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.

Traditional Tuesday - Week 9

Jenifer has posted the traditional version of this week's string block - Traditional Tuesday Block 9.  The strings were 1" wide (a size I recently swore off because I thought they were just too small) and, of course, they had to be that narrow since the blocks we're all making are 6.5".  Bigger strings just wouldn't have the same graphic appeal in a small block.  Check out the pattern links in my TT blog page if you want to jump in on this sampler (we're at block 9 of a 64 block sampler).

I used two more squares from my stash of thin cotton foundations, starched for today's sewing and trimmed to about 7.5" square. Then I laid my ruler's diagonal line down the centre two fabrics to have the corners end precisely on the seam between the light and dark before trimming to 6.5".  It worked perfectly.  Maybe I'm going to rethink that too small for strings standard.  There are some really great quilt layouts for this small string block on Jenifer's blog post today.  In fact, this size string block would make a fantastic project on it's own, or as a border treatment.  I'm thinking of a table topper size or wall hanging, where small piecing can be really effective.

Meanwhile, back on the daily scrap trimming front.... Looky here what I hit in my scrap trimming pile today.  Just yesterday I told another quilter that I don't have any soft pastels in my stash... none at all.  Then today, I lifted a big dark rust-coloured christmassy scrap off the top of the pile and came across this stack of 4", 5", and 6" full width and half width of fabric strips of whisper soft pastels.  I didn't notice them when ironing the scraps in this pile, that must have been at a critical moment in the murder mystery I was watching on the PVR.  It's quite a substantial pile - Two yards worth.  (Yes, Janet, my roguish friend, I weighed them to figure that out. lol)  These are going into stash as a bundle for a future something sweet project, I'm thinking for a baby.  Do I know anyone having a baby?

I keep waffling back and forth on whether I want to start working on Bonnie's new mystery project Orca Bay starting this Friday, or keep my nose to the grindstone on unfinished projects.  I bought some black tonal yardage online for the mystery, but could just as easily tuck that into stash for future use.  I've just got so much on the go right now.  I've been sewing with single minded obsession, trying to finish some projects so I can fit it in.  I tell myself I'm working this hard to get to more UFOs and finally get them done... but secretly I know I'm trying to free up some daily time for the mystery.  I think I put in almost 8 hours yesterday when all the trimming, sewing, pressing and blogging is added up.  That's an unusually big sewing day for me.  I did get all my Great HST Caper units sewn into 3 block rows and all 180 seams pressed.  Just two more seams per block and I'll have my 30 12.5" quilt blocks ready to join into a new quilt top.

Today's mail brought me the long-awaited copy of Tonya Ricucci's book Word Play Quilts.  This means I can get back to my Crumb-Along project, which I set aside because I was struggling with piecing letters on my own.  Yeah, I like that excuse, it sounds reasonable. 

This morning, I was so distracted thinking about all the quilty things I want to get done today, I stepped into the shower with my glasses on.  But at least I had taken off my pyjamas this time.

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.

Traditional Tuesday - Block 7

Jenifer has posted a Hallowe'en themed spooky block for this week's Traditional Tuesday sampler block.  I've elected to go with an alternate, not because it's applique, but because I am making my sampler in browns and pinks and want it to read as a sweet repro style quilt.  Although I don't want anything spooky in it, I thought a couple of calm kitties would be just fine, almost Hallowe'en in theme, right?

After I admitted to my...shall we call it what it is?... terror ... of applique in yesterday's post, Elzaan of Huisvlyt Blog sent me a couple of email links to introductory applique tutorials.  Thanks Elzaan!  I read through two tutorials on the Applique Today Blog, one on needleturn applique prep, and another on needleturn applique stitching.  Both seemed fairly straight forward (and, admittedly, not too scary) so I will give the appliqued spooky skull block for Modern Monday Block 7 a try.  I think it's a must-have block for my Hallowe'en fabric sampler  Will post a pic of my attempt whether success or dismal failure.  I'm sure everyone needs a good laugh...

The fabric requirements for Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery Quilt-Along were posted today and this caused me some considerable consternation.  I don't have any black stash.  The few black fabrics I do have are in my Modern Monday sampler project box and they are precious few.  Depending on what size strips she uses for the red fabrics, I may be hooped there too.  I used up most of my red 1.5" strips making the Carolina Crossroads pattern.  I guess I'll just have to wait until November 18th to see what strip sizes she'll be using of the various colours and make my final colour decision at that time.

I have a confession to make.  I am weak.  Yes, weak... very weak.  After making my declaration of no more magazine purchases nine days ago,  I already caved.

How could I resist?  It says right there in the upper right hand corner that this year's issue contains 23 Stash Busting quilts!  There I was, shopping for a few necessities and innocently passing by the magazine shelves when my eyes beheld it.  (In actual fact, I had to shimy sideways past a cardboard display into the magazine section and wouldn't have seen it otherwise.)  And the necessities I went there to purchase?  Well it's November 1st today and that means the Hallowe'en candies were on sale (they have to make room for the Christmas goodies).  And I went there to pick up a bag of molasses Hallowe'en kisses.  I know I'm in the minority here, but I absolutely love those things.  I have a wonderful childhood memory of making la tire (pronounced teer, french word meaning taffy) around the time of the feast of St. Catherine, in my grandmother's kitchen, so maybe I love them for nostalgic reasons.  Anyway, they were in the $1 bin and I had to dig to the bottom to find them.

I also found these great little clear plastic containers.  Good for scraps I thought.

The fact that they were full of snack-size chocolate bars, also for $1, didn't influence me in the least.

I did mention that I am weak, right?

Catching Up

A very satisfying day.  I finished two of the weekly blocks for the Traditional Tuesday Sampler.

The only trouble I had was trying to follow Jenifer's suggestion about ironing the seams flat to reduce bulk.  After burning the ends of my fingers repeatedly, I gave up and ironed the seams to the side the way I usually do.  Then I pressed the heck out of the blocks (with steam) to flatten the bulky areas as flat as I could.  I can only assume that Jenifer has lovely slender fingers, not the pudgy square ended ones I have.

Proceeded to block # 2 for the Bloggers' Block of the Month .  Pulled out the 2.5" strip bin and got to work selecting fabrics.  I'm using my blue and neutral scraps for the 8.5" blocks.  I see from surfing blogs that many participants are making two of each block.  And I thought, Well duh! Why didn't I do that?!  I don't know why that didn't occur to me, since that's exactly what I'm doing for the blocks of the week samplers Modern Monday and Traditional Tuesday.  I may pull out the bin sometime between now and next month's block and make an extra for each of the first two published blocks.

I used my Easy Angle ruler to cut the components for the Half-square triangles.  It lets me cut the components from the 2.5" scraps and still end up with a 2.5" HST.  I just love this ruler.

My Bloggers' Block of the Month # 2.

I pulled out enough bright scrappy strips to make another dozen 9-patches for my Sister's Choice project, cutting two 10.5" lengths of contrasting colours and one 2.5" square of one of the fabrics for each block, and then cutting up the remainder of each half strip into 2.5" x 4.5" bricks or 2.5" squares.  I've built up quite a nice little stack of bricks and squares this way.  I don't know yet what I'm going to do with them...  When I first started quilting it was a major puzzle to me how the more experienced quilters were so prolific.  Now I know.  You do this long enough and you end up with far more components than you can use and it becomes necessary to find projects to use them up.  A dozen scrappy patches is about my limit time wise.

The resulting 9 patches are really bright and cheery.  The 9 patch count is now up to 31.  I will want 48 to make a big lap size, 56 to make a double-bed size quilt, or 80 to make a queen size.  Still haven't decided which size I want to make and I need to check what size bed the intended recipient has.  This is another one that is going to require strips with sew-n-flip corners.

It feels good to be up to date on the blocks of the week/month.  I hate falling behind on those.

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.

Traditional Tuesday - Week 3

It's Traditional Tuesday and I've made my blocks.

Instructions to make the block are posted here.  And join us on the Flickr Group Pool and post your block pics.

My past track record on keeping up with Blocks-of-the-Month, or Blocks-of-the-Week is about 50-50. If a block is complicated and requires hours of cutting and piecing, the more I'm likely to fall behind because I'll put off doing that block until I have the right amount of time to do it all in one session. This is further compounded when the next complicated block comes out before I'm caught up.  Or worse, I get around to finally piecing my blocks, make a cutting mistake and the fabric store no longer has any of the fabric in the blocks.

These little 6" sampler blocks are wonderful - graphicly pleasing and quick to piece. There's no reason to put them off.  If you're thinking about jumping in and making these blocks as they're posted, don't worry about being a couple of weeks behind - the blocks really do work up super quick.

I've got a page of quick reference links to Jenifer's past blog posts and block instructions here.

Traditional Tuesday and String Blocks too

I made the next block for the Traditional Tuesday Sampler and I blew it by not trimming my 1.5" strips down to 1" strips for the block.  Aaarrrrgggghhh!   I was so delighted by the selection of browns and pinks in my strip box, I completely forgot about the cutting instructions.  Given my perfectionist tendencies, it won't surprise anyone that I plan to make these again tomorrow.  This time, let's see if I can get it right.  (Sigh)  At this rate, I'll have a entire pieced backing made up of rejected blocks.

I made the next row of string blocks for Donna's string quilt w/ 9 patches - at six blocks a week, I'll be done making the string blocks in another six weeks.  Then I can move on to the strip sashing and the teeny 9 patches.

The strings don't seem to be reduced at all.

A bit of Sunday Sewing

Today is the first day of the Canton Village Bloggers' Block of the Month  - I'm going to make mine in scrappy blues and neutrals.  There seems to be quite a good supply of those fabrics in all of my strip bins, as well as yardage in my stash.  All the block # 1 components could be made from 2.5" strips and squares.  I'm keeping all the pertinent links for this project on a Blog Page here.

After finding a handful of colourful 9 patches in my 2.5" strip bin, I decided to keep making them so I could use them as the centres of Sister's Choice blocks - it will be a very colourful and scrappy project.  I'll be making these along with my Bloggers' BOM blocks every month.  The Sister's Choice blocks will finish at 10" square so I will probably want to make the quilt 6 by 8 (48 blocks).  I already have 19 nine-patches so only need another 29 before I move on to the next phase of these blocks.

I like the fast piecing method I read about on Quiltville - where to make a scrappy 9 patch you pull two strips plus a square from your strip bin.  As these are being made from 2.5" strips, I needed to cut two 10" strips in contrasting colours plus a 2.5" square of one of the colours.

After sewing the two strips together, and ironing, the strips are then subcut into 2.5" segments.

Then laid out for chain piecing.

 I made another two blocks for my Traditional Tuesday Sampler (blog page on that project is here).  I did determine that my seam allowance was a couple of threads off, but increased the components by 1/8" anyway.  There wasn't much to trim off to make the blocks 6.5" square.

Here's the pile of scrappy 4 patches that were run through as leaders n' enders during today's sewing.  I've found a couple of patterns I like that will use up some 4patches.  One requires 3.5" HSTs and the other 3.5" strips with sew n' flip corners.  Both ideas require some cutting to proceed, which I hope to have done before I run out of leader n' ender two-patches.

I'm making seriously good progress on the 2.5" HSTs I've been trimming.  Here's a pic of the trimmed box.  Amazing how fast it goes, even if only trimming 20 or 30 a day.

And this is all that is left in the "untrimmed" box.  I am on track to be done with this trimming business before the end of October.  I've found a couple of patterns that use a lot of HSTs.  They too require cutting components.

I can see I will have quite a bit of fabric cutting to do to use up some of these components.  Tonight?  I'm planning on handstitching binding and watching television.

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.