Technicolor Turkey

After many years of resistance, this week I succumbed to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2017 (RSC17). My inspiration is Angela Neff's rainbow version of Bonnie Hunter's Talkin' Turkey quilt. Angela started hers in 2013, and the flimsy is here, in 2016. Sounds so familiar, doesn't it?

But, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I still believe that I can start halfway through the year, catch up, and finish by December 31!

I have not one, but two copies of the pattern:

So, the block should be a piece of cake, right? Well, I have to admit that I mainly buy patterns so that I can take a photo for the blog and support the designer. I don't need a pattern for a traditional block...I skimmed the instructions and jumped right in.

The RSC colour for June is yellow, and my plan called for four yellow blocks. The centre nine patches went fast...

...and then things started to go awry. I used Stable Stuff for the string foundations, with the plan to leave it in the final block. I have no photo, but this is exactly what happened. Déjà vu! Stable stuff is a pain to remove, but, I did it.

Then, I thought I would save a step and trim the string blocks after they were sewn onto the middle. The pattern said that I should have about a 1/4" extra all around. So why were my blocks coming out scant? Something must have happened with that Stable Stuff and all the ripping and ironing I had to do. I kept going, and with plenty of steam and firm ironing, my block finished just 1/8" short all around.

In the middle of that, my big iron died, and I had to press the last seams with my small travel iron.

At least I got one block done! I put everything away for the day. Then I thought, no wonder it was tricky -- those 6" nine patch blocks are 8.5" on point, not 9" like the pattern says. It must be a mistake! In both books?

I re-read the pattern. The instructions say to cut the nine patches at 2 + a fraction inches, and I assumed that fraction was 1/2. It is not. 2 1/2" is too small, so my nine patches were too small, and the whole block was doomed. Is it finally time to get eyeglasses?

The other three blocks were already cut, but I was able to sew a scant seam, and they came out right. The first, problem block is on the top right:

I'm lucky that the yellow is low contrast, so the problem is not obvious. I'm keeping that block! But, now I have about 100 beige 2 1/2" squares for a future project. Back to the cutting board!

Usually when I run into this many problems, I think that maybe I should pass on the project. But this time I am not deterred. All the problems are solved now, hopefully. I only want 36 blocks, and I think around 7 a month should be doable.

And you know, my old iron wasn't doing a great job with all the fusible applique anyway. I was constantly finding little unfused areas that were probably left by the steam holes. A new, flat-bottomed dry iron is on order!

Best of all, I've remembered that I start thinking I need glasses every June. Why? This dratted tree:

Japanese lilac tree

The city has planted these everywhere, they are all in bloom now, and my allergies are in high gear. By mid-July the world will be clear again.

So obviously, this was all the trees' fault. Certainly not mine.

For many other yellow blocks, and probably shorter stories too, check out the RSC link up, right here.

Butterflies and Break

Butterflies, Bees

and Blogging Break

I have several photos today. It's time again for the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up, in support of awareness of butterfly and bee habitats. Earlier this month we made a visit to Hy-Hope Farm north of Pickering to stock up on butter tarts and take some photos. It is always photogenic there! Later in the summer they will have more local produce, but this time they had a great display of flower baskets.

They also have a working apple orchard:

So, that is plenty of work for the bees. The trees were just coming into bloom. Look at this one:

Isn't that cool? I've never really noticed that growth pattern before.

It is several years now since the City of Toronto, and a year later the rest of Ontario, banned chemical herbicides and pesticides. Now every spring the city is a sea of dandelions! But apparently, dandelions are good for bees:



So, in a few more years it may well be uncool to mow the lawn!

In quilting news, I managed to sew up another six Moth in the Window blocks, from the pattern in Addicted to Scraps by Bonnie Hunter:

That one on the top right there is very disappointing, given that both fabrics are very nice. But, I'm not going to redo it! This past week I think I have finally learned my lesson about contrast, as you will see in a bit.

The first time I shared this project in April, there was some discussion about whether my lucky white butterfly was a butterfly or a moth. I looked it up, and the answer is butterfly! But, it can still be a pest. :D  And the difference between butterflies and moths is interesting too.

For the past two years I've taken a 2+ month blogging break over the summer. This year I want to try some new things before it gets too hot, so I think I'll break earlier. I find it is easier to experiment with new techniques when I'm not worried about analyzing everything for my blog.

Yesterday I got this new book by Katie Pasquini Masopust, Artful Log Cabin Quilts, and this is going to be my first big distraction. The combination of improv-pieced log cabins and abstract art quilts is very appealing. I started a new project right away!

As you see, I did not make a strong start. There is not nearly enough contrast in here to make it worthwhile. I am amazed at how many fabrics I have in the exact same value of olive green!

But, the one smart thing I did was start with the corners of my project. So, I will keep them and improve the middle.

The book has a lot of information about what makes a good photo, particularly regarding the range of contrast. Sadly, I did not pay close attention. This was my starting photo:

These are the waterlilies that grow along the Spruce Bog Boardwalk in Algonquin Park. It seemed like a good plan, but now I realize there are too many flat areas of colour for this technique. Anyway, I think I can save it. And, I have quite a few more ideas after that...

So, I'm not going to post regularly this summer, but I may pop in once or twice. I have at least three projects that are very nearly done, including Picnic...

...which is quilted and just needs binding now. I'm sure I'll post them right away if they get finished!

In the meantime, check out all the other butterfly and bee photos, fabrics, projects and info at the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up, right here. Happy stitching!

Moth in the Window

My grandmother used to say that if the first butterfly you saw in the spring was white, it was good luck. After a couple years of seeing yellow butterflies, I was happy to see a white one this year!

Mine was IRL (in real life), but maybe this block set the right tone. Yes, it's another new Bonnie Hunter project! This is Moth in the Window, from Bonnie's new book, Addicted to Scraps:

I know I've talked a lot about how Orca Bay will be my next new quilt, but I am still tweaking my plan for that. In the meantime, when Robert Kaufman announced that the Kona Color of the Year would be Pink Flamingo, I had a burning need to make a pink-based quilt. But in February, nobody had it in stock. And then I found this pink print from Blend, which is almost the same colour. It was discounted to about half the price of Kona (Kona is expensive in Canada) at a fabric outlet near here. Score!

Bonnie's Moth in the Window is made with plaid shirts and black sashing, and I love it. But, I had a feeling it would also look good with pink sashing. And, the simple two colour block is a great way to show off your fabrics.

I had the day free on my birthday recently, and I thought, what could be better than a new project? An hour with the calculator, a couple of hours moving heavy boxes in the basement, whittling down to about 60 fabrics, rough cutting them all, and by the end of the day, the first block made:

Most of my colour inspiration is coming from collections that Pat Bravo did for Art Gallery a few years ago, especially Indie. The three backgrounds above are all her fabrics. Even though the sashing is pink, I don't want the quilt to be too "bubblegum." I chose all the fabrics to coordinate with the sashing. Of course there is a little Kaffe too:

And I don't know how long that daisy floral has been in my stash. But aren't they awesome together? It is so fun to try out different combinations. Even the wilder blocks blend when they're all together:

This is just the start, there will be a lot more of the blue-greens to come. My original plan was to make 56 blocks, and use leftover squares for the border. Bonnie used HSTs in the border, but I still need at least 800 HSTs for my Cheddar and Indigo quilt, so I thought I'd just use squares. I sewed up some strip sets...

...but I decided yesterday that even in these nice fabrics, they will not do anything for the quilt. So now my plan is to make more blocks, hopefully 90, and just put 3" of the pink around the edge. Maybe there was a reason I never put all the fabric away again! Other than mere laziness...

Anyway, I am having a lot of fun with this, and now I have a project for the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies again! Come back on May 1 to see how much progress I've made.

Rose Boll 9

So, it turns out that Prairie Star is too demanding to sew straight through. For a break, I've finally made a few more Rose Boll blocks:

This is my red and white version of Bonnie Hunter's Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll. You last saw it on New Year's Day. Since then I've been steadily making the 500 HSTs required. Now that's done and the blocks are coming together fairly quickly. It reminds me of a building project, where for the first half of the project it's just a big hole in the ground, and then all of a sudden it starts growing fast!

These rosy florals are so fun to work with. This dark pink is from Eleanor Burns' Forever Love collection.

I've also used a few fabrics from the Savannah Garden collection from Henry Glass. This red looks even better than I expected cut and sewn.

And this is the main Savannah Garden floral in white. I believe the ditsy red print is from my old LQS, now closed for many years, and the white on white blender too.

I had planned to make the whole quilt from stash. But, it turned out that I had plenty of cream florals, but none of the reds that I imagined. So, woe, a little online shopping was required. I lost my head at Missouri Star, but I'm certainly not having any regrets now! I like all kinds of fabric, but these florals feel like home.

I'll need 25 of these blocks. More to come!

Flamingos en Provence Flimsy

Yesterday I sewed the last long seam to finish the pieced centre of my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence (now available to buy as a digital pattern, right here). Bonnie's quilt has 16 blocks, and I simplified it to nine:

Since I still wanted a bed sized quilt, my plan was to sew a pieced border that would transition to my flamingo feature fabric from Iza Pearl. I carried the cornerstone diamonds out into the low volume border:

The diamonds were outlined with one of the flamingo collection fabrics, a leafy green blender. I love how it looks in the photo above, but it did get lost a little when I sewed on the final wide border today:

Flamingos en Provence flimsy, 86" x 86" (218 x 218 cm)

I do kind of wish now that I had made it full size, with all sixteen green blocks and less border. But, I just have a few strings left from my two main white fabrics, so it's done! And I like it.

Huge thanks to Bonnie for another great mystery! And thank you to all the other mystery participants too -- this year I picked up a few good ideas from other quilters in the link up:

• Let the seam allowances go the way they want. A couple of Allietare makers said this last year too, but this is the first time I tried it. It is much easier and faster to just twist the seam allowances as needed so they all butt together.
• Sew in quadrants. When you sew together the quilt in four quadrants, and then join them at the end, there is only ever one long seam. That made it easier and faster, and it's going to be a big help as I finish Allietare, too.
• Count down the pieces. A couple of quilters counted down how many pieces they had left to sew, until the whole thing was in one piece. I thought that would be motivating, and it was! When there are a lot of pieces, the seams are short, so it feels like fast progress. And when the seams get longer, you are also down to the last 20 or 15 or 10 pieces, and the end is in sight. Worked for me!

So, I'm thrilled to be done pretty much on schedule. I had hoped to be done by the end of January for OMG, but my fall back position was always Bonnie's final link up in February. It'll start on Monday, right here.

To see all my previous posts on this project, please click here.

And now I am done with schedules for the year! But the list is still long -- Allietare, Hanami and Hen Party are my first priorities, and my next "new" quilt is still going to be Prairie Star, with new improved fabrics and hopefully, better feng shui. Stay tuned!

Still Sewing

I fully expected to log on this evening and see everyone's finishes for Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence. But the link up's not there! Just as well, because I'm not finished yet anyway. Perhaps Bonnie was distracted by the epicness of this year's Super Bowl! For some reason, I kept watching even when it was clearly over, and I was glad I did! What a game.

Since I'm late with En Provence anyway, today I decided to pull out Allietare and see how it looked. It was still in blocks, which was worse than I thought. But now it looks like this:

This is three large sections laid out together. Mine seems to be more red than many of the others I've seen. Those red Kaffe Collective fabrics really glow! The black stars will be 5 x 5, so you can see I'm almost halfway already. I've realized that I don't need to iron every seam as I sew, and that has sped things up remarkably.

It was also interesting to compare Allietare with En Provence:

About half the whites are the same in each project, and it does give them a similar feel. Plus I put a bluish constant fabric in the background of both, so that ties them together too.

I'm thrilled with them both, so I'm not complaining! But next time (yes, I'm already thinking about the next one), I'll have to try something different.

En Provence is currently in 23 pieces, so it's still coming along. That's the centre block plus sashing in the photo above. Shouldn't be tooo much longer!

Sashaying en Provence

I think I'm still on schedule to finish the flimsy for Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery, En Provence, by the end of the month. As of today, all the sashing is done:

Like several others, I made a couple changes in the sashing. Instead of hourglasses, I made the dark green Tri Recs sections. That will make the circle effect of the blocks more pronounced. Actually, it is also more like Bonnie Hunter's previous mystery, Celtic Solstice. I didn't make that one, and now maybe I won't have to!

I also used an all-white four patch section in the centre of the sashing, instead of the dark green/light green four patch in the pattern. Somehow, the circle works better if that is white.

Here are four more blocks done, one with three sides of sashing sewn on:

And, to zoom in on a few details...

In my stash I found this coral and pink Iza Pearl print from the Garden Party Tango collection. The flamingos are all Iza Pearl too. Obviously, this one needed to be fussy cut!

I also found two large scale Free Spirit prints.

I call them "optimized," rather than strictly fussy cut. :D

And, zooming in even further, you can see some of the light aqua flamingo blender in the "white" four patch in the centre. The pink flamingo blender is also scattered among the whites.

So, fingers crossed, the next post will be the finished flimsy.

Journey to Provence

Have you ever done this?

Mountains en Provence?

You have to be very organized to screw up in this particular way! Yesterday morning I slowly and carefully started to put together my new hourglasses for Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence:

I slowly and carefully picked up two pieces with my left hand and one piece with my right, pinned them, butted the seams, and sewed almost all the way across before I realized! Not a good start, but after that things went smoothly. And I think everyone will agree that the black is a lot better in these units than the light aqua I tried first, here.

But, to back it up, I have been sewing like a maniac for over a week now. When Bonnie revealed the mystery on January 1, which you can see here for a few more weeks, I was way behind. I had finished Clue #2, the Tri-Recs units in our constant fabric, and Clue #3, the green four patches. After the reveal I decided to go back to Clue #1 and make over 100 white four patches, about a zillion more Tri-Recs units (that's certainly how it felt) for Clue #4, and the big HSTs for Clue #5:

This is NOT all of them

For the low-volume, all white units, I pulled some fairly high volume fabrics from my stash:

I am actually sick to death of all my low volume text fabrics, and fortunately they are nearly gone anyway. I will not be buying more! But I do like how these new fabrics worked. And they've already given me a new idea for another quilt!

Don't worry, I will finish this one first! To avoid distractions, I forced myself to get all the units done before I made a block. And, I also sewed as much of the block background as possible before I put in the pinks. The selection of pinks is a little different now than last time:

And tonight, finally, one block is done:

It is pretty sparky, I think, with the high volume blacks and whites, as well as the contrast between my very dark and very light greens. But I like it, and the sashing will tame it a little. The white fabric in the corners will be a constant in the sashing, so that will tie it all together more. I have a fancy border planned for the flamingo fabric, and I have high hopes for how that will turn out.

One block done, eight to go, plus pieced sashing and pieced border. My One Monthly Goal is to finish the flimsy by the end of January, and I think I am on track. In the meantime, check out all the other En Provence quilts in the link up here, including a few finished quilts. The key to finishing fast is to stick to the pattern, but I am happy with my progress too. :D

OMG, Butterflies en Provence!

It's time for the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up this month. Last month I was on the lookout for some butterflies, and I captured this one "in the wild."

You can see by the lint that this fabric spent a long time in my scrap bin! This stack of triangles is for foundation piecing in Wild & Goosey. The scrap bin is now almost empty! But the stack of triangles keeps growing as I add the leftovers from other projects.

Also this week, Bonnie Hunter revealed the final layout for her 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence. You can see it here, for the next few weeks. I love it! I especially like the circular effect with the purple in the big blocks. And I have to say, I was genuinely mystified. I thought I knew where it was going, and I was wrong!

But anyway, let me remind you of my flamingo-inspired colourway:

Bonnie's quilt has sixteen of those circle blocks, so for my simplified version I thought nine would work well. I am using pink where Bonnie used yellow, and I noticed that her yellow fabrics are quite light. I have that light pink flamingo blender, and I thought that would be perfect!

Argh, no, it is horrible! The light aqua adds nothing, and there are just too many flamingos. Does it look better with the green squares added? It does not. So many pretty fabrics, so terrible all together. Right from the start I had a feeling that it would be risky to change the values in the quilt. But, I ignored the doubts and forged ahead! I should know by now to listen to those niggling doubts.

So now I have quite a few pink flamingos to add to the stack of triangles for Wild & Goosey! What a useful project.

Looking closely at Bonnie's finished quilt, some of her greens (where I used aqua) are almost black. And they are extremely scrappy with a wide range of values, which gives a lot of interest. I needed something very grounding too. I considered dark pinks or reds, but then I thought, why not black? I have some bold black prints in my stash that could give that same range of interest that Bonnie has:

And look, there's that same butterfly fabric again! I haven't cut them yet, but I'm keen to see how they will work.

I also like that the larger pieces in this project will show off some of my larger scale, modern fabrics. Here are pinks I settled on:

They looked good in the sunlight there, didn't they?

By Monday I hope to have at least a block or two to share, and by the last link up in February I am determined to have the flimsy done. So that is my One Monthly Goal for January as well -- En Provence flimsy by the end of the month. Only nine blocks! Plus, pieced sashing and pieced border...

Right now I am still catching up on the clues I skipped. Here are my green hsts from clue #5:

And today I was cutting these fabrics for more Tri-Recs units from clue #4:

After considerable thought, I've also decided to go back and piece some of the all-white four patch units from clue #1. Those are next!