Stonefields Applique Prepped, Blocks 5-13 + Applipops vs Perfect Circle Templates

Good morning, my lovelies!  I have been having so much fun prepping my Stonefields Month One appliqué blocks this week!  You know, digging through scrap bins and working with scissors and something suspiciously similar to Elmer's School Glue to put these little blocks together makes me feel like I've been transported across space and time back to kindergarten arts and crafts.  It's magical and so cathartic.  If you are someone who admires appliqué from a distance but thinks "I'd never have the patience," I urge you to give it a try sometime.  It is so much like those school projects from decades ago where we dug through old catalogs and wallpaper sample books and construction paper scraps from other projects, cutting things out with our safety scissors (we were fussy cutting!) and trying to eat the paste when the teacher wasn't looking.  I know of no other pastime that can make me forget my arthritis and my wrinkles, dissolve all the cares of the world, and make me feel like a 5-year-old again.

Here are my Stonefields Blocks 5-13, prepped and ready for stitching:

Stonefields Blocks 5-13, Prepped and Ready to Stitch

When I say that my blocks are "prepped and ready for stitching," I mean that I've made heat resistant plastic templates for all of the applique shapes, selected the fabrics, traced the shapes onto the wrong side of my fabric scraps with a pencil, cut the shapes out with an eyeballed scant 1/4" turning allowance, and preturned those seam allowance/turning allowances by wetting them with starch and pressing them back over the edges of the heat resistant templates.  Then I used the pattern sheets and a light box to position the applique shapes on my background fabric and basted them in place temporarily using tiny dots of Roxanne's Glue Baste-It (this post contains affiliate links).  I put those drops of glue about an eighth to a sixteenth inside the edge of the patch so I won't be hand stitching through the glue.  By the way, this preparatory process is exactly the same regardless of whether I was planning to stitch the shapes down by hand or with my sewing machine using an invisible appliqué stitch.  If sewing by machine I would just need to slip scraps of tearaway embroidery stabilizer beneath each block before stitching to prevent puckering.  I'm not going to promise that there won't be any machine stitched applique on this quilt, but for now I'm going to stitch my applique by hand using my favorite YLI 100 wt Silk thread and my Bohin size 12 Applique Needles.  I love how these thin needles and thread create truly invisible stitches that just sink into my fabric and disappear.

A Spoonful of Sugar, A Capful of Starch + Quilting That Is More Fun Than Stitch In the Ditch

Well, my plan was to complete all of the SID (Stitch In the Ditch) quilting throughout the entirety of my 102" x 102" Deco quilt before starting to quilt the fancy designs.  Instead, I got this wild Mary Poppins idea in my head about how a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down and it probably wouldn't hurt to quilt just a few fancy designs on my quilt before I advanced to SID the next row, just to see what they will look like...

Finally Some Quilting I Can See!

In hindsight, the designs I stitched in the light blue squares are more densely quilted than I had intended.  I knew this 10% into stitching the first one, and I could have stopped the machine right then, picked out those stitches, and chosen a less dense, faster stitching design.  But I didn't want to spend 30 minutes picking out those stitches.  Now I'll have to quilt the rest of the behemoth of a quilt more densely to balance it out, which will take an extra hundred hours or so...  😳. I have a very peculiar and inefficient laziness whereby avoiding work creates much more work.  Anyway, it's gratifying to see some quilting texture on this quilt.   As this is a bed quilt and I want it to finish softer than cardboard, I"m using 50 wt matte polyester So Fine thread in my needle paired with MagnaGlide 60 wt thread in my bobbin.  This is going to take forever...  Wicked thought: What if I just CUT THE QUILT OFF at the bottom of this row, and instead of a bed quilt it can be a TABLE RUNNER?!  

Here's how those designs look in the setting triangles across the top of the quilt stitched in contrasting Teal thread against the solid Indigo background fabric:

Setting Triangles Quilted in So Fine Thread, Color Teal Against Indigo Fabric

All day today and yesterday, in between forced frisbee outings with His Little Highness the Dog, I was working on my Deco quilt.  But wait -- there's more!  A few days ago, I started prepping appliqué for my Stonefields quilt!

Grunt Work: SID Quilting on Deco + Appliqué Prep for Stonefields

Welcome to today's boring blog post.  I'm bored already and I am the one writing it -- not a good sign, but let's begin.

😂.  Clearly I was not in a good mood when I started writing this blog post yesterday!  Good thing I left it in Draft mode or I might have driven all of you away for good!  The blog post begun with a bad attitude yesterday and revised with a better attitude today is about not-so-glamorous prep work at the front end of a project that lays the foundation for smooth sailing and a successful finish.  It's like stretching in the morning or flossing your teeth before you go to bed -- you can skip this stuff if you want to, but you'll probably pay for it later if you do!  I'll be talking about the foundational stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on my Deco quilt as well as getting my appliqué templates ready for my next Stonefields quilt blocks.  

Quilting Begins on My Deco Quilt

I Loathe the Drudgery of Stitching In the Ditch Quilting!

Stitching in the ditch -- quilting along patchwork seamlines -- is utter and abysmal drudgery.  If you do it really well, you can't see the quilting at all and sometimes that results in quilting over a line you already stitched because you couldn't see it.  But if you wobble or some speck of thread or bit of gook on your carriage wheels creates a hiccup in your straight line of quilting, it will stick out at you like Pinnochio's nose or a lump on the noggin of the Wylie Coyote.  And right now I DO have something somewhere that is giving me grief.  I wish I'd done a thorough cleaning of my carriage wheels before I loaded this quilt because it's really hard to get to all of them with a quilt on the frame.  It could also be that one of the machine's cables is catching on something at the back of the frame and needs adjusting, but I can't see what's going on back there when I'm quilting manually from the front of the frame and Bernie has been too busy lately to help me troubleshoot.  

Here's a block in the top row before the ditch quilting:

Not Quilted Yet

Below, I have outlined all of the green squares with stitching in the ditch.  Do you see those couple of wobble bumps?  Those are happening when I feel my machine catching on something ever so slightly.  I am stitching very slowly and using a straight edge quilting ruler as a guide, but then suddenly the machine gets knocked away from my ruler edge by some microscopic obstruction and Bad Words come out of my mouth.  For now I am just ignoring it and soldiering on.  Every imperfection is glaring when the quilt is on the frame under the bright lights and I am hyperfocused on every stitch.  Much of what looks like a catastrophe in the moment ends up not being a big deal in the end, and anything that is STILL a catastrophe at the end can be ripped out and restitched if it still drives me crazy.

I'm using Aurifil monofilament thread in color Smoke (this post contains affiliate links) with Fil-Tec MagnaGlide Classic 60 wt navy bobbin thread, in case anyone is interested.  If you can't find MagnaGlide Classic, it doesn't come in the color you need, or your machine can't accept prewound bobbins, Superior's 60 wt Bottom Line or Microquilter would be good alternatives.  You can even wind monofilament on your bobbin but beware -- it's prone to stretching so slow your bobbin winding speed way down, only wind your bobbin half full, and recognize that with invisible thread top and bottom it will be much more difficult to monitor your tension throughout the quilting process.  Those are the reasons I prefer not to use monofilament thread in my bobbin even though it works beautifully in my Berninas.  Oh, and I'm also using Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 Black batting. I know that if/when I wash this quilt, the needle holes will close up and my imperfections will be less visible.  You don't see the monofilament thread against my green fabric, but you do see tiny specks of black batting in the needle holes if you put your nose right up to the quilt and you have your strongest reading glasses on your face.  Ask me how I know this.  👀

SID Finished (Sloppily) Around Green Squares

I deliberately did not SID the seams between navy patches within those blocks because I want to deemphasize those seams and do some other quilting in those areas to make the background recede and the green squares pop forward.  These are vague plans half formed in my mind; I won't decide for sure until after I see how my digital designs look stitched out.

My big, boring accomplishment for this week is that I have done this SID quilting to all of the green and navy blocks across the top row of the quilt.  I think I am going to rip off my ruler base tomorrow and start stitching the digital designs in the setting triangles between these blocks, because I am hoping that will cheer me up and distract me from my wobbly SID quilting.  Imaginary Judge's comments: "Straight lines should be straight."  Duh.  My dog thinks it looks awesome, so there!  ;-)

Deco is Loaded + Stonefields Prep: Overcasting Appliqué Background Blocks

Greetings, my lovelies!   This will be just a quick update to share what I accomplished in the last few days before I head to New Jersey for my mom’s burial service.  No, I don’t have any hand stitching prepped for my trip, but I did get a little prep work done so I’ll have things ready to stitch when I get home.

My Deco quilt is loaded on my long arm machine and my ruler base is on the machine, woot woot!  When I get back to Florida I’ll be ready to start stabilizing this custom quilt project by stitching in the ditch between blocks with my favorite Aurifil Smoke monofilament thread.  This is a big bed quilt, 102” x 102”, and I’m in no rush whatsoever.  Expect to see dribbles of progress over the next few months on this one.

102 x 102 Deco Quilt Loaded on my Bernina Q24 Long Arm Machine

Second accomplishment, I have made some progress on the prep work for my new sampler project, the Stonefields Quilt by Susan Smith!  The pattern instructions told me to cut out forty 6 1/2” background blocks for appliqué.  I ultimately decided to tear my fabric instead of ripping it per the instructions in Jeanne Sullivan’s book, and I tore my squares at a generous 7 1/2” square so I’d be able to trim them with the serger knife when overcasting the raw edges and still have excess to trim after stitching the appliqué.  I think that was a good amount of trimming insurance as the blocks are about 7 1/4” now after the serger knife trimmed the whiskers away.

40 Appliqué Background Blocks for Stonefields Prepped

Did I really need to overcast the edges on these little blocks?  Debatable.  There is definitely a potential for fraying of the raw block edges on larger, more complex blocks that will be handled a lot during hand stitching (like my 19” FrankenWhiggish blocks, still awaiting the final stuffed berries).  These Stonefields blocks are small and relatively simple, so they might have been fine without overcasting.  

Decisions for Deco Quilting + Stonefields Quilt "Shirtings"

Hello, quilting friends!  Another page has been ripped off the calendar and we find ourselves in the month of June, in the year 2025, which -- by the way -- remember when that was like a science fiction "way in the future" year?  (Alas, no Jetsons rocket ship cars or, my absolute favorite, the automated conveyor belt closet that gets you showered and dressed for your day while you are still sleeping...)

Okay, so my Tuesday To Do is going to be super light this week.  Mom has declined significantly since we moved her to Austin a month ago.  Her lung cancer has spread to her brain and she is barely eating anything.  Home hospice began May 27th and I'm flying out to see her tomorrow.  If I get any hand stitching prepped today, I'll bring it with me, but it's already 2:30 PM and here I am yet again, writing a blog post instead of actually handling fabric.  Why?  Because I've made some design decisions that I want to record while they are fresh in my mind.

Next On My Long Arm: Deco Quilt for Custom Quilting

Now that I've finished custom quilting that vintage sampler for my friend Marybeth, my long arm frame is open and available for the Deco quilt top I finished in March.  While I'm not in a huge rush to dive into another custom quilting project, I've wasted invested a lot of time over the past week thinking about how I want to quilt it once I'm ready.  

My Deco Quilt Top With My Anna Maria Floral Print Backing Fabric

My Deco needs to be custom quilted because the whole reason I was drawn to the pattern in the first place was that I thought it had great possibilities for custom quilting.  That's what drew me to the Building Blocks Sampler quilt that I (typically) overcomplicated and dragged out over too many years, too.  Once I finally got the Building Blocks/Nanu! Nanu! quilt top finished, I quilted it with an allover meander to just get it done and on the bed already, and now I kind of regret that I didn't set it aside until I had the time and "bandwidth" necessary to see my original vision through to the custom-quilted conclusion.  So, Custom Quilting will happen for Deco, or else no quilting will happen at all.  The quilting will combine digital computerized designs with hand guided ruler work and SID (stitch in the ditch) quilting.

I looked through hundreds of different digital designs before settling on this Jeweled Feathers "Little Sister" design set from Anne Bright.  What I love about Anne Bright's Little Sister sets is that she always has an assortment of related designs for the different shapes and sizes in a real quilt top.  

Anne Bright's Jeweled Feathers Little Sister Design Set

I'll be using the Jeweled Feathers 8W block in all of my full 8" alternate blocks, with Jeweled Feathers Quad in all the side setting triangles and Jeweled Feathers Double for my corner triangles.  

Deco Quilt Top FINISHED!

Well, THAT took a bit longer than I thought it would.  😐.   Behold the idiocy of my own words, mocking me from my November 1, 2021 blog post when I started this quilt: 

"...So, yes -- my Weekly Goal is to cut and sew 54 Block One log cabin blocks for my Deco Bed Quilt, and my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for this quilt is to complete the entire quilt top!"

HAHAHAAHAHAHA!  Spoiler alert, to those just joining me -- it took me a lot longer than a week to cut and piece 54 log cabin blocks.  If my life depended on accurately predicting how long it would take me to make a quilt, I'd just be dead already with no quilts to show for myself at all.

102 x 102 Deco Quilt Top is Finished

Finishing this quilt top (FINALLY!) nearly three and a half years after starting it was my OMG (One Monthly Goal) Part I for March, as in THIS March, 2025, so I'm glad it's together and off my design wall.  I finished it late last night after Bernie had already gone to bed and I couldn't get it back up on my design wall without his help, so I just spread it out on this bed in a guest room instead.  Photos taken with morning light.  This is probably the room where this quilt will "live" once it's quilted and bound.

Deco Quilt Top Awaiting Quilting

I did the perimeter stay stitching 1/8" from the edge on all four sides of the quilt top, so it is ready for quilting.  I have backing fabric already; I bought it and prewashed it three years ago when I finalized the color palette for the quilt top.  

Deco Blocks Finished, Custom Quilting Progress + Stonefields Pattern Has Arrived!

Drumroll, please...  Only 170 weeks or so behind schedule for the 2021 Deco Quilt Along hosted by pattern designer Lo & Behold Stitchery, I have finally caught up to Week 7 by finishing all of my blocks and moving on to assembling my quilt top!

Finally Finished Making All of My Deco Quilt Blocks!

Once again, if I had any idea how long this project was going to take, I probably would never have started it in the first place.  😬. Ignorance is bliss!  

Rebecca Does Not Follow Directions, As Usual

Including some "action shots" here of quilt top assembly in progress.  My poor B 990 machine must be so bummed; all her fancy high tech features but the only thing she gets to do so far in my studio is Piecing Straight Stitch #1313!  So, if any of you have made this quilt before you might be noticing that I've veered from the pattern instructions in a couple of key ways:

• I disregarded the instruction to press all of the seams open in this quilt and created my own pressing plan instead.  It is nearly impossible to get crisp and accurate seam intersections if you press all of your seams open -- and conversely, it is practically goof-proof to get perfect seam matches when the seam allowances have been pressed in opposite directions and you can just snug them together for a little seam hug, secure with a couple o pins and then sew
• The pattern instructs you to create additional full log cabin blocks and then slice them in half from corner to corner to create the side blocks.  I didn't want to do that for two reasons.  First, it would cause weird and unnecessary seams to land right on the outside of my quilt where they would interfere with binding in the last stages of the project.  (Note that, if you're making one of the smaller size versions of Deco rather than the bed size quilt I'm making, you have to slice different blocks in half diagonally, losing your points all along the outside of your quilt!).  Second reason for disobeying instructions was that I wanted to have control over the grain line along the outer edges of the quilt as much as possible, so I cut those blue triangles for my partial side blocks with the grainline on the hypotenuse (long side of the triangle).
• I used my AccuQuilt GO! Setting Triangles 8" Finished die (this post contains a few affiliate links) to cut my side and corner setting triangles to the exact size for my 8" finished blocks.  AccuQuilt makes their setting triangle dies in various sizes and it's definitely worth getting the coordinating size setting triangle die if you already own one of the AccuQuilt Qube sets and/or you frequently make blocks of a certain size.  Not only does this die "do the math" for you to cut the appropriately sized setting triangles -- with the points pretrimmed for easy alignment before stitching -- but the layout of the triangle shapes on the die itself ensures that all of these setting triangles will have straight, non-stretchy fabric grain on the edges that will form the very outer edges of your quilt top.  So, because I cut these setting triangles with my AccuQuilt die, I did not have to think about making sure I had straight fabric grain on the hypotenuse side of my side setting triangles but straight fabric grain on the short sides (NOT the hypotenuse) for the four smaller corner setting triangles.  The setting triangle die makes it a lot easier for novices to tackle diagonal set quilts successfully.  By the way, if you don't think you'll make enough diagonal set quilts in a particular block size to justify the cost of AccuQuilt or you're not already invested in that cutting system, there are specialty rulers available that will help you cut the correct size setting triangles for any block size.  I have the one Kaye England designed for Good Measure, but I've seen other brand versions in quilt shops and I'm sure they work just as well.  Kaye has a video showing how to use hers here.

Deco Blocks 3A + Quilting Piano Key Border on the 1984 Sampler

I finished half of the 3A blocks (Kona Solids Thistle and Indigo) for my Deco quilt last week!  Just  nine more of these light purple/indigo blocks to go before I can begin assembling the blocks into a quilt top.  It's amazing how much more one can accomplish when one is NOT twiddling her thumbs in a court house all day waiting to get rejected from jury duty!

9 of 18 Deco 3A Blocks Added to the Design Wall

I love the way the dark Willow green and Indigo 3B blocks recede visually and the Thistle/Indigo 3 blocks seem to come forward.  That's intentional; I played with those effects when I was creating my color scheme for this quilt in EQ8 (back in November of 2021, cough cough, change subject...). Anyway, I'm looking forward to wrapping this quilt up soon and moving on to something new.

Last week, when I shared a photo of the new Slimline lamp I'm enjoying for night time sewing, Nancy asked what happened to the view of the pool outside my window.  The pool didn't go anywhere; it was just hidden behind the window shades!  This is my new morning sewing routine (note the latte off to the right on my IKEA cart):

First Things First: Caffeine + 30 Minutes of Sewing

In our house in North Carolina, our bedroom and my studio were both on the 2nd floor.  My routine was to come downstairs to make coffee, then sit down in front of my computer while I drank it.  Many times I'd get sidetracked by email or whatever and realize that a couple of hours had gone by before I knew it -- WHOOSH!  But with our current house so much smaller and all on one level, I actually have to walk past my sewing machine to get to my computer.  So I am trying a new routine.  Now I go from the coffee machine straight to the sewing machine, still in my pajamas, and get my 30 minutes of sewing in BEFORE I check my email.  Because honestly, what could possibly be in my in-box that can't wait 30 minutes anyway?

All 36 Deco 3B Blocks Completed! Woo Hoo!

Hello and happy Monday!  I am delighted to share that I finished all fourteen of the remaining 3B (in Kona Solid Indigo and Willow green) for my Deco quilt last night!  I am especially proud of how much I got done because I got called in for jury duty on Wednesday and didn't get any sewing done on Thursday, either.

Deco Bed Quilt Blocks 1, 2, and 3B Completed

Those two blank rows near the center of the quilt need eighteen of Block 3A, which is nearly identical to Block 3A except that there is one more 1" square patch and, in my version of the quilt, Block 3A will combine the Indigo (dark navy) background fabric with Kona Solid Thistle, the lighter of the two purple fabrics used in my log cabin blocks for this quilt.  Sensible quilters will have followed the faster strip piecing instructions in the Deco pattern instructions from Lo & Behold, but I have cut out individual patches for all of my blocks for reasons I've rehashed in previous blog posts.

Nine 3A Blocks Ready for Chain Piecing

My method for staying organized while chain piecing those last 14 3B blocks worked well for me, so that's how I'll be piecing the 3A blocks.  In the photo above, I've laid out the 3A block with nine  fabric patches in each stack.  Once I've completed the first nine blocks, I'll lay out the last nine blocks in the same way.

Custom Quilting Marybeth's circa 1984 UFO + Cranking Out Deco Blocks

Happy Monday, everyone!  Congratulations to the Eagles fans out there, and my condolences to the Chiefs fans.  Not that I watched even five minutes of the Superbowl -- I'd rather sit in my laundry room for four hours watching the clothes go round and round than sit in front of a television watching grown men run around and clobber each other over a weird-shaped, ugly ball.  So HAH!  My husband and sister-in-law are from Philly, however, so while they were up at the house cheering their team I snuck off to the quilting studio to start quilting the borders on my friend Marybeth's UFO sampler quilt that dates back to 1984.

Wasatch Bella Bella Feather Border and Corner Quilting Design

When Marybeth showed me these blocks and told me the story of the quilt, I promised her that if she finished the quilt top I would custom quilt it for her.  This was supposed to be a "big boy" quilt for her son Nathan, who is now a married father in his forties.  The blocks are hand pieced and hand appliqued in neat, even stitches and it would be an intolerable shame if the quilt never got finished at all.  

Challenges for Marybeth included finding suitable border fabric, because she didn't have enough left of the fabrics from the blocks and may have used the fabric for some other project over the years.  Although there is no purple in her quilt blocks, I think the solid purple border fabric she chose works really well because it's the right value and hue to coordinate with the other colors well.

Challenges for Rebecca included coming up with quilting designs that would complement the vintage 1980s style of the sampler blocks and fabric without overpowering them, and without skewing too modern or too formal.  Another challenge was remembering how to lay out and size a border design to fit the quilt border and to accommodate for the quilt drawing up during stitching...  Too bad I didn't revisit this Q-Matic border quilting tutorial on Bernina's We All Sew blog before I loaded this quilt.  I loaded, basted, and did all of the stitch in the ditch quilting with monofilament thread a couple of months ago, and I did not remember Bernina Educator Denise Jones' tips about marking the center and quarters of the long sides of the quilt to make placing the border designs easier.  Next time!  Here's a shot of Marybeth's quilt on my frame where it languished for weeks, waiting for me to pick a design and get up the courage to start quilting it already!

Post-SID, Pre-Border Quilting Paralysis Syndrome

New Cabinets, New Machines + Deco Returns to the Design Wall

Good Morning and Happy February, everyone!  My kitchen and bath remodeling that was supposed to be complete by January 20th is still not done, and we've moved into the home we're remodeling in that our furniture is here and we're sleeping here, but we're not really moved in because there is still so much unpacking and organizing and figuring out where things are going to go, in a house that is even smaller than the last one and also most likely temporary.  I took a break from all of that last night to get out my Deco quilt project (dating back to November of 2021) and arrange the blocks on my design wall.

Deco Quilt WIP, will finish at 102 x 102

My main motivation for getting Deco up on the design wall was so I could physically count how many more of these green and indigo checkerboard-like blocks I need to make.  The directions in the Deco Quilt pattern by Lo & Behold Stitchery involve faster strip piecing construction, but I wasn't able to follow those directions because I decided it would be fun to use 12 different colors instead of 6, and I also decided it would just be easier to to cut all the patches individually with AccuQuilt dies and then sew the blocks one by one rather than figuring out how to adapt the pattern instructions to my custom color scheme.  And now here I am, up to my armpits in the consequences of those decisions as the quilt top construction drags out across three and a half years, four different sewing machines, three different sewing rooms, and two household moves.

Let's Make Blocks That Are Too Small On Our New Sewing Machine!

I traded in my Bernina 790 Plus and my embroidery-only Bernina 700E sewing machines for the new TOL (top-of-the-line) model, the Bernina B 990.  (Two reasons: I wanted to reduce the number of sewing machines I own so I can work more efficiently in a smaller space, and I'm looking forward to playing with some of the new high tech features on this machine).  The first thing I sewed with the new machine were two of these Deco quilt blocks, and they both finished too small because I forgot that I need to sew with a SCANT quarter inch seam (vs a true quarter inch seam).  Well, guess what?  I'm using them anyway and I'll fudge them when I join the blocks together.  So there!

There's a Design Wall in My Hallway Full of Deco Blocks! But it Looks, Umm, ROUGH...

First, the good news: there's a 96" x 96" design wall in my hallway across from the entrance to my sewing room, and my Deco Quilt blocks are up on the wall.  Hooray!  This is the project-in-progress that was on the design wall in my old studio in North Carolina right before I had to pack everything up and move to Florida this past December.  It's good to see those blocks out again, especially since now I can see the progress I made working on additional blocks here and there throughout the move.  Woot woot!

My Scandi Deco Bed Quilt Blocks Are Up on My Brand-New Design Wall

Now for the bad news: this new design wall did not turn out anywhere near as nice as the old one, and it's going to require immediate revision.  For one thing, we shouldn't have put it up so high -- my fault entirely, as I thought it might be nice to be able to plug a vacuum cleaner into the bottom outlet socket.  We should move it down to completely cover the outlet so it's centered nicely from top to bottom the way it's centered from side to side.

Bernie Said "Quick, Cover It Up With Your Quilt Blocks!"

Actually, what Bernie said was "I KNEW it was going to look like crap.  Cover it up with your quilt blocks so I don't have to look at it."  

My Slow Progress: Scrappy Tilda Celebration, Scandi Deco, New Sewing Room + Kitchen Update

Hello from sunny Naples, Florida, my lovelies!  Happy Spring and Happy Easter to all who are celebrating!  Son the Younger went off to spend the weekend with a friend in North Carolina, but Son the Elder, Bernie and I will be having Easter dinner with Bernie's dad and sister.  Alas, no little ones hunting eggs or keeping their eyes peeled to spot an Easter bunny.  Those years sure went by fast!

I haven't written a blog post in a LONG time, so fair warning -- I have lots to say.  ;-)

My Tilda Scrappy Celebration

On to the eye candy, because I know that's what you're here for.  My most recent accomplishment was cutting out all of the pieces for six of these double nine patch blocks, for my Scrappy Celebration quilt project.  The small scale green floral is Tilda Farm Flowers in Green (available here on Etsy).  This fabric is also included in the Tilda's Jubilee Mega Blenders Bundle if, like me, you are crushing on Tilda prints lately and want to add a whole coordinated assortment of these sweet Norwegian prints to your current projects (or to your stash -- no judgement!).  And now, for that icky but necessary disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking on one of my links, I might be compensated at no additional cost to you.  I feel so dirty now.  Moving on...  

The rose pink solid in the center of my little 9-patch blocks is from a Tilda Solids fat eighths bundle (not sure which shade), the little white squares were cut from my bolt of Moda Bella Solids Off White, and that low volume print with diagonal blue stripes and tiny red dots was pulled from my stash of Who Knows What Purchased Who Knows When.  I'm looking forward to piecing these blocks!

Yummy Tilda Fabrics Cut and Laid Out, Ready to Sew

I'm sure that, if I was following Lissa Alexander's pattern for my Scrappy Celebration-inspired quilt, the instructions probably involve time-saving strip piecing techniques.  However, when I began this project my rotary cutters and rulers were still packed in boxes somewhere, and they are still packed in boxes somewhere since we need to make modifications (amputations!) to my ginormous worktable before it will fit in the much smaller sewing room of our new house in Florida.  So instead of cutting strips for my nine patch blocks, I cut out all of my squares individually with my AccuQuilt GO! fabric cutting dies.  

Deco Quilt Block Three Interrupted, Quilting Studio Dismantled

Well, I got nine of Block Three for my Deco Quilt completed in the green/indigo colors before I had to take all of the blocks off my design wall and pack this work-in-progress up in a moving box last night.  Here's one last glimpse of the design wall:

Deco Quilt In Progress, 9 of Block Three Finished

The only reason I'm sneaking time for a quick blog post when I still have so much packing to do is so I can refer back to this once our move is completed and the dust settles -- I really want to finish my Deco quilt this year and I don't want to waste a lot of time looking for the fabric pieces I cut out, misplaced pattern instructions, and otherwise reinventing the wheel.  I packed everything I need for this Deco quilt as well as everything I need for my next NewFO Star Upon Stars (fabrics, templates & pattern) into one box labeled "Current WIPs" or something like that.  Fingers crossed that I didn't miss anything!

Okay, here's the real reason for today's blog post, a quick photographic reminder to myself of how I decided to press my seams for Block Three because I'm very pleased with how nicely it turned out:

My Personal Pressing Plan for Deco Block Three

You may recall that I'm not following the pattern instructions for this block.  The Deco Quilt Pattern from Lo & Behold instructs you to press all of the seams open, and I don't do that because I want crisp, sharp points and corners and perfectly matched seam intersections and that is much easier to accomplish when your seam allowances are pressed in opposite directions so they nest and lock together when joining rows of patchwork.  So I've pressed my seams towards the Indigo fabric in each of the strips.  However, to reduce bulk and ensure my blocks lay nice and flat, I did press the seams between rows open as shown above.  The Indigo strips that frame the patchwork have their seams pressed to the outside.

Another point I should mention is that I did not employ strip piecing techniques per the pattern instructions for these blocks.  Instead, I cut out little squares and rectangles and pieced each strip of each block individually.  Honestly, I don't 100% remember why I decided to do it this way.  I think it was because I wanted to make Block Three A and Block Three B in two different colors, whereas the pattern instructions call for all of these blocks to be the same.  It was easier for me to calculate how much dark green and light purple I'd need for these blocks with old-fashioned slow poke cutting and piecing than it was for me to figure out how many of the different strips and strip sets I'd need to make in each colorway if I was following the directions.

I'd show you a picture of the front of the block but I forgot to take one, and now it's packed away!  I have made 9 of these green/indigo Block Three and will need to make 27 more of them.  Then I'll need to make 18 Block Three in the purple/indigo color combination.

Wanna see a scary picture of chaos and destruction in my (former!) quilting studio?

This Used to Be My Playground...

That's what my studio looked like this morning.  My husband is in the process of completely disassembling my Bernina Q24 long arm quilting machine so the machine head can be safely packed for transport in the original shipping carton.  All my quilting thread and rulers for rotary cutting are off the walls but I still need to pack up my acrylic quilting ruler templates that you see on the wall behind my long arm frame.  My vintage Singer Featherweight machine, all of my AccuQuilt GO! dies and my Bernina 475QE machine are already in Florida, but today I'm packing up my Bernina 790 Plus, my 700E embroidery machine and the embroidery module into their protective luggage bags.  I have the original shipping cartons for my Baby Lock serger and cover stitch machines but I need to figure out how to get the thread stands off those machines in order to fit them back into the styrofoam packing inserts.  

My house in Florida is only about half the size of my house in North Carolina and my sewing room is going to be a LOT smaller than this one so I'm going to have to get really creative with how I set up and use the space that's available.  Wish me luck!

Oh and by the way -- if you have subscribed to receive my blog posts automatically in your email and you're wondering why this one didn't show up that way, no worries -- I paused my email delivery service so I don't have to pay for it while I'm more preoccupied with moving than with writing blog posts.  I'm switching back to MailChimp and I don't have time to get that all set up and tested right now.

Also, quick reminder for my long arm quilting clients that I am not able to accept any customer quilts until further notice -- see photo above of my dismembered long arm machine!!  Please do not ship any quilt tops to my address in North Carolina.  I will let you know when my studio in Naples, Florida is set up and give you my new address.  

Happy quilting, everyone!  I'm linking up today's post with my favorite linky parties:

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

TUESDAY

To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt  

WEDNESDAY

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

THURSDAY

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

FRIDAY

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

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

 

Custom Deco Quilt Palette for 2024 + QAL Week 4, 108 Weeks Behind Schedule

56 x 68 Deco Throw Quilt, PANTONE Pairings Palette for 2024

This is the time of year for sleigh bells, twinkling lights, caroling... and complaining on social media about how much we disagree with the design industry's color forecasters' predictions for Color of the Year.  PANTONE Europe's Color of the Year for 2024 is Peach Fuzz:

And Robert Kaufman's Kona Solid Color of the Year for 2024 is a pale aqua they're calling Julep: 

Looking at these two "new" color trend predictions side-by-side, many of us are getting flashbacks of  Margo and Todd's bedroom decor from the 1989 holiday movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  

Pantone Peach Fuzz Walls with Kona Julep Vase and Window Blinds

"Why is the floor all wet, Todd?"

"I don't know, Margo!!"  

"Why does Pantone think our 1989 bedroom set will be the embodiment of global lifestyle trends at the macro level in 2024?"

"I DON'T KNOW, MARGO!!!" 😆

Deco QAL Week 3, Completed Only 101 Weeks Behind Schedule!

You guys, if this was the year 2021 instead of 2023, I would be SO AHEAD OF SCHEDULE for my Deco QAL!!  Here it is, only October 14th, and I have finally finished all of my log cabin blocks for Week 3 (Nov. 1-8, 2021) of Lo & Behold Stitchery's Deco Quilt Along.  

16 Blue-Green Blocks, 32 Blue-Purple Blocks, and 12 Half Blocks

Unfortunately, it is NOT 2021, so instead of being ahead of schedule I'm actually 705 days behind schedule, or 100 weeks plus 5 days behind schedule.  Sadly, I am no longer eligible for winning any of the prizes.  😆. Good thing I still like this quilt!

My 102 x 102 Deco Bed Quilt, pattern available here

In case anyone out there is interested in making a Deco Quilt of their own, the pattern from Lo & Behold Stitchery is available as an instant PDF download on Etsy here (this post contains affiliate links). 

I'm making the largest 102" x 102" bed sized version of Deco, but the pattern also has instructions for making the more manageable baby and throw sized versions and those are striking, too.  I quilted a baby sized Deco for my client Liz back in 2021 and a throw sized Deco more recently for my client Megan.  I've seen this quilt made up in so many different color combinations and I haven't seen any that I didn't like.  I had a great time coming up with my own color palette of Kona Solids and then tweaking it to complement my Anna Maria Horner floral print backing fabric (it's Hindsight "Honorable Mention" in Turquoise from Free Spirit Fabrics, available on Etsy here).

(Note to Self: It would have saved a lot of time to pick the backing print FIRST and then just pull the solid colors from the selvedge instead of coming up with a custom palette first and then trying to find a print that had exactly the same colors in it!)

My Deco Quilt Fabrics with Anna Maria Horner Backing Print

Margaret Willingham's Reverse Appliqué Workshop, Charlotte Quilters' Guild + My Deco Quilt Progress

Happy Fall, Quilters!  Guess what -- I took an actual, in-person workshop with the Charlotte Quilters' Guild last month AND I finished my workshop block after I got home!  I'm so proud of myself for 1. Taking a day off, 2. Trying something new, 3. FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS during the workshop 😬, and then 4. Adapting what I learned in class to suit my personal preferences once I got home to my own studio.  

My 12 x 12 Block from Margaret Willingham's Reverse Appliqué Workshop

I'll tell you more about the workshop in a minute.  First, I have other news to share -- I've made some progress and gotten over the Cutting and Kitting Hurdle with my Deco Quilt that has been in-progress/abandoned for the past two years!  Well, better late than never.  I am supremely pleased with my clear plastic tote bag containing all of the pieces for all of the blocks, neatly organized and labeled in little Ziplock bags.  Our guild has lots of social sewing opportunities throughout the month and, as President of the guild, I try to attend as many of them as possible.  Having a project packed up and ready to go (versus strewn around my studio!) is my biggest challenge, but now I'll just be able to grab a Ziplock bag of block pieces and wheel my travel machine out the back door.  I have a feeling this project is about to pick up STEAM!

My Deco Quilt Completely Cut Out and Kitted, Block One Variations In Progress

Now that I've finished ALL of the cutting for my Deco Quilt, I am officially caught up with Week Two of the Deco QAL (Quilt-Along) that I committed to in the Fall of 2021!  😂. Week Two was cutting out all of the fabric pieces for the entire quilt.  I am like that last straggling marathon runner who crosses the place where the finish line used to be, two years after the race has ended...  Not only am I caught up with Week Two, but I'm also about a third of the way through with Week Three of the Deco QAL, which is the week where you piece all of the Block One log cabin variations.  All 16 blue/green log cabin blocks are finished and all 12 of the half blocks in both colorways are finished and I have 32 blue/purple log cabin blocks remaining to be sewn. The cutting for this quilt was monotonous, but the actual sewing is pretty easy.  I think that completely finishing this quilt top was supposed to be my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for November of 2021; maybe I can get it finished by November of 2023 instead!

Progress on My Scandi Deco Quilt + Florida Deco Quilt Finish for Megan

No, I don't have a 100% finished Halo quilt to show you yet.  I'm still working on hand stitching the binding.  Meanwhile, though, I've finished piecing the first sixteen "Block One" log cabin blocks for my Scandi Deco bed quilt.  Look how cute they look, lined up in crooked rows on my design wall!  The Kona Solids colors I'm using for these blocks are Copen, Indigo, Leprechaun and Kale.

All 16 Blue/Green Log Cabin Blocks Completed!

In my custom coloring from EQ8 (below), you can see that these are the blue and green log cabin blocks needed for the center row of my bed size quilt.  I still need to make the four half blocks that go at the row ends, and then I need to make 32 full blocks and eight half blocks for the ends of the top and bottom rows.

My 102 x 102 Scandi Deco Plan in Kona Solids

Deco Quilt is a pattern by Brittany Lloyd of Lo & Behold Stitchery and it's available in three sizes: Baby, Throw, and Bed.  The pattern is available to purchase as an instant PDF download directly from the pattern designer on Etsy here (this post contains affiliate links).  Brittany's Deco pattern includes instructions for either a 2-color version or a 5-color version, and -- because I like to make my life difficult -- my version of the quilt is made up of 12 different Kona Solid colors: Indigo for the background with Willow, Cactus, Amber, Thistle, Citrus, Tangerine, Magenta, Hyacinth, Leprechaun, Kale, and Copen for the blocks.  I should note that the pattern directions would have been much, MUCH easier to follow if I'd limited myself to either two or five colors.  Brittany gives yardage requirements and cutting charts for both of those options, but my rogue plan of twelve different colors meant I was on my own to calculate yardage for each color and to figure out how many of each shape needed to be cut from each color.  Do as I say, not as I do...  😉.  I am a willfully disobedient quilter who doesn't follow all of the directions anyway, so I'll be pressing my seams to the side instead of open and disregarding some of Brittany's instructions (which are geared toward frugal use of fabric and ease/speed of construction) in favor of wasting more fabric and time (personal preference!).

I've actually quilted two versions of this Deco quilt already, for two different clients.  My client Liz made a two-color baby sized Deco quilt back in 2021 (see that one here), and my client Megan recently made a multicolor throw sized Deco quilt inspired by the vibrant pastel Art Deco buildings in historic Florida neighborhoods.  That's the finished quilt I'm sharing with you today.