International Bee Queens (yes, two of them)

Tags

Bee Inspired, Fabric, faserkünste, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, I-spy, International Bee, Irish, Minnie Mouse, patchwork, piecing, Quilt, Quilt Blocks, shamrocks, steppdecke, steppen, Traditional Piecing

My international bee has had two queens this month – Jennifer wanted shamrocks for her Irish inspired quilt, and Paige requested modified I-spy blocks for a girls’ charity project….

Meine internationale Gruppe hatte diesen Monat zwei Königinnen – Jennifer wollte Kleeblätter für ihre irisch inspirierte Steppdecke, und Paige ersuchte modifizierte I-Spy-Blöcke für ein Wohltätigkeitsprojekt für Mädchen ….

Each of them only requested one block, but apparently all other participants in my bee are over-achievers and made several of each! No way I could let that challenge go unmatched!

Jede von ihnen hat nur einen Block angefordert, aber anscheinend sind alle anderen Teilnehmer meiner Biene sehr ehrgeizig und haben mehrere von jedem gemacht! Auf keinen Fall könnte ich diese Herausforderung unbeantwortet lassen!

And so, here they are:  three shamrocks for Jennifer, and two I-spy blocks for Paige.

Und so, hier sind sie: drei Kleeblätter für Jennifer und zwei I-Spy-Blöcke für Paige

A special thank-you to Paige:  I have had this Minnie Mouse fabric remnant forever, and not known what to do with it (I am not into themed fabrics at all).  This block was perfect for it, since the quilts will go to teenage girls!

Ich bin Paige ganz besonders dankbar: Ich hatte diesen Minnie Mouse Stoffrest schon sehr lange und wusste nicht, was ich damit anfangen sollte (ich verwende Themenstoffe nie!). Dieser Block war perfekt dafür, da die Steppdecken an Mädchen gehen werden!

Terri’s Memory Quilt

Tags

block, faserkünste, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, memory quilt, patchwork, piecing

A little before Christmas, I got a phone call from a lady who wanted a memory quilt made.  She had lost her mom a year and a half earlier, and wanted some of her mom’s clothes made into a lap quilt.

Ein paar Wochen vor Weihnachten habe ich eine Anruf von einer Dame bekommen die eine “Memory Quilt” habe wollte.  Ihre Mutter war im vorigen Jahr verstorben und sie wollte aus ihrer Kleidung eine Kuscheldecke haben.

I wrote up an estimate, she decided on a pattern, and after adapting some of the measurements I went to work.  The pattern she chose is “Bric-A-Brac” by Aby Dolinger. (the baby quilt pattern is available free here)

Ich machte einen Voranschlag (mit drei Entwürfen), sie wählte einen davon aus, und ich began mit der Quilt.  Das muster das sie sich ausgesucht hatte war “Bric-A-Brac”, von Aby Dolinger entworfen.(eine kostenlose Version ist hier zu finden).

She had requested that I use her mom’s sweatshirt as the center piece, and so I did.  The rest of the clothing was carefully cut, reinforced with stabilizer and sewn into this quilt:

Sie wollte das Sweatshirt von ihrer Mutter in der Mitte, und das habe ich auch so gemacht…die restlichen Kleidungsstücke wurden vorsichtig zugeschnitten, mit Stabilisierer verstärkt und in diese Quilt genäht:

Terri’s Memory Quilt, March 2016 (pattern by Aby Dolinger)

I added the label to the back as a little surprise for her (a friend with an embroidery machine kindly did the lettering for her).

Ich habe ihr das Etikett als eine kleine Überraschung gemacht (eine Freundin hat eine Maschine die diese Buchstaben stickt und hat die kostenlos zur Verfügung gestellt).

She was very pleased with the result, and I am VERY happy that she liked it!

Sie hat die Quilt gestern abgeholt und war hocherfreut! Und ich bin sehr zufrieden dass sie ihr gefallen hat.

Dear Jane, Block C 10

Tags

background fabric, Dear Jane, Dear Jane Blocks, dear jane quilt, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, Quilt, quilting, seam allowances, seams

I don’t know why this block caused me all the trouble it did!

It is a really simple block ( a lot simpler than many of the others) – but anyway, it is done; ironed, photographed and added to the other blocks.

A good friend of mine (whose opinion I value greatly) commented on the shadows that are created by the seam allowances on the back of the white fabric. I am confident that the shadows will not be visible on the finished quilt because of the white batting and white backing fabric I plan on using. In addition, when I photograph the blocks, they are laying on a gray background (which I believe reinforces the shadow)…

This is block # 141

Dear Jane, Block L 6

Tags

background fanric, Dear Jane, dear jane quilt, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, Paper Piecing, Quilt, Quilt Blocks, quilting, tiny pieces, Traditional Piecing

I am very surprised at myself. This block has 47 pieces, none of which is larger than 1/4″ (0.6 cm) and I still would not say that it was very difficult. It was not easy, but the difficulty resulted from the small size of the pieces rather than the complexity of construction.

I broke the block down into seven paper pieced sections; once I had completed the sections, I sewed them together and voila!

This is block # 138

Quiet Play – Paper Piecing Quilt Along

Tags

accent color, accent fabric, background fabric, Fiber Arts, focus color, focus fabric, mystery, Paper Piecing, Quilt, quilt along, quilting

I have decided to participate in a paper piecing quilt along this year.  I had made no such decision, but then I came across Kristy’s quilt along and I was hooked!  It has everything I like: paper piecing, a retro yet modern vibe, very few colors, and have I mentioned? It involves paper piecing….

The picture below is a picture of the blocks that we will be making (one each month):

I have a collection of grey fabrics and I immediately thought that they would be great for the background.  I chose two different ones (I may add a third later), as well as another grey for the “countertops”.  Then, at our local quilt shops end-of-year sale I found two focus fabrics and an accent color:

I cannot wait to start!

Dear Jane, Block F 2

Tags

background fabric, Dear Jane, dear jane quilt, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, Fussy Cut, Paper Piecing, Quilt, Quilt Blocks, quilting, Traditional Piecing

I paper pieced this block in eight sections. Four of them have 3 pieces each, and four of them have 4 pieces each. And yes, I fussy cut all the pie wedges, so that the fabric looks the same in all of them. All that was the easy part.

Putting them together – not so much! I had read somewhere that when one is joining a lot of sections it helps to leave the last little bit unsewn because one can then clip the tips in order to reduce bulk. I did that and it really helped!

This is block # 127

Dear Jane, Block K 5

Tags

background fabric, Dear Jane, dwar jane quilt, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, Fussy Cut, Paper Piecing, Quilt Blocks, quilting, quiot, Traditional Piecing

I paper pieced the diamonds, and fussy cut the focus fabric in them. It was a bit tough to position them correctly within the background fabric; then, I had to make sure that the focus fabric was “running” in the right direction…

This is block # 126 – now, I have less than 100 blocks left (99 to be exact).

Dear Jane, Block E 3

Tags

background fabric, Dear Jane, dear jane quilt, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, Quilt Blocks, scrap fabric, Traditional Piecing

E 3

Quick and easy !

I made this block out of scrap fabric from another project and my background fabric.  Here again, I had several options as far as technique is concerned; I opted for traditional piecing…

This is block # 87

Dear Jane Tools

Tags

background fabric, Dear Jane, dear jane quilt, fabric choice, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, motivational tools, Paper Piecing, Quilt, Quilt Blocks, quilting, Traditional Piecing

While working on my “Dear Jane” quilt, I am using several motivational tools.  As many know, this quilt is a massive undertaking that requires a long term (sometimes VERY long term) commitment.

Yes, completing the blocks, border triangles and corner stones is a big job; but after that, the quilt has to be assembled and quilted – also not an easy undertaking!

So, in order to keep me organized and motivated, I am using several “tools”…

One, is this blog – it keeps me going, and even though most posts don’t get any comments or many “likes”, a number of people read them and that in itself is pretty motivational.

DJ Spreadsheet

I also use a spread sheet.  Here I record every completed block, the date it was completed and the number of pieces involved.  Since the book that contains the blocks does not include directions, it is up to each individual maker to decide on which technique to use.  This also means that the number of pieces in each Dear Jane quilt will vary.

I have set myseld a goal of completing five blocks each week.  Mostly, I have kept up with this pace; some weeks I have made much less, some weeks many more!

I also use this sheet:

Here, I record the fabrics used.  When I complete each block, I paste a little swatch on the corresponding square.  The squares you see shaded in red, are squares that I have completed, but where I do not have a scrap left – not even that small of a piece!  The squares where the number is circled, are squares in progress.  I always have several in progress, so that if I am watching a show, I can work on a square that requires hand work; or, if I am upstairs in my “woman cave” I can work a pieced square….(I have a similar sheet for the border triangles)

So far, I have kept all the completed squares in a ziploc bag.  This morning, I came up with something different.  I laid a large sheet on our kitchen floor, and then placed the squares on the sheet according to their position on the quilt:

Layout

I pinned the squares to the sheet with small safety pins and will hang it upstairs.  This way, I can add as I go!

If anyone out there has any other (better?) suggestions – let me know!

Dear Jane, Block L 13

Tags

background fabric, Dear Jane, dear jane quilt, fabric choice, Fiber Arts, focus fabric, Paper Piecing, Quilt, Quilt Blocks, quilting, Traditional Piecing

I’m still trying to catch up with my (admittedly self imposed) schedule.

For this bloc, I considered several possibilities. I decided to simply layer quarter circles on top of each other, sew their sides together and then hand appliqué the rounded parts onto the background fabric. I fussy cut the focus fabric….

There is quite a bit of bulk in the seams, so I ironed them open in order to alleviate some of that.

This is block # 86