Two for further progress

     The two quilts I worked on in Bonnie Hunter's workshops are nowhere near finished. I did get all 20 blocks for Pineapple Blossom done, but I have decided to add sashing. I was going to make it bigger using 36 blocks, but I think I just want it done.

Just blocks

Needs cornerstones (neutrals)

     Not as much progress on Texas Braid as the pieces are smaller and not as much chain sewing. We did sew two of the same facing rows as leader/enders and then after lunch alternated sewing the other facing row ones. Just takes longer.

     Someone for show and share brought these two Scrappy Trips, big and small, that I absolutely fell in love with- still after a week!

Inspired, tired and cleaning up

     The Bonnie Hunter workshops in Rochester through the Genesee Valley Quilt Guild were awesome. Bonnie was personal, helpful, encouraging and moved everyone up on their game. She does not stop moving and has lots of energy.
     Part of the workshop includes show and share after lunch. People bring in Bonnie tops or vintage or whatever. I knew no one in any of the workshops, but learned a lot from them. 
     I don't do selfies or stuff like that because I don't like pictures of myself, but I just had to have a picture with Bonnie as she means so much to me!

     One workshop was Pineapple Blossom and the other Texas Braid. Bonnie always has everyone put of all their work together at the end and see how much was done. Kind of impressive.  

        The second day, over 13 vintage machines showed up (out of 33 participants). My favorite, that I had never seen in the metal, was Verna's 404. She showed me her notebook where she catalogs her machines. I was impressed with her documentation.

     If you go to the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2uTaywYlfM, in the first 4 seconds, you will see my 301 and blocks. Bonnie's blogposts show a lot about the workshops.
     Some of the show and shares included a beautiful large Lozenge quilt by Norma and a vintage quilt she found at a thrift store. 

     All sorts of braids were made, like this Christmas braid.

      One woman did not make the workshop block, but Mad City Momma from the workshop book, using the Shweshwe fabric she bought at the Canada Quilt Show. She could not bear to cut it up small, so she used it as the block centers.

    Next post will have the blocks I made, enough for now.

Grand Illusion eeking along

Clue 3 pile

Done units, all of 1!

Pieces of Clue 2, extra HSTs

      The Grand Illusion Mystery quilt is inching along. I try to cut all the fabric for each clue as it is given on Fridays by Bonnie Hunter. I am cutting from scraps and stash, so just finding the right piece takes time and they are all not the same size to cut into. This quilt is forcing me to be really precise and to go slow. I hope it will take my skill level up at the end of all this. I have all of Clue 1 sewn. Part of Clue 2 is sewn. Part 3 has most of the strips cut I think, but only 10 out of 120 units are made. I have been printing my Christmas cards and other stuff, so I sit down for short bursts of time. It is easy to leave in place because I have a dedicated machine for this quilt.

An Illusion of a mystery

    I love Bonnie Hunter. I have learned so much about quilting from her. I met her and took a class with her in September.
I hate mysteries. I hate absolute precision piecework where you hold your breath on every seam. So, why am I doing her recent mystery, Grand Illustion?
Hmm...
   It is neat to follow along with others learning from their mistakes.
   Last year's quilt was awesome
   It is forcing me to suck up and learn to be a better skilled quilter and to have sharper eyes and hands.
   I want to see if I can do it because I would never attempt it on my own.
   I want to learn from Bonnie.
Okay, I cut out all the Clue 1 last week, sewed all the HST. I am using the easy angle ruler and loving it but I still am making piecing errors. I use a plexi sewing guide along the edge and tweezers to hold the ends of the pieces together and lots of spray starch on the pieces. 
   So I thought I was ok. I did not finish sewing the 4 patches all together. I still have HST to press open and cut off dog ears. And then yesterday's clue. Oh no, diagonals. I printed and cut out the template fussing with getting the right size and cut out a few to try it out. Made one good one and some not so good ones. So, I have to finish sewing the blocks for clue 1, cut out all Clue 2, and sew them together. I thought I was a fast piecer, but I am very humbled by my limited output. I have to keep going, I have to keep going.
   I do have stuff to finish for Christmas yet also. The Mystery may fade for a while.

All HST cut in pairs, all 280

All HST sewed

5 Clue 1 blocks and 1 Clue 2 diamond block

Quiltville at the Museum

    On September 19th, I took a class at the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Museum sponsored by the Amherst Quilt Guild with the indomitable Bonnie Hunter from Quiltsville.  I had been waiting for the day to meet her and learn from her. She has taught me a lot through her blog. I owe my love for vintage machines, treadles, my sewing mates table, crumbs, scrap savers system, leaders and enders, and all the assorted knowledge from her blog and quiltcam. I took the Crumb piecing class. She taught basic crumb piecing, maverick stars, crumb hearts, letters by piecing, and string quilt blocks. She was so friendly, enthusiastic, and generous. My sister in laws and I took the class together. Bonnie put us on her site, we are down aways, three from the bottom.http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/09/galaxy-gram-lunch-break-crumbs-class.htmlcrumb class
   It was such a special day. One more peg for the big birthday year. Thank you Bonnie!!!

Pieced Letters

Crumb Hearts

Maverick Stars

4 1/2" blocks

    A lot of people brought show and tell. Here are just a few.

    And two of Bonnie's she used as class samples.

Quilts pieced and waiting

     The crumb attic window quilt got its bag, book and card and were delivered to a woman from church with a new diagnosis of cancer, with more testing to go. A couple of the outside and inside cards I make to go with the quilts.

Outsides

Inside, have not written the message yet

      I finished another Exploding Square quilt and found a great border.

     When I sew, I use Leader and Enders, ala Bonnie Hunter. I have all these 2 1/2" squares in boxes by light and dark, next to the piecing machine of choice (lately a 201- lovely smooth machine after months of motor woes- new armature works great!). When starting to sew or ending, a light and dark pair are sewn. After enough pairs, they are sewn into 4 patches. I also snowballed the squares on 4 1/2" white on white scrap squares. When there were enough of each block, I made Good Night, Irene. I will not border this as it is big enough for a comfort quilt.

  

The last comfort quilt is another You've Got Mail from Missouri Star Quilt Company. From one layer cake prints, I was able to make two comfort quilts. The first one was done a while ago and I finally sewed these blocks into a quilt.

Now, what I need is uninterrupted time to get all these quilted, as the demand for comfort quilts is not ceasing.

New Leader and Ender quilt

    I thought I would make use out of all the 4 patch, 2.5" scraps, that I make as a leader/ender as per Bonnie Hunter. I have a lot of 4 patches now. First, at the beginning or end of each quilt I am piecing, I put 2, 2.5" squares, one dark, one light together through the machine. After pairs, I sew the pairs into 4 patches as leader/lenders. I decided I would fool around with graph paper and come up with something. I did and it required me to snowball 2.5" squares on two diagonal opposite sides of a 4.5" square. I made three sample blocks. Then, when doing my usual looking at quilt ideas on the net, I found out that this block is called Good Night Irene and there was an incredibly simple way to piece these besides the convoluted idea I had come up with. So, I ripped out the samples and made some of these. 
     I can't decide whether to make 4 or 5 blocks across. If I make 4, I need to put a border on the quilt. If 5, no border. I love borders, but I don't know which way to go so since I don't have enough blocks yet, it can simmer. I should look online to see how others do it so I don't try to reinvent the wheel again coming up with a square one. I cut 2.5" squares out of scraps people give me and sort them into light and dark and keep them in two small plastic containers next to the piecing machine, which is lately the Singer 15-91.

4 blocks across measure 32", 5 measure 40"

    My helper, quality control, has taken to laying on in progress FMQ by the machines. He is depositing much cat hair, so I put a scrap soft piece of fabric over the quilt to protect it, and he seems undeterred in his sleep. Saves all that cleaning off the fur before FMQ.

All kinds of bits and pieces

      I have not made significant progress in any one area. In the crumbs, I have now 40, 6.5" crumb blocks. I don't want to do just a sashing (boring) or another attic window pane. I don't know what to do. Someone at the WNY Modern Quilt Guild meeting mentioned doing skinny strips of black like stained glass and offset the rows. Hmm, I am not sure.
     The other crumb strips are 2.5" by 8.5", paper pieced on newsprint. Bonnie Hunter showed them on her quilt cam, showed a block made out of four, and then I never heard mention of it again. I jumped on it because I can use all the tiny pieces left over on these. So, now I have these nice strips and no ideas. I don't want to set them all against each other because it would be too jumbled to the eye.

6.5" Block pile all done on the Singer Treadle

2.5" x 8.5" Strips, 2 whole blocks, sewed on the treadle.Where do I go from here?

 

This is all I have left after my crumb blocks. I don't throw anything out bigger than this.

     I am also continuing on my wonky quarter log cabins. I finished another 4 quarters. I did not sew any of them together yet, so I can rearrange when I get all of them done. I am planning on 3 complete big blocks wide by 4 blocks long to make it a comfort lap quilt. These also sewed on the Singer 15 treadle. I am telling you, the treadle is real relaxing and comforting to sew on.

Two big blocks arranged, the quarters are 8.5" unfinished,
so the big blocks will finish 16"

First big block trimmed

     Finally, I took the plunge and am cutting out my daughter's wedding present quilt. It is going to be loosely based on Circle Dance by Elisa from Backporch Designs. A little while ago, I bought the 7" template and thought I could make the 3.5" one. Nope, I broke down and ordered it yesterday. I did start cutting out the batiks that Ria picked out. I am going to have to at least make 70 sets of the quarter circles and about 35 sets of the small circles. Well, at least I started. I am planning to sew them together with my Curvemaster foot that I bought.

Cut with the 7" Crazy Curves template

Two for the price of one

  Taking a cue from Bonnie Hunter, I started using leader and ender pieces while sewing. I have a plastic container of squares pre-cut, light and dark, just waiting. At the start of sewing, I piece a light and dark square, and at the end, another set. Eventually, I use the two blocks together as leader-enders to make a four patch. This is while I am piecing another quilt. Most of my piecing is done on a Singer 301. I press the four patches, and with this quilt, I used the Square in a Square Method by Jodi Barrows to add the sides on. I made half the blocks with black print, the other half, white with black print. In the book that comes with the trimming tool, this pattern is called, Simple Simon. This quilt is loosely based on the pattern, as I used a four patch center, and different borders, but I got the black and white idea there. I sewed the quilt together on my Adironadack vacation with my Kenmore 158.1040. It is so compact, it easily packed away. I also started an I Spy Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt there, but I don't have photos yet. When I got home, I added the borders. I need to see a quilt complete before I decide on how wide and what color the borders will be.

The Bonus Four Patch, a leader-ender

The Square in a Square Bonus Quilt

Bits and Pieces

   I am still working out in my head to proceed on a few quilts. I get ideas and see things, and then have to figure out how to use them.  When I piece, I use leader and ender fabric which Bonnie Hunter taught me on her blog. This way, I start with 2 squares and end with 2 squares and then make 4 patch leader and enders every time I sew. I have all these neat 4 patch blocks now as a bonus from regular piecing. So, now what to do with them? I made two Wonky Star blocks to try this out. I could make a some more star blocks and then a sash around them all, then 4 patches around maybe. I don't know.

 

     Bonnie Hunter is also working on 2.5 x 8.5" strips of paper and covering them with crumbs. Four strips make a block. I made two blocks. I don't know how the blocks would go together, sashing around? All of these scrap blocks are sewed on my Singer treadle. I keep a box of scraps on it, and do therapy sewing whenever I need it. I can just leave it on the machine. I don't like sewing on paper, but I am giving it a try.

 

    The last crumbs I am working on is 6.5" blocks. I love using scraps. My thought is to make a number of blocks and maybe use attic windows to put them together. I don't always like using sashing around because it gets kind of boring and repetitive. The last crumb quilt I did for a comfort quilt had sashing. I thought maybe this might work- I have never sewn the attic window pattern, just this one block. What do you think?

 

One Attic Window Block