On a Roll with Circles

Now that I have gotten over the fear of doing the small circles, I looked through the rest of the Beyond the Cherry Trees blocks and prepped several more blocks with circles. I had help choosing that soft yellow for the basket or bowl. Then I had to be very careful to place it and start with the bottom of the 3rd stem in the middle of the bowl since I had not left quite enough length.  But as I have said before, these blocks are so forgiving in the placement of the different elements.

BTCT Block # 7

This will be a bowl with fruit in it. It may be the closest thing to doing a Baltimore block that I will get to for a while. I only basted on half the grapes since they are so close together. I love having several blocks prepped and ready to pick up anytime. I try to stitch a bit every night as I listen to some worship music before going to bed. Some nights that can be between 1-2 in the morning.

BTCT Block # 21

 I am being careful  to glue baste so I will not be taking any tiny applique pins with me to visit my daughter and dropping them on the floor for the 9 month old grandson to pick up and eat. I thought I had been careful at my son's house in picking up all the pins that fell until I was told that the cat found one I had missed. Not sure how that could happen with 3/4 inch pins with white or black heads falling onto a white porcelain floor with black grouting.

Round Blessings,
Chris

Stitching on Thursday

I have the next 8 blocks of the 1718 Coverlet laid out awaiting a couple more colours before stitching them up.

 So I decided to pull out neglected Dear Jane 2 and complete a few applique blocks that I had started back in November. I am machine appliqueing these with matching thread in a simple straight stitch.



However,

I guess I should not multi-task in the quilt room.
Oopsy Blessings,
Chris

The 1718 Coverlet Journey Begins

These are the first 8/182 blocks for the 1718 Coverlet Quilt Along. QAL. It has been a while since I did any piecing.  And to start with no less than 16 mitered corners! I ended up pulling out the Featherweight to get this done. 

The white looking squares are a tone on tone shiny white and gold brocade, but it does not show here. I found a bundle of precuts in fancy golds and metallic that will give this project some sparkle. I am using Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons for the colours and an assortment of soft fabrics from my stash. I found a couple of yards of a primitive weave print that will be the background where I cannot find a suitable fabric. I did not yet make the applique block for the Feb QAL. I have yet to locate the just right blue and white stripe fabric in it. It's okay though. I get to make 3 of those same blocks so I will get them done.

1718 Coverlet

My thoughts now on the Shot Cottons. I was advised to not pre wash. I did not pre-wash.
Now I understand why. This fabric is quite fine or thin in comparison to the cottons we are accustomed to quilting with. 

There are some strict guidelines for this QAL. Because the instructions and measurements are copyrighted, I am only going to post completed blocks. I can say that there are instructions given for the original methods and modern methods for making the individual blocks. I am using the modern ways for now.

My intention as far as I am able is to stay as true to the original colours and effects. This is a mosaic not a sampler so there will be no sashing or borders. At this point we are proceeding in order so I will be connecting the blocks and rows as soon as I have them completed. Therefore, no OCD advanced organization going to happen here.

Mitered Blessings,
Chris
(2016: I have done nothing on this project for nearly 2 years but I might pick it up again this year and make a few more blocks. I belong to the facebook group and a few pictures have popped up this week and I wonder why I stopped working on it?Maybe something to do with having started 9 other large applique quilts. Hhmm.)
(2018: No progress but it is the 300th birthday of this Mosaic Coverlet. I might pull it out and add a few more blocks to commemorate.)

Busy Saturday

BTCT #16

I had both 8 foot tables in the middle of the quilt room since the retreat last month and this week I spread out all the Beyond the Chery Trees stuff to prepare a few blocks for the next trip I am taking. Now that I am comfortable making bias strips with a clover bias tape maker, I made up lots in 2 different sizes. It is really quite easy to prep applique blocks if you you have room to spread out. I had to figure out the order to layer the different stems and leaves. The grapes above were all cut out using several sizes of GO dies. There will be about 30 grapes per cluster. I glue basted several in each bunch to get started. The leaves go under the vines which I prepared first, before I realized about the layering. 

 The stems below are stitched on first this time and the leaves will float above. The cherries and leaves are glue basted in place. I see that I missed 2 red cherries right in the middle on the ends of the stems.

There will be a yellow bowl eventually. Fingers crossed that all the stems and leaf ends will fit under it.

BTCT #7

 The leaves on this block sit under the stems. So, the leaves are now all in place. I did glue baste them also.

I love how the patterns are not centered perfectly. This makes it less stressful in the long run.

BTCT #24

A quilting friend came over today and helped me see these Shot Cottons from a different perspective. 

So, we separated out all the brights and put them with the bright prints.

Bright Kaffe Fassett

 And, we put all the dull ones together and I have made my decision what colours the 1718 Coverlet will be.

Dull Kaffe Fassett

These fat quarter bundles came with 34 different colours in each pack for a total of 68 different colours. That is a lot of different colours. That's 17 yards of fabric. Enough to make several quilts.
Now to get busy. The March blocks for the QAL have been posted and I have yet to make the Feb blocks.

Hurried Blessings,
Chris

Choosing Fabrics

Have I ever mentioned that choosing fabrics is not my forte? That's one of the reasons I have so much fabric in my cupboard. Indecision.

I bought the book and the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons collections. That was the easy part. But what colours do I use to fill the gaps?

And those 2 upper corner blocks are brown and there is not enough fabric in one fat quarter to go the distance. 

This is a coverlet not a quilt. It is a mosaic not a sampler. Not sure what the difference is? Better read the book to find out.






I initially thought to pull some dull fabrics from my stash to look a bit like old silk, since I am using cottons. I even found a Yumi print. Never heard of that before this project. And that bottom one is a simple basket weave that can be a background filler. But those shot cottons all look a bit bright next to the dull ones.

Then I see some early blocks posted on facebook and some are using the bright Kaffe fabrics. Well, I happen to have a whole bunch of those already prewashed that I bought thinking I might make a third Dear Jane quilt and I do like the Kaffe  Fassett colours on a crisp white background. To date, I have 22 DJ2 blocks done in brights on white. But these colours sing together beautifully.

Or do I use both bunches? I certainly have enough. And I am not even going to think about trying to make 2 different ones. I will wait and ask some of my friends to tell me what I like before starting.

Indecisive blessings,
Chris

What Arrived in the Mail Today?

This

Inside was this

 And inside that was this

 And the other day I photocopied all these

 

So I can make this

Excited blessings

Chris

Not Afraid of Circles

I had stitched up the stems and leaves of several blocks a few months ago. I realized that this is another block where I could use the GO cutter to cut the 17 circles that finish at 1.5 inches. The pattern says the centers were reverse appliqued but I think I will just applique the 1/2 inch circles on top.

BTCT # 1

I did not use glue this time because I still have to applique 1/2 inch yellow circles on top and do not want to have glue in the way.A few of the circles look a bit less round. I guess I should not run 8 layers of scraps through the cutter. These stitch up really nicely and I am getting them quite round now that I have a bit of practice.

BTCT #1

I am babysitting for the 3rd straight night so should get more done tonight.
Blessings,
Chris