Acorn Quilt Update

I now have 72 acorns made!  Whew!  Everything is sewn together except the ends and bottom.  I haven't decided if I want to move any around yet or not, right now I need fresh eyes to look.  I will finish it up tomorrow and then start working on making more hst's to finish up the quarter square secondary pattern into the border.


So with all the bonus triangles, I am thinking about doing Bonnie Hunter's current Leader Ender Challenge.  I really didn't think I wanted to, but because I have enough to match corners on 60 blocks, I may do it. My bonus hst are 2" unfinished, so I guess I have a good start for the 6" shoofly block.


I will have to check in my box full of hst to see if I should add some of those as well.  Though I don't think I will want to go as scrappy as what Bonnie shows.

Bonus Half Square Triangles

I just wanted to share a sort of leader/ender bonus hst method.  I really don't like to have to mark/sew/cut as I prefer shortcuts.  Of course your mileage may vary, but once you find what works for you, I think it is a good method.  The corner squares of my acorn quilt are 2 7/8" (was suppose to be 2.5", but I failed to follow directions with my first 21 blocks) so I am able to get a 2" bonus hst out of the other side after trimming and squaring up.

For this block, I am to sew from corner to corner on the 2 7/8" square, trim, repeat.


On my Omnigrid ruler I have a black dash marking between the 1/4" and 1/8" yellow lines.  It is a bit more than a scant imo, but for these bonus blocks, it is a good margin (though I know 1/4" seam allowance is preferred, which is why I say YMMV).

I think on this block, I actually trimmed it 1/4" away from the corners, but I changed the size after this one to a slightly smaller seam allowance.

I trim directly at this point, sew the block and then sew the bonus hst.  I am able to work though a whole block without chain stitching many other larger blocks.  I think that it all works out to about the same amount of time to make them in all, but I am removing a step of having to go back over and sewing on a second line then trimming off the bonus hst.



I have a spot on my machine (both at the foot and in front where I marked) where I know to keep the edges as I sew in order to keep the correct seam allowance.  You may need to play around a bit to find that spot on your machine.  There are also other guide methods that you can use to keep that seam allowance.



Anyway, I just wanted to share this in case anyone else gets tired of marking like I do.  Whatever works for you.  I have no idea what I am going to do with the bonus hst yet, but I will have 196 to play with... maybe around a border.  They really aren't the best hst because the light fabric has a seam running through it from the frame strips around the acorn.  However the extra seam doesn't jump out glaringly at you, so unless you know it's there, you won't really see the seams.

July Update

I finished my Cheddarback July blocks about a week+ ago, but didn't feel like updating just yet.  Before I show those, I wanted to show my newly spruced up ironing table!


Isn't it sad?  The cotton fabric has been very well used, to the point that it is brittle and unsalvageable.   I pulled out a polka dot yardage in my stash that I found on sale, and decided to give that one a go (after choice #1, 2, 3 did not have enough to cover the table).  Now that I have ironed it and got it positioned just right, it is a great fit.


I decided between elastic or a tied loop and went with elastic again.  It isn't super tight, but it works well.

Now for my Cheddarback blocks.  I like how my 12" block turned out this month.  I did change the pattern a bit to make it more piecing friendly


I also decided to paper piece my schoolhouse block... I forgot to reverse the piecing though, so now my schoolhouse is facing the opposite direction as the original :)  Oh well!



I love how the quilt is coming together.  There are four 5" blocks that go under that final section, but I'm not sure if we'll see those next month or at the very end.  We shall see!

What have I been working on this week (aside from painting the living room--which I am done for now until next week when I can get help on moving a few things), can you see those acorns in that panel pic?  That's what I am currently working on!  Finally.  Hopefully by Monday I will have a progress pic that I will post.  The number I am working towards is 70 acorns!  I am nearly done with the 48 that I have left to make, but it will take a bit of time to sew up the corner triangles.  I also figured out where I went wrong with my original blocks, I read the instructions wrong and I am not sure why I didn't catch my error at the time.


Ok, I just snuck in a picture to show where I'm at with the blocks.  I need to finish this up to move those squares that will end up in the corners off my table!

Anyway... I'll show the complete progress next week.  Happy Friday everyone :)

New Quilt Start

I like to buy kits.  This started a few years ago when my creative juices seriously waned, I think around the time that my youngest joined our family.  He was very active/busy and any sort of quilting creativity really taxed my brain.  Kits were a perfect answer, I could still be creative and everything was right there and ready for me.  I still have a huge fabric stash, but falling back to kits has been a constant.



Around the beginning of the year I browsed sales from a few different sites.  I had a hard time connecting with keepsake quilting, and my friend Julie reminded me of Shabby Fabrics.  They have super fast shipping and the prices are good.  I fell in love with Lori Holt's Autumn Love line, and the pattern of the acorns is so cute.  I decided that I want to make it into a lap quilt...  and not having any idea who would end up with it, the hubby suggested his birthmom who I haven't made anything for yet.  Perfect!



The pattern is a good one, but the corner triangles seem to be written for a ruler I don't have and it doesn't say to cut 4" squares diagonally twice... I haven't checked for errata, but my test blocks seem ok.  I ended up using my Simple Folded Corners Ruler to find the 1/4" markings and went from there by drawing a line to line up the triangle long edge.  I don't think my points are going to match perfectly however.  I am wondering now (since I am going to do a lap quilt) if I added sashing and a cornerstone if that would help remove the problem of points not lining up?  Which means I need to buy more background fabric again... at least I know where to find it now!



The box for the table runner kit is very cute.  Not sure what I will do with it, maybe as a gift down the line.

I still haven't found a photo editing program I like.  I ended up using my phone for these with a flash.  Anyway... 5 blocks done and 15 more to go with this bunch.  The blocks are 7x8" finished, so I think I want to make at least 40 more, and then if I do make sashing, that will help with the size.  I just love these fabrics!