Karen's Quilts: January 2017

18 January 2017

January Block Lotto Blocks

The Blocks for the January Lotto are red String pieced Hearts. We were asked to share how we make the blocks so I took some process photos.

From the box of red strings selected a range of longer ones.

Then decide which to put next to which - ummm, that usually gets mixed up at some stage of the sewing!

Picked up first two and stitch, and then chain-piece each of the other pairs.

I cut apart the pairs and lay them down again. I now sew these pairs into fours, but I sew from the other direction - this means that I have sewn half the seams in one direction and the other half in the other direction and this sort-of keeps the slabs of strings from curving too much. I try to align all the ends on one side.

I press all the seams in one direction.

For the heart blocks we had to cut two rectangles - look! bits left-over to start the next one!

We added the white squares on the corners, but I like to sew another seam and keep the extra half-triangle squares for a some-day project.

On the left is the final Heart Block.

I followed the same process for one below. The one on the left I made by adding smaller then bigger red triangles in a circular arrangement until the made fabric was big enough.

And then stitched up the extra made HST squares into little wonky windmills to add to the growing pile! The blog header picture shows lots of green and white wonky windmills bordered with scrap purple strips - but that's as far as those have gone!

14 January 2017

Mid January plans

I hope to be more successful than last year with finishes, so to get off on a positive start I am linking up today with the 2017 Finish A Long with Mrs Sew and Sow... more of that after some good news!

I was very pleased that P finally agreed to have aircon fitted, not only in my sewing room, but in the lounge as well. I had to pull the frame away for the wall and cover everything with drop cloths.... but still the dust from drilling gets into places you least expect! Upshot was after one day beforehand of moving things, two days of installation, and two days of scrubbing floors and cleaning dust (and accumulated fabric dust!) off all surfaces, rearranging... yay! a lovely cool tidy space!

And with a nice clean space in which to work I finished piecing this back for the Pat Sloan's 2016 block of the month quilt top. I took all the leftover bits and added only three more fat quarters.

Lots of fun, and plenty of partial seams!

So last Thursday while I was waiting for the workmen to arrive, I made a list of my projects in progress and what needs to still be done or the next steps at least... somewhat more projects than I thought! So from this long list I've picked a few that could/maybe/possibly get finished this quarter, and if life gets to busy, never mind, they will wait patiently for me! I was pleased when looking for these photos to find I had finished four of the quilts listed this time last year.

No 1: Colourwash - needs to be quilted and finished

No 2: Allietare - it's further along than this, needs borders, backing, quilting and finishing

No 3: En Provence: every 3" unit is cut and sewn, and all these 841 units need to be put into blocks and sashing, then quilt etc

No 4: Old MacDonald Mystery Quilt - Put together the few blocks that are done and maybe add a few more:

No 5: The Birds - find a backing, quilt, finish:

No 6: Split Triangles: Play and sew blocks together, quilt,etc

No 7: Lovely, Lonely Blocks: add border, quilt etc This is not one of my tops, but some of my fabrics were used to put the blocks together at a quilt group meeting - destined to be donated in June:

No 8: One-patch Hexis: I had a stack of these larger circles folded into hexagons from a demo I did at a Guild meeting. They are stitched together - need quilting and finishing!