Third Weekend in October - Done!

Third Weekend in October - pieced by C. Sharp

Ohhhh, this finish feels GOOD. This quilt was shipped to me from Kentucky and I got it in October - I quilted and quilted and quilted and quilted .... And my machine broke.

There were a lot of tears. And I played musical machines until I finally got a little Babylock that could help finish up this beautiful and HUGE quilt. The picture is taken with the quilt on my queen sized bed and there is a huge drop on either side. The measurements are 86x104 according to the pattern but it just felt endless when I was quilting it.

I feel like I'm repeating myself -- but the colours and fabrics in this quilt are absolutely amazing. You really notice it when you have your nose to the needle for hours! Now that I have added all that thread it has a lovely texture too.

I used Superior Bottom Line, Aurifil 50wt, and some Gutermann. I was counting the numbers of bobbins I went through but I lost count and lost the paper I was making the note on. I'm sure in yellow and red alone I used 7 bobbins each of Bottom Line - which is thin 60wt thread so a bobbin holds much more than normal weight cotton. 

Soon it will be in the mail back to Carol. I guess I'll just have to make my own ...

"Please don't send it back ... Mine?"

Slice n' Dice 4-Patch

Last year when I joined the Oakville Quilter's Guild I had no idea what I was getting into. But to be fair it is mostly my fault ---- I jumped in with both feet (as usual) at the very first meeting I went to. I went as a guest and left a full member, took home two outreach quilts to quilt for them, and took home at least 6 ideas for new quilts. Things haven't changed much since then!

In the spring a few of the executives cornered asked me if I would like to manage the Block of the Month for the next membership year. I said "Okay, I think I can do that."

Over the summer I researched blocks to fit some simple criteria: I wanted a collection of blocks that looked more complex than they were and that preferably had some sort of cutting trick involved. I also wanted all of the blocks to fit in a sampler quilt at the end OR create quick quilts on their very own. I'm thrilled beyond expectations with the first block I released in September -- and we haven't even had a second meeting this year for members to bring their blocks in!

The Slice n Dice 4-patch makes awesome quilts - and the blocks themselves get addictive quickly. I gave out the instructions on a Thursday night and by the next Monday one member had made a whole top to show us. Do you want to know how happy that made me? More members have commented on how much they love the block as well - and my QATW "pattern testers" approved.

And then this swap opened at QATW as the second in a series of Breast Cancer Awareness swaps - guess which instructions we are using? {I joined too!}

And I saw Happy Zombie post this picture to her Pinterest board. It has been re-pinned at least 30 times.

And then I went to the Guild Outreach meeting and a group of us combined efforts to make about 20 blocks for a charity quilt.

See? It really is taking over the world ...

William Morris

"All artists love and honor William Morris" --- Frank Lloyd Wright 

Two things happened this summer that led to my obsession with Morris & Co. I saw this line of fabrics from Moda/Barbara Brackman:

"A Morris Tapestry" - Moda Collection

And I drooled over these textures and colours and really really really wanted to buy them. I thought of getting a charm pack but that seemed like getting paint colour chips instead of buying the paint -- if that makes sense! I had my heart set on one of the FQ bundles and I patiently waited for funds to reappear in my paypal account ....








Then one of those naughty "enablers" at QATW dropped this link casually in chat one summer day. Click and go see.

And then it was all over. I ordered the book that has instructions to make the Kelmscott quilt (the one in that picture) and started researching William Morris, and generally jumped in way over my head as usual. I spent hours and hours and hours reading about Morris and his family (his daughter May was also one of his business partners), his company, and in general everything about the Arts & Crafts movement in the late 1800s.

Well before the end of July I had the book, 6 yards of cream background, and multiple stacks of fabrics ready to be used. And then I put the stupid restriction on myself that I wouldn't START this glorious project until I finished the Farmer's Wife Sampler. Oh, the torture. You see I have realized that my teeny tiny sewing space just doesn't support multiple projects --- I like to stack fabrics, keep my workspace just so, have everything I need at hand .... And with FWS burying EVERYTHING I would never make any progress on an applique quilt.

So I finished FWS ...

And then I finished a stack of customer quilts, collected & tested a bunch of blocks for my local guild's BoM, made a bargello from batiks, and finished making blocks for the QATW BoM. See? I earned it like a good little quilter!

I am making the blocks the way I like to applique -- with fusible and my machine zigzag in matching threads. That is also the way it is done in the book, which I understand upset some hand-workers. When I started tracing the key blocks on the pattern pages however it occured to me ---- "These are not reversed shapes!"

If you have never used fusible webbing you might not "get it" but when you fuse your shapes they go on the BACK of the fabric so that the magic stickum is applied to the back as well. That means your fabric shapes are the reverse of what you just traced. Which means you can't use the pattern you just traced as a key block/layout guide. So you have to wing it --- certainly not my favorite, especially considering how intricate the blocks are.

Assemble blocks based on these with no key block? I don't think so

There are a few ways to get the shapes flipped properly so you can use the pattern sheet as a layout as well. First and easiest might be to photocopy the pages and say to the machine "flip horizontally please!". With my little 3-in-one printer though I didn't feel up to scanning blocks that are meant for 12 1/2" squares. Another way I considered was to use a double-papered brand of fusing like Steam A Seam. That way I could trace the shapes and cut them all out and then peel the paper from the side with the marks and fuse them to fabric. BUT. I don't LIKE to cut fusing paper with no fabric to stabilize it. It rips too easily, and you can't prearrange your shapes to minimize waste of fabric and fusing. The way I do that is to trace "groups" of shapes that I know will all be from the same fabric --- like leaves -- and cut them roughly as a large clump and then fuse them and do the fine cutting.

Finally I just traced the shapes onto regular paper, then flipped that paper and traced them onto the back side with permanent marker. I arrange my shapes so they were already clumped in fabric groups. I use those pages to trace onto my fusing, and then I can use the pattern page to lay out the shapes on the fabric. Ta-Da!

Progress!

So far I have 16/16 of the birds in the setting triangles finished, and 15/41 floral blocks finished. I'm still deeply in love with all things Morris. I dare you to go search "William Morris". You won't get away from the computer for awhile!

Third Weekend in October

TWIO!

Here's a little preview of what I've got cookin'. But first lets backtrack a little from this gorgeous picture:

For a year now I have been a member of Quilting Around The World. I joined specifically for their Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt Along but this incredible group of women welcomed me with open arms and I've been signing into the quilting chat room & forum daily since then! If I need to get a second opinion on anything, or need some encouragement, or inspiration -- QATW is the first place I go. I've been part of mystery quilts, contests, block & goodie swaps, quilt alongs, BoMs, and all the other things the forum has to offer. Chat room is one of my (daily) guilty pleasures.

Hint Hint: Stop on by and join, there is a Recruit-A-Friend contest running now!

And now back to the picture! It shows a little section of an amazing quilt called "Third Weekend in October". HERE is a link to the pattern. As you can see the completed top is absolutely stunning and perfect to work on at this time of year! My dear friend Carol S has had this top finished for a few years as a result of a QATW Quilt Along. Several other members finished theirs but Carol stuffed hers in her armoire. Until a few weeks anyway when she asked me if I could finish it for her. I said "YES YES YES YES!!" or something like that.

Now that I have it in my hot little hands, I'm not sure I'll be able to give it back! It is a masterpiece of rich batiks and intricate piecing (not for the faint of heart!) I keep running back to the chat room to tell her "OMG Carol it is beautiful!" She keeps laughing at me -- I'm not sure why.

I'm adding veins to each leaf and partial leaf in matching colour threads (freehand, free motion). I'm using Superior Bottom Line 60wt for the first time and I'm really happy with it.

Bottom Line is one of the secret weapons of McTavishers. In Karen McTavish's book almost half of the quilt descriptions say "quilted with Superior Bottom Line". It is thinner than the standard 50wt cotton which means that your backtracking is less visible and the texture your quilting adds takes the stage, not the thread. I bought 5 spools through Superior's Try Me Special and all of the colours they sent are perfect for TWIO.

I plan to dive into the pile of fabric leaves after my second cup of coffee, and come back out in a few hours. Maybe. It really is that gorgeous!

Quilting Around The World!

I recently found a very cool place to hang out and talk all things quilting. The lovely ladies over at QATW are super swappers, extremely helpful, and a tonne of fun to be with! Best of all is that you are continually motivated to work on your projects (and to start new ones).

Over the American Thanksgiving weekend I put together my very first set of blocks for one of their swaps - and I have to say it was a lot of fun. I noticed that I cut and pieced MUCH more carefully than I normally would. I'm pretty sure that is a good habit to cultivate!

Here are the swap blocks for Scraptastic that I put together:

They look so pretty and scrappy on my wall I can't wait to mail and swap and see what I get back!