18 January

Each day, the blocks get more challenging.  I thought I was pretty accurate when it came to sewing small pieces together.  I'm finding out... that isn't true.  Even if I stitch two pieces together, and that is accurate, I still need to measure each pair I stitch, because if I don't, I end up having to unsew as I sew more together, because something is off, and usually it ends up being some of the first seams I take.  I do think part of my problem is when I was cutting strips way back at the beginning of organizing my scraps, I wasn't as careful about getting an exact strip, so it might be off just a tad.. and that gets magnified in these small blocks.  Those strips would be fine in a string block, where the size doesn't matter, and I'm just sewing a bunch of strings together to fit a certain size block.  But when you are working towards an exact size, with exact sized pieces, that makes a big difference.  So going forward, I need to decide if I'm going to continue to use already cut strips and squares, or if I'm going to take a larger scrap, and cut it down to what I need, and pay closer attention to how accurate I'm cutting.  Either way, I will still be using my scraps up, so that is a good thing.

18 Jan

I have decided to work on the other challenge I heard about, making the same block using up your stash. The challenge is from Border Creek Station, and they give a number of different ways the blocks can be laid out, so there are a lot of possibilities with this pattern. This one isn't dependent on getting a certain number of blocks made each day or week or even month, and you can make as many quilts as you want using the block.  So, I'm going to just keep that one in the back of my mind and as I am cutting fabric for other projects, cut some for this one, and work on it as time allows.  I think it will be an easy one to have close to my machine and work on when I want to sew, with out having to think about what I'm sewing.  Since it uses all Half Square Triangles, I'm going to print out some of my Triangulations papers for the sizes I need, and just keep some ready to sew near my machine.  Although I do have a couple other projects that I can sew with out thinking, it never hurts to have something to work on when I just have a few minutes to sew, and don't need to finish a block each time I sit down to my machine.  And if, as the year progresses, I'm not getting much done on this challenge, it can be something that gets worked on over a number of years... since none of my quilts have deadlines... I don't have to stress about how quickly I get it done.

Today, I need to get things ready for a class I'm taking tomorrow.  It is on using rulers to quilt your quilts.  I have always loved the look of ruler work, and have tried to do some on my own, but I think getting a bit of help in learning how to use them will be beneficial, and I just need to make some time to practice with them.  So I'm looking forward to the class.  It will be every other week over the next few months.  Hopefully I will learn enough and get enough ideas to start getting some of my quilts quilted and get them out of the UFO pile and into the finished pile. 

Until next time... Happy Crafting!!!

17 January

Today, I have two blocks to post.  I did make my block yesterday, however, right after I finished it we left to go out on a day trip and I didn't have time to post my block.  So here is yesterdays block.

16 Jan

Today's block was much more difficult, in trying to be precise.  There were a lot more seams and a lot more chances to be off in your sewing and pressing.  I ended up taking this one apart more than a few times, trying to be more precise.  And when I was working on a new challenge (will talk about that more later), I think I figured out the pressure on my presser foot was too high, and that was causing my fabric to not fit precisely.  When you are talking about small blocks, any little bit you are off, gets magnified, so it's important to maintain that precision throughout your process.  I've decided to try using my trusty Pfaff 2170 for tomorrows block to see if I have that same issue. I lessened the pressure on the Juki, and I can't adjust the pressure on the Pfaff, but my Pfaff has the IDT, and so I'm going to find out for myself, it that really does make a difference in my sewing.  If it does, my Juki may be use only when precision isn't necessary, but I need the piercing power to go through multiple layers.

17  Jan

I dug into my 1" squares for the 4 patches on this one, instead of sewing strips and sub cutting them into my units.  I'm sure that also played a roll in my precision.  But I want to use what is already cut, as much as possible, so I'm still going to the smallest size I can to find my pieces before moving up in size, and that includes going to my squares before my strips.

To try to use up even more scraps, I heard about another challenge, 52 Weeks, 52 Blocks.  This one you make one block a week, (some weeks might be doubled up if other weeks are skipped), and you end up with a lap sized quilt. These block will finish at 6" and I've decided to also make them in 3".  Partly to use up more fabric, and also, because I'm thinking that putting them in the border will be interesting, and it will also give me a little larger quilt than what the 52 blocks will give me.  If I decide not to put them in the border, then they can be put with any other 3" blocks I make and be used in a future project.  Either way, it will be USING more of my fabric instead of my fabric just sitting in a drawer or on my shelf.  Here are the two blocks I made for this week. 

52 Weeks Block 1

I've also heard about another challenge for scrap busting, where you make the same block every week, but use different fabric.  I'm still debating about that one, but the block looks like it will be a rather fun one to work on, so I might just add that one into the mix as well.  But that will be decided on a later date.  I still have all my UFOs and other projects that I have been wanting to work on, and if I'm always working on these new challenges, I won't get those done.  I might just save that block pattern and work on it at my own pace, instead of trying to do it as a challenge, as it would still be a great way to use up scraps.

Until next time... Happy Crafting!!!

15 January

Today's block was a bit more challenging, only because using my scraps I wasn't as accurate in cutting back when I started keeping scraps as I am now. 

15 Jan

While not every quilt I make needs to be precise, I do enjoy the challenge of being precise when it is what is needed.
My center is dead on accurate, and that makes me happy.  However, my edges are a bit off, and while I can adjust for that when the blocks are sewn together, and I know that once the entire top is complete, no one is going to be able to pick out any one block that might be a bit off.  Since I am using this challenge not only to do at least a little sewing every day, but also to challenge myself to be more precise, I can work on my precision every day, instead of always having to "unstitch" and do something over.   I can critique my blocks, and figure out where I need to focus.  Is it my cutting? or do I need to adjust my seam allowance?  What about my pressing?  Even my thread choices make a difference, as the thickness of the thread DOES make a difference in how much fabric is folded over on itself, and the thicker the thread, the more fabric is folded. 

However, what is important, is what can be seen in the block, not what can not be seen in the seams.  As long as my seams are large enough, meaning they aren't just a few thread widths, then things will hold up.  If my seam isn't exactly 1/4" or even a scant 1/4", that isn't going to be the end of the world.   I remember something Ricky Timms has said for his Caveman style of quilting.  "The only reason seams are 1/4" is because it makes the math work".   It is much easier to calculate seams if it is an even number, like 1/4" rather than 3/16" or 5/32".   Not that those would be impossible, but it is much easier to add 1/2" to your size for seams, than to figure out what 10/32" equals when you need to cut fabric.  So as long as my seams are between 1/8" and 1/4" I think my quilts will hold up to use.



Here is the project I mentioned yesterday for our front door.

This is the first block in the book Imagine from Art to Heart.  I think that little carrot button for the snowman's nose is just too cute!!!

I want to try and get all the blocks done in a couple of months, instead of waiting until it's almost time to hang them up.  I didn't think I would like applique, but these have been really easy to do so far.  I do stitch the applique by machine, not hand.  Not sure I would get them finished if I had to do them all by hand.  :-)   All the backgrounds are just 3 maybe 4 fabrics, and it isn't as difficult to trace and cut the applique pieces as I thought it might be.  I think it is harder sometimes to find the right fabric than it is to actually cut it out for the block.  :-) 

Time to get busy and sew... until next time.. Happy Crafting!!

14 January

Today's block is another simple one, yet you need to be accurate in your cutting and sewing, or it won't be the right size.  It's simply 6 - 1" strips sewn together. Since it finishes at 3" each of those 1" strips end up being only 1/2" wide.  As the blocks get more complicated, they are going to be using more 1" or possibly smaller pieces of fabric.  I knew there was a reason I was saving all my 1" leftovers.  :-)

14 Jan

I am almost finished with another small project, but not ready to show a picture of it yet.  I have to finish the binding and add some cute buttons, then it will be ready to hang on our front door.  It is from the book Imagine, from Art to Heart.   It has 12 different 14" blocks, that you can use for a quilt, or wall hangings or even pillows.   I am making them all as wall hangings so we can hang them on our front door, like you would a wreath.  We can't hang wreaths, because they would get flattened, so we needed to find something that wasn't so fluffy.  These small wall hangings will fit the bill.   And there is one for every month of the year.  :-)

Until next time... Happy Crafting!!!

13 January

Today's block is similar to what you would do if you made a Bargello quilt, only on a much smaller scale.  After 12 days, I am finding myself looking forward to doing a bit of fabric picking and sewing every morning before I actually "get started" for the day.  While my scraps aren't OCD organized, they are at least a little organized, and I can go to the bag or drawer, that has the size strip I need, and look for something in the value that I need for each block.   While I don't have a whole bunch of strips cut, and some times I think I don't have enough scraps, it is nice to know that I can go from the size I need and work my way up in sizes to find what I want, instead of just going to my larger pieces and cutting a small strip. 

13 Jan

Today, I will be starting on another project of sorts, that I want to turn into a habit.  I borrowed the book 15 Minutes of Play by Victoria Findley Wolf, from my local library, where she suggest you take at least 15 minutes every day, and just sew scraps together in an improvisational manner.  Don't worry about color, or even value so much, just sew blocks of fabric.   Do it daily. The only thing you need to think about, is making sure your blocks will lay flat. So you want straight seams, and if you don't like something, cut it off.  Save that cut off fabric for another piece of Made Fabric for another day.  After you get a few blocks of what she calls Made Fabric, you can then decide what you want to use them for.  Is there something in all the blocks that jumps out at you?  Use that to create a quilt with that as a focus.  She showed an example where her blocks all had some polka dot fabric, so she went with that theme for her blocks and quilt.  Yours will likely be different, but just PLAY!!  

I was watching one of the"The Quilt Show" shows, with Victoria as the guest, and to get her scraps, she took some of her FQs or larger pieces of scraps and just laid them on the table and started cutting them into different sizes and shapes.  She didn't use a ruler or figure out what shape or size, she just laid them out and took her rotary cutter to the pile to cut.  Like she says, you have MORE fabric, and probably more than you know what to do with.  I don't have any odd size scraps, as I have been cutting all my left over fabric into certain sizes and shapes.  So the idea of taking fabric and just cutting it up is a bit scary.  But I think once I get into the "habit" of doing these improvisational block, it will get a lot easier to cut up my fabric to use for this.

This idea of sewing small bits of fabric together isn't new, and her way of doing it isn't new either.  But reading her book just may have given me the push to do a little improvisational sewing daily.  I typically am a precise quilter.  I want all my corners to meet exactly, I want my seams to be perfect. No chopped off points on my stars!!!  And honestly, there is nothing wrong with wanting that precision.  But sometimes you just need to play and not worry about being precise.   You may want to decide on a size of Made Fabric you want to make, so you have "blocks" that are large enough to do something with.  You don't want 4" blocks and you decide you need 8" to cut out another shape from your made fabric.  But when you are just starting out, just decide on a size, and make blocks to that size.  The good thing about made fabric, you can always add more fabric to the block to make them bigger if that is what you need.  The point is to not have something specific in mind as you are just starting out, and get into the habit of  playing.  Your first quilt using made fabric, may be nothing more than square blocks put together for a quilt top, or  it might be something more complicated, like a star.   What ever it turns into, just start playing and make that a habit, sew for 15 minutes where you don't think about what it is going to turn into, or if your corners are perfect.

I don't know if I'm ready to cut into my FQs or yardage just yet, but I do have some really small pieces that are left over after making my Wild and Goosey blocks, that I can start this process with.  And since I'm into miniatures right now, those smaller pieces used to make Made Fabric in smaller sizes might just work out well, to use in some smaller quilts.

It's time for me to go PLAY!! I hope you will join me on this journey... and until next time... Happy Crafting!!!

12 January

Today's block is another simple one.  More seams, but when you sew strips then sub cut to size, it is much easier than trying to sew small squares together.  :-)

12 Jan

Yesterday, I decided I needed to get my scraps a bit better organized, I had them in different boxes around my craft room, and always seems to have to go searching for things in the sizes I needed.  When I have scraps, I try to keep them in as large a piece of fabric as possible, because I do make other things besides quilts, and some of these fabrics will make great pocket linings in bags, or even piecing larger scraps together to create new "fabric" for the outside of my bags.  Since I might need odd sizes for linings and bags, I didn't want to cut everything down into "quilt sized" pieces until I knew I needed it in a project.  I don't mind having to spend some time cutting fabric for a quilt, to me, that is part of the process, and would seem strange if I didn't cut fabric before I started sewing.
So when I was out and about, I purchased this Sterilite 3 drawer unit.

I did move my scraps in there last night, but I plan on organizing it better through out the year, as I'm working on my 365 Challenge.  The bottom drawer is going to be sorted by value, instead of color and will be my larger pieces, which is anything over 5" wide by any length.  The Middle drawer will also be sorted by values and will be anything larger than 2.5" up to 5", The top drawer is going to hold all my small squares and strips.  Right now, I have a small plastic box for each size of squares (and I'm not even close to getting those full) and my strips are in plastic bags by size.  I think I have enough 2.5" strips, that they will be in a separate plastic box, but if I can get them in here also, they will be put in with everything else.  By sorting my fabric by size, I know which drawer I need to look in, depending on what size I need for my projects.  I don't have to sort through small scraps if I need something 7" or larger for a pocket lining, I can go straight to the bottom drawer.  This unit is going to live under my cutting table, so it is easily accessible when I need to dig through my scraps.  The containers on the top may not stay there, I'm still debating about what I'm going to use those for... the Pink box is my current UFO, and when I'm finished with that, it will probably get my next project moved into it, so I can keep what ever project I'm working on handy.  The smaller 3 drawer chest may become a place where I store scraps that still need to be trimmed down, since I wait until I'm finished with a project before I cut scraps to usable squares.  I usually end up with a pile of left overs from strips, on my table that has pieces that are large enough for at least a 1" square, but I don't take the time to trim them when I'm working on a project, and will save them for another day.  So I might throw them in there, and then trim when it's too full to put any more in there.

When I'm pulling fabric for a quilt, I will always go to the smallest size I need, and pull from that box first, then work my way up in size until I have the fabric I need in the color or value I'm looking for.  That way, I'm always using the smallest pieces of fabric for something, before I cut down something larger.  For today's 365 Block, I didn't have the values I needed for two of the fabric, so I had to go up to my 1.5" strips, instead of using my 1.25" strips.  But by doing that, it saved me from cutting my larger pieces of fabric and left overs from Fat Quarters for just a 1.25" by 6" piece of fabric.  If I were making an entire quilt, I would cut what I thought I could get sewn that day, or until I got tired of cutting fabric.  Then do some sewing, and cut more down another day.  That way I'm not cutting constantly and still can do the fun part of sewing.

When you are working at organizing your scraps, think about what YOU do with your scrap fabrics.  If all you do is make quilts, then it might make more sense for you to cut your leftovers down to "quilt sized" pieces, instead of leaving larger pieces that will always need to be cut down.  What size strips and squares do you use most often?  Cut your scraps to those sizes, then you can just pick from those piles.  Remember, you can always cut fabric down smaller, but you can't make it larger once cut, with out using a seam.   
How ever you organize your scraps, it can always evolve as you change what you need or have.  It doesn't have to stay the same, just because that is how you started.   If I get tired of doing small blocks, and miniatures, I will probably stop trimming to 1" squares, as I wouldn't need them for much of anything.  But as long as I do continue to make miniature blocks, those 1" square that would otherwise be thrown away, will come in handy as I find more projects to work on.  And I might just find more projects to make as I have more 1" squares to use.

Until next time... Happy Crafting!!!

11 January

Today's block is a simple 16 patch.  I wanted to mix up the fabric for the patches, keeping the same fabric for the Dark Dark.  So I picked out 8 - 1.25" squares from my scrap bin, and sewed them to the length of the Dark Dark strip.  Cut them apart, then sewed 2 pairs together, then into a 4 patch, finally sewing 4 - 4 patches together.  I find this keeps thing straighter than trying to sew 4 squares in a row, and making 4 rows then sewing those rows together.

11 Jan

Yesterday, I got back to work on my Stars for a New Day, cutting up my different fabrics for some 4 Patches, and Sawtooth stars.   If I were doing this as a BOM, this work would be for February, but since I already have all the instructions, I can work on them as I have the time, with out waiting for the next months release.  I need 36 4 patches, they are going to be a border around the feathered star I already made.  The instructions call for 8 Sawtooth stars for February, however I will need a total of 72 by the time I'm finished with the quilt top.  So I decided that since I need all my fabrics out to make the 4 Patches, I will cut what I need for the Sawtooth stars, and in another month or so, I will need to make Pinwheel blocks, again out of all my different fabrics, so I'm cutting what I need for those while I have my fabric on my cutting table.  I couldn't resist making at least one star block!!  This is going to finish at 4", and was very easy to make, just squares and half square triangles.  I used my Triangulations paper to make the HST, since I need 8 HST for each star out of each color. 

And since I'm cutting out fabric for blocks I'm not ready to work on, I'm going to have to keep myself organized so I don't lose what I've already cut, or forget what the fabric was cut for.  Between getting organized for Stars for a New Day, and my 365 Challenge quilt, I might actually get into the habit of being more organized by the end of the year.  :-)

Until next time... Happy Crafting!!!

10 January

Today's block was another simple one.  A double 4 patch.  This block is a great way to use up even the smallest pieces of fabric.  Make the small 4 Patches, then put them into a larger 4 Patch.  It could even be done with a 9 Patch, using the small 4 Patch blocks in every other spot in the 9 Patch, it is an easy way to make a quilt block look more complicated than it is.

10 Jan

I will be working on borders for the UFO I finished up yesterday.  I need to find my Companion Ruler, to cut my quarter square pieces, I know I have one, it just didn't get put back where it should have, so now I have to figure out where it decided to live.  I'm sure it is in the black hole (craft room) some where... I guess this is as good of an excuse as any to get better organized.  :-)  But organization is an on going project, and will be something I struggle with for the rest of my life... sigh.

Happy Crafting!!!