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Posts Tagged ‘HeartStrings’

Patriotic blocks on the Design Wall

Posted in Design Wall Monday, Quilts of Valor, tagged , , , , , , on July 19, 2010| 8 Comments »

This week I’ve been sewing Patriotic fabric string blocks.  I couldn’t decide whether I liked the Bright Red centres or the Dark Red centres better, so I’m making both.  The blocks look a bit wonky right now because they haven’t been trimmed down to their proper size of 9.5 inches yet.

Bright Red:

Dark Red:

My red-white-and-blue string bin is overflowing with scraps left over from the pillowcases and my first Patriotic string quilt, so I’m sure I have plenty of fabric for two quilts!  Or more.   😉  I keep thinking this fabric is nearly used up, but it just seems to multiply overnight.   I guess it’s deceptive how much yardage is really there when it’s cut into narrow strips.

These are HeartStrings quilts, and when completed, they will go to Alycia in Colorado for the No Soldier Forgotten Quilts of Valor project.

To see what other quilters have on their Design Walls today, please visit Judy’s blog for a list of links.

Happy Quilting!

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A week of going backwards (Stash Report #7)

Posted in Quilting, Stash Reports 2010, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 14, 2010| 14 Comments »

I didn’t make any positive progress on my pink and purple Flying Geese quilt at all this week.  But, if mistakes are educational, then I have learned a lot!  😉

First, I thought I had the perfect backing for the quilt — a beautiful shade of pink in 100% cotton.    Got it all basted and started the machine quilting.  However, it’s a bed sheet, and now I know why quilting on bed sheets is not such a good idea — the threads are so close together, it’s difficult to quilt through.  Even with a small needle (10 or 11), it still leaves a big hole in the fabric.

I was so unhappy with the results that I unpicked two hours’ worth of free motion quilting and undid the basting.

Then I found another length of regular quilting fabric in my stash that was a good match for the colours, but I didn’t have enough.  There were two others that I thought would make a good pieced backing using the instructions Mary Johnson wrote for HeartStrings, but I didn’t have enough of those, either.   Aaarrrggghhh!

Finally the light dawned on me to cut the quilting fabrics into 10.5 inch squares and piece them together patchwork fashion to make a backing by one of the methods used by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.  That will give a good variety of prints and use up even more stash.  I’ll probably start that tomorrow.

Haven’t finished any other projects to count in my totals this week, but I did start working on a UFO for Judy’s February Quiltathon and hope to finish that today.

Totals for Week 7 are:

  • Bought this week:  0
  • Bought year-to-date:  9.75 yards
  • Used this week:  0
  • Used year-to-date:  10.75
  • Used (net):  1 yard

To see how others are doing in their Stashbusting this week, please visit Judy Laquidara’s blog, Patchwork Times.

Happy Quilting!

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Week 1 Stash Report

Posted in Stash Reports 2010, tagged , , , , , , , on January 3, 2010| 13 Comments »

We are three days into the New Year, and I am already in the negative column in my Stash Report!  😉

But I haven’t thrown caution to the winds  — I am planning ahead with my purchases.

The red polka dot is going into a Soldier quilt for Alycia’s No Soldier Forgotten project, which will be one of my HeartStrings projects this year.

The turquoise is for my older daughter’s birthday quilt, and the plum, violet and green are all for UFOs that I plan to finish this year.

I have also mail-ordered some other fabrics, but they haven’t arrived yet — the white muslin for the turquoise quilt, and a few other things that I already have specific plans for.   I hope that is “smart buying.”  🙂

My total fabric bought is 2.5 metres, which translates to about 2.75 yards.  I haven’t done any real sewing this week, but I am hoping to make a start on something this afternoon!  Got that design wall to think about for tomorrow!

Week 1 Stash Report

  • Bought Year-to-Date:  2.75 yards
  • Used Year-to-Date:  0

To read about other quilters’ Stash Reports, please visit Judy’s blog.

Happy Quilting!

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Quilts of Valor donations ready (Stash Report #9)

Posted in Quilts of Valor, Sewing, Stash Reports 2009, tagged , , , , on March 1, 2009| 23 Comments »

I have four Quilts of Valor tops ready for donation on Monday.

These two are going to the QOV-UK group.

qov-uk1

qov-uk21

The UK coordinator lives hundreds of miles away in another part of the United Kingdom, but she is going to be in my area tomorrow visiting relatives so we have arranged to meet for coffee and (more…)

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What I did this week (Stash Report #4)

Posted in Quilts of Valor, Stash Reports 2009, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 25, 2009| 4 Comments »

This week I cut up 6.5 yards of fabric and started making blocks for my first Quilts of Valor UK quilt.  The pattern is like the HeartStrings group Happy Blocks, but for grown ups.  I had 8 fat quarters and three 5-inch charm squares of the novelty prints and 2.5 yards each of the background prints.  The quilter at this blog used two alternating fabrics as the borders for her (more…)

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HeartStrings Quilt Top (QOV) & Stash Buster Report #3

Posted in Sewing, Stash Reports 2009, tagged , , , , , , , on January 18, 2009| 2 Comments »

This morning I finished my first HeartStrings Quilt top, using scraps left over from the Quilts of Valor pillowcases made during November’s Pillowcase Party.  This is going to be posted to Alycia, who is working on a mighty QOV project to personally deliver 400 quilts to the project in May 2009.   She will finish it into a proper quilt with batting, backing and binding.

heartstrings-qov

We went outside to take advantage of the lovely January sunshine, and my husband and teenage daughter held the quilt up for me to photograph.

I used 6 yards of fabric for this quilt top.  The centre lattice strips are blue Kona cotton purchased on our last trip to America a few years ago, and all the strips are pieced onto muslin squares.

patriotic-strings

When you make a scrap quilt, do you ever have a favourite block?  This is my favourite from this project.  It just looked so “right” to me that I had to take a picture!  😉

favourite-string-block

Stash Buster Report for Week 3:

  • Fabric purchased:  0
  • Fabric used:  6 yards.
  • Year-to-date purchased:  0
  • Year-to-date used:  6.75 yards.

Now I can’t wait to get started on something new!

Happy Sewing!

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QOV Pillowcases — 3 More Completed!

Posted in Sewing, tagged , , , on November 28, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Three more pillowcases completed for the Quilts of Valor project!  I am hoping to have 12 finished by the end of the weekend.

t-day-pillowcases1

The pillowcase on the left is made from Mary Johnson’s pattern,

http://maryquilts.com/pillowcase/

I couldn’t understand the directions for this technique until I saw Mary’s photos on her tutorial, and then it was suddenly clear.  Thank you, Mary!  This is a wonderful pattern and works well if you have large pieces of fabric (27 inches x Width of Fabric, and strips 9.5 and 2.5 inches x WOF).  It’s beautifully finished with enclosed seams and has a faced cuff.

The pillowcase in the centre is Mary Lou Weidman’s “Bee Happy” pillowcase,

http://www.benartex.com/projects/p_pillow.php

This pattern is excellent if you have smaller pieces of fabric (20.5 x 20.5 inch squares and strips 4.5 and 2.5 inches x 20.5 wide).  I experimented with making the cuff and accent strips wider to make a longer pillowcase, but discovered it’s better to make the body longer, say 23.5 inches long x 20.5 inches wide instead.   Most of my patriotic fabrics were fat quarters, or treasures from remnant bins at fabric stores in my old neighbourhood in Texas.

The pillowcase on the right is from a suggestion by one of the members of the HeartStrings list.  She said to use approximately 27 inches x WOF for the body, and approximately 9 inches x WOF for the cuff.  I cut mine 9.5 inches, turned up 1/2 inch for a hem and then folded the cuff in half to make a facing and conceal the top seam.  I zig-zagged to overcast the side and bottom seams.  This pillowcase turned out nicely too, and I didn’t have to think too much about what I was doing.

Happy Sewing!

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QOV Pillowcase Progress

Posted in Sewing, tagged , , , , , , on November 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Two finished so far!  These are the first pillowcases I’ve completed for Quilts of Valor, in conjunction with the Heartstrings Quilt Project Thanksgiving weekend Pillowcase Party.  I’m going to use each of the three patterns listed in my previous post about this project.  These two cases were made with the Bee Happy pattern by Mary Lou Weidman.  I made two small changes, as I wanted these pillowcases to be plenty long enough to hold a good-sized quilt.  I cut the wide band 6.5 inches wide (rather than 4.5 inches), and I cut the narrow band 3.5 inches wide (rather than 2.5 inches).  Finished size is approximately 20 inches by 28.5 inches.  The seams are not enclosed in this pattern, but I have overcast them with a zig-zag stitch to prevent ravelling.  These pillowcases have turned out really well, and I will “Bee Happy” to use this pattern again! 🙂

pillowcases-finished12

pillowcases-finished21

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