Great HST Caper - Blocks done

Filled up my design wall with finished Great HST Caper blocks.  My last row doesn't fit on the wall or in the picture.   I've got every light on in the apartment to counteract the grey day outside and it seems to be making photos a little washed out or yellow.  Or maybe my camera battery just needs recharging.

I didn't notice until I was laying out my blocks that I had pressed the last two seams joining my block rows in the wrong direction.  I proceeded by turning every other block one quarter turn anticipating that it would all work, then noticed the error.  I will have to repress them all towards the block centre so that they'll interlock as I join my blocks.  Take a look at the back of this block - what a hodge podge of seams.

Now I'm thinking about borders and experiencing my usual border anxiety (serious border disorder, remember?) - not exactly breaking out into a nervous sweat, but definitely chewing on my bottom lip.  Didn't we just go through this not that long ago?

This light coloured floral actually works quite well, assuming I want this quilt to read as light.  Most of my quilts are quite dark country colours; it might be nice to have one that looks summer-y.  The blocks use equal amounts of dark and light scrappy fabrics, so if I add a dark border, I think it would read as dark.

If I don't use this floral for borders, it's definitely going to be used as the backing. Now I'm thinking if I use it for borders, I will want a dark zinger for a narrow frame around my blocks. Pretty much any colour will work for that.

Call me crazy, but I'm also thinking of making a couple hundred dark flying geese from scrappy 2.5" x 4.5" bricks for a pieced border... or a piano key border?, or a couple of columns of staggered upright bricks?  or maybe parallel sew-n-flip corners to make that zig-zag looking border strip (reminiscent of my sashing strips for the Shady Lanes quilt in my post - here )  I would love to work in more of these fabric scraps into this top.

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.

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.

Great HST Caper - ready to assemble

Today, I'm going to write my post backwards.  Instead of starting from the beginning of my day, I'm going to start with the end result.  And here it is.  A box full of 4-patch components, all ready to be joined into the final blocks.  Is it not a thing of beauty?!

It's hard to believe this all started out as a box of untrimmed unsquared ten year old half-square triangles made with fabrics I didn't like.  When I opened the box 2.5 months ago, I thought there were 1,000 or more, but it turned out there was a little less than 900.  While still a jaw dropping number of HSTs, it left me short of my goal, by 250-something which I pieced together in a marathon session yesterday.

And this is what I'm going to make with those components.  I have enough to make 30 12.5" blocks (5 x 6) resulting in a quilt top 60" x 72" (before borders).

I had to trim all the flying geese units I made today.  But I was right about trimming 70 four-patches being preferable to trimming the 280 HSTs I made yesterday.  The four patches I made today were almost 1/4" bigger all around than all the ones I made with trimmed HSTs.  I think there's a lesson in that for me.  My habit of working with trimmed perfect components is not just a manifestation of OCD.

I trimmed off quite a bit to make them square.

And this was the pile before trimming, just after ironing and twirling the back seams.

And this was the string of flying geese after I finished sewing them this afternoon.

I think I've earned an evening off.  No ironing.  No cutting.  No trimming.  No sewing.  I might take my new box of tidy 4-patch components and start laying them out as blocks for chain piecing.

Back in HSTs

I spent most of the morning cutting, sewing and ironing all those extra half-square triangles I need to finish my Great HST Caper blocks.  (See, I thought those plastic containers would come in handy once the chocolate bars were finished... no, I didn't eat them all myself.  I bagged up the bars from these two containers and dropped them off at my salon when I went in for a trim.  Honest!)  I've got the HSTs separated into two piles - seams ironed to the dark and seams ironed to the light.

I have about 280 HSTs made, more than enough to finish off my flying geese components with a few extras for colour choice as I make them.  I rank high on my list of most annoying occurrences in quilting - the getting to the end of a long line of scrappy chain piecing only to discover that the last half dozen units being sewn together are all the same fabric.  Unless interrupted by something more exciting, I will be sewing flying geese this evening.  I had intended to get these done in a more gradual approach (like, say, over a few days), rather than with the single-minded obsessive maniacal intensity I had today, but once I got started I couldn't seem to stop.  (That may have something to do with the housework chores I had assigned myself today.)

The one good thing about sewing triangles cut on the bias for these HSTs, is that they are almost perfectly sized from using my Easy Angle ruler.  So I am going to try sewing these together without the added labour of trimming off a thread or two from each one to make them absolutely perfect.  I figure I can always square them up as four-patches if I have to.  Squaring and trimming 62 is a whole lot more preferable to squaring and trimming 280.

I feel like such a rebel... a rebel who has a very grubby apartment but 280 new HSTs to play with.

Great HST Caper - out of HSTs

I found an alternate layout I like better for the blocks of my Great HST Caper.  This happened entirely by accident when I was putting some four patch units up on the design wall this morning and got some components turned around.  I continued with the alternate layout until I had four blocks on the wall to look at.

Then I put four blocks up of the pattern I was originally going to make, for comparison.

After looking at them both for a while, I find I prefer the new layout.  And since I took the rather wise path of twirling my seams, the layout will not be a problem because of seam butting.  I'm eager to get the blocks put together.  My excitement, however, was tempered by a problem.  I've hit a minor road block in my piecing...

I chose the name Distracted Quilter for my blog but could easily have used Oblivious Quilter or Forgetful Quilter and have it describe me very well.  In preparing to sew the last 60-something flying geese units for my Great HST Caper quilt, I discovered something horrifying... the bottom of the HST box is filled with 2" HSTs - not the 2.5" HSTs I've been using.  A little voice in my mind said "See, I told you so!  You should have stored these two sizes in separate boxes."  I hate that voice.  It always seems to deliver common sense logic with a rather patronizing or amused twist.  And, of course, now I remember that there were, indeed, two sizes in that box.  As I recall, I did it to reduce the number of boxes so it would fit on my closet shelf.... this was back when my entire stash fit in a few boxes that could be tucked away on a closet shelf.

So I have enough centres and corner units to make 30 blocks, but only enough flying geese units to make 15.  I almost cried.  But it's Remembrance Day and I've been listening to radio interviews with some of our brave veterans - in particular one young soldier who lost both legs in an IED blast in Afghanistan.  As I listened to him quietly describe his love of freedom and country, of doing what needs to be done.... well... somehow my miscalculating the number of half-square triangles for a quilt project no longer ranks up there with major disasters.  And I found myself wiping away tears for a more important reason.  My sense of the true importance of things re-established, I was better prepared to deal with the minor glitch that has my HST Caper off track.

So..... (deep steadying breath) I need another 62 flying geese units, which translates into 248 HSTs.  I can't believe I'm going to have to make more of them.  And I need them to be ultra scrappy to fit in with the rest of the components.  I pulled out a box that contains the scrap fabrics most of my HSTs were made with and started pulling 2.5" x 6" bricks and 2.5" x 4.5" bricks.  You really should stop buying fabric, my inner voice said.  "You could make another two quilt tops with just this box alone."  "Shut-up!" sez I, startling Lucas from a sound sleep.

I pulled out over 80 dark bricks, and as many light ones as I could find in the box, relieved to recognize most of them as fabrics used in the other 800-plus HSTs  of my block components.

I can use my Easy Angle ruler to cut them.  With this ruler, I can get a 2.5" HSTs from a 2.5" fabric strip.

I can get three 2.5" HSTs from two 2.5" x 6" bricks and two HSTs from the 2.5" x 4.5" bricks.  The cutting on the first 60 HSTs is done.

I just need to cut this many another three times, then sew, press, square....  And, of course, the left over small triangles are going to be thrown into the crumb box.  I briefly considered piecing them into 1.5" HSTs then dismissed that as an act of insanity.  This project already has me talking to myself.

Great HST Caper - update

I am making speedy progress on my HST project since yesterday.  Today I chain pieced all the 30 block centres and the 120 four patches for the corners.  I have half the 120 flying geese units pieced.  They are piled up on my ironing board for pressing.

I'm almost finished trimming the first pile of ironed scraps.  Last night I ironed up another big pile for my daily scrap trimming, and bagged all the remaining poly-cottons for flinging.  They filled a plastic grocery bag - about 10 yards worth.  The good news is that I won't have to trim them, although it hurts my heart to get rid of some of the fabrics.  There are some really pretty ones in the mix, but it seems that the prettier they are, the more they stink under a hot iron.  That must be a quilter's law or something.

My scrap bin is looking remarkably empty.  There are still six solidly filled plastic bags full of scraps at the bottom of the bin, but they are so compressed and flattened, the bin almost looks empty.

A lot of wasted time happens in the kitchen just standing and waiting - for coffee to brew, water to boil, baking to finish, etc.  After I moved a cutting mat to the kitchen counter, finding 15 minutes for daily trimming was no longer a problem.  Where do you waste the most time waiting?

Great HST Caper - block assembly

I couldn't help myself... I started assembling blocks for my Great HST Caper instead of using them as a leader n' ender.  I'm just so eager to get these done now that I've chosen a pattern and finished trimming them all.  It's kind of exciting to get this close to using up all these half square triangles.

I finished 240 two-sies, all the left leaning lazy diamonds to make the 120 corners I will need for 30 quilt blocks.  Next, I'll sew these two-sies into the 4 patch corner units.

And I made 30 flying geese - half of the block centres.  Here I ran into a minor glitch.  I had pressed all the HST seams towards the dark fabric and that meant 6 layers of fabric were competing at the centre point of the flying geese blocks, forming a substantial lump, and making it almost impossible to get a crisp point.  I would have settled for a good point, but it just wasn't working out.  So I stopped, ripped out the sewing on the half dozen I had made, and proceeded by finger pressing one of the blocks so that one of the seams was flipped.  I found it annoying to have to hold the seam in place against my excellent pressing job while trying to feed it though my sewing machine.  (I am a thorough presser.  Never thought I'd have reason to regret being thorough.)

After making 30, and wasting a lot of time by fiddling with the fabric seams, and almost running my fingers through along with the fabric, I stopped.  I'm exactly at the half-way point of assembling my 2 patch units and will spend a little time with an iron tonight, going over half of the remaining HSTs, pressing towards the light fabric.  Then I can get back to making flying geese, without the fiddling.  I should have all the two-sies done and a good start on making 4 patch units tomorrow.

While I'm ironing those HST seams in the opposite direction, this is a good time to drag out my big scrap bin and start ironing up my next big pile of scraps for daily scrap trimming.  It's either that or get busy on at least an hour or more of housework... I'll take the fabric ironing over that any day.

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.