Some Pickle Dish pointers

I've got my pickle dish top assembled, and hope to have it basted soon.  I put it together a little differently than called for by the pattern, so I thought I'd share a little of what I've learned.

I was inspired by Rebecca Bryan to keep each background piece as a single unit, rather than piecing them as quarters.  I made a template for the quarter-piece using the pattern from the book, and used that to cut from a twice-folded piece of background fabric by aligning the straight seam lines on the template with the folds of the fabric.  By carefully planning my folds and cuts, I was able to cut all the background from 2 yards of fabric (although I'd recommend having a half-yard or more extra in case of mistakes).

The images below show how I pieced the "melons" to the background pieces, and also how I pressed the seams.  It took some trial and error to come up with a plan for pressing the seams that was workable.  What I'll share is not exactly how I put mine together, but how I would approach it if I were to start again.  (Please excuse my rough illustrations.  I'm more familiar with photo editing than with vector drawing.)

I started by assembling "squircles" of four melons and a background piece.  For each unit, I started with the lower left and upper right melons, and pressed the seams away from the melons.  At this point, I still had all the foundation paper still in place.

I then added the upper left and lower right melons.  After sewing these seams, I removed the papers from the inner arcs of the newly-added melons, and pressed these seams toward the melons.

Here's a photo of the intersection of the arcs from the back.  Sewing this part was a little tricky, but it did not take long to get the hang of it.

This photo shows how the seams of adjacent arcs are pressed in opposite directions:

Once the "squircles" were all complete (with "half-squircles" at the top and bottom), I assembled the top along the diagonals.

This time, though, the assembly proceeded from upper left to lower right.  The first seams were again pressed away from the arcs.  When the diagonal rows were joined together, these seams were pressed toward the arcs, as shown by the arrows in this diagram:

This assembly illustration makes it appear that I used long continuous seams, but in reality I used partial seams and multiple starts and stops, so I could keep the concave portion on top as I sewed each arc.

The red circles in the diagram show some of the spots where the seams change directions.  I "pinwheeled" the seams at these points.  This was not necessary in the left- and right-most columns, thanks to the way I added the outside border pieces.

The purple circles above indicate another tricky situation.  These are border areas where the seam needs to be pressed towards the arc, but the square gets in the way.  I ended up unpicking a couple of inches between the square and the arc at these locations before sewing the background.  Then, after pressing this seam towards the arc, I re-stitched the square to the arc.  I'm sorry I did not get photos of this process, but here is how the end result looks from the back (after adding the border):

I hope to be quilting soon!  I'm linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday.

Pickled Leftovers

I'm still working on my pickle dish quilt.  I made a few extra blocks to give myself some flexibility in layout, so I decided to use them to make a mini-quilt.

I used this to practice sewing the curves to the central background piece.  The pattern calls for piecing this center in quarters, but I wanted to try keeping it as a single unit.  It came together pretty well, and I learned a few things that will be helpful as I start adding the background to the full quilt.

I also wanted to practice some quilting ideas.  I used a feather motif in the central background piece:

I borrowed the idea for straight lines in the arcs from this quilt.  At first I tried to free-hand these lines, but that did not work well at all.  After ripping out my first attempt, I tried using a ruler.  I ended up taping two small rulers together to get the thickness I need.  I'm mostly pleased with the results, but I will be shopping for a proper ruler for use with my domestic machine.

I'm hoping I can use these same quilting designs in the full quilt (I'm a little worried about using a ruler while maneuvering a large quilt).

Here's a shot of the back.  Somehow I got my directionality mixed up -- I wanted the darker fabric running up and down -- but that's not a big deal.  These are a couple of fabrics I had purchased for the top but ended up not using.

For wall hangings I usually put a couple of large triangle pockets in the top back corners, but for larger pieces like this they can get a bit floppy.  For this mini, I used smaller triangles and added a couple of straps near the center.

I had purchased a small cut of an Amy Butler fabric from an online store for the purpose of auditioning it for use as background in the larger quilt.  I decided against using it there, but I'm happy with it here.  The border is all made from leftovers from the quilt.

We had a rare snow overnight, so I couldn't resist getting a few shots of my snowman wall hanging too.

I have two Friday finishes in a row!

Snowbird Snowman

As we were putting away Christmas decorations, my wife remarked that we did not have a suitable wall hanging for January (we have one for just about any other season).  She likes snowmen, so I found this pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts.  I adapted the pattern by squaring the background and adding a border of 2-inch squares.

I used a couple of charm packs from the Snowbird collection (one prints and one batiks), and a little bit of yardage.  I liked this fabric from the time it was released, and this seemed a suitable project for it.

Is it possible to strip piece with charm squares?  I cut a bunch of squares in half, then stitched groups of 8 rectangles together to form six 5" x 16.5" strips.  I cut these in half lengthwise, then stitched some in a loop to rotate them scrappy-trip style.  With the addition of a few squares for the corners, I used these to make the borders, going for a random placement.

I couldn't quilt any two snowflakes alike.  I think they might have shown up better if I had used a tighter and more regular background quilting design.

I used a trapunto technique to add a second layer of batting under the snowman.  This involved using water-soluble thread, so I knew I would need to wash this piece.  I didn't really want to quilt the snowman pieces, but I was afraid his body would puff up too much after washing.  A friend suggested quilting along the snowflake designs in the batik fabric.

I used a polka dot fabric for the binding.  I didn't want the dots to line up too much, which ruled out straight cuts.  A true bias-cut binding would have had the dots lined up too, so I cut it at just a slight angle.

I finished this in time to surprise my wife for Valentines Day; it is hanging on our wall now, although I'm ready for warmer weather to arrive.

I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Legacy Hexie Garden

About a year ago, I won a fat quarter bundle of Angela Walters' Legacy fabric (thanks Amy!).  I mixed in some other fabrics with the bundle and made a quilt using Atkinson Designs' "Hexie Garden" pattern.

I was attracted to this pattern by the hint of transparency at the contrasting triangles, and by the stars in the secondary design.  I'd also been wanting to give hexagons a try.  I followed the pattern fairly closely, although I did use various solids for the contrasting triangles, whereas the pattern calls for a single fabric for these.

I used Julie Herman's Hex N More ruler to cut the hexagons and the triangles.  The pattern did not call for this ruler specifically, but it worked perfectly.

Each "flower" used less than a fat quarter, and for some of the fabrics I purchased half-yard cuts.  I used some of the extra fabric in the back, along with a couple of yards of a Heather Bailey fabric I found on sale.  I thought the colors in the Heather Bailey fabric were perfect for this quilt, but I was afraid the scale of the design would not work well in the hexagons -- hence the use on the back.

I chose the additional fabrics for this quilt at about the time the "radiant orchid" challenge was taking place.  I knew I'd not finish this in time for the challenge, but it did inspire me to add in some orchid fabrics.

For the quilting, I did a point-to-point design in the secondary stars, and added some "ghost" stars in the border.  My goal for the remainder of the border was to quilt a dense design that would contrast with the stars.  I don't think I achieved the goal completely; I believe I could improve on my density.

I quilted the center of each "flower" with the same design, but I used various designs in the prints.  Here are a few photos:

 

For the binding, I used a Joel Dewberry print also used in the hexagons.  I had originally chosen a different fabric, but when I saw this print in person I really liked the design and the way the colors played with the other prints.



At the risk of photo overload, here are some more shots...



...including more of the quilting in the blocks...

I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

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Pickle Dish Progress

I've been busy paper-piecing arcs for a pickle dish quilt.

 

I need a total of 96 arcs; I've completed a little more than half that amount so far.

I've been piecing them together assembly-line style, working in sets of 8.  I've been surprised at how quickly they are coming together.  I can usually finish a set of 8 in an evening's sewing time.  I cut plenty of rectangles in advance (too many, to be honest), and it is easy to get in a rhythm of sewing, pressing, and trimming.

The pattern (from Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance) strongly suggests using a design wall to plan out the quilt layout, so a couple of months ago I made a few 4'x4' portable design wall sections.  (They are "portable" because I don't have enough wall space to hang them.)  But when I went to play around with my new arcs, I realized the foundation paper prevents them from sticking to the wall.  So I guess I'll be planning my layout on the floor, then pinning them to the wall to keep them organized.

I'm glad the arcs are coming together quickly.  I imagine the next steps -- piecing the curves and removing the papers -- will be more tedious.

I'm linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday.

Bow Ties

 My latest finish is this pair of bow ties:

I used a pattern from BurdaStyle.  I've used the pattern before, for this tie from 2012:

The pattern is a little short for a size 16 neck; the first one I made barely fits.  For the latest ties, I added a couple of inches to the straps.

The pattern includes a trick for turning the bow ties right-side-out.  It works well once you figure it out, but use strong thread, and double stitch the corners.  The thread used to pull the corners out broke on me once; I was worried that the stitches might break too.

The fabric in the black bow tie is from Parson Gray's inaugural line.  I used this fabric to make bias-cut binding for this quilt, and I set aside a few extra inches of the bias cut just for this purpose.  That means this tie has been in my head for over two years!

I managed to devote some time to making these ties when I ran out of thread for my current quilting project, and had to wait for an order of new thread to arrive.

The map fabric is from Tim Holtz's Eclectic Elements.  Both my teenagers were fascinated with this tie and fabric.  My daughter requested that I make her a travel wallet using it -- I'll have to figure out something for that next!

A quilt for my great-niece

 

 

A few months ago, I made a pair of twin baby quilts using Sassafras Lane's Lullaby Lane quilt pattern.  As I was working on those quilts, I realized Michael Miller's Wee Wander collection would work well with this pattern.  So when my niece announced she was expecting a baby girl, I started this quilt for her.

 

 

The panel fit the pattern perfectly, and the firefly fabric worked well for fussy-cutting squares for the border.  I tried a couple of new-to-me quilting designs, with swirls in the sky and a grassy pattern for the foreground.  I originally quilted the fill only within a quarter inch or so of the characters, but that left them a little puffy for my taste.  I decided to try outlining them with charcoal thread, not knowing whether it would work or not.  I was quite pleased with the result:

I used a trapunto technique under the "A" and "M" of the applique.  For the top and bottom borders, I pondered feathers or scrolls, but I couldn't work out how to do them around the flying geese.  I eventually came up with the idea to repeat the triangles across the borders with the quilting.

I added magenta binding and a pinkish backing to make it more "girly."

As I learned with the twin quilts, it doesn't take much additional fabric to get a second quilt with this design, especially if you shop at places with half-yard minimum cuts. (As long as you don't do a lot of fussy cutting, or make cutting mistakes. Ahem.) So there just might be another Lullaby Lane quilt in my future. And Michael Miller's Cotton Couture in Limeade could make for a great sashing with these prints; it's a perfect lightning-bug green. Just sayin'.

We were able to deliver the quilt in person just before Christmas.  What a treat it was to see and hold my new great-niece at only a few days old.

I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.