Triangle Thursday #16

Lattice

This design is number 1181 in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. It is attributed to Nancy Page with no date listed. As often seen, the block acquired additional names through the years.  In 1938 the “Kansas City Star” named the block a “Quilt of Variety.”  Then in 1941 it became “The Quint Five Quilt.”  My guess is this is a reference to the Dionne Quintuplets who were born in 1934 and became a major tourist attraction.  You can search Wikipedia.org for more information on the quints, the first quintuplets to survive infancy. You can find a printer friendly version here. 

Cutting directions are for 6”

Fabric	Number to cut	6”
Background Squares	4	3 ½”
Various Fabrics Triangles	8	1 ½” triangle template

Here are the pieces for one section laid out.

Sew the triangles onto opposing corners.  Make sure the points are toward the center and the blunt edges are even with the background fabric.  Stitch exactly ¼” away from the long cut edge.  Iron the triangles toward the outer corners. 

You can choose to leave the background fabric under the points or trim them at ¼”.  One thing to watch for is that the triangle pieces actually cover the background fabric or at least a enough to catch in a seam. I decided to trim mine to eliminate the excess bulk. I squared up the blocks before I trimmed though to make sure what was there was accurate.

Here are four sections ready to be sewn into rows.  

 Here are the two rows. I ironed the seam open to eliminate bulk.

Before you sew, see what else you can do with this block!  I’ve seen these two together called hugs and kisses.  Wouldn’t they make a cute Valentine’s Day quilt in white, reds and pinks? 

Sew the two rows together matching the centers and the triangles. Your all done.  A quick, easy block.

To change the look of this block consider using either the 1” or 2” triangle templates.  The 1” would show lots more of the background fabric while the 2” would show much less.  Consider what size scrap triangles you have left.  Change the size of the background square to use the triangles you have left.  Have fun playing with this design.

Did you miss Triangle Thursday last week?  I’ve decided to post TT on the first and third Thursday every month.  If I were truly organized I would have a bunch of these already written up and ready to post.  I don’t!  I do them every week!

Happy Quilting All!

       

Design Wall Monday 5-13-13

Although I got quite a bit done this week there aren't a lot of pictures to show.  And, it isn't that I'm working on secret things.  Just kept up with mostly the same things and some quilting on Ruthie. 

Here's my May offering of the Brown Bag event.  A reminder of what it is... those choosing to participate put block directions, fabric and a tool in to the Brown Bag.  Each month we take a different brown bag to make the block/s as requested by the owner.   Cindy put in some circle-making interfacing with directions to use it.  Then she asked it to be stitched down to the fabric.  Pretty easy way to make decent circles.  I used some bright colors although not every one did.  She did ask for the circles to be in a color family. Fast and easy! 

I did pretty well on my goals this week. 

Week of May 6, 2013

Finish and trim Jenny’s quilt√

Print labels for Country Piecemakers√

Mark, batt up and quilt challenge quilt√

Quilt 1 of CP’s charity quilts√

Quilt FCQ’s charity quilt Started

Make backing for Kitty Cat quilt I had an inspiration on the backing but no action.

Quilt my Kitty Cat charity quilt

Week of May 13, 2013

Finish quilting FCQ Charity Quilt

Make backing for Kitty Cat quilt

Load and quilt Kitty Cat quilt

Begin small quilt for swap

Figure out backing for CP charity quilt

Load and quilt CP Charity quilt

Work on strip charity quilt

Sew flannel block quilt together

I hope everyone had a special Mother's Day.  Kevin and Aimee sent me flowers which I was able to arrange in a vase.  And, in his call on Mother's Day, Kevin announced that he and Aimee were having a little girl.  We were sworn to secrecy about the pregnancy, the sex was new. (I admit, I didn't do a great job of being secret some of you might have been aware!)   So we'll have 3 darling grand daughters!  Can you imagine the fun shopping-fest we can go on together!  Or, maybe a fabric shopping trip!  

Don't forget to visit Patchwork Times for more wonderful Design Wall Mondays. 

Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday 5/5/13

Here's what I worked on Friday.

Country Piecemakers had a baby quilt sew-in day to use up some of the fabric that had been donated to the group and to produce some quilts quickly.  I chose to make this quilt. I saw this video at Missouri Star Quilt Company with directions. (This is the You Tube version as I was having a lot of problems viewing the video at Missouri Star's web site.) Since I had 2 1/2" strips, that is what I used.  If I did it again I might use larger strips to make it go a little faster.  I had too many strips of the same fabric so I'll be grabbing some strips from my stash to add to it and add a little variety. 

I didn't get mine done as it was way more work then the 1600 quilt every one else was doing.  You can see a video of this from Missouri Star Quilt Company. (Again, this is the You Tube version.) About 30 strips are enough to make a decent size baby quilt.  To save time, our gals were sewing the strips end to end. 

 Sewing the strips together.

Trimming the edges of the quilt. 

Oops.  We didn't always have wof strips so a little border was needed on this quilt.  I brought home two of the quilts to quilt up on Ruthie but I'm not sure they will be done until later in the summer.  I know that more than 10 quilts were finished or almost finished that day.  Wow! 

Yikes!  I didn't do too well on my goals this week. 

Week of April 29, 2013

Work on guild challenge quilt √ ready to be quilted

Finish Jenny’s quilt Well, I’m almost done…

Piece the backing for the kitty cat quilt and load it on Ruthie er, nope

Start the Small Quilt Chat swap quilt ah, nope

Finish binding on charity pinwheel quilt ehhh, nope

Week of May 6, 2013

Finish and trim Jenny’s quilt

Print labels for Country Piecemakers

Mark, batt up and quilt challenge quilt

Quilt 1 of CP’s charity quilts

Quilt FCQ’s charity quilt

Make backing for Kitty Cat quilt

Quilt my Kitty Cat charity quilt

This is a horribly long list.  Hopefully I'll get several charity quilts done so I don't need to store them while Ruthie is dismantled.

Check out blogs across the internet at Patchwork Times.   

Happy Quilting All! 

Triangle Thursday #15

May 2, 2013

Road To Heaven

This design is number 1324 in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. It is attributed to Michael James around 1978. This is a more complex block but it is definitely a “do-able” block.   I am using 4 of these blocks in my guild challenge that is due next Saturday. I’ll do a fairly simple quilting design in the border and I think I’ll quilt from corner to corner in the center. (See finished top pictured at the end.) You can find a printer friendly version here. 

Cutting directions are for 6”

Fabric	Number to cut	6”
Black Squares	4	1 ½”
Blue Squares	2	1 ½”
Blue Triangles	10	1 1/2” triangle template
Green Triangles	10	1 1/2” triangle template

Here are the pieces laid out after I made the half square triangles.  Part of the challenge required us to use only squares and half square triangles.  That’s why I made the blue triangles in the corner by half square triangles and a square rather than a larger triangle.

Sew the squares together into rows.  I ironed the seams in the same direction in each row.  The next row, the seams went the opposite direction.

Now sew the rows together.  I chose to iron these seams open in hopes of spreading out the bulk in the seams.

Broken down this way this isn’t all that hard of a block, but there are a lot of pieces to it. 

I’ve used four blocks together.  The sashing is cut 1” by 6 ½”. The little black corner stone is 1 ” square.  I added a black 2” (cut) border.  I’ll be batting it up and quilting it during this coming week.  Then it becomes a part of a display at local libraries for the next 3 months or so.  (Yep, that is a red wall in the background!)

Happy Quilting All! 

April Stashbusting

Here we are firmly into spring and finally the weather is acting like it.  We are having cool, cloudy days interspersed with cool sunny days.  Very nice weather before summer hits us with unending heat and humidity.

I'm pleased with my Stashbusting statistics this month. 

2013	Fabric In Month	Fabric In Year	Fabric Out Month	Fabric Out Year	Total In or Out Year
April	1.75	34.25	6.7 yds	30.45	3.8 yd

I'm slowly making inroads on all the fabric I bought the first few months.  And, I'm sorry to report I'm going fabric shopping on Monday.  The good news is I am only looking for borders for a queen size quilt I've been working on for YEARS.  Or perhaps the key word should be not working on.  I hope to bring this trip around the world with me to retreat in June to finish the top.  

My finishes for the next few month are going to be much smaller than usual as Ruthie is being dismantled.  Her rails are going in to be powder coated which should make the "ride" very smooth. Additionally, the attic is being finished -- windows being added, some walls, insulation, ceiling and a cork floor.  And, the best news -- my studio will have a new giant home!  Right now I have Ruthie in one room and Bubbles and supplies in another room.  When the attic is done and everything is moved in there we'll have two extra rooms.  One will be an office for Pat and the other will be a room for the grand kids when they come.  Now when Jenny and Brian are here Sophia sleeps in her special room -- the laundry room.  And, strange as it seems, she seems to like it in there even without a night light.  Go figure.  

I'll keep you informed on the progress.  I still have a week and a half to get some quilts done on Ruthie.  And, I have 3 to do.  I'll see if I can find any more.  Right now, Jenny's quilt is on her and I need to actually work on it after several days off.  

Look at that spinach.  Our garden is giving us a ton of wonderful spinach these days.  Yum! 

Happy Quilting All