Shakespeare in the Park Quilt

I have finally finished this lovely quilt. I love the way it turned out. It is King size 112x112. Lots and lots of blocks. I have to take a break now lol.

We took pics of it outside on a tarp but I don't really like the ground look. Later we will rig something better up and I will update the pics.

 

 

CROSS SCRAP QUILT

Another Diversion and a little memory trick.

There will be two post today to make up for a few days I missed lol. After I finished the B. S. I went back to working on Shakespeare I P. I did a lot of sewing and got distracted again while reading the Quilt Board.

I saw this Charm quilt and loved it and decided that would be my current diversion lol.
You can go to the following link, print out the color pic for reference of placement and if you join the site, you can download the specs.
http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/magazines/americanpatchworkquilting/charming-addition-size-chart_1.html

Anyway, I cut 360, 2.5 squares, all out of my scrap bin. It can get real confusing if you don't have a method, so here is my little memory trick from a childhood joke.

Two little candy thieves were in the cemetery counting out the candy they stole (at night). They had an odd number of candies, so they left one outside the gate and whoever got to it first, would claim it. They were sharing it out saying, one for you and one for me etc. A couple kids were passing and heard them. The one kid said, looks like God and the Devil are sharing out souls... One for you and one for me , and now for the one outside. Well needless to say, those kids ran like the wind.

Now back to my method of placing the squares. I studied the set up and decided that starting from the left, would be a T, then a Cross, and then one outside, a T a Cross, one outside and so on and this helps me to get it right. Now when going down the side on the right, it's the same as the top and this is where the other half will join as this is only one half of the quilt.

On the left of the quilt, it's one outside, then a T, one outside, a cross, a T, one outside and so on. Bear in mind that I am looking at the side squares with the T's and the Crosses going to the inside. I will up load pics.

I don't just go across one row, I do the right side and the start building the Crosses right away so I can see what they look like and change. I go all the way to the right and build that line and so on.

In the first pic you see the one outside and a T. The second pic shows the Cross added and the fourth pic shows the one outside.

To continue, the first pic shows some more placement, the second pic shows more building in the middle or wherever I needed a Cross... The T's and outside squares only go on the sides and top so the rest you know is just Crosses and it's a lot of fun once you have you method down, of course it helps to have that colored pic.

The third pic shows where I am now, I will start the sewing before I cut some more to place as I don't want to lose what I have so far, they could all fall off the board lol.

The fourth pic shows the squares cut and on a plastic sheet for ease of carrying.













 I took down six rows down and eight across. I put these on my plastic palette and being real careful of the fan lol, I start to speed sew the squares this way. I will only speed sew one row at a time.

I start at the end by me, on the right. Fold over the last square over the next one, sew....do the next two etc. I do the 4's and the set of 4's. Then when I clip them apart, the first one I clip goes to spot 1 on the left and so on. Then I do row 2 and so on. This way, you will be able to see that they match. After I finish that section, I take down another besides it. ...so in all I have taken down three sections of 8 across and six down. I haven't sewed the rows together yet.

The first pic shows the squares the way the appeared on the board on my tray.

The second pic shows the 8x6 section of squares sewed together.

The third pic show the top section of 6x24.








I forgot to mention that each Cross takes 5 squares, except for the sides and top and bottom, those take four. When I cut the squares out, the odd ones that were left, I put those in a different pile and used those for the one outside, as they don't have to match anything.

I sewed one section all together to see how large it was. It measure 50 inches. I would like it to be at least 60 or a little more...60x60 is a nice size.

It is important to always leave two or three rows undone so you know where you left off. I will make another 12 inch piece to add to the side of the finished one and will continue that amount on the undone rows also. I had to check to make sure that I had some of the same fabrics left to finish the side blocks and I did wheeeeee

I cut a punch more squares, as I ran out lol. and more 2.5 strips to cut now. I can't imagine how much scrap I have in that bin. It is amazing how many free quilts are in there. When you think, that it cost about 100.00 to make a quilt top...yet when you make a scrap quilt out of the bin, it is so satisfying and if you were in the market to sell quilts, I bet you get more for the scrap, than the planned quilt lol.





Ok, I finished that one piece of 60 by 48, now I will make a 12x60piece and add to the side. I love this quilt. I will be using just what's left of the squares and only cut more if I have to.




I have just finished the top. It is now 60x60. a nice wall hanging. Here are some pointers for those who would like to do this quilt, for a 60x60 with 2.5 inch squares.

1. Try to lay the entire quilt on your board before sewing.

2. Sew the quilt in blocks of 10x10 across the quilt, in other words, 10 squares down and 10 squares across. That is if you are making a 60x60 size, Sew the squares in rows across and then sew the row together to form one 10 x10 block (the block will actually measure 10.5 for the seam allowance).

3. Block each block of 10x10 by spraying with starch and steam with up and down motion into a 10 1/2x10 1/2 block, this will make sure that your quilt is square.

4. You then have your choice of sewing the large blocks in rows across and joining the rows or sewing them down in sections and then joining sections.

5. I will add a 1 inch border, cut on the straight of grain, so it will end up being 1/2 ins. This is to keep the quilt square. I will add another pic after it is quilted and bound.

This was a fun quilt to do and a great diversion for me. Now I must get back to SIP and finished that, this weekend.



 Here is something neat about this quilt. As I am looking at it, I see a bunch of pink, blue, red, green crosses, these are from my friend Sandy. Then there are some greeny, peachy, pinky, yellow small prints and those are from my friend Karan in S, Carolina and then a few from my friend Elaine. So to conclude, I seem to have a bunch of friends in all my scrap quilts lol.


























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Burgoyne Surrounded

I was reading the Quilt Board the other day,
 http://www.quiltingboard.com/pictures-f5/i-have-been-tempted-burgoyne-surrounded-t218983.html

and it seemed that there was such an interest in B. S. I looked at two quilts posted by the ladies on there and loved the pattern. Now you all know I am in the middle of Shakespeare in the Park and have 44 little stars to go before I can put it together.

But when I saw this quilt, I was sorely tempted and The good Lord knows how I love a challenge. I searched Block Base and found several versions of it. The WW Quilting Page also had an 18 inch block.
You can find several on the web. I liked the one where, instead of doing a long strip it was modified to little patches, so it looks like the patches are dancing around the middle block.
I took the pattern to bed and modified it to suit the version I liked.

I emptied my scrap bin on the floor (after making sure I blocked Teddy, my old boy dog so he couldn't gather my scraps to lay on).
and selected just enough to make one block. I always make one block first for a sample while working the kinks out and I did make a couple of mistakes.

I decided to go with one inch patches, so the strips are cut at 1.5. I cut a bunch of patches. The pattern I had, had four patches for the center, I had to divide each one of those into four patches to make 16 patches and did the four patch.

The block has five sections.  I will show the steps. Here are the cut patches.




Sew the the four patch.


This is the middle strip.

Here you see all the parts that go into making one block. The block is easy to figure out. All the strips and patches are cut at 1.5 and once these are sewed up, then all you have to do is measure for the plain patches, just count the inches on the little blocks and add 1/2 inch.

The second pic shows the parts sewed together and the third pic shows the extra strip with a corner stone. The block is not complete yet. Now I have to sew alternating color patches and plain patches to surround the block itself of two sides.

Here it is completed.

Shakespeare In the Park Quilt

The Quilty Puppies and Shakespeare in the Park

I have decided to start another quilt. This quilt will be for some very special friends of mine. I had promised, that one day I would make them a special quilt. I am doing Shakespeare in the Park, It is out of the, "Creative Pattern book," by Judy Martin.

 Emily and Milly decided they wanted to help, so I put them up on the table so they could watch and help me read lol.

I pulled out some blues of several values, reds, oranges, and creams.

I made my first block to check my sewing. I made a mistake already lol, but caught it on the first round.

I got all the cutting done for the larger tri's. I cut the biggest strips first, then sub cut the squares and the tri's and then use what's left for the smaller strips and tri's. This way, nothing gets wasted.

Normally I don't like to cut too many pieces but in this case, because I want to use many different fabrics, I have to cut what I need. These blocks go very fast for me, so I don't mind all the pieces. I don't know how the star blocks will go yet.

Ok, I got a good start and some tips for the beginners. Remember, this particular block is made up of all bias tri's, except for the middle four patch. Care must be taken, centers have to be marked and when sewing the patches, put your entire hand on the block and push through the machine gently, so as not to stretch anything.

Cut the size strips, sub cut into the size squares and cut the squares in half and trim the points. I used the Judy Martin point trimmer. It makes life so easy. Your patches match up so perfectly.

 After sewing the four patch together, I fold the tri's in half to get the center and line it up with the center of the four patch. Check to make sure that the point of the tri is also in line with the point of the four patch.

 

Checking the point.

After you have sewed the patches your block should look like this. See how it is nice and square and everything matches because you have taken care to mark your centers. If one side is a bit bigger than the other, rip it out and see what went wrong and redo.

After you have sewed all the patches on for the block, I personally do not trim, I block it. I spray starch it and pin onto my block pad where I have drawn my 12.5 square and I even use steam to block. I use an up and down motion, never slide the iron.

 Here are 13 blocks, remember this is not the way it will set up. The star blocks will go between. Look at the block on right, the second one down, see that flowery arm, I love that.

 

DIAMOND PINEAPPLE QUILT

The quilt is finally done!

Yesterday, I cut off strips of purple, reds, blues from what was left of this quilt for the binding. I joined all the colors and liked the looked. I figured I might as well use it up. Here is a pic of the binding. I do like a wider binding so I cut my strips at 3.5 and then that is folded in half. I think I ended up with a half inch binding or so.

 Then I put the quilt on the bed and took several pics. It turned out to be 103x103 more or less. This is the best I can do for pics right now until later. Hubby said we could spread plastic in the yard and take more pics so you can see the whole quilt.

 The best view would actually be one where the quilt is hanging on a wall but my board isn't that big. Maybe I could get a room in my church with a high ceiling later.

 

 

Diamond Pineapple Quilt stage 5

Well, I have thought about it and I am doing the border. I have folded the quilt in half so I can put the border on the board as I sew to make sure I catch mistakes as I make them lol.

All the blocks for one side of the border are up now. They are not sewed together yet, just laid in.

I love the little figure that formed in the center of the border, reminds me of a little Maya God.

As you can see, once the border goes on, stuff starts to happen. The half square PA blocks match the half PA from the quilt. Both fabrics on the border and quilt are different and that creates another good thing to see.

Pinapple Star, Stage 4

I have finally finished stage 4.

I can stop here at this point as it is a complete quilt with the corners added. I have just had about enough of this quilt lol. It now measures about 78x78.

I had a comment from hubby that I should go ahead and finish it with the borders, which would mean more diamond and half square pineapple blocks. I will give it a good think.