* This is clearly a spoof on The Julie/Julia Project. All the quilts below, however, are the real deal.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Last Block on Last BOMb

It has finally come to pass..... two days ago, I had four blocks left to go on the last Leslie BOMb..... so I arranged all the remaining fabrics in a pile:

and carefully chose the ones I'd use for each block. Variety and enough fabric were crucial elements and although it LOOKS like lots of fabric, in truth I had only so much of each color.

After choosing, cutting and sewing the other three, I am now down to the final one:

and have such a small amount of brights left over. So, although I failed in the quest to complete them all in that one year, I have (almost) made a series, learned the Y-seam technique, put a serious dent in the stash and had one heck of good time in the process!

Not bad at all..... now to do the quilting.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Sprinting To The Finish

I have four blocks left for the 6th quilt to go and am posting the last block I made, yesterday.



This is the 5th quilt so far.

I need to buy(grr) more of the sashing fabric to finish the inner border before I can add the outer one. THAT fabric I have stashed so, okay, that's a plus.

I really am at the end of my bright stash.... only bits and bobs left. Here, see for yourself!:

I have four blocks left for the 6th quilt to go and am posting the last block I made, yesterday.

So with four left to go, I think at this time I must stop and assess what fabrics I shall use before I proceed any further. I really will not buy another scrap to finish this quilt.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

2 More In The Can

I have assembled two more of the quilts at this point:


This is the "Oriental" Leslie BOMb

I used a dark blue Jinny Beyer for the sashing and a bright blue oriental for the corner stones. Then the outer border is the fabric I had to buy to tie it all together, It happened to be the same as some I had in my stash and used in the block just above the one in the lower right corner. So that was nice. And it was on sale I when bought so much so that was even nicer.

Now here is the Red White and Blues:


Wrinked because the cats have taken to sleeping on it when it was laying around. I kept it simple with no cornerstones and no additional borders. There is nothing I could add that wouldn't be gilding a lily. So I just allowed the blocks to float on a sea of dark blue. This will probably be the first one I quilt. ANd I might get crazy and put a big patriotic print as the backing. Just because!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Cue Sound Effects...

Bang Bang Bang

WHiirrrrrrrrrrr Clunk!
zeh saw zehsaw


Bang Bang Bang


There! One simple binary change and I give myself an additional 12 months to complete this "challenge".

Wonder where I went? Yeah, I know the feeling. But back I am and with it, I bring 2 completed quilt-tops.

This is the Blue Gold quilt and I finished it in November, I think. After I had competed the last block, I was eager to see what it would end up looking like. I was concerned that any outer border was going to work against or not hold up against the boldness of those blocks but as I restricted myself to using what I had in my stash, this is the one I went with.

Now that several months have passed and I have distanced myself considerably, I can look at it and feel over-all: Pleased. I will choose backing fabric at the shop Thursday and flip it on the machine for quilting.

Now I have also finished the Christmas fabric quilt but cannot find the photo in my harddrive ... check back later for a shot.

At the moment, I am assembling the Red White and Blue and this one will have only a single outer border and no cornerstones. The Dark Blue sashing really sets off the blocks. It is simple and will be heavily quilted.

I have had to buy more fabric to finish the Oriental. I needed a fabric for the outer borders and sashing. Again, the blocks are all so different yet "asian", I could not not find a fabric to tie it all together and it just didn't exist in the stash.

After that, I will return to the final two, the Brights. I still have 6 blocks each to make for them and lots of fabric to choose from so I want a real clear head and workspace before I tackle that. They are so loud and busy I doubt whoever ends up with them will get any peaceful rest under them.


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Month 7 Duck & Ducklings

So you can see it's been almost a month since I last updated this blog and here we have a fun and easy square. Duck and Ducklings. I have no hints or tips for this block. I DO have samples to show:




Saturday, August 14, 2010

Block 6 - Courthouse Stars


I don't see stars, I see a flower. I also see mistakes in the pattern, so do this! (I have made 4 of these so I know of which I speak.)

First, let's cut out the fabrics. EQ5 has you cut out 3 "C" Sets of 1 1/2" x 6 3/4" strips for each petal of this flower. I don't see the necessity of all that sewing so I cut 1 rectangle of 4" x 6 1/2" of each of the 4 colors/petals (I also don't get the 6 3/4". It should be 6 1/2") To prove this I shall cut ONE, the red petal using the EQ5 6 3/4" measurement and show you what happens.

It also has you cut out an unnecessary "M" piece. DO AS I SAY>>>>>> Cut 4 sets of "E", "F", "G" and "H". Trust me!

Square "N" says 3 5/8". NO NO NO! Cut it 4" square.

Then cut out the remaining strips as indicated. Be very carefully to cut out EXACTLY as the pattern says, being certain you trim the 45 degree angle going in the right directions. If you mess this up, nothing will sew together right.


__________________________________________________________-

Now after you have cut ALL your pieces, set them up as shown on the illustration. You will have a much happier time of it if you see any mistake before you sew it.



I use this handy tool by Jinny Meyer to mark an accurate 1/ 4" starting/ stopping point, that and a mechanical pencil. Mark on back of the top piece of fabric when you go to sew; It makes life easier than guessing where to start and stop.



Let' s start by sewing up one corner.


This one this is basically courthouse step or log cabin.
With the shortest strip and center square, align the two fabrics


and mark the 1/4" at the 45 degree angle. This is your stopping point. You need to leave that 1/4" open to be able to "turn" the corner and sew the other angled fabric properly. Now sew the two together starting at the 90 degree and stop at that mark you made.

Finger-press and do the same with the other color fabric. That strip is "E". At this point, you can iron if you like.


Ironing is always alittle tricky with Y-seams. I show you the back so you can see how press the seam allowances.

Return to the first color and sew the next angled strip, "F". This time, sew top to bottom, all the way. No need to worry about 1/4" marks. And repeat this with "G". You should have something like this!

As you can see, sometimes the "logs" don't end perfectly but don't be overly concerned.


Place the two "leaves" (A and D) together and mark the 1/4" Start/Stop point as shown.


START at the mark and sew to the end. This is the outer corner of the final block. Finger-press open.

I open up the leaves to expose the allowance here.

Now leave the leaf facing up and align the center to the leaf.

Mark the Start/Stop points and begin sewing at the junction of the petal fabric and STOP at the mark. You need to leave that space at the beginning, again to do a turn later.

Now "flip the fabric over and align the other "leaf" to the center square.


Begin at the corner Start/Stop mark this time and STOP at the junction of the petal fabric, once again, leaving that 1/4" to add the triangle.



After you press, the block you should have this:


Mark the 90 degree corners on the back of the triangles "B"

and using the same techniques described above, sew in the triangles.

You should have this:



It SHOULD measure 6 1/2" square. If something is off, check your seam allowance. If it is larger, trim it down. If it is too small, start over.
Trim the "ears" and make the other three as above.

Now, you see you have a simple 9-patch.



And once you've sewn that, you have this:

See what I meant about the 6 3/4" "C" RED rectangle? Trust me. It should measure 4" x 6 1/2"

TIPS:

1. When sewing a Y-seam, avoid sewing into ANY seam allowance. Pull the seam allowance to the side as you sew. Otherwise, you will not be able to make a smooth "turn".
2. Trim away thread. It gets confusing to see all the threads everywhere
3. Use a small stitch but not tiny, Those are hard to rip out.
4. RIP if you make a mistake. You will make many at the beginning. but Start Over before you compound a problem. THEY NEVER just sew away. They do get crazy worse, however. Don't go to the crazy.

Now, THAT wasn't so bad, was it?