Easter En Provence

My quilting on Flying Flags is on pause until I wind a few more bobbins. Why didn't I just do that?  I felt the itch to work on something different. So I dug around the UFO closet and the En Provence project caught my eye.

En Provence is a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt project from 2017. I had made 12 blocks and most of the units. It was all those neutral 4-patches that were dragging me down. When I unfolded the project, I found about half of the quilt was sewn together. Five more sashing units were needed and a few more pink tri-rec units. After digging through my neutrals box, I sewed what felt like a million neutral 4-patches. Finally all the parts were ready. I finished sewing the rows, then assembled the whole top. Hallelujah, the top is done!

BEFORE (in 2019):

AFTER:

The bright cheery colors of En Provence reminded me of Easter, so it was an appropriate project for this weekend.The backing will be a lavender star fabric from Connecting Threads that I picked up during one of their backing fabric sales a couple years ago. 

Once the En Provence flimsy was done, it was time to reward myself with a new project. Pam Buda had published a book Vintage Treasures in 2020, and a couple projects had caught my eye. 

The patterns in this book make little table toppers, but I wanted to make a baby quilt so I drafted one pattern into a larger size. The pattern I'm starting with requires thirty little blue/white pinwheels which I wanted to make out of the same fabric combo. No way was I wanting to cut individual triangles from strips! I decided to try the Magic 8 method in which you can make eight half-square triangles from sewing two squares together. I sewed a test piece to confirm exactly what size squares to start. Yes, there is a formula and tables published on several internet sites. They say to take the finished size unit you want, multiply by two then add 1.75 inches. But is the "finished unit size" the finished, sewn-in size or the actual HST unit before sewing it into your project? My test piece helped me see it is the finished, sewn-in size. Here is a chart which shows both finished and unfinished unit size: https://chezstitches.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-magic-8-revisited.html

While you are looking at Karen Walker's chezstitches blog, check out her pattern "Touch and Go". I've loved that design for a rather long time. Maybe I should buy the pattern to make a red and white version as a tribute to my beloved airplane. You can find it on Etsy HERE.

Back to those magic triangles. I decided to round up to the the next quarter-inch on the starter squares to make my test units. Just a little 16th inch trim on the resulting units was needed. I would rather trim a bit when playing with the itty-bitty units I required. So now I need to sew 15 square sets together to make the pinwheels for this new project. Then I can play with blue and neutral scraps to make the rest of the project.

Linking to ScrapHappy (hey, those pink stars qualify for April's pink theme)

March update

When you read someone's blog regularly, do you feel like you are checking in with a friend? There are several blogs I read or check every day. I consider them friends yet I have never met them or rarely interact even through email. I hope you consider me a friend, even though I don't check in / post often.

And that is the big myth of social media, right? The big myth is that followers and likes equate to friendship. So let me amend my statement. I consider you fellow quilters and I would enjoy meeting you because we have a shared interest. We would be friend-ly.  

Currently I am reading "Influence: A Social Media Thriller" by Daniel Hurst. The story has quite an interesting premise that resonates with my view of today's influencer culture. I can't wait to see how it ends! I freely admit to being influenced by people posting videos of makeup and clothing, although I do not blindly buy every product they feature. I just want to freshen up my look and see what products are available now while avoiding 'snake oil' items and styles or color combinations that are not appropriate for my body. Do you watch short videos on similar things? Leave a comment if you know you are being influenced, too.

Back to quilting. Quilting is a creative outlet for me and many others. My mood lifts when I find time to quilt. Do you feel endorphins rise or at least a sense of satisfaction when sewing a project?  Here is what I have been working on lately.

First, my RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) project this year is Friendship Square Diamonds. However, I am too impatient to wait for each month's color. Instead, I worked ahead and sewed most of the colors needed for a 6x6 layout. I need six more blocks, planning to add 2 light blue, 1 orange, 1 yellow, 2 pink. These are surprisingly easy to make. I will add a simple 2" border once the blocks are arranged and assembled. Don't look too closely; some of the white bars don't quite meet perfectly.

My smaller version of Bonnie Hunter's Rhododendron Trail is slowly growing. This week the hourglass grid blocks were added. These blocks are so pretty in person.

Next flimsy I will quilt is Flying Flags. I sketched out a simple FMQ design of swags and stars for the center, and a chain of stars around the solid outer border. This one is sandwiched and waiting patiently for me to get started. For me, the step of designing a quilting plan is what delays the finish. That's why I have such a collection of flimsy's still waiting in the closet. 

On the flying front, my airplane is back home in its hangar. But I still have some avionics issues that need to be resolved. At least I got in a couple hours of flight time this past month. It was so peaceful to slide through the air and float below the clouds, away from all that pollen on the ground. My car has turned yellow from all the pine tree pollen!

What are you working on this week?

Linking to Soscrappy

Heading Home is Finished

 Announcing my first finish of 2022 - Heading Home!

This little quilt was my obsession two years ago. I had a jelly roll from Connecting Threads in bright colors, and found several complementary scraps to make this quilt. It came together rather quickly, but the quilting pattern eluded me. 

There were several helpful hints on quilting blogs and YouTube. My favorite tip was to use heavier quilting in areas you want to recede in the background and lighter quilting on areas you want to highlight. I wanted the flying geese to "fly" and the sashing to frame the lines of geese. I sketched FMQ motifs that I was comfortable sewing and used angular echoing to highlight the geometric design. Voila! I had a design! Then I 'spread my wings' (flying geese theme) by doing a different design in each polka-dot square. I'm really proud of how it turned out.

Next up is the Flying Flags quilt that one commentor recommended in my last post. It was sandwiched on Sunday. It will be quilted in light teal thread in a wavy, star-studded motif.  I think.....

January Progress

Winter weather means more time indoors catching up on chores and Creative Time. Do you try to get through your task list, too, before allowing yourself to play with fabric?  Quilting is my reward. I turn on the bluetooth speaker and jam to my favorite tunes while sewing. It's my happy time.

The stars aligned so that I could get some significant quilting time recently.

Finally FINALLY finished quilting Heading Home. The scrappy binding strips were ready to go in a baggie, so the binding is on and ready to be hand-stitched down. I wonder should be quilted next? There's plenty to choose in the quilting closet. I need your help choosing what to quilt next.

Flying Flags has its border on. The flag fabric backing was not wide enough, so I added dark blue star fabric to the edges. The aqua binding strips are cut and waiting in a baggie. The quilt scheme right now is wavy lines across the quilt with stars in alternate rows. Should this one get quilted next?

The Jackknife blocks called out loudly for assembly. I started stitching the blocks together and decided the bulky seam matching was not doing it for me. I dug out a solid dark aqua and found just enough for thin sashing and a plain border. Thin sashing is definitely the way to go on these blocks!  But it sure does take a while to assemble all those blocks. Now that it is together, I almost wish I had made one more row for a 6x8. Almost. But it's together now and I have a great backing fabric. If there is enough dark aqua left for the binding I will use it, but right now I may use extra backing (white-based print) for binding. Should this one get quilted next instead of the flags?

By the way, scrappy blocks seem to explode all over my shirt. Check out this thread mess!

January's color is red, but I have not sewn any red blocks yet. Which RSC blocks should I make?  Diamond Friendship Squares, Crumb Stars, Chaser Blocks or Jacks and Sixes? Those diamonds have caught my eye, but I also really like the Jacks, maybe alternating backgrounds between color and neutral.   

The only new project I have added is Bonnie Hunter's Rhododendrum Trail. Five of Block A have been completed. I don't need to make a big quilt, so am thinking about makining only 12 Block A and 6 Block B. There are already a few examples online of smaller versions like that. The colors are a bit washed out in this picture - but it's evidence that I actually made some blocks. Are you working on this pattern, too?

Linking to Monday Making   and  Oh Scrap!