That's it for the Red and Yellow Squares

For what it's worth... it's never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. 

There's no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you've never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you're not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.

~F. Scott Fitzgerald

Quilting

These are the last of the red and yellow six-inch squares. They were cut {and carefully stored} so long ago that I can't remember the reason. So Sujata's freehand hourglass block from Cultural Fusion Quilts seemed like a great way to quickly use them up... and again attempt to rebuild a stash of baby quilts. 

My old rotary cutter no longer holds the blade firmly. The nut and bolt unscrew with each swipe. It's time to purchase a new one. Meanwhile my pair of very sharp Kai scissors works well to cut the diagonal lines. {Of course, the blocks are squared up later with the rotary tools.}

With my usual insouciance I cut all of them before determining how many were really needed. And there were way too many for the first toddler quilt. In fact, there's enough for seconds but I'm ready for a new layout. This time all the hourglasses point the same direction.

Did I mention I started putting slabs in scrap bag in addition to strings? That's where the oranges came from as well as the remnants from last year's aloha shirt. Not sure how I like that but at least they were available despite being the "wrong" size when I started. And I didn't have to find yet another bag or box to store them.

The shading between orange and red isn't great but I love the way the orange foreground blends into the yellow background. There's always something fun to discover working with scraps. 

Since the blocks were sewn a couple of weeks ago, sewing the top went much faster but it needed a border. I drove myself nuts pulling out almost every blue in the stash.  These...

and these.

I wanted to like the carrots because of the bits of orange. You can see I laid the horizontally and vertically but neither seemed to work. And I love the blue and black plaid but it clashes with the stripe that will be the binding. {It's too good an opportunity to pass up using it to bind and that's where the idea for a blue border came.}

Eventually and oddly I chose the darkest blue. It's almost a reproduction wide stripe. Not sure why it works but it does.

The finished quilt bound and ready. 

Improv Hourglass toddler quilt in red and yellow

The orange fabric was purchased for a different quilt that has yet to be started so I'm using it here. Of course, there wasn't quite enough for the back so a few remaining hourglasses and border strips fill in.

Back of Improv Hourglass quilt

The binding looks great. I love striped binding and frequently purchase random stripes that then molder in my stash. What joy to realize this one works so well with the blocks.

Detail of Improv Hourglass quilt

A final view of the front and back of the quilt.

Folded Improv Hourglass quilt

It's now in the quilt stash waiting for an older sibling who needs some attention. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 57" x 57"

Design: Improv Hourglass

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: Gutermann multi-yellow cotton thread

Quilting: Walking foot parallel lines

Approximate yardage: 6 yds

Reading

I've been eagerly waiting to read the second of Becky Chambers' Wayfarer's series. A Closed and Common Orbit picks up with the transfer of AI system Lovelace to a human-looking body. Pepper, a human who escaped from a factory where  genetically engineered girls recycle trash, invites her to her home and tries to help her fit into this new reality. The novel explores sentience, autonomy, and purpose. 

I've learned the hard way to space out reading new series. Reading them back-to-back usually results in burnout. Now I'm counting the days till the next one. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Improv Hourglass Quilted

Things get bad for all of us, almost continually, 

and what we do under the constant stress reveals who/what we are.

~Charles Bukowski

Quilting

Inner borders benefit from SID (stitch-in-the-ditch) to keep them straight and that's what I did first here. But what to do next? The improvisationally cut hourglasses don't lend themselves to diagonal stitching although straight lines could run vertically. That's one of my default quilting designs. 

Then I recalled the quilting design on kawandis. It's a simple squared-off spiral from the outside in. And usually hand quilted. Starting at the outside meant the back needed to be carefully basted because there's no way to smooth bumps out as quilting progresses. And yes, there was extra at times. Fortunately, those fit between the rounds. Since no stitching crossed any other, there were no pleats.

The inner border was filled with free motion loops in dark brown and the outer border returned to the squared-off spirals. Feathers and Baptist fans didn't seem like they would show against the strong fan pattern of the print.   

The back started with a yard of an alphabet print purchased {a couple of years ago} for use on a baby quilt. It's enlarged with a tone-on-tone beige and a tiny green remnant. That green was wider but part was trimmed once the quilt was finished.

The binding is a wonderful multi-color stripe that looks hand painted. It has every color in the quilt: red, yellow, white, brown, and green.

Quilt Specifics

Size: 52" x 52"

Design: Improv Hourglass

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: Superior brown and Gutermann multi-yellow cotton thread

Quilting: Walking foot spiraling squares and FMQ loops

Approximate yardage: 5.75 yds

Previous post: Improvising the scraps

Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate) 

Two quilts finished this month. Most excited that the Wheel quilt is finally a finish and it looks beautiful. Plus this small one has gone to a new baby. March = 24.75 yds. YTD =  42.625 yards.

Reading

Somehow I quit reading Clare O'Donohue's Someday Quilts mysteries but I'm making up for lost time. This week I finished The Devil's Puzzle where a skeleton is uncovered in Eleanor's backyard. It's been buried for thirty to forty years so there's not much chance of discovering who it is or who murdered him. There are only two more books in this series and I hope to finish it by year end.  

EDIT: Clare was a producer for Alex Anderson on Simply Quilts.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Improvising My Scraps

Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; 

rather, it means never losing awareness that we are connected to each other.

~Parker Palmer

Quilting

Cleaning out every corner of my house has been a salutary lesson. For some reason there are stacks of squares neatly packaged in different shoe boxes. Six-inch, 5.5", 2.5", and 2". Who knows why now. And why in the world are these blocks half an inch different in size? I tried to simply toss the larger ones into the scrap bag but instead pulled out chunks from the bag and cut them into six-inch blocks to make Hatchet blocks. 

There were so many that I sorted them by color later... after they were cut. Sigh. When I tired of Hatchets I switched to this improv hourglass blocks from Cultural Fusion Quilts. Generally these fabrics run analogously from red to orange to yellow although many of these yellows look more like cheddar.  

Here they are laid on the rug. A bit too small and there is not enough red or yellow yardage for a border. Then this cheddar-orange from my stash and the dark brownish-black from the scrap bag magically called. {I think I like putting these larger pieces in the bag. Finding them inspires different designs than strings do.} 

Improv hourglass blocks 

Four red blocks could create simple border corners but there were still some squares of yellow left, too.  Here's the top sewn.  And yes, I know one block is sideways. It will stay that way.

Improv hourglass quilt top

That strong border shows off the blocks beautifully. It's not fall here but the colors certainly reflect autumn. Next week I'll quilt it... as soon as I figure out the back.

After the freeze, most of our plants died back. I trimmed the ferns and hostas to the ground and am watching them sprout new growth. Most of the jasmine leafed out but some hedges may need to be replaced. I planted all my pots with flowers or ferns and am on a mission to get the ground cover going between the flagstones so hopefully weeding won't be a daily activity in a few years.  We still need the landscapers to grind a tree stump and replant. Privacy and shade are goals, too.

Reading

The Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series by Vaseem Khan delightfully draws us into Mumbai and its varied districts. In this first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, the poor mother of a drowned boy challenges the police to discover what happened but Chopra's superiors don't want the death investigated and it's his last day of work. Then  his uncle sends him a gift of a baby elephant who is "not what he seems." Well written, engaging, and fun to read about another part of our world. It reminds me of The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

One Improv Hourglass Quilt Finished

"It has been said that patriotism is not a frenzied burst of emotion, rather the quiet and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

~ George H.W. Bush

Quilting

After three weeks this "quick and simple" baby quilt is finally done. Wow, that's too long but it turned out well.

Improv Hourglass quilt 

Since my machine with the working walking foot was in for repairs I had to use FMQ only. No SID around the sashing. I tried using a ruler to make straight lines a quarter-inch inside the sashing with mediocre success. The lines wobble but worse is the way the fabric pulls without an even feed foot. It doesn't pull with other FMQ designs so I'm not sure what caused it. My solution was to go back and FMQ a simple sine wave down the sashing. It won't win an award but looks much better. More stitching usually hides irregularities.

The rest of the center alternates spirals with wishbones although none of it is visible.

I used a design from Angela Walters FMQ challenge on the pink part of the outer border then sewed parallel lines on the blue and black sections.

Detail of quilting and binding of Improv Hourglass quilt 1

There wasn't a large enough of any pink for the back so these peach fabrics filled in. I'm not sure why I didn't look for any blues. Some days... The quilting doesn't show much on these busy prints either.

Detail of quilting and back of Improv Hourglass quilt 1

There was just enough of a black-and-white print for binding which blends well with the outer border.

Another view of the front, back, and binding. The dots are the same size which help the odd pink and peach combination work. The white gives needed contrast and the black ties it all together.

Detail of front, back and binding
on Improv Hourglass quilt 1

I thought this would go on the stack but it was a grandchild asked for it as it came out of the dryer. Isn't it fun when they are old enough to have opinions?

Quilt Specifics

Size: 42"x42"

Design: Hourglass

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: Gutermann 50 wt light blue, pink, and white cotton

Quilting: FMQ spirals, SID, parallel lines

Approximate yardage: 5 yd

Previous Posts

1. Choosing fabric
2. Working the border

Reading

I just finished Finding Chika by Mitch Alborn who also wrote Tuesdays with Morrie. Mitch directs the Finding Faith Haiti Mission and Orphanage where Chika was brought after her mother's death. Two years later doctors found she had an inoperable brain tumor so Mitch and his wife brought her to the US for treatment.


Enjoy the day, Ann

Working the Border

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard a work worth doing."

~Theodore Roosevelt

Quilting

Last week the black border didn't add anything to the conversation but the quilt still needed more contrast. I pieced more hourglasses with some black added to the pink and blues for the border then spent a while laying them out. This arrangement makes a striking zig zag but is much too strong for the weak center. {I'll have to remember it for another time.}

Zig zag border arrangement

Black to the outside and pink inside makes a much better border but the corners need to be resolved. Removing some hourglasses to add the sashing means there's almost enough for a second quilt if they aren't used in the corners. This notion prompted another search through the stash for possible corners.
Even though the other colors in that floral are pink and blue, it reads orange. Not a solution. However, the blue choices might work.

Trying different corners

I settled on the gingham because it contrasts with all the florals and polka dots. Some might remember it as the binding on the Rose quilt.

What an improvement from last week!

Once this quilt is finished, the second should go together easily and will finish off those polka dots. But there's a slight hitch - the machine must have a tune up. I've been told the BSR software needs an update, too. I have a second machine but it doesn't have a walking foot.

Reading

I just finished Celestial Bodies by Omani author Jokha Alharthi and translated by Marilyn Booth which won the Man-Booker prize last year. {The Man-Booker is given to the best book translated into English and published in England as opposed to the Booker is for the best fiction first published in England.} Written in various viewpoints with many flashbacks, it tells the story of a large family including three sisters, their father, and one daughter as well as other people from their ancestral village as Oman transitions from slavery to an oil-producing state.

Interesting note: One woman sewed on a Singer with a butterfly decal. I've never seen one like that. Was is a treadle {most likely} or a featherweight?

Simplicity half apron pattern 

Gifting
While sorting I found a vintage apron pattern and would be happy to pass it on to someone who would use it. Let me know in the comments.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Using the Hourglass Prompt

"Green is not simply a new form of generating electric power; it is a new form of generating national power - period."
~ David Rothkopf

Quilting

For a change I'm starting the AHIQ prompt right away. {Although I should be finishing the Square Deal or Tethys Waves, they were put away when company came and you know how that breaks the rhythm. A new project pushed its way to the front of the line.} The previous hourglass quilt was rotary cut; this time I wanted to try an improv variation from Cultural Fusion. It seemed like a relaxing and quick{er} solution.

I dug out the pink fabric, purchased as a back but never used it. What if I used it as one value then mixed several turquoise blues for the other? In this photo there appears to be enough contrast. We are good to go.

Fabric pull for hourglass blocks

Once the hourglasses were sewn... what a mess. No contrast. The colors don't even look good together. {The values are a bit off in the photo but they are just flat in person.}

Sets of improv hourglass blocks

Sashing could increase the contrast by introducing new values but adding it between each four-patch would make the quilt too big for a baby quilt and too small for a lap quilt. Reworking the hourglasses into a variety of sizes seemed like it might work. It's a bit better in the photo below but definitely not inspiring.

Making space for sashing

Adding black and white stripe as sashing made a difference but it still seems sub-par. What about a black border or binding? No, that's too severe.

Adding sashing and possible borders

It's taken me all week to get here. So much for easy. And so it goes.

Travel

DH took me to see the fireworks, something we haven't done in a few years. What a delight to see the colorful lights bursting over the Bay and to visit friends over a leisurely meal on New Year's Day. As we age we appreciate these special events more and more.

2019 New Year's fireworks

He also gave me two quilt themed t-shirts. My favorite one reads, " If I could just find a way to read and quilt at the same time my life would be perfect."

Reading

Speaking of which, a friend invited me to join her book club and I eagerly agreed. It's been a few years since I've been active in a club; travel and moving cause them to fall apart. Oh, how I've missed the joy of discussing books we can sink our teeth into. We read the first of a science fiction duology, Semiosis by Sue Burke. {Only one other member reads SF and she convinced the others to try it.} A group of earthlings travels in suspended animation to a distant world to start over again without war or waste. The situation seems primitive but manageable until they realize the plants are sentient.

We spent a happy evening discussing themes, relating this book to others we've read, and planning the next few meetings. A couple of us {myself included} plan to read the Sue's sequel.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Pastel Hourglasses

"Today there are those who travel by sea to new lands, hoping for a new life. 

They are likely to find themselves locked up or locked out.... 

How would all our lives be if the original [European settlers] were sent back?"

~Kathy Doughty

A niece is expecting her first child and decorating in very soft pink, green, grey, and white. The quilt needs to be finished before the baby shower. Time to get cracking. I purchased this charm pack a while ago for a specific reason. After making a quilt with brights I wondered what it would look like in pastels. Now I have the opportunity to find out.

Charm pack of pastel Kona solids

Although I've never been a fan of precuts {it was a difficult road for me to accept fat quarters and that was about as small as I've been willing to purchase} what I like about this method is the way the pack expands the results of a smaller collection of solid yardage.

I cut WOFs of all {six} light/pastel solids in my stash and crosscut them into five-inch squares {like the pack.} Each charm was paired with a "non-charm" to spread the WOFs across the most fabrics. I.e., make the most variations of the pairs available. It was easy to keep straight because the charms are pinked. Only when the charms ran out did I pair WOF with other WOFs. Make sense?

The pairs were cut into QSTs and sewed into hourglasses so there are two blocks from each pair. Then I moved them around on the design wall for a while. Random worked out as a better layout than the color sweeps of the previous quilt. Did anyone else ever read Ann McCaffrey's Crystal Singer trilogy? After Killashandra Ree goes to a planet for work, her eyes become much more sensitized to color. Ok. There's a lot more to the story than this but these soft colors that aren't photographing well remind me of that minor plot detail.

Hourglass blocks on the design wall

Again I simply SID to quilt it which lets the fabric shine, especially after a bit of shrinkage from a gentle wash and dry.

Pastel hourglass baby quilt

The back is one piece of lovely white lawn extended with a strip of pink. So soft! The baby will love it.

Grey lawn creates the binding.

Binding detail on
pastel Hourglass baby quilt

It's certainly the softest I've ever made - not only the colors but the finely woven lawn feels like loving kisses. So this baby will be wrapped in a cloud.

Quilt Specifics
Size: 42" x 42"
Design: Hourglass
Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose
Thread: 60-wt pale pink Aurifil cotton thread 
Quilting: SID with walking foot
Approximate Yardage: 4 yds

True Confessions

To my mother's dismay I've always been very hard on shoes and gloves. QS gave me a pair of quilting gloves which I promptly put holes in. On a whim I put on a NEW pair of gardening gloves and have been using them for two years. They are a bit thick but really grasp the quilt. No holes and they were much cheaper than the specialty quilting gloves. 

Use new gardening gloves to machine quilt

Off the Bookshelf


Bad Blood by John Carreyrou has been on my hold list at the library for a while and it's finally my turn. Begun as a series of investigative articles it relates the rise and fall of Theranos whose founder, Elizabeth Holmes, claimed to have created a way to run many lab tests from a single drop of blood.

One of the interesting takeaways is that none of the board members had significant medical expertise. I'd never considered the need to take a step back and think about the hurdles every company faces - regulatory, industry sector, financial. Does a company have employees to meet those needs and does their board have sufficient depth to govern/oversee their efforts? Private companies have more problems in this area because they may not have the advice and experience of a knowledgeable, widely-skilled board.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Hourglass Quilt Gifted

Happy birthday to the young recipient.

Here it is, quilted, bound, and washed. No quilting design seemed a good fit to me. Either they distracted from the colors or they seemed too prominent on the solids. Finally I simply stitched in the ditch along each seam line.

Hourglass quilt in solids

The back really shows the crinkling effect of the quilting design and batting choice. Stitch-in-the-Ditch emphasized a gathering effect not seen on my other quilts. I think the combination of two threads (nylon monofilament and cotton) in the ditch and solids caused this. Other fabrics may behave the same but light hits every hint of a fold on solids.

Hourglass quilt in solids back

Here's a detail of the quilting. I've said it before but I personally love the way the batting crinkles the quilt after washing. Hopefully you love your choice as well.

Quilting detail of Hourglass solid quilt

I was a bit hesitant when starting this quilt last year but it's become one of my favorites. I intended to make a video of this process but that has not happened. Given the current situation, it will not. It's still pretty. And fun. And easy.

Quilt Details

Size: 43" x 43"

Design: Original

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose 100%cotton

Thread: YLI Nylon Monofilament on front, grey Presencia 50 wt cotton on back

Quilting: Stitch in the Ditch with walking foot

Previous posts:

1. Picking the fabric
2. Sewing the top

Enjoy the day, Ann

Time to Sew a Top

You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.

~C.S. Lewis~

You know the drill. Sew the blocks into columns; sew the columns into pairs; repeat until the top is done.

Sewn. Wow. These colors look like stained glass.

Hourglass quilt in solid fabrics

I'm not sure what quilting will enhance/ complement this design.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Hourglass Solids

What gives dignity to death is the dignity of the life that preceded it.

~Sherwin Nuland~

Still in recovery. This is a quilt I made but didn't blog because I wanted to make a video. Haven't done that; probably won't now.  Still, it's a pretty quilt to share.

When I reorganized/cleaned my sewing room last year, all threads and sewing supplies went back in their respective drawers. That's not much but makes the room neater. The biggest decision was to put all the "pulled" fabric back in the stash. The partially sewn blocks are still kept together but no more endless collections of fabrics for future quilt that didn't even get cut.

Just when the stash seemed to be decreasing, I find I've simply hidden it in "plain brown wrapping." Like a naughty book or an accounting shell game, only with fabric. Ha!

Solid fabric choices

For someone with few solids, I unearthed a small trove. Most are medium. This photo contains only three lights: pink, pale green, and yellow - and they look washed out.  However, they are needed to add value change. Can you imagine how badly a quilt would look with only medium values? Tucked in with these  pieces was a charm pack of solids; the perfect way to stretch this limited color range.

I cut one WOF of each fabric whatever that width was; some were fat quarters or less. Then cross-cut into five-inch squares. Then cut each into four QSTs. That took a couple of days.

Solid Hourglass quilt blocks

Next I matched up each of the remnant squares with one of fabrics I had in abundance {for example, the blue, lavender, and pinky-red} in order to scatter the colors as widely as possible. When that was done, I matched the remaining fabrics into pairs and started sewing hourglasses.

This time I laid them out right in front of the television. DH said he could tell it was mine because it was so colorful.

Enjoy the day, Ann