Logcabin variation duvet covers 2

Still using logcabin I was a bit puzzled what to do for another cover still on the four by five layout.

Graph paper is ever the quilters friend and I played around with triangles as a general idea how the finished blocks would come together and came up with this.

It coordinated with another set of bedding and again used up the available material.

Conference stitching..project update.

All the stitches worked today were tweeding.

I could look at this and see all the empty space that still needs to be filled.

But no!

I am looking at it and I can see the progress for today.

With the building stitches for more progress next time it comes out.

I have something to finish for November first.

Then I hope to have a bit more focus on this.

Logcabin variation duvet cover 1

In mini-mint.l I shared a patchwork cover made for a small duvet.  It was not the first cover made for that particular duvet.

Previous covers were made with my go to pattern of the time, logcabin. The size required some rethinking.  The normal sizes I had worked with allowed for even numbers of squares, generally four by six for the lap size.

The duvet was four by five.

For the first variation I went with a diagonal stripe arrangement. 

Logcabin duvet cover

A lot of the books I have seen since completing  my first logcabin recommend small prints or solids.  I have rather delighted in using large patterns and seeing how the slices of colour reform as the log cabin forms.

In this instance using two colourways of the same material, one with more orange tones and the other more purple. I like the way this came out.

Close ups of the sliced up material resewn.

Chorley Postage Stamp Quilt

There is a reason I think of this as a Chorley quilt, it is not a style related to that town nor did I make it there.

However, it is where the material came from.  Not from a quilt shop, not even directly from a fabric shop.

No it came out of a skip, a skip in front of a curtain shop.  They had been refitting and had thrown into the skip several pattern books.

I have mentioned this find before in relation to the second quilt I made from this fabric source hidden-star-hidden-beauty  I asked permission and I took as many of the sample books as my Dad and I could carry.  My Dad did suggest driving back to get them all, I declined, there are times I wish I had not but as I still have fabric to use it was perhaps a good choice.

The beauty of a sample book is the various colour ways of the same pattern and also the same colour palette for differing patterns.  I chose for this project to randomly cut strips from the various materials in the sampler book.  Sew the strips together, then cut them into strips (of squares) and join them into blocks.

I will admit that when working the blocks I was a little less random and did make some choices of which strips to use together as I went.

I remain quite happy with the result of the lightweight quilt.  The quilting pattern on it is the closest I have come to a dresden plate so far (there is one ahead in the sampler quilt).

 Here is a closer picture of the squares that make up the quilt.

And the quilting on as viewed from the back

Sampler quilt, spiders web and

Grandmothers Fan (a start and the pause)

So since returning to the Split Rail after a long gap I have been on something of a roll, started and finished the drunkards path and then I started the next page in the book.

Spiders Web...and finished it too. (I may need to work on the corners to get it squared up)

Still the points and seams on the web part came out so much better than I had feared when battling with the Split Rail.

So, whilst waiting for access to the sewing machine to add on those corners, I cut some of the pieces for the next chapter  Grandmothers Plate.

And started the sewing for it.

I have finished the panels for the fan and I started pinning the point of the fan to the panels in the same fashion as the drunkards path.  The book says that this should be easier as it is a more gradual curve.  

Nope!

And at the third time of pinning and it is still not happy I feel my roll slowing to a halt for this project at least.

Perhaps the cross stich will make a come back.  It is General Conference this coming weekend so my long term project will hopefully make an appearance and be progressed.

Sampler Quilt.

This is the layout I settled on for Drunkards Path.

I did the whole block by hand.

It needs a bit more pressing.  However, I will let that wait till I am ready to consider putting all the design blocks together and make arrangement and stashing decision.

Drunkards Path variation

So that is six different blocks done (well almost done some of then need borders adding to bring them up to size and again I am waiting till all the blocks are done as that might make a difference in the colours I chose to use).

The next block is back to strips joined, cut into triangles and rearranged.  

Sampler Quilt Drunkards path

So after the stall on the Split rail I expected progress on the next block with curves to be slow.

The book has this as a hand sewn block, for the curves at least and described the pining as looking like a hedgehog.

I can see the correlation....

my BFF asked how do you sew that, the answer...carefully.

Sixteen blocks later and much quicker than I had anticipated there is the fun part of looking at the layout to see if I prefer an alternative to the version heading the chapter in the book.

So some options 

There are two that call to me more than others.  One is the chapter picture, one a variation.  I may not need to choose one or the other.  I had a little miscount and made 4 more blocks of the blue and pink than I needed.  So I can make another twelve and try both if I feel like it.

Click here

for an update on the end result and to see what happened to the extra 4 squares.

Eat the Frog and the sampler quilt's progress.

 Well there was a big time gap in the progress on the last block.

The strips of material having been sewn together on  19 November 2017

The next stage of that block and in deed finishing the block waited till September 2018.

Why and what has that got to do with consuming a frog?

Well I have been reading a book about time management and planning, getting more done with your time called Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy (and yes like the old joke I have not finished it yet as I need to find the time to do so).

The theory being that if the worst thing you have to do in a day is eat a live frog you ought to do that first and get it out of the way rather than put it off.

So how does that link to crafting?

Well, I have generally applied the theory that if something has gone wrong in either a cross stitch or a patchwork or a section of quilting that it is better to grit my teeth and  apply the Frog as soon as I see the problem.  Rather than put it away in frustration till I feel like getting it out and fixing it.

Why?

Well the block in the Sampler quilt is a good example.  Just a little bit of unpicking , or as it has become known, frogging was required.  Had I stuck to my normal practice, done it as soon as I realised it was needed I am sure it would have stayed small.  However, as I put it away, it became a bigger issue in my mind and each time I thought about picking the project up again  the thought of starting with a negative action, frogging, which always feels like going backward put me off and I focused my time on something else instead. 

It stalled the whole project, and it was not until the date on my blog brought home to me just how long I had been procrastinating that little bit of unpicking that I made myself "Eat this particular Frog" and it was so easy and quickly done!

So whilst others bemoan the arrival of the Frog, as it is referenced on many a sewing Facebook group I think it is a positive thing that there is the option to put something right.

Sampler quilt..been a long time

since I worked on this, the last update I thought I had the strips done.  But when it came to the next stage, well they just did not measure up.  Literally, they did not make the required measurement and a bit of unpicking was required.

So re sewn, and the two panels of strips cut into squares and triangles and sewn back together and this patch is done.

Strip Rail

It fits beautifuly with my blog ethos..

Well the seams and the points are unique!

It is not giving me much confidence for the block after next which has even more seams and points to tackle.









Who would have thought that I would approach a block with curves as being a buffer between me and a scary scary one with straight edges.

Lawn Bowls Season over

and my dad is packing away his gear for another year.  I have previously shared a humorous piece I stitched for him bowls-season-openfire.

That was not the only bit of stitching I have done for him.  Much earlier I hand stitched his club crest and attached it to white towelling making a neck scarf for those rainy matches as he hated drops or rain getting down his neck.

It is about three inches square.

I took a picture of it before it went away till next April when the season starts again next year.

I remember stitching it on the weeks my dad was doing a 3 - 11 shift and keeping hidden till Christmas.  I was very pleased with the way it turned out...I still am as it has worn well I made it well over 30 years ago...