Sugaridoo Bernina QAL

Have I mentioned that I joined a quilt-a-long back in November? I did. It's hosted by Irene of Sugaridoo Quilts and sponsored by Bernina. I suppose I got into it because it looked interesting and then also because my modern guild in Baton Rouge decided that it would be a great challenge since it appeared to be graphic, fresh, modern.

I didn't get started right away. No, I procrastinated until the entire QAL was about halfway through. Suddenly there were six blocks to make. Ahh, but a block is really a strip. An entire strip of about 12-14 blocks. 

You'd think I'd panic or just toss in the towel. No. No, I didn't. I just waited until a.) there were enough blocks/strips to see some headway, and b.) it became a do-or-die situation. 

Today I am completely caught up. Completely. And now I have to wait for the next block. See. There's that "I need something to do" problem.

Anyway, I chose to make my quilt using some of the indigo solids I've been collecting since I saw several antique indigo and white quilts at a show, I imagine. Wow! They looked great! 

Because I needed a third, accent color and someone at BRMQG suggested a yellowy mustard, which I happened to have plenty of, well, that's my accent. It's definitely a bold pop of color!        And there we are. I'm caught up with Irene, and you are caught up with me. So now, what about you? There are over 6,000 participants. Are you one?

Voila! I figured it out....happily!

Remember that I went to a Sherri Lynn Wood workshop some time ago?


As you can see from this photo, I was a bit discombobulated by my work. I kept at it, but while there was something I liked, there was more I didn't like. People kept telling me it was good. That was nice, honestly, but I have to be happy from the inside. So I decided to put the whole thing on the design wall when I got home.

On the design board waiting for a plan

There it stayed and stayed. Life kept getting between me and it, including other pieces. Then last month I came up with a challenge for my traditional guild: bring a UFO/unfinished project to the February meeting with the intention of bringing it to an advanced stage for March. 

For example, I'll bring the SLW quilt pieces (that's my name for it for now) and tell the group I plan to bring it to a completed quilt top for the March meeting. Then in March I should commit to finishing the quilt for April. 

Reworking part 1

The problem was that I needed to get to a stage where I could make a commitment. What I had simply wasn't working for me, but I liked most of what I had. To add to the twist, I wanted to incorporate AHIQ's first challenge for 2020, hourglass blocks. 

I played and ripped and moved and added and subtracted and all sorts of crazy things for about three days. Then I read a couple of posts on the AHIQ blog and found the answer. Back to the design board, but with a plan I liked. Funny how a plan makes such a difference.

Reworking part 2

Reworking part 3

At this point (ready to go to the guild meeting) I have long strips of improv pieces that will be arranged in Chinese coins fashion. I've chosen a neutral brownish gray beige oddity for the background. 

  Final plan without the background

Once I arranged the strips in the order I wanted them, I pinned them with numbers, folded them neatly into a project box. Then added three stacks of magazines for the monthly mini (we buy tickets, the winners get to choose from the "minis" on the table until we run out) and even folded and stacked the two quilts I plan to bring for Show and Share. So I'm ready. Now to remember my phone, dues, and my stack of items. 

Red Is a Neutral ... more blocks

There are not many more blocks, but I put in a couple of afternoons to get these done. Tuesday's work: 
I made these Dutchman's Puzzle blocks. I needed only one but it's an easy block, so I thought I'd make two. As soon as I sewed the final seam on the second block, I realized that I had not arranged all four sections correctly. One was turned the wrong way. What an annoyance!

Once I started ripping the sections apart, I decided to play. Why not? I needed only one block. So now I have two different blocks that sort of match. 

Wednesday's work included these two. When Richard came into the studio for a visit, I told him, "I'm running on stupid." That tickled him quite a bit, but I was not laughing at the time. I cut the wrong size patches. So I cut them again, correctly this time, but I cut twice the amount. 

The one on the bottom is the correct block, but since I had extra pieces, why not? Play I did. I ended up with the block on the top. It looks familiar, but I haven't had time to look it up.


Yesterday I made the Card Trick block. Now that was a mess! I kept getting the pieces mixed up. I pressed seams open and laid them out in the right order, then took a picture. Good idea! I needed it. I think I could make a second one without the visual aid, but I won't.

These five are the blocks I'll have to show on Monday at the guild meeting. I think I should have five different ones but, oddly, I didn't get instructions. As it is, I didn't have the directions for the Card Trick block, so I improvised. Not well, mind you. My center patch was just a little too small, which means my block isn't quite 12". This quilt... I don't know.

So to sum up, very few blocks match in size, some are not blocks at all--just extras from the miscuts, I'm behind on the BOM and don't have directions for the missing blocks. Yes, that's how we do it in "typical Mary fashion." 

What Is It? A Finish!

Anyone know the name of this applique pattern?

Some time ago, while going through yet more boxes of stuff from my mom's sewing room, I ran across a couple of odd blocks that obviously were her UFOs. This was one of them. I first tossed them into the trash, because really, doesn't it scream ugly 80s? Anyone sill have a blue fabric goose sitting around?

No matter your taste, this will not fit the decor. Sorry. 

But I do have a heart and my heart said, "Momma made this." And the next thing I knew the blocks were in my UFO bin. They languished there for a couple of years. Then I needed some handwork to take along with me while we traveled the Northwest. I decided to pack it, a little afraid it would taint yet another bin. We were almost home before I pulled it out.

Mom's zigzag edges are pretty raw, so
I let my own stitches do whatever they wanted.

Using embroidery thread from last century (much of it also from my mom) I hand-quilted it in big stitches. I decided early on that nothing could make the block worse, so there was a chance of making it better. 

The pinks of the 1980s...
there's no mistaking them!

I finished the stitching and put it aside to trim out and bind when I got home. It got forgotten. The poor, ugly little thing reappeared last week. And while I don't participate in the One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts, I did push myself to get this finished. It's time, after all. So I'm going to put it in the next OMG linky party. (Assuming that I catch it in time.) Edited: I did it!

Afraid that the rotary cutter, might take out a few stitches, I trimmed it with scissors, found some red gingham, which matches in color but not in size, for binding. 

So it has a warped corner and there are several stains, but I'll hand wash it and maybe it will go on a wall somewhere. Somehow it's grown on me. See, I said there was a chance of making it better. Finished is always better!

Link Ups!

AHIQ
One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts
My Quilt Infatuation (NTT)

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)
Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: signature blocks

I will begin working on a surprise quilt using signature blocks that will, of course, be signed by people who will be gathering together for a photo-shoot in May.

 We are working on a directory, so while we have as many people as possible, we want to get as many signatures as possible. Then it will be a matter of calling anyone who did not sign to ask that they sign a patch. 

While one event is in no way related to the other, we thought that mixing them up would help us to achieve both endeavors. Is that broad and ambiguous enough to keep the surprise secret? 

Actually, I'm fairly certain that the gift receiver does not read my blog, but I'm being careful anyway. The "we" that I've referred to are just some friends who are helping me to accomplish all of their goals.  Did you catch what I did there? It's not even my idea or plan. I'm just the person who will be doing some of the sewing. 

Some of these signature block ideas are pins from when I made another signature quilt for a wedding back in 2013. Goodness it doesn't feel like five long ago. 

play with the arrangement to enclose
the white spaces for signatures

Reverse the colors so the signatures
would be inside the tumblers

Of course the blocks that I like the most are the ones that are very (VERY) non-traditional. Those last four are pretty awesome. I'd choose the first on the upper left, but I doubt that the people who instigated this work will appreciate my choice. I'm going to stick to tradition and probably go with this one that I created in EQ8.

But of course, I need to speak to other people and get this design "approved." I think, though, that whatever I offer will be accepted since I've requested that we keep the plan simple so that other people can also work on the blocks. 

My hope is that I can cut and sew a few blocks before we meet so that others can get a gist of the idea. I also plan to have several fabric markers so that we can make most of the decisions in one meeting. 

If it doesn't work...well, here are a few plan Bs. 

Have a wonderful week, everyone. 

Neutrals and reds and math

Oh my heavens, y'all, I do not know a bit of math. Nothing. Nada. Puh. How do I know? Because I needed math all day. Know what I got? Puh!

I've continued working on the neutrals scrap quilt top. Thanks to your encouragement, I decided to keep going with the red scraps because, I wanted to make it work. I'm hard-headed that way. Besides, I had sewn some of the scraps into fabric blocks. 

I have a 15" square ruler and cut the beige pieces into uniform blocks to match the ruler. That was easy and helped me with the math. I'd made about nine of the blocks before beginning with the red. As I added red chunks to the beige blocks, I re-cut the blocks so that they were back to 15". But I have more creativity than good sense, meaning I abandoned the one thing that made the math easy.

I started adding red to the beige blocks and didn't make the extra cuts. Instead, I made bigger blocks and tried to match them up. That didn't work. I rearranged the crazy big blocks. No. 

I rearranged and made strips. Then I rearranged those strips, adding more beige in places, thinking there was now too much red. No! 

Then finally. Finally! I arranged the pieces on point. Yes. That somehow did the trick. I liked the angles of the individual pieces and small strips. 

So what's the problem? Well, math. As long as I had uniform blocks, I could do the multiplication and division. But now things were happening on an angle and in an unsystematic manner. The biggest blocks were all about the same 15 x 20, so I made one strip of those. Sewing them on the 15" edges? No. That would make the strip match the others. 

So I have one strip that is 20" wide; none of the strips are equal in length; and everything is on an angle. Yes, there's a chance that this quilt will unravel me! 

When I decided to phone a friend, I considered calling my sister Lee. She teaches high school math. The hard math. But I figured that I should ask Richard first. I called him and tried to tell him what I needed to know. Turns out I couldn't really explain it to him. Regardless, he was stumped. Okay? So then, I'll call Lee. He laughed at me! How dare he? 

Then he told me why he was laughing. I didn't know what to ask. Honestly, at the time I couldn't even think of the words equation or formula. How do you tell a math teacher what you need if you don't know any of her math words? 

In the end I decided to keep adding pieces and triangles until the 15" strips match the 20" strip. But they have to match on an angle. 
Check out this last picture. I have two sides with straight edges! And know what? That crazy 20" strip is in there! It IS the upper left corner and matches up with the other strips. If you look on the bottom right corner, I have another corner. Whew! Math is stressful!

Link Ups!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)