Long time no see

My progress has been hampered by a rotary cutter injury to the tip of my left index finger and general life business. Another block for my niece's quilt, Log Cabin:

Whoa the log cabin took a long time with all the seams and trying to get everything lined up straight.

I am also planning a new project. I recently purchased a selection of fabrics for a quilt for my brother and sister-in-law to be.

Blocks 11 and 12

Two more blocks for my niece's quilt:

Bright Hopes

Mexican Star

Completed wall hanging

Here is the completed wall hanging for my niece, appropriately hanging, though a bit crookedly, on the wall of her bedroom.

Progress

Yes, I have been slacking lately! But, here is a new block for my niece's quilt called "Patience Corner"

Attic Window and Wheels

The next two blocks for my niece's quilt:

Attic Window

Wheels

Two new blocks completed

Here are the next two blocks for my niece's quilt.

54-40 or Fight

Dutchman's Puzzle

The next two

Here are the pieces cut for the next two blocks for my niece's quilt.

49-50 or Fight...

...and Dutchman's Puzzle

Drunkard's Path

I finished the next block for my niece's twin size sampler quilt. Drunkard's Path turned out a lot straighter than the last time I tried this design.

Dresden Plate Completed

It still needs ironed.

Dresden Plate

The next block for my niece's quilt is Dresden plate. It is an applique block. Here are the pieces cut out and placed in position.

Here are the pieces after I hand sewed them together.

The next step will be to applique the center to the the flower shape after appliqueing the flower shape to the background fabric.

Card Trick completed

Here is Card Trick, first sewn in rows.



Then all together.

Card Trick

The next block for my niece's quilt is Card Trick.

The hardest part of quilting for me is choosing the fabrics for a particular block. Sometimes it helps to fold the fabric and place it in an approximation of the design to see how the fabrics look next to eachother.

Here are my pieces, cut out.

Beginners quilting guide

Start by selecting the quilt block designs you want to use. I use this book, which has some great patterns. I am going to be making a twin sized sampler quilt for my niece which will have 15 different blocks.

Next, you need to choose a selection of fabrics (pink is her favorite!). I probably won't use the paisley ones.

Trace and cut out the pattern pieces. I like to use this plastic so the pattern is reusable. I am going to start with Ohio Star.

Trace the pattern pieces onto your desired fabrics.

Mark a 1/4" seam allowance and cut out.

Here are all my pieces cut out.

To sew the pieces together, start by placing two pieces with right sides together, then pin through the two corner points, and along the seam allowance line.

Thread a needle with hand quilting thread knotted at one end. Place the needle through the corner points and make a single stitch .

Make a second stitch, and then continue in a running stitch across the seam line, making small even stitches.

Return several stitches and then clip the thread.

Iron the seam with the seam allowance to one side (toward the darker fabric usually). And then flip and iron the piece.

Sew the pieces together according to the order indicated in the pattern book.

The finished Ohio Star block.

New Applique

Here is the Dresden Plate Fan block with the applique completed, front ....



....and back.



And, a close-up of the applique stitches on the back.



With the basting stitches removed and the excess fabric cut away from the back.


Completed Dresden Plate block.




Here is the Grandmother's Fan block with the applique completed, front ....



...and back.

And, a close-up of the applique stitches on the back.

With the basting stitches removed and the excess fabric cut away from the back.

Completed Grandmother's Fan block.

Making Changes

Well, I finished quilting the Mexican star block, the Dresden plate block, and most of the Grandmother's fan block on my niece's wall hanging when I finally admitted to myself what I had been trying to ignore since Thanksgiving. The more I looked at my niece's wall hanging, the more dissatisfied I was with the background fabric on the two applique squares. I think the Pooh fabric was just too busy to be an effective background.

So, I removed all of the quilting from both the Dresden plate and Grandmother's fan blocks (I know, I know, it was depressing!) and then removed the two "offending" blocks.




Then I removed the appliques from the Pooh background fabric. I selected a pale pink background fabric to replace the Pooh fabric with and basted the applique pieces down again.

I hope to finish this project in the next 2-3 weeks because I will be starting another quilting class at that time and will want to work on the class project.