Ugh — I spent so much time selecting the fabric combination for this 4-Patch Plus block for my Tilda Scrappy Celebration quilt. Then I spent some more time ironing the annoying heavy creases out of my Tilda precuts (definitely a downside of buying Fat Eighth packs vs yardage), and then I spent even more rotary cutting the squares and rectangles for this block, exactly in accordance with my planning notes that I jotted down about a year ago. Do you see anything wrong with this picture?
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| Original Fabric Pull: Hmmm, What's Wrong With This Picture??? |
Well, I didn’t see anything wrong with it until I’d spent about an hour carefully stitching those vertically striped 1 1/2” squares (stash fabric) to solid blue and green 2 1/2” squares. Then I started adding the other striped fabric square to each of those units and noticed that my 3-square units, once sewn together with seam allowances, were an awful lot shorter than the solid blue and green rectangles that needed to be sewn to them next... And then I remembered that the cut-out patches for a pieced unit that is supposed to finish 3 1/2" square should take up more space on the table than the 3 1/2" print square next to it because of seam allowances! Aaargh! I should have double-checked my cutting notes before I started cutting, or at least sewn a single test block before cutting up all that fabric. I didn’t have enough of the blue or green fabric to recut my plus pieces to the correct size (another downside to working with small "fat eighth" precut packs of fabric, no extra to make up for miscuts), and I didn’t have enough of that striped stash fabric to recut 48 larger squares, either.
So I decided to set the red print fabric aside to use in another 4-patch block, recut 3 1/2” squares of the same print with a blue background, and made my plus units work for a 9-patch block instead. I was able to make three of these from what I’d cut out, and I think they turned out pretty cute.
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| Save! 4 Patch Block Becomes a 9 Patch Block |
I like to include a rear-view shot for my future reference, reminding me how I pressed the seams for the block:
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| The Rear View Pressing Plan |
Here’s my in-progress picture. I love lining up all my fabric bits and pieces and watching the block come together as I sew. :-)
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| Blocks In Progress |
And I’m really enjoying my little setup, too, with my ironing board set up at chair height on my left and my little IKEA cart pulled up to my right for my water bottle and my little bin for thread tails.
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| Loving My Pack-Away U-Shaped Setup for Piecing |
However, not sure whether I'll make any more of these blocks before taking them off the design wall and packing them away again. Why, you ask? 🤗
Stonefields Update
I AM SO EXCITED that Gretchen Weaver of Gretchen's Little Corner and Chris Forster of Quilting at the Farm have both agreed to dig out their Stonefields patterns and start making this quilt with me! And now Chris has emailed me that Hanne Schneider of Hanne's Quilt Corner, who had made quite a bit of progress on her Stonefields before setting it aside, has agreed to pick it up again so she will on her quilt with us as well. Woot woot! Hurrah! Yippee!!! Isn't it a wild, magical world we live in, where quilters from Canada, Florida, Indiana, and Norway can come together virtually to work on a project together?
And it's not too late for anyone else who might want to join us, either. Chris says she prewashed her background fabric and cut out a lot of appliqué background squares 9 or 10 years ago before setting everything aside in a box, but Chris is off on a Norwegian cruise with her daughter right now with her box of supplies waiting patiently for her return. Gretchen is working on some other projects and thinks she'll be ready to start her Stonefields sometime in July. I want to start as soon as I get my background fabric, but it doesn't really matter how soon I start. I sew about as fast as a snail stuck in molasses, so you could start yours six months after I start mine and you'll still probably finish your quilt faster than me!
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| 96 x 96 Stonefields Quilt, Pattern by Susan Smith |
The Stonefields quilt pattern is by Australian quilt designer Susan Smith and they still have copies available for sale at Sentimental Stitches, Sweetwater Cotton Shop, and in the U.K. at Pincushion Pantiles. This Etsy seller has one copy of the pattern left as well (that last one is an affiliate link). Fun facts about this quilt for anyone on the fence about making it: The blocks finish at 6", so they will be easier than the 4" blocks in the "Dear Jane"/"In Wartime 1863" quilt by Jane Sickle. The pattern calls for hand piecing, appliqué, English paper piecing (EPP) and hand embroidered details, but there's no reason you couldn't use machine piecing, machine applique, decorative machine stitches in place of hand embroidery, or whatever other techniques you prefer. If all those EPP flowers in the borders are giving you the heebie-jeebies, you can either skip them altogether in favor of a pretty border print like our late friend Nanette chose to do with her Stonefields quilt, OR you make all those EPP flowers with your sewing machine! Check out this tutorial on YouTube showing how to sew EPP hexie flowers with a sewing machine blanket stitch. I know I've seen another tutorial for EPP by machine somewhere that was done differently, sewn from the right side of the project with the two hexie edges butted up together and a tiny zigzag stitch sewn in monofilament thread. If some of the blocks in the quilt look too fiddly for you, substitute a machine embroidered block or something else entirely. No excuses! This quilt is like a box of truffles, something special for everyone, and if there's a weird block or two that really isn't your thing, no one is going to force you to eat it. We are quilting anarchists over here, no quilt police allowed, and anything goes.
Back to my version: Another reason for setting the Scrappy Celebration project aside is that I kind of want to use my Tilda Prints for my Stonefields quilt and it's starting to feel like a waste, cutting them up for boring 9- and 4-patch blocks for a random project with no planned purpose.
I read in the Month One instruction booklet for Stonefields (it was originally released as a Block of the Month pattern but I am not setting any deadlines for myself) that designer Susan Smith used Emma Louise Premium Cotton Muslin fabric for her original Stonefields quilt, and in her supply list she talks about the importance of choosing a "high quality background fabric that can support the weight of the appliqué, especially the EPP border." I'd never heard of Emma Louise fabric but further digging online revealed that it's made in Japan and stocked by Australian quilt shops but no US distributor that I could find. Due to my nature, which is completely outside of my control, the hassle of obtaining this fabric meant that it was the ONLY fabric I wanted to use... Go ahead, all of you -- I'll wait while you roll your eyes at me.
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| Emma Louise Premium Muslin in 706 European Linen, Headed My Way |
The original Stonefields quilt uses this fabric in the Pale Coffee color that Susan says was dark enough to get contrast with white fabrics in the quilt, but the Pale Coffee color looked a little too yellow-cream to me so I went with the European Linen color instead. It appears to be a similar value to Pale Coffee but more of a cool neutral taupe. I think it will play nicely with my Tilda fabrics. Honestly it will probably appear in my mailbox after being shipped from the other side of the world and be indistinguishable from Bella Solids or something else I could have gotten locally, but at least my curiosity will be satisfied and I will be able to try something new. USPS tracking says that this box of Japanese fabric from the Australian quilt shop will arrive in my mailbox TODAY! Can't wait to get started on this project!
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| Peonies For Sale at Whole Foods Yesterday |
Before I drag my lawn chair down to the mailbox to wait for the mail truck to bring my fabric, I'll leave you with this photo of gorgeous peonies that I snapped at Whole Foods yesterday. The colors are glorious! Sometimes when I look at the brightly colored botanical fabric prints from Kaffe Fassett and Anna Maria they look like exaggerations of nature, but then I see real live flowers in person like these, reminding me that Mother Nature's sense of color is anything but dull.
Happy sewing, everyone! I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:
MONDAY
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Musings at Songbird Designs
TUESDAY
To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
THURSDAY
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
FRIDAY
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty
TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday
SUNDAY
Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué
Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
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