Patchwork City Last Block and a Redo

Happy belated Thanksgiving! Everyone have their fill of turkey? Wonderful visits with family? I know I have! All of the festivities have kept me away from quilting--but nice to have a break to refresh.

Today is the last post of the Patchwork City blocks. Yeah!

This one is called Fence, and is another of my favs! Strip pieced with flip and stitch triangles, this one was fun and easy to put together, and as the last one, makes the project worth it.

These little blocks were put on the design wall halfway through, so colors weren't repeated. Wish I would have looked at that when I first started because I found an area of too much blue, with block two and three, Favorite Sweater and Streetlight. Both blocks are on the left in each picture.

Oops! One had to change, so I remade Favorite Sweater, and I like it MUCH better!

Here's all of the finished blocks on the design wall. Aren't they awesome together???

On the left, right, and bottom, I'm testing out different plum/blue shot cottons to see which works best. I think the one on the right is the winner, as it is a bit brighter than the others. But I only have a fat quarter of it (that's all the store had, darn it!), so a bit of planning is required for sashing and border treatments.

I'll be posting the finish in another week or so--hang in there for the big reveal!

Have a great weekend!

Patchwork City Month 12

I've seriously jumped ahead on the Patchwork City (affiliate link) project, as now I'm at Month 12. After this, just one more block!

Today, we have Sushi and Food Truck. Now don't those two go together?? Too bad they're in different areas of the quilt!

In the making of Sushi, I found the HexnMore ruler to be very handy for cutting the trapezoids, though the sizes had to be played with a bit. Then it was a really easy block to put together.

Food Truck was super quick--straight lines! What more could one ask for? Especially when nearing the end of a project!

Hang in there with me--just one more post to go before the big finish. I think you'll love it--I know I do!

Have an incredibly awesome weekend quilting!

The Shape by Shape Book

I have gotten a ton of use from Angela Walter's book, Shape by Shape (affiliate link) these past two months. Such a great resource for quilting ideas!

Today, I have a parade of those quilts using her designs, or variations of.

The first  to benefit from one of her design ideas is Chicklettes.

It sports Offset Squares, in a rectangle design. Looks fabulous on this quilt!

The next quilt, Naptime, 

uses the Wavy, Wavy design, adding that perfect bit of ocean.

Playtime, a fun quilt with ric rac,

uses the Wavy Variation, both on the stripes of the fabric, and repeated in the border.

Can you tell I love this book? 

And here's a sneak peek at the border design for Patchwork Suburb.

It's based on her dot-to-dot border design, but bears little resemblance. I'll post more on this one once the quilt is done.

Happy Quilting!

Wild Cherry Limeade

Welcome! Would you like to try some Wild Cherry Limeade? Sounds like an awesome drink, doesn't it? Well, in this case, it's the title of my latest quilt!

Wild isn't it? My husband wonders what I was drinking when I thought this up--I'll just say that there was almost Sangria in the title!

Started back in June, the project moved to the front of the list in October. Made from the Chic Kisses pattern from Sew Kind of Wonderful, I put my own spin of ric rac on it, approximately 11 yards. 

Here's a few more up close pictures.

As for the ric rac, it was first stitched through the center to the curves of the blocks, with the ends to go in the seam allowances. After the top was assembled and the quilting done, the curvy edges were stitched down so that the ric rac would stay flat and not fold over. The jumbo ric rac was just too wide to let it be free.

And of course, quilting detail. An open stipple in the black background, avoiding the cherry print; straight lines in wedges; figure eights in the green centers; and the pretty four patch design, complete with cherries and lime wedges.

Last week, I gave a tutorial on stitching the four patch design. There are lots of variations possible within the basic framework--just change the fill, and it's totally different.

And love those cherries!

How to stitch those are also on the same tutorial. Love em'!

And what quilt wouldn't be complete without a peek at the backside?

Yes, I was brave and used a solid pink to go with the front. Shows off all that pretty quilting! Now to make a label, and attach a sleeve, and up on a hanging rod it goes.


Wild Cherry Limeade anyone?

Patchwork City Month 11

Oh! Month 11 for those Patchwork City (affiliate link) blocks. Getting close! According to the Westside pattern in the book, these two would be block #11 and #24.

There are 25 blocks in this quilt, and now I have just three more to go! So close!

I guess I was in a blue mood when I put these together. But actually, I had all the other blocks on the design wall to check for color placement. I didn't want to get this far and make a block without checking what it's neighbors looked like.

Anyway, the above blocks are called Spotlight and Lobby. The center of Spotlight was paper pieced, and that little center star finishes at 1 7/8". T-I-N-Y! Remember, these blocks finish at just under 4" square.

Lobby was a bit tricky to get adjoining seams to match up, as it appears I'm a smidge off on the upper left. But I'm sure that when it's quilted, it will be fine.

So hang in there with me, just a couple more block posts, and then it's on to the quilting! I don't know about you, but I'm really excited to see the finish--it's been a long journey!

Have a great day quilting!

Quilt Design for a Four Patch

Yesterday, I gave a sneak peek of the four patch quilting on my Chic Kisses quilt.

And today is the tutorial on quilting this creation, along with how to stitch the cherries, and bury thread tales.

Guided by Angela Walter's Shape by Shape (affiliate link) book, I wanted to showcase nice quilting in this four patch area. I started the design by dividing each edge in half and connecting those points with arcs, then echoing them and adding a ladder fill to complete the main part. Lime wedges and cherries complete the rest.

To quilt this design, I used 5" and 3" circles for the arcs,

after marking the edge center points, using washout and chalk markers. 

Marked before quilting each section, and removed with a spritz of water after quilting each section, I've had no residual problems. 

Using the 5" circle, the long arc is stitched,

then the 3" arcs to the corners.

Continuing through the black square, 

the echo line is made putting the edge of the circle ruler on the stitch line, and stopping when the foot gets 1/4" away from the first stitching.

When that's complete, the ladder stitching starts with a straight line from a center point to a center point.

Approximate 1/4" spacing goes between the lines here, travelling over the arcs, and stopping near the tip.

Lime wedges are stitched on the edges, first by marking the template and transferring those marks to the fabric.

Stitching here is doubled so that it can originate from the center, and not backtrack over the arcs.

Another great idea for this space would be pebbles, or tiny swirls. The options are endless for filling spaces! 

The last part, 'putting the cherry on top' so to say, is frankly, quilting the cherries in the center. These were really easy--I'll show you how!

Make a small arc for the stem, then stop. Make a circle, (see the top of the diagram)

and when back at the top, swoop down to make a small 's' curve. Backtrack on the 's' curve and the stem to the start of the next cherry. Easy huh?

I marked my cherries in the center, just so I wouldn't get confused in placement and direction. But they were so fun to stitch out!

Notice I have a lot of thread tails hanging. All starts and stops were tied off and buried, and in the process of burying, I learned a couple things. First, leave a bit of thread slack before pulling through.

Having no slack, like this,

was really tough because there wasn't enough thread on one side of the needle eye to easily pull through. And the thread didn't slip through the eye easily either. Having a bit of slack made getting that thread buried less of a struggle.

The other option I tried was threading the needle with a loop of thread, and putting the thread tales through the loop, 

then pulling through. That was easy too. I used both ways.

I do hope that this little tutorial has inspired you to create your own quilting designs. Divide up the space and start creating!

Happy Quilting!

Patchwork City Month 10

Here's another set of blocks from Patchwork City, 

Intersection and Mini Storage. Both of these were fun to make, and I'm happy with both. And once again, both would make great quilts on their own.

Only five more blocks to go, which I'll show over the next few days. Since I sped ahead and finished them up, today's project is to do the sashing and put them together. Still contemplating quilting designs, but I'm sure they'll come to me. 

And here's a sneak peek of the Chic Kisses quilt.

Using Angela Walter's Shape by Shape, (affiliate link) I came up with this design for the corner squares. A tutorial on putting this design together is coming soon! And the big quilt reveal is just waiting on the binding getting done.

Hope you have a great day quilting--it's raining, with thunderstorms here, so lots of time sewing today!