Slow Sunday Stitching

My new quilt called Friendship Chain is growing and taking shape. The mechanics of how to put it together are coming along. One of the things I wasn’t sure of was how to figure out which colours and fabrics would go where when adding on new rows. I think I’ve figured out an easy solution. Cut a whole pile of sets of diamonds and trapezoids out of lots of fabrics and colours. Then lay the new ones on top of the preceding row since they will be intersecting with that row, changing out colours and fabrics as necessary.Then make sure that there is enough contrast between the new additions that are beside each other so that the chains will be distinct from one another. Then I took pictures to remind myself of which colours were going where for reference. The last step is to clip a pair of diamonds to the bottom of the unit where they belong and then set the rest of them aside. Now I know which colour diamonds need to be sewn to which. This picture is my working version with the some of the pairs already sewn in and the rest just clipped in place. I love playing with colour.My goal is to make this 8 full chains wide by 10 full chains long. I would like to be able to make this a “charm” quilt, meaning that I won’t repeat a fabric. Whether I can make that goal is debatable at this point. The more important thing will be to achieve a balance of colour and brightness.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching. Then I’m going to take everything off the design boards and get to stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Last week I showed a picture of a quilt I’ve named Friendship Chain that I wanted to start. It was an Electric Quilt 7 generated picture - this one. 

Since then I’ve actually started on the quilt and made a bit of progress.  It’s a bit of a challenge trying to figure out how to sew it together in a logical manner. If I were doing it in just two colours it wouldn’t be bad at all. But I want each chain to be a different colour and haven’t quite figured out yet the best way to do that. I’m English Paper Piecing it and am quite happy with the way it looks so far. I’ve changed the triangles that show in between each block in the Electric Quilt picture to diamonds and that is part of what is making the piecing so challenging. But I didn’t want that extra seam in there. I suspect at some point I’m going to have to set up a design wall and lay it out and then do a diagram of what colours are going to go where and what will be paired with which. In the meantime, I’m having fun. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I have a couple of Slow Sunday Stitching project finishes this week. First off, the class sample - which really does need another name - any ideas anyone? Not that I can respond to thank you or say that I like it since blogger continues to have issues with forwarding comments to my email.......

Anyway, here’s the picture.



And then I finished off and added borders to Sapphire Net.



It’s an Electric quilt public domain block, and that was the name given in Electric quilt, so I’ll keep it. The border is quite bright and in your face, but it works well with the large scale florals that are in the centre of the quilt.

And because those two are done I’ve given myself permission to start a new one. I’m calling it Friendship Chain. It is also from the Electric Quilt software in the Barbara Brackman Blockbase. I’m still working on figuring out exactly how to put it together. It’s quite complex and I’m not sure off the top of my head how to tackle it. I’ve started cutting pieces and it will be English Paper Pieced using my scraps with each of the intertwined chains a different colour. And that’s the part that is causing the  difficulty in putting it together. A two colour quilt would be easy but since when have I ever done anything the easy way?

Anyhow, I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before going back to more cutting to get ready for this new project. I’m hoping lots of scraps will be used up in this one.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I finished putting together the class sample for Stitch It Central and appliquéd it down to a background square. I am very pleased with the way it looks so far. It needs a couple of borders to finish it off and then I can get it quilted and into the hands of the quilt shop so they can promote the classes.

We had a vendor’s booth at the Sarnia quilt show on Friday and Saturday. What a great time we had. We met lots and lots of people and introduced a lot of them to the English Paper Piecing techniques. So many of them thought it would be so hard and after showing them the basics of it they came away realizing that yes, they could do it. I even did a couple of demonstrations to a couple of groups. Anyone who knows me well realizes what a challenge that is for me, and yet it went well and I had fun and wasn’t nervous at all. It used to be that when I had to talk to people I didn’t know, especially a group of people, I would get huge knots of anxiety in my stomach. I seem to have gotten over that and I think a large part of that can be credited to several very good and supportive friends, (yes Gail I mean you) Belonging to the quilt guild and being an active part of their programs has also helped immensely. Here I am showing someone what the paper is like and how it looks after being used and removed.

Since the class sample is finished I picked up Sapphire Net again. I started this ages ago and then it got set aside while I worked on Leo’s Mane. It’s time for this one to make some progress now. The floral units are all stitched together. All that is left is to do all the background units and then I can call this one finished.

I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before going back to more stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I missed doing a post last week. We were away camping for Avery’s 7th birthday. There was no stitching done during that time at all. Lots of grandchild enjoying. Lots of hikes and playing outside and getting wet since it was, of course raining. After all the Shepherds were camping and we can’t ruin a good pattern can we? Even so, we had a good time.

I went out to a local store this past week to talk about teaching English Paper Piecing and we have come to an agreement. I will be teaching at Stitch It Central after they move to their new location in London. I don’t have dates yet, but I will post them as soon as I have them for anyone interested. I am now working on my third version of the class sample piece. They liked the design but wanted it done in fabrics from their store so they could offer fabric kits to anyone wanting them.

Version 1, done from my fabric stash using 7 different fabrics. It will be appliquéd to a white background and have some borders added to it.


Version 2 also done from my stash using 5 different fabrics. It too will go onto a white background square and have borders added to it.


Version 3 using Stitch It Central fabrics that will be available as a kit. It also will go onto a white background square with borders. This is the centre of it. This shows the rest of the fabrics in one of the diamond units and one of the edge wing units. All of the sub units are done for this and I am ready to start assembling it. Not bad considering I got the fabrics Wednesday. I’ve been working on it almost non stop since then. So, with the goal of having this done by the middle of the week, I’d best get back to it.

I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before going back to my stitching marathon.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I’m slow stitching through this lovely Mother’s Day. I hope all you Mother’s are having a great day. I’m working on a second version of the class sample I made a week or two ago. I showed a picture of it last week, but I can repost it again. It will save you from having to back track to see it.
The first version was a test sew to see how it should break down into units for a logical way for assembly. This next version is for taking pictures as I go so I can write instructions for it. I love this process. I love looking at a design, breaking it down and then rebuilding it and describing the process in pictures and writing. In my wildest dreams many years ago I would never have thought that I would design and write patterns and classes. Isn’t it odd how life can throw such curve balls? The biggest news though is that as I said last week, Leo’s Mane is finished. The weather cooperated a few days ago and I was able to hang it up outside and get some pictures. Here’s a picture of the full quilt.

 And a picture of the centre section 

and then the four borders. This quilt has been a challenge and a joy to work on from beginning to end. So now in the midst of working on these smaller class sample projects, I’m thinking on what the next bigger one is going to be. I have plans........

In the meantime, It’s time for lunch and more stitching. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

I’m a little slow getting a start on my slow stitching today. It’s been an exciting and also a disappointing weekend. We were booked into the Norfolk County Quilter’s Guild quilt show for the weekend as a vendor and were having a wonderful time on Friday, meeting and talking to lots and lots of wonderful quilters including at least one fellow Slow Sunday Stitcher. However our wonderful time on Friday together came to an abrupt halt due to some nasty weather that caused power outages to the area. Rather than staying until 5 pm we were all ordered out of the venue by the county authorities at 3:30 in the afternoon. The drive home that afternoon was quite the challenge. Instead of white outs due to blowing snow we had brown outs due to blowing top soil off the farmers’ fields.
When we arrived back at the venue on Saturday morning it was to find that the power was still out and that the show was cancelled for Saturday and would be held Sunday instead. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay for Sunday so we had to pack up and head for home.  Because of that we missed meeting up with even more of our fellow Slow Sunday Stitchers which is where the disappointing comes in. (sigh)
I have finally finished Leo’s Mane. He is quilted and bound and was able to go to the quilt show with us. I don’t have any pictures though due to the weather not allowing for outside pictures and he’s too big now for indoor photo shoots. While I ponder my next big project I’m working on a couple of smaller ones. The sample for the class I’m planning to teach is finished.

This first one was to figure out the best and most efficient way to break it into units for assembly purposes. Now I’ve started another so I can take pictures as I go for the written instructions.
 I’ve also pulled out my half hexagon sampler project that I started quite a while ago. I’m not sure yet exactly where this is going.  The current thought is to do a row of each type of pieced hexagon with the rows separated by a yet undecided something. The braid will be the outer borders. I think I have enough of the half hexagons units so now I’ve moved on to a combination of half hexagons and triangles.


So far this is all coming from my scrap 2 1/2 inch strips. It could end up being rather wild with all kinds of different types and styles of fabrics in it going way back to 10 or 15 years ago. I can certainly tell that my fabric colours and style tastes have changed over the years. But it is all going to be in here.
So,  now that I have this late in the day post written, I’m going to link up with our fellow Slow Sunday stitchers and then work on some more of these pieced hexagons. I’m going to have to find something to watch on Netflix on my computer while I do this. It’s hockey play off season on the main TV in our house. Since I am not at all a hockey fan, it will have to be the computer with my ears buds to drown out the hockey.