A Sunday at Home

What is the name of the law that says whenever you need a plumber in a hurry it will be on a Sunday or a holiday?  *Sigh*

To distract myself from the more pressing and unpleasant issue above, I thought I'd post a photo of what I'm working on now.  This is a quilt that is continuing on from the Square in a Square workshop I attended at the end of September.  We made a couple of blocks in the workshop, and I liked them enough to complete the quilt.

It's a bit more traditional than the other quilts I've made this year.  I do like the traditional blocks as well as the modern quilts.  Although, generally, I don't like so much the fabric prints that go along with those traditional blocks; I seem to have made an exception in this case.  I like the batik used for the block centres and the flying geese; the colour in that is mainly blue, red and purple, but it is so wild that each individual square looks quite different from its neighbour.  I think the batik will keep the quilt from feeling too Little House on the Prairie.  Fingers crossed!

I'm a bit stalled on it at the moment, though.  Even though I thought I massively overbought, due to the poor description of what was required on the materials list from hell, it turns out that I need more background fabric.  Benefits to Square in a Square method for flying geese: the method of constructing the square they are embedded in allows perfect squaring, even though the geese themselves can be untrue.  Drawbacks: a fair amount of fabric wastage (this is true for the S-in-a-S method generally, I find), bloody tedium!

I was reading on someone's blog the other day about how each stage of a quilt is different and reminds them of raising children.  The fabric is lovable and cuddly and can do no wrong, just like babies, and every stage from there brings its own challenges and joys, just like toddlers and teenagers.  (I've forgotten whose blog this was, my apologies, so if it's yours, drop me a comment and I'll make the appropriate link.)  I couldn't agree more.  I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what kind of quilt I'm going to make, and I have big plans and high hopes before I can commit to using the cutter on my fabric.  Almost immediately afterwards, I start to have buyer's remorse, and I look cross-eyed at the blocks as they come together, second-guessing myself like crazy.  As more blocks come together, I start to thaw, and once the top is assembled and I start quilting, I'm in love again.  What about you - do you love your projects the same way at every stage?

Another Day of Quilting

Southern Skies blocks, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.

The last day of our Square in a Square workshop saw us making these Southern Skies blocks. As I mentioned in a previous post, I really had no idea what I was going to be making when I prepared the materials for the workshop. I'm not sure I would have chosen this fabric had I known more about the pattern these blocks make up. On the clothesline, it's hard to see the blocks side by side, but it is striking how different the red and blue blocks appear. The Square in a Square method seems like a good choice for making long, skinny points without stretching or otherwise losing shape. Overall, I was pleased with the workshop, although I overbought in massive amounts, due to the poor directions on the materials list. Never mind, I now have enough fabric to make at least lap quilts from both of the patterns from today and yesterday, and I like them well enough to do it.

Square in a Square Workshop

Prairie Claw block, originally uploaded by Shadrach Meshach & Abednego.

Here's one of the blocks we made in the workshop today. Fortunately, the materials list from hell did not predict the quality or content of the teaching! This block is about 12" square. Here's what we learned:
How to make a million half square triangles with perfect points in a flash.
How a stiletto is better than pins.
How to use a little scrap at the beginning and end of chain piecing to eliminate snipping threads
How to construct just about any block starting with a square and adding strips to the sides.
It was cool enough for me to buy the book and ruler. Those half square triangles alone are worth it!

Materials List from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks

Last night I spent an hour in my LQS, getting help with a materials list for a couple of workshops scheduled for the weekend.  A quilt maven who has developed a specific technique for making those pesky  skinny points and stars is coming to town and offering workshops for two quilts.  I scanned the materials list when I first received it by email a couple of weeks ago.  List of what equipment and supplies to bring.  Precutting fabric and sorting into bags for the various blocks is required.  No problem.  But when I sat down in earnest to figure out what fabric was required, it was a different story entirely.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out how much yardage I was meant to buy, nor how many colours or how much of each, since none were listed specifically.  I had to deduce it from the cutting instructions, but these weren't clear, either.  "Cut Z squares of your light or background" would be used in one place, then "cut X of the light and cut Y of the background" would be used in a different place.  So are there lights AND background?  Or are they the same thing?  And reading farther, I realized that the bagging instructions were also incomprehensible; you would end up with two bags or twelve bags, depending on how you read the instructions.  And to make matters worse, the only photos that were ever given were tiny, highly pixellated ones of two quilts draped artfully over a chair, where it was very difficult to see what the blocks looked like.  I realized that I didn't even know what I was making! To make a long story short, here's what I came home with:

The fabric above is to make a quilt called Southern Skies.  The fabric below is for one called Prairie Claw.  I was a bit more cautious and restrained in my fabric choices since I don't know what I'm aiming for.  If I like it, I can probably add to the range of colours a bit.  With any luck, I'll like at least one of these enough to expand it for a wedding present in the spring.  Wish me luck!