Showing posts with label Hill Country Baskets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hill Country Baskets. Show all posts

Friday, November 30, 2012

Hill Country Baskets, a Finish!

The last time I blogged about Hill Country Baskets it was in pieces after I separated all the rows to swap out the very black black cornerstones.

Now it's all back together again with new cornerstone fabric and new setting triangles.


Someone asked why I couldn't reuse the setting triangles,  I had trimmed them down to square up the quilt when I thought I was finished so they were smaller than the size called for in the pattern, plus a little wonky from being in the quilt then out of the quilt.  I kept them though, they are in my red scrap drawer and will make their way into a quilt someday I'm sure.

For grins, here's the quilt in its "I can't live with it" stage.


I know what most of you are thinking, there's not much difference in those black cornerstones, there's more of a difference in person than in the picture, REALLY!   The pattern quilt was bigger than mine, I think it finished at something like 96' x 96", 7 baskets across and 7 down, I wanted mine smaller so I went 6 baskets across and 7 down.  But once I had it apart I decided I liked the square size and dropped a few baskets, so the revised quilt is shorter, but square, did you even notice?

I really preferred the red viney fabric for the setting triangles from my first attempt, it was softer, but I could not find any, anywhere, this family of fabric is a couple of years old, so I went with a different red, still from the family but it's a bolder red.  I like it better now that the borders are on.

And here it is!  I sure made this harder than it needed to be, but it's done and I love it.  A very different palette for me, with the blues.  I enjoyed the change of pace so much I even selected blue for the outer border.  I wish you could see it in person, it is simply lovely, so much lovelier than portrayed in this picture.



This is Lifetime Quilt Number 97!
The pattern is Hill Country Baskets by Paula Barnes for Bonnie Blue/Red Crinoline Quilts.
The fabric is Hemming House by Brannock & Patek for Moda, except for the basket block sashing, that is by Judy Rothermel for Marcus Brothers.
This quilt finished at 81" x 81".
It has 1,334 pieces.

On to quilt number 98, then 99, then 100!!


Monday, November 19, 2012

How I spent my football Sunday . . .


This is what I decided to do with Hill Country Baskets.


Yes, I spent Sunday watching football and ripping seams.  And it didn't even take all that long, one entire game and three quarters of another game.  The red fabric that I used for the setting triangles cannot be used again, so along with some black Hemming House yardage for the new cornerstones and inner border, I also ordered some more red fabric for new setting triangles.  For a beginner, I'm getting very good at ordering fabric from e-bay.

Wow, you folks had some great ideas on what do with those very black cornerstones, what a creative bunch you are!

When I framed the quilt with the black black fabric for inner border, it did not tone down the cornerstones and pull everything together like I had hoped and many of you suggested,  I thought it made the baskets disappear even more.

I was very tempted to go with the quilting alternative, to use light thread and heavy quilting to lighten up the dark.  But I don't do my own quilting, so I wasn't sure I would be happy with what my long arm quilter would do, let alone think about my request to not only quilt my top, but to also do something to tone down the black that I used but shouldn't have.

I also really liked the idea about appliquéing a smaller square of lighter fabric over the darker fabric, so only a small amount of the dark would peak around the edge, but I thought maybe that would take away from the sashing fabric, and that still left me what to do about the inner border.

When it comes to quilting the one thing I have more of than any other thing is time, so I went with the solution that would give me the most control over a result that I think I will like.  Since this was a class project, I'm wanting to more than just finish a quilt I could live with, I'm wanting to love it and have it remind me of all the fun I had in Washington.  What's one day spent in front of a tv ripping seams and probably three days getting it all back together,  to me, not much really.

Thanks so much for all your suggestions, tips and encouragement.  I learned a lot of new things over this little bump in my road, I hope you did too!


Friday, November 16, 2012

When black is not black . . .

So this is usually the happy part of of a project, the blocks are done, the sashing is added, the blocks are connected, all that's left is a border or two. Not this time, I'm not happy and here's why.

What do you see when you look at this quilt?



All I see are those dark black cornerstones. It's not the photography or the lighting, the black fabric that I used for those squares is the blackest black I've ever seen, and up until the last couple of days, I had never really thought about black being anything other than black.   But this black is too black.  The black I used is from the Little Gatherings collection and not part of the Hemming House collection.   I think it over powers the muted colors of the basket blocks.  The next border is supposed to be the same fabric you used for the cornerstones.  I don't think that's going to help matters at all, adding a border of that black black.

So here's what I see as my options:
1.  Keep the cornerstones, add the black black inner border, then the outer border, and call it done.
2.  Keep the cornerstones, use a different fabric for the inner border, add the outer border and call it done.
3.  Keep the cornerstones add no borders, and call it done now.
4.  Tear it all apart and replace the cornerstones using a black fabric from the Hemming House line, use that same fabric for the inner border, add the outer border, and call it done.
5.  Roll it into a teeny tiny ball and smash it into the corner of a drawer and try to forget about it.

Stay tuned for an update . . . .

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Hill Country Baskets . . . .

So here's Paula Barnes' version of Hill Country Baskets, 

and here's mine.

All the baskets are pieced.  I'm working on adding the sashing and connecting the blocks.  I'm using Hemming House by Brannock & Patek for Moda.


The sashing fabric is Civil War Backgrounds 1860 - 1865 from the collection of Judy Rothermel for Marcus Brothers.

  I fussy cut the sashing strips and had just enough for my quilt, not even 1 extra strip.

For the cornerstones I'm going with a black print from the Little Gatherings collection by Primitive Gatherings for Moda.  I ordered some yardage for the outer borders from ebay and it arrived just fine, thanks for all the tips.

On an entirely subject, surprise!  The quilt Judi Madsen, the Green Fairy, quilted won the Faculty Award at the Machine Quilters Expo in Portland.


I'm not sure if each teacher at the show got to pick their favorite or if there was only one Faculty Award.  Regardless, it's a win . . . . and I'm happy to have Lifetime Quilt Number 62, Two Score and Seven Stars,  back home.  I'm so sorry I didn't get to see our quilt hanging at the show with its ribbon.   This quilt flew all the way to Portland, hung out at the show, then flew home, all on its own.  It's hard to have quilts grow up on you like that, but I guess I raised her right ; ))

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Back to Hill Country . . .

So now that Hallowe'en 1904 is done it's back to one of my class projects from the Buggy Barn Quilt Show.

I love this Paula Barnes pattern, Hill Country Baskets, but then, I've never met a basket quilt I didn't like.


  The fabric provided in the kit for the class just didn't appeal to me, except for the sashing fabric, so I thought about substituting Hemming House by Brannock and Patek for Moda.

These are the two blocks I made in class.


In the end I decided this fabric wasn't really me either, but sometimes trying something a little different is a good thing, the family has red and goes well with the gray and black sashing fabric so I'm hoping it will all work out in the end.


I'm working with a fat quarter bundle and have no yardage to speak of so I either need to come up with a pieced outer border or track down some Hemming House.  This line is a couple of years old and so far the pieces that I've found online haven't been my more favorite prints from the family.   Someone gave me a tip to look on ebay, and I may have found something, I've never bought fabric on ebay!

So far so good considering I don't have an end plan, I'm just piecing baskets.