No BOM Rehab . . .

I just couldn't talk myself into stealing time away from 1904 to make a Memories of Provence block for Sinta's BOM Rehab!  I usually enjoy a change of pace during the week, but this week I'm still in that all consuming "new project love" phase, I'm sure it will pass and I'll be in that "I don't think I like this anymore" phase very soon and will get back to MoP.  My poor quilts, my emotions run hot hot hot to luke warm to cold to back to hot.  I almost always end on the love side of things so it all works out, it's just getting there that's sometimes hard on both of us.

But I'm still in love and here is why.  So far I'm sticking with my plan to make one entire block at a time so I can pick out all the colors to get the absolute best possible combination.  I'm making the blocks with the black stars first, I have no explanation for doing it this way, I just looked at the pattern and thought I would start with the black stars, maybe because there were fewer of them.

So here's my second block.

And

here's my third block!

Here they are all together.

See why I'm still in love!

Nicole is making 1904 too.  We both started with the same kit but have added and taken away a few of the pieces of fabric and have different approaches to the quilt assembly.  I can hardly wait to see how they both look when we're done.

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Hallowe'en 1904 . . .

So, when I was in Washington visiting the Buggy Barn,  Nicole and I saw this kit for the Blackbird Designs pattern, Hallowe'en 1904.  

We both jumped up and down and squealed like schoolgirls, or maybe it was just me, but there was definitely nothing but smiles and joy all around.  That quilt was on both our To Do Lists, we both had already bought the pattern, but up until that day had not been able to put together the fabric we needed to make that quilt.  Now all we needed to do was get home, free up some time, and get to sewing.  Talk about perfect timing, who wants to work on this quilt anytime of the year besides October!

All the stars in the Blackbird Designs pattern, all 52 stars, are appliquéd . The quilt on display at the Buggy Barn had pieced stars, stars pieced using the Buggy Barn Crazy Way.

Here's what Buggy Barn Crazy Way stars look like.

This is their pattern Barn Raising, which is in the book Gone Crazy.

To make the stars you stack several layers of fabric, face up, then just using 8 swipes, you cut the pieces, shuffle the pieces, and sew them all back together.  If you look real close at the stars in the quilt above you'll notice they are scrappy, made by shuffling up those pieces.   The gals at the Buggy Barn have used this technique to make several different sorts of blocks, like birds, hearts, and different stars.

I immediately decided I wanted to make my stars like the Buggy Barn.  My machine appliqué skills are not that great,  I figured I would limit my lack of appliqué skills to the pumpkins.

So the first thing I needed to do was to teach myself how to make the stars using the Buggy Barn Crazy method.  Looking at the pattern provided in the book, Gone Crazy, I thought I needed to shrink it down to get the size I needed for the 1904 pattern.  That's why I made that itsy bitsy star in the center of the picture below.  That was my first attempt, it turned out great, other than the size.  I didn't account for how much the star would shrink once pieced and trimmed.

So I made a few more to understand the process and get a feel for the size I wanted.  ( I also double checked the size of the corner triangles and the finished size of the block, that's that square in a square block.  When it comes to math, I don't trust anybody!)

They were fun and easy to make, something different, and had a good look that went with the pattern, which filled me with relief, no applique stars for me.

One thing that I came to understand while practicing my stars, the crazy method works best when you're using all the parts.  What I mean is if I have two pieces of material, one red and one cream, using their method I will have the pieces for a red star on a cream background and a cream star on a red background.  Well I didn't need cream stars, I needed black and orange stars.  So instead of stacking and slicing each block, I figured I would save fabric by making templates of each piece that was sliced.

So here's what the star looks like all sliced up.  I just took the paper pattern and glued it to hard template plastic.

Then I cut them out and labeled them.

By piecing the stars in this fashion I will save fabric and be able to cut my pieces from strips.

Here are my first two stars using the templates.

So I determined that I needed 3 1/2" strips for the stars and 4 1/2" strips for the star backgrounds.  For the rest of the pattern I also needed strips for the hsts and for the outer border.

So I cut all my strips at once, they are hanging and ready to go.

If you look real close you can see how I have each group labeled, so I don't get confused.

So once I had everything figured out and cut out, the only thing left to do was sew!

This is my first block.  I've decided to not chain piece all the pieces for each section, then assemble all the blocks at once.  I've waited so long to make this quilt I want to enjoy every block and pick out each combination of fabric for each block.  My goal is to make one complete block a day.  

For the first block I went with 2 different blacks for the stars with two different backgrounds, and you can't tell from the picture but the outer border has a design.  The top and right side hsts are the same black and background fabric and the bottom and left side are made using the same fabric, but different from the other hsts, if that makes sense.  I intend to play around with the hsts on all the blocks, using different fabrics, designs, and patterns.   I think the blocks in the pattern are all scrappy.  You know me, I've got to plan and control my scrappy.

Nicole has decided to appliqué  her stars and has a good start on them, check out her progress here. 

jmniffer won the ruler/template/tool of her choice, leaving this comment,

" I've enjoyed your tool reviews; you covered many I wondered about,several I've never heard of and the two I do own. Next on my list is the fit to be Geese rulers...Christmas is coming and I'm starting a list! Tnks for the chance at your giveaway."

Congratulations!

The Omni-grid rulers combined,  6 1/2" square, 12 1/2" square and all the other assorted sizes were the most popular.  The most popular individual ruler was the Fit to be Geese, it wasn't even close.  I've got a new list of rulers that are some folks favorite that I've never even heard of!  Sounds like another Tools Tuesday post will be in my future!  Thanks to all who stopped by to tell me how much they enjoyed the series, I have to admit, I'll miss doing those posts too.

Enjoy your weekend, if all goes well I should have a few more 1904 blocks done by Monday.

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Not so long of a road after all . . . .

All Done!

Even though I added more blocks, even though I wasn't sure of my focus fabric choice, and even though it seemed like I was working on this quilt forever, it's done and I like it!  All that whining for nothing, thanks for bearing it!

This is The Long Road Home.

It is Lifetime Quilt Number 95.

It finished at 70" x 77".

It has approximately 1,682 pieces.

The main fabric is Civil War Reunion by Barbara Brackman for Moda.

The pattern is by Red Crinoline Quilts.

I've already started playing around with my blocks for 1904, my next project, stop by tomorrow for an update.  Nicole has started her 1904 and has a stack of lovely fall star blocks done,  check it out here.

One of my favorite things is seeing the same pattern made up with different fabric.  Jayne at Jayne's Quilting Room, finished her Long Road Home last year.  

She went super scrappy and totally changed the look of the pattern.

I like it!

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Tools Tuesday . . . Two-fer . . .

So first up, on this wonderful fall Tools Tuesday, is the Companion Angle by Darlene Zimmerman for EZ Quilting.

I bought this tool at the same time I bought my Easy Angle and Tri Recs rulers, also by Darlene, because they were hanging beside each other in the store, and the packaging on this ruler says, "Companion to Easy Angle and Easy Eight".  So I foolishly thought I needed this ruler to get my Easy Angle ruler to work.   Ha ha, the joke's on me,  you don't need the Companion Angle to use the Easy Angle ruler and vice versus.  That being said, they are both good rulers and work well.

The purpose of this ruler is to cut triangles with the longest edge on the straight of grain, along with some other things.  I don't ever get too worked up about the straight of grain, when you're dealing with rectangles not all the edges can be on the straight of grain.  But it appears that's important, so there you go.

The thing I like about this ruler is that you can cut big triangle units, that would need to be cut from a very large square, from a narrow strip instead.  For example, the strip I'm cutting above is from a 4 1/2 inch strip, if I was cutting a square diagonally twice to get this size triangle, the square would need to be 9".

The instructions that came with this ruler are fine, plus additional information is provided online.   This tool runs between $10 and $12.  I'm keeping it, and now that I understand its purpose will use it, probably the next time I have setting triangles.  I prefer cutting strips to squares when I have yardage.

Since the Companion Angle was so easy I figured I would review another ruler, the Triangle Trimmers by Fons & Porter, they run $7.99.  I bought these thinking you would use them to trim off triangles AFTER you pieced them, which you can, but really scissors or a rotary cut work just as well.  These trimmers have a greater purpose, they are used for making accurate Square in a Square Units and Brave New World Units.

The instructions were great plus they have an online tutorial.  (click here)

These are not templates but guides for cutting the tips of triangles, they can be used on any size fabric triangle.

This is how I normally connect my triangles to my squares when making square in a square units.  See that folded line in the middle of the white triangle?  I finger press that, by folding the corners together to get the center.  I do the same on the square on the bottom, then line up the pressed lines and sew.    

Usually the triangle units called for in a pattern are a weird size so I cut mine to the next biggest normal size, find the center of the two pieces, sew, then square it all up, giving myself the perfect 1/4"of fabric that you need above the points.  I trim those dog ears off after the pieces are sewn.

This method removes the ears before you sew.  

But you have to have the accurate triangle size for it all to work.

Since I did use the correct triangle size, once the ears were cut off it fit the square perfectly.

Here is the completed block.

With the perfect 1/4" of fabric above the points.

So the blue trimmer worked perfectly.

Next up, the New World Unit.  Here's the completed unit, I had no idea that was the name of this block!

Same principal, use the trimmer to remove the dog ears before sewing.

One gone, 

two gone.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished piece before attaching the other triangle, but it came out perfectly too.

These trimmers are a nice weight, pretty, and have a nice coating on the back that keeps them from slipping and sliding on the fabric.  

These trimmers aren't something that suits me, or the way I like to do things, but they work exactly as advertised and I think worth the $8.00 if you're into making either of these blocks this way.  I'll probably throw them back in my tools box, you never know, they work, so why not keep them?

That's it, can you believe it!  I'm all done with all the tools in my box that I didn't know how to use.  I think it's been fun and I learned a lot, mainly not to buy a tool unless I understand how it works or unless I have an immediate need for it.  Those folks doing the demos at the quilt shows are going to be so surprised when I no longer buy their wares!  I think the most valuable lesson here is that there are so many wonderful tools at our disposal, if you have trouble making a block, there's probably a tool to help you along, do a little research and give it a try.  Don't be like me and avoid a block (triangle in square) just because it looks scary!  

To celebrate the end of Tools Tuesday, and to thank you for following along and for the tips that you added to my posts to make for a better discussion, I'm having a giveaway.  The winner can select any Open Gate ruler (my favorite of all rulers) or any ruler or template from the Fat Quarter Shop that is less than $25. If Open Gate Quilts or Fat Quarter Shop will mail to your address, you're eligible to enter.  

To enter, please leave a comment (or send an email if you have trouble leaving a comment) telling us your favorite tool, ruler, or template, by end of day Thursday, October 4th.  The winner will be announced on Friday.

And just so you know, my all time can't live without favorite ruler is the Fit to be Geese ruler.

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BOM Rehab, MoP Block 5 . .

Can you believe it's October 1st?  Forget about where did September go, where has this year gone?

One thing that has gone well for me this year is participating in Sinta's BOM Rehab.  I finished Northern Lights this summer, a quilt I for sure would not have worked on without Sinta's sew-along, and now I'm a nut about making at least one Memories of Provence block a week, all it takes is one block and in you're in.  It was close this week, I got up early Sunday just to piece my one block.

I have 6 of the 12 focus blocks pieced.  However I skipped blocks 4 and 5, they just didn't suit me.

Since I was running short on time I looked through the remaining blocks, wanting to piece the one that looked the easiest and had the fewest number of pieces.  That was block 5.  So I decided to go ahead and make the block, maybe it would look better to me in person than in the picture.

Here it is.  The problem I had with this block before and after I made it, was the lack of background space peeking through the pieces.

My favorite thing about this pattern, beside the yummy fabric, is the unusual blocks, and the amount of background fabric in each block.  I just didn't think Block 5 had the same look as the rest of the blocks.

Here are the first 6 blocks I've pieced, what do you think, was I being too picky?

So after I got all the main pieces on my design wall I started playing around with it.  First thing I did was to remove the black  hst from the corners of the red star block.

That gave me more white space, which I liked, but made the flying geese look sort of just out there, I didn't think the block flowed.

So then I tried rotating the green and black flying geese 180 degrees.

I liked this better, no more white space but a nicer flow, but I still felt the black sky on those geese units just stuck out.

So I put the black corner back in, but this time on the outside of that corner instead of the inside.

This I liked better yet, I liked the flow of the pieces, but not the flow of the colors, I didn't like how the red in the center didn't really flow with the green and the black on the outside of the block.

So I added a little red to the outer corners and called it quits.

Here it is, all pieced.

This is Block Number 5 of Memories of Provence by Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts and the 7th focus block I've pieced, 5 more focus blocks to go.  

I made this block because it had fewer pieces, but by the time I got done, this little 12 inch block had 66 pieces, the most so far I think!

Today is Sherri and Sinta 's Schnibbles Parade, although this month's project is not a Schnibbles it's a Bite, and I didn't get mine done, but I've heard it's been a popular project and will be a great parade, so don't miss it.  This month's project is Bounce, I don't intend to miss this project, I want to make my own Bounce. Don't like Bounce, try Hubble/Hubbel, I've made it too, and it's easy peasy and HUGE!  I think it would look great in Halloween, Fall,  or Christmas print.  I hope someone else thinks so too and  something along those lines is in next month's parade.

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