My Little Library / Beauties Pageant 258

Here is my first batch of volumes from the Summer Book Club QAL. Kate Basti organizes this event dedicated to her Tall Tales paper-piecing block every summer. After many years of admiring others’ burgeoning little libraries, I have finally started my own.

My approach is simple: I aim to use each focal print once in my quilt top and tie everything together with a consistent background fabric and text print. I have many blocks in various stages of assembly right now, and as you can see from the pictures in this post, I’ve sewn everything from giraffes and sharks to birds and turtles.

I may be just 10 or 11 blocks into this project, but I have already learned some lessons ...

I have many more novelty fabrics than I thought. It’s easy when plotting a new project to presume I need to buy more fabric. As it turns out, I have plenty of novelty fabrics perfect for these little books. I’m glad I took the time to organize my fabric and separate the fussy-cut-able novelties from the rest of my stash.

If I can sew one quilt, I can sew two. I’ve established that I have all the fabric I need, but the process of selecting prints and coordinating spines and back covers has proved to be a time commitment. So I decided to make two quilt tops. I mean, if I am going to take the time to curate one fabric-y library, I might as well sew a second. (This is my own special brand of complicating things.)

Chain piecing can cause problems. Chain piecing can speed up the process of sewing the same block over and over again. It can also expedite sewing the same block over and over again incorrectly. Despite referring to a self-drafted cheat sheet that specifies all the pieces (and sizes) I need for a block, I keep mixing up the little bit at the top of the spine with the outside corner of the back cover. Thanks to chain piecing, I did this not once but, like, a dozen times. Blerg.

Foundation paper piecing is a time commitment. When I first started making my blocks, I thought they were going to go pretty fast because their construction is straightforward. Still, paper piecing requires pressing and trimming again and again. It takes time, and sewing two quilt tops requires even more. I think I will sew all the focal prints I have selected and cut out already for both projects and then call it quits for the time being. My goal for the summer is not to complete two tops but to have fun on the journey toward that end.

If you’re sewing along with the Summer Book Club and have a finished block or two, I’d love to see them in this week’s linky!

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My Gypsy Wife in Bonnie and Camille Fabric / Beauties Pageant 166

My Gypsy Wife quilt has been years in the making. I started it in 2018 as part of a guild sew-along, picked it back up in 2019 during Stitched in Color’s quilt-along, and vowed in 2021 that I would have it finished before the end of 2022. Here were are now, not even three months into 2022, and I am presenting my finished Gypsy Wife quilt!

Can I distill the multiyear process of sewing this beauty into a single blog post? Yes! What follows are the most noteworthy aspects of this finish, including advice if you’re considering your own GW project.

The Fabrics

Jen Kingwell’s Gypsy Wife pattern was all the rage back in 2014 or 2015. What prevented me from jumping on the bandwagon then was the huge number of fabric decisions the pattern entailed. It was intimidating! I am sure I could have found a shop that kitted the project. Instead, however, I made the fabric-decision process easier on myself by homing in on a subset of the Bonnie and Camille palette. 

I focused on red, pink, navy, aqua, and green (avoiding yellow, orange, and the different red from Happy-Go-Lucky and other earlier lines). I had a small B&C stash at the outset and supplemented that with everything from a layer cake and a jelly roll to fat quarters and yardage.

I started by making most of the focal blocks and some filler blocks, and then it was time to get everything on a design wall. I thought doing so would help me make smarter color decisions and avoid resewing certain blocks down the road. But to be honest, when all was said and done, I still chose to remake some blocks.

Low Volumes

I was surprised with how much fun I had sewing with low volumes in this project. I decided early on to use LVs for the long vertical strips, but there were many other LV prints that provided a nice variety to the mix of fabrics, like the aqua floral on white pictured below. I love how, when it’s cut up, the midsize design provides an unexpectedly irregular background amid the surrounding structured elements.

The back is also built around LVs. At first blush, it may seem to differ from my typical approach to piecing backs. (Read about that here.) It’s actually my tried-and-true recipe, amended to use up leftover swaths of yardage: I sewed two columns of fabric that were the length I needed and then added a third column in between them to create the required width. Doing so put the remaining fabrics from the top’s background strips to good use. The solid aquas from my stash fleshed out the LV palette nicely—and used up pastels that had the potential to linger long in my stash.

I usually use darker values for binding because they frame quilts so nicely, and originally, I planned to bind the project in the navy bias stripe found in places throughout the top. In the end, however, I used a LV—the bias stripe in gray—for the binding. That LV fades into the vertical background strips, letting the blocks take center stage.

The Quilting

After all of the time, effort, and money I invested in this project, it merited some special quilting. Plus, I was pretty tired of looking at the top by the time it was completed—I probably would have put the quilting off for another year if I hadn’t had the sense to send this project to Narda, of Maz Q’s Sewing and Quilting Studio, for an edge-to-edge panto!

Choosing a panto was an endeavor in itself, though. I wanted something that complemented the vertical nature of the GW design. Narda steered me to Julie Hirt’s 60s Mod Butterfly design. I am ecstatic about the results!

 

Advice for Gypsy Wife Hopefuls

If you’re considering your own Gypsy Wife project, my best advice for you is this: Do your homework first. Thousands of people have already tackled the pattern, and a few have been kind enough to document the process online. Some offer alternative ways to sew the filler blocks, info on errors in the diagrams, paper-piecing patterns for some of the focal blocks, and more tips on having a successful GW experience. Stitched in Color’s sew-along would be a good place to start. Good luck!

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Just. Keep. Sewing! / Beauties Pageant 160

Hello, my quilty friends! I’m popping in today with big news: I finished my Gypsy Wife flimsy! 

I started this project as part of a guild quiltalong in 2018, picked it up again in 2019 when Stitched in Color hosted a comparable event, and finally finished it in October 2021 and January 2022. I have to credit Leanne’s WIPs-B-Gone campaign for giving me the kick in the pants to bring it back into the light of day. : )

I have some final thoughts on the process of sewing this pattern, including recommendations if you’re consider making a Gypsy Wife yourself. I’ll save them for a future post that features the finished quilt, though. For now, here are some pretty pictures of some of my favorite blocks. (More often than not, I find myself swooning over the simple filler blocks and not the more complicated focal blocks. Go figure.)

Previous posts about this project can be found here and here.

This quilt was my oldest WIP. It feels so good to have the flimsy finished before February. Confession time ... What is your oldest WIP, and does it appear on your to-do list for this year?

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The Power of a Good Yarn-Dye / Beauties Pageant 158

We’re already two weeks into the new year, and I’m still wrapping up all things 2021! That includes blogging about my latest finish, this Quilt Buzz Bingo quilt.

Last summer, I joined the quiltalong for this project on a lark and, after developing and discarding various palettes, settled on these happy pinks and greens against a dark-blue background. (All the fabric details are listed here.)

I usually work with light backgrounds, but the blue I chose—a Cirrus Solids yarn-dye from Cloud9 called Ocean—was crucial to the final product. When I had just the green and pink blocks on my design wall (see pic, below), the palette emitted a modern Christmas vibe, which was lovely but not my intention. The dark blue erased all evidence of Christmassy-ness and replaced it with what I call “preppy summer.” The blue evokes, for me, intimations of dark denim, and the pinks and greens are the soft, well-worn cottons of a button-down shirt.

This was the first time I used a Cirrus Solid. I had bought it for a different project that never got off the ground and was pleased to find it a home in this quilt. It’s hard to notice in pictures the difference a yarn-dye makes. You’ll have to trust me when I say that the texture is lovely and provides a subtle contrast to the quilting cottons. I think even my beloved Kona Cotton would fall flat here when compared to the Cirrus Solid.

Narda, of Maz Q’s Sewing and Quilting Studio, quilted a pantograph on this project for me. I love how the loops soften the rigid geometry of those chunky blocks. I always appreciate Narda’s contribution to my projects! 

Do you have any experience with yarn-dyes in general or Cirrus Solids in particular? I’m officially a convert and already have large cuts at the ready for future projects. : )

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Quilt Buzz Bingo / Beauties Pageant 140

I had the pleasure of participating in this summer’s Quilt Buzz Bingo event. If you’re not familiar with this quilt-along, the idea is that you sew 25 blocks following a free pattern and arrange them as you wish. Your subsequent bingo card is based on that layout—you quite literally play a game of bingo with it! The whole idea is fun, and the modified log cabin-like construction makes for nice and easy summer sewing.

As you can see, the pattern is super chunky. It’s well suited for solids, but I pulled prints for my version. I started with my stash and then ended up buying a bunch of fabric. (And so the stash grows!) Each print is from a different manufacturer. You fabric nerds probably spotted the pale green dot from Bonnie and Camille (Moda), the floral from Heather Ross (Windham), and the pink arches from Amy Friend (Benartex). There’s also a green with butterfly-like squiggles from Andover. The awesome bright pink is from Makower. Then there’s the sashing, which is from Cloud9.

That sashing was critical to the final quilt top. When I had just the green and pink blocks on my design wall, the palette emitted a modern Christmas vibe, which was lovely but not my intention. The dark blue sashing, a Cirrus Solid, made all the difference. It erased all evidence of Christmassy-ness and replaced it with preppy summer. This collection of colors makes me think of a woven button-down shirt and cutoffs.

This top is about 70 inches square, so it’s big but not so big that I wouldn’t consider quilting it myself. I’m at a loss about how to approach the quilting, though. The simple design seems to want an equally simple quilting plan. Maybe a grid on point would do? Or just diagonal lines across the top as I did here? Your advice is appreciated!

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Ready, Set, Puppy! / Beauties Pageant 134

Love Boldly by Betsy and Narda

I have been a busy, busy sewist and quilter lately—well, as busy as I can be without actually touching my sewing machine. I’ve been drafting a new pattern (fun!), collating and bagging freshly printed patterns for wholesale (fun! fun!), and plotting new windows treatments for my first floor (not fun, but necessary!). 

This may sound as if I have a bunch of free time on my hands when, actually, the exact opposite is true: My boys’ summer is in full swing and I spend a good part of my days getting them to where they need to be. That’s me, crafter-cum-chauffeur. All this quilty activity is instead me trying to get as much done as possible because we’re getting a puppy next week!

Love Boldly by Barbara

Love Boldly by Simone

We’ve been trying to get a little floof for over a year, and there are some puppers in Rhode Island who will be ready for their new homes over the Fourth of July weekend. My husband, kids, and I are over-the-moon excited. And Rose, our current furry family member? Well, Rose is about to have her world turned upside down by a little sister named Gracie. (For posts on Rose, see Quilting with a Golden Retriever; Rose, the Reluctant Quilt Model; and Rose, Textile Enemy No. 1.)

As you can tell from the accompanying pics, we don’t have any yet of sweet Gracie. (I promise to remedy that.) This post is instead peppered with pics from the recent Love Boldly quilt-along that I hosted on Instagram. I can’t tell you how thrilling it is to see what others create with my patterns. These are beauties for sure. : )

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A Patriotic Pillow / Beauties Pageant 125

I love when the online quilting community rallies for a good cause. It’s something that seems to come naturally to us as quilters. So when Karen Dorey was diagnosed with breast cancer, I wasn’t surprised to learn that her friends Mia and Melanie were planning an auction on Instagram to support their friend and defray the cost of her medical care.

The auction will take place in two weeks, on April 30 and May 1, at a dedicated Instagram feed: @gopinkforkaren. Our hosts expect to post auction items (with the comments disabled) in the near future, so follow the auction feed now to see the drool-worthy creations and quilting supplies (read: fabric!) that will be available for bids at the end of the month.

My contribution to this effort is my recently finished patriotic pillow, pictured at the top of the post. This is the bonus block design that comes with my Love Boldly pattern. I like how it came out so much that for the upcoming quilt-along (read all the details here), I am making a throw-size quilt out of nine of these flag blocks.

I’m working ahead of schedule, sewing blocks, taking pictures, and writing copy for the newsletter that accompanies the quilt-along. Below is my first block, and it’s such a beauty. At first I thought I would have to buy new fabric for this endeavor, but I realized that the blues and reds in Basic Grey’s Biscuits and Gravy collection, which was conveniently living in my stash, would work well. Basic Grey is one of my favorite design houses, and Biscuits and Gravy makes for a dreamy American flag palette. Love!

I’ve mentioned before that this block entails a clever (if I do say so myself!) sew-cut-resew technique. See what I mean in this Instagram reel. : )

One of my pattern testers, Mary, tried out this bonus design, too, and I had to include it here. It’s so smart. If only the navy background would camouflage Golden Retriever hair, I would use it myself!

 

I have been somewhat obsessed with American flag quilts, so the fact that I could take my Love Boldly block and transform it into an American flag was a nice surprise. (It look me well over a year after initially designing the striped-heart block to look at it and see a flag!) I have a fledgling Pinterest board on flag quilts. If you have suggestions on what I should add to it, I’m all ears! And if you have a flag finish of your own in the archives, post it to this week’s Beauties Pageant. Yes, please!

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