Hip To Be Square

This is my last quilt of 2011 and my last Scrap Squad quilt and I must admit that makes me a bit sad. It's been wonderful getting to know the other members and Diane Harris via emails. I completed 6 scrap squad quilts this year, have gifted 3 of them.

I spent hours using EQ to draw out some ideas for this one and settled on a dark background Christmas quilt for this one. I used 4 reds, 2 greens, many blacks and kona white. Probably my least scrappy of all of the Scrap Squad quilts.



I made 24 blocks and every other block is turned a quarter turn, which makes a secondary star pattern and 4-patches. In order to have the seams nest when assembling, I pressed the outer block segments towards the black in both blocks.



Not wanting to waste those 96 bonus triangles, I trimmed them down to 2.25" to use in one of the borders. I made an additional 40+ half square triangle blocks.





I used both greens in the inner border and just the mottled on in the outer. The binding uses all 4 red fabrics.



It's quilted with holly and poinsettas using gold Glide thread.



This one will go on the twin bed in the spare bedroom next Christmas so I'm ahead of the game for 2012.

CONGRATULATIONS to the new Scrap Squad members: ENJOY! You'll have a great time!

Dream Catcher

My fifth Scrap Squad quilt is called Dream Catcher. I LOVE this quilt!

I've been slowly collecting Asian/metallic prints and when I saw the pattern for this one, I knew that it was going to be really scrappy.....no diagonal color rows for me on this one. I guess I could have made it even scrappier by making the fabrics in each of the blocks totally scrappy.

This one is paper pieced and mine has 144 blocks and each block has 2 pieces. Don't they look pretty, trimmed and all stacked up here? Of course, this is only one little stack.



I began by cutting my fabrics in 7" strips. From those strips I cut four 3.5" pieces, 2 for the large segment and 2 to be cut in half, then in half again diagonally. I also subcut four 3" pieces, which I rough trimmed before sewing.







Once I got some blocks on my design wall, I knew I wanted this quilt on my bed, so, I printed out lots more pieces and cut more strips.


Look how nice the back looks with all those opposing seams:


I ended up with a big stack of triangles left over and decided to reverse my geese.


The sizes of my borders are:
Border #1 = 1" Dark
Border #2 = 1.75" WOW
Border #3 = 4.5" (flying geese - 34 per side)
Border #4 = 1.75" WOW
Border #5 = 3.5" Print


All done:


My stepson and his wife were married in November and this is their wedding quilt. So, I guess I'll be making another one if I want one on my bed.

Design Wall Monday

Can't show you too much of the design wall as it has my final Scrap Squad quilt on it.



I can show you my friend Adrienne after she quilted a baby quilt yesterday. She used a new pantograph Siberian Iris.

Linkin' Logs

My last Scrap Squad quilt I finished is Linkin'Logs. The pattern, featured in the September/October 11 issue was designed by June Dudley, Editor-in-Chief of Quiltmaker magazine.



June's quilt uses a black background, 2 orange prints and 2 green prints. My version started with these gold prints.



I decided with all these different prints, I might have a hard time making 12 Block Z's, so I made mine using a snowball block and a block that starts with a partial seam. I played around with EQ and came up with this grid and these ideas. My original idea was to use black, black on white and white on black for the logs and gold for the background. I changed my mind and used 5 different blacks and 31 golds.



I cut a small piece of each gold fabric and glued them to my guide. I also numbered each block on my guide and each actual block as I made it.





I cut one 2.5" strip of each gold and subcut that into four 6.5" rectangles and four 2.5" squares for the inside links. The outside links use two 8.5" and two 6.5" rectangles and four 2.5" squares.



Unlike the original pattern, I chose to complete my outside links.



I love the diagonal corners and think it will go great on a future Purdue University student's dorm bed.


I quilted it with black thread and Fay Feathers pantograph, and used a black Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Now, for the rest of the story.....

Here's my first one.


I got it mostly put together and wasn't happy with the lack of contrast in the gold fabrics. So, I cut another strip of each gold and added a couple lighter ones and started over. On this one, I cut off each link at the seam before the break in the link. I donated this one to the Duke Smyser Chili Blast and was told that the recipient loved it.

August Finishes

I finished a couple quilts last week and it's a good thing because I don't have much in the way of finishes for August.

Here is my butterfly block swap quilt. It was a UFO from 2005-2006. There were a group of us that met before guild and we each had a tote with fabric and ideas. My idea was butterflies....they could be pieced, appliqued, or whatever the maker chose. I put the top together in 2009, and it's been waiting to be quilted ever since.

Here's the backing, which has been hanging with it since Quilt Quarters (south) closed years ago.


I chose Circle Lord spirals for the quilting because of the movement it shows.



The next quilt is the first try at the soon-to-be-revealed ScrapSquad quilt. I didn't think there was enough contrast in some of the logs, so I started over with more of a plan. This one has been donated to the Duke Smyser Chili Blast. I've given a donation to this group for 3 years now and I think it's such a worthwhile cause.

Spinout! by Quiltmaker Magazine

Quiltmaker Magazine Scrap Squad Quilt #3 is called Spinout by Barbara Cline, and I chose to make mine REALLY scrappy using 1930's fabrics!



I started by making a grid in Adobe Illustrator. I tried many different options from very controled, to random, and back several times. I finally settled on this version which uses 6 different fabrics in 6 different colors.



I rough cut all the pieces first. Of course it wasn't long before I realized that I needed to turn my cutting guide over!



I used 6 different fabrics in each color and labeled them as such.





I then printed out all 264 paper piecing segments and using my printout, I labeled each one with colored pencils and the number of the appropriate fabrics. It may seem like a lot of trouble, but it really didn't take much time at all.



I then picked up the appropriate 2 fabrics and stacked them on top of each paper, keeping the columns labeled and separated.


I stitched a row, then pressed, trimmed, removed the papers



and back on the design wall they went, assembling the rows as they were finished.





The inner border is made with 4 different reds and the outer border has 4 different blues, along with the leftover segments that I pieced.



I quilted it with the classic Baptist Fan pattern and I must say that I love this quilt.

I've had so much fun with these Quiltmaker Scrap Squad quilts and am once again amazed by how creatively different and wonderful they are.

Be sure to check out the other wonderful Scrap Squad Spinout quilts at the Quilty Pleasures blog.

How long?

How long does it take to load, quilt with a dwirling design, cut, attach and hand stitch binding on a 62x72" quilt?

4 hours and about 17 minutes. That's what I did last night for Vicci.
She made this cute quilt for her grandson and needs to get it shipped across the country for his birthday.



I loaded it with my quick snaps at about 8:00pm after dinner and making cream cheese mints for the baby shower this weekend.



I started hand sewing the binding at 9:40 and finished at 12:17am



Yes, I was a bit tired today, but not too tired to load and quilt the latest Scrap Squad quilt tonight.



Now, if the tornado sirens would quit going off, I could get some sleep!

Raspberry Dessert and A Giveaway!

Raspberry Dessert is the name of the Quiltmaker's Scrap Squad quilt #2 for 2011. Mine doesn't look anything like raspberries though. I had a purpose in mind when I started this quilt. It was to be a wedding gift for Dan's niece, Annie and her husband, Josh. The colors in their home are aqua, teal and brown.

I started out with some ideas in EQ



and decided on this one:



I used 5 different teal fabrics (3 FQs and 2 half yards), 2 medium browns, 4 dark browns, and 2 cream prints. Not nearly as scrappy as my 1st Scrap squad Quilt, is it?
All cut and ready to begin sewing:



Here it is coming together on the design wall. I'm really liking it at this point.



The finished center. This is as far as the pattern in Quiltmaker goes.


But I wanted mine to be queen size, so I auditioned some borders. When I chose the borders, I planned to do custom quilting, but changed my mind at the last minute. And here is the finished quilt


Raspberry Dessert was designed by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. She is very talented and you'll spend a long time on her blog. Be sure to check out her patterns. She has generously provided a pattern for each of the Scrap Squad Members to give away on our blogs. So, leave a comment on this post by midnight Friday, April 1 (no fooling!), telling me what colors you might use in this quilt. I will draw a winner on Saturday, April 2nd, in the morning. So, come back and visit then to see if you have won.

Another Giveaway!
Also, Quiltmaker will have a fabric giveaway at Quilty Pleasures so, go there and leave a comment as instructed to be entered.

Check out the other Scrap Squad members quilts. They are stunning!
Jane
Dionne
Kim
Donna
Pat
Carol
Linda

Please join the Scrap Squad at Quilters Club of America