Paper Piecing Little Log Cabins (Version)

P.S. -- Oh great - 2 hours after I posted the below info, I actually DREW the block out, as it had caused me much confusion.  Apparently, sewing the strips in the unorthodox method (no lights or darks) and also sewing them in the opposite direction I usually sewed, threw me into confusion.  End result - the block is correct.  it is ME who is not thinking straight!  (this is the  part about "Pride Goeth before the Fall" -- 2 days ago, I was paid an enormous compliment - I should have been on my guard!) LOLOL
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Orca Bay is needing one more border on one side.  It's resting on my design floor - yes right in the middle of traffic.  LOL

This is where I'm heading  - this Log Cabin version finishes at 5 inches, and I'm using scraps.  I mentioned to several of my friends that I was looking for "scraps with a lot ot white."  I got them!  Wow!  Donations added about 5 yards to my "Fabric Diet" calculations.  Givers were gleeful to have found a svictim uhhh ... home for their scraps.

First I sorted them by color - that made things a little easier.  Even though the block is not a traditional Log Cabin, I needed some effort at color choice.  I tried to use only 3-4 colors per block.

The magazine with the pattern (Fons and Porter) has been on my shelf for YEARS, wanting to make that little quilt.

Here (above) is where I'm heading.



I discovered that a fussy cutting center didn't add anything positive to the busy overall appearance, so I stopped that. 

But they ARE cute.

If you have read this far, look carefully at my first photo of the single block.  After making 15 blocks, concentrating -- you know how paper piecing is, it's easy to get confused - look how the block is NOT right, and guess what - it is NOT me, it's the pattern!  I was wondering why it felt "odd" as I was sewing it together, but figured because it was being sewn the opposite direction from what I'm used to.  I copied the pattern (100 copies) on the copy machine, straight from the book. 

Other than that, I'm liking it.  The blocks float on a backrground and sashing of white.  

Now, I have to redraw that danged block to figure out what the "right" way is supposed to be.  



Downside of paper piecing

The downside of paper piecing/foundation piecing is removing the paper. This is the border of my recent Buckeye Beauty, and I'm getting ready to baste it. BTW, I no longer need regular glasses, now that my eyes are all clear again, and only needed reading glasses from K-mart for about $12.99. Nice! Those are "readers" and I look over the top of them for anything other than close up. Now I understand why people (little old grannies) love them!

I DID manage to get it all off (telephone book pages) in about 2 1/2 hours, sitting there like a slug, trying to be entertained by TV -- ugh! DH sneaked up with the camera, trying to be cute! That's my corner, pile, nest, mess. 8-)

What was I thinking? I ordered not one, but TWO quilts for Kids (State level) and one is almost done, with a lot of quilted swirls. Instructions said to quilt it a LOT. Contrary to what one might think, free-form swirls on a DSM are not difficult -- they are easier than free-form straight lines! I was almost 3/4 finished in the center, in less than 2 hours. I decided to stop and stretch my bod.

Blog has still more surprises - I updated to a newer version and am starting all over again, wondering what some of these buttons are! Too lazy, too rushed, to figure it all out.

Paper Pieced Pineapple Blocks, and MQ on R/W/B

Friday, I dashed home after work, full of energy and inspiration, and dove into sewing Pineapple Blocks - little ones - these finish at 6 inches. Paper had not been removed in this photo. What will I do with them? LOL It took me about 40 minutes per block, and after doing 5, (with breaks between) I cleaned up the mess on the floor, then started again on Saturday, then ..., and by Sunday I had 15. Once again, it's just left-over strips. Of course, there is no diminishing of stash amount that I can tell. Guess I'll keep working on more. The turquoise blue perks up the sedate fabrics.

I had gotten bored with machine quilting on this red/white/black quilt and needed a break. But, here is an example of one area I quilted, with a scroll-y design.

Batik Paper-Pieced Luggage Tags

A friend gave me these batik scraps and I've savored them, but I don't normally use batiks. Tonight they turned into these 2 little luggage tags as a Thank You gift. Aren't they cute? The auto thread cutter is greatly appreciated while working on this project

These tags are just for identification on the luggage carousel - there is no place for name/address. After a ribbon, batting, and a backing, VOILA !! (See the 2 finished blue ones?) Kinda hard to do any hand quilting on these little items. A stitch or two through the center holds the layers together nicely.

I prefer to send this kind of gift instead of a card.

Back among the living

This is inside the International Quilt Study Center (IQSC) in Lincoln, Nebraska. Friday and Saturday, a friend and I drove across the state for a meeting with the State Quilt Guild, and we had time to make this stop. The building is amazing, and the 2 Quilt showings were "Yikes, Stripes!" (visual/graphic elements) and "Broderie Perse" an amazing collection of huge, old (1700s), showy quilts. We saw about 15-18 quilts of each style. This is NOT a quilt show center, it is a Study Center. Below is a room where you can pull up digital images of quilts for study, timelines as to fabric, imports, quilt styles, people, etc., and also a program where you can design your own quilt, another place where you can 'log' your quilt story for perpetuity I suppose, and I'm sure there is more, but our time was limited. Many of our State Guilds have provided financial support to this Study Center. The gift shop had a wonderful arty book that I snatched up. Admittance was FREE for us, not sure why but ... normally, the fee is not exhorbitant.

On the way, we also stopped in Kearney at the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA), in the old Post Office. This was a lovely 45 minute stop, with a showing of photographs. The building is impressive and was another pleasant first-time visit for me. Thanks Sandy for this introduction! The drive across Nebraska follows much of the migration flyways. Sandhill Cranes were everywhere, some bald eagles, and throngs of flocks in the air. This is the season when most of the flocks are milling about, along the Platte River and gathering strength from their long journies.

I am feeling so much better - my discomfort was not lengthy, and thanks for well-wishes. DH is still crummy. I decided I'd make a few luggage tags as a Thank You to our Overnight Hostess, but I am out of practice and layered it wrong so when it was turned, even though I had an opened seam in the back of the backing, I ended up with batting on the back and no way to turn it! Duhhhh. My hand quilting is rusty also. ONE luggage tag took me about 3 hours! By the time I figure how to streamline the process, I may have 4 completed. LOL This is just ONE of my Carol Doak books - she's the best for paper piecing. There is a CD in the book but I've never even looked at, just made copies of her examples.

This last image is a reminder to myself, that I DO have talents and skills. Some days my self-confidence gets a little shakey! I sewed this 4-bordered mitered corner and it turned out perfectly. The biggest hurdle is that this mystery quilt is large and ungainly to handle, but I like how it's turning out.

My prayers are for our struggling nation, and to fire victims in Australia.

A present to meeeeee

I was the lucky winner of a drawing at Ann's, Quilttilyouwilt blog and this week my goodies arrived! Happy Day! Thank you again, Ann! I plan to definitely USE it to make more-original labels on somelabels of my quilts. Ann also included some teensy paper pieced designs -- whew looks like they finish at 1 inch!

Some days we need a pick-me-up, and this did it for me. A good day.

One of these things is not like the other ... One of these things just doesn't belong

Honestly, a person should know when that person is agitated about 'things' that the person should NOT be doing tasks that require a great amount of thinking, or any amount of reverse visualizing, or anything that requires the person to think backwards or upside down. Can you spot the 'task that I should not have been doing'? Each of those strips of dogsteeth are oriented the way they should be -- dark to the outside, but one is totally wrong! Darn it.

So, back to the drawing board, and this time I had to redraw the length of dogteeth by hand -- I sure didn't want to rip out those little stitches.

Making those dogteeth became a little tedious, especially after my error (if you can find it), so I decided to cheer ME up, and found this little bear to put into my "Star in the Forest" (earlier post) ... Isn't he darling? He was part of a group of scary bears I had wanted to include in an "I Spy" but the bears ended up giving ME nightmares, so out came the bears. I'm so glad, because this little guy is JUST the right thing to light up my spirits.

A quasi solution to a non-thinking day ...

Moving right along ...

I'm making progress. See the two fabrics on on the right? The lighter one is for the side triangles and corner squares, then there will be a 2 inch dog tooth row, then the darker eggplant color. All of the diamonds are done, and most of the 8 diamonds are together, with a few of the large segments also together. Some of the paper is even gone!

I like it!

(But I DON'T like that carpeting! It looks worse than it really is! LOL)

Our quilt guild challenge in July is "Diamonds" but unfortunately, this is too large for the category! That's OK, I'm having fun. So much fun that I've already picked out the next project from Karen Stone.

A little bite of CROW

Well, what can I say -- regarding my comments -- OK, they were whining and complaining, about two different visual descriptions of this star I just posted? When all else fails, Elaine Adair, "READ THE INSTRUCTIONS" DUFUS! Right there in the instructions, the designer, Karen Stone, says, "There are two different options to your design." And I also have her gorgeous book, and she says something similar "There are two different options to your design."

Chomp, chomp ... doesn't taste like chicken ...

Maintaining My Wits

I've been working on this project for several months - taking my time. It's a Karen Stone pattern - and I LOVE her designs. Her color sense is exquisite! This one is called An Unusual Lone Star.

I've seen this design made up in total scraps -- very effective -- each diamond being 3 strips of one color and 3 strips of another color. All the strips are pre-cut at 1 and 1/2 in.

It is paper pieced, and the sewing is not difficult. Actually I was getting a little bored with the piecing part, as there are only 2 blocks. The pattern itself is wildly chaotic, and for my fabrics, I chose purple-y browns and pinks and muted green, with some beiges, corals. If I did it again, I would rethink my choices of fabric location, and might make them radiate from from the center rather than what I did.

I made 4 of each color choice thinking that when I laid them out I would space one of the 4 in each quadrant. Looking at my nearly completion project, I believe that added to the chaos, but then I DO like the wildness of it. To me it looks like a Canadian Thistle that my Dad paid me one cent each, to chop down!

There are 128 diamonds, so I have a way yet to go, as far as laying it out. My diamonds are mostly made, just not arranged. The arranging part drove me up the wall, especially when I stepped on the arrangement, misplacing my methodically placed diamonds, and then panic almost took over!

The corner fabric (yet unchosen) should help 'hold' it together. Then there is another narrow border (dogtooths teeths?, using scraps from center diamonds) and a final border. I think the borders will calm it down a bit.

One problem to watch for, if you make this design. My DH and I had argued an hour over deciding how to lay it out per instructions, and we finally had to call it a draw. Funny, HE absolutely could NOT see any color order, and I absolutely could NOT see architectural format!!! (talk about Men from Mars, Women from Venus!) However, to our surprise, we noticed the two illustrations were NOT the same! The cover photo of the project is NOT laid out the same as the included instruction drawing, and we were each looking at our separate illustrations! And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure it mattered since the design is so over-the-top. And my careful balancing of colors? Again, I'm not sure it makes any difference, and several times I was lost in the layout, and was tempted to just plop anything anywhere, but after a glass of wine, I was able to calmly relocate the pieces to their 'proper' location.

Also, if you make this design, and if you want to maintain a particular order, you will definitely need a space to lay it out and leave it in place until you get each of the 8 diamonds assembled.

End of one Project, Beginning of the Next

Diamond Challenge:
I am almost finished with this Diamond, lacking hand quilting in 2 of the 4 corners, and in the border triangles. After seeing it here in my blog, I think it still needs more quilting - maybe a diagonal (diamond) grid. I also will block this project before calling it 'finished.' I am naming this something like Botswana Diamonds, since the Challenge theme is “Diamonds”. There are numerous diamond mines in Botswana, South Africa. I did some unobtrusive machine stitching in the ditch with silver thread, representing diamonds. But Botswana has other ‘diamonds’ – treasures, such as its wildlife. So I quilted a sable antelope in one corner, a baobab tree in another. I have yet to quilt the hyena pup, and lion.

Now, my question ... my center is sewn perfectly, but it also takes up too much visual space, so I want to add ... something. I have wooden beads, hand-made twine, but so far, no other ideas. I cannot find appropriate buttons, – these are some of the ideas I’ve been thinking about to help fill up the large space in the center. Any ideas? Dimensional something or other ... Remember, I live way out in western Nebraska, shopping for ‘just the perfect thing’ is not reasonable – it has to be something I can make myself.


Next project is paper-pieced, from a pattern by Karen Stone. I seem to be working on patterns these days - I am unable to come up with my own original ideas, (due to other things heavy on my mind), but hers are splendid - much more interesting than I could ever devise. I have chosen a pallette of pinks, rose, greens, pinky browns, dark browns, a bit of deep purple.

I am going out of town on family business for two weeks, and want a wonderful project waiting for me upon return.