Sew & Little, Paint a Lot!

I’ve gotten this far.

The Irish Courthouse blocks were finished while Jill was here. 

I finished the row assembly during early-morning-before-blog-writing hours.  It didn’t take long!  That is the beauty of making a small-ish quilt.

But when it came to borders – THAT took some thinking.  I wanted something interesting, not just a hunk of blue or red fabric at the edge to call it “good enough.”

Graph paper and Scrap User’s System to the rescue!

Those neutral squares you see at the top and bottom of the border?  Directly from my scrap squares bins.  It makes the variety so instantaneous!  And while sewing the geese and other bits, I’ve been using the pairs of neutral squares as Leaders & Enders to push me further along.  Such a fun game to play while piecing!

There have got to be 100 geese here – or what feels like it!

I am using the same method as demonstrated in our Frolic Mystery.  I cut the quarter-square triangles and the half-square triangles from strips using my Essential Triangle Tool.  I just love how these come together so easily.  The right size, just cut, sew and go.

While Jill and I were sewing this past week, we talked about our favorite machines and things that we feel are absolutely crucial for successful patchwork.

She was on her featherweight, and I on my 301.  Both are straight stitch only machines.  The feed dogs are NARROW which helps with guiding fabric.  The needle plate is straight stitch only – single needle hole.  No triangles can get sucked down the zig-zag hole as with zig-zag machines.

If you are on a modern machine – PLEASE invest in a single needle plate.  Your triangles will thank you along with your sanity.

If your feed dogs are wide – needle over as far as you can to the right and mark your 1/4’’ seam from that needle position.  This will put your pieces up on BOTH feed dogs, and again your piecing will thank you.

It might mean you can’t use your standard 1/4’’ foot if you have needled over to the right – but you don’t need a 1/4’’ foot for a 1/4’’ seam.  Just mark your seam allowance on your machine bed with either masking tape, mole skin, or my best ever seam guide hack – double stick removable poster tape and a piece of plastic gift card, hotel room key or credit card.

You’ll see that if you look closely at the geese photo above. 

I sew with the standard “less than 1/4’’ foot” on my vintage machines.  I put the seam placement guide down.  I can see the fabric go beyond my foot to reach the guide. I know I am sewing a straight seam because I can SEE the fabric beyond the foot.

If you are struggling with a modern machine when it comes to sewing patchwork – especially triangles.  Try the above!  And remember the “ONLY” correct seam allowance is the one that gives you the unit size you need.  Don’t measure the seam. Measure the unit itself to tell if the seam is doing its job.

This happened yesterday!

Painting the back entry -

And starting in on the kitchen at Quiltville inn.

Masking Tape is my game – the job was to be just enough ahead with the tape that Dave could come back behind me and paint.

Ship lap can be a bugger.  The rollers don’t like to go into the grooves – that takes a paint brush to go in between the cracks first, then finish up with a roller.

And while I’m talking about rollers – look what we found in the attic:

Player piano rolls!

The boxes were damaged from years of being in a corner of the attic – but the rolls themselves seem in pretty good shape.  Evidently – there must have been a player piano in the house at some point.

By the compsers on the rolls – someone of a by-gone era loved classical music.  There is Handel, and Wagner.  Wagner’s Lohengrin is also known as “The Wedding March.” so can I suggest that there must have been a wedding or two in the house in its day?  The thought makes me smile!

Not sure what I’ll do with them – and no, I don’t want to find a player piano to go with them.  There is nowhere to put one now that we’ve set up for 12 sewing stations in the Quilting Quarters, and a table for 12 in the dining room.

Original square-head nail.

This was also found – this house was not built by nail gun, but by hard working hands with hammers. 1884 nail.  Amazing.

As soon as this posts, I’ll be back helping to finish up the kitchen walls – the trim painting will happen another time.  It’s my last day before heading back to Wallburg tomorrow to prepare for my trip to Arizona.

The digital pattern for Irish Courthouse is still priced at 50% off in the digital pattern section of the Quiltville Store.  It’s only $4.00 and no coupon is required – there are only a couple of weeks left of this sale, so don’t miss out!  You can be sewing, right along with me.

My quilt is aiming for table topper size, but Jill commented that it would also be just about baby quilt size by the time my borders are on.  (The pattern includes directions for the full quilt above, not the variation I am currently making.)

What two colors would you like to be working with? Or would you go completely scrappy?

Quiltville Inn Rally!

We took a couple of days off of drawing due to the big Frolic Mystery release and yesterday’s “Day After” follow up post.  It’s time to draw again!

Thursday’s group – Lori Schmitz & The Stitchin’ Sisters have chosen November 12th as their weekend.  Only two available weekends remain in 2020:

Available retreat weekends in 2020:

Mar 5-8
Apr 2 –5

Both of these dates include the possibility of adding additional days to your stay should your group wish to extend your time at Quiltville Inn.  And of course I am available to add a workshop to your retreat experience should your group desire!

And the Random Number Generator draws:

Group 183! 

Annette Rogers and the Yadkin Valley Quilters!

Annette, I’ve just sent an email to you at the address you provided with your group entry.  I am so looking forward to welcoming your group to Quiltville Inn! 

Please reply with your chosen weekend ASAP so I can make the remaining weekend available to the next group.  These two dates are fairly close at hand and I know groups will need time to prepare to arrive so quickly.

For those groups that aren’t drawn:  I am booking the retreat one year in advance.  I have two February groups coming next month who have first right of refusal on keeping their weekend for the following year.  Should they decline, those dates will be available for someone else to be drawn and claim those dates.  

I will be drawing for groups for available February 2021 dates when we hit February. (4 weekends are available)  So we will be drawing for them SOON!

Quiltville Quote of the Day

Quilt shared by Kevin the Quilter.

After our painting escapades, I plan on spending much of my time today listening to the wind howl while creating with fabric and thread! How about you?

By the current mess at hand, I can say that there is definitely a scrappy storm of creativity happening!