The Sun Still Shines -quilted

I just realized I have not posted a picture of the quilted SQ QAL quilt I have sent away to the winner of the giveaway last week.

How, dare I?!

In keeping with it's second name, The Sun Still Shines, I quilted semi-circles in the yellow and did a larger meander throught the remaining blocks to mimic the chaos in the tornado path. On the borders (which I never took off to straighten) I just did a continuous wavy 8 stitch.  I am pleased with the overall look and I hope the winner is, too.

   

FINISHED QALs!

That's it, today's the day to have those QAL tops posted on our FLICKR group. I know time/life got in the way for a few of you but since I had so few posters to add pictures, I think I'm going to send a little something off to each of you.

Aside from my finished top, 2 of you completed the tablerunner and posted about them. They look fantastic!
Quilting in My Pyjamas and
P at The Way I Sew It.

I flipped a coin and P, you've won the fabric. Congratulations, your reversible runner is very pretty and fun!

Quilting in My Pyjamas, I am going to send this along to you for participating and finishing your first paper-piece project! I hope it brings you a little inspiration. It's nothing too fancy or detailed but it might be fun.

And for Shevy, who I kow would have finished if life hadn't intervened in such a way as it did, I'd like to send you this little package. Please do post in the group when you do finish, I can't wait to see these fabrics put together.

If you three ladies would please email me your address, I'll get these sent out.

For those who've put up with my posts, thank you. I hope you take the pattern and make one of your own tops one day. If you do, please feel free to post it in the group so everyone can see it (or me, at least! hehe)

Cheers! Beck

PP QAL - week 7, borders

Alright ladies, everyone should have put their blocks together.

Now please add the borders you should already have cut. Add shorter sides first and then longer sides. Hopefully, I've had you cut enough "extra" length that this will be a comfortable endeavor.
Please post all completed tops by Tuesday, May 17 in our Flickr group to be eligble to win the prize for participants! (It doesn't matter what size you ended up making so yes, there's time if someone wants to join with a table topper.)

I have a question for you all, now.  Here's my top, without needing to undo the borders, how do I fix the rumply borders? This is the first time it's ever happened to me that my borders are ruffly looking and oddly enough, this is the first quilt that was truly squared up when I added the borders.  It's very odd to me.  Any suggestions besides just take care when quilting? I was thinking about adding another dk blue border but I'm afraid it won't help but will make it worse.  Anyone have anything for me?  I so hate unstitiching...

Cheers! Beck

QAL weeks 6 (& update on me)

This week for the QAL, all I am asking you to do is layout your blocks in the pattern you want and then start sewing them together into rows and then sew the rows together. 

Next week will be borders and then, the drawing for the participant prize!  As promised, when I went to Lancaster area in PA, I picked it up. It's a small fat quarter bundle. If it so happens I have more participants who've been hiding away and pictures of completed tops are posted at the end of week 7, then I will add second, smaller gift, a pocket quilter's diary.

I do hope you all are doing well and please check in with any questions or updates here or on our FLICKR page. :)

Now, update on me. I have no update. Life is status quo and it's driving me crazy! I'm living on some great land but in a horrible, small house that I cannot get organized in. For me, no organization = no productivity in house needs, quilt needs, personal needs.  It's hard to just make myself do things but I'm trying. Getting away to PA with my friend and an area quilt guild was a fun diversion and a much needed step away from where I was going with my own little self-pitying madness. (Okay, maybe that was an extreme representation but I swear I could have stepped into that pool easily enough.) Anyway, we've put bids on houses, we've put in bids on land, we've written contracts, we've travelled so far around 2 counties,  and I'm so versed in the real estate market around here (9 months looking and counting!) I think I could pick out a house online now. Good lord, we have cash in hand for land, we have great credit, we have reasonable bids for the market. The problem, too many people are underwater in their mortages and the banks aren't willing to work short-sales too much yet. Foreclosures on the market are still few and far between and/or are listed at the inflated price the bank still was owed from the previous owners. We do not want to rent and piss our money away for the next couple of years. The tax hit this year was enough to remind us it's not a favorable option but really, what the heck?!  Alright, so that's my update. Life continues with family and kids just fine otherwise, thank goodness.

So, in no particular order, here are pictures of all the goodies I bought in PA and visiting with my mom over Easter.  The last photo is a teaser.  What do you think I will be doing with that fabric?

 BOOTS! I love em, I've been waiting for years to find the perfect pair and these babies are it. I may get another pair just as a back up. :D

     How cute are these chicken applique? Fried chicken, chicken divan, chicken gumbo! Love it.

FQ bundles, 25 for $30 each and a pretty fabric!

Monopoly fabric for a quilt for my son. I brought it home and his face lit up, I am glad I snagged it. A pattern for the friend who took me on the PA trip. She said I can make her this quilt and I promised I would but warned it might be 5 years from now! hehe

A decoration for my new sewing room, if and when I get one!

Finally, this beatiful fabric.  What, do you think I will be doing with this?

Quilt along pals, check in! If you haven't started, you still have time to participate if you make a smaller table topper.  That's only four blocks and border. You can do it, I'm sure!

Cheers! Becky

SQ QAL - Weeks 4 & 5 More Blocks & Removing the Paper

Alright everyone, it's week 4.  I know a  couple of you are following along, a couple are a little behind and some of you had been meaning to join but haven't yet.  Given the varying stage everyone is in, this post is a reminder that these blocks go quickly once you get the technique and the first couple down.  I consider myself an experienced paper-piecer and I knocked these out over a weekend. I've scheduled two more weeks for the new piecers and those with less time and that is this week and next.

Please check in and let me know how you are doing and if you have any questions. You can post here or on our FLICKR group.

Just to keep you motivated, after the next 2 weeks, we will have a 6th week for borders (if you are doing an Easter Table Runner and would like border instructions earlier, please let me know that and I'll email them. It's nothing difficult.) and then a week or two for quilting.  A prize will be given to one of the people who have posted a completed top and post pictures of it after the border instructions so let's get going, folks!

The prize: (it's still a surprise! Saturday I'm taking a bus trip up to PA with one of the local quilt groups and I'll be picking up the prize there when I go to Burkholder Fabrics. All I will say, again, is it's going to be stash friendly!)

(This step is optional but I find it helps tear away from the stitching just ever so slightly.) Give all those blocks a quick press with the iron. Fabric side up, paper side down. Start in the center of the block and quickly pass a hot (no steam) iron out to the corners and edges. Always work center out. Each block should take no more than 5 seconds to press the seams.  That's all we want here. If your paper curls up slightly at the corners, no worries, just bear in mind all we want to do is a quick set on the seams. 

Let's get to the removal of the paper.  No video for this one folks.  I can't see the need but if you do, I'll make one, just let me know. With paper side up, fold the paper back on the sewn line on the easiest section to tear off, section 8. Crease the fold then gently pull the paper off. 

Work your way around the block doing this from the outside in on all sections. Sometimes you need to gently tug the paper out from under the stitching and if you do, be sure to pull to the side, not up and away from the stitching to prevent pulling the stitching out. 

Lastly, sometime you have little pieces stuck under the stitch and in the corners.  A sharp pair of tweezers is the key here. 

Pull out those little paper hangers with the tweezers. I find this task is best with a garbage can by my side and the television or radio on.

So, for anyone that wants to jump in here are the previous posts/instructions.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3 -with video tutorials

and our FLICKR group. 

Feel free to grab my button on the sidebar if you want.

Cheers!
Beck

SQ Paper-piece QAL - Week 3 (with video!)

(NOTE:  I just realized that for week 2 I talk about this being a 9x9" square and it's not! It finishes at 9.5"x9.5". Please translate whenever you read 9" that I meant 9.5x9.5. My apologies. To those that have already printed and enlarged their patterns, it's OKAY to finish this out using 9x9 inch squares. It just means more leftover fabric instead of not enough. I'm sorry for the inconvience.)

If you haven't grabbed your materials yet, there's still plenty of time, get your stuff and join it! There will be a surprise for one participant along the way.

Ah yes, it's time! I'm doing this 2 ways, with the written word and with a very amateur set of videos.

I'm apologizing in advance for the videos. I started with just me and the camera, then my son J decided to help by moving the camera for us but in the process, instead of keeping it just to my hands, he shows you that I'm wearing my pajamas!  So, in essence, my early morning effort to get this done and posted today has been found out.  We've shown you all my penguin pajama bottoms and old Army PT shirt. Sorry about that but I wasn't about to redo the video.

Okay so here is the VIDEO Tutorial Part 1. This shows how to start and put sections 1 and 2 together.

1) You take fabric for section 1 and put it right side together with the fabric for section 2 and line up the edges. Place them on your cutting board with side 1 on top and side 2 on your cutting board.

2) Place the pattern right side down over the fabric so the fabric for section 1 is under the actual section 1 and positiong the line that is between section 1 & 2 about 1/4" in from the edge of the fabric.  Be sure that each section line is also set approximately 1/4" inside the edge of the fabric. Pin in place.

3) Reduce your stitch length. For use with tracing paper, my stich length is reduced from 2.5 to 2.0.  For stitching with regular printer paper, I reduce the stitch size to 1.5.  (This helps keep stitches from being pulled when we tear the paper off.)

See these next steps in the VIDEO TUTORIAL Part 2.

4) Start stitching on the line between sections 1 and 2. Put paper up and fabric on the bottom. Go from the one end of the line to the other end and do not stitch over. However, take one backstitch at the beginning and end to help lock it in place.

5) Remove from machine, flip paper over and with fabric on top, finger press fabric pieces open.

6) Flip again and with fabric on bottom and opened up, carefully fold the paper along the line between section 2 and section 3. Using a ruler, cut 1/4 AWAY from the folded edge.  Discard extra fabric for use in another project.

7) Flip. Place right side of fabric for section 3 along side the cut edge of fabric 2. Pin in place.

8) Repeat steps 4-7 for each section. Be sure to follow the numbers.  After section 6, do not cut. 

See these next steps in the VIDEO TUTORIAL Part 3.

9) Go to section 7 and trim the fabric 1/4" away from the line for section 1 and section 7.  Then sew on section 7.

   

10) Next fold and trim along the line for section 8, sew, finger press open.  Flip one last time and trip around the quarter edge of each edge line.

 Make 4 blocks this week.  Be sure to post pictures of your blocks on our Flickr Group!   Questions can be answered here or through the discussion board on the Flickr Group, as well. If you post them there, others, besides me can also answer. :)

Cheers! Beck

Paper Piece QAL - Week 2

ETA:
ACK! I just realized in the post below I talk about this being a 9x9" square and it's not! It finishes at 9.5"x9.5".  Please translate that when you read 9" below.  My apologies. To those that have already printed and enlarged their patterns, it's OKAY to finish this out using 9x9 inch squares. It just means more leftover fabric instead of not enough.  I'm sorry for the inconvience.

I'm sorry this post is a couple days late. With it being quarter end at work and March Madness here, I lost 2 days of the week to other stuff.

This week: Pattern preparation and cutting.  Say it with me, "yea!"

Preparing the Pattern:
1) Pring this pattern.  Use THIS LINK, not the picture below (and disregard the "A" in front of the letters, it means nothing).  I've set it up so if you print both pages at your normal printer settings (for normal 8.5"x11" paper), it should come out to look like each sheet pictured in the link.  You may have to "download" it first but it should still print as 2 pages. 

For my friends using A4 paper (thanks for asking Shevy!) I am not sure how to advise you the best way to print. There is another link below, a JPEG of the entire block but it prints (for me) as a 6"x6" square instead of 9"x9".  Here's the JPEG link.

UPDATE: Ms Pyjamas of Australia states she printed this and it came out at 6.75".  She then enlarged it by 31% and it came out to be 9" blocks.   Just get it as close to 9" as possible without going over too much and make all your blocks the same size and this will still work out with fabric requirements.

Once you print, fold one side on the line and tape the folded part to the matching line on the other sheet.  THEN MEASURE IT, please.  Each block should print up at 9"x9" with both sheets.

2) Put the block under one piece of tracing paper and using a ruler, trace all lines onto tracing paper (including the block outline). Add the numbers to the sections on your tracing paper.

3)  Now, you can repeat step 2 for all other pieces of tracing paper (if I have a 4-block quilt, I'll do that but if I have a 35 block quilt, I follow the following approach) or you can line up about 6 - 8 pieces of tracing paper ("TP" now b/c I'm tired of typing it) and pin them together securely.  Then, with the thread OUT of the sewing machine, use the needle to punch lines through all layers of the paper to create perforated line patterns on the other TP pieces.  If you have a machine that yells at you when you are trying to work without thread (like mine) the other alternative is to use the tool below and do the same thing, puncture each TP piece. However, you can only do 3 or 4 at a time with this method. 

If your eyesight is poor, I recommend following direction # 2 above. 

The last alternative, print the # of blocks you need from the printer. I only use this occasionally b/c (a) it's thicker paper and makes tearing away more difficult and (b) it uses a lot of  paper and ink.

4) Once all sections are marked with perforated lines or actual, drawn lines, be sure to number them all.  Pay attention and be sure you don't accidently turn blocks upside down before numbering.   Set aside. 

Cutting the fabric:

NOTE 1: Since there are so many options, I'm not breaking cutting down by each quilt. I'm giving you the cutting requirements for each block. You determine how many pieces you need by the # of sections in each block x the number of blocks with that color scheme. In one version, I have 3 yellow blocks.  3 yellow blocks times 2 sections of the medium, dark yellow = 6 med., dark yellow pieces total.

NOTE 2:  Reminder, once we are done, there will be waste from the fabric cuts. This can be reduced with PP practice but because we have newbies, I want to be sure struggling with angling fabric is NOT part of this QAL. Plan to pass your scraps to a friend who likes applique if you don't applique yourself.  That's the best advise I can offer.

A) Cut fabric for sections as listed below.

Section 3 = 5 1/2" x 10"

Section 8 = 5 1/2" x 10"

Sections 1 & 5 = 4 1/4 x 8 1/4"

Sections 2 & 4 = 4 1/4 x 8 1/4"
Sections 6 & 7 = 4 1/4 x 8 1/4"

Examples of cut sections for my yellow blocks.

B) You can cut borders now if you don't already have them cut and (please refer to week 1 post for the measurements you need) but I always wait until the end to cut those. I tend to measure better.

That's it for this week, folks. Next week, we will begin piecing. I will post every Monday from here on out! Let me know if you have any questions and please remember to post progress on our Flickr group. :-)


Cheers!

Beck

Q&A on Quilt along (and a widget!)

I'll post answers to questions for the supply list here over the next couple of days.

1) No need for lots of printing, you can do that but if you do, you need printer ink and paper, not tracing paper.  All you will need is 1 print copy of the pattern. Perhaps a friend will let you use their printer if you don't have one?

2) FQ's will work for this but you have to do your own math.  I tried to do it but found I was confusing myself and that meant the chances of confusing you would be great. To determine if you have enough FQ fabric, you can use the individual cut section sizes first listed. I am not providing cutting instructions, it doesn't matter which way you cut, it only matters that you get pieces for each section in the sizes I've indicated (and more on that next week.)

Now, if you want to let others know you are participating (or if you just want to help spread the word), I think I've acutally created a functioning button that you can add to your own blog.  See my side bar for the code. :)  It is linked to my blog as opposed to a specific post, but that's the best I can do for now.

:-)

Quilt along post #1, suppply list.

I am late in the day posting, I know and apologize but to make up for it, I'm giving you a few options, and a week and a half to pull your supplies together. Next quilt along ("QA") post will be the 24th of March.

First order of business. I do not know how to do the linkee thing so instead, I've created a Flickr Group for us.  Questions/discussions can be posted there, anyone with an email address can participate for free and no blog posts are necessary if you don't want to. Just post pictures as the weeks move along.  It's fun to see everyone's choices and progress in the same place. So, pop on over there and join up. 

PAPER PIECE QUILT ALONG FLICKR GROUP

Second order of business.  For all those participating (and posting their completed tops, not quilted quilt, just tops) at the end of this QA on Flickr, there will be a random drawing for a prize. Right now I have one prize (to be disclosed later but let's just say it's stash friendly) and if we have a big turnout, I'll add a runner up prize.

Finally, a supply list:
Rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat
Tracing paper (enough for the # of blocks you choose & figuring blocks will finish at 9.5" square)
Fabric as indicated below.

If you want to go scrappy: the measurements for each piece of fabric for the block are:

Sections 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, & 7 = 4 ¼”x8 ¼”

Sections 3 & 8 = 5 ½”x10”

Yardage for 24”x24” Easter table topper:

Section 3 = 1/8 yd each, pale purple & light purple

Sections 2 & 4 = ¼ yd aqua polka dot

Sections 1 & 5 = ¼ yd light green flower

Sections 6 & 7 = ¼ yd yellow polka dot

Section 8 = ¼ yd pink polka dot

Border 1 = 2 EACH, 1 ½”x19”, 1 ½”x21” strips

Border 2 = 2 EACH, 2 ½”x22” aqua, 2 ½”x25” green strips

             An optional topper choice: 4th of July?

Yardage for 44”x53” garden quilt: (This is the quilt I am doing)

Section 3 = EACH, ¼ yard pale yellow, ½ yd pale blue, ¾ yd pale green

Sections 2 & 4 = EACH, ¼ yd light yellow, ½ yd light blue, ¾ yd light green

Sections 1 & 5 = EACH, ¼ yd medium yellow, ½ yd medium blue, ¾ yd medium green

Sections 6 & 7 = EACH, ¼ yd medium-dark yellow, ½ yd medium-dark blue, ¾ yd dark green

Section 8 = EACH, ¾ yd dark yellow, ¾ yd dark blue

Green Border 1 = 2 each, ½”x46” & ½”x39”

Dk blue Border 2 = 2 each, 3 ½”x48” & 3 ½”x45”

                                    An additional color and layout options for this same size quilt.
  
Yardage for 44”x53” pink ribbon quilt:

Section 3 = 1 ½ yd pale pink

Sections 2 & 4 = 1 ½ yd medium pink

Sections 1 & 5 =1 ½ yd light pink

Sections 6 & 7 = 1 ½ yd dark pink

Section 8 = 1 ½ yd medium dark pink

Light Border = 2 each,  1½”x46” & 1½”x39”

medium Border 2 = 2 each, 3 ½”x48” & 3 ½”x45”

                       Other color/layout options:

Yardage for 51”x51” patriotic quilt:

Section 3 = 1 ½ yd ice pale blue

Sections 2 & 4 = EACH, ¾ yd light blue, ¾ yd red

Sections 1 & 5 = EACH, ¾ yd medium blue, ¾ yd medium dark red

Sections 6 & 7 = EACH, ¾ yd medium dark blue, ¾ yd dark red

Section 8 = 1 ½ yd dark blue

Red border = 2 EACH,  1 ½”x46”, 1 ½”x48”

Blue border = 2 EACH, 2 ½”x48”, 2 ½”x53”

                Layout and color options:

I would like to take a moment to say, you are welcome to create your own design. You are also welcome to use solids, tone-on-tone or print fabric. This is all about being enjoyable to YOU and you alone.

Finally, I would like to say the fabric requirements are generous. There will be leftover after we cut and piece. I do not want people fussing with angling pieces and getting frustrated. Just look at it as a way to save scraps for your (or a friend's) applique stash!
Come post your fabric photos at the Flickr group.  Can't wait to see what everyone decides on. :-)  My fabrics are posted here and here.  I hope you have fun with this and if you are new to paper-piecing, this is an easy start. If you are familiar with it, I hope you find the variety of layouts and colors inspiring to you.

Cheers!
Becky