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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Knee Deep in 4-Patches!

I discovered a huge zip lock bag  ((YES, make that RE-DISCOVERED!)) of leader-ender 4 patches ---left overs from other quilts I’ve made with them and they've sparked new interest!

I have a plan!

On one of the rare Saturdays that I get to spend at home, I spent most of the morning playing with them, stitching away on my treadle machine and decided on a strippy layout ---

I'm loving this green dot so much – and then panicking because I was not going to have enough of it!

Thanks be to the fabric fairies and the selvage still intact on the edge of the yardage I had – I found that it is  Holly Holderman's Tonal Dots in Key Lime ---and a quick online search with the item number found a shop in Cary, NC that does mail order and they still had some in stock!

2 yards are on their way to me!

Whoopie!  I so seldom have a problem with not having enough of something – usually I am totally up for substitution of something similar if I run out – but it is extra nice to find that I can get more of this one because it fits my plan.  This fabric is not THAT old…which is also a miracle in and of itself in my stash!

4patch 002

Three partial rows of many I hope to make with these!

Inspired by an antique quilt..I love how some of the 4 patches are scrappy everything with no attention paid to light or dark, and some of them ARE matched with only two fabrics in the 4 patch – a light, and a dark…and some are scrappy lights/darks and they can all turn different directions adding movement to the strippy panels.

How are these going to turn up in a quilt? 

You’ll have to wait and see!

I can give you a little hint when sewing strippies like this though....I always go back after piecing, and using the 1/4" marking on my ruler..true up the edges of the pieced strip by measuring 1/4" from the corner of each 4-patch square along the edge of the strip -- those can tend to buckle and bow a bit while piecing...so square them up, trimming off the dog ears and  leaving 1/4" seam  allowance beyond those squares along the edges so that it will piece nice and flat into the quilt.  Sometimes I'm trimming barely a smidge -- but it does make a difference.

I’ve gotten emails asking when the next Quilt-Cam will be.  I had company this week which put it off a bit – and this afternoon I ran errands and went to the movies on a very rare Saturday home.

I’m thinking of Quilt-Cam tomorrow, Sunday June 23 at 2pm Eastern.  I hope this will work for everyone!

I also leave Thursday – so I’m thinking the next one after tomorrow will be Wednesday night at 9pm Eastern.  This way we will catch the Europeans on a Saturday evening their time, and the Australians and New Zealanders during their morning time while we air on Wednesday night in my time zone.

Bring a project!  Cut something out, iron something, applique, bind, plan, dream --- SEW!


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18 comments:

  1. cute! chartreuse: the color of the week

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  2. Chartreuse - always a good color!

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  3. I kind of like the dark brown color that your carpet happens to be peeking between the green dot/four-patch strips! It sets off the green nicely...you aren't considering that, are you?

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  4. I, too, was wondering about QuiltCam but didn't have the heart to beg you. You have been on the road so much lately and leaving again so soon, that I felt you deserved a break. By the way, our guild here in St. Louis, MO will have your friend Mickey Depre as our featured speaker with workshop in September. The only thing better would be to have both of you here.

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  5. I love strippy quilts! And that green is yummy! So glad you were able to get more!

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  6. those are really cute !!!! hope to see a tutorial soon :0

    Jan

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  7. As always, I love your design work. Will set the alarm for tomorrow. Trying to get some applique ready!we shall see! Sometimes a movie is just what we need.

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  8. THey really look cute. I'm sure you used the easy angle ruler... how do you determine what size the triangles are to be cut? Thanks for the help!

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  9. Lime dots, what a great fabric and all those cute four patches are playin so nice. I can hardly wait to see this come together.

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  10. You have to love those weird yellow-y greens! They add sparkle to any quilt!

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  11. Love the strippy that you have started. I have been looking for a project to use mine up also. This may be the one.

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  12. Oh goodie, quilt cam, she said in a low greedy voice. Friends to sew with, life is good.
    Welcome home Bonnie and The Cabin is drawing closer and closer :)

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  13. Fun use of the 4 patches!

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  14. The green makes those patches pop! Glad you found more!

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  15. Love it, do you have a guestimate on the yardage- 3? 5? Only looking for a guess :-)

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