Y-seams

For the past few days I’ve been pondering what to make with my lovely fat-quarter bundles of brights.  I have quilting magazines spread all over my floor, opened at assorted tempting patterns.  The quilt made up of 25 9-inch lone star blocks looked tempting, though I was thinking of a more modest 5-block table runner.  My sticking point is that the block requires inset seams and they intimidate me.

Today I decided to plunge in and try one.  I didn’t cut into my pretty new fabrics though, just in case.  I dipped into the blue scraps and 3 hours later I had this:


It looks much better than my first and only previous attempt at y-seams 10 years ago.  That attempt was a wrinkly, wont-lie-flat-under-a-steam-roller mess.  More practice should take care of some of the ripples that you can’t see in the picture.

So am I ready to make enough of these to make at least a runner? Hmm.  Eventually. It would qualify as practice. However, at three hours a block (though I’m sure each subsequent block will come together a little faster) it doesn’t fit the bill for the quick satisfaction I’m looking for right now.  Maybe later.

I’m heading back to all the magazines strewn on my floor.  I’ll settle on something soon.  In the meantime, I can at least say that I am no longer scared of set-in seams!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival again!

It’s time for another Blogger’s Quilt Festival.  How did that happen? I was going to show my daughter’s bed quilt, which I didn’t finish in time for the last festival, but when asked her opinion she suggested this quilt instead, since hers has been on my blog before but this one hasn’t.

   This was my gift to my grandmother when she was ill, since I lived too far away to visit.  She enjoyed it for a year before she passed away, and I’m told she used it daily.  I’m glad I could send her a little piece of me.

While making this quilt I discovered that I could get a quilt hand-quilted in a month, provided it wasn’t too large and nobody minded the complete lack of attention to things like messy bathrooms and unmade beds…

The quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted.  It was inspired by Blueberry Pie, by Mary McCarthy and Pam Buda of Heartspun Quilts, published in the June 2007 issue of APQ.  I made it smaller by using fewer, smaller blocks.

Two reveals

The sun is shining again after more than two weeks of dreary grey.  I thought I’d celebrate by photographing my quilts outside, but the wind kept whipping the quits around so uninspired indoor shots it is!

*****

The baby quilt (pattern: Turtle Twist by Blue Meadow Designs):


The turtle is a much smaller part of the quilt than I expected.  The photo in the magazine made it seem much more prominent.  I still like it though, and the top came together very quickly
I needed a bit of handwork right about the time I got this quilt basted, so I hand quilted the checkerboard and the turtle block.  I was enjoying the hand quilting but started worrying about finishing on time so I machine quilted the two borders.

*****

The Swap quilt:

 
I should come up with a better name, but I’ve called it the Swap Quilt for a year.  I doubt any other name will stick now!  This was all machine quilted.  I worried a bit about messing it up since I’m new to machine quilting, but then decided that it was made of blocks from many supportive quilting friends who would be supportive and would totally understand that I have to start somewhere. 
In the end I’m very pleased with how it turned out. I had to make a few changes to my quilting plans.  I had planned to put clusters of maple leaves in the setting triangles.  It seemed appropriate for Canuck Quilter’s quilt.  However, the print completely obscured the quilting and I figured out that I on busier prints I need longer lines and curves.  That’s why I put in those fans instead, and I really like the old fashioned look they give.

*****

That’s it for quilting for now.  I’m off to the garden to divide a few hostas. I’ve never done that before and I’m a bit worried I’ll kill them instead, but as with the quilting, I’ve got to start somewhere!  Time to go get my jeans muddy!