mom-6

Lots of pretties on here!
I'm finally trying to get back in the groove after lots of lengthy interruptions. Decided I needed something kinda new to get me motivated so I pulled out the "critter fabric" swap pieces and started putting them together in a version of the D9P with dark blue and medium blue as the "sashing" squares and mostly ones with ants as the centers. Should end up at about 52-1/2 x 70 if my calculations are correct. May try for 61 x 70 which seems like it would be a better size.
Anyway think it sorta qualifies as a UFO since I've been holding onto that group of squares for awhile now. Lol!

J.M.

I am so close to finishing my Irish Chain quilt. I just need to quilt the borders, put the binding and label on, and done. And then....I decide that between the straight lines on either side of the 'chains', the solid color blocks look a little empty... So, I've decided to do a shamrock (outline only) in each block (which is either 45 or 50 blocks, I don't truly remember and I'm afraid to count). So...more work and not finished by a long shot! On the upside, once I've got the borders quilted, I can take out most of my basting thread, so that's not in the way when doing the shamrocks.

Sometimes, I think this quilt will be the never-ending-UFO, but then I see how wonderful it's becoming and I don't regret all the work at all. besides, my hand piecing and quilting skills have soared with this quilt. It's all straight lines for the quilting (well, until the borders and the shamrocks) and simple piecing, so very good for improving my skills. I've noticed I'm faster with my quilting now as well, while my stitches definitely look better.

quiltmouse

I was dinking around in the basement. Looking for some yellow-oranges to go with my Moda Max & Grey charms to offset a baby quilt. #1- trying to work from stash, of which there is an abundance, #2 - fabric moratorium (which is highly enforced by the fact that there is no fabric store in my town)

I found a PIB (project in bin) which I transferred to a sack (Go, PIGS!).
It's a rail fence. Started by my mother, who we lost in 1991. So, I actually have a UFO in hand for this challenge!

...I changed it out of the bin because there had been a basement leak in my old house & there is something unpleasant looking on the bin. I'll run the bin through the dishwasher, and probably put the UFO back in the bin.

I was thinking what we could do with "PIB". I think I've got it:
You know that soda pop beverage, Mr. Pibb?

PIBB: Project in Bin or Basket

Whattad'ya think?

...maniacal laugh...

Emma S

Quiltmouse: If you lay down, and place a cool damp rag on your brow you'll probably be back to your old sane self in no time. A 1991 project, or PIBB or PIG or UFO sure qualifies to be next in line. Hope to see it be a finish right after that baby blanket.

quiltmouse

PIGS inventory-mom's rail fence: The rails are all sewn, measuring 6-3/4. Will finish slightly over 6".
13-1/2 4 set units are in various stages of attachment. 19 sets of 4 sewn. the 13 & the 9 sets are all chain stitched, still attached, with a label on one end marked "start". She must have had a plan, so that the various similar squares don't end up next to each other. 64 singles. This works out to 48-1/2 sets of 4. Mother was kind of precise, so I suspect I have a mis-count. Anyway 48 12" blocks works out to 6x8, for a finished size of 72x96. There are no scraps. There are 3 coordinating pieces of fabric, look to be 3/4 to 1-1/4 yd or so. I think these might have been a planned border, as it is not enough for backing. The fabrics are typical of 1991, not high quality. The pressing is imprecise, so I expect some of the fabrics are not 100% cotton.

It will be an easy & fun finish. I will enjoy having something she & I worked on "together".

I am nearly 58. She died at 56, I was 35. I'm older than my mother.

Emma S

Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

J.M.

I was planning on quilting my blue Irish Chain's borders this month at the very least. I don't mind having a thick quilt sitting in my lap even if it's a little warm in the summer (instead of nice and cozy in wintertime). However, I draw the line at having a quilt the size of a single bed on my lap in the middle of a heatwave! It's been over 25*C every day of this week - and the temperatures are only getting warmer. They're expecting it to hit 30* today in some parts of the country, and Saturday it might even hit 33*. Now, I'm at the coast, so it's a little bit cooler here, but not by much.

So, I'll be focussing on some other projects - small ones, where I'm still in the piecing stage, so I don't get overheated .

Emma S

JM: I'm with you a 100%. In the Pacific Northwest we have had 95 F temperatures everyday. I am going to sandwich them (6) and put them aside until the fall. I have air conditioning, thank goodness, but inside temperatures are still in the mid to high 70's. I can wait till it gets cooler.

quiltmouse

J. M. & Emma, we must be having the weather you're supposed to be having...

Western Kansas USA July typically high 90*s - low 100*s and very dry. were having high 60*s, with lots of moisture. It's head-scratching ??? for certain... I've never known it to be this mild. But, I'm loving it!

Ok, I auditioned mom's UFO last night, laying the made units all out on my bed, trying to plan sections for rows. Gracious. I've never seen anything like it. You know the fabric where it's strip units placed vertical then horizontal, and it looks wavy, but it's just an optical illusion? This is like that, but it's no illusion. The only thing I can figure is, she knew she was in a race against time, and wanted one more quilt for someone in particular before she died - no idea who-and was working fast and possibly highly medicated. She matched up the inside corners of the 4 unit patches, but there is 3/8" variance. Also, I mentioned previously the imprecise pressing, she's sewed over folds in the bad pressing, so they go wonky-er when I press.. So when she sewed the 4p together, the seam allowance is 1/8" on the short one, and 1/2" on the long one. Mercy. So I went thru & sewed along them, inside the SA to reinforce the 1/8 SA.

I tried pressing, but the blocks are very wavy. I would have difficulty quilting it, even with a walking foot. It could be tied, but I've sort of moved away from tied quilts, in my enjoyment of the end product.



The length of the rails is way shorter than the width of the rails. There is no fixing this, short of taking apart all her sewn together units. If I do that, and square up, then I have to sacrifice width on the dark or light (or both) rails.

I woke up early, having my subconscious on it all night. The options I thought of are:

Take all the patches apart (not the rails).

1. Put a contrast rail crosswise of the rails, then lay them out in spinner pattern. It'd be cute, but not really what I wanted out of this quilt.

2A. Go with the rectangular block, lay two together, rails facing same direction, and sew corner to corner (twice same direction) Cut apart, put together bento box style, alternating dark centers & light centers. I did a test block of this, I like this.

2B. Same cut, but put opposite cuts together, with the end layout being...what I envisioned would be diamonds, but they turned out to be just off kilter non-squares. I did a test block, didn't like it, no "interest", just looks OFF.

3. Mark center of light rails, cut a pyramid out, sew them together as diamonds. I did a tester, but only cut the pyramids & laid them together, not sewing them. It's pretty, but very fussy cutting work, you have to mark the center of the rail on the pyramid peak and the 1/4 seam for the cuts. I thought the cut off pieces could be put together as a border diamond style (we have seen this border on X box quilts), but the cut off pieces are very small. It's fussy work, and an additional cut to the block, so I would loose twice as much in SA as in 2A & 2B.

I'm liking 2A. I made 2 test rails, sewed diagonally, and cut & pressed. Ended up with 1/2 dark bento and 1/2 light bento. they're cute.

I have taken no action with the UFO blocks.

Anyone have thoughts? suggestions?

My other thoughts:
1B, alternate layout -offset pattern, like jumping 9P

4. cut the rails in half, across the rails:

4A. sew a strip across the rails, layout alternating left, right, kind of a Jumping piano keys effect

4B. Make the whole quilt piano keys, alternating with solid fabric sashings.

J.M.

quiltmouse, I would go with option 2A, since you already said you liked the tester blocks you made of that option. Otherwise, I'd go for 4B, since that would probably give you the least amount of trouble, piecing-wise.