Tuesday Tool

But first:

Thank you, Noelle!

I joined a new class today at High Country Quilts,  "Crazy for Wool."  Each season, we will make a "table topper" quilt.  Here is the first one, for Spring:

More details to follow as the project progresses.  But first (really!) -- our clever teacher, Joyce, demonstrated a nifty new tool for squaring up half-square triangles.  The HSTs in the pinwheels for this quilt are 1 1/2".  The designer calls for making them a little larger and trimming them to size.  Enter, the Bloc Loc:

See that blurry line across the middle of the template?  It's a channel that rests on top of your seam and holds the ruler perfectly in place while you trim two sides.  Then, rotate the block and the ruler, and:

Trim the other two sides.  I thought maybe it would show up better on the pink mat.  The Bloc Loc comes in several sizes, and they even make one for the dreaded Flying Geese.  Click here to go to the Bloc Loc website and watch their video of how to use this great new tool.

In no time, I had a pile of perfectly trimmed HSTs.  Thanks, Joyce!

Tune in tomorrow to see what happens next.

(New!) Mystery Monday

Hooray, the Wednesday Block-of-the-Month club at Ruth's Stitchery is doing a mystery quilt this year!  And it's by my favorite mystery quilt designer, Debbie Caffrey.

This quilt requires only four fabrics.  I'm using batiks from my stash:

Ginny advised us to put a tiny snippet of each fabric in order on our instruction sheet, as it is easy to get confused as the project progresses.  What a smart idea!  (Umm, yeah, name of quilt covered up by request of designer.  Don't want to spoil the mystery for other quilters.)

Debbie advises, "make a sample to ensure your 1/4" seam is really really 1/4".  Here's mine, perfect!

And here is step one, completed.

Kind of a strange step -- sew two different-sized triangles together?  Oh, well, that's why it's called a mystery. Only six steps to this mystery, I can't wait to see what happens next!

Sundays are for Scraps

Remember this photo?

When I started cutting scraps this morning, it was full.  Along with:

and:

I spent the entire day cutting and cutting and wound up with this:

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the stacks of squares are 4-5" high.  That's a lot of squares!  I cut 5 1/2", 5", 4 1/2", 3 1/2", 2 1/2", 2" and 1 1/2" squares; as well as 2 1/2", 2" and 1 1/2" strips.  Whew!

The squares across the bottom will become:

This block is "Crossroads to Jericho," from Anna Lena's tutorial.Go look, I'll wait.

Pretty, isn't it?  Next weekend, my reward for all that cutting will be to put together my own Crossroads to Jericho quilt. After this day, I am determined not to let the scrap bin get that full again!

Quilt #6 - Outfoxed

I love this fabric!  Quilt #6 for 2012 is "Sparkling Cider" from All Washed Up.  With the borders it will finish at 64" X 80", a little big for a baby quilt, but I couldn't resist using every piece in Lizzy House's collection, "Outfoxed." I especially love the little hedgehogs.  Jacob's 5th grade class had a pet hedgehog -- very cute, but it smelled.  Fabrics are from freshsqueezedfabrics.


I wanted to take the photo outside to see how the colors would look in natural light.  Guess what:  the wind is blowing.  So I had the boys hold it up next to the living room window in the most light available inside.  I think the colors are pretty true.

This one will go to Japan for a sailor's new baby.

WIP Wednesday

Temperatures in the lower 20 degrees Fahrenheit make good quilting days  This one will probably be completed tomorrow, so more details then.

It's good to take photos before the blocks are sewn together, as I can see some re-arranging is needed!

Quilt #5 Cheaper by the Dozen

Finally I got the outside border for this quilt -- I pieced it during Christmas weekend and had a heckuva time getting the border fabric.  But here it is, #5 for 2012!  The pattern is from Legacy Patterns and is called "Cheaper by the Dozen."  For a finished size quilt of 59" X 74", you need twelve fat quarters.  I used leftover Summerhouse by Lily Ashbury from my October Quilt Camp class.


This would make an excellent baby quilt or charity quilt, as it took only a couple of hours to put together.

Sundays are for Scraps -- or Dots

This project will fill my Scrappy Sundays for weeks to come.  "Completely Dotty" is from the February 2004 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.  I started collecting polka dot fabrics seven years ago!
 

This is a paper-pieced project, a technique I don't especially like.  I made the paper foundations years ago, so the most tedious part of the project is complete.  I miss my youngest son, who was my "foundation paper remover."  But at quilt retreat in April, I learned a neat trick from Marilyn of Cindy's Quilt Shop in Caldwell, Idaho.  Here's how it works:  after sewing all the seams on the paper foundation and trimming the block, put the block paper-side-up on a terry cloth towel (or well padded ironing board).  Then take a chopstick and run the wide end of the chopstick along the seam.  The paper will tear away easily and when removed, won't disturb your stitches.  Be sure to use a larger size needle (I use a size 14 for paper piecing) and smaller stitch (2.0 or even 1.5) when sewing paper foundation blocks.

And I have this cool "Dots" lunch box to store my pieces in until they're all sewn to the foundations!

 Here is my first finished block -- except for the center.  The pattern shows a variety of circles for the center, including spiral applique' or plain colored circles.  I haven't decided what I will use, but I have eleven more blocks to make before I have to choose.

Looks like Sundays will be Completely Dotty for awhile!