Bauble ‘n Beads is moving right along. After paper piecing the starbursts for Atomic Starburst, these “baubles” were simple to knock out in no time.
Applique is another technique I’m not real fond of either, but it’s moving right along. Everything slowed down once I started the satin stitching. Note to self – middle satin stitch, reduced to 3.0 wide, reduce pressure foot pressure to 5.0.
Easy Breezy = 49
Yes, this is the start of a new quilt. Bauble ‘n Beads by Cat Nix Designs. The fabric is Radiance by Dan Morris for QT Fabrics. If you think you have seen this before, you have. It’s the same fabric that I used for Atomic Starbust, designed by Violet Craft.
Yes, I’ve finished piecing the top. I now need to trim the top to size and get it quilted.
Easy Breezy = 48
Back when I first started quilting, I was involved in a number of block swaps. These three quilts are the results of a 2005 swap hosted by Cotton Patch Quilt Shoppe in Tawas City, Michigan. 35 quilters participated in this swap. The blocks sat for years until I determined how to set them.
I opted to split them into 3 groups and pulled an orphan block from my orphan block box so I could make 3 quilts with 12 blocks each.
That’s my swap block in the bottom center.
The blocks came from all over the world. The top left block is from Australia.
This quilt has my extra block. It’s the top right.
All three of the quilt tops were completed the week of May 25th. They were quilted the same week on my Innova. I used the computerized Edge-to-Edge pattern All Leaf Simple by Sweet Dreams Quilting Studio. My thread was Glide Basil. The batting Legacy 80/20. They were finished using Susie’s Magic Binding. The quilts each finished at 60 x 76 prior to washing. The 3 quilts were donated to Hope House via the Candlelight Quilters in Raytown, Missouri. Due to Covid-19 I dropped them off at Show-Me-Quilting.
Easy Breezy = 46
Yesterday I added the sashing to all of the blocks. I started sewing them together, but discovered quickly these diamonds have no nesting seams so it’s tough to get the intersections to match. My seam ripper is going to get a work out as I put this top together.
But first, I need to prep more Easy Breezy blocks.
Easy Breezy = 43
All 18 starbursts are complete. Now it’s time to sash and assemble this quilt top.
My FQ bundle, Radiance by Dan Morris for QT Fabrics has 7 different patterns in 5 different colorways – turquoise, pink, yellow/orange, green, and purple. I also purchase 2 tone-on-tone FQ in each of the colors with the intention of making 4 stars in each colorway, 2 from each fabric. When I made the first purple block I realized immediately there wasn’t enough contrast with the blue background. I made a star from the 2nd FQ and decided that the contrast works, but it is not vibrant enough to complete with the other stars.
I trundled off to the LQS where it was suggested that I use orange instead of purple. I picked 2 orange FQs, but when I got home the thought of 4 yellow stars and 4 orange stars was too much. Since I am only using 30 of the FQs from my bundle in the quilt, I pulled the tone-on-tone FQs from the bundle to make one star each – except for the purple.
There is at least one star from each fabric in the picture. I think I’ve made at least one more star since this picture was taken.
Easy Breezy = 41
That is 3 starbursts that will go into my quilt. Each one gets a bit faster. Which is not to say they go fast. The last one I made took me about an hour. I’m struggling with getting the background cut big enough, then orientating it in the correct direction so when I flip it back it covers everything it is supposed to cover.
Meanwhile, I finished the quilting on my SILs Narragansett Blues. I’ll get both of the quilts trimmed, then I’ll box them up and ship them back to her to bind.
Easy Breezy = 40
As I was finishing the last row of quilting on my SIL’s Frolic I thought I was playing Chicken Bobbin. In reality I was playing Chicken Cone. I ran out of cone thread, but not before I had finished the quilting.
I still need to trim the quilt, then I’ll send it back to my SIL to bind.
While the computer was quilting, I finished my first Starburst from Atomic Starburst. This one will be used for quilting practice when I get that far as there are two spots where I didn’t catch the fabric.
This is my first “real” one as there are no missed seams. The piecing went faster tonight, so I might get this done sooner than I thought.
Since I’m paper piecing I haven’t tried to do any leader/enders, but now that I have a better understanding of what I’m doing, I might be able to do them. My Easy Breezy count currently remains at 39.
I suppose technically the title of this post would have been more apt for Saturday, but I couldn’t figure out a better title given the various topics of today’s post.
The day started off way earlier than I prefer on any day, but especially on a weekend, but I had a go-live for work. As a result there was plenty of time to quilt today. First up my SILs Frolic. It’s nearly finished – I think there are two more passes before I can take it off the frame. While the machine was running, I pulled out a project box from 2019 and cleaned up the scraps.
I finished the pink and brown top back in the spring of 2009. I also did a small wall hanging a couple of years later. The folded “FQs” are pieces which measure at least 6″ x 20″. I fold them all to 5″ tall by 6″ high to fit into my fabric boxes. As you can see I also added to my pre-cuts with strips, bricks, blocks, and strings. The box of fabric from the purple and green log cabin quilt that I recently finished was also dealt with, leaving me 2 empty project boxes. Which I immediately filled up with these fabrics.
I have 3 quilts planned. Atomic Star Burst, Bauble ‘n Beads and Shimmer. The first two will have the blue for background. I think Shimmer will have a light background, but as it is the 3rd quilt, I’ll worry about it later. Anyway, I started on Atomic Star Burst tonight. I will conquer paper piecing, but that first half starburst needs to be redone. One of the spokes didn’t get fully caught in the seam. So, what do you think? 1/2 a starburst a night? 20 starbursts would work out to 40 days. No, I am not going to do do another challenge – at least not one so intense.
Easy Breezy – 39
Today was a beautiful day.It was about 79 degrees this morning with a light breeze. I had gone out to get gas and didn’t want to stay in.
The grass had been cut yesterday and the ground relatively dry, so I pulled out my picnic quilt and sat outside for about 45 minutes.
Then it was back to quilting.
I finished the quilting on Cascade.
It’s not bound yet as I’m waiting on the binding fabric. I have to admit I LOVE how the quilting came out. I started with half an idea – simple straight lines the length of the “sashing” and “something curvy” in the diamonds. Instead I started with continuous curves in the diamonds, then had to figure out the “sashing”. I order the BIG HQ Swiss Cheese Ruler off of Amazon, but when it arrived I decided it was not the right size, so I found the original HQ Swiss Cheese Ruler locally and bought it Friday afternoon. After doodling with it, continuous circles is what I came up with for the ‘”sashing”. But I didn’t think there was enough quilting in the diamonds.
I queries Facebook and received several suggestions. That prompted the circle in the middle of the diamonds and because I’m too lazy to tie off 70 circles, I ran a straight line of quilting up the middle of each diamond to reach the circle. I can’t wait to get this bound and washed to see the final results.
To see me doing the ruler work for the center of the diamonds, click on the picture below.
