Monday, May 18, 2015

Frozen

The long overdue reveal is here! Introducing Frozen,

my second Metro Rings medallion, with the first being this one for my nephew's wedding last August.

The quilting is very dense on Frozen, because I wanted the background to look like frost.

The fill is almost like drawing a star, without completing the last arm or two. Shh, don't tell the quilt police the lines cross over!

I took a bit of time mulling over the finish of this quilt, hanging it up after quilting, and trying to figure out just what else it needed. That little extra was Swarovski crystals. Notice them in the centers of the snowflakes in the background fill? Just that little bit. I consulted a couple quilter friends, and they all agreed it didn't need any more.

The rest of the quilting is pretty straight forward - the rings have pointed/arching feathers, not the traditional round plumes, plus scallops on the outside.

The purple star quilting takes advantage of the points using echoed diamonds, while the squares connecting the rings have a simple, fun fill.

Radiating lines fill up the centers between the rings.

For the corners, the center star quilting is repeated, and the finishing touch, piped binding ties it all together.

And can't forget the back!

This quilt hangs in my front entryway, where I got the best pictures to show all the texture. Hope you've enjoyed the eye candy!

Happy Quilting!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Spangled Stars QAL Block 2 - Bar Block

Welcome to the Spangled Stars Quiltalong for Block 2, the Bar Block. If you're just joining in, here's the schedule:

Welcome to the Spangled Stars QAL - April 30, 2105

Uneven Nine Patch Block - May 7, 2015

Bar Block - May 14, 2015

Stripes and Cross - May 21, 2015

Star Block, part 1 - May 28, 2015

Star Block, part 2 - June 4, 2015

Quilt assembly - June 11, 2015

Completed Top Linky - June 18, 2015

Completed Quilt, Grand Parade - July 2, 2015

Now, on to the Bar Blocks!

The chart below lists the number of Bar Blocks needed for each size quilt.

	# of Bar blocks
Wall Hanging	12
Throw	32
Twin	59
Double/Full	72
Queen	84
King	98

Those are big, scary numbers! But keep in mind, this block makes up the majority of the quilt, and is really, really easy to put together. I'm making two twin size quilts, and it took two hours to cut, sew, press, sew, press, subcut, and take pictures of 59 blocks. That's a fast block!

The next chart shows how many strips to cut of the white, for the background, and the medium blue, for the bar, based on a fabric width of 40".

WOF=40”	White background	Blue for bar
Wall Hanging	(4) 4 1/4” x WOF	(2) 2” x WOF
Throw	(12) 4 1/4” x WOF	(6) 2” x WOF
Twin	(20) 4 1/4” x WOF	(10) 2” x WOF
Double/Full	(24) 4 1/4” x WOF	(12) 2” x WOF
Queen	(28) 4 1/4” x WOF	(14) 2” x WOF
King	(32) 4 1/4” x WOF	(16) 2” x WOF

When it's all done, the block looks like this:

and measures 9 1/2" x 6 1/2".

So let's get sewing!

Cut background strips 4 1/4" wide, and medium blue strips 2" wide. I chose a darker medium blue for my project. It's definitely not my darkest blue!

Sew a blue strip to a background strip, using a scant 1/4" seam.

Press the seam to the blue, narrow strip. Sew another background strip to the other side of the blue, and again press the seam toward the blue. The strip sets should measure 9 1/2" wide.

Stack two strip sets on top of each other, carefully lining up the edges.

Trim off an end, then subcut 6 1/2" blocks from the strip sets.

Once the required number of blocks are cut, you're done!

Congratulations! Don't forget to link up below!

Monday, May 11, 2015

T-shirt Update

Lots of t-shirts news today, as major progress was made this weekend. I created my own quilt retreat, mainly because hubby was away, allowing me to spread out all the t-shirts. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen the takeover, otherwise, this is what my living room looked like Friday night:

Four of the five quilt layouts are here. I ran out of room, so the fifth one is in my bedroom.

And just so I wouldn't have long treks to my studio to do all the cutting and sewing, I set up a cutting, pressing, and sewing station in the kitchen.

There's a lot of counter space for cutting, another counter for pressing, and my featherweight on a TV table. She and the setup are working wonderfully. BTW, I named her Stella, and she has been a joy to work with! And no, I did not imbibe on that bottle of wine - I'm more likely to hit the coffee maker out of view on the right.

Walking through that doorway, takes me to the living room, where all the layouts are covered when not being worked on. See why?

Yes, the fur babies think this is a new playground, as the sheets let them slide easily to chase a toy. And if there were no sheets, they'd be sliding through my layouts! The pillows help hold down the sheet edges, preventing the little pests from going under. The things I have to do!

So, a bit of the back story about this project. These shirts belonged to a gentleman who competed in a lot of swimming events. When my friend (his wife) gave me the t-shirts,

half of them were fused. I finished up the fusing, then trimmed to dimensions that fit the design on the shirt. All of the large pieces are random dimensions, with the little squares cut into three uniformly sized groups. I was also given black fabric for the sashing, but wanted to add some blue to liven things up. In my stash, I had a perfect blue that looks like water shimmers, and works so well with the black. Adds the punch without detracting from the t-shirt blocks.

And it's carrying on the water theme. How awesome is that??

Now for progress pictures. This is the layout for T1

which got changed a bit as I was sewing. See the block to the right of the star? It's corner is touching the lower right block - not good. Moving them a round a bit created a better flow for the sashings, so now it looks like this:

Approximately 4' x 6', the tops still need borders. Oh, and that hole in the center? A block with his name appliqued on it will go there, as it will in each quilt.

Here's T2, with the layout first