Sweet Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today is the 50th anniversary of my parents' engagement, so Valentine's Day has always been a big deal in my family.  In honour of the day, here is a redwork project that I have just started work on again.

I bought these at www.redwork.info several years ago now.  I have been to the site more recently, and I am not sure if it is still active, it has not been updated in years - so use with caution!

I have been on again, off again with this project.  Sunday evening I started to think about it again, and I made a new quilt design incorporating just these nine blocks.  My previous plan had been to combine these with some other redwork patterns, but the whole thing was going so slowly, and poorly, that I just abandoned it.

From the front, my first attempt did not look that bad, but it was chaos on the back:

Old block - front

Old block - back

It doesn't look like all the ends on the back matter, until you see the block against a white background:

I did briefly consider lining the blocks with red fabric to hide all the ends!  But that didn't feel right to me, so the project became another UFO.

Now that a few years have passed, I've learned a lot about how to deal with the ends on the back, and suddenly the project seems a lot easier.  I realized that it can be my elusive "tv project."  I am so far behind on Coronation Street!  CBC only keeps the last three weeks online, and I have been missing episodes because I have nothing to do while watching them.   I spent most of yesterday tracing new blocks, and I have 3 left to do today.  I am also stitching the label for Edward's quilt, so there is a lot of outlining in my future.  Which is good, because I think Audrey and Mark's secret is about to become the talk of the neighbourhood!

Finished Flimsy

At my guild Rouge Valley they call unquilted tops "floppies" or "flimsies."  Do they do that where you live?  I had never heard it before.  I think flimsy is a pretty cute word, so I am adopting it.  It's much more fun than "top."

So the flimsy for Edward's quilt is finally finished!  Here it is:

This is not the first flimsy I've finished.  The last one was in the late 90s, and by the time it was done it was such a disaster that I couldn't bring myself to spend any more time or money on it.  The fabrics are pretty, but the blocks were all different sizes, and I had to adjust the width of the sashings just to get it all together.  And then I ran out of sashing fabric...  It was intended to be a scrap quilt, but it was just TOO scrappy by the end.  I still have it though, so you may see it some day.  I am keeping it for free motion quilting practice.

Edward's quilt has been a totally different story.  I did not measure the whole quilt until I had the white inner border on.  At first I thought I was a couple of inches off!  But then I realized that my math was faulty, not my sewing, and in fact it was almost exactly 52.5 inches.  At most an eighth inch too big.  That was very gratifying!  It made my day.  I really feel now like I have got the hang of this.

The one piece of advice that has made all the difference to me was something Alex Anderson said in an early episode of The Quilt Show.  She recommended that we practice our 1/4 inch seams until they are perfect.  Cut, sew, press and measure until the finished piece measures exactly what it is supposed to.  This was a surprising process for me, but it only took about an hour and a few squares of ugly fabric to get it right.  And boy has it paid off!  Thank you Alex!

Schnibbles Times Two

I have been thinking that I may make Fridays "Book Review Day."  I can think of quite a few books I'd like to review, so we'll see how it goes.

Today I am featuring Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles Times Two, quilts from 5" or 10" squares (Martingale & Company, 2010). 

This is the first Schnibbles book, and I gather it has been so popular that she has done another.  The premise is that the quilts can be made entirely from 5" and 10" precut squares, such as the Moda layer cakes.  Sometimes yardage of the background fabric is also needed, as well as binding and backing.

Each of the twelve designs is done twice, in two sizes, one for 5" squares and one for 10" squares.  This also gives you two colourways of each quilt for inspiration.  The small quilts are about 30" square, and the large ones are over 60" square.  I am just realizing that almost all the quilts ARE square.  I tend to prefer square quilts, so that may be part of the appeal for me.

But there are many things I like about this book.  The designs are simple and graphic, for the most part, and easy enough for a confident beginner.  The rotary cutting and quick-piecing instructions are excellent, and the quilts will go together quickly.  Special care is taken with ironing the seam allowances so that everything fits together perfectly.

The quilt I am making for Edward (I just have the last border left now) is based on the McGuffey pattern from this book:

I did not use precut squares for Edward's quilt, and the great thing about this book is that you don't have to.  You can certainly use yardage or fabric from your stash instead.  They are great patterns for scraps.

I am giving serious thought to making this quilt as well:

These are like half snowball blocks.  The quick piecing instructions for this quilt are very clever, so I am keen to try it.  I can see kind of a leaf pattern in there, and I think if I play it up with green fabrics and leafy quilting, it would make a great summer quilt for our living room.

So, I highly recommend this book!  5 out of 5 stars.