Rip it



The week before last, I was minding my own business, trying to wrap up the knot garden quilt I had no business working on (because I have actual deadlines this month, some of them are even quilt deadlines so who knows what my problem was) & I was about to put the two large pieces together to make the top....or that center of the top (I might add a border.  I almost never do but apparently I am really avoiding something else.  I wish I knew what).    &  that's when I spotted it, right there in that corner block. 

It takes a minute (it took me months, as I obviously sewed it into the quilt like this & never noticed). 

As it happens, this was one of the swapped blocks & I even remember who sent it (I rarely do, especially with the big swaps) because she is a quilter whose work is far above mine, quality-wise.  everything of hers I have ever seen is lovely.  Which just goes to show this can happen to anyone.  Including me. 

It is an unhappy truth that it is easier to rip out the work of an experienced sewer, the person less likely to make a mistake.  It is not fair, but there it is.  This is because it is easier to rip even, smooth, straight stitches.  Stiches that bump & bubble & get really small because they are hung up on a seam are the absolute worst to rip.  Pulling this block out of the quilt top (thankfully it was in a corner, but I would not have let it stop me if it wasn't) was a piece of cake.  Ripping & rotating the flipped four square went quick.  The whole process took maybe an hour, maybe a bit more but as I did it in pieces (ripping while watching tv, sewing the straight seams in the middle of chain piecing something completely different).  The top is assembled & now I am rolling around a border idea that may or may not work out.  You'll know when I know.

Several months ago I finished a quilt top that I had made for myself, was really looking forward to having completed & using when all of a sudden, the steam just went out of it for me.  I could not figure out why. I would look at it & be unable to decide how to quilt it.  Then I worried about the white not really suiting me....  I am not suggesting my sub-conscious was at work here or my private eye or whatever it is.  All too often I get all fired up & stall.  So often that -unless there is a paycheck involved- "fire up & stall, repeat as necessary" is pretty much how I get things done (or not) on large & small scales.

The stall turned out to be helpful, because after a while gazing at the quilt top & then pictures of the quilt top, I spotted an error that would have made me nuts if it was already quilted (the before picture is here if you feel like checking it out). 

The oranges were not in the right places; the dark orange was where the light orange should be, etc.  It did not help that the dark & the light were more like a dark medium & a light medium.  I could have left them, yes, but why?  Once I saw it...& it's not like it was already quilted.  So out came both offending blocks, I reversed them & dropped each back in where the other had been, borders & all.

Let me say again, it is much easier to rip out what is well stitched.  Let me add that it is easier to rearrange blocks that are exactly the same size...which is really just another way of saying that first thing.   I think I can safely say I have ripped at least one major seam in every quilt I have ever made.  I have never regretted ripping what didn't make me happy; I have wished I could go back & rip out now what I should have ripped out then.  Yes, very philosophical, but still.

Knot garden from last summer for this spring

I am up to my eyeballs in pending projects, some of them quilting projects, some of them farm projects, some of them tied to the end of the semester & naturally I am attracted to those projects with no discernible deadline.    Or those I can do nothing about.

Earlier this month I was obsessing on the next stage of the Cotton Robin, which is absurd as I will not even know what I am working on until the next part arrives & the deadline for that is a week away.  I needed to stop looking at what I had done before & what I had made for my own centerpiece (I was inspired to make two exact centers & I am working along on my own & am looking forward to seeing what happens when two quilts jump off at the same point & one travels & the other stays home). 

What I am not doing is double checking the Facebook Quilt Block Swap block directions for AUG, OCT & DEC (yes, blocks are planned that far out).  I have also not finished my own block swap commitments due at the end of this month.

Instead, I pulled out blocks from a swap-gone-by & have been working steadily on a quilt for no one in particular, no deadline in sight & no reason I could not table it until I was way less busy.  But it is SPRING!  Almost.  & I want to do something with flowers & gardens & it is still too sketchy outside (80s F last week, below freezing last night) to do much other than knock down old dead vines & think about where to put those rose bushed currently residing (by nigh) in my bathroom.

So to the Knot Garden I went.  The block pattern was put forward by S***, another block swapper who made the mistake of competently answering questions on the board so I made her co-admin (HA!).  I made a ton of these for the swap , but was not even in the top five swappers; it was wildly popular & I can see why.  Among many other good qualities, it is easy to chain piece & uses scraps wonderfully. 

I decided on a 7 by 7 block layout which meant I needed to make quite a few more blocks & have been making one or two or three whenever I have suitable fabric out.  I wish I had made them way-back-when because it would be a lot easier to make several of the same & swap them around than to make one or two like I am now.  I also plan to put a border on it (right now I am leaning towards pieced corners, & maybe a center side medallion, but nothing too snazzy).

My hope it to have my spring quilt finished (or the top, anyhow) in time for Spring.  Because Spring springs early in central Fladidah, kinda.  It coils up a few times & fools you & then BOING!  it's summer. 

Knot garden finale

This week has mostly been about wrapping up the August Quilt Block Swap, which was for anyone that missed it the knot garden block.  It has been a hugely popular swap & I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  As a rule, the garden-y themed blocks do better than others, although too many of them close together gets old fast.  If I were going to guess, I would have said the kids blocks would be the most popular, but they never are.  Oh don't get me wrong our largest swap to-date was a kids block but it was carried by one person who was really really really excited about it.  There were other swappers of course, but she really got into it; without her it would have been closer to average sized.

I am just as glad the garden blocks click with so many people.  I like making them, I like swapping them & I find it easy to use them...as a rule.  & this one was a particular favorite with me.  I like quilt blocks that make a second design when the blocks are all put together, which this one does.  I also like that I had virtually nothing to do with it.  S*** has stepped forward in the group (she nominated herself by competently answering questions when I was unexpectedly off-line for a bit earlier this year) & this block was all hers.  She had made the original iteration for an as-you-please 4 or 9-patch a few cycles ago & then put it forward for this go-round. 

The block is also beginner to make but advanced to use.  I am finding it useful for showing how to strip cut & chain piece 4-patches.

The second step of folding over the right angle triangle at the corner is a well received cheat for anyone intimidated by bias.

Another way this swap is easier than others is the 6th block person stepped forward early.  It is funny but while people are happy to make a 6th block even for organizations they don't necessarily agree with, people rarely send a 6th block if o one has volunteered to take them, eve when I say they will get them back if no one volunteers.  Since virtually everyone does this, I am guessing it must be a human nature thing.  As for myself, there are days I would pay someone to take my orphan quilt blocks off my hands.  Okay, not really.

Anyway.

This weekend I am wrapping up the knot garden block.  Thank you everyone who swapped & everyone who sent 6th blocks & thank you M******* who volunteered to take the 6th blocks & thank you S*** who came up with the idea for this block. 

I really enjoyed being a mostly-passenger this time.  It gave me enough time to make blocks of my own to for the first time in a long time, I can swap too! 

   

Knot Garden nudge

The August Knot Garden swap is in full swing.  Blocks have started arriving here arrived while I was away last month, even).  We have a 6th block person whose group makes quilts for disaster relief & these will go on the hopper.

So I thought I would do a nudge for the Knot Garden block with more complete directions (I'm getting questions).

You will need three fabrics: 

One of them needs to be green.  It does not have to read-as-solid, it does not even have to be just green, but when you look at it, you should be able to honestly say it is more green than anything else.  For each Knot Garden block, you will need two (2) 3.5" squares of this green fabric.

Your two other fabrics should be garden-y.  Florals are good, leaves, trees, etc.  Birds are good too or other things you might find in a garden.  One of these should be a large scale print & one a small scale print, keeping in mind these things are relative (there is at least one block in the pile with a VERY large scale print, so the companion smaller scale print might be a larger scale than other large scale prints in other blocks).  If you are unable to locate a large & small scale floral/nature/garden print in your stash, it is OKay to use a small dot or such-like or a read-as-solid for your small scale.  Please do make an effort to avoid prints that are not "garden" or "floral" or at least "nature" in their theme.  A small all-over print of taxicabs, while very cute would not be appropriate.  You will need two (2) strips of each of these measuring 2" wide & a minimum of  8" long to make a single block. 

Of one of your garden fabrics, either the large scale or the small scale print you will need two (2) more 2" squares.

Stitch the strips together on a long edge, press to one side or the other or open as you wish & then cut that unit into 2" strips.  You can use these strips to make the 3.5" 4-patches that comprise half of the block.

Back to the 3.5" green-greenish squares.  You will take your extra 2" squares, one (1) for each green square & put them right sides together, so the smaller square covers a corner of the large square.  Stitch from one corner of the smaller square to the other so that when folded on the stitching line the square becomes a small triangle covering the corner.  I promise writing & then reading it makes it more complicated than it is.  You can see a picture of this in the original Knot Garden post, or the whole shebang below.

 

As always we swap in sets of five (5), what is here on the last SAT of August swaps.  If you are interested or need more information you can add a comment here or join the Quilt Block Swap group on Facebook.  

Knot garden for August 2013

In 2011 we made a Garden Maze block that was so popular I was tempted to do nothing but garden blocks forever & ever.  It remains the most accessed quilting post on this blog & when I get requests to use one of the Facebook Quilt Block Swap block pattern chances are 3-to-1 this is the block being asked after (& the next runner up was Floral Sunny Lanes which puzzled me because there are other versions of that one out there, including on Quilters Cache).  Anyhow, it was a good one, but I resisted a repeat of anything even similar...until now.

The August 2013 Facebook Quilt Block Swap block is Knot Garden.  Like the Garden Maze, it is a pretty, mostly simple block that multiplies nicely. 

You will need three (3) different fabrics. fabric A & fabric B can be any color, but fabric A should be a large scale print & fabric B a small scale & both of them should have a garden-type theme (either leaves or birds or flowers or something).  Before you dismiss the idea, keep in mind that large & small scale are relative -the only comparison you need to worry about is your fabrics to each other; your large scale might be someone else's small scale & that is OKay.  Also, you in the event you cannot locate two different scale floral/garden/nature prints, it is OKay to use a solid or read-as-solid for your small scale.  Please cut fabrics A & B into 2" strips or squares & make two (2) four-patches for each Knot Garden block 3.5" x 3.5" square.

Fabric C should be green.  It doesn't have to be solid green or read-as-solid green or even green & nothing but gree, but you should look at each square you cut from it & be able to honesty say "that is a more green than any other color fabric".  For each Knot Garden block you will need two (2) 3.5" squares of fabric C.  You will also need two (2) additional 2" squares of either fabric A or fabric B.  Using a pencil, draw a line from one corner to the other the back of the 2" square; this will be your stitching line not your stitching guide, so please use something that will not bleed through. 

You will need two of each:  two four patches & two corner pieces.  Lay them out & check them twice & then check them again because it is crazy-easy to mess up.  You want to be sure the corners of either fabric A or B (whichever you used for the corner flip) are NOT right next to the same fabric in the four patch.  The completed block should be 6.5" unfinished & ultimately 6" finished.

As always we swap in sets of FIVE (5).  Please send your five (5) blocks to arrive the last Saturday in August, August 31, 2013.  We do have a 6th block volunteer for this one, so please if you are swapping five blocks (& getting five blocks back) think about tossing an extra (6th) block in there for this swap's 6th blocker.

Finally, if you not currently part of the swap group, but you are interested in joining our swap group, you are very very welcome BUT it would make my life A LOT easier if you joined through Facebook.   Log into Facebook, search "quilt block swap" & find the Group.  Ask to join & you should be approved within a day or two.  If you are not on Facebook, but still interested, leave a comment here.