Let's all eat more Pie!

(this is Lifetime Quilt Number 50)

I would like to let you know, as I reflect on my many blessings, you, my blogging friends, add so much to my life. Thank you for making my small life so much fuller.

I'm taking the rest of the week off, my baby girl is home and I plan to enjoy every minute of our time together. There will be nothing but shopping, game playing, movie watching, cooking, and most importantly laughing, going on here.

No sewing to speak of, that can wait.

I'll be back on Monday!

Best wishes for a safe and happy week, to you and your family, wherever you may be!

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More is More

How about more Wild Air?

Wild Air is the pattern by Carrie Nelson for Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  I started my quilt in a class sponsored by the Corn Wagon Quilt Company in Springville, Utah.  After blogging about my Wild Air I received a note from Julie, who was also in my class, along with this picture of her finished Wild Air.  I thought you would enjoy seeing her beautiful quilt as much as I did.

Julie used Glace by 3 Sisters for Moda for the majority of the pieced blocks and Basic Grey Blush also by Moda for the red border.  A funny story about Julie, she has since moved from Utah, and my first reaction was, " oh no, you must really miss the Corn Wagon Quilt Co",  because I remember Julie being very active in several of their classes, but then Julie told me she now lives in Temecula, California, yes home of the Temecula Quilt Co!  How could she be so lucky, Julie said the nice ladies at Temecula Quilt Shop have welcomed her into their fold.  The next time we're moving, I'm insisting we move to a town with an active local quilt shop!

Besides getting ready for Thanksgiving, I'm also counting down to Christmas.  I got my Countdown to Christmas quilt, headboard cover, pillows, and wall hanging out the first of November.  I love this set so much I start counting down to Christmas early.  Also, if I'm going to the trouble to change the fabric on that headboard, it's going to be out for longer than one month!  This is my guest room.

Here's my Christmas in the City wall hanging.

When I'm in  my sewing room, Cooper likes to hang out right next door in this room, he gets a great view of the goings on out on the street, he's always on guard for the UPS, USPS or Fed Ex men.  I know I have a package getting ready to hit the doorstep before it's even out of the truck.

Well since this is a white quilt, and since it is out for a couple of months, I thought I would put an old blanket over Countdown to Christmas for Cooper to lay on when I'm sewing.  As you can see, Cooper was having none of that, he must be excited to have this quilt back out too, to push that old comforter out of the way.  (the bedroom set, including that great headboard where you can swap out the fabric is from Pottery Barn)

And finally, a starlight update.  Thank you all so much for all the great and supportive comments regarding my little problem with starlight, by Camille Roskelley for thimble blossoms.  Knowing you've had similar issues made me feel less foolish.  And between your comments and the passage of time, I'm feeling better about the whole thing.  I'm also taking your advice and working on the un-sewing a little bit everyday.  Once I have the blocks apart and trimmed I may even work on something else, then put those starlight blocks back together, a little break would be good for my soul I think.  Two comments really stand out, Vicky's comment was, "a quilt so nice you'll make it twice!  That's my new mantra,   I think because it's fun and true!  And Ann said, "Sometimes quilting is a humbling experience", and she is right, this was a humbling experience, but I'm better for it.   So really, thanks so much for feeling my pain.  And like I said, I have a fix for this.  If you want to feel some real pain go visit Nicole's blog, she just finished her Clover Schnibbles table topper only to spill hot wax on it, I'm not sure there's a fix for that, but I sure hope so, I feel your pain Nicole!

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A Bump in the Road . . . .

So here's my stack of pieced triangle units for Starlight, the pattern by Camille for thimble blossoms.  (click here for pattern detail)  They went together perfectly, and by using the Creative Grids 60 degree triangle for the pieces and parts, the points lined up perfectly to create the required 1/4" space above those triangle points.  So the only thing left to do was to put the pieced triangles and large floral triangles on my design wall and start sewing everything together.  

But then I noticed that the large triangles that I cut, at the required pattern size, were not big enough!

My pieced triangle  units are an 1/2" larger than the cut triangles.  I could not for the life of me figure out where I went wrong, because I checked and double checked and squared up every step along the way.  Then a friend figured out my problem, using the 60 degree triangle created this difference.  

The pattern says, "Using your rotary cutter and small triangle template (or a 60 degree ruler)…." Note is says 60 degree ruler, not 60 degree triangle.  I cut my large floral triangles out first, because I wanted to make sure I had enough fabric for those big units plus the small points for the centers.  And I just barely had enough fabric as it was.  But had I not cut them first, all I needed to do was to cut bigger triangles and everything would be perfect, but that's not possible now.

So this is where I am, I have a beautiful stack of floral triangles and another beautiful stack of pieced triangles, but they don't go together, so at this point I figure I have 3 options:

1.  Throw it all in the trash.  (I bought the floral fabric in London, that's not happening)

2.  Buy more floral fabric and cut larger triangles and keep the pieced triangles as is.  (I really want to use this fabric, not fabric that's the same but not the fabric I bought.)

3.  Take the white triangles off the pieced units, un-sew the the pieced two triangle units, trim a 1/4" off those triangles, sew them back together, trim the white triangle units to a new size, sew them back on.

So really, I only have one option, and that's number 3, and that's  my plan.  I have started un-sewing the  pieced units but it's not fun, and the thought of trimming and sewing them all together again has really taken the wind out of my sails.

I keep thinking of how hard I worked last week each morning to get through my To Dos in order to get up to my sewing room to work on those triangle units each afternoon, all the while the large floral triangle units, that I cut first, were just sitting there, wrong.  I've lost that loving feeling for this project, I'm hoping once I get those pieced triangle units down to the size I need, and start putting everything on my design wall, things will look up.

If you're going to make starlight, I recommend using the Creative Grids 60 degree triangle, it makes the piecing a breeze, just cut your large triangle units a 1/2" larger and you'll be great.  Or better yet, measure your pieced triangle units, preferably after the first one, not the 124th one, and see where you stand, that's the size you need to cut your large triangles.  And  finally, I guess there's always the option of just following the pattern, but where's the fun in that!

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A little Starlight

Starlight, by Camille Roskelley for thimble blossoms,  is a jelly roll pattern, but I'm using fabric from my stash, so my first order of business was to cut my strips.

The next step was to piece a few strips and cut some triangles.  The pattern provides a template but I'm using the 60 degree ruler by Creative Grids, it couldn't be easier to get things lined up and cut those pieces.

And here are all my triangles.  The floral fabric that I'm using for my large triangles is also the fabric I'm using for all my star centers.  

Normally, the first thing I do when I start a new pattern is to make an inspiration block.  I enjoy looking at one finished block as I make all the pieces and parts for the remaining blocks, plus it's a good double check that I'm understanding the sizes of all the pieces and parts.

This pattern is a little different, I can't really piece together a star block, because of the way the rows are combined, but here's a little peek of what a star should look like.

I'm thinking that center fabric matching the outer triangles looks pretty good so far.  On my last post I got a couple of comments from folks regarding working with these triangles and this pattern, but I have to say so far, I've had no problems at all.

A few corner triangles on these pieces and I'll be good to start working on those rows.

So far everything is coming together perfectly, but I'm really eager to see a finished star block.

Like many of you I'm cleaning my house in general and my ovens, refrigerators, and cupboards specifically,  in preparation for Thanksgiving.    But I'm very motivated to speed through those chores each morning to get up into my sewing room each afternoon.  Plus spreading the To Dos out during the coarse of a week makes them seem less like work.  It's more of the same for this week but you can bet I'll be racing through my daily To Dos to get back to working on Starlight.

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Next Up . . .

Sometimes, when I finish one quilt, a quilt where I loved the pattern, the fabric, and created no drama for myself start to finish, plus throw in sewing with friends, a project like Nantucket,  it's sort of hard to start something new, something that will be as fun, as rewarding, and as satisfying as the last project.  I don't think I'm going to have that problem this time.  This is going to be my next project, "Starlight" by Camille Roskelley for thimble blossoms.  (click here for pattern)

This quilt is my new favorite size, 67" x 70".   I've found that quilts around that size are easy to work with, and can either be hung in my living room, thrown over a couch, or centered on my bed.  You can either make a template to cut the pieces for this quilt or use a 60 degree ruler. I bought one of those 60 degree rulers ages ago and have been looking for a reason to use it, now I have one.

Of the two quilts shown on the pattern cover, I'll be leaning more towards this one, the lighter one.

Besides using that ruler for the first time, I'm also going to be doing something a little different as far as the fabric for this top.  This is the print I'll be using for those large setting triangles, the green dot triangles in the pattern.

It's a Liberty of London print that I actually picked up at the Liberty of London Department Store this summer.  I'm fussy about my florals, as a matter of fact, I don't even wear florals,  I wear stripes or solids.  Some florals to me are "too granny",  some are "too whimsical", others are "too cartoonish", but I thought this floral was just right and so me, pink and red, what's not to love!  I thought Starlight would be a great way to showcase that floral fabric.  Those setting triangles are 8 inches top to bottom, a nice size.

The problem is that this is the only Liberty of London print I have, I don't even know if this was part of a family, and obviously I need more fabric for this quilt.  I almost always work from a family of fabric, sometimes, if I'm feeling really crazy, I may combine a couple of lines from the same designer, but unless it's some sort of super scrappy pattern, it's one fat quarter bundle or layer cake getting me through a project.

So I got out all my happy fabric bins and started pulling fabric.  Luckily for me it was a sunny day, good light was a big help.

I just laid the Liberty fabric next to my fat quarters and started selecting fabric that I thought was a good match.  The floral print has the following colors; dark gray, pink, orange, orange red, deep red, and a light and dark gray green.  Not a lot of colors really.

So after I pulled fabric that I thought matched the floral print, I made sure that all the reds, pinks, oranges, greens, and grays played well together, which eliminated some of the prints.  The greens were the hardest.  I also paid attention to the volume of the prints, I didn't want a large majority of the prints to be too bold, so bold that they would overpower the floral triangles.

So this is where I am, totally outside my comfort zone by selecting all this fabric.  I hope I got it right, time will tell!  I'll be heartbroken to cut and use that fabric and then not love the finished project.  I can hardly wait to get that fabric cut and few pieces up on my design wall.  Unfortunately it's that time of year when getting any real time in my sewing room is a rarity.  I've started my holiday chores, getting the carpet shampooed, cleaning out the spice cabinet, getting the lawn and trees ready for winter, and the septic tank ready for company.  I've had more people coming and going around this house this last week than I've had all year, plus my lists now have lists,  but things are shaping up, maybe I'll squeeze in some sewing time this weekend.

Keep your fingers crossed that it all works out for me!

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