Blog Hop Problems

Well, I went to Italy for a few weeks. I thought I had everything set up. Why I put that bad link to my block in I don't know. No one could open it. I am very sorry.

My Block for the Size Matters project

Here is the right link:
http://www.unitednotions.com/MSM-Barbara-Brackman.pdf

In Italy I could see the link didn't work, but I couldn't get into my account to fix it---besides I didn't have the right link with me.

I decided I'd eat another pastry, have another glass of Chianti and worry about it when I got home.

The winner of my giveaway is Jan B. I decided to pick the very last person who posted a comment on September 9th Central Time and that was her---right before midnight.

Painting

Here are some views of my trip, which was a watercolor and sketching class in Tuscany.

My sister sketching

Nuns in Lucca.

Their phones worked. Mine didn't.

Half the class

Za-Za the dachshund waiting for a car to chase.

Good thing they go slow on that gravel switchback road.

The Largest Star Quilt Block

Star from my Moda collection,

Morris Modernized:

CFA Vosey.

Big Star makes a good topper for the bed.

BlockBase #2138 a, b, c and d.

It's not the largest quilt block in the world but

it's the largest basic sawtooth star you can make 

out of a pack of fat quarters (plus a solid.)

Here are my calculations...

The blocks finish to 34"

Four make a 68" quilt

I just got it back from Kelly Cline the quilter.

She found a type of fleur-de-lis for her long arm, a nice accent.

I started with a fat quarter pack of 

Morris Modernized

I figured a fat quarter as 18" x 22".

You have to cut the selvages off and since this is directional fabric you have to trim the center squares so the stripes line up with the edge. So the largest center square you can cut would be 17-1/2", which makes a 34" square block. I also bought an extra 2/3 yard of a pale blue solid for contrast in the points. (See below for some plain colored Bella Solids suggestions.)

Big Star: Free Pattern

I drew it up in EQ and here are the numbers

.

A- Cut 4 squares 9" x 9" of prints.

B- Cut 2 squares 9-3/8" of prints and 2 squares 9-3/8" of the blue plain.

Cut each into 2 triangles with 1 diagonal cut.

You will need 8 print triangles and 8 plain triangles.

C-Cut 1 square 17-1/2" of print.

Moda has an enormous line of Bella Solids. Here are some icy blues that go well with this Morris Modernized line of prints.

Left to Right---Light to Dark

• Cloud 9900-208
• Glacier 9900 207 
• Betty's Blue 9900-122 

Collaborating with Marci H.

I have been collaborating on a quilt with a woman named Marci whom I don't even know. Over the past year I published a block of the week on the topic of women's rights on my separate blog called Grandmother's Choice.

 Each week I figured out a traditional pieced or appliqued design that represented a particular event, person or idea, such as the Carrie Nation block for the temperance movement.

Marci made a set of the patchwork blocks.

She likes crazy quilts too. She's taken the portraits I posted and printed them onto fabric.

And stitched a crazy block for each patchwork block in green, violet and white

the colors of  England's WSPU (Women's Social and Political Union)

Using gold thread, another symbolic color.

She's also done blocks with pictures she's found in other places.

What a quilt this is going to be!

See Marci's Flickr photostream here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcih/sets/72157631451907278/

Outrageous Fashion

I've been showing pictures of these fabrics from the 1840s and '50s lately.

Large stripes and plaids in Prussian blue, buff and madder reds and brown.

It's hard to believe that these large-scale prints, which layered geometry with florals, were fashionable for women's clothing but during the 1840s, '50s and into the early 1860's they were the thing.

Bold pattern!

Pagoda sleeves and huge neck bows

were part of the fashion.

As were some unfortunate hairdo's.

I have been saving pictures of this era and have found

some dresses that are nothing but outrageous.

No stripe too big.

No bow too big.

1859

Sorting Scraps

I was flipping through my old copies of the Quilt Engagement Calendar looking for inspiration and I came across this quilt from about 1900.

I bet it's from Pennsylvania...

Where they liked to control the shading in their scrappy quilts.

A Bowmansville Star from the Flack Collection

Particularly in Bowmansville

Read more about Bowmansville PA in this post from the Rick Rack Rag:

http://www.rickrack.com/wordpress/?p=123

Detail of the quilt at the top

What I liked about this controlled scrap quilt was that it grew out of the center

and you could stop when you wanted to.

(Scroll down to see how big mine got.)

It still requires a careful sorting of the scraps---

which could take days---

Days full of entertainment.

I decided to sort into five shades

Very Light, Medium Light, Pink for the Medium, Medium Dark and Very Dark

I had some of the small pre-cut squares---

The Moda Candy packs

cut to 2-1/2", a size that will make great "very darks."

And a pack left over from Civil War Reunion that would make good mediums.

And some pinks left over from Metropolitan Fair, 

my previous Civil War reproduction collection and a stash of double pinks.

And I had some printed and woven shirtings for very lights.

Very Light, Medium Light, Medium Dark and Very Dark

I needed four shades of scraps. 

I found out a long time ago that sorting scraps into lights and darks works better if 

you add some buffer shades.

One buffer between each shade.

So I need 7 piles

Shaded from Very Light to Very Dark

I then throw out the Light, Medium and Dark piles, the buffer piles.

I mean I don't really throw them out. I set them aside for another project.

Which leaves me more sharply defined values. 4 shades.

You could also do this with 2-1/2" strips, cutting squares.

Here's my sketch in Electric Quilt.

I set up a grid-- a "quilt" of 11 x 11 blocks (any odd number)--- and then shaded it in with the fabric chooser.

Here's an EQ sketch for the center.

The original was a little bit more random.

It's 49 squares finishing to 2" each (7 x 7 squares).

A 14" finished block.

Very dark, very light and medium dark with a pink in the center.

Then you start adding borders.

It seems she alternated very light with medium light squares

I could keep going.

Here's a grid of 14 x 14 squares.

The maker of the quilt at the top added borders of dark strips cut in random lengths. She added some medium darks in those strips too.

They should be cut 2-1/2" wide and in lengths finishing to even numbers like

cutting lengths:

4-1/2"

6-1/2"

8-1/2", etc.

It seems like the dark borders are primarily cut like this

While the lighter borders alternate light and medium light.

You  alternate borders of light and medium light squares with borders of dark and medium dark strips till you get tired

or you run out of fabric.

I found this on Pinterest.

New or Old?

Whose?

(That's the problem with Pinterest---not enough credits)

It looks new-- and nice job of shading.

Below: Another scrap quilt with a controlled color scheme from an old Quilt Engagement Calendar.

It's pieced of squares only with yellow added to the pinks for pop.

Now, with all the planning I did here's what happened.

30" x 30"

pinned to the design wall.

I ran out of Candy squares.

So I stopped and

 put a pair of 2" borders on it.

I have a LOT more rows to go to make a full-sized quilt.

It would be fun to add 2-1/2" squares from different fabric collections working outward--- make a bed quilt of about a thousand pieces.

When pigs fly.

An inspirational machine name.