Design Wall Monday May 14

I would love to say that this is my quilt.  Alas, it is the INSPIRATION for my next project.  I took this photo at a quilt show and I desperately wish I could give credit to the quilter but I didn't write it down or photograph the card when I took the picture - I'm much better about that now.  In any case, it's an Ocean Waves pattern.  I'm using the instructions written by Bonnie Hunter and I plan to assemble it Leaders and Enders style.  It should take, what, a hundred years or so?

The 1/2 sq tris are mostly done thanks to all the guild members who "gift" me with their unwanted (!) bonus triangles.  I plan to make the HST blocks before I determine the color I want for the solid blocks.

What's on your design wall?  Go check out Judy's blog to see some excellent design walls.

Design Wall Monday

I can't believe it's Monday already!  Sometimes I really have to scramble to have something blog-worthy on my wall to post.  Here is this week's offering:

I started this in January in a Bonnie Hunter class at Road to California.  Typical for one of Bonnie's patterns it has about a million pieces. See the lone block above the top row?  The quilt needs 224 of those.  Each of those 224 blocks has two half-square triangles and two 4-patches.  If my math is any good that means almost 450 1/2 squares and 450 4-patches.  Yup, that's a lot. 

I thought I had all the smaller units done and I plan to spend a good long time sewing them into 224 blocks.  It has taken me this long because I rarely work on it as my primary quilt.  I've done most of it this year by making it my leader/ender project.  It's been fun to see the project box fill up with completed units.

Tonight I sewed the final 4-patch unit.  I've thought for a LONG time that I already had all the 1/2 squares done but when I began making stacks to sew the blocks together I came the the very sad realization that I've been living under a delusion.  I still need about 100.  SIGH.

Go see what everyone else has on their design walls at Patchwork Times.

Have a fabulous Monday.

September UFO DONE!!

TaDa!!

It was a challenge to get this finished this month because I have my boy here!!  More on that in the next post, I want to talk about this quilt today.  This quilt was begun as a leader/ender project about, I don't know, SIX years ago!  I began by using  2-inch squares of dark fabric and sewing them into 2-patches.

When I got a HUGE pile of those, I started L/E (leader/endering) pairs of 2-inch squares of muslin.

When I got a HUGE pile of those, I started L/E 1/2 square triangles.  I did this by pairing larger muslin and dark squares (about 3 inches each) and sewing on both sides of the center diagonal line then cutting them apart to make two 1/2 squares that I trimmed to 2 inches. 

When I got a  HUGE pile of those, I started sewing them to the two squares of muslin or two of the dark 2-patches to make strips of 3. 

When I had a HUGE pile of those, I sewed a single muslin square to two dark squares.

Soon (a relative term), I had three piles of strips of 3-patches that looked like this:

FINALLY, I started sewing these strips together into 9-patches.  I sewed and sewed and sewed until I had 192 of them.  I was finally ready to lay out a quilt top and the playing commenced.  I decided to sew them together into the blocks you see by sewing 4 of the 9-patches together.  I wanted a zig-zag effect so I sewed an extra bit onto the end of each column of six blocks.  Looking at it now, I would probably end each row with a half block. 

Those of you who are very clever will have figured out that I could have accomplished this same effect by sewing 4-patches into 16-patches and then adding the 1/2 square triangle thingy that looks like a flying goose.  OR, I could have sewn... well, there are many ways to skin a cat, this is how I did it because I wasn't sure about the final layout.

The thing I like about this block is that it can be used in MANY layouts as you would use a log cabin block.  The advantage, as I see it, is that I can make them easily as a L/E project while making other quilts.  I see L/E quilts as almost making themselves.  The blocks just get sewn together while I am making other quilts.  The only direct attention I spend on them is when it comes to putting all the blocks together into a top.

The other thing I LOVE about this quilt is that I consider it almost free.  The only fabric in it that I actually purchased is 1/2 of the backing.  I pieced the batting from leftovers of other quilts and all of the 2-inch squares are scraps from my other quilts but mostly from my quilt guild friends who know how I will use any tiny scrap that they don't want to be bothered with.

Big decision is where I will donate this quilt. 


Hop over to Patchwork Times and see the other FINISHED UFOs!