Category Archives: Fun With Bricks

Must Have Lost My Mind

March 16, 2011 11:44 pm ⋅ Pam

I started off the year with a bang, but here we are a bit over 10 weeks into the new year and I have 3 quilts completely cut out — 2 with the borders! This is cannot be good for the UFO count. To further illustrate that I’ve lost my mind, I’m planning on taking all 3 of them with me this weekend to a sew-in.

The bag on the left is Bonnie Hunter’s Fun With Bricks. This started innocently enough as a leader/ender project in January. The bag on the right is the Dragonfly quilt. The middle is a red, white & blue scrappy twin size version of the Mystery Quilt I wrote for the April retreat.

Add to this that my husband has just convinced me that I need to quilt and bind six quilts before the end of June and now I know I have lost my mind. This does not include anything which is on my UFO list or any other project I want to finish sooner than later. At least four of the quilts are completed tops.

Here they are:

Pattern - BQ2

Quilt #1 – 54 x 70. I have enough fabric to make a second identical quilt and bind them both in the purple. I may use the fabric to make the backing. No idea on the thread color or quilting motif.

Pattern Old Tobacco Road

Quilt # 2 – 70 x 100 When I started the quilt in Purple, Green & Yellow, I was thinking “Mardi Gras” and purchased either 1/2 yard or yard of Mardi Gras frogs. I may look for some more Mardi Gras fabric for the back. The purple binding is made and tucked in with the quilt and frogs.

Pattern Victoria's Rose

Quilt # 3 – 68 x 86. I have a piece of the border fabric left in the stash. The floral, pink and green fabrics, along with a stripe and a small floral print were part of a bundle. I found more of the floral on-line, but don’t think I there is enough for the backing. My spreadsheet says I have ‘binding fabric’.

Oh, my. I just thought of something. I really want pillow cases to go with each of these quilts. Have I mentioned I’ve lost my mind?

Pattern - The Chain Event

Quilt #4 – 74 x 88. I thought I had backing fabric for this quilt top, but when I inventoried my quilts tops and UFOs last year, I discovered I only had binding fabric.

Pattern - Disappearing 9-patch Variation

Quilt # 5 – 60 x 76. It’s a variation because I’m not making 9-patches and I’ve changed the size of the pieces. It just worked better for the size quilt I wanted to make. Fortunately I have the backing fabric – a great dragonfly print I found on-line and the binding has been cut, just not made. So, if I finish piecing the top this weekend, this will be the first quilt I get done.

Pattern - Crossword Puzzle

Quilt # 6 – size unknown. The size is unknown because this is still a work in progress. I have about 1/2 of the letters made. This one is going to the April quilt retreat.

I think my husband wanted to suggest a 7th quilt, but quickly left the room before I could throw something at him. Good thing I put the following qualifier in my UFO Challenge rules:

There will be occasions when a quilt will need to get moved to the top of the line regardless of the # pulled for the month. In those instances, I’ll either swap the #s if they are on this list, or if the quilt doesn’t have an assigned #, but is on either tab as of January 1, 2011, I’ll substitute it for the current # drawn. After all the goal is to get quilts off the UFO list.

Posted in: 2011 Mystery Quilt, BQ2, crossword, Dragonflies, Fun with Bricks, OTR, The Chain Event, UFO Challenge 2011, Victoria's Rose

What’s on my Design Wall

March 14, 2011 12:50 am ⋅ Pam

There’s all sorts of things hanging about today on my ‘design wall’. First, I’ve finished the center of the Dresden Plate. It’s UFO #10 which was February’s UFO in Judy’s UFO Challenge.

Then there’s a single block from Fun with Bricks. This the leader/ender project I started in January. Last week I got impatient and started working on the quilt so I could mindlessly piece. I’m currently sewing the light squares to the pairs of bricks.

Not pictured is the border and binding which I cut for both the Dresden Plate quilt and the Dragonfly quilt. I’ll work on the Dragonfly quilt and Fun with Bricks at this weekend’s sew-in. With luck I’ll finish the Dragonfly quilt so I can get it quilted in the next week or two.

The big news is that I finished a UFO!

A friend gave me the quilt top (sans border) at a retreat two years ago. I didn’t know how I was going to finish it, so it sat on my Quilts In Progress list. I finally decided I wanted Easter Egg fabric for the border, but couldn’t find any that I liked. I bet I had a dozen bolts of fabric pulled out trying to find the ‘perfect’ fabric before settling on this light green with tiny white butterflies. I got my Easter Eggs though — it’s on the back. You can see a scan of both fabrics here.

I used the Faux Piped Binding technique from TCL Stitches tutorial. Who knew I would be able to use it so quickly. I think the tiny bit of purple sets it off nicely. I’ll get back to you toward the end of the month to see if I substitute this one for this month’s quilt. I think I tweaked my rules to allow for this….

In the meantime, check out the links at Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are working on this week.

Posted in: Bunny Wallhanging, Colorworks Dresden Plate, designwall, Fun with Bricks, UFO Challenge 2011

Stash Report

March 13, 2011 11:11 am ⋅ Pam

Last night I ran out of gold thread for the Dresden Plate quilt sashings with only a bit over 100″ of stitching left. So, a trip to the store was in order. I pulled out of the driveway and then remembered the little bunny wall hanging that needed a border, so turned around and came back after it. — That explains the purple (backing) and the light green (border). The blue floral American Jane print is a FQ I got by simply walking into my LQS wearing purple on Tuesday.

So, did I get anything done? Well, I finished quilting the rest of the Dresden Plates. They are all attached and I just need to finish sewing down the sashing. Then it will be on to the borders. I know what I want, it’s the how that I’ve been pondering for the last couple of weeks. I think I have it figured out.

One night last week I decided I needed to piece. So, I bumped my leader/ender project up and finished sewing the bricks together. I then cut the squares to go with then and now my leader/ender project is sewing the squares to the bricks. I haven’t reported any of this quilt, so it will all hit the report once the top is completed.

Oh, yes. After getting back from the store I put the borders on the bunny quilt and cut the binding. I’m going to attempt to do a Faux Piped Binding. I found this tutorial at TLC Stitches. As soon as I finish making the binding I’ll be back to the finish up the center of the Dresden Plate.

So, here’s the report:

Fabric Added this Week: 2.694 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 8.194 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 1.362 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 29.598 yards

Net Used for 2011: 21.404 yards

Check out how others are doing by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Bunny Wallhanging, Colorworks Dresden Plate, Fun with Bricks, Stash Busting Report

Stash Report

February 27, 2011 1:00 am ⋅ Pam

Nothing in this week — well, a friend did just give me a stack of blocks, but that doesn’t count on the Stash Report — the Tops in Progress list, maybe.

As for fabric usage the beginning and ending of the week saw me cutting fabric for the dragonfly quilt. In between I worked on the Dresden Plate quilt. I cut the dark fabrics for the dragonfly quilt early in the week and then put it up to continue working on the Dresden Plate. By the end of the week I had to cut more background squares for the Dresden Plate. From each width of fabric I got two backgrounds and a dozen squares for the Dragonfly quilt. So, I guess I’m committed to the solid black for the Dragonflies. I think I have 6 1/2 yards left, plenty to do the borders and bindings of both quilts and then some. And yes, I added the black squares to the bag of fabric for the dragonflies and will work on them at the sew-in next month – unless I finish the Dresden Plate before then.

Of course, in surfing the web, I found a postage stamp quilt that I started drooling over. I had to give myself a stern talking to about NOT digging into my 1 1/2″ strip box and cutting squares to use as leader/enders. I don’t want another new project in my life at this point in time — not to mention that I have a stack of bricks to stitch together for a Fun with Bricks quilt, which I started as my leader/ender project last month.

On to the report!

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 5.50 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 4.118 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 23.886 yards

Net Used for 2011: 18.386 yards

Check out how others are doing by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Colorworks Dresden Plate, Dragonflies, Fun with Bricks, Stash Busting Report

Return of the Leaders/Enders

January 22, 2011 11:58 am ⋅ Pam

Or, how I solved two problems at once.

I’m a big fan of Bonnie Hunter and her Scrap User’s System. I really like Leaders & Enders. I’ve used these two systems to get rid of my scrap basket, waste less thread and make more quilt tops. I have one quirk (ok, many, but only one I want to talk about today) which I haven’t been able to overcome — I don’t like sewing leader/enders unless I know where the patches will end up. I haven’t been able to just make light/dark 4-patches and throw them in a box to be used in some quilt yet to be identified. As a result, when the new year started, I didn’t have any leader/enders sitting by my sewing machine when I started working on UFO #6.

Although I have a lengthy list of UFOs which are still in the piecing stage, there is nothing which mindlessly lends itself to Leaders & Enders. So, as I worked on my Sister Choice blocks for the UFO Challenge, I tried to keep the chain going. It wasn’t entirely successful, but I wasn’t clipping thread tails every 6 or 12 inches either.

Now I’m sewing the blocks together into rows.

There’s no getting around it, I’ve got thread tails much more frequently and it’s driving me crazy. I’ve got to find a Leader & Ender project.

I pulled out my 2″ Brick and Block box. It’s stuffed.

Look at all of these 2″ x 3 1/2″ bricks.

Next, I visited Quiltville.com to look for a pattern.

I found Fun with Bricks! It uses 2″ strips sewn together and subcut into 3 1/2″ squares. I’ll just sew two bricks together — and worry about the 3 1/2″ light square later.

So there is just one question left.

When do I count my Leader/Enders as a new start?

Posted in: Bonnie Hunter, Fun with Bricks, scraps