Stash Bee, Hive #3 February

This month is my month to be the Queen Bee of my Hive in the Stash Bee; I've been participating in this bee since about this time last year. I thought it would be fun to post my introduction and block here as well.

Hello Hive #3!  I'm so excited that it's finally February.  I have to say, I've been enjoying this Bee immensely and sewing up all the fun blocks that you guys have chosen.  I hope you like the block I've picked for this month.  So, on to the getting-to-know-you bit.

Hiking at White Sand in New Mexico

My name is Kat and I live in North-East Texas with my cat-allergic cat, Wilson.  I am currently in nursing school; I should graduate in May and become an RN.  I'm hoping to get a job in a trauma ICU, then later move on to Mercy Ships.  In between school and quilting I enjoy traveling, sailing, and working backstage on community theatre shows.

Crewing on the Hawaiian Chieftain

My day job currently is working at a t-shirt shop where I run a large embroidery machine.  It's a thread-happy job but not the same as quilting, for sure. I also work periodically as a dresser on touring Broadway shows when they come through our area, most recently West Side Story.

Wilson: Chief Quilt Inspector

The hardest quilt I have ever made would either be the Carpenter's Star I made last Christmas with it's insane number of Y-seams, or the Ocean Waves quilt this Christmas, which was a pure endurance challenge.  Both of these were more traditional designs which are not my norm.  The majority of my quilts are distinctly modern and I prefer to create my own designs rather than following a pattern.  Still, if I had it to do over I'd make these both the same way again.

The Carpenter's Star with its happy recipient

My mom originally turned me loose with a sewing machine and some general direction when I was around 8.  I think the first thing I made was a pillow.  I sewed occasionally until I was 21 when I began teaching myself to quilt on a whim.  I've learned to quilt through a combination of trial and error, consulting the internet, and observing the experts.

Action kitty Wilson pounces the krinkly ball

My favorite dessert food is dark chocolate... any kind, really.  As far as baked goods go, probably sweet potato pie.  I'm a good southerner like that.  The last time I laughed really hard was at my cat, Wilson, doing acrobatics chasing after a krinkly ball.

Finding joy in a very special little boy discovering cotton candy

My life philosophy is tricky to answer, but I think it would be: be joyful!  Find your joy in every situation, because it is there.

The Block 

The block I've chosen for this month is the modern bargello block introduced by Amy in the Something New Sampler.  Her tutorial is here.  I've had a long time to think about, and change my mind about my block, but when I saw this I knew it was the one.  

Amy's Block

The only (potential) change from her tutorial is size.  The tutorial makes a 14.5" x 7.5" block. I am asking for a block 13.5" wide by at least 7.5" tall. I noticed that I had a hard time getting mine to 14.5" inches wide so I'm giving you an inch more wiggle room in your trimming. 

You can make your block in any height you choose as long as it's at least 7.5".  To increase the height just cut your original strips longer where she cuts hers to 12".  I cut one set of mine to 20.5" and the final block was 14.5" long, the other set I cut to 24.5" and it ended up 17".  

You can also mix up the number/widths of your strips at the beginning as long as their width after they're sewn together but before you sew them into a tube measures at least/about 15".  

Amy specifies to press all the seams open but it isn't important to me whether you do or not.

My blocks

I am asking for blocks in blue, grey, and purple with pops of red and yellow. Please use a mix of solids and prints.  For the background use a solid of either blue, grey, or purple. 

I kept my bargello waves pretty tight, but feel free to make their sweeps more dramatic.  I can't wait to see all your different blocks! I am the opposite of a perfectionist so please don't sweat it if your block ends up a little small or something.  Make another if you feel like you should, but send along the wonky one, too. I'll make it work :) 

I am asking for one large or two small blocks (I'll leave it up to you to determine what sizes qualify) but of course if you want to make more I'll be thrilled.

If you'd like to send a signature block please sign a 5.5" x 3.5" solid color block.  

Thanks everyone! I hope that is all the info you need but please email me with any questions and I will do my best to answer. 

Finish! Shrapnel, a Sunday Morning Quilt

The sun was going down so I had to snatch this picture before he binding was put on.

Fresh from the dryer, I'm so excited to share this finish.  I'm calling it Shrapnel.  (As in Quilt Shrapnel, because that's essentially what scraps are, isn't it?)

This is my version of Amanda Jean's "Up Up and Away" quilt from her book "Sunday Morning Quilts."  You can read more of the details on this quilt in its WIP post here.  The idea was to use up all the small triangular bit of fabric I had in my scraps, particularly the 2.5" triangles trimmed off when making binding. 

Slowly emptying the triangle jar

 In the book Amanda Jean used her scraps to make a baby sized quilt.  I must have been feeling ambitious, or possibly insane when I started this, because I aimed for (64) 8" squares.  The quilt finished at 64" square before shrinking a bit in the wash.  I don't have an exact count, but my math says there should be a little over 900 scrap triangles in this quilt.

It's interesting to see so many of my fabric choices over time together in one quilt. It is pretty representative of my preference when buying, and the state of my stash: Mostly bold, saturated colors, lots of solids, heavy on the blues and greens, precious little pink or purple.  Almost every quilt I've ever made is represented here. As I was quilting it I began to remember what project each patch was from.  I can hardly believe I have been quilting for over 3 years.

I opted to quilt it with a grid due to the many seams, using my walking foot as a guide to stay about a 1/4" away from the seam lines. It seemed only appropriate to bind with all the leftover bits of bindings from previous quilts.  I last did this with the Double Irish Chain quilt  (which, incidentally, went to a new home over Christmas) but I had built up quite a bit more since then.

I loved the patterns in Sunday Morning Quilts and this one was so much fun to make! I can't wait to start on the next one :)

Linking up to Finish it Up Friday.  Pop over there and see what everyone else has going on. 

Quick picture post

"Shrapnel" on the machine!

Details tomorrow on Finish it Friday!

Quick picture post

It's a momentous day: The thread catcher got full! So many memories in those thread layers. The first project to go into this jar was the Anacortes quilt back in the summer of 2011.

Time to start filling it again!

WIP: A Sunday Morning Quilt

One of my Christmas presents was this great little book: Sunday Morning Quilts, by Cheryl and Amanda Jean. I'm normally not really one for quilting books, for the same reason I'm not one for patterns. I just prefer to come up with my own ideas. BUT, I've been loving this book. The first project from the book I decided to try is a version of Amanda Jean's "Up Up and Away" quilt. If you've been following my blog for the past week or so you've seen some sneak peeks of it.

A section of blocks

The quilt uses up all those little triangle scraps you have lying around, specifically the 2.5"-ish triangles from making binding.  I made several changes from the design in the book, mainly setting the blocks square instead of on point, adding in some larger 4.5" blocks along with the smaller ones, and changing the orientation of some of the squares.  Mine is also going to be quite a bit larger than the one in the book.

My triangle scraps jar after making several hundred triangles already!

One of the challenges of this design is in getting the correct angle when you sew the scrap to the background square so that it will completely cover when it is pressed.  With nice, even triangles it isn't such a problem, but the wonkier the triangle the more difficult. Especially because these are already small scraps and I don't want to waste any to trimming.  SO, this is the technique I use to sew them right the first time.

First line up the scrap over the square how you want it to be once it's sewn.  If it's overhanging anywhere you can go ahead and trim.

Holding the scrap in place flip the pieces over.  (Hopefully you are using a light colored background). Looking through the back of the fabric, find the edge of the scrap and line it up with the half inch line on your ruler.  Make a pencil line over the scrap, this ensures that once you sew your pencil line will be hidden by the scrap and won't show through the fabric.

Flip back over. Flip your triangle down into position to sew and (again looking through the fabric) align the edge with the pencil line you drew.  Sew and press and voila, perfect triangles!

The current progress.  All I lack is 2 more columns of 8" blocks to the left. (About 200 more triangles.)

Making this quilt, at times, has been like that movie "Groundhog Day."  I spend hours taking triangles out of the jar and sewing them to background fabric, and the jar never gets any emptier! The blocks on my design wall multiplied, but it seemed like the jar of scraps was bottomless.  Finally, tonight, after finishing another marathon session of 303 triangles (I counted!) I scraped bottom on the scrap jar.

I pressed my newly finished blocks and put everything up on the design wall.  I lack 2 columns of 8" blocks to the left of what is there. I quickly calculated that I needed about 200 more little triangles and, looking at what was left, I knew I'd need more.  At times I had thought the the magical bottomless jar of triangles scraps would outlast this quilt, but I guess it just wasn't to be.  Trusty scissors in hand I turned to my jar or crumbs, ready to create some triangles, when what did I find...

...MORE triangles!   Hiding in the crumbs.  Lots more.  More than I will need for this quilt.  It's unbelievable. Who knew that quilting produced so many triangular scraps??

So, I am proud to say: no square, rectangular, or otherwise usable scraps were harmed in the making of this quilt, only odd sized triangles.

This quilt got its name today while I was doodling in class:  Shrapnel.  I thought of it because of how the triangles radiating out from one point reminded me of an explosion, but it's perfect because it's also what this quilt is made from.  What are scraps, if not quilt shrapnel!

That's my WIP, what are you working on this week?  Head on over to WIP Wednesday to see what everyone else is up to.

Quick picture post

Piles and piles of wonky triangles

Post-Christmas Recap Part II

The last of the Christmas gifts have been received and my old roommate was kind enough to take pictures for me, since I forgot to before I boxed everything up! The major item was this large wall hanging. I didn't measure, but it was in the 40x60" ballpark. It is inspired by Santa Fe, NM, a city that is near and dear to the recipients' hearts. The mountains at the bottom of the quilt are topped by stripes of "sunset" colors fading into a turquoise "night sky" print. 

I used the Easy Curves techniques to blend the dark purple block into the sky print. The mountains were done with fusible.  I transferred the silhouette of the Sandia and Ortiz mountains as viewed from Santa Fe onto fusible webbing and then onto three shades of blue.  Other Santa Fe touches in this are the Native American motifs and Kokopelli batik fabric.

Sandia and Ortiz mountains at sunset

This shot of the back shows how dense some of the quilting was. I did straight line quilting with my walking foot, starting off most dense at the bottom and gradually spreading out as I went up.

The back of the Santa Fe wallhanging

This smaller wall hanging went to another member of the family. A physics professor. It's the Fibonacci Spiral, based off the Fibonacci sequence. That whole topic in and of itself is something I find fascinating and someday I plan to make a full-size Fibonacci Spiral quilt. I hand quilted the spiral itself; the first real hand quilting I've ever done.

Fibonacci Spiral Wall hanging

Finally, the youngest member of the family with her pillowcase! It had to be pink, that was for sure, so I dug up some of my very limited stash of pinks. It came out great, and best of all, she loves it! I'm planning to post a pillowcase tutorial soon about my method of making them.

Well, that's the gift round up for Christmas 2012. Now to begin working toward next year!