Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me! Since I know what I like best, I bought myself this ruler for my birthday. From the Amazon description: "Created by Gudrun Erla of GE Design, this ruler includes all the features you expect from the original Stripology Ruler with the bonus benefits of the Stripology Squared."

This ruler is a monster. I've only cut a few strips with it and I'm adding this one to my list of favorites.

My favorite tools and supplies (affiliate links):

Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle 

Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler

Creative Grids Quilt Ruler 6-1/2" Square

Fiskars Rotary Cutter

Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

Juki TL-2010Q

Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion

Dritz Craft Pins, 1-3/4-Inch (250-Count)

Electric Quilt

Project box: IRIS 12" x 12" Portable Plastic Storage Cases with Built-in Handle, Clear (storage)

Letter Openers

Fiskars Rotating Cutting Mat 14 inch x 14 inch

Creative Grids Stripology XL Ruler 

Modern Quilting

Michael Miller Fabrics donated some fabric to the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild to help with our charitable quilt-making. I picked up a bundle of fabric at the last meeting and I finally pulled it out to come up with a plan.

This border print is super cute and deserved to be highlighted. I did some measuring and decided on a layout. I worked up a design in Electric Quilt, pulled fabrics from my collection to make up the top, and got cutting.

I'm not sure how modern this quilt is. It uses traditional blocks, but modern fabrics.

Here is the layout I settled on.

I've got the backing and binding ready to go. Now I just need to get it quilted.

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Easy Angle Ruler, 6.5" 

Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White
Electric Quilt

In the Mail Monday

I received some great new colors of Superior Threads' So Fine #50. I love this thread and I use it for almost all my quilting as a top thread. I'm not as picky about the bottom thread as long as it doesn't create a bunch of lint in the bobbin area.

I ordered the Wrights 9.25" by 13" Easy Star and Geese Ruler. I wanted a ruler bigger than the one I already own. I haven't given it a try, yet. I have used the Companion Angle (1" to 10") and it changed my thinking on flying geese and hourglass units. I did come across a project that called for cutting a piece just outside the ability of that ruler so I wanted a larger ruler.

I also picked up the Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler. I have the Tucker Trimmer I and I love it for squaring up half-square triangle blocks. I wanted to give this a try. I am still trying to get to know this ruler. It isn't as quick to find my desired size as the Tucker Trimmer I. It definitely is more versatile. I found it very helpful for trimming up string-pieced blocks. (For big blocks, the Tucker Trimmer III is great, too.)

I love rulers! Do you have a favorite ruler in your collection of tools?

Holiday Sewing

A few years ago I made a quilt using holiday prints. It challenged me when it came to assembly, quilting and ultimately even the washing.

Somehow, I still have more holiday prints than I know what to do with. It was time to put together another holiday quilt in the hope of using up some of this fabric. I decided it was time to play with the Quick Curve Ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful again. This time with the Metro Rings pattern. Everyone that has tried it says it is the quickest way to get to a double wedding ring without templates or tears.

I played with placement of colors and prints. More as an experiment than as real planning. This is generally how I make quilts. I rarely plan something from start to finish with every detail defined. It just isn't how my creative process works. Besides, in the end it is just fabric.

Slowly blocks came together. When I would run out of a component I would pull more from the stack and cut.

Before long I had the center, or what I thought was the center.

I played with placement and reached the point where I had enough blocks to make a good-sized throw quilt. (This is somewhere in the 60" by 70" range.)

So much movement!

All that movement, and an abundance of green fabric with candy canes, made me go for a 3" wide border. I think this one needed a frame. Partly to frame the work and partly to add the stability a border can add.

I took advantage of a sale at a local quilt shop for the (not holiday) backing fabric so I hope to have this one quilted, washed and on the couch well in advance of mid-winter. The bin of holiday prints still has fabric in it, but not enough for another throw quilt, so I will consider this a win. And no tears!

Tool Tip: Ruler Storage

I am a ruler addict. This means that I will buy specialty rulers just because it does something new. This doesn't mean that I don't already have a ruler that does the trick, just that it is another new ruler.

This means I have many rulers. I've been storing my rulers on the lower shelf of my cutting table. It wasn't elegant and it didn't make it easy to find the ruler I was looking for.

I thought a file folder holder might be the right way to go. I picked up this simple one at the local office supply store. I picked this one because I was sure it would fit on the shelf and the price-point was pretty low. I also picked the metal one instead of one of the plastic holders because it just seemed more suited to the task.

I tested it out and it seemed to fit the bill. I wonder how I ended up with two of those large Tucker Trimmers?

Then I put it on the shelf, only to learn that the large Tucker Trimmers didn't fit on the holder on the shelf. Not a big deal since all the others fit fine. I just fit them in between the holder and the shelf. This will make it so much easier to find the ruler I'm looking for.

Have you found any good organizational tools for your sewing room?

In the Mail Monday: Latifah Saafir Studios

Last year I jumped on a chance to support Latifah Saafir Studios with her Kickstarter Project. I recently received my package and I am so excited to try out some her wonderful designs and the 12" Clammy ruler. You can also find some of her patterns on Craftsy. Like her Glam Clam Quilt pattern for free.

Check her out on her website at Latifah Saafir Studios or her Instagram feed.

Have you joined in to support small designers with their projects?

Quiltville Mystery Quilt 2015: Allietare! Clue #4

Just like the last few years, Bonnie Hunter is sharing her annual mystery quilt on her blog Quiltville. This year it is called Allietare! I participated last year with her Grand Illusion and really enjoyed the process. Last week I shared my progress on clues #1 and #2, and clue #3.

I cut a few blocks and pieced them.

This clue isn't difficult, but the cutting seems to go on forever. This doesn't show all of the little black corners needed for this clue. In the end, I cut too many of those little black corners. I'm hoping they don't go to waste.

This is the first time I've really tried to make a pieced block that is even this close to a flying geese unit. I think when I'm done I'll be able to use the tools I have (the Easy Angle Ruler and the Companion Angle Ruler) to try my hand at flying geese.

I foolishly timed how long it took to make one set. I'm not going to tell you. You can do your own test.

It took days and several distractions to get these finished.

I've got them all into the bin, which is almost overflowing. I'm glad we're getting all these bits done. I'm not certain I would attempt a quilt like this if I saw it as one giant meal. Chopping it up into these small and tasty bits makes it manageable.

Are you participating in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt this year?

Linking up with Quiltville.

Grand Illusion Mystery Big Finish!

This is the last post about my adventure in mystery quilting.  Go to Bonnie's blog to learn more about this fun mystery quilt.  It's time for the final update to show you the finish and to link up with the rest of the quilters participating this year.  You can go back and check out my work on Clue #1, Clue #2, Clue #3, Clue #4, Clue #5 and Clue #6 from the last few weeks.

I'll fill this post will loads of photos of the quilting.  It took me a couple days to get this one quilted.  Quilting is not my full-time job so I have limited time to work on the long arm.  

I did all the quilting on this with my Pfaff 18.8 Grand Quilter on a Grace Imperial frame.  

When I started I didn't want to do custom quilting because the piecing is so crazy I knew the majority of the quilting would be lost.  Then I put needle to quilt to baste and ended up doing a semi-custom job.  The outer border has a long drawn-out meander that reminds me of gentle waves.  With this quilting I defined a top and a bottom of the quilt.  The label helps with this, too.

The inner border has these little S-curves that travel all the way around the border.  

Each of the corner squares for the internal sashing has this kind of wavy line that goes in different directions with each one.  I think it matches the four-patch center blocks and how they seem to oscillate.  

The rest of the field is filled with this meander in orange thread.  The scale for the quilting is between 1/4" and 1/2".  All quilting is hand-guided without stitch regulator.

I finished the binding by machine for this quilt.  After weeks of working on it I didn't want to spend another week finishing the binding.  

You can find the tutorial for my method (I didn't come up with it, it's just the one that works for me) in the sidebar or at this link.

The quilt is slightly smaller than what I prefer on my queen-size bed.  It's just a little too short to get a tuck at the foot of the bed.  I did sleep under it to make sure it worked properly.

The texture that was created after the quilting was done and the quilt was washed is just amazing.  I love the wrinkled look of a freshly washed quilt. 

Here is the label that I embroidered directly onto the backing fabric before quilting.  The embroidery machine tested my patience but it does give all the particulars.  You can see the different quilting motifs from the back really clearly.  

When I put the last of stitches in for the gray (outer border) (I quilted with three different colors of thread for each area of the quilt) I pulled the bobbin case to find that I had less than 1 yard of thread remaining.  This almost never, ever, ever happens.  It was a great feeling.

I received one comment and wanted to share the response.  I respond to each comment or question privately in email (that's how I handle all comments, so if you are a no-reply-blogger you will never get an answer to your question or a response).  I was asked about my colors.  I did a straight substitution for Bonnie's colors.  Here is the breakdown.

My color = Bonnie's color

• black = black (I picked blacks that read towards a brown/gray)
• white = white (my whites read more silver gray than blue or brown)
• red = blue  (the blue and green had pretty much the same value so I made sure my substitutions did, too)
• orange = green (my red and orange replaced Bonnie's blue and green)
• green = pink (I'm just not a pink person)
• brown = yellow (with all the other changes I pulled a really neutral brown for my constant)

If you want to know more about my color choices you should go back to my first post about the mystery quilt where I talk about how I came to choose the specific colors.  

I'll be linking up with the Grand Illusion Mystery Link-Up.  Be sure to pop over and look at all the amazing quilts people have made.  I love seeing all the different colors and fabrics that were chosen.  Each one has a heart of its own and I love that.

Mystery Quilting - Clue #6 - the Reveal!

This is the sixth post about my adventure in mystery quilting.  Go to Bonnie's blog to learn more about this fun mystery quilt.  It's time for another update to show you where I'm at and to link up with the rest of the quilters participating this year.  You can go back and check out my work on Clue #1, Clue #2, Clue #3, Clue #4 and Clue #5 from the last few weeks.

On New Year's Day I woke to find that Bonnie had released the last clue, the grand finale!  I pulled out my bin with all the clues and started working.  This is a plastic bin designed to hold 12" scrap booking paper.  I think it is great for quilting projects because it will easily hold 12.5" by 12.5" quilt blocks until you get to put them together.

The first step was to lay out a single block so I could piece the 25 blocks.  I did do some repressing before piecing just to make the seams nest better.  This is a hazard that can't be predicted with a mystery quilt.  Not because the designer didn't tell you how to press, just that everyone has a different workflow and may not press the same.

I used one of my design boards to hold a block until I could get one pieced.  Then I put the pieced square on the board until I had pieced all 25 of them.  

I admit that I sewed one block together incorrectly.  Considering how much care I took with keeping everything organized I was surprised it happened.  While piecing the blocks I used the sashing as enders.

I did a bunch of trimming of the blocks when I was done.  I should have checked and double checked my seam allowance but I just wanted to get moving.  This means I sacrificed a couple points.  I don't mind, though.  I don't want perfect.  I just want a quilt.  

Once all the blocks were trimmed it was a matter of crawling around on my design floor and sewing the rows together.  The sashing for these blocks was very different in that you only had one seam to line up.  I really like the sashing and I think the results are great.  When I got to sewing the rows together I pulled out the outer border and used those as my enders.  It was great to use the next step as the enders and keep moving.  It also kept me engaged so it didn't seem too monotonous.  

The movement that results from the smaller checkerboard sashing is just great.  I'm going to need a bigger design floor.

I did consider using a different color for the cornerstones but I decided to stick with the red because, well, I like red.  This quilt is huge.  Yes, I can read and I know Bonnie said 88" by 88" but until I'm working with a quilt that big I forget how really big that is.

I rarely do pieced borders so this was a little different for me.  I pinned and pinned to make sure these lined up nicely.  I'm sure there is a little fullness that I will have to deal with when I get it on the long arm frame.

I changed the layout of the border squares to make them look more like stars along the edge of the quilt.  I really like how the outer border cornerstones worked out with my change to the border.  I think my brown (my substitute for Bonnie's yellow) is really close to my neutrals.  I don't think it is a problem and tones the quilt down a little.  It was a risk picking that color.  Photos don't do it much justice.  Those neutrals really are more towards gray than they look in this photo.

All that remains is to pick the backing, the quilting thread, load up the long arm frame with all the parts, quilt all 7744 square inches of it, make and attach binding and a label.  Just a quick little project.  This is probably one of the most time-intensive quilts I have ever made.  

I am so thrilled that I did this quilt in different colors.  (Go back to my first post to see how I chose these colors.)  I know that so many quilters think they are poor at color selection.  I think they are much better at it than they give themselves credit for.  I think the world would be a very boring place if everyone made every quilt exactly like the designer made it.  Just like if we all wore the exact same clothes every day.  Sure, it might be outside your comfort zone, the world isn't about being comfortable.  Sometimes you have to take a chance.  It's only fabric!

Did you join in the fun?  Did you change up colors?  Did you learn something new?  

Linking up with Quiltville's Link-up Party!