Question on Pattern

A question was asked about the pattern for this Linus Project Quilt - where I got the pattern to be precise. I was browsing through the fabric manufactures free patterns and ran across this pattern called "Savanah Streets" by Toby Lischko for Hoffman Fabrics . I liked the way it looked but didn't want to do all the extra cutting and piecing required to do it. If you look at the pattern it has small light strips surrounding each dark piece that when joined give the look of a wider light strip - kind of like doing one round of strips on a log cabin block.

I opened up my EQ6 and drew my own pattern using the look I saw on the Hoffman pattern but made it much more simple. I decided how big I wanted the finished quilt and worked backwards to draw the design. Since I own a ruler that is 6 1/2" that is the size I made the squares and the width I made the alternate strips. (After stitching they became 6".)

I varied the light fabrics in between the 2" x 6" bricks and the 6" x 6" blocks. Since it seems like I buy mostly fat quarters I didn't have any light fabrics with enough length to do the vertical sashing. I pieced different lengths of the light fabrics together to make them long enough and then cut them to fit my pieced block strips.

The pattern I guess is half inspired half my own but as simple as it is, I am sure there are lots of others out there just like it. That is the beauty of quilting - not much is truly unique in traditional looking quilts.

If you have never looked at the fabric manufacturer's web pages you are missing a wealth of free quilt patterns and other information. A lot of them are not too difficult and most have pretty good directions too. Check out the web pages of any of the notions, sewing machines, etc. for other free tips, directions and patterns.

Lynn

Working On My Design

The last few days I have been thinking about how I want to set the appliqued basket block I did for myself. Yesterday I sat down at the computer and played with several ideas on EQ6. Nothing came together or felt right until I got the idea to put appliqued swags around the oval border.

Since the original block was a circle and I just elongated it in EQ6 ,it changed the dimension so that the divisions on the original circle are not all the same size now. I had thought I could divide up the points and make my swags to fit and they would be equal in size - wrong! I don't know enough math to know if there is some way to do this so had to put my thinking cap on.

I looked up how to find the circumference of oval or ellipse on Google and did find some sort of calculator that you put your information into but it didn't come up with anything close to the size. The problem is that an oval can be wider or taller and it affects the circumference.

To solve my problem I finally took a flexible ruler and laid the edge on the curve on my print out and slowly measured 1/4 of the oval then used my calculator to figure what the dimensions would be if I put 3 swags in each quarter - think it will work as I have printed out swags the size I need and fitted them up to my paper oval.

This afternoon I am hoping I can figure out what fabrics I want to use for the different borders and get the oval done so I can start on the swags.

This morning I only worked on the quilt design until 9:00 am then started mowing the lawn and the rest of the yard. It takes me about 4 hours to get it all done with the riding mower. When you live on a farm you end up mowing a lot of area to keep everything looking neat so it just takes a while. If I only had the lawn to do that would be a snap. Am always glad when I am done as everything looks so good for a week then I have to do it all over again.

Until later,
Lynn

Updated Quilt Plan

This is the plan for the corners - disregard the pieced oval as that part got changed. I have been doing the drawing for this quilt on EQ6 and printed out the oval and rectangle the size it will be but didn't want to take the time to remove all the lines of the block to make it just the appliqued ovals. I am better at drawing the flower and leaf shapes by hand so printed out the quilt plan then did corner drawings.

I will be appliqueing the corners like I did on the basket block and am starting on it today. Don't know if I can get all four corners done today or not since it is noon already.

No cooking this noon as we are still eating Easter left overs - Yay!

Back to work....
Lynn

EQ6 Setting

This is the photo I showed in my last post. I printed the ring out from my EQ6 program exactly the size I would use, cut out the inner circle and laid it over my actual block to see what it would look like.

This next photo is a print out from EQ6 in color. I played with the setting and to actually see what it might look like I put a copy of a photo I took of the block above and in EQ6 I used the set photo tool then sized it to match the size of the oval. The white corners of the photo covered some of the piecing so I couldn't get a really good idea of how it would look so took it one more step.

First I moved the correctly sized photo to the side of the quilt in the program then printed a couple of copies of it in color. The print out has both the quilt plan and the photo to the side. These printouts are not the same size as the original but the block is sized to be nearly in scale with the piecing so that is OK. I cut out the oval from the inside of the quilt then cut out the photo that was printed to the side and placed it under the cutout and taped it down. Ta Da....A fairly good rendition of my idea.

One last thing I did with these paper quilts is that I quickly cut out some of the flowers from the other copy and taped a group of them in the corner to see what that concept might look like. I really like the general idea of this quilt now so will work on paper piecing the oval to start.

Not sure if I will have a chance to sew unless it is later today if at all. I need to make a lasagna to put in the refrigerator for Friday and am also making some enchiladas to take to a friend today plus running to town for groceries, doing a little house cleaning.....you get the idea, too many things getting in the way of sewing.

A good friend from college is coming here to do a trunk show for our guild meeting on Thursday night and staying at my house until we go to the workshop she is doing for the guild on Saturday. I have asked two other friends over for lunch on Friday so the Lasagna will be for that. Like to cook things ahead of time if I am having company as it makes the kitchen stay neater and I won't feel rushed on Friday morning that way either.

The enchiladas I will take to a friend that just got home from having a double mastectomy. She is a young gal only 38 yr. old. (By my standards anyway.) The lump she found did not show up on her mammogram last fall and again in Jan. Luckily her Dr. had an ultrasound done and then a biopsy to determine that it indeed was cancer. Guess this kind of cancer is undetected by a mastectomy and the Dr.s said it could likely show up in the other breast at some later time so advised a double mastectomy. My friend agreed. She will be undergoing chemo in a few weeks too. Besides the food I am taking a few of my DVDs and a couple books to her. Her mom will be here this week then she has to go home to Minnesota so will try to go see her as often as I can.

One granddaughter called me yesterday to ask me what my favorite season is. I told her spring....love the smells and the greening up of nature. She had to ask 10 people what their favorite season was for a school project. Think they were learning to graph. Always fun to visit with the kids!

Lynn

Ta-Da-Drum Roll

TA-DA - Drum Roll!!! I got my miniature quilt done last night around 11:30 pm. Was taken away from working on it by watering my flowers and garden, general household stuff and a friend stopped in to visit for about an hour in the evening or I would have been done by late afternoon. I was determined to get it finished last night no matter how tired I was. As you can see I added another folded strip of the gold fabric just inside the binding - it only peeks out a little less than 1/8" but like the way it pulls that gold through the whole quilt.

This second photo shows the size of the elements in the quilt. It is hard to tell size or to visualize it but hope the ruler laid on the top helps. The quilt size is 13 1/2" x 10 3/4" and I named it Morning Star Over the Pine Ridge. The NSQG (Nebraska State Quilt Guild) challenge is called Stars Over the Pine Ridge so played on that name. When I first designed it I was planning on having multiple stars on a dark background with the trees but when it came time to find fabrics I couldn't get a good enough contrast to make the trees show up and after piecing one star I decided that would have to do - was really tedious. Putting a star in a blue sky meant I had to think of why it would be there, thus I called it a morning star.

By the way I designed it in EQ6. I love the program and it makes designing and printing PP patterns so much easier. I got the quilting design for the last border from a mini program called Quilting Designs that can be linked to EQ6. This design came from Quiltmaker 3. Could re-size it to the size I needed when used through EQ6. This was the first time I used any of the quilting patterns from the program and it worked great!

I used the stitch regulator on parts of the quilting and the walking foot on others. I can tell I need lots more practice using the BSR foot. Not quite satisfied with the stipple quilting in the center but am going to leave it for now.

Now to get my supplies gathered and figure out what I am going to wear and get it packed for the trip to Chadron tomorrow. I plan to leave here by 8 am so need to get it all done today. I will be taking two other friends so we will have a jolly time on the long ride out there.

QuiltNebraska is always so much fun I am really looking forward to it and seeing and visiting with my quilting friends from across the state. It is almost like a family reunion so many of us have gone yearly since the beginning. The quilt displays are usually just grand and it is always fun to shop at the vendor malls besides the wonderful lectures and classes.

Guess that is all for now - talk to you later when I get back after Sunday.

Lynn

Anniversary Party & Miniature Quilt

Today was an especially fun day. My husband and I attended a surprise 25th anniversary party this afternoon for some friends hosted by their two sons. It came off as a good surprise and the boys did a good job getting the food arranged and getting their parents to the party. The parents had no idea so that made it more fun.

Since I have done no quilting today I will post a photo of a miniature quilt I finished after Christmas this year. I call it "Three in a Row." The flower blocks are 1" square and the entire thing is machine pieced and quilted. It doesn't seem quite balanced but after ripping a few times I didn't want to chance it again. I was trying for an asymetrical look but it just isn't quite right.

The little flying geese are only about 1/8" deep and 1/4" wide and the quilt is 5 1/2" x 7 1/2". Oops! You can still see the white markings from the pencil I used to mark the quilting lines - must remember to get that removed!

To make the leaves I foundation pieced the leaf sections then reverse appliqued them to the background. The stems were reverse appliqued as well - this was all done with the mock hand applique method by machine. The quilt was planned and drawn in EQ6 where I do a lot of my designing. I printed the foundation pieced blocks from that program too.

I added a 1/8" folded piece of green fabric inside the binding before I stitched the binding to the quilt - like the spark it gave the outside edge.

Lynn