Some Assembly Required

I'm in the process of assembling my Lemoyne stars quilt.  The blocks are set on point, alternating the stars and the pieced blocks with the small brown squares.  As a result, the quilt takes shape from one upper corner to the opposite lower corner.



 

 

 

This is about one-third of the finished quilt, laid out on our queen size bed so I can get an idea of how big it is turning out.  I'm not sure yet how big I want it to be.

 

Assembly is not my most favorite part of quilt-making.  It's not that I dislike it, but I find it slow going and sometimes tedious, especially when putting together a large quilt with lots of blocks.  Part of it is how I obsess over which blocks should be next to each other, and which blocks shouldn't be next to each other, to get a good flow of color across the quilt.  This one is not giving me too much trouble, so that's good.

 

I had a double dose of the domestic arts here on the 4th of July, first a few hours of sewing then I made this red-white-and-blueberry cake for a patriotic celebration. 

 

 

 

It's a red velvet cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and a garnish of fresh blueberries.  Yum!

 

 

And Now For Something Completely Different

As the only sewist in the family, I am often asked to perform those little tasks that require my special skill.  Most frequently this involves shortening a pair of pants, something I never need to do for myself because I'm lucky if I can find them long enough, but I'm an outlier, height-wise, in the family. 

The most recent request came from my mother.  "Could I make her a set of cloth napkins to go with this tablecloth she bought?"  Apparently, the tablecloth did not come with matching napkins.  The tablecloth is sage green floral on a cream background (background of photo below).  I found some fabric in a matching sage green tone-on-tone in my stash, enough to make six napkins, so agreed to do it even though this is like asking Michelangelo to paint your garage. 

To make the napkins, I used this self-binding napkin tutorial I found online.  The green fabric is from a Robyn Pandolph collection from way back when she designed for Moda; the white lining is Kona snow.  The napkins were super easy to make.  You just have to follow the directions exactly, even when they seem a little odd.  My corners came out perfectly.  And all done on the machine, no hand sewing necessary.

 

 

A set of napkins would make a great gift and you could sew them up in an afternoon.  Think Christmas; it is less than six months away.

 

 

Scrap Basket Sunday - Week 12

Only minor progress on my scrappy project this week - I made a few more of the pieced setting blocks but nothing worth showing really.  This required more cutting so I started on the setting triangles too. 

I've been pretty much making up this design as I go along, no pattern so no directions to follow.  That means I need to figure out the size of all the pieces myself.  That means knowing the formula for calculating the size of side triangles!  That means a visit to my handy reference book, The Quilters Ultimate Visual Guide. 

 

 

This book appears to be out of print, which is unfortunate because I use it all the time.  (Amazon.com has used copies available through third parties.)  Though many quilting reference needs can be met by information on the web these days, it is so handy to have them on the shelf in my sewing room.

 

 

Everything I need to know about setting triangles is right there on page 227.  There is the formula for calculating the size of the square needed to cut both side and corner triangles, as well as handy reference chart.  In case you need it, the formula for side triangles is:

 

 

(finished size of block in inches x 1.414) +1.25"  = size to cut square

 

 

The square is then cut on each diagonal, to yield four setting triangles.  For example, if the finished size of your block is 10", the formula is:

 

 

10" x 1.414 = 14.14" + 1.25" = 15.39" or 15.5"

 

 

Time to go cut some more blocks.  I should have more progress on this quilt to share next week.

 

 

 

 



I Need Another Project Like I Need A Hole In The Head...

...But I could not resist.

I saw these patterns from The Pattern Basket on the designer's blog and immediately saw possibilities for making both from my stash (mostly).  Sweet Pea is shown in a not yet released Fig Tree fabric collection called Honey Sweet.  I think Milk and Honey is shown in one of the designer's own fabric designs called Blushing from Henry Glass.

I'm not sure when I'll get to either as I have something else lined up for my next project but possible fabric combinations are percolating in my head. 

Scrap Basket Monday?

We were away for a long-weekend get-away and I missed posting for Scrap Basket Sunday so I'll make do with Monday evening.  I did make some progress during the week on my setting squares.  Now I have enough of them to show you what I'm planning with the setting of my Lemoyne stars.

 

The blocks are on point so I will need setting triangles for the edges.  I'm planning to continue the secondary design out further, so the squares extend beyond the stars.  But this will give you an idea of my intent.

Here's a close-up that shows how the design is formed.  From a distance, the small brown squares look like sashing but they are actually made up of four-patch blocks in the corners of the setting squares.   

You may also have noticed that my second-generation design wall is not working as well as the first did.  It is less cumbersome and less of an eyesore, but not quite as functional.  It has a tendency to shed its blocks and that won't do!  I may soon be working on design wall 3.0.

Click over to Kim's blog to see what other scrappers are up to.

Scrap Basket Sunday - Week 10

I reached a decision on how to put my Lemoyne star blocks together, made a necessary trip to the LQS for supplies, then cut and pieced.

12 done, 24 more to go.  I hope to get them finished this week, then I can start assembling the quilt top.

Click on over to Kim's to see the other Scrap Basket Sunday participants.  And take at look at the video tribute to Dads that she posted; it is so funny!

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