Summer is in full bloom this fall!

Today may be the official first day of fall, but summer is in full bloom in my sewing room.  I tweaked the bloom block I shared in my previous post.  I just reshaped and shrank the leaves a little to make them a little bit less prominent.

Once the block was just the way I wanted it, I dithered about cutting into the fabrics I bought.  I knew I wanted to use all the reds, but I was pretty sure I didn't want only reds.  I was also pretty sure I could use the pinks as well, but I wasn't sure about the blue, or the aquas.  I didn't want to waste fabric by making the blocks then not using them.  Really, that little internal discussion wasted way too much time!

In the end I convinced myself that I could just make a secondary project with any blocks that didn't make the final cut for the quilt.  I cut pieces for one block from each fabric, made those 10 blocks, and what do you know, I liked the combination just fine!  I cut another set to make another 10 blocks and headed back to the sewing machine...and the pressing board...and the cutting mat. 

I designed the block using stitch-and-flip/lost corners/folded corners (pick your label!) instead of cutting triangles and dealing with bias edges and at least one non-standard shape.  It makes assembly easier, but it does involve a lot of trimming.  At least they are pretty trimmings.

Sashing and cornerstones came next.  I chose the same yellow as I used for the small petals to avoid introducing yet another fabric to make things busier.  I definitely wanted cornerstones.  Cornerstones help me line up blocks nicely, and they help me avoid measuring long strips for the horizontal sashing. 

That's a terrible photo.  That's what happens when I take photos in my sewing room at night.  Nevertheless, you get an idea of how the blocks play together.

Since I like to avoid measuring and sewing long strips, you would think I would avoid multiple borders.  I really dislike measuring and pinning borders.  I stress about it and I dither and even when I do get to work on them I'm slow as molasses.  It took me all afternoon to add the background border (I guess you could call that the outside sashing) and two more narrow borders.

If I dislike adding borders so much, why do I design quilts with borders?  I do it because borders can help pull everything together and transform the quilt from OK to one that makes me do a happy dance.  Not every quilt needs them, but this one certainly does.  Just to be clear, those narrow borders are not transforming the quilt all on their own.  They look rather uninspiring right now, but just wait until you see them paired with the final pieced border.  There are white dots on red involved, and a little bit of yellow gingham-like print.  I'm working on that last border now, and I'm getting ready for the happy dance!

Happy quilting!

Joanne

UPDATE:  The Prairie Mix quilt pattern is now available here.

Hanging on to summer

After a scorching summer complete with drought, we finally had some rain this week.  You would think that after the heat, I would also welcome the much cooler temperatures that came with the rain, but it's unseasonably cool.  Aren't I picky?  Too hot! Too cold!  Sigh. I'm sure things will warm up again for a few weeks at least but right now, it definitely feels like fall outside.

I love fall, but early September is too soon!  I have decided to hang on to summer just a little longer and bring some fresh bright blooms into my sewing room. The blooms in my garden are definitely done, as I gave up trying to keep thing watered, but here are the raw materials for the sewing room garden.

I'm not sure if all those fabrics will make the cut. At the store, I couldn't find the right fabrics to quite match the picture in my mind. It was hard to rethink the colour plan on the fly, so I ended up buying a little more so I could play around a little.  I'm not sure about including the bright blue, but the light aquas would be very bland on their own against the red.  I could use only the red, and maybe pink prints, but that might be a bit too much red for me.  I'll make blocks and see how they all play together.

I made a sample block with scraps.

It needs a little tweaking.  I think the leaves are a little distracting, so they need a little work.  I'm getting closer to a final design.  I may make enough progress to share more next week.

I'm off to sew! Have a good weekend!

Joanne

Spring Bloom Block Tutorial

After I posted pictures the spring blooms quilt I made last spring, I received a lot of requests for a block tutorial.  It's been slow coming, but here it is!

Fabric and Cutting

For a single 10" block you will need:

      4 - 4" squares assorted scraps (A) (I used different prints of one color)
      4 - 2" squares background (B)
      4 -  2" x 4"  background (C)
      4 - 2" x 5 1/2" background (D)
      4 - 2" squares green (E)

I made my flowers from scraps,  but I used just one fabric for all my block backgrounds to make the blooms float on the quilt.  It might be interesting to use a variety of neutral scraps for the background and see how that looks.  If you give that a try, please share a picture!

Pressing instructions

As much as possible, I plan my pressing so that seams will nest when I join units. I find my corners match better when I do this.  If you follow the pressing directions as given, you will be able to nest any seams that meet within the block, as well as when you join blocks together side by side without sashing.  I don't know about you, but I love it when that happens!

Piecing Instructions
  
1. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the back of each 2" square (background and green).

2. Place a background square B on one corner of a color square A, right sides together.

3. Sew along the marked line. Cut the corner off 1/4" away from the sewn line. 

4. Fold background fabric back to fill corner.  Press.

5. Position the unit with the triangle at the top right corner.  Sew a background C on the right as shown. Press towards C.

6. Place a green square E on the right end of one background D, with the marked line starting at the top right corner.  Sew along the marked line.  (I find it works best to sew towards the corner rather than starting the seam in the corner. When I start at the corner there are even odds that the corner will get caught up in the needle plate.)

7. Cut the corner off 1/4" away from the sewn line.  Fold background fabric back to fill corner.  Press.

8.  Sew the DE unit to the ABC unit as shown.  Press towards the ABC unit.

9. The quarter block unit should measure 5 1/2" square. Repeat steps 2-9 to make 3 more units.

10. Join pairs of quarter blocks as shown.  Press seam to the side with the green triangle, as indicated by the white arrows in the picture below.

11. Join the two halves to complete the block.

12. Press half the seam towards the green triangle in that half of the seam.  Press the other half in the opposite direction, towards the green triangle in that half.  In the middle, on both sides of the center point, use your fingertips to push gently in the directions that you pressed.  This should open up the seam at the intersection of the four blocks into a little four-patch.  Press. 

Read more and watch a short video 
about spinning seams this way

 
You now have a completed Spring Bloom Block!

Make a few more and decide whether to set them in a straight set or on point, with or without sashing. Just play and have fun with your Spring Blooms.  OK, it's currently late summer, not too long until fall, but if you start soon you can have them for next spring!

In the quilt pictured below, the blocks were set on point with no sashing. If you would like to set your blocks this way, cut the side setting triangles by cutting 15 1/2" squares diagonally twice.  For the corner setting triangles, cut 8 3/4" squares diagonally once.  For more guidance, read my blog post about setting blocks on point.  

This one has blocks set on point with no sashing.
Approximately 56" x 71"

Go here to see what the on point layout would look like with color setting triangles!

For more bloom inspiration, check out my collection of flowery quilts.

Linking up with

Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

 

Blooms finished and gifted

Now that the blooms quilt has safely arrived at its destination (and 3 days earlier than I expected...how often does that happen?)  I can share the finished quilt.  Ta da!

I bet you didn't see the elephant coming! Apparently, when you administer CPR and you do it right, you leave the lucky person feeling like an elephant ran over their chest (which is good even though it sounds awful, because it means the person is still alive to feel).  That is why the person who performed CPR last January gets an elephant on her quilt.

 

 

Most of this quilt was quilted with my trusty walking foot.  I considered trying freemotion in the sashing, but in the end I preferred crisp straight lines that remind me of a trellis.  Next I considered freemotion in the petals.  That was the part I picked out several time before settling on straight lines radiating from the flower centers.  I'm sure in some other hands FMQ could have worked out beautifully, but it just wasn't soaring in my hands!  Have I mentioned I love my walking foot?

The only part of the quilt that has free-motion on it is the elephant, and I forgot to take pictures of that.  Ooops!  Trust me, the paisley pattern is gorgeous and flawless...

Now I'm off to do something with this little guy:

Gotta have backyard security to chase the rabbits away from the blooms!

Still working on blooms

I'm still working on the flower quilt.  Let's just say that this quilt did not have any strong suggestions about how it wanted to be quilted so I spent a lot of time staring at it, thinking and drawing a blank.  The quilt didn't start talking until after I had quilted a few blooms.  Then it had very strong opinions about what it didn't like.

I didn't quilt all the blooms before listening to the quilt's protests, otherwise I might have just pitched this whole thing out the window.  I did try about 4 designs on various blooms that ended up being picked out.  I really hate picking out quilting stitches, especially the really tiny tight ones I get when  my foot on the foot pedal and my hands moving the quilt around aren't working together very well for even freemotion quilting

In the end I decided less was more and that the walking foot is my friend, despite the quilt wrestling involved to change directions.  Lots of walking foot quilting happening over here!  The sashing is all done and I think about 1/4 of the blooms are quilted as well.  Now that I have a plan that I can live with I think it will go more quickly.  I hope so!  I am ready for this one to be done!