Starting Round 3
September 4th, 2008
 Sugar Bowl |
I’m in the process of making 54 of these blocks. |
 Sugar Bowl corner block |
I’ll need to make 4 corner blocks |
Still Plugging Away on Round 2 Quilting
July 19th, 2008I’m down to quilting the last 2 squares of this round. Seems to take forever….so much going on….so little time.
Quilting Round 2
June 2nd, 2008 |
I’ve chosen three different patterns for the center of the Navajo squares for this round. This first one will be quilted on the corner squares and the middle squares of the side panels. |  |
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This pattern will be alternated with the pattern following in the remaining squares. |  |
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This is the third selection. |  |
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This is the pattern for the corner triangles.
The cream triangles will be quilted in the same manner as the center block. And I will stitch in the ditch outline each square around the different fabrics. |
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My assistant, Sunny, looks on as I continue to quilt this round…only 11 more squares to go. It’ll be several more days before I’m ready to start the next round. | |
Quilter’s Complete Guide by Marianne Fons & Liz Porter
June 2nd, 2008
I’m relatively new to the world of quilting having only been at it for a couple of years. As time goes by my quilting library has grown almost as fast as my fabric stash. This book was one of the first acquired and is still one of my favorites.
If you’re new to quilting, you’ll find this one invaluable. The illustrations and explanations are great and I found some great time saving tips in additon to basic instruction. Fons and Porter are the best…I love their PBS show, their website, and, of course, this book. I highly recommend it!
My Rating: 
Adding the Second Round
June 1st, 2008 |
I’ve finished piecing together 14 additional Navajo squares. I then assembled 2 rows of 3 squares (sides) and 2 rows of 4 squares (top and bottom). I attached these rows (sides first) to the quilt using the same procedure utilized for Round 1. |
Next..quilting this round..
Pattern Modification
May 30th, 2008I’m still plugging away at making the Round 2 Navajo squares. At the same time, I’ve been making some modifications to my design.
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My original pattern called for a 3-inch sash border after the Round 2 Navajo squares. I realized this created a problem for my final round of 9-inch squares. The horizontal rows for the final round were made up of squares a different size than the vertical rows for the round. Since I plan to paper-piece this round, it resulted in two different patterns for the round. I realized I needed to increase the sash border to 6 inches and reduce the final round squares to 6 inches to accomodate using 1 pattern for the final round. The result being all the squares are identical in size…6 x 6 inch squares. |
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Once I increased the sash size to 6 inches, I decided that a solid brown sash was too much for the overall look of the quilt. So I divided that round into 2 sections. The first is 4 inches wide with a series of big and little diamonds. The second is 2 inches wide with 1/2 inch strips of cream surrounding 1 inch of the blue fabric.
The overall size of the quilt remains the same. And I like the additional interest of the diamond borders between the two square rounds. The blue sash border breaks up the predominant browns on the outer edges of the quilt nicely. |
Quilting the First Round
May 27th, 2008 |
First, I quilted in the ditch around all the various pieces of this round. After evaluating the round, I decided to quilt in the cream sections and leave the colored triangles alone. My goal was to make the brown and blue triangles pop out. |
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I used this pattern for the cream triangles adjacent to the blue and brown triangles. |
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I used this pattern for the blue, cream, and brown squares. |
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Then I decided to go back to the center Navajo squares and used this pattern for the cream triangles adjacent to the blue triangles. |
Adding the First Round of Blocks
May 22nd, 2008 |
I’ve completed assembling the blocks for the first round. I sewed together the blocks making 4 rows (one for each side). Two rows contained 2 middle blocks and 2 corner blocks. The other two rows contained 4 middle blocks each. To the outer side of each row I added a 2-inch strip (40-inches long) of brown fabric for the outer border of this round. I centered the strip on the outside and left the excess tails on so I can miter the corners after it is all pinned together.
First I joined the rows with four middle blocks. I placed the blocks on top of the center section of the quilt right sides together and sewed together using a 1/4 seam allowance Matching the the block row edge to the top quilt edge (not the backing). After sewing the seam, I trimmed away the excess batting and backing from the seam allowance. Leaving the excess on while sewing this seam, makes feeding the layers through the machine much easier and reduces puckering. Then I flipped the quilt over and placed the backing (cut several inches larger than necessary) on the back of the quilt right sides together. Then I sewed together over the seam I made with the front side. |
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With the front and back sewn to the quilt but still right sides together (not yet opened), I a butted the batting strip (again cut several inches wider and longer than the block row) next to the seem allowance and zigzaged together with no overlap (this eliminates any bulging that would have resulted with sewing into seam allowance. Then I flipped open the front and backs and pinned together. I repeated the process for the other three sides. Once all the sides were sewn on and pinned over, I mitered the borders, pinned into place and trimmed off the excess brown strip tails. The miter will be sewn down during the quilting process.
This same process will be used each time I add a round to the quilt. And, with each round, I will cut the backing and batting several inches wider and longer than necessary. I learned the hard way that it is much easier to assemble and quilt and there is no danger of running short when I add subsequent rounds. |
Making the First Round of Blocks
May 12th, 2008I’ve finished quilting the center section of the quilt and am now ready to start assembling the first round of blocks. EQ6 is treating this as a 5-inch border. In fact the rest of the quilt is a series of borders surrounding the center two blocks. In this round the corner blocks are 5-inch squares, the horizontal middle blocks are 6 x 5 and the verticle middle blocks are 5 x 6. I’ve printed out foundation patterns and will paper piece these blocks together. You can check out some paper-piecing tutorials I’ve found here.
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I’ll need to make 4 corners: foundation pattern. This is my first project using the paper-piecing method and I found it a little confusing until I got the hang of it. Matching corners and points is a breeze using this method. I quickly discovered that my individual fabric pieces did not have to be cut exactly to a pattern when using this method. I used swatches and trimmed to size after adding each piece…much faster. It definitely helps to have a pattern image in front of you when assembling. |  |
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I’ll need to make 12 middle blocks: foundation pattern. The middle squares are pieced in 2 separate sections and then joined together to form the square. |  |
Quilting the Center Section
May 7th, 2008 |
I’ve assembled the backing, batting, and center section together using basting spray. I’ll stitch in the ditch around all the triangles using clear thread on the top and cream in the bobbin. You’ll notice I’ve cut the backing and batting slightly larger than the top. I’ve learned the hard way, nothing is more frustrating than running short on the back when adding the next round. I’ll trim the excess off later after I’ve jointed the next round. | |
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Quilting pattern for the center diamond of the square. I’ve enlarged and copied this pattern from 1000 Great Quilting Designs by Luise Roberts. This is pattern 891b which I enlarged 300% for a 6-inch square. |  |
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Quilting pattern for the outer triangles of the square. This is pattern 891a which I enlarged 200% for a 4-inch triangle. |  |