4 + 16

4 + 16 is the working title for my new leader ender project. I guess that makes it a NewFO and a UFO at the same time!! The quilt is based on a quilt I saw online which I can no longer find. I know it was called "brown quilt" for a monthly color challenge. If this is your quilt please speak up as I would love to give you credit.

This quilt is really just a ton of 4-patches. The larger 4-patches are made from 2.5" strips and finish at 4". The 16 patches are made from four 4-patches made from 1.5" strips. Two 4-patches and two 16-patches create the block.

The overall quilt is then made of 16 x 18 blocks for a 74" x 82" finish. My quilt is being made from scraps but EQ7 estimates it will take about 6 yards each of blue and neutral fabrics.

Of course, I needed a leader ender "kit." As I subcut units to make 4-patches I put them in this old muffin tin, which sits perfectly on the basket. I have rolled up/pressed 1.5" strips in the basket along with finished 4-patches.

Pinned pairs waiting to be sewn are stored right on the sewing machine so they are handy.

The hardest part of this (leader ender) project is not doing it all at once :)


Anyone want to make a 4 + 16 with me??!!
I can write a tutorial or pdf or whatever if it would help...

Another NewFO

Yeh, I never did my March report on NewFO's and UFO's. oh well...
Yeh, I was lazy when I got home from EMT class at 10pm last night and then stayed up to watch a movie I had already seen and then couldn't drag my toukus out of my warm bed this morning. oh well..

I did get a little progress done on my itty bitty twister quilt this morning tho. Yeah!!
I added the first border to the mini quilt:

And I've pressed the seams open per the instructions. It's supposed to help with the small scale of this project. I'm not fond of ironing seams open but I thought I could try it once and if it doesn't help with the finished quilt I won't do it next time.

And then I started cutting blocks. By this point I had to get ready for work so hopefully I can can get it sewn this weekend.


The smaller rotary cutter is definitly helpful when cutting around that tiny template
and solid colored fabric works much better than some of the fabrics I chose.



NewFO and UFO Thursday - February Report

Lets do UFO's first -

My UFO Challenge for this month was to work on my Orca Bay Quilt.  As you may recall from earlier this month, I completed 30 blue string blocks. I had plans to do more last weekend or even last night before midnight but it didn't happen. My goal for the month was to make progress on the quilt and I did... I just never thought to take a picture.

One of my own goals for the year was to finish my "florabunda" quilt based on an antique that Bonnie Hunter encouraged us to all work on starting last year as leader-enders. I finished the top, now called Kangaroo Walkabout, this month and even bought the batting. I still need to piece the back and get it sandwiched.

Now, on to the NewFOs...

My designated project for the month was to work on my broderie perse project. I didn't get far but it is started! I cut the green batik for the sashings. I was too timid to cut into the koi fabric and that's as far as I got. I never took a photo of the cut parts, nor did I remember to grab the EQ file. Can you guess what I'll be working on in March?

This months doll quilt was based on broken dishes or half square triangles. Not having the book to get the pattern from, I doodled in EQ which also let me play with color placement. This is the design I settled on:

The original design had more random color placement and a little heart stitchery in the center block. I've picked out the following fabrics (still deciding on the borders: rightmost fabrics) and planned to make a heart shaped yoyo for the center.

My last new project for the month, started on a whim 4 days before the month ended, was another Bonnie inspired project. You may recall that I came across some half square triangles and a pattern almost simultaneously. I again doodled in EQ to come up with this layout based on Bonnie's original design and my lack of 16 more HST:

The colors are not correct at all since the HST are all batiks...it was just easier to doodle this way. The two purple borders could turn out to be anything and I'll be going to the LQS tomorrow to see what strikes my fancy. As you can see in the following photo, I do have a neutral stripe that would be fun as sashing, border or binding. There is also a chunk of the neutral used in each of the HST blocks available to use. I also have that wild orangey fabric that I got from a sale bin. I originally thought it would work for backing but what about outer border? I don't think there is enough for both places. Tell me what you think before I go to the store tomorrow. Please don't make me make my own decision!!

NewFOs and UFOs

UFOs first -
I took a little liberty with my UFO list. My original #1 due to be worked on this month was my RollRollCottonBoll Quilt. HOWEVER - I am sew close to getting my Orca Bay done I switched them in my list. I hope to at least get the blue string blocks done this month. Might as well work on it while it's still out :)

NewFO -
By special request, I am starting my Broderie Perse quilt this month. The directions are from an old Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and this is the quilt shown in the article:

I don't know the entire history of BP but I do know that it was often made from expensive chintz where motifs were cut out and assembled into scenes. This quilt consists of squares and sashing. I will cut some motifs out of the extra fabric to machine applique onto the top so that the motifs are extended into the sashing.

The next fuzzy photo is a closeup of how the magazine article showed that technique. Check out the various flowers and cranes.

Unfortunately the article was pretty short and never mentioned yardage amounts. I purchased these fabrics back in Miami where we guesstimated how much to buy so I don't have near enough as I now wish I had. I love this koi fabric altho I am a little concerned that the design is too big for this technique. We shall see! That dark green batik is just yummy. Wish I had more and not just for this project.

Last night I played around in EQ to determine how big a quilt I could make with the fabric I have on hand. I think I changed the squares to be 8" finished and the sashing 2" or 2.5" finished, which allows me a quilt that is 5 x 6 blocks. It won't be bed size but I think it will be close to my favorite couch size. I would have liked the binding to be from the same batik but I would have had to make a much smaller quilt to accomplish that sew I decided to find something else for the binding.

NewFOs and UFOs

Somehow I never started the NewFO I thought I would in January...not to worry tho as I did start 5 other projects! One is done, I hope another is done this weekend and one is probably long term altho a little addictive.

This is the NewFO I finished already. A mug rug that was donated to my local library for their V-Day fundraiser. I had planned to also make one with hexies instead of the hearts but forgot until I was typing this post. I haven't picked colors for the hexie version yet.

This is the NewFO that I hope is finished this weekend. I haven't specified what it is but several people have made some very close guesses.

This is my addictive NewFO. I had thought it would be long term but it's too easy to grab for a few minutes here and there. This could be a good thing so that I don't have parts sitting around forever. Maybe I should aim for the end of the year? I'll still collect selvages but I'm not sure what the next project will be and I need to see how many I have left when this quilt is done anyway.

This NewFO would probably be pretty easy to get finished and since I hope to keep up with the doll-quilt-a-month-a-long at http://sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-small-quilt-challenge.html (this is the link for the next doll quilt) I better get caught up and keep the quilting simple. I had thought about fans but we shall see when I get the red backing on what strikes me.

The last NewFO isn't done yet because I wasn't sure how I wanted to proceed. This is a cover for my Kindle and my original idea was to make the hexies go all the way around without any seams but I wasn't sure how to make that work along with the tutorial that I working from. I've now decided that the best way to proceed will be to make the hexies a little bit bigger, quilt this to the batting and then do the seams as on the tutorial. I think it will be safer for the Kindle. Now if I could just figure out what's wrong with my wifi connection all will be honky dorey.

My January UFO was my Blooming 9-Patch, probably started 4 or 5 years ago. I had hoped to finish the top (which turned out I just needed borders) and get her quilted this month. I purchased the border fabrics and got part of it on but had to stop when I was just a little short on the light purple fabric. I did buy another quarter yard but I still need to finish the borders. I bought batting (on sale!) and I should have enough scraps to piece the back. I would like to think this doesn't now go to the bottom of the UFO pile but who knows.

My February UFO is RollRollCottonBoll which was Bonnie's 2010 mystery project. I've actually listed RRCB for 2 months in this year's UFO Challenge so I don't have specific goals this month other than to make progress. I have 4 steps left: neutral string blocks (and y'all know how much I love them!), assembling the 600 HSTs from those 2 skinny bins into sashing and attaching them to the blocks which are under the red and neutral fabrics, assembling the center of the top and then the borders (parts are in that black dish to the left). OK - no real pressure this month and I like that!

Selvages

For year's I've had a copy of Karen Griska's book "Quilts from the Selvage Edge" and I also follow her blog which regularly features projects from people around the world. That of course, means I have also been collecting selvages both from my own purchases but also giving homes to selvages of friends and my LQS (and there *is* more room if you are looking for a non-smoking, cat hair covered, hexie obsessed home for your selvages...I'm even willing to trade).

What I'm really getting at is that my inability to pick a project to use the selvages I have has lead them to accumulate but not become anything. Until this morning...

Riel at Q&U has a tutorial to make Simple Selvage Squares that eventually become a basket weave style quilt and I periodically reread it when I catch up on her blog. This morning I had about 30 minutes to work on something.

I wasn't in a hexie mood (did the earth just stop rotating?) and I wasn't mentally ready to start the blue string blocks for Orca Bay. I turned towards my Bernina and there sat a pile of selvages from cutting red FQs. It was TIME to just go ahead a make a block. I had read the tute so many times I had it memorized and in no time I had not just one but two blocks done. Woot Woot!

I trimmed my blocks to 6.5" instead of Riel's 6". I also tried to use my walking foot to eliminate some of the puckering I had on the first block but it just seemed awkward with the small pieces of fabric so I went back to my good old #37 or quarter inch foot. (A really good pressing ironing eliminated all puckers!)

This project uses white thread instead of my normal Master Piece gray for piecing so it's not really a leader-ender style project...meaning it's also not a hurry up and gitter done project since I want to make sure the selvage colors are mixed throughout all the blocks. I'll probably cut at least one 7" section from each selvage I currently have and put them in a basket for when I have some no-brain-needed sewing time.

Yet another NewFO for January...

NewFOs and UFOs

I am afraid we are pictureless today...but I wanted to let you know that I have posted new "pages" on my blog with info on the 2012 NewFo and UFO Challenges that I am participating in. I hope you'll check out the pages at the top of my blog and maybe even join me in these challenges.