Tuesday Tutorial: Curved Piecing with Man Sewing

You've probably read that I make a quilt for each of my Mother's great-grandchildren when they turn 12. The youngest boy in that generation turned 12 last month (there's still one girl who isn't yet 12). 

Now, I don't normally allow much input as to which quilts I make. My theory is, "I make the quilts I like, and if you suck up enough, you get the quilt!" But since I let L's older brother choose the colors of the quilt, I figured L. should get a choice also.

Via his Dad, L. requested "yellow and orange with no print. And I really like lions."

Yellow and orange with no prints? Hmm -- I DO have a rather extensive collection of solids.

So I pulled out all the orange and yellow solids. Initially, I thought I would cut them to 2½" strips and sew them together randomly. Then I happened upon Rob Appell's "Man Sewing" tutorial on piecing free-hand curves.

It's a life-changer! Seriously, I haven't witnessed a new technique this revolutionary since I was shown Susie's Magic Binding!

As Rob advised, I made a practice block. His technique is so easy!

Have you notices all the exclamation point in this post! Can you tell I'm just a little excited?!?

Are you ready to see my finished quilt? Here it is:

Isn't that fun? I originally had the large (20") blocks arranged in a checkerboard as Rob does. The DH suggested they would look better all turned the same direction -- and he was right. 

Since L. said he loved lions, I searched for a backing with a lion print. It took some time, but I finally found the perfect backing fabric:

Thank you Rob, for the excellent tutorial! 


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UFO Parade: September Already?

It's pretty clear August is holiday month for quilters -- not many UFOs got finished this month!

But first, the UFO number for September. It's"

The first to join the parade is a blue ribbon quilt by Katie from Wyoming. First place at both County and State Fairs!  Yay Katie!

Kate, log cabin quilts are my favorite, and you did a spectacular job with the layout on this one. Congratulations!

Sandi's August finish is one we did as a BOM at Ruth's Stitchery awhile back.

Here's what Sandi has to say about "Kavelry."

Kalvery used the Freedom Rings Block of the Month pattern and fabrics by by Paula Barnes of Red Crinoline Quilts.  It is a large project that is 88" x 88".  By the time Kerry and I started working on our individual projects finding the fabric line was near impossible. But with a bunch of searching around we gathered most of the ones called for.  The important fabric to get was of course the eagle and star panel.  Without it...well what can I say...it is what pulls this design together.  My eagle and star panels fell just short of what I needed so I improvised a bit using pieces of the blue star border that were part of the panel on the top and bottom of each panel.  So this patriotic beauty is done and I am very pleased.
Here is where I talk about the finish on my blog http://kwiltnkats.blogspot.com/2016/08/wednesday-august-17-2016.html

Seeing your quilt, Sandi, makes me wish I had participated!

Idaho friend Martha and her husband served with the Peace Corps at one time. She is busily making quilts for their fund-raising auction next summer. It is so fun to see her authentic African fabrics!

The first one she finished this month features fabric from when for a short time the Central African Republic became an Empire. More than 30 years ago. 

Here is another to-be-auctioned quilt. This one is 80" x 80" and will go at the Peace Corps auction. The proceeds go to Water for Good which digs wells in villages in the Central African Republic.

Here's a closeup so you can see the unique fabrics:

Australian Susan was lucky enough to retreat with her friends this summer (winter in Australia!). She writes:

I am not sure when I made this...I guess it was 2003.  It is not my oldest UFO…that one may never see the finish line! The pattern is “Donna’s Dream” and was designed by Donna Elkington  (who used to own a Quilt Shop here in Brisbane.) I particularly love the border on this one.

Me, too, Susan!

Read more about Susan's quilts are her blog, Susan's Sewing Space.

Melissa has two quilts and a unique finish to share this month. First, her quilts. The first is a scrap quilt made with Hawi'ian fabrics Melissa's folks brought her about 10 years ago. She says, "They found bags of cotton scraps for $10 a bag and when I said that was a good price they bought me 4! This is my 5th quilt from those scraps and I'm almost at the end."

"The other is a baby quilt with more scraps. I love using them up and making something useful out of them." 

I love love love the next finish! So fun, and I think the first finish by a man I've featured on the blog! It's not a quilt, but it's really cool!

Melissa tells me:

The big accomplishment this month belongs to my Dear Husband.  He makes models and this year I encouraged him to follow your monthly UFO picks into order to get some of his WIPs completed. And this month he did! It's the USS Buckley. 

I did a little research on the USS Buckley, and found it was a WWII destroyer with a storied history. Click on this link to the US Militaria Forum to learn more.

Speaking of the US Navy, My Little Sailor and 52 Quilts co-author re-enlisted for six more years of Navy life this week. I'm so proud he has chosen to continue his military career -- and delighted that his next assignment will be in San Diego!

We're coming up on a three day weekend in the US -- it's Labor Day. My sister Julia convinced her boys that Labor Day meant you had to finish all the projects you started over the summer.

Here's to finishing those UFOs!



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More Sunday Stash

Looking forward to greeting my friends from Around the Block Quilts today. They've been on a Row-by-Row Experience road trip to Santa Fe, and will stop at Ruth's Stitchery on the way back to Cheyenne. I can't wait to show them "my" shop!

In the meanwhile, here are some more stash additions from my own road trip to Idaho last month. It's pattern week!

Next year at Ruth's, we're doing something other than a strip quilt every month. The odd-numbered months will still be "Jelly Roll Party." First Friday of every odd-numbered month (January, March, May, July, September, and November) we'll make a different quilt using 2½" strips.

On the first Friday of the even-numbered months (February, April, June, August, October), we'll have Fat Quarter Fun. Quilts made using fat quarters! I can't wait to start putting together unique fat quarter bundles for each sample quilt.

Do you have a favorite strip or fat quarter quilt? Tell me the name of the pattern in the comments!

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Design Wall Monday: The Ugly Christ Sweater QAL

There's a story behind this quilt. Isn't there always?

A long-time friend hosts a cookie exchange each December. And she usually has an "ugly Christmas sweater" contest -- who can find the ugliest of the ugly Christmas sweaters? I've won several times! [And the prize is always a bottle of something delish!]

So when I saw Lorna's "Ugly Christmas Sweater QAL" on her blog, Sew Fresh Quilts, I knew I had to make this quilt!

I have 16 of the 20 blocks made:

This is my favorite block:

I love the way the birds show up in the background.

I cut out all the pieces before I went on vacation last month. That is the way to get a quilt pieced quickly -- I just started making the blocks last week, and I should have all 20 finished by tonight! These blocks are addictive, it's just so fun to see how each will turn out!

Lorna used a wide-long three-step zig zag to quilt her quilt. I've been trying to visualize how to do that as a "quilt as you go" method. I think I'll piece each row together, quilt them, then join the rows. I used this method for "Strip to Shore" awhile back, and it turned out very nice.

What's on your design wall today?



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Sunday Stash II

Here are some more goodies from my road trip to Idaho last month.

First, have you ever seen the movie "Napoleon Dynamite?"  The town where it was filmed is Preston, Idaho. More important (to quilters, anyway) is this: Preston, Idaho is also home to Suppose Quilt Boutique.

This is one of those small-but-mighty shops -- not really all that small, they have a terrific classroom space in the back. And the best selection of modern fabrics since Snappy Quilts in Denver closed!

Here's my score from Suppose.

Have you ever seen these? They are like the red plastic sticks you use to determine the value of fabrics, but in eyeglass form. Much easier to use! Simply lay out the fabric in what you think is dark to light values, then don the glasses. The glasses remove the color from what you see, so it's easy to arrange your fabrics in value-order.

I had bought some of these Robert Kaufman essex yarn-dyed metallics cotton-linens, and wasn't overly impressed. That was before I saw this shop sample in Suppose!  Ohmigoodness! Gotta have it!

I really should have asked to take a photo of the sample, because it's gorgeous! This is one of those "I don't know who it's for, but someone will love it" quilts!

Speaking of which, I know who will love this original design from Suppose using Tula Pink fabrics. Me!

Just can't get enough Tula Pink!

And I found the perfect backing for this Cotton + Steel baby quilt!

Next week: the adventure continues!


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Another Friday Finish

Again, two, in fact!

The best thing about unexpected time off from work is, a lot of quilts get finished! This week, I bound two.

The first one is winging its way to Idaho. A former classmate needs a heart transplant, and this quilt will be raffled at my class reunion next month to raise money for the surgery.

This was a fun quilt to make, started in a class at Sew-ciety in Castle Rock. The pattern is Dash in a Box from Quilter's Dream. Here is the post where I introduced this quilt -- in 2013!

I bound it using Susie's Magic Binding, with orange as the main color and bright blue as the accent.  Thank you to all the staff at Ruth's Stitchery for helping me decide on binding colors!

The second finish is the September Jelly Roll Party sample for Ruth's Stitchery. The pattern is Leaf it to Me from Cozy Quilts. I loved the colors in Daniela's sample so much, I tried to copy them the best I could. I used a Hoffman Bali Pops in the "Nirvana" color for the leaves, and another Hoffman Bali batik for the purple borders.

The border on this one is "Jean's Genius Binding," which makes the quilt look like it has no binding at all. I love it!

Which reminds me, I'll be teaching both Susie's Magic Binding and Jean's Genius Binding at Ruth's next Saturday, August 20. If you're in the neighborhood, bring a ready-to-bind-quilt and we'll bind it that afternoon!

Back to work on my "Ugly Christmas Sweater" quilt. Winter is coming!


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WIP Wednesday: All the Blocks are Finished

One of the best things about a quilting vacation is getting caught up on blocks of the month!

I really dialed back the number of BOMs I signed up for this year ('cuz, you know, I have so many from previous years!). One I couldn't resist was "Park Bench" by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts.

I picked up the kit with the same fabrics Julie used at Quilt Essentials in Laramie, Wyoming -- maybe two years ago?  So when Beth announced she would teach this quilt as a BOM at Ruth's Stitchery this year, I was ready!

Remarkably enough, I kept up with the monthly assignments. And while watching the first days of the Rio Olympics, I finished the last three blocks!

A word of caution: don't try to piece complicated blocks while watching TV. I mis-pieced two of the 15 blocks -- but really, only someone who has already made the quilt using the same Carolyn Friendlander "Botanics" fabrics would notice. Right?

Friend Betty designed an alternate layout. So as soon as I get a photo of her quilt, I'll make the background blocks and get this baby sewn together. I love the fabrics, and Julie's directions are excellent. Really! The mistakes are entirely due to me watching the TV instead of the pattern!

Two quilts bound today -- photos to follow on Friday!



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