Orange Peel Pillow - 2 for 1 month

This fun project is a combination of work for 2 groups.  Island Batik provided the fabric and the International Association of Quilters gave me the pattern to work up as a project lead for this freebie for members.  

The challenge for Island Batik this month was to make a pillow.  I thought the project from IAQ was just perfect. First up - picking fabric.

First, I laid them out in what I thought was a pleasing order.

Per the instructions, I sewed background and "peekaboo" fabric together.  

Here is what the back looked like.  Then I decided to add another row, in order to make a square pillow.

I auditioned a few of my scraps, and then added the rows like I did before.  My fabric choices were dictated by which Island Batik fabrics I already used and had some scraps.  This is my first year as an ambassador, so I am being a bit conservative with my larger pieces until I have a sense of what I will need through July.  

 Mark the orange peel, lightly, on the fabric.  I am partial to Sewline pencils, but whatever you do, use a light touch.  You can see the marked orange peels on the assembled quilt.  I cut on the line - so no remnants are left behind.  Remember:  what you see is what you get!

WHEN MARKING THE ORANGE PEELS:
Think about seams and quilting through them later - give yourself 1/4" near the seams to save you some difficulty in quilting later.

The orange peels

With the centers removed

I make a tiny slit first, cutting very carefully the slit in the center of the top fabric.  Then I cut towards the side and around, which will reveal the orange peels.  Trim nicely, as these edges don't get turned under.  Some reverse appliqué does, but this pattern did not call for that.

The next step is to layer with batting and a backing, I used safety pins to hold it together because I was hand quilting.   Since mine was going to be a pillow I didn't worry too much about the fabric I used in the back.  I quilted with a variegated 12w thread from Valdani.  I tried to get my stitches more even on the front than on the back, again knowing this was going to be a pillow.  

HINT:  use a needle that can be threaded with the weight thread you will use AND can easily go through your layers.  I had to try a few until I found one I liked (remember batiks are a little harder to quilt but the right needle helps).

I then picked a binding.  I needed 48 inches so I needed more than one strip - so I used the reverse of a Christmas batik in red, as I liked it the best.  Sometimes there are two sides to a batik, and sometimes you need to use the back side

I decided to use the envelope method, so I first cut two pieces that were about 12.5" x 15".  I turned one edge on each down, pieces now measuring about 10".  I then top stitch along each edge.  Sandwich on and sew on the binding to the front.  Hand sew to the back.

HINT #1:  I like bigger pieces so "the belly" of the pillow doesn't peek out!

HINT #2:  Backing and Binding are sewn together.  WRONG sides together for front and back.  The binding is attached to front and turned to back (like most quilts).

A simple pillow insert was made with poly fiberfill.  I measured the pillow from the back and made the insert that size (2 pieces cut 12" square).  Sew up on three sides.  Stuff and test the insert in your pillow, add more fill or not, close up the insert!  Stuff it into the pillow and you are done!

Voila - your pillow is done!

Busy times and a few things that are coming up!

This is my Island Batik Pillow for May, and an IAQ (International Association of Quilters) Project.  I will help folks find their way through this pattern with a few suggestions.  It is all done, but I haven't blogged about it yet.

These are my fabric pulls for Sandra @mmquilts.com Adult Plus Playtime QAL.    I couldn't resist as I had so much fun with hers last year - also another shadow quilt and I might be the Kathleen in her blog that called the Shadow Quilter....only the shadow knows!  I like both the blue or green for the background - although black looked good too..... 

I finished the napkins for the table in Maine. Wanted something more in keeping with the color of the placemats I made on our quilting weekend.  

Some of my friends also have me pulling fabric for Tish in Wonderland's QAL.  I think it is relaxed enough that I might get it done.  It will use up stash, so that's a good thing.  Still working on it, but here are a few options. 

I am hosting on May 10th for the X-Block Blog Hop.  I made a quilt that I love a bit ago and am thrilled to share it during this hop.  You can see who else is blogging by clicking on the image.

Carol at Just Let Me Quilt has organized a Star Blog Hop later in the month.  I'm on for  May 25th (and entertaining friends) so I'll be catching up in the between times!

I am doing the binding on this gem!  I rescued this and had it quilted.   I am "straigtening the edges" so it can be bound.  Binding is halfway on...more work tomorrow on it.  It is not the way you would preserve an heirloom, but I'll explain my approach later.

So there has been lots of prep, and very little time to blog the past few days.  Hoping to get a few more entries out over the weekend and early next week.

Happy Friday!

Looking Back...A New Carpenter Star from a Vintage Quilt

The Island Batik Ambassador Challenge (Island Batik provided the fabrics) was to "be inspired by a quilt, design or block from the past when designing and/or creating a new piece."

What to do?  What to do?   I so love vintage quilts and there are so many ways to make them new.  I have been wanting to try Beth Helfler’s accordion triangle technique, so when I saw the Mennonite Broken Star I couldn’t resist and thought a new technique would make this so much fun.

Menononite Broken Star c. 1890 Mrs. Myers

I have lots of books on historical quilts.  This picture came from Vintage Quilts:  Collecting, Dating, Preserving....  by Gerald E. Roy, Sharon Newman and Bobbie Aug.  I had the privilege of taking a class with Sharon Newman many years ago, and this brought back fond memories.  As the book says:  Seven of these quilts are thought to exist, one made for each of the maker's seven children, three are known to exist and are in private collection..."(page 71).

The block is also known by a few other names:  Broken Star, Carpenter Star, Carpenter Wheel and Swoon.  Swoon is a favorite among many quilters - I did a quilt in French fabrics a few years ago using Swoon.  I do have a love affair with stars of many varieties.  This one keeps reappearing in new ways.

I began by selecting fabrics.  Part of the challenge is being sure to have enough fabrics to finish a project - always interesting - and it always is fun.  I had just enough of this grouping:  Small Pointed Floral in turquoise and Bubbles in Salmon would be pieced with a lovely neutral called Rice.

So what is this technique.  Well, it is genius!  Beth Helfter of Eva Paige Quilt Designs calls it Accordion Sewn HST™(Half Square Triangle).  She has videos on YouTube that show you the technique and a book coming out on it very soon.  You sew half square triangles into what Beth calls and accordion.  It is much more fun than the ordinary half square approach.  

I followed her pattern,  but true to form, made mine a bit differently. The inner star was easy, following her pattern.  The outside star was a little more difficult - because of my changes not hers - but I persisted.  Also, I did not have enough fabric to do a third ring of star points or a third border. I simply needed the right count of each pair of fabrics to get it done.  

Here is a group of squares sewn together.  

The picture on the left is getting ready to sew the front and back piece together.  After this you trim, press and sew the HSTs together.  Beth recommends the Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmer and Clearly Perfect Angles to make your work easier (affiliate links).  I didn't use these tools, but I have them now and will review in another blog entry.

The top was completed on my guild's retreat weekend.  Here is is hanging above the quilters - among the group of finished tops.  Quilting wasn't in the cards for the weekend.

My next great dilemma was how to quilt the Carpenter Star.  I decided to use Westalee rulers again on my Bernina 440 and I am very happy with the results!  I decided to stay with a more traditional quilting, that is, not as dense as modern quilting to reflect the traditional nature of the block. 

Our Island Batik box also included Aurifil thread and I pieced quilted this quilt with 50 wt. Aurifil 2024 white, 1148 light jade and 2350 copper.  I love the color combination and the finished quilt.

I loved the challenge of the making something old in a new way and this new technique takes half square triangles to a new height!  I highly recommend checking out Beth's technique, you won't be disappointed.

And, this finishes my first project for the second quarter FinishAlong; you can see my goals here.

Thank you Island Batik and Aurifil for providing the great materials to work on and another interesting challenge.

Linking up:  Linky Tuesday

                     Finish It Up Friday

                     2018FALQ2

Island Batik: Try A Technique

Island Batik Ambassadors were asked this month to try a technique.  It didn't have to be a particular size or use a particular line - so the sky was the limit (the fabrics were provided by Island Batik).   I have been quilting a long time, and worked in a quilt store, so I have tried a lot of techniques.  What to do???

In April, while I was still working at Cambridge Quilts, Linda Warren stopped by with her ruler and some patterns.  While I couldn't make a decision for the store to buy it, I liked it enough to by one for me.  The ruler is not very large - pieces will finish either 2" or 4".  The pattern I chose would make a 12" block.  There wasn't a lot of fabric, so I had to be careful

 So, here it is - my new technique is using the ruler called "The Learning Curve".  This ruler is quite fun.  You can get wonderful circles and create wavy borders.  You can find her patterns and her ruler at Linda Warren Designs and also follow her on facebook.

The first order of business was this test block.  I loved the technique and so I chose my fabrics. One thing about me is I never do the easiest pattern first - always the hardest. I did watch one of her videos, too, just to be sure that I knew what I was doing.

Island Batik sent quite a few fabrics, but it is always hard to decide which group to jump in and use.  I figured since we have been in the winter of our discontent with 3 Nor'easters in March, I would do my Nor'easter quilt!   I would use Alpine Ice!  Here is one of the pictures that helped me figure out what I wanted to use.  The middle fabric with snowflakes was a little bluer/brighter than the others so I pulled it. out.  Funny that the background looks much whiter in that picture.

Linda's business card had the setting I used with a kind of gradation of color across it.  I loved the one on her business card but was afraid it would be too busy.  I made one section and loved it!  I tried to group the fabrics to make it work, but mostly, it think it helped the prints be in a little more control.  The other batiks I had were just not going to work, so I decided to go ahead.

It is a good idea to press seams open and use a stiletto.  I never liked pressing seams open, a hard habit to break.  I find myself doing it more and more.  The stiletto really helped control the curved piecing  and no pins were damaged in this exercise. 😉

 There was a lot of trimming.  Her technique has a good way of giving you plenty of help to get those curves nicely done.   Mostly what I liked is that it all really worked well - no puckering - no redoing of seams.  I pressed to the dark batiks and that allowed the pieces to nest well when I got to joining the blocks.  I highly recommend this ruler.  It is a simple easy solution to get some great curves in your blocks!

I chain piece when I can, because why not!

Here is the final quilt!

You can see the quilting on the back, pretty simple as it is a small piece.   I used Hobbs Thermore batting for this quilt (generously provided by them) and I loved the way it behaved.  It is thin but has a bit of loft.  Quite nice! Notice there are triangles I used for hanging smaller pieces.

In case you were wondering what a whole quilt might look like here's an example. I used a program called Layout on my Iphone to do this.   Note, there is a double row that acts differently and interrupts the interlocking circles,  but you get the idea.  If you want to see others, you can go to Linda's facebook page from here.

And a final look!

"The Winter Of My Discontent - 2018"  20.5" x 20.5"
Island Batik fabrics from the Alpine Lace Line
Hobbs Thermore Batting
Machine pieced and quilted