Today it rained all day – so what do most quilters do on a rainy day? They tend to stay in and sew like me if they are able to. I did run out to the fitness center and then it was back home to fabric and a book 
I made my vines today for the border of the quilt. I cut the bias strips yesterday and today I prepared that long, long piece of bias that I had sewed together yesterday – all 420 inches of it!! I don’t know what method most of you use but here are the steps I use once it is sewn together. I forgot to take photos yesterday of me cutting the strips and sewing them. To make my bias strips into vines or stems I use the product from Clover – it comes in various sizes. ( I have not ordered from this link given but I linked it to the Clover site) There is a fusible tape that you can use with this tool also and iron your stems and vines down. Sometimes I use it other times I don’t. There has been a time or two when I could see the fusible through the fabric and it didn’t look good. Other times it doesn’t seem to stay ironed on. Most of the time in the last couple years that I have used it I just press it and then when I put it on my quilt top I use the Roxanne Glue Bast It to hold it in place until I stitch it down. In this case I will continue to do my hand stitching as so much of this top already has hand stitching in it (the circles) and also because for me it will be neater!!
this is my bias stem/vine maker. It is by Clover and this one is 1/4 inch wide.
I lightly spray with starch (in BACK of the maker - don't spray the area that has already been pressed or it will open back up), give it a second or two to dry slightly and then start pressing the seams down with the iron as you pull/push the maker the opposite direction. I constantly move the iron to keep up with it to press the seams under. I don't even lift the iron up but a kind of push the maker with the iron as I press.
I cut a piece of cardboard off of things in the kitchen cupboard for winding the vines to keep them neat - in this case a large box of microwave popcorn came into use.
400 inches of bias piled up on the floor
420 inches of vines neatly waiting for me to glue baste in place on the border - maybe tomorrow?
Tonight I have gotten some little 9 patch blocks ready and have some more to make. After that it is more circles – I’m making 2 different sizes from scraps and they will go on the sides of the quilt border most likely on both sides intermittent along the vines.
Yesterday I just about completed 2 Dear Jane blocks for the “Insanity Revisited” quilt, I finished one up this morning. The two done:
Block number 8 from row 10
Block number 9 from Row 10. It seems that at times on this quilt the original maker Jane Stickle must have enjoyed making certain kinds of pieces in this case oval shapes, these two and the next two have them. They are a pain to make in my opinion!
Now I am back to making the patchwork blocks for the border until CSI comes on at 8 – how do you all like CSI lately – I haven’t enjoyed it as much the last two seasons now that they replaced the Grissom character with Lawrence Fishburns character – he just doesn’t seem to go with the other cast members as well I think and also not the same since they killed off Warrick last year, or was that two years ago? Too many changes aren’t good for a show at times!! In my opinion
I have decided on my border – thank you all for your opinions. I am going to put the vines on the border like the one I showed you on the baby quilt. I will put nine patches in the corners also in pretty much the same arrangement and then on the sides of the borders I will put circles here and then instead of the patches shown in the baby quilt. I was busy today cutting bias strips to make the vines but that is all the further I got with it today.
Someone asked in the comments on yesterday’s post how I plan to quilt this quilt — by hand of course! I do not quilt any other way. I think she mainly wondered because of all the seams. For me when hand quilting I go with the design of the quilt. I would not try to do anything fancy – wreaths or what not on the main part of the quilt because of all the seams. Around the circles I will quilt circles (outline) and on the squares I will have a diagonal line run through them. Yes the seams make it a little harder but there will just be a couple bigger stitches there. This is for me not a show or whatever, the size of the stitches do not matter to me, consistency does. On the border I will do outline stitch around the vines, circles and blocks and then the diagonal lines from the squares will run through to the border – that is what I am thinking right now. Another questions was why did I have a baby quilt — I’m not sure why that question was asked – don’t all quilters make baby quilts? This particular baby quilt was given to one of nephews on the birth of their baby about 4 years ago, I take pictures of most of my quilts and have a computer file to pull photos from. I have made a lot of baby quilts over the years. I used to try to make them for all the babies in the family but I come from a very, very large family and can no longer keep up with them. I still make baby quilts now and then, sometimes for charity and sometimes to sell.
I spent part of the day finishing a book I was reading so I could get my books back to the library before they were over due. Of course seeing as I was at the library I checked 3 more out. I also made a cake earlier – Mike’s birthday today – we will go out for supper later – steak for him – I don’t make a good steak and I don’t care who knows it steak is not a favorite of mine as I know it is for so many people, maybe that is why I don’t make one well?
We actually get a little more snow I hear over the next two days! I am amazed – this winter seems to be drawing out longer than normal for us. The temperatures are not bad though and what we have on the ground is melting.
I have a book I want to share with you all. I’m giving it a great review. I wonder how many of you quilters have this handy reference? This is a great little book. I picked it up at a quilt shop on one of our travels someplace – the sticker on the book says “Hearthside Quilt Shoppe”. We have stopped at plenty of quilt shops when we travel, it could have been anywhere! The book is by Peggy Scholley and it has a ton of information stuck into 30 pages. The book: “The Quilters Pocket Reference” I do not know if Peggy has a website to order the book from, the link I gave goes to Amazon. Com
The Quilter's Pocket Reference by Peggy Scholley
An example of the inside pages. This book gives you information and measurements. How big do you need to cut a piece of fabric to make a 3 inch half square triangle block? The book tells you. Run your finger down the column of numbers and you will find what you need. Anything from figuring out how much the fabric will cost to make you quilt to hst's and borders, how to cut and measure for quilt backs, calculate yardage for squares. You name it the little book has it. I really think it is one of the handiest books on my shelf - in fact I don't even keep it on my book shelf among the other books I have it on the shelf right above my cutting table where I can access it easily and always know where it is!
This is a very handy book and I recommend it to all quilters – especially if you are poor at math like I am
One more Insanity Revisited block is finished, actually I almost finished two last night but the one not shown I have several pieces to applique on to it and will show it another day.
Block # 7 Row 10 "Insanity Revisited"
by Karen on February 2, 2010
in quilts
As you all know (if you read my blog that is LOL ) I finished a big quilt top last week – my circles and four patches. I have been pondering how to finish off the border. I had thought to just scatter some circles around but I’m now thinking of another idea light bulbs are always going off aren’t they. Here is the picture of the quilt with the incomplete border in case you haven’t seen it.
The four patches and circles quilt
Now what do you think of this border on this baby quilt that I made about 4 years ago – only on the big queen size top.
I really like this border. (I think I found this pattern in a McCall's magazine - maybe about 6 years ago? I no longer have the magazine I just cut the pattern out)
Maybe put the four patches in the corners and then circles in other places – or all four patches as this one has? Actually I think 9 patch would be better color wise. Because it is a queen size quilt and this was a baby size, more patches would go on the sides of course. I don’t know why I happened to think of this baby quilt earlier when I was looking at the border. I will make vines using the darker of the two aqua colors that I used in the Dutch Treat quilt. I have plenty leftover and would be able to make bias stripes easily from it. That color has been used here and there in the four patches and will go well with the light aqua stripe in the border.
I will get started making bias strips for the vines and see what you all have to say and decide later on patches and circles.
Of course now that I have been looking at this baby quilt so much today I have of course thought how great it would look in a queen size too LOL — maybe next year
I told you all yesterday that the red and green applique had some red bleeding on it. I couldn’t zoom in on the bleed very well so you could see it. I could see it – it wasn’t a lot but I thought what the heck lets see if I could get it out. Before I do another red and green block I will pre-treat all of the fabric first, just plain washing it doesn’t always work with red and green I have found!!
Ok so here is what I did – first I basted Shout Color Catchers all over the colored pieces of the block.
the catchers basted on the block
Then I put it in the wash in a lingerie bag with some laundry soap – cold water wash. This is what it looked like when it got done.
I don't know if you can see on this photo that there is red dye caught in the catcher - but when I looked on the other side I could still see dye in the fabric.
Remember this was an experiment – if I had to re-do this block I would. I had a fourth of a bottle (4 oz) of Retayne (I have not used the company at this link but I am showing what the product looks like for those of you who have not used it) left so I put the machine on a small load once again and I dumped the rest of the bottle in it!
When the wash load stopped I took it out and took the stitches out holding the color catchers to the block. Can you see the red dye in places? I'm happy to report that all of the bleeding came out. What did happen though is that the background block is actually just a tad lighter now - weird! There had been a brownish type of marking by the top rose bud on the left side at the top. If you look at yesterday's picture you will see it. It is not there now. But all the bleeding is out.
the finished block - it shrunk just a tad. It is supposed to be a 16 1/2 inch block and it is a 16 1/4 inch block instead. I will deal with that later by having a skinny seam allowance when it is sewed together.
the rose bud where there had been a brownish type of marking that was in the fabric is on the top left side.
before using the color catchers and the Retayne - see the brownish mark? I don't know if you can see the bleeding -it is just a light pink
It is possible that the red and green colors have lost just a little bit of color but as all of the blocks will be in various red and green fabrics it doesn’t matter for the overall quilt. I am ordering more of the Retayne (the company I use is Connecting Threads as their books are 40% off right now and there is one I want (of course I will find a few other things I need as well) – if your order comes to $50 it is free shipping) and I will follow the directions on the bottle and pre-treat all of the red and green fabrics I will be using! I learned my lesson.
