Delightful--that's what it means to me to go shopping in my own fabric stash. I intended to build a colorful quilt, and end up making 3 scrappy queen size quilts!
Look at this pile of vibrant fabric remnants I re-discovered in my sewing studio. Ah-ha! And they were just sitting there in the armoire for a long long time. Folded stacks of 1/4 and 1/2 yard hunks of fabric, waiting patiently for a second chance.
Quickly I grabbed up lots of yellow, orange, hot pink, and red. Then selected compliment colors for each: purples, blues, and I salt and peppered it with a bit of sage green, and a black and white stripe.
My recipe: cut remnants into 2.5" wide strips, and mixed thoroughly. I saved all the 1.5" cabbage and gave it to my friend Jerry who looms beautiful rugs. The slivers, threads and lint went to the waste management truck.
Top-right is the dwindling pile of 2.5" wide strips. I selected 6 strips and sewed them together lengthwise to form sheets of fabric, each 12.5" by 40".
After lightly pressing the seams, I used a 10.5" square. acrylic template to trim and divide the sheet into (3) rail fence blocks. Since I didn't have enough of the fabric sheet to produce (4) rail fence blocks I used the "Leftover" to sub-cut into 2.5" wide strips (shown at the lower left).
As I continued to build fabric sheets 12.5 x 40 and make rail fence blocks, the Leftover pile grew and grew (see lower left of photo).
Then my strategy changed! I decided to make the Leftover 2.5" strips into a separate quilt with the working title, "You're Kidding Me".
This is the countertop next to my 1992 Kenmore sewing machine--showing a couple piles of 6 strip sets ready to sew together to make 12.5" x 40" sheets. And way in the background is the Leftover strips to be sewn into 36-patch blocks. Still with me?
Yesterday afternoon's photo of the "You're Kidding Me" queen size quilt. I added busy black and white 2.5" wide sash and solid black corner stones.
(Not shown) Then the 2" wide solid black border got bigger when attached to a 4" finish fabric (black and white coarse weave patterned companion fabric). Wouldn't you know, I was tired when I left the studio last night, and failed to get a photo of the finished pieced quilt top. I promise, I will add more photos as I finish the You're Kidding Me queen size quilt. This morning I am sewing the backing with an art panel.
So far--I sewed 106 rail fence blocks--and they will become queen size quilts. The sashing for those (2) quilts will be a medium blue, and a medium gray. I've already picked out working titles for those quilts: Saturday Morning, and Spare Change.
I want to tell you how enjoyable the processes of rummaging through my fabric stash has been. I haven't shopped for fabric in the last 6 months. By shopping my stash--(stash busting) I feel good about making farmhouse scrappy quilts.
Above: During Construction--here's the first two rows of the You're Kidding Me queen size quilt. I pinned the 2-row quilt on the quilting frame to review and to measure. I wanted to understand and make decisions what I'd need to finish it. When finished, the quilt has (42) 36-patch blocks. 6 blocks per row, 7 rows in length. It's going to be 94 x 104 ample queen size when complete.
Updated 12/10/20 - I finished the You're Kidding Me Queen size quilt. Here are some pics.
My Sewing Machines: My go-to piecing sewing machines are--a 1992 Kenmore, and a 1954 Singer 301A. The Singer 301 stitches very fast, upwards of 1300 stitches per minute--so I use a blade edged presser foot to keep my piecing straight and accurate, a scant 1/4" seam allowance. The Kenmore is slower with a top speed of 900 stitches per minute.
About my 1992 Kenmore. I bought new machines twice over the last 30 years--and each time I used my 1992 Kenmore for a trade-in. What was I thinking?????
BOTH TIMES I realized my mistake and went back to the vendor and bought back my 1992 Kenmore. It is the best machine I've ever used.
Maintenance-Easy:
Every day I clean the lint out of the bobbin cavity and bobbin race with 3-4 stick cotton swabs. I find it especially important to clean the feed dogs using a straight pin to lift out lint build up. Believe me, my machine tells me (and shows me) when its time to clean.
Every 8-12 hours of sewing I install a new 90/14 sewing machine needle.
Every week I open up the front end, and add a drop of sewing machine oil to each of the joints of the needle bar assembly.
I arrange for Miss Kenmore 1992 to be serviced every other year by Ken Ropson (Mr. Wizard) of Green Bay, WI--he's the best in the business.
Thank you for looking at my work. I'm off to the studio to make the backing for You're Kidding Me quilt. I hope to have it on the frame to quilt by the weekend.
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Yup, I'm lost....and yup, I'm tired FOR you. YIKES!!!!! It is so obvious that you truly love what you do. And these scrappy quilts have all the hallmarks of being "happy" quilts. ;-) Hope your December is off to a great start! ~Robin~
ReplyDeleteHello Linda, Lately the weather has been rainy, cold, and dreary, so all your colorful scraps seem like a summer flower garden. I am wondering for a quilt do all the fabric pieces need to be of the same material--i.e., all wool, all 100%-cotton, etc.?
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello my friend Jim. Answering your question. There are many types of quilts. Some quilts are smaller wall hangings/art pieces, whereas my quilts are 100% cotton and are "washable" bed covers.
ReplyDeleteIn my area, I see Wool fabric cut into shapes and strips to make Americana Folk Art penny medallion wool table toppers and wool "hooked" floor rugs. I believe the preferred way to clean wool projects is to take it outside to hang and beat them with a "rug beater" that can be described as a type of instrument that is made of heavy metal wires, and resembles a tennis racket shape. Beating the wool with a "rug beater" repeatedly releases dust and dirt. Also wool art pieces can be taken outside and covered with powdery light snow. Fluffing the wool piece in the snow releases dust and dirt. The light airy snow doesn't saturate the wool, and so shrink doesn't occur.
I choose 100% cotton fabrics to make my bed quilts. 100% cotton quilting fabrics tend to shrink after washing about 1/2" per yard. The density of long arm quilting can limit the amount of shrink too. But, in the world of bedquilts, shrinkage is an expected result, a much desired and traditional crinkle shrinkage after washing in a washing machine.
Speaking of that, I choose 100% cotton to make quilts to be conveniently laundered in a washing machine and dried by machine. I call my quilts--farmhouse quilts because they are intended to be used everyday, and laundered often. I would not mix wool and cotton to make a bed quilt. Wool shrinkage is extreme when cleaned (agitated with hot sudsy water), and the result is called "Felted Wool". I would not mix polyester and cotton to make a quilt either. 100% Polyester material does not shrink at all.
Gee, I hope I have answered your question well enough. Forgive me if I added information that you already know. My friend Robin from The CrankyCrow knows all about using wool materials. Perhaps she'll add more to our discussion.
Thank you Jim for visiting my blog, and liking my work. I appreciate your kindness.
Beautiful, colorful quilt !
ReplyDelete