Smitten - the Quilt

After sixteen months of start-and-stop work on Smitten, the quilt is now finished.

Measuring 54" x 70", Smitten contains 360 four patches made of 1,440 one-inch-finished squares plus another 360 two-inch finished alternate squares.

You can go back and read all previous posts for this project (including the inspiration quilt shared by Amanda Jean Nyberg in 2018) by clicking on the Smitten label at the end of this post.

The scrappy backing was originally made for another quilt but set aside as that project evolved.  

Happily it has found its forever home with Smitten.

Quilted with my all-over free motion liberated nested spiral fans using Glide thread in Graphite.

I had such grand plans for an away-from-home photo shoot for Smitten, but it has been so horribly hot here that I listened to common sense and quickly took back yard photos so I could get back indoors.

I absolutely love this gloriously scrappy quilt.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl

Smitten - the Flimsy

While cleaning up the studio,

I realized Smitten only needed its borders sewn on.

(it was abruptly pulled off the design wall

to make room for Little Man's project)

So I stopped cleaning and finished Smitten.

54" wide x 70" long

(I'll square the corners after quilting)

You can read about Smitten's inspiration here.

You can read the other updates by using the 

Smitten label at the bottom of this post.

 (adj. - "marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness")

There are 360 single fabric 2.5" squares

and 360 2.5" four patches (or 1,440 1" squares)

in the finished quilt top.

(Hint: if any of you are inspired to make your own version,

do yourself a big favor and make your four patches 

oversize so you can square them to 2.5")

* * *

Smitten's scrappy backing is ready and waiting

so I'll likely get this pin basted and quilted 

in the next couple of weeks.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It’s a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle.”

Martha Graham

Smitten - Another Update

After Christmas I was in the mood to stitch   

without having to design or plan.

So I pulled out the pinned and paired 

pieces and parts for Smitten.

(the smallest squares finish at 1")

This photo shows 10 of the 16 rows during construction.

Here are some of the assembled rows on the design wall

with the intended backing fabric.

Once the center section was all sewn together,

I realized I needed to add a border to protect

the many, many, many seam ends.

I chose this Kaffe Fassett Moss Flower in blue.

And that decision led me to change the backing plan.

I pulled out the scrappy background that was originally 

pieced for the top of Forty Six . . . 

It needed to be longer by 12" and wider by 8" so I pulled out 

ALL of the leftover end cuts and unused segments.

I had "just" enough to make it work.

Now Smitten will have to wait until I finish up

Woolgathering and The Seuss Quilt,

both of which are pin basted.

* * *

You can read the previous posts for Smitten,

including the inspiration quilt shared by

Amanda Jean Nyberg on her Crazy Mom blog,

by using the Smitten label at the end of the post

(it is also in the label list in the sidebar)

Quiltdivajulie

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“Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.”

Nora Roberts

Smitten Reaches a Progress Milestone

Smitten started back in January

as a way to use up lots of small pieces.

You can read about it HERE.

Since then there has been a lot of

off-again/on-again leader-ender activity.

(last project update was HERE)

One batch of those sewn-together pieces

waiting to be trimmed is above.

The goal was to create 384 of these

2.5" scrappy four-patch blocks.

The last time I stopped and counted,

I was still at least 70 blocks shy of that total.

So the process began again . . . 

Pieces sewn into pairs.

Pairs pressed with top/bottom edges trimmed straight.

Prepped pairs sewn together into oversize fours.

More pressing and trimming to size.

At last, I now have 390 four-patch blocks

ready to pair with their alternate 2.5" squares.

The first halves (top) of what will become

4" finished double four-patch blocks (bottom)

are paired and pinned together.

As I work on those drawstring gift bags

I'll use these as my leader-ender pieces.

(and for once, I've been able to keep a long-term

leader-ender project in that L-E format

instead of having it become my main focus)

I'm looking forward to pairing

the top and bottom halves in the near future . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.”

John Lubbock

Six Month Re-Set

Year to Date recap:

Over the past couple of weeks,

I've been taking inventory of my projects,

cleaning up the stash and the scraps,

and re-evaluating where I want my focus

for the second half of 2021.

The first half of the year was focused on

reducing the backlog of quilt tops

waiting to be quilted and finished.

I'm very happy with the results -

sixteen (!!) quilts finished.

You can see those by clicking here and scrolling

through the posts labeled "2021 finish"

There are still nine quilt tops waiting

to be quilted plus the remaining

Kitchen Table Quilts.

The goal is at least two finishes per month.

Time will tell.

I've also managed to complete ten quilt tops.

Those can be seen by clicking here

and scrolling through the posts

labeled "2021 quilt top"

Of those, two have been donated, one has been gifted, 

and four have been quilted/finished; which leaves 

three in that group of 10 waiting to be quilted.

(plus Ludic is currently clipped ready to web the top

which will bring the total waiting to eleven)

Now on to what lies ahead for the next six months:

I had three primary Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects,

all of which have now moved beyond the monthly

color challenges and taken on lives of their own.

LINED DRAWSTRING GIFT BAGS

So far I've made 35 drawstring bags.

You can see those by using the 

Lined Drawstring Gift Bag label in my sidebar

and scrolling through the various posts.

Going forward, instead of focusing on a different color

each month, I'm going to focus on one of the six sizes.

We'll see where this ends up at the end of the year.

I already know there will be more bags 

than we'll need at any one time,

but with a deep stash it's just too much fun

to mix and match and create lots of options.

HOPPIPOLLA

This top will need 320 3" finished rail fence blocks.

Roughly 1/3 of those are complete.

The other two thirds are sewn and ready to trim to size.

I don't know if this top will be sewn by year end - we'll see.

(there's a label in the side bar for this project

if you want to see all posts on it)

UTILITY MATS

Still on the to-do list are whole cloth sets for

January (low volumes-ready to quilt), 

February (pinks-ready to quilt), 

August (brights on black-ready to quilt), and

October and November's mats (autumn colors).

As I quilt those pending quilts, 

I'll use the excess batting

to sandwich each of these groups

and get them quilted and bound.

I'm looking forward to having a year's worth 

of seasonal mat sets to pull out and use as needed.

(again, there's a label in the sidebar

that will lead you to the posts on this project)

Now for the Non-RSC works-in-progress:

SMITTEN is making noises again

to move it forward sooner instead of later,

at least as far as block construction is concerned.

+/- 250 four-patch blocks are pieced and pressed.

That means I need 110 more for a total of 360.

360 alternate squares are already cut and ready.

There's a big pile of paired scraps to be sewn

and then turned into four patches.

At that point I'll count again to see if more are needed.

(you guessed it - there's a label in the sidebar

for the posts on this project)

UKIYO originated from a virtual class

but has become a full blown quilt project.

I need 63 paper pieced quarter circles

for the layout I've chosen.

Seven of those are pieced (one row).

I'd like to sit and sew all of these 

but I suspect it will be more like 4-5 at a time

here and there in between other things.

PANDEMONIUM is currently on the design wall

the current AHIQ Symmetry (or not) Challenge.

I'll have an update on this one possibly by Friday.

And last, but certainly not least . . . 

KITCHEN TABLE QUILTS

The first seven of this twelve quilt series are done.

The final five are below:

August - ready to quilt

September - blocks made

October - ready to quilt

November - cut out and ready to piece

December - whole cloth (fabric on order)

(in addition to the dedicated blog page link above,

there's a label in the sidebar so you can

read through the whole series of KTQ posts)

* * *

Everything else in the "Pending Project Boxes" closet

or lurking in my head will just have to wait until 2022.

Unless the squirrels visit my studio again . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“I prefer living in color.”

David Hockney

Delay of Game

Wednesday afternoon I started quilting 

Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella.

I stopped to change Max's needle but

when I took the first test stitches the new needle broke.

Arrrrgh!  

This was the first needle break since Max arrived in 2016.

Thursday morning, with an APQS video pulled up on his tablet,

DH removed Max from his table and got to work.

My pressing table has become the new work table.

I set up a small work station at the other end

of the pressing table and started trimming the large pile

of oversize four part units into 2.5" squares for Smitten.

(I needed to stay close by while "helping" as his assistant)

I am so grateful DH understands machines 

and has his array of tools to use.

By late Thursday afternoon,

Max's bobbin area been cleaned and

his re-set timing tested three times with far too many

loopy thread nests on the back of the practice sandwich.

So Friday DH and Angie from APQS Tech Support

will work together by phone and/or Zoom 

to figure out why Max isn't happy yet.

And by the time we stopped late Thursday afternoon

I had trimmed a total of 250 2.5" four patches for Smitten.

Fingers crossed that  Friday's repair session 

will have a happy ending.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world.  Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak.  Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up.”

Allen Klein

Moving Forward

While I listened to the many hours of pre-recorded video

during the Ricky Tims Quilt Luminarium,

I sorted through my boxes of Dumpster Diving leftovers

to prep the colors for the final sixteen JAZZY blocks.

(shown here with each block's pieces and parts

sorted onto a styrofoam plate)

The scrappy neutrals paired with each of the colors 

came from my low volume stash.

I won't be following the RSC colors faithfully on this one

as the year goes along, but I'll keep making two blocks each month.

March's green sets.

And here they are sewn together.

I also sorted the big box of 

previously-leader-ender'ed HSTs

for the project known as GERFUL.

I sewed the first two (Of 20) blocks together

simply because I wanted to see how they looked.

I like this a lot.

There's no specific time frame for this one,

just whenever I need a change of pace.

All of SMITTEN's strips and squares 

were sewn together into pairs and pressed.

Those pairs were then paired/sewn 

into oversize four patches and pressed.

I trimmed 16 or so and then set the box aside

to trim a little along -  I'll need to do 

another mass stitch-out later since 

this represents roughly half of what I'll need.

And last but not least, I sewed Round 3 

on my NUBILOUS (Log Cabin Loonies) blocks.

Round 4 will happen in April.

I've decided  to add a fifth round in May 

to make these into 12" finished blocks

so I don't have to worry with a wide border.

All in good time . . .

(you can use the labels below the quotation

 to read more about each of these projects)

Quiltdivajulie

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“A red apple isn’t red, nor the lemon yellow.  

The sky is seldom blue, only when it isn’t.”

Keith Crown

Smitten - an update

I first posted about my project named SMITTEN here.

(Smitten is part of my new Etcetera series - click here)

After getting my second COVID shot (Pfizer) Friday afternoon,

I needed something pretty mindless to work on Saturday

so I wouldn't just sit in the recliner and doze.

An afternoon of sewing together random bits was the answer.

(for the record, I was "tired" but not sore on Day 2

with only a slight fever during the evening hours,

waking up on Day 3 feeling just fine)

I was originally going to create all 360 2.5" four patches

using only leftover bits from my Dumpster Diving quilts.

But I've also been pondering a box of +/- 300 2.5" squares

that have been sitting on the shelf for ages.

So I mixed the two together - you can see one test combination above.

Once pressed, I'll square each sewn group into a 2.5" four patch.

After an afternoon of stitching bits together, I now have a shoebox

overflowing with sewn/trimmed pairs ready to press.

 (each pair = 1/2 of a four patch)

I also have another larger box overflowing with a very long

chain-pieced length of sewn-together bits 

that need to be cut apart and trimmed.

After my afternoon marathon sit-and-stitch session, 

I have about 300 pairs of sewn-together scraps.

To make 360 four patches I need 720 pairs of scraps.

Clearly it is time to re-visit the boxes of leftover DD bits 

as preparation for several more sit-and-stitch sessions.

* * *

On a related note:

Forever ago I registered to attend one of Ricky Tim's

Quilt Luminarium events to be held less than 5 miles from my house.

Then COVID happened and the local event was postponed

three times before he decided to take the whole thing virtual.

My in-person registration was transferred to his virtual event

scheduled for this coming Thursday-Friday-Saturday.

Since all of the sessions (aside from the Zoom Q&A) are pre-recorded,

I plan to have these Smitten segments to keep my hands busy

during those many hours of video presentations.

Quiltdivajulie

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“My family could only afford to get me the box of eight Crayola crayons, but I craved the one with all 24 colours. I wanted magenta and turquoise and silver and gold.”

Joni Mitchell