non-sewing items on my to-do list.

Modern Monday - Week 4

Traditional Tuesday - Week 4

I even put a pot roast in the oven, and have three vegetables to serve with it... and a fresh tomato salad.  This domestic goddess thing is a left-over of having visited with my mother and sisters over the weekend... their influence won't last.  I'll be back to sandwiches in no time.

Modern Monday - Week 4

It's Monday... and I'm still visiting family for Thanksgiving, so not even in the same area code as my sewing machine.  I'm in serious withdrawal.  It could be worse, but I'm being indecently stuffed with pie and cake, so the sugar high is masking some of the sewing withdrawal symptoms.  I will be doing some serious catch-up when I get home tomorrow.  This week's Modern Monday block is posted on Jenifer Dick's blog and it looks like a lot of fun. All the pertinent links are up-to-date and posted on my Modern Monday Blog page.

Modern Monday - Week 3

These blocks went together so slick.  I'm discovering I like working with wedges.  I almost put together the blocks as pinwheels instead of stair cases.  They look good either way.  I'm going to continue making two blocks a week - that way I can either make one very big bed-sized quilt or two co-ordinating lap quilts with different blocks.

Instructions for this block are posted on Jenifer Dick's blog here.  And the Flickr group pool of photos is here.  The Quilt Retro Book Launch and Blog Hop started today.  Did you follow the links and post a comment to win a copy of Quilt Retro?

Monday's block is done - Bring on the Crumbs

It's Monday, and that means it's time for the next instalment of Modern Monday.  I find it's just as easy (almost easier) to make two blocks instead of just one.  Are you making these wonderful blocks?  I started a Flickr Group Pool  - please join and upload your pics.

I pulled out the crumbs and strings for tomorrow and may work a little on Crumb-Along blocks tonight.  Jo's progress on hers has been amazing, and I feel so far behind.  I cut some 2" squares to make more wonky stars. That's how I want to border my crumb quilt.  I only made two star blocks last week and never got back to it.  Now that I've got some 2" neutral squares ready to work with, I can make stars on a whim.  It's fairly easy to find the colourful bits for star points and centres in my crumbs and they work up really quickly.

Or, I might work on the String Quilt w/ 9 patches instead.  I pulled out three strips to use as the centre stripe in making my next six string blocks.  (Six seems to work out just right from a time perspective for me and it's the number of string blocks I need for each row.)  These fabrics are wonderful, at least two of them are from Sandy Gervais collections (I'm not sure which one(s) anymore).  I starched my foundation fabric blocks.

It finally cooled down enough to be able to iron the flannel without dying of heat prostration.  I cleaned up my cutting area, trimmed my daily quota of HSTs and put the final stitches into the binding of one quilt (and started stitching down the binding on another UFO).

9 patch done - sampler blocks done

I finished joining the 9 patches (hooray, wild applause, woohoo!).  It's 60" by 78" and I am considering adding borders to make it a bed-sized quilt....

Getting all those 9 patches joined, means I can go looking for fabrics for the Modern Monday sampler.  This is the view of the bins.  The two on the right hold my UFOs and kits.  The three on the left hold most of my strips.  They are so full, I can't fit the 1.5" strips or charm squares into them.

The 2" strips.

The 2.5" strips.

The 3.5" strips.

Good Grief!  I found more 9 patches - a different size this time.  These were in the 2.5" strip bin and will finish at 6".

I did find some oranges and greens that will work with the fabrics I've already pulled together.

Block 1 of Modern Monday.  I made two blocks.  Then I took a pic and admired them for a long while.  Then I did a little delighted wiggle of joy in my chair.  It's going to look great and it's going to be a lot of fun.

And I found my fabrics and first two blocks a home so they don't get swallowed up in stash and get used for something else.

Then I made a couple of blocks for the Traditional Tuesday sampler.

The blocks came out beautifully, but a little small.  I checked my seam allowance.  It's bang on.  The trimmings were scant threads.  And the blocks came out at 6 1/8" unfinished instead of 6 1/2".

I think I'll try making another couple of blocks with slightly larger components tomorrow.  Maybe my seam allowance is just a couple of threads off.  And of course, I found the second sampler a home of it's own too.

Auditioning Fabric for the Samplers

I've decided to join in on making the samplers hosted by Jenifer Dick on her blog Forty-Two Quilts
The first blocks for Modern Monday and Traditional Tuesday have already been posted, so I need to get moving on this before I fall behind.

I spent a bit of time digging through stash yardage and auditioning fabric.  I don't have any solid orange or solid grey.  Grey?!!!  No insult intended to anyone who likes the look, but yuck.  Who got to decide that the go-to colours for modern should be orange and grey?  I've got some yellowish orange, some peachy-orange, some cheddar orange, some floral orange.... no, not these.

There's the oranges, yellow and turquoise I just bought... I could add to these from my stash of brights... I'm just not ready to use these new ones just yet.

Then I found these...

And some 10" squares of blacks and oranges.  Aha!  I'm going to make my modern in Hallowe'en colours.  Tomorrow, I'll dig around in the strip bins and see what else I can pull that will go with all of these.

I also found another large Christmassy floral - don't know what it was doing in with the orange and black.  Maybe I should double check my fabric stash for other misplaced yardage....  This is definitely a good candidate for the pillowcase sew-in I'm going to be hosting in October.  I just have to put it somewhere I won't forget it again.

For the Traditional sampler, I'm leaning towards browns and pinks.  I definitely have enough yardage and scraps and strips to make that work for me.

Tomorrow, I think I'll make some blocks.  Oh yeah...and the 9 patch - I definitely am going to finish that 9 patch.